Quick to Hear!
Notes
Transcript
Illustration
I recently read a book and came across this story.
Professor Matson from Drew University in Madison, New Jersey, once tried to prove that most people are poor listeners. He was being honored at a faculty reception one evening, and since his work focused on communication, he decided to conduct an experiment. While standing in a long line of fellow faculty members, waiting for people to come by and either congratulate him or speak with him, he planned to say one sentence to each individual and to say it very clearly. The sentence was this: “My grandmother died last night.” That wasn’t true; it was just a statement to observe the responses.
As a result of his experiment, Professor Matson said, “Don’t worry about what people think. The large majority doesn’t listen. It is rare even to find a person who really listens to what you are saying.” He explained that as he repeated to each person, ‘My grandmother died last night,’ he received replies such as, ‘Congratulations, Dr. Matson,’ ‘Nice to see you here this evening,’ and ‘Wonderful to have you with us.’
Listening is a huge challenge for many of us, but if we want to be effective Christians as we travel through this world, James reminds us that we need to learn to listen.
We especially need to learn how to listen to and for God’s voice speaking to us.
Let’s begin our study today in Verse 19.
This you know, my beloved brethren. But everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger;
The phrase “This you know,” might be better expressed as “Understand.”
“My Beloved Brethren” - a reminder that this letter is written to believers. This is important as we study the book because some verses can be misunderstood and misapplied if we do not see it through the lens of it being written directly to the New Testament believers and, by extension, you and I.
Following James' introduction and illustrating the value of trials in verses 1-18, James provides his outline for the rest of the book.
“Quick to Hear” - 1:21-2:26
“Slow to Speak” - 3:1-18
“Slow to Anger” - 4:1-5:6
I have titled this sermon “Quick to Hear!”
James 1:19-27 gives us three points on what it is to be “Quick to Hear.”
The first point is “Preparing Ourselves to Hear.”
Preparing Ourselves To Hear
Preparing Ourselves To Hear
One of the keys to hearing is understanding what we are listening for by removing any obstacles to listening.
Why is this important?
Because often God will come to us in a “still small voice.”
I can’t help but think about Elijah’s life as I study James chapter 1.
1 Kings 17-19.
Elijah Sees Victory from God: As you will recall, Elijah was the prophet who challenged all the prophets of Baal and achieved a great victory over them.
Elijah Faces a Trial: Then Jezebel threatens his life, and he goes on the run.
He is so distraught that he ends up asking God to take his life.
God Speaks to Elijah: Elijah had to reach a point where he was ready to listen to God. When he was overwhelmed by his feelings from his trial, he was not ready. Then, when God spoke to him, it was not loud and thunderous but in a still small voice.
and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a still small voice.
James reminds us in verses 20-21 that if we want to hear God speak in our lives, just as Elijah had to get past feeling sorry for himself to hear God's voice, we too have obstacles we need to remove to hear Him.
for the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God.
Therefore, putting aside all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness, in humility receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls.
Hinderance #1: Get Rid of Anger
Get Rid of Anger
Get Rid of Anger
How good are we at listening when we're angry?
When you're angry and in an argument with someone, how well do you adapt to really hearing what that person has to say?
for the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God.
This is a reminder of what we discussed last week in James 1:14: “But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust.” ”
The anger James is talking about here is not a righteous anger (though that is possible through the grace of God), but rather an uncontrolled anger, better described as wrath or fury.
Anger should not be a part of our lives as believers. The apostle Paul, when discussing what it means to walk as a Christian, states this in Ephesians 4:31.
Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice.
Not only does anger impact our relationship with the Lord, but it also obstructs prayer.
Therefore I want the men in every place to pray, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and dissension.
Anger is one of the fastest ways to damage your testimony with others and your relationship with God.
So James reminds us, “anger does not achieve the righteousness of God”
Hindrance: #1 Anger hinders our ability to listen
Hindrance: #2 Get Rid of Filthiness
Get Rid of Filthiness
Get Rid of Filthiness
Therefore, putting aside all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness, in humility receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls.
Filthiness—the root word for filthiness in Greek is a medical term that literally means wax in your ears.
James is telling us we need to completely clean out the earwax of wickedness in our hearts.
How do we do this?
If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
We can go to church.
Teach Sunday school.
Have devotions.
Go to Bible studies, but if we don't clean out the ear wax of sin in our hearts, we're going to have a hard time hearing God’s voice speaking to us.to us.
Hindrance: #1 Anger hinders our ability to listen
Hindrance: #2 Get Rid of Filthiness
Hindrance: #3 Receive God’s Word with Humility
Receive God’s Word with Humility
Receive God’s Word with Humility
Have you ever been guilty of sitting down to hear God’s word from someone but not doing it with humility?
Maybe they are teaching a subject you already know.
Maybe they are boring and hard to listen to.
Maybe you just don’t like their personality.
But James says to “receive,” which, by the way, is the word for hospitality. Just as you would warmly welcome a guest with open arms in your home, we should receive the Word of God with humility, regardless of the source.
We may not gain something from the entire message delivered, but there could be something at the beginning, middle, or end. If we are not humbly receiving God’s Word, we will miss out on what He wants to teach us.
He leads the humble in justice, And He teaches the humble His way.
for God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble.
What’s the message here?
If we are not hearing God’s speak.
If we are not hearing His “still small voice.”
Perhaps it is because we have hindrances of anger, wickedness, or pride in our lives, and we need to confess them as sin before the Lord.
James ends verse 21 with a seemingly strange statement. James tells us that if we remove these hindrances to enable us to receive God’s word, it is “able to save your soul.”
Is James promoting a gospel of works here? No!
We saw in verse 19 that he is addressing believers, and we know through Scripture that one cannot lose their salvation once saved.
What is James talking about then?
The Greek word for “soul” in the New Testament appears about 105 times, but only 5 of those instances refer to what we typically think of regarding salvation. The rest of the time, it refers to our personality or our time here on earth.
James is not talking about salvation by works but rather about saving or preserving life here on earth.
In other words, when we listen to God’s word, when we hear Him speak into our lives, we will save our lives on earth.
We will find fulfillment and joy in Him.
We discover the reason we are created and how God wants to use us for His glory.
But if we are not tuned in to listen, we miss out on this joy and fulfillment that God has in store for us in this life.
James moves from removing hindrances to listening to God, providing a couple of examples on how not to listen and how to listen.
Hearing But Not Doing
Hearing But Not Doing
But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves.
For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror;
for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was.
The key to understanding these verses lies in the word “Hear."
Like many Greek words, it can have multiple meanings, but we usually translate it as a single word in English.
The word “Hear” can mean “Audit” or “Harken.”
For example, in academics, there are students who audit courses.
They attend the classes, take notes, and may even learn many things.
However, they don’t have to take a test, are not required to do homework, and don’t receive a grade.
There is nothing required of them.
I believe this is a picture of many believers in church today.
They come to church.
They hear God’s word.
But because they are auditing instead of harkening, they don’t do anything with the information they are receiving.
So, what is James getting at here?
He suggests that just like when you and I get up and leave for work or go out to town, we look in the mirror to see what we look like. But if we see what needs to be fixed, perhaps sin in our lives, and do nothing about it, the implanted Word of God never takes root.
Another way to see this, with the same result, is we look in the mirror and see who we are in Christ, but then we leave and live as though we were not changed by His grace and work on the cross.
We continue to live in sin instead of walking in victory!
When we do this, we make a mockery of the death of our Savior.
We cannot allow ourselves to sit under the teaching of God’s Word and not let it change us!
James provides an example of what we are meant to do in the final three verses.
Put Your Hearing Into Practice
Put Your Hearing Into Practice
But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man will be blessed in what he does.
Looks Intently: When we honestly examine ourselves by studying and listening to what God’s word says we are, the result is that we become doers instead of just listeners.
If you are a believer here today, you have been redeemed.
You don't have to be a slave to sin.
Victory is found in righteous living.
You are being transformed. This is what we should see in the mirror and remember!
But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.
The result is being blessed!
“If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them.
James, as usual, ends with an example of what living out the result of proper hearing and doing might look like.
If anyone thinks himself to be religious, and yet does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this man’s religion is worthless.
Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.
So many of us get caught up in saying the right things, but just like the auditor who looks in the mirror and forgets what he looks like, God is telling us to be listeners!
In other words, when God speaks to us it turns into action!
In closing, are you hearing God’s voice?
If not, there may be sin you need to confess.
Secondly, when you do hear God’s voice, what are you doing about it?
Are you simply a listener or a doer?
Let’s pray.
