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Hearing and Doing the Word

19 Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; 20 for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. 21 Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. 22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. 23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. 24 For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. 25 But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing. 26 If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person’s religion is worthless. 27 Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2025), Jas 1:19–27.



“Introduction:

Gustave Doré, a well-known nineteenth-century French painter, was traveling in Europe when he lost his passport. The customs official insisted on Doré’s showing the document to identify himself. “But,” he said, “I am Doré the artist.” The officer didn’t believe him. Explaining that a lot of people who lose their passports claim to be someone they are not, the officer gave Doré a pencil and a piece of paper and told him to prove it. Taking the pencil, Doré quickly sketched scenes of the immediate area and handed the paper back to the officer. The official was convinced with just one glance at the picture. He let Doré pass by. “No one else can draw like that,” he said.

It’s easy for one to say, “I am a Christian. I am a follower of Jesus.” But that isn’t enough. If we are truly Christians, our lives and actions must show it. According “to the teachings of the New Testament, a genuine Christian will produce Christlike fruit.

In today’s text James lists three things that must be an integral part of every Christian’s life.

A controlled tongue.

A compassionate spirit.

A clean life.

I. A controlled tongue. Vs. 26

James says that mere conformity to a Christian code does not necessarily mean that one is a true Christian.

To illustrate, he pictures a person who gives the outward appearance of being a believer, giving scrupulous attention to the externals of the Christian faith.

A modern example of this type of person would be as follows.

They are careful to be in church on Sunday morning.

He judiciously figures his tithe on Saturday night and pompously places it in the collection plate on Sunday morning.

They sing the hymns loudly and close there eyes during the prayers.

Looking at them, other believers would say, “My, my! Aren't they a fine Christian!”

But James says a true Christian is very different from this type of person.

James writes that genuine Christianity expresses itself in some simple, down-to-earth ways.

One of those ways is controlling the tongue (James 1:26). If one fails to do that, James sternly warns, “this man’s religion is vain

Though the tongue is small, it is powerful (James 3:3-5) It is analogous to a small match that starts a fire that may destroy thousands of acres of timber.

Though the tongue can do well, it can also do much evil (James 3:6, 9–11). “Blessing and cursing” both are products of the tongue (James 3:10)

Though the tongue is in man, man alone can tame it (James 3:7–8). Only the Holy Spirit can ultimately control the tongue.

Henry Van Dyke gives two rules we should put into practice. First, he says we should never believe a bad report about anybody unless we positively know it to be true.

Second, we should never give a bad report to anybody unless we feel it is absolutely necessary. If we do tell it, we must remember that God is listening.

II. A compassionate spirit. Vs. 27 A

James states that genuine Christianity is more than words: it reaches out in love to those who are in need—“the orphans and widows” (1:27).

A. True Christians will be concerned for others.

This is the attitude of Jesus; he was always concerned about people in need.

It is not enough to say simply to the hungry, “Go and be fed.” We have to help feed them.

B. True Christians will respond to the needs of others.

i. James writes that true Christianity expresses itself by visiting the fatherless and widows.

Dr. Harold S. Songer says in The Broadman Bible Commentary that this means “to look after” them.

ii.Just giving a turkey at Christmas is not “looking after” their needs. Looking after these people involves continual sacrifice.

iii. Genuine Christianity has eyes that see, arms that embrace, and a purse that opens.

“In his book Love’s Meaning, Archibald Rutledge wrote about attending a worship service in which everything was proper. The singing was contagious. The prayers were “splendid.” The minister read the Scriptures with “unusual sonority,” Rutledge related. As the worshipers left the service, they saw an unkept woman weeping by the churchyard fence. Only one of the worshipers paid any attention to the poor woman. Kneeling beside her, the church lady dried the tears of the desperate individual. Rutledge’s conclusion was simple yet profound: “The only one of all of us who really knew how to worship God” was the woman who did something to help.”

III. A clean life. vs. 27b In the last part of verse 27, James declares that a genuine Christian will “keep . . . from being polluted by the world.” In other words, one who is a true follower of Jesus will live a clean life. Christians are people whose lives have been purified.

A. Christians will live in the world.

i. We are to be salt and light to the world, Jesus says.

ii. Our purity needs to be seen by the world. A monastic type of life is contrary to Scripture.

iii. We are to be like yeast that leavens the whole lump of dough.

B. Christians will not let the world live in them.

i. Although we are all sinners, Christians are commanded to live upright moral lives.

ii. We can do this only through the strength the indwelling Holy Spirit gives (Gal. 5:22–26; Eph. 5:15–20).

Conclusion

Imagine walking into a store and seeing what looks like a real person standing by the door. From a distance, they look convincing. They’re smiling, dressed well, standing upright. But as you get closer, you realize it’s not a person at all. It’s a cardboard cutout. It has the image of life, but no life inside it. It can’t speak, can’t move, can’t respond. It only looks real from far away.

That’s a picture of what a pretend Christian can look like.

From a distance, everything seems right. They know the church language. They show up when expected. They can quote Scripture, sing the songs, and bow their head at the right moments. But when real pressure comes, when obedience costs something, when faith requires surrender, there’s nothing there to respond. It’s all surface.

Jesus spoke to people like this when He said, “This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.” Outward form without inward transformation. Appearance without affection. Religion without relationship.

A cardboard cutout doesn’t become real by standing in the right place. And a person doesn’t become a Christian by standing in a church, wearing the label, or learning the language. Christianity is not about looking alive. It’s about being made alive.

The good news is this: cardboard can’t change, but hearts can. God is not interested in maintaining appearances. He specializes in resurrection. He takes those who only looked alive and breathes real life into them through repentance and faith in Jesus Christ.

The question isn’t, “Do I look like a Christian?” The question is, “Has Christ made me alive?”

How are we to define Christianity? The meaning is obvious only in the charitable words from our mouths and in the loving acts done from our hearts.”