Doers of The Word - James 1:19-25
Notes
Transcript
Welcome:
Grace, mercy, and peace to you, from
God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Announcements:
Help for Her gift cards. $25 denominations. Either Uber cards or from a gas station.
Hymn of Preparation: #
†CALL TO WORSHIP based on Psalm 115
Pastor Austin Prince
Minister: Thus says the Lord: I have remembered you; I will bless you; I will bless those who fear me, both the small and the great.
Congregation: Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name give glory, for the sake of your steadfast love and your faithfulness! You are our help and our shield!
Minister: You who fear the Lord, trust in the Lord!
Congregation: We will bless the Lord from this time forth and forevermore. Praise the Lord!
†PRAYER OF ADORATION AND INVOCATION
O Lord our God, Creator of all that is visible and invisible–the earth and all that dwells in it is for your honor. The earth declares it and we your people declare that you are the Lord. Receive our worship this morning as a testament to your glory. Perfect our worship by the blood and intercession of Christ, and send us the Helper, the divine Spirit that our words and actions could be pleasing to you. Receive our prayer offered in the name of Jesus.
†OPENING HYMN OF PRAISE #214
“Sing Praise to God Who Reigns Above”
†CONFESSION OF SIN AND ASSURANCE OF PARDON based on I Tim. 1:15; I Pet. 2:24
Minister: Let us confess our sins to our Holy God:
Congregation: Eternal God, you do not change. You have revealed yourself to us in your Word. You call us to worship in spirit and in truth. We confess that we often worship not your true self, but who we wish you to be. We ask you to bless what we do, rather than seeking to do what you bless. We seek concessions when we should be seeking guidance. Forgive us, O God.
Forgive us for selfish and half-hearted worship - worship that tries to shape you into what we want, rather than shaping us into what you want us to be. You have drawn near. Help us to meet you here. Give us love and reverence for you, bowing before your majesty, and living for you now and ever, in Christ. Amen.
Minister: The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness.
Congregation: Thanks be to God!
CONTINUAL READING OF SCRIPTURE Job 1
Elder Steven Hoffer
THE OFFERING OF TITHES AND OUR GIFTS
PASTORAL PRAYER & THE LORD’S PRAYER
Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.
†PSALM OF PREPARATION #119N
“You Word Sheds Light Upon My Path”
SERMON James 1:19-25 // Doers of The Word
PRAYER OF ILLUMINATION
We pray, O God, that the words which you spoke through your prophet Isaiah would be realized in us today, For your word goes forth and shall not return to you empty, but will accomplish what you desire and will succeed in the matter for which it was sent. Amen.
Text
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.
AFTER SCRIPTURE
Every word of God is perfect, let his people bless his Holy name.
†HYMN OF RESPONSE #444
“Come to the Waters”
THE MINISTRY OF THE LORD’S SUPPER
Minister: Lift up your hearts!
Congregation: We lift them up to the Lord.
Minister: Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.
Congregation: It is right for us to give thanks and praise!
CONFESSION OF FAITH - The Apostles’ Creed (p.851)
INVITATION TO THE LORD’S TABLE
We are people who naturally plug our ears to God. But God, in mercy, sent his Word not only to be heard, but to be seen. “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” At this Table we behold Christ, the perfect hearer, receiver, and doer of the Father’s will, given for those who have resisted that will. So come and see him. See mercy made visible. See obedience embodied. See the Savior who not only speaks the truth, but is the truth, and who gives himself for sinners like us.
This table welcomes all who belong to Christ through repentance, faith, baptism, and continuing union with his Church. If you do not repent of your sin, you must not come. If you do not trust in Christ alone for your salvation, you must not come. But if you confess your sin and rest in him, come and be satisfied.
Let’s pray together:
Congregation: Most righteous God, we remember in this meal the perfect sacrifice offered once on the cross by our Lord Jesus Christ for the sin of the whole world. United with Christ in his suffering, strengthened by the Holy Spirit, trusting in the power of God to triumph over evil, we wait in joyful hope for the fullness of God's reign. Send your Holy Spirit upon us, we pray, that the bread which we break and the cup which we bless may be to us the communion of the body and blood of Christ.
Grant that, being joined together in him, we may attain to the unity of the faith and grow up in all things into Christ our Lord. And as this grain has been gathered from many fields into one loaf, and these grapes from many hills into one cup, grant, O Lord, that your whole Church may soon be gathered from the ends of the earth into your kingdom. Even so, come, Lord Jesus! Amen.
Congregation is seated.
THE DISTRIBUTION OF THE ELEMENTS
THE WORDS OF INSTITUTION AND SHARING OF THE SUPPER
“Eat and drink.”
Mark 14:22-25
And as they were eating, he took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to them, and said, "Take; this is my body." And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, and they all drank of it. And he said to them, "This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many. Truly, I say to you, I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God."
†OUR RESPONSE #248
Let all things their Creator bless,
and worship him in humbleness,
O praise him, alleluia!
Praise, praise the Father, praise the Son,
and praise the Spirit, three in one,
O praise him, O praise him,
alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!
†BENEDICTION: GOD’S BLESSING FOR HIS PEOPLE
“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.” (Romans 15:13, ESV)
Grace Notes:
James 1:19–25 confronts a subtle but dangerous form of self-deception: mistaking hearing His Word for actually yielding to it.
It is possible to sit under faithful preaching, to think seriously about truth, and even to feel moved by it and remain unchanged. James here presses us beyond that illusion. The Word of God is not given merely to inform us, but to rule us, and reshape us, especially in the pressures of life.
James shows us three necessary responses.
First, we must hear the Word. Required is a posture of humility — “quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger.” In seasons of stress and confusion, we are often quick to become the sole interpreter of our lives and defend
and rationalize to ourselves. But clarity begins when we become quiet enough to let God’s word speak.
Second, we must receive the Word. This means putting away the sins that harden us and receiving God’s Word with meekness. The Word does more than expose what is wrong in us; it also reminds us of what is true because of God’s grace. The hard words and the glorious words are often clear to our minds but blocked up in our hearts by sin. Part of receiving is to repent and humbly accept when God calls you out for sin or accept when He tells you that you are made whole in Him. Both can be difficult to accept.
Finally, we must do the Word. Self-deception lives in the gap between hearing and obeying. The Word shows us what is true and calls us to act on it. Not when life is easier, but with immediacy right where we are.
James calls this “the perfect law, the law of liberty.” True freedom is only found by living within God’s laws and will. In doing the word, in our obedience, we find that God’s commands are not burdensome, but life-giving.
This week, consider: Where has God’s Word shown you something true? And what would it look like to do the Word there?
