Obedient Hope

Go ahead and find James 1.

Welcome guests

Vacation Bible School is coming up; expect phone calls asking about serving; it is all about reaching one more for Jesus

Thankful for the church; got a few days away this week and you didn’t even know it

James 1:19–27 ESV

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.

A big theme so far in James is wisdom. Growing in knowledge and experience and understanding when to act and what we should do. I want to contend to you that the key to wisdom isn’t just thought, but it is obedience.

We live in a time where it is not uncommon for everyone to have a bible. I could go around the neighborhood and visit with everyone and probably 90% of the people would have a physical copy of the bible in their homes. But there was a time when it was illegal to own an English copy of the bible.

In the 1500’s, the only language that you could find the bible in was Latin and Latin was not a common language. So, access to God’s word for ordinary people was very little. All they knew of scripture was what the priest would tell them and they had no reference to double check whether or not the priest was telling the truth. That is why you should have your bible out the entire sermon. I could get up here and say something, make the screens say whatever I want, but I cannot change what your bible says. Praise God that you can check everything I say and keep me in line if you need to.

During that time, a man by the name of William Tyndale became convicted of the lack of access to scripture. God had given him wisdom to know that this was not right. He knew that the people having so little access to God’s word aided by the crookedness of the priests would never produce growing, converted disciples. He even confronted one of the religious leaders and told him that if God would let him live long enough, that the boy working the plow in the field would know more about the bible than he would.

So he was obedient to God’s direction and took action. He fled England where he was able to translate the scripture into English. He then smuggled it back into England in grain sacks. But eventually he was caught. This was an act of treason and terrorism against England and the church. So his penalty was be burned at the stake. His final recorded words were, “Lord, open the King of Englands eyes”.

God used Tyndale to spread his word, grow the church, and God answered Tyndale’s prayer. God opened the eyes of the King of England and just a few years later, the English translation of the bible was authorized and distributed across the land.

The obedience of Tyndale is one of the reasons that we are here today. The church was on a negative trajectory, but because of the faithfulness and wisdom and perseverance and active faith and obedience of men like Tyndale, God is still using them to work in the lives of people all over the world. And it is because of their active faith like what James is describing here in our passage today.

Is my faith an “active” faith?

What should never happen in any church, and I am right here right now at Immanuel, so I am gonna say especially here, is that we are a group of bench warmers. We all know what bench warmers are.

I did not play football until I got to high school. I was more of a baseball child. But when I was in 10th grade, I decided to play football for North Stanly. We were not a good program. I think the average at the time was 2 wins a year. We stunk. So, I join the team. I was very inexperienced so I did not get much playing time. The most time I saw was in the last 2 minutes of the game when we were getting beat by 30 points and the coaches finally realized there wasn’t a chance in us winning.

I was what you call a bench warmer. I was riding pine. My position on the team was left out. I showed up to practice and participated in the drills, but when it came time to play in the game, I sat out.

For the church, the equivalent would be to show up to the services that the church hosts, but not serve, not evangelize, not participate in ministry. Let’s call it a pew warmer instead of a bench warmer. A pew warmer is someone who hears God’s word and does not act. They are disobedient to how God is leading them. And ultimately, what we see is that they are not fully relying on the hope that is found in Jesus.

For us to be a Home for Hope for all, we cannot have a bunch of pew warmers here. We need action, we need workers. We need people who are ready to charge the gates of hell with a water gun if that is what it takes to reach people with the hope of Jesus. We have 3300 people in 1 mile of here that need hope. We have over 800 kids and teens in 1 mile that need this hope. So, for us to really see this happen, here is what we need to take from what James is telling us in this passage.

The Hope of Jesus Brings us to Obedient Action

Some of the scariest words that you can say are, “Yes, Lord”. This means that you are willing to go wherever God wants you to go and do whatever God wants you to do. This is what divides someone from being a professor and someone being a possessor. And I don’t mean the guy in college that failed you in his class. The difference in someone saying they are a follower of Jesus and someone showing that they are a follower of Jesus. Obedience is the key.

As we go through this section in James, I am going to break it up into 3 pieces.

Hope Restrains

Restraint is something we all need. I think that I talk more in my house about self-control being a fruit of the spirit than any other one. We all need restraint. Most importantly, we need restraint from sin. And that is what James is talking about here.

James 1:19–20 ESV

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.

Oh no. Anger. I know that we should skip right over this part because none of us struggle with anger, but let’s look at it for my sake because I will tell you that I struggle with it.

Let’s take this piece by piece.

quick to hear - Are you quick to hear what God has to say? James is dealing partly with how we interact with the word of God, but there is some benefits to what he say in other areas of our lives. Do you rapidly go to God’s word? We can tend to go there when something comes up in our lives. But are we dwelling in God’s word. Are we getting into it until it gets into us? We must be quick to hear what God has to say. But we want to resist God’s word. So let’s humbly receive it.

Slow to speak - Sometimes, we don’t like what God has to tell us. We are sinful. We are selfish. And most of the time, God’s direction goes against our flesh. So, when God is speaking to us, are we quick to argue with him.

slow to anger - because we are dwelling in God’s word, are we slow to anger.

God has really been working on me in this area. And of course, while I was studying and preparing for this sermon this week, I end up having a fit of anger at home. I ask that you pray for me in this area. And you may think that it is hard to believe that I do that, but it is almost always things at home. It is those kids. And I know that the parents understand.

But maybe that isn’t what it is for you. Maybe it is when you get in your car and leave here to go find lunch and that person cuts you off in traffic. Or you get to work tomorrow morning and your boss singles you out and decides to put more work on you. Or you go to the grocery store or the gas station and realize that your social security check doesn’t go near as far as it did a year ago.

Anger is in all of us and it is dangerous. So we must protect ourselves. We must have the restraint that comes from believing in the hope that only Jesus can bring us.

Anger is a spiritual sin that takes a physical toll. We will talk about righteous anger, but anger in general can be sinful. And not only does it affect our spirit, it affects our health. I went online to find affects that anger has on us. Increased heart rate, muscle tension, release of adrenaline and cortisol, reduced impulse control. Those are just short term affects. Long term, it leads to chronic high blood pressure, increased risk of heart disease and strokes, chronic anxiety, and sleep depravation.

Not only is James giving you spiritual advice, he is giving us health advice. What good are you doing the kingdom of God if you can’t control your anger and have a stroke. Then you can’t tell anyone about the hope that is in Jesus.

But on the spiritual side, why should we not have anger? Because the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. How can we say we are followers of Jesus and go against things that are righteous. So what do we do?

James 1:21 ESV

21 Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.

I know we have some hard workers here. Imagine being outside for 12 hours and doing yard work and garden work. Maybe it was even pouring down rain and you were working in the mud. Well now it is time to go in. And you spent the whole day yesterday cleaning the house. Now, if you go in the house the way you are, you are going to make the whole house filthy. So what do you do? You have to take off all of the nasty clothes you got on before you go inside.

James is saying here that if you want a clean soul, you have got to get rid of all of the filthiness. It is corrupting and destroying the inside. That is what wickedness does. In the context of what he is saying, anger is what can cause filthiness. But it goes beyond that too. (list sins that are wicked)

But we replace wickedness with the implanted word. God’s word. It must be rooted deep in you. Not just surface level. But like a tree planted deep. Psalm 1:3 “3 He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers.”

You want the roots of God’s word to go as deep as possible. Men, think about how you are leading your families. Are you talking about God’s word and sharing God’s word with them to lead your family deeper? Maybe take some time at the supper table this week and do that. Kid’s, are you only learning about God’s word here at church? Sometimes this means that you have to cut off some of the friends that you have made and make new friends that will point you in the right direction to make sure your roots are growing deeper. Or maybe you don’t have a family around the table anymore and you aren’t a kid. How do you make sure that God’s word is rooting itself as deep as possible? Find time this week to sit down with a devotional and open God’s word and just take your time working through it to make sure that you are truly growing.

And what happens when we have shed wickedness and are rooted in God’s word, and we are truly following Jesus? Our souls are saved.

Struggling with anger is just one of the things that can get in the way of God working in our lives. So we look to the hope that we have in Jesus and we make sure that the hope we have in him is restraining sin in our lives.

Hope Acts

James 1:22 ESV

22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.

Here is the central verse in all of James. I can preach an entire sermon just on this one verse, and that is what I am doing. All of the stuff around this, all of the verses so far and all after, are centered around this. Do the word. Don’t just hear it, but do it.

This goes back to letting the word take root in your life. Not just the gospel, but all of scripture. If we only let the gospel take root, then the gospel truly hasn’t taken root. We need all of scripture taking root in our lives.

And going back to the picture of a plant growing. If a plant is in the ground and it’s roots are deep, and it never puts out any fruit, that plant is useless. This is the difference in someone who only hears the word and someone who does the word. The difference between being a spectator and a player. If we only hear God’s word and don’t do it, then what use are we to the kingdom of God.

This is where I am getting to with our church. Why would we do this week in and week out, we come in, sing some songs, give some money, hear the word be preached, and then do nothing about it? Why isn’t our life changing? Why aren’t we as a church growing in numbers week in and week out? If these things aren’t happening, then what are we even doing?

Praise the Lord for what we have seen this year. An increase in worship attendance, baptism, a day trip to do mission work, our Wednesday bible study beginning to grow.

But we should never be content. Because when we stop doing, we are deceiving ourselves. James tells us what deception is like.

James 1:23–24 ESV

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.

James uses such a ridiculous illustration here because he wants you to know how absurd this is. You don’t forget what you look like when you walk away from a mirror. So why should someone hear the hope of God’s word and then walk away and it not doing something in them to cause them to act upon it. If you think this is okay to do, then you have been deceived. You need to repent. This never needs to happen again.

James makes it clear that seeing whether or not this happens should call into question salvation. Your soul is on the line. We need to be serious about this. 3300 souls within a 1 mile radius are on the line. Right now, in this room there are ____ souls on the line. How do we know where we stand? We look at our response.

James 1:25 ESV

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.

We all know people who will take this and think, “well I tried that before and it just didn’t work out the way I thought it would”. James isn’t saying try this once and see what happens. You cannot “try Christianity”. It doesn’t work like that. When someone truly plants God word in them, and it takes root, and they are changed by the hope of Jesus Christ, what should always happen is perseverance. Every single time. Do we struggle sometimes? Do we wrestle with our salvation? Do we pray for God to take away burdens? Yes and Amen. But we push through. When we don’t, James says we are a hearer who forgets.

Don’t be that. Be a doer who acts. And what happens when you do this? You will be blessed.

Psalm 19:10 says that God’s word is “10 More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb.”

Do you treasure in the word of God? Does it give you hope? Does it cause you to act upon what God says? Hope Acts.

To review…

Hope restrains - Because of the hope we have in Jesus, we are no longer controlled by our sinful impulses. Instead, we are quick to receive God’s Word, slow to argue against it, and slow to anger. As we put away sin and allow the Word to take deep root in our lives, hope begins to restrain us—shaping our responses and guarding both our hearts and our lives.

hope acts - Real hope doesn’t stop at hearing—it moves us to obedience. When God’s Word truly takes root, it produces action, perseverance, and visible change in our lives. We are not called to be spectators of the truth, but doers of it, living out our faith in a way that reflects Christ and impacts the world around us.

I want us to finish our time today with these last couple of verses where we will see that…

Hope Loves

We hear a lot of talk about religion. And it is very polarizing. Even in churches, the word religion has become demonized. Now, in the context of what it is used for, I understand. But the church needs to take back the word religion and act like scripture tells us to.

At the heart of the Christian religion is love. We, as Christians love people so much, that we share the hope of Jesus with them. (gospel presentation)

The love of Jesus is what the Christian religion should emulate. So what does James tell us about religion.

James 1:26–27 ESV

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.

James kind of uses 3 different ideas to define religion. He says that valuable religion is when someone bridles their tongue and refuse to be self-deceived, when someone takes care of the oppressed, and when someone keeps themselves unstained from the world.

First of all, if you think you are a religious person, and you cannot control your tongue, James says your religion is worthless. What a way to get us back to thinking about anger. At least for me, my tongue gets the loosest when I am angry. Why is this such a concern?

Our mouths are mirrors of our hearts. Matthew 12:34 “34b For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.” What comes out just shows us what is inside of us. If you are encouraging, joyful, compassionate with your speech, chances are that is what the inside looks like too. But if you open your mouth and you spew hate, condemnation, and vulgarity, then I am here to tell you that your inside is nasty as well.

So much can happen with our speech. Gossip, backbiting, cussing, nasty stories, inappropriate comments. We must control our speech because not only is it a reflection of Jesus because you say you are a Christian, but it is a mirror to your soul.

When you are at work tomorrow and you hear those other guys engaging in that inappropriate joke, walk away and protect yourself from it. When you are at school, and those other kids are saying words that would make a sailor blush, do not engage in it. And honestly, you need to find better friends. We must not be deceived about our souls and the importance Godly thoughts and Godly words. But that isn’t all that James says.

He says that we need to take care of the oppressed. “Now, David. He doesn’t say oppressed. He says widows and orphans. Don’t try to twist what James says to make it sound like some sort of social justice issue.” Well, this was a social justice issue. In the time of James, they did not have social structures that were put in place to help those in need like widows and orphans. Widows were extremely poor because their source of protection and income was dead. And orphans had no parents to take care of them.

So when James says that the religious person needs to take care of them, it is because society had left them behind. They didn’t have people who were loving them and taking care of them. So the church needed to stand up.

I am so thankful that we as a church do what we can to help those out. We have helped in different ways of taking care of widows, not only in our congregation but outside as well. And with the orphans. We have our developing relationship with Baptist Children’s Home, we have 2 licensed foster families, me and my family are strong advocates of adoption, we partner with Love Life(abortion center prayer walks), we participate in our local PRC, I got in a dunk tank a couple of weeks ago to raise money for F.A.M., we will be hosting more classes beginning in August to license more foster families. We just do all kinds of things for children who need families.

But it doesn’t stop there. We need to be praying about more ways to help out the ones who have been cast off by society. Widows and orphans are wonderful areas of ministry, but we need that to broaden for us as well.

Lastly, James ends this section with what I want to end our time with here this morning. A religious person keeps themselves unstained from the world. It all comes back to our hearts for God. We desire and we strive to be holy, to be set apart. That is what it looks like to keep yourself unstained. Listen, we cannot avoid the world. It is there and we have to interact with it. We can’t act like we did during Covid and lock ourselves in our houses to protect ourselves from it. That isn’t how we interact with the world.

What does being unstained by the world look like? It can manifest itself in outward actions. Not participating in the foolishness of the world. The drugs, the alcohol, the cursing, the gossip, the drama, the endless fear mongering news cycles. But it is also internal as well. Whenever you are tempted to act on a desire to sin, you resist. Whenever you are alone and you know you can do something and no one would ever find out, you fight that urge. Whenever jealousy or anger or greed start to creep in, you shut it out. We are to be in the world but not of the world. If the world is calling you weird because you don’t participate in what it deems as normal, you are probably on the right track.

But as we interact, we keep ourselves unstained. We are able to do this through our hearts being rooted in God’s word. Through our fight with our own personal sins, such as anger. We do it by not just hearing God’s word, but by doing it.

Today is a pivotal time here in the book of James as we go through it. Maybe today is the day you put the stake in the ground that you are done living like the world. That you are finally going to shed the filthiness and rampant wickedness and put on righteousness of Jesus and live in a manner to keep yourself unstained from the world. The first step in doing that is surrendering your life to Jesus. Turn from your sins(all of the things that are in between you and God), believe that he is your Lord and savior, and follow him. That is what salvation is. I want to ask that if you are doing that or have done that, please let me know.

But maybe you need to make the outward statement that you will not live like the world any longer. What does that look like? That is baptism. It is a public declaration that you are a follower of Jesus. We believe the bible is clear that after you come to faith, baptism is a necessary act of obedience.

For a lot of you today, I may not be able to hone in on what the next step looks like for you. But I do know that each and every one of us have a sin in our lives that needs to be taken off like it is a set of ruined clothes. You know what that sin is in your life. God wants you to do that right now, today. He desires to see you keep ourselves unstained from the world.

Amen and amen. I am thankful for God’s word this morning.

If God is leading you to do something specific and you would like to talk through it, I would love to talk to you. If you need prayer for anything specific this morning, you are more than welcome to come down during our last song and I would love to pray for you.

Prayer

Our song in response to God’s word this morning is I stand amazed. That should be our response to what God is doing in our lives. Amazement. L