Untitled Sermon

Good morning, Grace! In case I haven’t had the chance to meet you yet, my name is Adam Hunt, and I serve as the Campus Development Director here at the Lindale Campus of Grace Community Church.

In 1862, at the height of the American Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln appointed Edwin Stanton to be his Secretary of War. What made this decision shocking was that Stanton had a well-known dislike for Lincoln, having famously called him a "long-armed ape" and publicly mocked his intelligence. When asked why he would put someone so blunt and critical in his cabinet, Lincoln explained that Stanton was one of the few men in Washington who refused to flatter him. He knew Stanton would tell him the truth. He would be direct. Now it might come off as harsh or feel uncomfortable, but it would be the truth.

That is precisely the role the book of James plays for us. Now, James is a short book. It’s just five chapters long and can be found toward the end of the New Testament. Written by James, the half-brother of Jesus, it’s likely one of the first letters written to the early church as Jewish Christians were scattered across the Roman world. But what makes James so unique is its style. It reads less like the letters of Paul, and much more like the Old Testament book of Proverbs. And because of the way it is written, James can often feel confrontational or maybe even abrasive, but often that style leads to conviction. It also makes it an intensely practical book to read. Like Edwin Stanton did for Abraham Lincoln, James speaks with fierce honesty and directness that helps us hold up a mirror to our lives.

Now we wrapped up our series on “The Table” last week and will be starting a new sermon series next week. So today, while we are between these two series, we have the opportunity to take a look at short passage from the book of James that helps us move us from being passive listeners into people who are active in our faith, following Christ with our whole lives.

So if you’ll open your Bibles with me we’ll dive into James chapter 1, starting in verse 19: Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. 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. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. 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. If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person's religion is worthless. 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.

So when we look at this passage what we see is that it is broken down into three sets of heightened contrasts or comparisons. As I mentioned earlier, this is a style James is borrowing from the wisdom literature of the Old Testament, specifically books like Proverbs, but it also mirrors some of Jesus’s teachings from his earthly ministry. Specifically, it involves contrasting two ways of living. In Proverbs that is often the way of the wise vs. the way of the fool, and what we see here is James leading us through a series of comparisons between what we are called to as followers of Christ when compared with what may be prevalent in the world around us. He begins by instructing us on how we should respond to the Word and the world, carries that into how important it is to act on what we know to be true, and from there gives us specific actions to take that reflect these truths.

Now there is one thing I want to highlight before we dive into this, and that is that James addresses his readers as beloved brothers. The Greek word for beloved here comes from the same root word as agapē, which some of you may recognize as unconditional love, and signifies that James cares deeply for his readers. So James is signaling from his very first words in this section that what he is saying he is saying from love. His intent is far different than that of Edwin Stanton in his directness with Abraham Lincoln. James is not condemning his brothers and sisters in Christ, instead, he is calling them to righteousness.

So in the first section we see three directives: be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger. James goes on to say that our anger, the anger of man, does not produce righteousness. Candidly, this is a verse I come to often in parenting. When Lewis and I started talking about what passage we should look at together today, I was like “well, I’ve spent a lot of time here…” “don’t hit your sister - the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God” “Listen to me when I’m speaking to you! - be quick to listen.” “Don’t talk back to your mom - be slow to speak.” And while I think there is a practical application here for life and for parenting, the more I’ve looked at this, the more I think I’ve been missing some key context on this. And that is because verse 21 begins with therefore. Now I’m sure many of you have heard this before, but when we see a “therefore” in scripture, we need to go back to see what it is there for. So that phrasing at the beginning of verse 21 inextricably links the idea of being quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry with putting away filthiness and rampant wickedness, and receiving with meekness the implanted word. With this “therefore”, James effectively categorizes the opposite of what he first told us to do, so being slow to listen, quick to speak, and quick to become angry, as filthiness and rampant wickedness. This is not how we are meant to relate with one another, or, more to the point, to the word of God. You see, when he talks about the implanted word here, another word that could be used is engrafted. Like a fruit tree. When we are grafted into the family of God, we need to understand that His word calls us to live differently. And meekness can be understood as gentleness, or humility. So when we receive the scriptures with humility, when we are quick to listen to what God’s word is telling us, when we avoid impressing our preconceived ideas on scripture, we are reminded that the Gospel is far more than good advice for how to talk to people - instead, it saves our souls.

Where in your life this week do you need to be quick to listen and slow to speak? In a conversation with your spouse? At the dinner table with your kids? Maybe on social media or a comment section where you want to win the argument rather than reflect the Gospel? In these three verses, James gives us a blueprint for the Christian life: Turn from wickedness, like being quick to speak or quick to anger. Approach scripture rightly, which is to read and listen with humility to what God is saying to us through his word, and we are reminded that the Gospel is the only thing that can save us.

From there James goes into his next comparison - where he stresses that we should be not just hearers of the word, but more importantly, doers of the word. Now what we see here is a progression from where we started. First, we are told how we should receive the Gospel: with meekness, being quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to anger. But once we have received the truth of the Gospel, we cannot go away unchanged. If we do not put into practice what we have learned, by becoming doers, we risk forgetting the truths that have been revealed to us altogether.

A few years ago there was a tragic hit-and-run accident near the Florida State University Campus in Tallahassee, Florida. Thankfully, there were several eyewitnesses. The accident happened when a pedestrian was in a crosswalk, it was light outside, and there were a bunch of people around. One college student said she was sure that it was a white, or maybe a silver, SUV. A guy from another vantage point also saw the vehicle. A black SUV. He was so confident. Another college student from another angle? He also saw it, the gray car that hit that girl. And yet another witness saw the whole thing happen and described the vehicle in detail - she said it was a small black car with some silver trim on the back. In broad daylight mere minutes after it happened, four witnesses confidently gave four different descriptions of the same vehicle. Every single witness saw the car - and every single witness walked away with a different picture in their head. They looked. They really looked. And then mere moments later, their minds began to fill in the gaps with details that weren’t even there. And this phenomenon is actually well established - in recent decades studies have found that eyewitness testimony is notoriously unreliable. And James says that's exactly what happens to us when we don’t apply the Word of God. "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. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like" (James 1:23–24).

We sit here on a Sunday morning and write down a neat quote or underline a verse, and then we walk out those doors, and by Tuesday, it’s gone. Not because we weren’t paying attention, but because we failed to do something with what we learned. Hearing without doing doesn't preserve the truth. It distorts it. Just like those four witnesses, we walk away confident - and then our lives are quietly reshaped by what's comfortable, what's familiar, what costs us nothing.

So how do we avoid being forgetful bystanders? We act! We are told in verse 25 to look into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and to persevere.

So what is the law of liberty? Here’s what that looks like: This summer, our family has been hosting a group of Sky Ranch summer staff on Wednesday nights each week. While we were talking this week, one of the guys was talking about what an awesome week it had been, and how it stemmed from the obedience of the boys in his cabin. He came off a really challenging week the previous week with several rambunctious boys in his cabin, and that led to a lot of discipline and correction that made the week harder and less fun for the boys. This week, his boys listened well, followed rules, challenged themselves to be their best, and held each other accountable - correcting one another when the actions of one negatively impacted the group. And the result is that this week has been a lot easier more fun for the boys!

When we don't fight against God, but instead submit to Him and obey His word, we find that we actually have more freedom, not less. We are not under obligation to fulfill the law in the hopes that we can do enough good things to gain God’s favor. Instead, we are free to follow Christ. The law actually gives us more freedom and more joy! We are no longer enslaved by sin. We are free to be joyfully obedient. And when we are obedient, we see fruit in our lives. As we read back in verse 21, the implanted or engrafted word is what is able to save us. And when a branch is successfully grafted into a tree, it produces fruit, and the fruit that we are told of here is that we will be blessed in our doing.

Now we move to our final section of comparison: contrasting a religion that is pure and undefiled with one that is worthless. And what we see here is that James again drills down. He first examined the posture with which we should receive the word and engage with the world. Then, he clarified that we should not only hear the word but also be compelled to action by it, and now he tells us what that action is.

Now one thing to double click on here is the word religion. That word sure feels like it has a lot of baggage attached to it in our current cultural moment. I mean how many times have you heard someone say something along the lines of “I’m not religious, but I am a very spiritual person.” Or maybe more in our circles in the church you’ve heard “It’s not about religion, it’s about a relationship with Jesus.” And while it is true that through the sacrifice of Jesus by the power of the Spirit we have access to God the father, that is one of the defining attributes of the Christian faith, the Christian religion. So relationship with God is not in place of but a part of our religion. And here the word that James uses for religion refers to what would have been understood in the ancient world to be ritual acts that display commitment to a pagan god. And so the temptation for converts to Christianity was to try to define what ritual acts they needed to perform as a part of this new religion, and what James was saying is that this one is different. This one doesn’t require a specific ritual, because if your tongue is unbridled, if you can’t control your speech, and you think you are religious…you are deceiving yourself.

Notice how James explicitly ties this back to where he began in verse 19. The very first proof of genuine religion isn't a ceremonial sacrifice - it's controlling our tongues. Do you know what you do in almost any interaction you have with other people? You talk. So you cannot perform a ritual act and go back to business as usual. This religion requires us to change every interaction we have with other people. James is reclaiming and redefining the term. This pure and undefiled religion, what we are being called to, requires a complete change in the way we live. But how are we to live? Well this is where James lands the plane. He tells us explicitly what we are called to do: to care for orphans and widows, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.

But why the focus on orphans and widows? Well, in almost any society, children and the elderly are the most likely to be abused, neglected, and taken advantage of. And orphans and widows represent the most vulnerable individuals in their respective groups. What’s more, showing care for these individuals is the least likely to yield dividends for us. By most measures, there is not much that they can offer that would make it “worth it” for us. But that’s the point. We can offer God nothing that he needs. He is holy and powerful and completely self-sufficient. There is nothing we can bring to God that makes him more happy or more complete. God gains nothing by extending grace to us. But he did. And he does. What’s more, throughout the Old Testament and the teachings of Jesus we see the heart of God for orphans and widows. So, as those created in the image of God who have been grafted into the family of God, one of the highest ways we can share the love of God with a hurting and broken world is by showing love to those who have no way of repaying us. But there is one more thing. To be unstained from the world. And one really cool thing about this verse is that there is how it says “and to keep oneself unstained from the world.” That and was added to English translations for readability, meaning that specific word actually isn’t there in the Greek manuscripts that we have. So the implication is that when we do these things, when we are quick to listen and slow to speak, when we are slow to anger, when we receive the word with humility, when we are doers of the word whose lives are marked by action, when we control our tongues and show care for the marginalized, all of that contributes to showing that, in Christ, we are different from, we are unstained by, the world.

So James has taken us from a 30,000’ view of how to interact with the world, which is to be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to anger, and he’s given us a call to action, imploring us to be doers of the word and not hearers only. And now he’s made it intensely practical, giving us specific people, orphans and widows, who we are to care for. Now if you’ve spent a lot of time in the church, you might be questioning this a bit - “I thought we were saved by grace alone, through faith alone in Christ alone? But here James has just given us a laundry list of things to do!” And you wouldn’t be the first person to question this! Martin Luther, the 16th century reformer, famously called James “an epistle of straw”, claiming that it was insubstantial and that it overemphasized the importance of good works. And if you look at this passage we’ve studied together in a vacuum, I can see where he’s coming from. It can quickly lead to an expression of Christianity that is driven by works. Am I doing all the right things? Am I doing enough to earn God’s love? So to rightly understand this passage, we need to understand it not in a vacuum, but in the context of what comes immediately before it, that sets it all up. Let’s look at James 1:17-18: “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.”

Here we catch a glimpse of who God is, and how much he loves us. Every good and perfect gift is from Him. He is good! Perfect! Loving! Generous! Here He is called the father of lights. That title points to his eternality, to the fact that he was there before creation and that He is the creator!

We’ve been working on establishing a rhythm of family worship in the Hunt House—and let me just pause and admit that our attempts at this are imperfect and often inconsistent. But parents, can I just encourage you for a second? There are few things more important in parenting than sharing the truth of the Gospel with your children. Even when it's hard, keep at it!

And so recently, we read about God’s creation of light in Genesis 1:3, when God declares “Let there be light”! The psalmist reflects on this in Psalm 74:16: “Yours is the day, yours also the night; you have established the heavenly lights and the sun.”

The eternal one. The creator. And James goes on to remind us of the immutability of God, that is, that he is unchanging. “There is no variation or shadow due to change!” And of his own will, he chose us. He brought us forth by the word of truth. That is the gospel! It’s the truth that God has stepped in to reconcile sinners like you and me to himself through Jesus Christ, who died on the cross as a sacrifice for our sins and rose from the dead. That is the word of truth! So in these verses we see that God is good and perfect, that he is loving and generous, that he is the creator and eternal, that he is unchanging, and that he chose us of his own will.

In his choosing us he has given us what we call positional holiness. It is the position we now have before God through the work of Christ on the cross. There is nothing we can do to earn this position. It is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone.

So we sit here reflecting on these incomprehensibly wonderful attributes of God, and James tells us that through this word of truth, through the gospel, we are now a part of the firstfruits of his creatures, that is, we who are in Christ are a glimpse of what is to come in eternity. We are a sliver of hope in a broken world.

And then, James calls us to action. This is what we call behavioral holiness. That our behaviors, the way we speak, the way we act, the way we live, should all point to Christ. The right response to the goodness of God is a life of worship. A life marked by being quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to anger. A life marked by being a doer of the word and not a hearer only. A life marked by the pure and undefiled religion of caring for widows and orphans, tempering speech, and remaining distinct from the world. It’s not a low bar. It’s a high calling.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the German pastor who was put to death in 1945 for his opposition to Hitler and the Nazis, famously contrasts what he calls cheap grace with what he calls costly grace in his well-known work, The Cost of Discipleship. He says “Cheap grace means justification of sin without the justification of the sinner.” Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without Jesus, grace without the cross. By contrast, costly grace, real grace, calls us to change, to follow Christ. So, how are we to respond to this God who created everything, who is perfect and loving and good, who never changes, who chose us? We respond in humble obedience.

So as you walk out these doors today, don't leave your notes on the chair or forget what you saw in the mirror. Ask yourself one simple question on the drive home: "What is one area of my life where I am hearing God's word, but holding back on actually doing it?" Let’s pray.