Religion That’s All Talk
Talk is Cheap: A Study of James • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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· 10 viewsJames told his readers to be quick to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger, because human anger does not produce the righteousness of God. When the word confronted them, their instinct was to talk back and defend themselves. James called them to close their mouths and open their hearts, receiving the implanted word with meekness. But receiving it is not enough; those who hear the word without doing it are like a man who looked in a mirror and immediately forgot his own face.
Notes
Transcript
We live in a noisy world
Someone is always trying to share
an idea
an opinion
a theory
product
But not only are other people constantly talking to us, we are constantly talking to ourselves
we are telling ourselves stories about
who we are
why we do what we do
where we are headed in life
but what if Neurosurgeon Dr. Lee Warren is right…
“Research shows that a huge percentage of our automatic feelings and thoughts are false.” - Dr. Lee Warren, The Life-Changing Art of Self-Brain Surgery: Connecting Neuroscience and Faith to Radically Transform Your Life
The thoughts and feelings we have
automatically
repetitively
continually
He has said in interviews that it’s something like 80% of the things we continually tell ourselves are not true
So, not only are other people lying to us
we are lying to ourselves
constantly
two important questions come to mind…
WHY do we lie to ourselves and HOW do we stop?
WHY do we lie to ourselves and HOW do we stop?
The little brother of Jesus, James, addressed this problem
His audience
was being lied to by others
were lying to themselves
James tried to cut through all the talk / noise
Sometimes we tell ourselves untrue stories…
Sometimes we tell ourselves untrue stories…
about our trials (James 1:2-4)
The lie we tell ourselves: “God doesn’t love me.” / “Nothing good can come from this.”
Truth is, we should “count it all joy,” because it helps us mature
about our prayers (James 1:5-8)?
James talks about double-minded people
our prayers are saying one thing (“God please give me wisdom.”)
our thoughts are saying the opposite (“God isn’t going to do this.”)
about our poverty or wealth (James 1:9-11)?
the world says rich people are on top and poor people are below
God says the poor are the exalted ones
And the rich are humiliated, because their wealth will fade away
about our temptations (James 1:12-18)?
“Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” (James 1:13)
temptations don’t come from God
only good things come from God
but it’s verse 19 where I really want to dig into the 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.
James has a particular kind of listening in mind
Listening to the “word”
The message of Scripture
The Good News
That’s when we especially have to be quick to hear and slow to speak
When we speak, we start telling ourselves stories
“Yeah, that’s probably true…BUT”
“Surely God doesn’t expect me to…”
“In MY experience…”
And we talk ourselves right out of obedience
slow to ANGER
This kind of anger is defensive
“Who do you think you are?”
“How dare you say that about me!”
It’s lacking meekness
gentleness
humility
It defends its
filthiness
wickedness
but DOESN’T admit that’s what it is doing
God wants to
rescue us
produce righteous character in us
BUT our angry defensive talk sometimes gets in the way!
22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.
The DOING is the evidence
that the seed has taken root
that you’ve listened
that God is bearing fruit in your lives
deceiving yourselves
but if we just listen
defend ourselves
justify ourselves
make excuses for our behavior
then we’re fooling ourselves
we’re telling ourselves a story
and we believe it
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.
like a mirror - listening to the word reveals
who God is
but in this text, who we are
we are loved by God
we are children of God
God is saving us
God is producing righteousness in us
goes away and forgets
we’ve all experienced this haven’t we?
we study and we see ourselves
who God says we are
who God says we can be
but we walk away and we lie to ourselves, so we forget what the word said
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.
Our theme this year is fearless and faithful
we obey not because we’re trying to earn God’s favor
but because we believe his words about who he says we are
so we act according to what we have heard and truly believe
26 If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person’s religion is worthless.
unbridled / unrestrained speech
angry
defensive
abusive
self-justifying
deceives your own heart
self-deceived
convinced they are right
convinced they are religious
so many shameful examples of Christians doing this…
Christian crusaders in the 11th, 12th, 13th century
Christian slave-owners in the 19th century
Christian segregationists in the 20th century
All adamant they were right / righteous / religious - but completely self-deceived
religion is WORTHLESS
it’s easy to focus on other people here
BUT is it possible that at times OUR “religion” is worthless…
all talk, no action
telling ourselves a story
making ourselves feel good
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.
Religion / Pure / Undefiled / Unstained
temple language
priestly language
Before God the Father
you and I are NOT the final judge of whether or not our religion is acceptable
God is the judge
Religion is for him
We are making offerings to him
visiting orphans and widows in their affliction
echoing the Law and the prophets
widows
fatherless
poor
immigrant / foreigner
Micah 6:8 “8 He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?”
it’s easy to justify ourselves
make excuses
while we ignore the plight of the vulnerable around us
but don’t forget about this last one
keep oneself unstained from the world
It’s possible to become self-deceived on the other end of the spectrum
we could do good works
help the vulnerable
seek justice
But allow our lives to be defiled by immorality
we could excuse that and say
“but I do all of these good things”
that too is self-deception
Conclusion
remember how we started this section
“the implanted word” (the Good News) is what
saves us
produces righteous character
we just have to stop letting our own arguments get in the way
Don’t talk yourself out of the new life God is offering you.
Don’t talk yourself out of the new life God is offering you.
The application is exactly what James said
Be slow to speak
Be slow to get angry
Listen
Don’t be defensive
Don’t make excuses
Don’t try to justify yourself
Meekly receive the word — it’s GOOD NEWS
Obey
We don’t obey because we are trying to achieve
we do it out of gratitude
we do it out of loyalty to the One who has saved us
Invite response
repentance
baptism
prayer
encouragement
