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I. Introduction
A. Eye of the Tiger
a. I remember when I had to play soccer; we were told to train outside of our practices.
b. For example, in pre-season, we had to run a certain number of times to be ready. Our preseason drills focused on getting in shape.
c. This required a large amount of running.
d. I remember that one of my drills was called the “Eye of the Tiger.” This drill consisted of running 3 drills: a 60-yard sprint, 6 40-yard sprints, and 12 20-yard sprints.
e. This high-intensity workout was meant to improve our physical fitness.
f. When we did it, we got sore, and it felt painful. Nevertheless, we always came out of it better or for worse.
g. This drill helped us play longer, and we were always known for having high stamina.
B. Introduction to Sermon
a. We look at this example, and we are awestruck. Yet, we are called to participate in God’s kingdom.
b. What is true obedience?
c. In America, like here, we have Christians who like to claim Christ but don’t look or sound like our Lord.
d. In our society, we have it as comfortable to be Christian.
e. Furthermore, we have made Christ a mediocrity by our lack of self-interest in our Savior. James will attack the very essence of our personas.
f. For James, our lives are the output of our faith. This is why it is important to understand the essence of what we believe and act on this truth.
C. Main Idea: If we truly claim to be Christian, we are called to act and live like disciples of Christ.
The Call to Obedience (v.22)
James 1:22
But be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.
A. Review
a. When we look at this text, we should understand the purpose of what James is stating.
b. This verse is one of the most important verses in the entirety of this letter.
c. The buildup of verses 19-21.
d. In those verses, we were given how to act like a believer.
e. Being slow to anger and quick to listen (v.19). The dangers of human anger (v.20).
f. We listened last week to how moral filth, which is described as “Filthiness” (rhyparia), emphasizes the dirty, rotten, unclean, defiling nature of wicked speech and sinful anger.” T
g. his filth is the opposite of righteousness.
h. One cannot be filthy and clean, which is why, for the Christian, the spiritual bath is to be consistent in the Word.
i. But what good is a bath if you don’t get into it and clean yourself? Y
j. our relationship with God is much like every relationship.
k. Which is why verse 22 is not just the crux of the first chapter of James, but, in my humble opinion, the whole book.
B. “But be doers of the Word”
a. James starts with, “But be doers of the word” (v.22a).
b. If we are going to accept God’s Word as our final authority, we must do it. What is stopping us?
c. Paul tells this to Timothy in 2 Timothy 3:16-17, “All Scripture is inspired by God, and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.”
All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness,
so that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.
d. To be a doer is an action.
e. Moo states, “Essentially, James argues in vv. 22–25, to “accept” the word means to “do” it. “Doing” frames vv. 22–25: “do what it says” opens the paragraph (the Gk. equivalent of these words comes at the beginning of the verse), and “blessed in what they do” concludes it.”
f. If we don’t act in the Word, then we actually reject the Word. Following Jesus requires action, not being passive.
g. If we are doers, we must practice what we preach.
h. In our society, actions speak louder than words.
i. If I say I’m a Christian yet I cause disunity, attack people, don’t give to our churches, or serve our Lord's ministry, then do my actions say I'm a believer? James is talking to a complacent community. These people can be described as his next group.
C. “and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves”
a. James confronts the issue: “and not hearers, deceiving yourselves.”
b. As one commentator states, “We must continue to grow in carrying out the commands laid on us by our hearing of God’s word. This hearing is most naturally the public reading of the Scriptures in the context of worship. But hearing alone is insufficient. To hear and not to take action is to lie to oneself.”
c. In our church congregations, we have many hearers.
d. This hearing takes form in people who don’t do what God has called them to do. These people are deceiving themselves, but from what?
e. They are deceiving themselves into thinking that they are in true communion with God.
f. A hearer isn’t going to act on God’s word. They are laid back, cause a ruckus when they don’t get their way, or are lazy when it comes to God’s mission.
g. As Bloomberg states, “Either way, religious self-deception occurs in which people can be mistaken in thinking “that they are truly right with God when they really are not.” Such sham religion has devastating consequences for one’s eternal destiny.”
Application: We are called to listen and apply God’s Word actively.
a. As we look at ourselves, we should always ask, how can I improve my walk with Christ?
b. An active Christian is ready to do anything for Christ. Like the parable of the Talents (Matthew 25:14-30), we should worry if we are living like the servant who hid the master's money. In life, God has gifted us talents; if we let them stay dormant, God has the right to take them away or convict us to use them.
c. As St. Augustine states in his sermon, “If it is a good thing to hear, it is a much better thing to do. If you do not hear, you cannot do, and therefore you will build nothing. But if you hear and do not do, then what you are building will be a ruin.”
The Example of Disobedience (v.23-24)
James 1:23
Because if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like someone looking at his own face in a mirror.
A. Verse 23
a. James transitions from this main point to the first of two examples. The first is that rhetorical fashion is negative.
b. James is attacking the hearer. In verse 23, James states, “Because if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like someone looking at his own face in a mirror.”
c. This first part of the illustration is that they look at the mirror.
d. Historically, we should not equate our contemporary mirrors with ancient mirrors.
e. Ancient mirrors were made of polished metal, so while they didn’t offer the clear reflection we get with glass, they still let people see themselves. But the crux of this is the word “Face.”
f. As Moo states about its importance, “If James intends the word to have this general meaning, then “the face of his origin” might refer to what God intended human beings to look like from the beginning: the “image of God” in which he created humans. If this is the meaning, then what James suggests is that the person looking at himself in a mirror sees what God created him to be; and he is faulted for failing to do anything to bring his life into conformity with that ideal.”
B. Verse 24
James 1:24
For he looks at himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of person he was.
a. The foundational action of this illustration encompasses verse 24.
b. James talks about this face in the mirror, but what is the action?
c. The hearer notices his face in the mirror and leaves.
d. This indicates that the face notices something is wrong with their appearance.
e. Like the bath illustration, this person notices something is wrong with their face but declines to do anything about it.
f. They would leave this act as if they were perfect.
g. It would be assumed that this wasn’t a thorough look either.
h. In the syntax, this would be a glance. This person would look in the mirror and notice nothing wrong.
i. James also emphasized this individual's quick departure.
j. This would show how ridiculous this person was.
k. As Bloomberg concludes, “But at this point we begin to wonder if perhaps this illustration is not better understood as a deliberately ridiculous analogy, for no one in their right mind who examines their image that closely would then utterly neglect the flaws they discover and instantly forget whatever they had seen. Likewise, James seeks to stress how ludicrous it is for people so rapidly to ignore and forget what they have heard.”
Application: We are called to use God’s Word to self-examine and do something about it.
a. If we act as the hearer who knows the word of God and does nothing, then we are no different than a person of the world.
b. God has called us not to be Sideline Christians. These are Christians who are not active in a local church.
c. The Bible has warned us about being one of these people.
d. Paul states in 1 Corinthians 12:14-20 that we are called to be one body.
e. To be a hearer is not to be active in a local body, not to listen attentively, or to cause issues for the assembly.
f. We are called to examine ourselves according to Scripture.
g. Paul states in 2 Corinthians 13:5, “Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith. Examine yourselves. Or do you yourselves not recognize that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless you fail the test.”
Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith. Examine yourselves. Or do you yourselves not recognize that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless you fail the test.
h. The hearers think they are too good to examine themselves.
i. Like taking a bath, they can notice they are filthy, but instead of getting into the bath water to get clean, they refuse because they don’t think they stink.
The Obedient One (v.25)
James 1:25
But the one who looks intently into the perfect law of freedom and perseveres in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer who works—this person will be blessed in what he does.
A. “the one who looks intently into the perfect law of freedom and perseveres in it”
a. As we look at the final verse, we see James switches from a negative example to a positive example.
b. This person looks into the mirror and sees what he is.
c. Kent Hughes describes, “The first man’s look involved some laudable scrutiny, but this second man is gripped by what he sees and keeps on looking.”
d. The product of the doer is someone who does something about it. But what does the obedient one do?
e. As James describes it, “the one who looks intently into the perfect law of freedom and perseveres in it.”
f. True and active listening produces true and active change.
g. Scholars have questioned the meaning of the phrase "perfect law of freedom."
h. Much of the Bible uses the word “law” to mean the Mosaic law. This seems unlikely in this sense because James relies heavily on Jesus’ teaching.
i. But it could include this in a sense yet, as Moo states, “Taken together, these points suggest that James’s “law” does not refer narrowly to the law of Moses, but to the law of Moses as interpreted and supplemented by Christ. Perhaps, then, the addition of the word perfect connotes the law in its eschatological, “perfected” form, while the qualification that gives freedom refers to the new-covenant promise of the law written on the heart (Jer 31:31–34; see the comments on v. 21), accompanied by a work of the Spirit enabling obedience to that law.”
j. In totality, this would mean that this perfect law of freedom is itself the Word that James is talking about in verse 22. Therefore, as Christians, we are required to keep this word. To pass on this Word, the Word of God.
k. As one commentator concluded, “What James is implicitly saying is that God’s word is one single entity, and we cannot pick and choose from it. If we want the benefit of the “gospel,” the word that brings us into God’s family, we must also respond to the “law,” the word that commands and instructs us.”
B. “and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer who works—this person will be blessed in what he does.”
a. The final clause in this verse is, “and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer who works—this person will be blessed in what he does.”
b. This truly obedient person is a faithful, active listener.
c. An active listener who keeps and preserves the Word of God close to their heart must be pushed to action.
d. Furthermore, the contrast between the hearer and the doer is clear. The hearer is forgetful, as stated in verse 24, which means that the true believer does not forget the Word but keeps the Word.
e. This Word transforms their lives. That is what it means to keep. As Moo states, “James is referring to the one who, having heard the law, sticks to it by internalizing its message and using it to transform their life.”
f. They don’t just keep it but act on it. The issue of works will be fleshed out in chapter 2.
g. But this work is issued in response to changes in believers' lifestyles.
h. This is categorized as: if a person is truly saved, they will be active in their faith. This will cause the believer to be blessed in what they do.
i. Meaning that they will be blessed because they are following in the Savior's footsteps. This blessing isn’t gaining material objects, like money, or temporal benefits like healthy lifestyles, but rather being blessed for personal fulfillment.
j. As Bloomberg states, “This is not an eschatological blessing, but the promise of personal fulfillment in the very process of doing what believers know to be right.”
Application: We are called to live out God’s Word actively.
a. As we look to close, let's remember our previous statements.
b. Our love for God is only truly shown by how active we are.
c. What we do says a lot more than what we say.
d. A love for God’s Word also leads us to do God’s Word.
e. This is the crux of the message of James. We live in a time when people claim to love Christ and do nothing about it.
f. If this is your lifestyle, then can you truly claim to love Christ?
g. We are supposed to be held accountable to the Word of God.
h. An example is in our Constitution for the Church. In our bylaws, under Section 1, Letter G, it reads that:
1. “Members are expected, above all:
1. To be faithful in all the duties essential to the Christian life,
2. Attend regularly the services of the church,
3. Give regularly and systematically to its support and Kingdom causes, and
4. share in its organized work.”
i. While the Word of God trumps the constitution in every category, for this example, could we claim to be a member of our Church if we do not actively fulfill all, not just some, of the categories?
j. We are called to live actively; we do this through the local church.
k. We are required to be accountable not just to each other in Word and Spirit but also in service, which is what James is doing.
l. If we are to keep everyone accountable, which is a Biblical Ethic, we must remember that sometimes we need to have Nathan when we are like David or the author of Hebrews states, “ And let us consider one another to provoke love and good works, 25 not neglecting to gather together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging each other, and all the more as you see the day approaching.” (Heb. 10:24-25)
And let us consider one another in order to provoke love and good works,
not neglecting to gather together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging each other, and all the more as you see the day approaching.
