Doers of the Word
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Introduction
Introduction
Good morning… can you imagine we are at the last of June already?
Now please don’t forget about tonight, we are going to have a great time in the Lord, we are going to hear some great gospel music and I hope this place is full.
We will have a great time of worship!
So please come back out and join us as we worship and celebrate the Lord and His glory.
Now for this morning I want to celebrate with you a topic I think is important for everyone, what does that mean...
Every church member needs to hear and pay attention to to what James tells us in James chapter 1.
Worship is the most beautiful expression that we have the privilege, the joy of giving back to the One who has given us so much, our Heavenly Father.
So let me share this passage with you...
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.
22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.
Now here is what I believe, I believe this passage is one if not the most important verse in the whole New Testament..
Now here is what I believe, I believe this passage is one if not the most important verse in the whole New Testament..
Why?
Because it pushes us, the readers to take what we know, and to apply them in the vastness of the life God has given us to live in this world for His glory.
want to challenge you my friends and ask you what does it mean to be a doer and not only a hearer of the Word.
Now James is a important figure in the New Testament, he is the half brother of our Lord, a natural son of Mary and Joseph. He is also the head of the New Testament church in Jerusalem.
James is pushing believers to live for God. In very practical and real ways, asking them asking us to be careful especially in what we say and do...
So what do we see from this passage right off....
There is a command
1. A Command
1. A Command
Commands in the word of God are not there to push us, to be bossy..... No. They are there to help, to encourage and to teach us...
So right off the bat, James is pushing, encouraging us to move..
Here is the first point of the message I want us to consider today, James tells us, “...be doers of the word” verse 22.
The first point of the message I want us to consider today, James tells us, “...be doers of the word” verse 22.
The word there “doer” means to “do”, “obey”, a “keeper” if you will of what is right....
Now Paul shares a similar statement .... in Romans...
13 For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified.
So consider this my friends....
Doing… it is an important concept in the kingdom of God. And in these passages James and Paul tell us we must be a “Doer”.
Now understand this teaching is not something they came up with, it is not their own wisdom or teaching…
No, the command to be a “doer” is a concept that is exclusive to the entire word of God.
When you consider the Old Testament, we see the 10 commandments give us commands to do or not to do....
Example… You shall have no other gods before me…
So we see here God commands us to be a “doer”
And Jesus reminds us of the same...
21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.
Matthew 7:21
and
24 “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock.
So knowing the word of God, and knowing what we are supposed to do and how we are supposed to live is not enough as a child of God, we have to be doers of the Word as well.
That is the command of God/
So lets put this into our everyday practice..
The command to be a “doer” effects what we say and do not say,
it effects what we take into our life and it effects what comes out of our life.
James being so practical wars against the dangers of the “tongue”
Do you ever consider your tongue in the course of the day? Do you ever consider your thoughts, actions...
Be doers not just hearers.. this is the command of God.
2. Beware the Falseness of Life
2. Beware the Falseness of Life
Now why do I say “beware the falseness of life”? Here is my reason.... there is a thought that says.... I am ok.... someone else will do it its not my job…
So James says in the command...
22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.
Be doers of the word is only half the command.... we are commanded to not be only a hearer....
Being a doer implies they hear the doctrine, the teaching, and they argue, reason themselves away from the truth.
Consider this, a person knowing what to do…( they know the word of God, they know the commandments, they have been taught and their is evidence that they know the truth.)
But here is where they fail.....they reason, argue, talk themselves out of doing what is right.
The outcome is this.... you have deceived yourself..
The word deceive has the meaning of clearly, reasoning, cleverly twisting the truth to hide the meaning.
Now James gives us a practical example of this in verses 23-24...
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.
Man this is a awesome illustration… James said it is like a man looking in the mirror. and looking in the mirror he is able to see his true condition.
The imperfections, the bumps, scars, whatever.... but when he lays the mirror down, and walks away. He soon forgets his state, the problems he saw earlier.
And so for us, we have the word of God and it reveals our true state. It shows our sin, our drama, those things that God hates..... and as soon as we get away from the word of God we forget just how we are, we don’t see ourselves as God sees us.
we have deceived ourselves.... and guess what the devil is right there happy… because we are not doing, we are not participating with the word of God.
So here is the question...
Are you just a hearer?
Generally two people know if you are… You … and the Lord
The falseness of life.... we cannot only do half the work. You are either all in or you are all out...
Which is it?
Now one last thought.... There is a blessing...
not a suggestion
not a suggestion
3. Blessing of a life lived for God
3. Blessing of a life lived for God
3. Blessing of a life lived for God
There is a truth we must be willing to hang onto all the day… we must be doers of the Word … and if we are, there is a blessings because we are a doer.
Look with me a verse 25
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.
Do you see what James says here… You want to enjoy the blessing of a life lived for Jesus...
But sadly, people neglect this one thing. the gathering of themselves together with other like minded believers for this sole purpose. - worship .
Its simple...
Be a doer.
The doer is the person who intentionally works and the phrase James uses here is “… a doer who acts,”
the word acts refers to the moral and spiritual obligations we live under.
Think of it like person who desires to bear fruit, if you want to produce spiritual qualities in your life.... then you will abide in Jesus and He in you.
5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.
Now just a quick thought.. verse 26 says you must control your mouth..
now just a quick thought.. verse 26 says you must control your mouth..
26 If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person’s religion is worthless.
You cannot be a spiritual person and let your tongue wag.... run, gossip, stir the pot or open the can of worms all the time… if that is you.. you have deceived yourself and there is no truth in you.
But back to verse 25… the person who who does and acts,, James says he will be blessed in his doing....
The word blessed means this… Your life is characterized by happiness and you are highly favored by divine grace.
So here is the question? Do you want to be blessed ?
Be a doer of the word.
What does that mean…
You love the Lord more than yourslef
You want His ways more than your ways,’
worship is important
Witness is important...
People choose to honor themselves instead of God.
_ worship
worshipper
Witness
But I want to share this thought with you… if there is one point of our faith that God desires, it is worship.
One who loves the Lord
Worship is what is commanded.
God desires our worship, and we should give it to Him
So I want us to look at a passage as we begin this message.
28 Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, 29 for our God is a consuming fire.
....
18 And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone.
23 But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. 24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”
5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart.
Deut
Now today my prayer is this, I pray we will leave here with a greater appreciation for a heavenly Father and a greater desire to worship Him.
So why are we to worship....
Here is my first thought....
If there is anything we/ I have to understand that we are His children, and as a child of God I believe our Heavenly Father has created us for relationships.
God created man.... not just to create man, not to just make a person to watch and entertain Him.
No! but to have man/women live in fellowship with Him, to love and bless them.
Lets consider Abraham , God called him to come and follow. And in doing so God made a covenant with Abraham A covenant that would extend to every generation after him.
Now we know that was special, because Abraham and Sarah had no children at the time… But Abraham followed believing...
Here is what I believe, humanity has a desire, a deep seated desire to reach out to that which is beyond them.
Abraham lived to follow and worship the Lord his God…
Now if you jump to , we find
in Genesis 22
Genesis chapter 22… Abraham and Isaac are present, and they are traveling to worship the Lord.
If you remember the Lord tested Abraham,
5 Then Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey; I and the boy will go over there and worship and come again to you.”
Why this verse? Abraham says to this servants, the boy and I will go over there and worship...
The word “Worship” in this verse, well this is the first place in Scripture that we find this particular word, “worship.” And it means to bow down, to prostrate oneself in the presence of deity.
God had entered into a covenant relationship with Abraham and Isaac and as such Abraham was to worship.
And as God provided the ram in the thicket, they worshiped
Now think about this thought for a minute, have you ever considered that one of the reasons you are here is to worship the Lord our God.
In the world, we had no idea, no understanding and no way to reach out to Him.
As Jesus spoke to the Samaritan woman, she asked the question, where is it that we are to worship, our fathers say here and you say Jerusalem...
and in so many words, Jesu
Man was made to live in relationship with God, and with that to worship Him.
Now you dont have to turn there but in exodus
Now I love , why?
Because the woman at the well, she is like us.
She lived according to the world, she sought to satisfy herself and her needs and never realized why she was here.
And on this particular day, Jesus waits for her.
a
Her life was a sad one, coming to draw water at that time of the day. He waits for her...
Why. She was made to worship..
6 Jacob’s well was there; so Jesus, wearied as he was from his journey, was sitting beside the well. It was about the sixth hour.
7 A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.”
1 Clap your hands, all peoples!
Shout to God with loud songs of joy!
2 For the Lord, the Most High, is to be feared,
a great king over all the earth.
heb 12 28-29
abrahma worshiped Genesis 22:5
Moses and children worshiped and we are to worship John 4
2. He is Worthy of our Worship.
2. He is Worthy of our Worship.
He is Worthy of our Worship.
2 Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name;
worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness.
3. It is what He truly deisrs above all else/. Worship/ obedience not sacrifce
Deut 6:5-6
5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart.