Sermon Tone Analysis

*James 1:19-27*

*Fanatics for the Faith*

 

“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 that God requires.

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.”[1]

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hristians who take seriously the instruction of Scripture are considered fanatics by those who are casual about the Faith.

Tepid faith has become */de rigueur/* in too many religious circles.

Modern evangelicals are expected to be religious, but they must not be overly committed to the Faith.

In fact, those Christians who are openly committed to discovering the will of God and then doing what God wills are considered to be fanatics by those among us who are of tepid faith and commitment.

Recently, the founding pastor of one of the largest church movements in evangelicalism made a stunning admission.

In essence, this greatly adulated pastor confessed that the “seeker sensitive” movement did not build strong Christians.

What this pastor had done was create a setting that brought large crowds into a religious setting where many did, indeed, profess to believe the message of Faith.

However, those professing the Faith were incapable of building themselves up in the Faith.

In essence, a significant number of worshippers were unchanged other than being entertained in a religious setting.[2]

I am not saying that these people were unsaved, but they gave scant evidence of the transformational power of the Indwelling Spirit of God.

James was concerned that those to whom he wrote lived as people who were children of the Living God.

He was concerned that they not be merely religious, but that they would be righteous.

James’ words are pointed as he confronts the attitudes that are casually dismissed even among God’s professed people, calling all who name the Name of Christ the Lord to practical holiness.

Applying the standard of this world, James is demanding that Christians become fanatics for the Faith.

By the standard of God’s Word, however, James calls on Christians to begin living the normal Christian life.

In a similar manner, each of us is faced with the call of whether we will be complacent Christians that never disturb anyone with our Faith and that are never challenged by those about us for why we live as we do, or whether we will be fanatical about righteousness.

*Categories of the Faithful* — We are great for categorising one another.

We differentiate on the basis of sex, on economic status, on racial and cultural bases, on educational levels, and any of a number of other criteria.

God also categorises, though we are not permitted to discriminate or show partiality.

However, in our text, it is obvious that God distinguishes between those who are hearers of the Word and those who are doers of the Word.

Understand that we are speaking about Christians, people who profess knowledge of Christ the Lord.

We are speaking about people who would claim to have been born from above, to be saved.

When we speak of hearers of the Word, however, we are speaking of individuals who may be quite knowledgeable of what the Bible says.

They may well have read the Bible through in its entirety—repeatedly!

They may well serve in various voluntary positions within a church, sitting on boards and making decisions that affect the life of the Body.

However, they are hearers, and not doers.

James speaks of Christians who are marked by a distressing degree of anger.

These Christians, unlike those who are following hard after God, are slow to hear, quick to speak and quick to anger.

They are so focused on their own wants that they fail to see what God desires.

Because things just never seem to work out as they want, they grow frustrated, and their frustration quickly turns to anger.

Full of anger, they are incapable of producing the righteousness God requires.

In the grip of their anger, they are easily contaminated with filthiness and rampant wickedness, because they are unable to receive the implanted Word.

Let me pause for a moment to note that the child of God is under assault at the best of times.

We are constantly tempted to embrace the attitudes and to accommodate the actions of this dying world.

However, the child of God is equipped to ward off the enticements of the world so long as they are able to hear the voice of God directing their paths.

However, when angry, we cease listening to the voice of God—or any other voice so long as we are enraged.

Thus, we are unusually vulnerable when we are angry.

This is the reason James warns that the “anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God.”

When we are angry, we cease listening to God because our emotions boil over and control us.

Thus, the implanted Word has no place in our lives at that time.

As hearers of the Word, we are capable of going through the motions of being religious.

We perform all the rituals, perhaps even expecting that we will continue to be called upon to lead in conducting those rituals, but they cease to be worship.

We sing the songs that were written to glorify the Lord, but inwardly, our hearts are dark and utterly contaminated by the choler that now marks our life.

We continue to say prayers, and they may even sound quite pious, but we fail to communicate with the Father.

As hearers, we are moving toward the most damning form of hypocrisy imaginable—that in which we are utter pretenders.

As mere hearers, we seethe as we hear the Word because it exposes our hypocrisy, but we dare not let anyone see the contaminated condition of our soul.

When James commands us to “put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness,” he uses a Greek word that means “to strip off soiled clothing.”

This idea of stripping away what is dirty or soiled is a common theme in the New Testament.

Consider a few instances in the Word where we are commanded to rid ourselves of that which contaminates.

In a passage that is reminiscent of James’ command, Paul writes, “Let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armour of light” [*Romans **13:12*].

This is not the only time Paul issues such a command to Christians.

In fact, he becomes quite specific as to what contaminates in both the Ephesian encyclical and in the Letter to the Colossian Christians.

In the Ephesian letter, Paul writes, “Put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.

“Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbour, for we are members one of another” [*Ephesians **4:22**-25*].

To the Colossians, he warns, “You must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth” [*Colossians 3:8*].

The author of the Letter to the Hebrew Christians urges his readers, “Since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us” [*Hebrews 12:1*].

These commands are echoed by Peter in his first letter to Christian of the Diaspora.

Peter urges the saints to, “Put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander” [*1 Peter 2:1*].

The filthiness and rampant wickedness that James has in view likely refers to the attitudes and actions deemed acceptable by inhabitants of this world.

Those attitudes and actions would include, though they would not be restricted to: anger; wrath; malice; slander; obscene talk; deceit; hypocrisy; envy; slander; failure to stay the course.

Attitudes and actions such as those listed contaminate; and the angry individual is liable to succumb to the temptation to adopt these attitudes as advancing the cause of Christ.

Refresh your memory of the situation confronting those to whom James was writing.

These Jewish Christians were experiencing severe persecution because they confessed faith that Jesus was the promised Messiah—the Son of God.

Because they would not deny their faith, they had lost their social and cultural support networks, their possessions, their ability to earn a livelihood, and in many instances they had lost their freedom and some had even lost their lives.

Under such conditions, we can imagine that it would be quite normal to be angry at the situation, and the anger experienced could readily be directed toward those who made life miserable.

What I am about to say is not mere theory; it is truth that each of us is called upon to embrace daily.

When you are unjustly accused and when you are slandered, when you are wronged, you must not succumb to the temptation to retaliate in kind; neither may you permit yourself to grow angry and remain angry.

For to do so is to stumble into the miasma of situational ethics that has utterly contaminated the world in which we live.

When those around you cheat and deceive in order to advance their own interests, you must not permit yourself to imagine that you can employ the same techniques to the glory of God.

You must be godly, for the implanted Word that you have received is able to save your souls, and it is required to guide your lives.

Hearers of the Word listen to what is said.

They likely even give assent to the words that are presented.

However, they justify ignoring what the Word teaches and act as though God’s Word has no validity in their particular circumstance.

Hearers of the Word often insist that others must apply what is written, but they appear convinced that they can ignore the Word.

Nevertheless, they ignore this Word to their own grief.

The other category James identifies is “doers of the Word.”

Doers hear the Word, and they endeavour to do what they hear.

Just as hearers justify acting like the earth dwellers with whom they identify, so doers of the Word make every effort to discover what honours the Lord and they endeavour to do those things.

They take control of their lives and of their emotions.

I do not mean to suggest that they have no feelings, but I do say that they subjugate their emotions to the will of God.

They bring their sorrows and their joys to the Saviour, making every effort to walk in knowledge of what pleases the Lord instead of walking according to the fleeting feelings that drive much of the world.

Although he does not use the specific term “doers of the Word,” the Apostle Paul identifies the actions of doers of the Word in the Letter to the Romans.

He commands, “Love one another with brotherly affection.

Outdo one another in showing honour” [*Romans **12:10**-13*].

Every action that we associate with “doing church” flows from “lov[ing] one another with brotherly affection,” and from “outdo[ing] one another in showing honour.”

To be certain, honour is due everyone [see *1 Peter **2:17*], but the fellow believers especially are to be honoured.

Listen to what the Apostle says!  “Love one another with brotherly affection.

Outdo one another in showing honour.”

This command is not optional; neither may we excuse ourselves if we choose not to do what is commanded.