James 1:22-27

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.

James 1:25–27 ESV

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. 26 If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person’s religion is worthless. 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.

What is the “word?”

Some say the Torah - the Jewish Law

But James tends toward quoting the teachings of Jesus in particular rather than the teachings of the Torah

This is not to say that the Torah is bad to James - it’s not, its good. But he sees in the person and teachings of Jesus something more and better than just the Torah

He refers to the “word” in vs. 25 as the “perfect law, the law of liberty”

This is a fascinating reference, because it is touching on the counter-intuitive idea that a person can find liberty and freedom by submitting themselves to this law

Reference to John 8:31-36

John 8:31–36 ESV

31 So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, 32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” 33 They answered him, “We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say, ‘You will become free’?” 34 Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin. 35 The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. 36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.

Jesus is talking to those who had “believed him,” which is interesting because this same group just a few verses later will be trying to stone him

A theme in John of “progressive belief,” meaning that belief and faith are not an “on/off” switch, but journey of progressive where someone can move from “unbelief” to a kind of belief that doesn’t result in true commitment to a true belief that saves.

Jesus says if they abide in his word (obey his teachings) they are truly his disciples, and doing so will result in knowing the truth, and the truth will set them free

Notice very briefly the order here: If they abide in his word (obey, action), THEN they will know the truth - John was saying that real belief will proceed out of obedience.

Application: If you are waiting to take a step of obedience to follow Jesus until you “understand everything,” you will never take that step - and this is the theme that James is touching on a will develop

The Jews Jesus was talking to believed they were free because they were offspring of Abraham

Jesus says that everyone who sins (by the way, everyone) is a slave to sin, but that he sets people free

So there is a “law of liberty,” meaning that freedom from sin is found in submission to Jesus

This theme put forward by Jesus is why James is so set on making sure we understand that we must be “doers” of the word rather than “hearers.” He is talking about actually obeying Jesus rather than just hearing what he says.

Hearing of the word without action is tragic because it is deceptive

To hear the word but not do it is deceptive

Because it gives us a false sense of security - we think that God is pleased with us because we attended the Bible study, because we showed up at church, because we listened to the preacher

But to hear and not do is to deceive yourself.

The Pillar New Testament Commentary: The Letter of James B. Obedience to the Word Is the Mark of Genuine Christianity (1:21–27)

The person who fails to do the word, James therefore suggests (in an anticipation of his argument in 2:14–26), is a person who has not truly accepted God’s word at all.

Hearing without doing is irrelevant because it results in nothing - James raises an illustration that at first glance is difficult to interpret

The one who hears but does not do is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror, sees himself, walks away and immediately forgets what he looks like

This is contrasted in the next verse with the one who looks into the law, perseveres, and acts

So what’s the point? What’s the contrast?

What is looked at

The natural face in the mirror vs. the perfect law of liberty

Mirrors in the ancient world were typically polished metal that gave a dim, imperfect reflection

The word of God gives clear guidance and understanding to us, so how much more should we pay attention to it!

Whatever this man sees in this mirror, he immediately forgets

Maybe he sees that he has something in his teeth, or that there are crumbs in his beard, or that his face is dirty, or that he’s having a bad hair day, or that he has a rash that needs medical attention

The result of the looking

Whatever it is that he sees in the mirror, the man walks away and forgets what he looked like

So nothing happens - his hair is not combed, his beard has crumbs in it, his teeth aren’t white, his rash doesn’t get the ointment it needs

His look in the mirror was tragically irrelevant

Nothing changes

Nothing is transformed

Nothing moves

The pointlessness of this first part of the illustration is the point

To hear the word of God and not obey it is as irrelevant to life and faith as the man who looks at the mirror and then immediately forgets what he looks like

Summary: To hear the word of God and not act on it is tragically irrelevant: Not only does it not result in any actual life change for you, but it also deceives you into believing that you are right with God when perhaps you aren’t. Now please don’t misunderstand me: I am in no way saying that your works of obedience somehow merit your standing before God - they don’t. But we have to grapple with the idea that a life transformed by Jesus LOOKS like something. Our acts of obedience do not earn our salvation, but they do display it.

James now moves into the contrasting picture of the man who doesn’t just hear but who acts.

II. Doing of the word results in blessing (1:25)

Rather than hear alone, this man looks into the law of liberty and perseveres

James is contrasting the forgetful hearer with the one who doesn’t just look at the law but continues to do it (NIV).

This is a person who hears the word, internalizes it, and uses it to live a transformed life of action

This is confirmed in the way James makes this contrast explicit: “being no hearer who forgets but [rather] a doer who acts...

Principle here: The man who hears but forgets, forgets because he only heard and didn’t act

James says that this is the man who is blessed

The blessing here might refer to salvation, eternal life

It might refer to the favor of God as looking with delight upon the life lived that is pleasing to him

But this word is general enough to not need us to supply a specific principle to it

Here’s what I think it means: The “blessing” is in actually experiencing the beautiful life of following Jesus that he has for each of us

Let me see if I can illustrate this: James is touching on a profound principle here

We know intuitively that many of the most important, beautiful things in life cannot be described or explained, but must be experienced

Kelsey and Kortnie talking about a sunset going down over Broken Top on a clear day

No picture of that will ever do it justice, no description of it will ever match the experience

You have to be there

Dancing with my daughter

I can get a video of it, I can take pictures, but nothing is ever like just being there dancing with her

And even though we know that this is true, we still wrestle with it

I’ve been to concerts where people spend the whole time watching it on their phone screen to try to capture a video

And that’s tragic because it means they will never experience the concert

They aren’t experiencing it right then and there because they are on their phone

Whatever they are capturing on their phone will never do justice to actually being there

On dancing with Gwen, I sometimes notice in myself a desperate desire to capture what’s happening on video - because I don’t ever want to forget what this moment is like

But the danger there is that I spend all my time trying to document my daughter instead of just being with her as her father

Why do we do this? Why are we content to hear about the sunset rather than see it for ourselves?

Because we are afraid, because we think we don’t have time to watch the sunset, because we are in such a hurry and are so busy, because it might be dangerous to go out on an adventure where we actually experience something new

I think James is touching on this concept - there are people who “hear” the word of God, who “hear” Jesus, but never take a step of obedience, and then they forget what they heard in the first place. Why?

Because in our culture, we want to understand first and act second

But Jesus tells us that we act first, and then we understand

If you are waiting to take a step of faith and obedience to Jesus until you understand everything about him, you will never take that step.

So how does “doing” the word of God result in blessing? When we don’t just hear and forget but obey and act, we experience Jesus in a way that hearing about him and talking about him would never do.

The great excitement and exhilaration that comes from sharing the gospel with someone does not come from just hearing someone else talk about sharing the gospel

The joy in giving generously to a person in need does not come from just hearing someone else talk about giving generously to someone in need

Principle: Our theology must work itself out in our lives through action

This is often the frustration with many people toward theology - it seems boring and irrelevant

But this is not because theology is boring and irrelevant, it’s because we have allowed theology to exist on a shelf separated from the rest of our lives and how we actually live

There is precisely nothing compelling about a Christian life of ideas of belief that are never lived out in any meaningful way

This is the reason that many Bible studies end up feeling flat and lacking vibrancy

Because we get to the point where it feels like we are talking about what it might look like if we were to follow Jesus with radical obedience, but we are not experiencing what it is like to follow Jesus with radical obedience

And even if someone comes into our group with a story about how they stepped out in faith and obedience to Jesus, if the rest of us haven’t been then the story kind of falls on deaf ears

By contrast, a vibrant, thriving, dare I say “blessed” community arises when we actually allow what we believe to be true about Jesus to inform and dictate how we live

James ends this section with three practical areas he sees this playing out in.

III. True religion looks like action (1:26-27)

James 1:26–27 ESV

26 If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person’s religion is worthless. 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.

We would grossly misunderstand this passage to mean that all that God desires from people are these three specific things

They are examples and broad summaries of ways that James sees how a person might be a “doer” of the word.

Control over speech

Your words matter. What you say to others and how you say it is an indicator of your faith.

Boasting, lying, demeaning, insulting, disrespecting, slandering, attacking, intimidating others

Are your words helpful for building up others? I don’t want to get too much into this today because James is going to talk a lot more about this topic.

Concern for the vulnerable and helpless

Doing the word should result in acts of care, kindness, and compassion for those in need

James uses “orphans and widows” as examples because they are normal and universal examples of those who have a hard time providing for themselves

But the idea here is that we should have genuine concern and compassion for those in need

Certainly orphans and widows

Those who are more vulnerable and at risk from the virus

Those in financial difficulty during this pandemic season

I’ve heard many stories already about people offering to supplement other people’s incomes during this time, SUCH a beautiful display of the gospel!

Unstained from the world

“The world” is a biblical concept for the way of thinking, prioritizing, and acting that stands in opposition to God

Our world has a whole set of assumptions about what values to hold, how life is and how it should be lived

And we are supposed to have different assumptions, values, and actions

Above is good example: The world needs to understand first before it will submit to Jesus: We submit to him first in order that we may understand.

But we are different than the rest of the world in how we handle money, how we raise kids, how we care for one another, how we sacrifice for those in need, how we dedicate ourselves to God

Conclusion

James is giving us in this passage a powerful exhortation to submit ourselves to Jesus not just in theory but in reality, to not just hear about Jesus but to act on faith and trust in him. And when we do, we will find the blessing of actually knowing him, of being with him, of sharing in our experience of him with each other, and then we will truly have something to talk about and encourage one another with.

When Kelsey told me about the sunset she saw over Broken Top, it was actually profoundly joyful for me as well, even though it was just a description of her experience. Why? Because I’ve seen a sunset over Broken Top. When you have experienced it, you have the understanding to actually talk about it.

Let us be a people who don’t just hear about Jesus, but act. Let us be not hearers of the word only, but doers. Let us reflect on and act on the steps of faith and obedience that Jesus is calling us to make, and we will find the blessing of life with him, where he is, in his presence.

Transition to Communion

In the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, God was loving us not just with words but with action. He is the example that we see of a faith that does not hear only but acts. So as we take communion, let us be encouraged and convicted to likewise be people of action.

You can take the next five minutes to pray and meditate, and to prepare the symbols you will use to take communion today. At the end of this time, I’ll come back on and lead us in taking communion together as a symbol of our unity.

Take communion.

Transition to Offering and Last Song

Song: Lord I Need You

Benediction

May we have the thoughtful wisdom this week to discern the word of God and the call of Jesus to the steps of faith and obedience he has for us, and may we have the courage and conviction to act. Have a great week!

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