2019-03-24 James 1:19-21 Treasuring The Word (1): How To Listen

TREASURING THE WORD (1): HOW TO LISTEN (James 1:19-21) March 24, 2019 Read James 1:19-21 – Jas has been talking about trials, and he continues with a new key to meeting them successfully. How to pass the test. The Word is key – not just knowing it, but treasuring it; not just hearing, but obeying, not just analyzing, but acting. The Word is clearly in view. Back to v. 18: “Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth.” Then jump to 21b: “receive with meekness the implanted word.” Scripture is the subject. We could divide vv. 19-26 into 3 parts – Receiving the Word; Responding to the Word; Reacting to the Word. But we’ll get even more practical – how to Listen (19-21), Learn (22-25) and Live (26-27) the Word of God. Today – vv. 19-21: How to receive or listen to the Word of God. I was tempted to name this, “How to Listen to a Sermon”, bc a good sermon should center on the Word of God. But this applies to anytime we’re confronted with the Word. Hearing God’s Word is critical. 21b: “receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.” That’s pretty important! It’s the Word that brings saving faith. Rom 10:17: “So faith comes by hearing, and hearing thru the word of Christ.” The received Word saves us! “Save” has a deeper meaning in the Bible than we often give it. Salvation has past, present and future aspects – justification (declared righteous), sanctification, (made righteous in practice) and glorification (make perfect in Glory). The Word is active in all of this! Physical food sustains physical life; spiritual food sustains spiritual life. It makes us whole. We need it more than food! Jas gives a 3-part command: “let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger.” One quick; two slows. These represent themes for the whole book – listening to God, watching one’s tongue and controlling anger. But here they are specific to how we hear God’s Word. So vv. 19-21 tell us how to receive it – it’s a lesson in listening. I. Receive the Word Readily (Eagerly) 19 Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear.” “Know this.” This is urgently important. “Be quick to hear.” Are we quick to hear the Word? That is one sign of true faith – eagerness to know the Word. I promise, the more you know, the more you’ll want to know. You’ll begin to see the beauty of how it all fits. So, “Hurry up and hear!” 1 One way to know if faith is real – you’ll have a desire for the Word. You’ll want to know what the Father is saying to you. It’s not that it is always so enthralling; it’s that you realize this is the way God speaks, and you want to hear Him. You say, “Well, it’s hard in parts. I don’t understand it all.” Right!! God wants to know who will dig and who won’t – who really wants Him and who’s just along for the ride. So open your Bible. Take a few verses. Check the cross references. Read study Bible. Meditate on it. It’s riches are hidden beneath the surface. But they are there, like gold waiting to be mined. And never open the Bible without asking the HS to teach you. I Cor 2:11) For who knows a person’s thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. 12) Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God.” Have you ever truly allowed the HS to be your teacher? No time like now to start. I Pet 2:2) Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation.” Newborn infants are eager, aren’t they? If you’ve got a new baby, you know. Whether it’s 1:00 in the afternoon or 2:00 in the morning, when that siren goes off, there’s not stopping it until the bottle goes into the mouth, right? A pacifier won’t pacify. That baby wants pure milk. It’ll cry its head off – wake up all the dogs in the neighborhood until it gets is milk. Peter wants us like that 15# baby – sucking for all we’re worth! Our pastor Philip DeCourcy loved the US partly for its food. He complained the drinks were so small in UK (he was Irish) – told of his first trip to US and someone stopped at a 7/11 and bought him a GULP. Said he didn’t know whether to swim in it or drink it! Now, I’ve read they have a double GULP – 72 ounces. Comes with its own lifeguard. You look inside and they’re filming Baywatch. We Americans love our drinks. And here’s God commanding, “Long for the pure spiritual milk.” Develop a consuming taste for the Word. Peter makes the same connection: I Pet 2:2) Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation.” Peter’s saying, “Salvation is big it takes time to learn to live it out. For that you need the Word. The Word is the means by which we become in practice what we are in position – “that by it you may grow up into salvation.” Salvation is something we have to grow into. It’s like an iPhone. Great to have. But so complex – so many capabilities. Could only make phone calls at first. Had to keep reading the book to grow up into it. Salvation’s like that. Multi-faceted. 2 Too big for us, but the Word grows us into our heritage in Christ, little by little. Without it we start as pygmy Xns and we stay pygmy Xns – growth stunted by lack of the milk of the Word. The Word grows us up in our faith. So we must learn to love the Word -- to treasure it above any earthly possession. The people in James’ time didn’t have the Word – not even the OT. It was all on scrolls. No Bible at home. So they heard it at synagogue and at classes. So James says, “Be quick to hear.” Listen up. Don’t miss a single chance. We’ve got it right in our hands – but are we listening? Eagerly? Jer 15:16: Your words were found, and I ate them, and your words became to me a joy and the delight of my heart, for I am called by your name, O Lord, God of hosts.” Notice the order. First, they were found. Then he ate them – read and absorbed them – then they became a joy and delight. Eagerness comes by exposure to the Word. A family was driving home from an outing when they saw a semi-truck run over a vulture feeding on some roadkill. Mom expected the little boy to be sad, but he was philosophical: “Well, you are what you eat.” Eat roadkill, you’ll become roadkill. Eat the pure milk of the Word and you’ll grow up into your salvation. Receive the Word eagerly. II. Receive the Word Reverently (Humbly) Note in v. 19b we are to be “slow to speak.” Perhaps your mom, like mine, taught you to count 10 before speaking? Good advice. But it’s more specific here. V. 21b: “receive with meekness the implanted word.” “Meekness” suggests weakness to us – a milquetoast. But that is not its meaning at all. The dictionary defines it: “not being overly impressed by a sense of one’s selfimportance”, hence, “gentleness, courtesy, humility.” It takes strength, not weakness, to humble oneself before God and that is exactly what James is urging here. “Receive with meekness – humility – the implanted Word.” The “implanted” Word – what has taken root in your heart. In Luke 8 seed is planted in 4 kinds of soil, only one of which yields fruit. Remember? Jesus explains: Lu 8:11, “The seed is the word of God.” And the soil? Lu 8:15: “As for that in the good soil, they are those who, hearing the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patience.” So the seed is the Word. The good soil is a receptive heart – the “implanted Word.” The good soil receives it reverently, humbly, not judgmentally! Are you getting the picture? Jas is saying, “Don’t argue with God’s Word; come with a teachable spirit. Reverently bow to the Word, not the other way around.” 3 Do you have a teachable spirit? Know what it looks like? Isa 66:2b: “But this is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word.” Do we tremble at the thought of violating God’s Word? Or do we argue against “Love your neighbor as yourself,” (Mt 22:39) “Forgive one another as God in Christ forgave you” (Eph 4:32); “love your wives” (Eph 5:25); “submit to your own husbands” (Eph 5:22); “honor your father and mother” (Eph 6:2); “do not provoke your children to anger” (Eph 6:4); “obey your earthly masters … with a sincere heart” (Eph 6:5); “love one another” (Jn 13:34); don’t “neglect to meet together” (Heb 10:25); “let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking” (Eph 5:4); put away “quarreling, jealousy, anger, hostility, slander, gossip, conceit” (II Cor 12:20); “love your enemy! (Mt 5:44). I hear those argued all the time! We argue when we should tremble. We lack a receptive heart and teachable spirit? We’d rather fight than switch. We willingly accept the Word when it fits our lifestyle, but we contest the things we don’t like? That command was cultural – not relevant today. That’s too restrictive. My circumstances are different. You don’t know my wife, my husband, or my boss. We’ve got a million reasons to disobey, but only bc we don’t know God well enough to tremble at His Word. God’s Word wasn’t given to negotiate; it was given to be obeyed! One simple reason. He is wiser than us, and not outdated! In the early 1960’s 2 soon-to-be legends had an “encounter”. Neil Armstrong wanted to fly an X-15 out of Smith’s Ranch dry-lake bed at Edwards AFB. But Chuck Yeager, first man to break the sound barrier, was director of flight operations – older and wiser at the time – told Armstrong the lake bed was too muddy from rains. Armstrong insisted the meteorological data, considering wind and temperature, indicated the surface would be dry. He got NASA to call Yeager asking him to inspect in a small plane. Yeager refused: “I’ve been flying over these dry lakes for 15 years; I know it’s muddy. I won’t risk an Air Force plane.” He also refused a NASA plane, but finally agreed to fly there backseat to Armstrong, who would be responsible, to check things out. As soon as they touched down, they were hopelessly mired in the muck. Hills blocked radio contact. Yeager said, “Well, Neil, it’ll soon be dark; temps going down to zero and here we are in a couple of windbreakers. Got any more good ideas?” Eventually a rescue team, alerted by lack of radio contact, picked them up. But the old=timers were entertained! Receiving the word of someone older and wiser with a little humility would have saved a lot of trouble. It’s the same with God. You may think His ideas unsophisticated and outdated, but I promise you, His wisdom is never out of date; His ways never 4 wrong. That’s why we must receive the Word with humility, not hostility. We don’t know what we don’t know – but God does. We’re to obey, not argue. III. Receive the Word Repentantly 21) Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness.” We read that and think, “Well, that’s not me.” But that’s all of us – including me. We only think it’s not us bc we minimize sin. “Filthiness” = uncleanness, especially in our thoughts. “Wickedness” sounds ominous; it’s just the general word for “bad” – any sin. “Rampant” – habitual, ongoing, besetting. So, James has in mind any ongoing, habitual sins of thought or deed, that reflect God falsely. These we are to “put away” literally, “lay aside,” “strip” as clothing. Same word as Eph 4:22 where God commands us “22 to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires.” Each day we choose our wardrobe – old self or new self. Paul lists some of the old – lying, anger, stealing, corrupt talk, bitterness, anger, and slander. Take that off and replace it with the opposite. Dress for God! Now watch how Jas leads into this. His final command in v. 19: “slow to anger” -- not anger in general, but anger in response to the Word. Why would one be angry at the Word? Oh – I can answer that easily. It’s bc the Word asks “21) Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness.” And we don’t want to put away all the filthiness. We like our little pet sins – our foibles – our laziness, greed, grudges, adventurous thought life, selfish indulgences, temper tantrums. We’ll give up murder and mayhem, but where the Bible touches our personal life – not so much! Did you know people have left our church bc of preaching against sexual immorality outside marriage? Too often that’s our reaction when the Bible touches where we don’t want to itch. But look at v. 20: “for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God.” God says, “Have your temper tantrum if you insist. Refuse to call your personal indulgence what I call it – filthiness and rampant (habitual) wickedness. Disagree with me if you want. But your anger doesn’t right your wrong! Your anger cannot produce My righteousness.” Anger at the Word? We’re all tempted to go there when it touches too close to home. Nobody likes to be exposed. When Paul exposed the false gospel and ungodly lifestyles of the Galatians, they got mad. Gal 4:16: “Have I then become your enemy by telling you the truth?” Jas is concerned we might have the same reaction. But II Tim 3:16-17: “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in 5 righteousness, 17) that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.” When the Word reproves and corrects anger’s not the desired response! What is? Repentance. Turning from sin. Taking off the old; putting on the new. Anger rejects reproof; repentance embraces it. Repentance is the Xn lifestyle as the Word hits home in ever new ways. The first of Martin Luther’s 95 theses reads: “When our Lord and Master Jesus Christ said, 'Repent,' he willed the entire life of believers to be one of repentance.” His point was, “Yes, we repent once for all to gain justification – but that saving faith leads to a lifetime of repentance as the Word reveals newly discovered reservoirs of wickedness we didn’t know were there.” Listen repentantly, After David’s sinned by seducing Bathsheba and murdering her husband, Nathan came and told him of a rich man with many sheep who stole the one ewe of his poor neighbor to feed a traveler. David was furious – until Nathan pointed right at him and said, “You are the man.” You’re the man. So David had a choice. He could rebel and become angry at the Word. Or he could repent, which is what he chose. That’s the right response. Listen repentantly. Conc – David says in Psa 119:127: Therefore I love your commandments above gold, above fine gold.” Do you love the Word? Why should you? Psa 1:1) Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; 2) but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night. 3) He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers.” Isn’t that a life worth living even if some pain attaches to it. A minister named A. C. Nixon reflected on his ministry by saying, “Every congregation I served can be divided into trees and posts. I call them that bc when you put in a tree it grows; when you stick in a post, it rots. I’ve had delightful time watching trees grow. But it is a sad business to watch posts decay.” Let’s be trees – planted by streams of water, loving the Word and receiving it readily, reverently and repentantly. That’s how you grow. Let’s pray. 6