James 1:22-25

Introduction

One of the books that has greatly impacted many of the missionaries and mission-minded folks of my generation1 is called Back to Jerusalem. It was written by three leaders in the underground church of China. When I say “underground” church, I don’t mean that the churches literally gather underground necessarily. That is the term for the churches that have not been sanctioned by the Chinese government and are thus often meeting in secret and at risk of severe persecution.

Toward the end of the book there is a chapter that asks the question are we “Disciples or Just Believers?” In

other words, they are trying to distinguish between those who are really following Jesus (i.e., disciples) and

those who simply claim they believe in Christ. This distinction is similar to the one Kyle Idleman makes in his

more recent book called Not a Fan, where he argues that there is a difference between people who follow Jesus

2In commenting on this, the three Chinese leaders who wrote Back to Jerusalem, make this sobering observation:

“True disciples are usually people that few understand. They are viewed as potentially unstable fanatics. Often the same governments that tolerate the existence of mere believers will stop at no ends to completely eradicate any disciple within their borders.”3

I suppose these three Chinese leaders would know, since between them they spent more than 40 years in Chinese prisons for their faith before being exiled from the country all together. But here is what I want you to take away from these words. These brothers are telling us that the government in China doesn’t really care about those who are gathering to merely listen to the Word of God, but they will imprison (or perhaps worse) people who go so far as to actually live out the Word. And yet, interestingly, that is precisely what James says we, as Christ-followers, should be known for—doing the Word.

65 years ago A.W. Tozer wrote some scathing words concerning the church in his day.

“There is an evil which I have seen under the sun....It is the glaring disparity between theology and practice among professing Christians. So wide is the gulf that separates theory from practice in the church that an inquiring stranger who chances upon both would scarcely dream that there was any relation between them. An intelligent observer of our human scene who heard the Sunday morning sermon and later watched the Sunday afternoon conduct of those who had heard it would conclude that he had been examining two distinct and contrary religions....It appears that too many Christians want to enjoy the thrill of feeling right but are not willing to endure the inconveniences of being right.”

I wonder what he would say in our day, as not much has changed. There is still a great disparity between hearing and knowing the word of God or theology, and applying that which has been learned.