James: Morals that Move

James 1:19–27 ESV

19 Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; 20 for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. 21 Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. 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. 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.

Good morning, Ambassadors! Thank you for joining us for our Lord’s Day Worship gathering, whether here onsite or online. Today we are beginning a new, three-part series in the book of James; this series is entitled “Morals that Move.” My intention for us in this series is for us to lay a foundation for our church as we lean into our theme of Moving Into Maturity In Christ. A great way to think about this foundation is a to parallel it with the format of the sermon today - the What, So What, and Now What of the Gospel and/or the Christian life.

We are going to attempt to do this by seeing how James, the brother of Jesus, points us to the transformation inside and calls us to action on the outside that points back to God’s grace.

As we have started with the entirety of the main text, let’s jump back in to the first section, verses 19-21.

James 1:19–21 ESV

19 Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; 20 for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. 21 Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.

This first section of our text this morning sets the stage for the remaining verses of the chapter. The title of this section of chapter 1 in my Bible is “Hearing and Doing the Word.” It follows a section entitled “Trials and Maturity.” As we move into “Hearing and Doing the Word,” we do so with the reminder that we have endured trials. We have been in the midst of social, economic, spiritual, and political trials that we have not before seen. Being shut up in our homes, many losing their opportunities to earn income, churches being forced to close or severely alter their opportunities to serve, and the obvious political divisions that persist even today.

The first question I have for us this morning is

In the midst of our trials, what ought to be our gospel-centered response?

As I stated previously, this has been a time of trial and division. James clearly and succinctly approaches that here in verse 19

James 1:19 ESV

19 Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger;

When we see what is happening in the world around us, are we applying biblical Christian ethics to the biblical Christian morals we claim to have? In the title “Morals that move,” my hope for us is to apply well the teaching of James who so clearly and beautifully helps us to think of our ethics and our actions.

For us as Christians it is so important to remember that our morality drives our ethics. What we choose to do and how we choose to act comes from who we are. We are not like the world, which holds this in the reverse. The world upholds the ethic of “to each their own” and sees morality as fluid and baseless. The Christian upholds the moral foundation of God and sees Scripture as the basis of that morality. We then turn our morality into ethics by saying “to each according to God’s commands and for the glory of God.”

James 1:20–21 ESV

20 for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. 21 Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.

We can camp out in verse 21 for a moment. Really, I feel like we could camp our here all day but we’ll just stick with it for a moment.

PUT AWAY

Do you see those words put away? Those words indicate “activity.” I know this has been a theme for me and for us as a church, but the spiritual discipline and activity of “Put Away” is significant. How can one put away weakness? By training for strength. How can one put away hunger? By eating and drinking. How can one put away debt? By earning enough to pay it off. Now - how can one put away filthiness and rampant wickedness?

We remove ourselves from situations that produce wickedness/filthiness in ourselves and others

We put ourselves in situations that produce Gospel fruit and spiritual blessing

So the answer to our what question (In the midst to our trials, what ought to be our gospel-centered response?) is this:

The gospel we receive should be implanted in us so deeply that it rids us of our wickedness

The activity here is centered on the transforming work of Christ that has already been given to us. You see it is the gospel that rids us of wickedness, not the activity. It is the gospel that saves us, as James reminds us in verse 21.

He clearly shows us how it is God who saves and inspires the work we do as result of that salvation. Another point is that when we receive this gospel, it ought to be in meekness as it says in verse 21.

This leads us to our next question and section of the text:

So What does hearing and receiving the Word do for us?

Let’s hear from James on this

James 1:22–25 ESV

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.

Have you ever been in a situation where someone told you, “Do as I tell you, not as I do?” If you haven’t, let me tell you, that is some trigger for many of us. It’s also a sign that someone is about to make a mistake and we ought not repeat it!

Whether or not you have said this or been told this, you can probably recognize the fault in the logic. How effective are words not met with actions? How does the world respond when it hears Christians say “Love everyone” and yet they respond with hatred and vitriol when something doesn’t go their way? Obviously I don’t mean this that Christians can’t stand up for gospel truth; on the contrary, we are called to love the Lord and love our neighbors as ourselves within the context of gospel truth.

But what we have heard is so crucial to know what we ought to do. It’s the truth that drives the actions, not the actions or experiences given to somehow “discover” personal truth. The only personal truth that exists is rooted in the objective truth ordained by God. It is when we act in this framework that we become blessed and a blessing.

James answers the so what question for us in verse 25

James 1:25 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.

Another way that I’dl like to answer for us and summarize is this:

Doing what we have heard allows us to hear more deeply and brings blessing to us and those around us.

This is where maturity in our faith really comes into play. When we build habits of spiritual activity, “a doer who acts” as James puts it in verse 25, we build a level of character that can’t be replicated by desires, emotions, or circumstances. This is crucial for us as we grow in our faith. It’s crucial as we live out gospel witness to our neighbors, co-workers, family members, our children. If we are not committed to doing what we have heard, why would those around us be confident in hearing themselves? Intent means little to nothing in these circumstances. Intent cannot cause growth, only action.

Now we arrive at the final section of our text today and at our final question for today.

Now What is the path to doing what we have heard?

I’m not going to be the broken record and beat the drum of volunteering at ABC or on ministry teams once again. If God has called you - and he has called all of you - to serve Him in a tangible way, pray and seek wisdom from Him on what that is to be. But do not meet that challenge with intent, meet it with obedience.

Let’s look at what James says in the final section of chapter one.

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.

Verse 27 is oft quoted and used actually against Christians by those from outside, saying we aren’t practicing what Scripture calls true religion. This is obviously ridiculous, since Christians and Christian charities around the world have run innumerable ministries in these areas and many others for centuries. That is not to say we are without fault, but still, it’s disingenuous.

But let’s look at verse 26 - would you like your faith journey or religiosity to be considered worthless? Neither would I. The warning from James is strong. Bridling/Guiding our tongue is the first step to doing what we have heard. Secondly, it’s not just the ministry to orphans and widows. James here is saying that it is the practical steps of loving those around you, and in many cases, the least of those around you that draws glory to God and helps those hear the good news of the gospel. So the final answer to our final question is this:

We obey God and love the world without becoming stained by it.

In order for us to maintain our faith and love the world, we have to recognize that there is a separation that exists, whether we are comfortable with it or not. Our obeying what we have heard should propel us.

- Offer up a call to receive the implanted word and accept the sacrifice of Christ for the salvation of our sins.