Introduction:

How many of us remember what what last weeks sermon was all about? How many of us even remember what the topic or the main biblical text was? How many of us each week during the message are thinking about all the things that I need to accomplish during the coming week at work? Or maybe did I remember to set the timer on the stove to start cooking the roast so it will be ready when I get home this afternoon?

This morning we are going to look at a passage from the Book of James that by way of application should direct us in how we are to listen to the message the preacher is giving, whether it is me or anyone else; whether in this church or another; whether today or in the future.

Please turn to James chapter 1 starting at verse 21:

Therefore, putting aside all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness, in humility receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls. But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves.

Pray!

Transition

How is it then that we can put James' words into practice. I wish to set out three ideas. First off is that we need to prepare our heart.

Application

Preparing Your Heart – vs 21a

Any good farmer knows that before you plant your crops you must first prepare the soil. As most of you know Anne and I have attempted to recover the garden next to the parsonage and plant a few items. With some success. When we started we had Lee Schoenthal come over with his tractor and till under all the weeds and grass that had taken over the garden area. But we did nothing to kill off the weeds and the grass. So if you were to look at it now, you would find that large areas have again become overgrown with the weeds and grass. Only those areas that we constantly watched and worked to rid of the unwanted plant life are clear.

What James is saying here in the first part of this text is before we are ready to accept and implant the Word of God into our hearts and lives we must prepare them as the farmer prepares the soil. Just as the farmer does what he can to rid the field of unwanted weeds and grass, James says we must prepare our hearts by getting rid of “all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness” that stand in the way of us truly hearing and understanding what God is telling us through His Word.

The term “lay apart” in the KJV, or “putting aside” in the NASB, or “get rid of” in the NLT, literally “having put off” - it has the meaning of taking off one's old, dirty clothes. The scriptures equate sin with filthy rags, so James says to prepare our hearts to hear God’s Word we must first take off the old rags of sin and put on the new clothes of righteousness found in Christ.

The phrase “all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness” was used to describe generally any type of sin. The Greek word for “filthiness” was not only used when referring to old garments but was also used in reference to a moral vice. The Greek word James uses for “wickedness” here is designed to express his abhorrence of sin by a still more emphatic description, and he speaks of it not merely as an evil, but as an evil abounding, overflowing; an evil in the highest degree. He uses this particular wording in reference to the reception of the truth; He believes that a corrupt mind, a mind full of sensuality and wickedness, is not favorable to the reception of the truth. The Greek word is used outside of the New Testament to refer to the wax which builds up in the ear. It becomes a blockage to our hearing what God may have to say to us.

When you come here on Sunday mornings to listen to the message, is your heart prepared to hear God’s Word? Before you come, do you get out a spiritual Q-Tip, prayer, and ask God to remove the ear wax, sin, that can block our hearing of what God may be trying to tell us through His Word? Have you “put off” those filthy old rags and put on the clean, white robe of Jesus that He has washed with His blood? Heart preparation is vital to hearing God.

After we have prepared our hearts, and cleaned out our ears, we are now ready to listen, but how do we listen? James says that we need to listen to the Word with humility.

Listening with Humility – vs. 21b

In the original Greek the word used is prautēs (prah-oo'-tace) meaning "mildness", by implication "humility" or "meekness." The root praus means mild, humble, meek.

What does it mean to receive the Word in humility? There are several implications to this. It means that when we come we must remember we are not coming to listen to a person, but to hear the Word of God. It should not matter whether it is Billy Graham up here speaking or myself or maybe one of you. Maybe we do not like a pastor's certain style of preaching. I have known many people that have left a church because they did not like how the pastor gave his message. We get too hung up on the preacher and we forget that it is not about us or him but it is about the Word of God. The Word is still the Word. As long as the message is biblically based, then you are hearing the Word, and God is speaking to you.

Listen to what Paul had to say to the people of Thessalonica in his first letter to them, “For this reason we also constantly thank God that when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but for what it really is, the word of God, which also performs its work in you who believe.” (1 Thes. 2:13)

A key factor in our hearing the Word with humility is how we think it may apply to our lives individually. Each week as we walk out the door after the service we should say to ourselves, “How can I take what the Word says and apply it to my everyday life this week?”

To listen with humility also means that we are not tempted to think, “Wow this is a great message, I hope so-and-so is listening, they really need to apply this to their lives.” Or maybe, “I wish so-and-so was here, they really needed to hear this message.” When you listen to the Word, it is not about someone else, it is about what God is telling you.

To listen with humility we also need to not say, “I have heard this message so many times before, I will just think about what I have to accomplish this week at work.” We need to ask God, “what new thing do you want me to learn from this passage?” “How can I grow closer to you Lord?” “What deeper insight and fresh ideas can I take away from this message and how I might apply them to my life?”

So, after preparing our hearts, when we are listening we need to do so in humility. The next step is that we need to actually develop a plan for putting the Word into practice and following through.

Applying the Word – vs. 22

James is very pointed in verse 22 as to how we are to apply the words that we hear. Look at it again, “But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves.”

It is not enough for us to walk out of any service where the Word of God is proclaimed, either in message or study, and not let it have any lasting effect upon our everyday life.

Look back at what God told the prophet Ezekiel about the importance of applying the Word and what the consequences of not were. From Ezekiel 33:30-33 “Ezekiel, son of man, the people with you in Babylonia talk about you when they meet by the city walls or in the doorways of their houses. They say, "Let's ask Ezekiel what the LORD has said today." (31) So they all come and listen to you, but they refuse to do what you tell them. They claim to be faithful, but they are forever trying to cheat others out of their money. (32) They treat you as though you were merely singing love songs or playing music. They listen, but don't do anything you say. (33) Soon they will be punished, just as you warned, and they will know that a prophet has been among them.”

How did God look upon those who treated His Words as “simply love songs or music”? He looked upon them with great displeasure. To the point that they were going to be punished. God was going to make it known to them that it was not acceptable to just listen to the Word, but it must be applied and make a difference in their lives. Listen to the words of Jesus Himself in Matthew 7:21 “"Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter.” As James says in the last part of verse 22 not 'delude ourselves' into thinking that we can just sit back and listen without doing. Albert Barnes says, “If a man supposes that by a mere punctual attendance on preaching, or a respectful attention to it, he has done all that is required of him, he is laboring under a most gross self-deception.”

We cannot be sponges that merely soak up the water and are never wrung out. A sponge once saturated is no good. Like it, when we apply the Word, we are wringing out into the world our Christianity, the love of God, His compassion, and His mercy.

Now while it may be be good for me to give examples of application of the Word to illustrate the points that I am making in my messages it is impossible for me to personalize an application for each one of you. It is ultimately up to each of you individually to take the initiative to apply whatever you hear from the Word and thus 'prove' ourselves to not just hearer of the Word but doers.

Challenge and Conclusion

You don't have to answer this out loud, but how many of you kept your full attention on the message this morning? How many of us are thinking, “Yes I am guilty of only being a hearer.”

My challenge to you this morning is that as we walk out the door we resolve to not be just hearers of the Word, but whenever we read it, or hear it proclaimed, we intently focus on the what God has to say to us and how we can apply it to our lives. It is through the impact we make for Christ on this world that sets us apart as doers and not just hearers.

Remember to hear the Word we must prepare our hearts by putting off the sin that invades our lives and plugs up our ear from hearing. Then we must come to the Word with meekness and humility. Not focusing on the messenger but on the message. Not thinking how it may apply to someone else but how I can apply it to my life. Not saying I have heard this before, but saying maybe I have heard it but what fresh, new way can I apply it.