The Deception of Hearing God's Word

Introduction:

Orient to the Topic:

Listening is one of the primary keys to life, and listening takes place in more than one way. We might listen audibly or through reading for example

But we need to ask the question, is listening the same thing as hearing?

I would submit that it is not, and I want to give an example that I think we can all understand

Tornado (hearing the siren vs. listening to the siren)

Orient to the Text:

And this listening vs. hearing is exactly what James is talking about here in the first chapter of his letter

Something that we have to realize right off the bat is that there are times when the meaning of a text can be a bit veiled when it is translated

This text is a perfect example of this

Read the Text:

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.

Now on the surface, it might seem that James is simply calling his readers to hear his words

He is actually saying much more than that

In vs.19 James admonishes his readers to be quick to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger

The invitation is not simply to hear, but to listen

James is calling his readers to listen and the difference between listening and hearing is the intention

We find that the intention is uncovered by the response to what is said

The idea of James’s invitation in vs.19 is to obey

To hear with the intention of obedience is listening

And James will contrast these two, right here in this text

The desire of James for his readers is that they would listen to the Word and that they would live lives marked by obedience

Transition Statement:This morning I want us to see three truths about listening. James begins by calling us to listen and then moves to calling our attention to the primary hinderance to listening......

1.Listening’s Primary Hinderance (vs.20-21)

Preparation Statement:The primary hinderance to listening is sin.......

Sin, that is manifest in anger (this is why James says to listen and be slow to anger)

When we are slow to listen, quick to speak, it’s a pretty good bet that we are also quick to anger

When there is no attempt to listen with intention, the response will be selfish

And James tells us that when we allow out lives to be filled with things that do not accord with God’s righteousness, then we are hindering our ability to listen

So put away the things of the world

In this context the things of the world are filthiness and rampant wickedness

Impurity and depravity are the things that James is calling the believers to put away

Both of these ideas pertain to the issue of moral purity for the believer

And God has spoken, He has handed down a moral law as the moral law giver therefore mankind has a standard by which to measure their lives

And if we are putting away impurity, then we must bring in something else

Just about any time the Word calls us to take something off, or put something away, it also calls us to something different

Receive the implanted Word of God

Implanted is to be permanently established

And so James is calling the believers there to be established in God’s Word, he is calling them to be centered on true morality as given in God’s Word

And the reason for being grounded in God’s Word, firmly planted, is simple; because God’s Word is what when implanted grows a person to the point of faith in Christ, and keeps them close to him through this life

A growing knowledge of God and relationship with him is the opposite of the righteousness of man, which James tells us our anger produces

Our anger stems from our inability to listen, our inability to listen stems from sin

If we are going to listen, then we must seek to be growing in our knowledge of the truth instead of our own selfishness

So how do we know if we are listening?

Transition Statement:When a person is truly listening there are results to show for it. There is an overcoming of sin and a desire to not be of the world and all it’s wickedness. So James calls his readers to action in their listening.......

2.Listening Results in Action (vs.22-25)

Preparation Statement: No person that is idle is listening, they are merely hearing......

Be a doer of the Word not just a hearer

You remember how we talked about James using two different words for hearing?

This is it. He says those who listen to the Word, they do what the Word says

But those who only hear it (that is literally take it in audibly and acknowledge that it is being spoken) are not the same as those who listen to it

This entire section is made up of the difference between the person who listen and who hears

And what James says about the listener here is short and sweet, listeners are doers of the Word

He says much more about the hearers of God’s Word, primarily he says that they are deceived

To merely hear the Word is like looking into the mirror and forgetting what we look like as soon as we walk away

This is an incredible description of someone who only hears God’s Word

Imagine that you look in the mirror and find that there is a cut on your face that is bleeding and then you turn and walk away from the mirror never addressing the cut or it’s consequences

What happens? Well, you bleed all over the place damaging anything that your blood falls upon and if the blood loss is significant enough then you could be permanently affected by it

This is kind of like hearing the Word of God instead of listening to it

You come to church, you might even read the Bible at home but as soon as you are done you turn and walk away from it never addressing the issues of life that the Word of God addresses

And James says that this person is only deceiving themselves

You might be doing some things that look great on the surface, or are pleasing to some people for a season, but the real issue isn’t being addressed

The listener, unlike the hearer weighs the Word of God against their lives and seeks to be changed by it as it is implanted

James offers some motivation for listening and doing, he says that you will be blessed

Blessing comes from action out of faith in Christ

Listeners are active, hearers are idle

I can’t help but wonder if some of us this morning are merely hearing the Word of God

It isn’t implanted therefore it isn’t changing us, we do not have the blessing of it

Transition Statement: Listening, warding off sin, and living a life of action as a result of our listening not only helps us to grow in truth, but growing in truth helps us to recognize deception. Listening is the beginning of preventing deception.....

3.Listening Prevents Deception (vs.26-27)

Preparation Statement: Those who merely hear the Word are deceiving themselves, and James’s desire is that people would not be deceived, but that they would have a worthwhile religion.......

Many a people believe that they are religious, and I would submit to you that many a people are in fact religious

You may think that being religious is a good thing, I would encourage you to think again

The Pharisees were religious, they were condemned for their religion

The Centurion was religious (Acts 10) he needed to trust Christ for salvation

In both instances, the individuals involved were not in good standing before God, even though they were religious

The centurion was a god fearing man, yet just having a general knowledge of God was insufficient to meet his need for salvation. This is why Peter goes and preaches the full gospel to him

The Pharisees had a self righteous religion

They kept the Law

Their father was Abraham

They were right with God or so they thought, simply because of who they were

James says that this religion or self righteousness is worthless and that the person who lives according to their self righteousness is deceived

What is right before God is to serve others, especially those who need it most (orphans and widows). These were the groups that the religious folks most often neglected

For us today the call to be unstained from the world is real

And if we simply hear the Word, not obeying it, living for all that the world has to offer us James says we are deceived

If we listen, we can prevent being deceived

I wonder this morning how many of us are like the Pharisees, we have religion but not much more

The Gospel of Jesus Christ is not religion of self piety (vs.26) it is a life of worship (vs.27)

If we are listening, then we should be worshipping

And if we are worshipping then our lives are going to be less and less like the world

Application:

This morning, see me as the tornado siren. Only I am not encouraging you to take shelter in a basement or interior room of the house

I am calling you to take shelter in Christ, to believe the message of the Gospel

That Christ has died for sin, and to make you right with the Father and to work in you and through you

Don’t just hear the siren, listen to it.