Get Real! Get Busy!

Get Real – Get Busy!

Hello everyone! I am so glad that you chose to come into the house of the Lord this morning to Worship here at Baptist Fellowship.

I have a few things to cover before we jump into the text this morning.

First, we are getting closer and closer to Easter! On Easter morning, we are going to take up a special offering for the Annie Armstrong Easter offering. Please keep that in mind and be ready to give to support the ministries of the North American Mission Board.

Second, I want to thank Mrs. Fogg for coming this morning and sharing with us about the ministry down at Mid Vermont Christian School and how we can help with their ministry.

Last, I am happy to announce that we will be starting a brand-new study starting this Wednesday night at 6:30. The name of the study is That the World May Know: The Promised Land.

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I hope that you will plan on joining us this Wednesday as we begin our study.

So, we have been studying the book of James in a series I have titled Get Real! We will be finishing chapter one this morning.

Last week we began to look at what James had to say about real Righteousness. We discovered that James taught that the first step was the have a prepared heart, ready to receive God’s Word.

This week I want us to look closer at what James has to say, specifically how to apply God’s Word and have it impact our daily activities.

Let’s look at our text this morning. James 1:22-27

But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. 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. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. 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. If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person’s religion is worthless. 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.

I think that James is telling us that after we have gotten to point of desiring righteousness and having done the work of preparing our hearts to receive God’s Word, there is still more work to do. More is required to be a righteous productive Christian.

The next thing we need to do is, Reflect on the World God.

2. REFLECT ON THE WORD OF GOD

James 1:22-23 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. 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.

James uses an illustration here. God's word is like a mirror. The purpose of a mirror is to evaluate. We use them to evaluate ourselves. We look in a mirror to our condition. We take a look in the morning as we are getting ready. The mirror is used correct bed head. It is used to apply makeup. It is used to treat or cover up a blemish that might have popped up overnight. We gaze into it to find problems and then we do something about it. What good is a mirror if we don't do anything about what we see? God says a mirror reflects what we're like on the outside.

God's word reflects what we're like on the inside.

Have you ever seen yourself in the Bible? Hebrews says, "God's word detects the thoughts, intents, motives and desires of the heart." Many years ago, Queen Elizabeth, who was beautiful in her youth, ordered that all the mirrors be removed from Buckingham Palace because she couldn't stand to face that she was growing old.

A lot of people don't read the Bible because they're afraid. They're unwilling to face themselves and see themselves as they really are. They don't want to look in the mirror of God's word.

James gives us three practical ways to reflect on the word of God,

Read it. v. 25 “… 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".

He's talking more about research that he is reading. Investigating. The word "look" in Greek means "to stoop down and gaze in." It's the word used when Peter went to the tomb on resurrection Sunday when he stooped down and peeked in. He investigated. Focus your attention on the word of God.

There are two ways you can look at a mirror. You can gaze at it, or you can glance at it. All of us have done both. It's human nature that you can't walk by a mirror and not look at it. When you glance at it, you immediately walk away and forget what you've seen. It didn't do you any good.

Many people try to have a quiet time that way. They don't want to gaze at it, but glance at it. Give God five minutes. Read a quick Daily devotional, a “Daily Bread.” God says that He wants us to gaze at the word. Look at it intently in detail.

Look at the details. James says we need to receive the word of God and then reflect on it, first by reading it and second by reviewing it.

2. Review it. v. 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.”

One translation says ...and continues to do so..." That means over and over and over. The Bible calls this meditation. When you think about something over and over, it’s meditation.

Meditation is not, put your mind in neutral and contemplate the meaning of life... Meditation means to think seriously about something over and over. Meditation is the opposite of worrying! Now I know that some of you are really really good at worrying! Take a negative idea and think about it over and over, and it's called worry. Take God's word and think about it over and over, and it's called meditation. The Bible says, “Meditate on God's word”. Jesus said, "...if you continue in My word, then you're truly My disciples." Read it and review it. God says, “You want to be blessed by the word? Review it.”

Psalm 119:97 "I meditate on your word all day long."

Read it and review it continually. Stay in it and be faithful to the book. I know some people that are more faithful to Facebook, Instagram, or TikToc than they are to God's word. They are more faithful to Netflix and Hulu than they are God’s World. How many of you believe everything you read on the internet or watch on TV? Then why do we spend more time reading or watching something we don't believe than something we do?

We need to fill our minds with the Word of God. James says, “You want to be blessed? Reflect on the word. Think about it by reading it and reviewing it.”

3. Remember it. v. 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 translation says... not forgetting what he has heard."

Nothing will do more for your spiritual life than developing the habit of memorizing Scripture. "Thy word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against Thee." Memorize God's word if you want to be blessed by it. We remember what's important to us.

Take notes, write things down. If you value God's word you're going to take notes on it. Hebrews 2:1 " That is why we must hold on all the more firmly to the truths we have heard, so that we will not be carried away."

The United States Air Force did a study and found that we forget 95% of what we hear within 72 hours. This statistic depresses me! I mean that is my job, to talk, to be listened to! I spend all week preparing a message to give on Sunday. By Wednesday you've forgotten 95% of what I've said unless you've written it down. James says, “Receive God's word with the right attitude, reflect on God's word by reading it, reviewing it, remembering it.” But even that's not enough.

3. I MUST RESPOND TO THE WORD OF GOD

I must do something about it, act on it, live it, practice it. vs. 22 NIV "Do not merely listen to what the word says and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says." Practice. What good is a mirror if you look at it and don't do anything about it? The word "listen" in Greek is the word for "auditor". We talked about this last week. If you audited a class in college, you didn't take it for credit, no tests, no responsibility, no research. You were totally relaxed. You just listened; you didn't have any intention of applying it. We have a lot of auditors in the church. They come to church, walk in, hear the word of God, walk out with no intention of ever being changed. I was one for years. I took notes, wrote things down, but it never changed me. We must respond to God's word, let it change us if we're going to be blessed by it.

James says it's self-deception when we don't let it change us. We think that just gaining content is making us spiritually mature. The test of maturity is not knowledge. The test of maturity is character. A lot of people have great Bible knowledge, and they are spiritual midgets. I need to practice it, apply it, put it in my life.

And knowledge increases responsibility. The more we know the more we're accountable for. What am I doing about what I know? Jesus said, "To whom much is given, much is required." And James said, "To him who knows to do good and doesn't do it, it's sin."

Illustration: Let's say you folks as a church decide to get concerned about your pastor's health. You come to me and say, “Billy, as you get older, you 47 this year, we don't want you to die of a heart attack or a stroke,” so you take up an offering and buy me as a gift Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Bodybuilding Book. You say this book can change your life. It's fantastic. It has changed the lives of millions of people. It will keep you strong. It will be a blessing to you. Read this book. It will change you.”

I say, "Great!” Then I go away for 6 months and then come back and I'm the same guy. I look the same, my habits are the same, everything the is the same! You would say, "What happened? Didn't you read the book?"

What if I said to you, "I read the book. I enjoyed it. This is the greatest book I've ever read. I loved it. I even underlined portions of it with colored markers and memorized sections of it and even started a group study of the book and looked at the etymology of every single word of the book. Every night I would spend a couple hours studying it."

How often do we do that with the word of God? We give awards for memorizing Scripture, but we don't give awards for doing Scripture. We get a plaque that says "I read through the Bible" but don't get one that says, "I did the Bible." Letting God’s Word mark us is more important than us marking it. It's not how many times you've been through the word of God, it's how many times it's been through you. You've got to be a doer of the word.

In this illustration about health, I deceived myself in thinking that because I had knowledge, that made me mature. Having knowledge of a bodybuilding book doesn't produce muscles. Just because we know something doesn't mean we act on it.

You can hear the word of God 24 hours a day. A lot of us are lulled into the fact that because we're hearing a lot about God, we are maturing. Many believe but don't practice. James would say, "They are hearers but not doers." BJU people…..

That is what James is attacking. He's saying, “If you want to be blessed, you've got to live the word of God, not just hear it. Not just know it.”

I really work at making the Bible simple. There is a lot in the Bible that is difficult to understand, complex, deep. Yet I try to present it in such a way that's very clear and very easy to understand and easy to put into practice. When you go out of here, I want you to be able to do the word not just hear the word of God. I work at making it practical. I try to make it simple so we can put it into practice.

I heard about the guy who came to church late. He walked in just as the service was completing. He said to an usher, "Is the sermon done, yet?" The usher was wise and said, "The sermon has been preached, but it is yet to be done." Be ye doers of the word, don't merely listen. Put it into practice.

My honest prayer on Sunday afternoon is that you will remember what I said and put it into practice. I pray that Baptist Fellowship will develop the reputation that people say, "They're doers of the word. They practice what everybody else talks about. They live it." People have a Living Bible. You ought to be a Living Bible. The best translation of Scripture is when you translate it into your life and let it change you.

What pleases me even more than a comment or compliment about a sermon is when somebody says they will put what was preached into practice and use it. They say they will do the sermon this week. “Let's not deceive ourselves,” James says.

v. 25 (Phillips) "The man who puts the law into practice wins true happiness." Jesus, in Matthew 7, tells the story of the wise and the foolish builder. He says the foolish builder builds on sand. He is like the guy who hears the word of God but doesn't do what it says. The wise man is the one who hears it and then goes out and makes an honest attempt to put it into his life. Practice it.

Jesus said John 13:17, "Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them." I think the simplest definition of maturity is to be a doer of the word. That's what it means to be mature. You do what the Bible says. We must not only read the word, we must heed the word. Every single one of us knows more spiritual truth than we're putting into practice right now. You don't need to know more, you already know enough. It's not the matter that we need to know more. We just need to put into practice what we already know. Be a doer of the word.

James concludes this section with three examples of practicing the word. Each of these are mentioned again later in this letter, so we will be looking at them each again.

In v. 26 he says, “One of the ways you can know that you are a doer of the word is you have a controlled mouth.” "If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person’s religion is worthless." One of the ways you can know if you are a doer of the word is you have self-control over your words.

A caring heart. "Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction," I help the helpless. Social concern, a caring heart.

A clean mind. “and to keep oneself unstained from the world." Spiritual integrity.

That is genuine Christianity. That is what it takes to be Righteous.

What is James saying to us? He's saying "What are you going to do about what you already know?" What are you going to do about it today? Maybe some of you need to decide to start preparing better for worship. Say, "Lord, here I am. Teach me, so I can be blessed by God's word." Maybe some of you need to say, "I'm going to read more of God’s Word this year. I am going to set aside time each day to meditate on Scripture." Maybe you should say, "I'm going to start memorizing Scripture. I'll pick a verse a week and hide God's word in my heart." It's a condition for answered prayer. John 15:7 "If you abide in Me and My word abides in you, you can ask whatever you will and it will be done for you." The word of God in your heart is a condition for answered prayer. "I need to find a place of ministry where I can get involved." The Word of God stored in your heart is not doing much if it just stays there. You need to minister to others! The Word needs to be applied and used on others. If you're always taking in, one study after another, and never get out in ministry, it's going to dry up your spiritual life.

James is saying that the blessing of the Bible comes when we start living it.

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