Mirrors Don't Lie

It’s Mother’s Day and I’m probably going to transgress some modern social taboo here.

There was a Broadway song years back entitled, “Diamonds are a Girl’s Best Friend.”

I think that was a marketing ploy to sell diamonds.

If we defined what a woman’s “Best Friend” is, diamonds aren’t it.

If what we really paid attention to what women pay attention to, I’d say a woman’s best friend is a mirror.

Now, before you get all wadded up, for many men a mirror is their best friend too.

But on the other hand, having worked in a variety of environments, I can say with authority that some men are plain allergic to mirrors.

And maybe some women too.

There is a saying that “Mirrors don’t lie.”

Merle Haggard wrote a song that’s been covered by a whole host of folks that has that title.

“Mirrors don’t lie.”

But sometimes mirrors do lie.

Have you ever gone to the fun house at a state fair?

They are filled with all kinds of mirrors that make you look ever which way.

There is one that makes you look squat and fat.

One that makes you look tall and skinny.

And one that reflects exactly what everyone sees when they look at you.

Those are the scariest ones.

Have you ever just stopped - something happens - or maybe not - maybe you’re simply in an mood.

And you stop in front of the mirror and you just stare at the person you see.

Maybe sometime really tragic or awful has happened.

Maybe you did something you regretted and really wish you hadn’t.

Maybe it’s your wedding day - or the day your newborn comes home from the hospital.

Something stopped you cold.

In front of the mirror.

Something made you stop and stare and wonder.

Maybe you’ve never done that - I have.

I think most of us have.

But what if...

What if there was a mirror that we could look into that reflected what God sees?

Our text today is James 1:19-25.

If you have your Bible with you, please open it up to James chapter 1.

If you don’t have yours today, please take one from the pew rack and follow along with us.

If you are watching by live stream or video, first of all we are happy you are joining us.

If you are close enough to come to First Baptist, you’d love it here so please come visit in person.

But right now take your Bible out and follow along as well.

And as always, if you do not own a Bible, please take one of ours home with you.

It will make us happy if you do.

To bring us up to speed.

James has been a very encouraging book for us so far.

He’s shown us a way to look at our trials and hardships in life that helps feel better about them.

He’s explained to us that our trials have a purpose and that purpose is to make us into the person that the Lord wants us to be.

And knowing that’s what is happening and knowing that the Lord Himself is involved in our everyday lives makes us joyful even though the circumstances aren’t the best.

He’s shown us how sin is born in us.

And he’s shown us how to avoid that sin.

And he’s told us that the Lord Himself gave us life and has made us - has made the Church - the hope for the entire universe.

When creation sees Christians and the Church, it gives it hope that one day Jesus will return and make all things new.

That’s good stuff - makes me smile.

But there is more.

Hear now the Word of the Lord.

James 1:19–25 ESV

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

This is the Word of the Lord.

Thanks be to God.

Since we started with mirrors, let’s look at the mirror part of this text first.

Verse 22 once was one of the more famous verses in the Bible.

I remember as a kid in Bible School - and mom’s and dad’s it’s time to sign your little angels up for Bibles School.

And it’s time for you to sign up to volunteer -sign up sheet are in the vestibule - just sayin’.

So when I was in Bible School, we memorized in the KJV, “Be ye doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.”

That’s not too much different from the ESV version.

Some of you might know that in more academic circles theirs been a lot of conversation around this.

Some have argued that Paul’s idea of grace and James’ idea of works collide with each other.

That Jame’s is almost preaching a “works righteousness” - that you’ve got to do things in order to be saved.

But that’s not what James is saying at all.

For James, a hearer is someone who is preparing for a test.

They hear the word.

They study the word.

They are the person you want on your team for a Bible trivia battle.

Often they are great teachers - obviously people of great learning.

But all they have is knowledge.

James is going to say a little later on: James 2:19

James 2:19 ESV

You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder!

Now follow James’ analogy here: James 1:23-24 “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.”

So remember where we started.

The hearer goes into where his favorite mirror is and he stops.

And he stares intently into his own reflection and he sees everything clearly.

On his nose is a zit.

It’s not a normal zit.

It’s a zit the size of the state of Montana.

It’s so large that if it should pop, they’d be able to see it from the space station.

He knows he needs to take care of it.

He knows he has a big meeting and everyone will stare at his solar eclipse sized zit.

He knows how to take care of this zit so it won’t be a problem.

So he steps away from the mirror and before he has taken two steps, he’s forgotten all about the zit.

That’s what James is saying here.

You know the Word.

You know the demands and the rewards of the Word.

You know that living life as God designed it is the one thing that will give you the joy and contentment that you crave.

You know it so well that it stares you in the face.

You know that you aren’t living what you are saying.

But then you walk away and do what you always do.

You heard the Word, and you tell yourself that’s all you need.

What does verse 22 call that? “deceiving yourself.”

Just to be clear, deceiving is defined as, “to deceive by arguments or false reasons.”

You reason with yourself, “I’m fine.

“I know more than 99% of other people who go to my church.

“I go to church every Sunday and I tithe and give to the GCO.

“I’m a teacher, team member, Deacon, Minister.

“I’ll be welcomed home with a ‘Well done my good and faithful servant.’

“I’m fine.

But mirrors don’t lie.

The doer looks into the same mirror - James 1:25 “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.”

People hear the word “law” and they immediately jump to the 10 commandments and that’s a reasonable assumption.

“The law…is the perfect expression of the divine nature is also the perfect vehicle of expression for human nature.” J.A. Motyer

And until the apple in the Garden of Eden, we would have done the commandments.

We were created in the image of God to reflect the glory of God.

And if the 10 commandments are the perfect expression of the divine nature, well, we would have done them.

But after the fall, if we look into the mirror and see the law, we’re going to see ugly magnified.

Like the hearer only, we’ll see our sinfulness in full display.

But James isn’t saying that.

He adds a modifier.

James 1:25 “But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty...

Has anyone heard this before? Galatians 5:1

Galatians 5:1 ESV

For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.

The doer looks into the mirror and sees Jesus.

Paul looked into the mirror and saw Jesus staring back.

Listen to how it affected him: Philippians 3:8-11

Philippians 3:8–11 ESV

Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.

James is saying the same things 20 years before Paul wrote it.

The doer looks into the mirror and sees Jesus.

The doer looks into the mirror feeling beat up and tired.

They expect to see that mirror show them what they feel.

They haven’t lived as well as they’d like.

They haven’t followed Jesus as well as they’d like.

Life has beat them up.

And instead of seeing all of that - instead of seeing the giant zit.

They - we - see Jesus.

And we don’t deceive ourselves into thinking everything is fine.

We know everything is fine.

We are inspired by Jesus - by His love, His affection, His power to persevere one more day.

So we take up our cross, we die to ourselves, we put away all of those shallow things that we want.

And we follow Jesus to the best of our ability.

Do you remember what the word steadfast means?

You make up your mind to follow Jesus.

You clench your fist and grit your teeth and you commit yourself to do everything in your power to follow Jesus.

All the while, all the while, you know it doesn’t depend on you.

That He is going to lead you and give you the strength to win.

We look into the mirror, we see Jesus, we make up our minds to take up our cross.

To die to ourselves.

And follow Jesus to the best of our ability.

Great.

What does that look like?

James leads this section with an example of that.

James 1:19-21 “Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.”

My beloved brothers and sisters, here’s one of the things you need to know.

Let every person be quick to hear.

Now - this is actually the transition phrase from the following passage.

Be quick to hear - be quick to listen, right, but to what?

Two things.

First, back in verse James 1:18 “Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.”

Be quick to hear the Word of truth.

What is the Word of truth?

It’s Jesus.

The Father “Brought us forth,” he gave us new life, he saved us, he redeemed us, he restored us, he gave us our second chance, through the Word of truth.

Through Jesus, right?

So be quick to hear that.

Be listening for that.

In everything we do.

In every place we go - be listening for Jesus.

I think we’ll be surprised by what we hear when we start listening for Him.

And to put that into practice, be quick to listen to the people around you.

Be quick to hear, slow to speak.

We don’t need a tutorial on listening skills.

We know full well we don’t listen very well at all.

In our world of The Five and The View where 5 people sit in a semi-circle and yell at each other all at the same time for an hour 5 days a week, listening is not encouraged.

It’s hard anymore for us to sit still and listen to what someone is saying without thinking of our response before they ever stop talking.

And interrupting - that’s one of my sins of which I am painfully aware.

Dying to yourself means that we stop ourselves for a moment.

And we are quick to hear because we want to hear what someone else is saying.

We want to hear like Jesus hears.

And we are slow to speak because we want to speak like Jesus speaks.

And we want to be slow to anger because

James 1:20 “for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God.”

Or as Austin said to the students the other day, “Nobody ever yelled anyone into heaven,” or something close to that.

James equates quick to speak and quick to anger with filthiness and rampant wickedness.

Filthiness means moral impurity so let’s get that out there.

But the word translates a word that means to dress shabbily.

It means to dress in a way that’s not fitting for who you are.

Almost every teenager that has ever lived has heard these words at some point: “You’re not leaving this house looking like that!”

Why is the parent saying that?

Because in the parent’s mind the teenager is dressed shabbily.

They are not dressed in a way that’s fitting for who they are.

When you look in the mirror and see Jesus.

And then you got work and you’re talking before hearing folks out.

And you get angry at everything and you let folks know it.

You aren’t dressed in a way that’s fitting for who you are.

Oh, and see the word “rampant” in front of wickedness?

Yeah, that means it exists in abundance.

We don’t need to prove that right - just turn on the tube or open your social media.

Or go to Wal-mart and watch.

Put all of that away for yourself.

And you know what’s encouraging here - James says it like we can do it.

I know folks say, “That’s just who I am,” but that’s kind of a cop out.

Yes, you are born with certain personality traits and proclivities.

Yes, you might have been born a horses patoot, but James is telling you you don’t have to be if you don’t want to be.

How do you fix that?

James 1:21 “Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.”

Understand, realize, that - you ain’t all that.

With meekness - with gentleness of attitude and behavior - and you can be meek without being a weenie.

With meekness receive that word which is implanted within you.

And that word is Jesus.

Here’s a little promise from God: Ezekiel 36:26-27

Ezekiel 36:26–27 ESV

And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.

When the Lord puts His Spirit within us - the implanted word of Jesus.

He will open our hearts.

He will cause us to walk in His path.

He will cause us to be careful - not full of care worried every minute that we’re going to do something wrong.

But careful - aware and desiring to follow His rules.

James is not fussing.

James is saying, we can do this.

We can.

What if there was a mirror that we could look into that reflected back what God sees?