James 1:19-27
Notes
Transcript
James 1:19-27
James 1:19-27
Good morning Church! You can see that our opening slide has an unorthodox sermon title listed on it, Smelling Salts. I’ll explain that a bit more in a second, but first we get to dedicate a little man to the Lord this morning.
Baby Dedication. Brandon and Carmen Higgins want to come before you church and recognize that God has blessed them, God has blessed their marriage and their family, and they want to dedicate their son Rowan back to him.
In doing so they are recognizing that Rowan is a gift from the Lord, but he is a gift that they are entrusted to raise and train up in the ways of the Lord. There is a command from God in the book of Deuteronomy, originally given to the children of Israel, but applicable to us in the church today.
5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.
6 “And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart.
7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up.
Brandon and Carmen would you come up please. Elders and your wives, if you’re here this morning, come up. So again by doing this, Brandon and Carmen are acknowledging the role and responsibility they have to God in raising their son Rowan, and acknowledging the responsibility they have to Rowan to train him up in the ways of God.
This means teaching him the Scriptures, not just by reading him the words, but allowing him to see it in each of their lives. The reason that we do this publically is that it is a promise, or a covenant with God, that we church come alongside and help them fulfill, and provide a role in loving correction if they are not keeping the covenant. So lets pray.
James 1:19-27
James 1:19-27
I initially was going to title the message, a Wake up call, but I don’t know how many of us can really relate anymore to a wake up call. The term is sometimes used for a medical scare, or an opening of your eyes about an issue, but it originated as a result of business travelers staying at hotels.
You might spend the night out of town on business and have an early morning meeting, and the hotels used to regularly offer morning wake up calls. My problem with going with that title was that first of all most of us in this church try to limit our travel to never going south of Augusta, Maine. And, the wake up call is optional. In fact, even if you set it all up, you don’t have to answer the phone. Or you can just pick up the handset and put it down without ever hearing the message.
So then I thought Narcan might be a more appropriate title. I don’t know if you have ever personally witnessed the miraculous effects of Narcan. But you can take someone that is drugged out on opiates. Whether it be Oxy’s, Heroin, even fentanyl. And they can be so under the influence and under the control of this drug that is literally killing them, shutting down their system, slowing their breathing, slowing their heart rate. A you can hit them with a dose of Narcan, and it brings them back. Sometimes violently so.
But then there are the old fashion smelling salts. If you are a fan of boxing, or MMA, then you know what I’m talking about. The medical profession uses them, emt’s often have them. In the law enforcement academy, in the defensive tactics training they may use them. As officers train in the various methods of putting a combatant to sleep.
There are different compounds of ingredients, but usually it involves ammonia. Something harsh. It emits fumes that irritate the interior of the nose. It is an aroma that cannot be ignored. WebMD describes it this way... It may seem miraculous to see a bit of salt jolt an unconscious person awake, but the pungent smell and surge of oxygen simply kickstart your consciousness.
That seems the goal of James, the human instrument that penned this letter, and I know it is the Heart of the Holy Spirit who inspired it. So let’s pray that God will use it in that way in my life today and in your life today.
Father in Heaven, we need the sweet incense of Your Word to kickstart our consciousness. We need you to shake us up and wake us up, by the power of your living Word, Revive us we pray, in Jesus’ name, amen.
19 So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath;
20 for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God.
21 Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of 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 observing his natural face in a mirror;
24 for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was.
25 But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.
26 If anyone among you thinks he is religious, and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this one’s religion is useless.
27 Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.
I read you this section this morning because I want you to understand where we are, where we are heading and where I hope to end up. And, I want you to see something in the middle of our passage that gives purpose to the rest of our passage. Look again at verse 21.
21 Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.
Now the later part of this verse is what has stood out to me throughout this week as the context of this section of the book certainly has an emphasis on the power of the Word of God. But here it instructs us to receive it. Not to reject the wake up call, it tells us how to receive it, with meekness, and then it refers to it as the implanted Word. Describing how the Word of God is sown into our lives, and how we are to receive it.
This section began with a so then, a couple verses later we have a therefore, so all that comes before it is both important and relevant to what this instructs. We know in the opening, James refers to himself as a bondservant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ. James was the half-brother of Jesus, so I’m sure as he wrote these things he was reminded and reflecting upon the words of Jesus Himself.
The implanted word, I believe comes from a story that Jesus told, so I want to look at that passage in the gospel of Mark and the 4th chapter. I’ll begin reading in verse 26. Mark 4:26
26 And He said, “The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground,
Jesus is making a comparison here. He says the kingdom of God is as if. I want you to know and to understand how God works in the lives of men, so understand that the kingdom of God is as if, and He continues, as if a man should scatter seed on the ground...
27 and should sleep by night and rise by day, and the seed should sprout and grow, he himself does not know how.
28 For the earth yields crops by itself: first the blade, then the head, after that the full grain in the head.
29 But when the grain ripens, immediately he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.”
So in this comparison relating to us how God works in the lives of men, Jesus is saying it’s like this. It’s like a farmer who goes out and sows seed on the ground, and then some times goes by, and the seed spouts, even without him tending to every part of the growth cycle, or even fully understanding how it all happens. Then there are different stages of growth, and eventually, as is the goal of every farmer, the time of harvest comes when the grain, or the fruit has been produced.
So can you see the comparison here? God spreads the seed, the seed being the Word of God, and that should be implanted in us, and if it is, then even if we don’t understand all of it, there should be growth over time, and ultimately it should produce fruit in our lives. Now when the Bible talks about fruit in our lives, what is it talking about? It refers to fruit all over the place, good fruit, bad fruit. Jesus said. John 15:5
5 “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.
So what is the bible talking about when it talks about fruit in the life of a Christian? Well a couple of things actually, especially when considering it in regard to the implanted Word of God. First, there should be fruit in the sense of 2 Cor 5:17 (Don’t read, just change slide.)
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.
If we are in Christ, we are a new creation that should begin over time to look more and more like Christ. Well how? Paul gave us a whole list of things. Gal 5:22-23
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
23 gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.
This is a list of things that God wants to grow in us or fruit to produce in us. It is a result of the Word of God being implanted into our lives by our receiving of it and applying it.
The second aspect of the Word developing fruit in our lives is in the area of reproduction. The idea of being fruitful and multiplying, not in a biological sense, but in a spiritual sense. Now that you have become a Christian, and God is growing fruit in your life, making you more and more like Jesus, and you are becoming loving, and joyful, peaceful, patient, you are now kind, and good, faithful and gentle like Jesus and less like the old you and demonstrate self control in your life, others now witness that transformation and they want to become Christians…or they see these things growing in your life as you fall more and more in love with Jesus and the Word is implanted, received, and applied and even other Christians see that and say, I want that! That is also producing fruit.
So what we want is to go from the sowing part to the harvest part. The church today has the sowing part down. We love the Word of God. We love listening to the Word of God. We all have our favorite preachers and teachers. Podcasts that talk about the Word. Our study aids that allow us to go deeper into the Word. But if the Word isn’t implanted, and if the Word is not received, and if the Word does not change us and produce fruit, then we are just like Jesus described the religious leaders of His day. We look like one thing on the outside, but inside there is rottenness and if there is not application, there certainly isn’t fruit.
So how does this work? How do we go from sowing to actually producing fruit. Well James gives us a list in our text this morning, lets look at it again.
18 Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures.
I really love this section, and this verse kinda blows me away. Because it tells us here that it was by God’s will that He saved us. That phrase that is translated brought us forth is one that refers to birth. See when we are born we are born spiritually dead. In the book of Ephesians we see this. Eph 2:5
5 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),
The context tells us that God loved us, but then made us alive, spiritually alive when we were saved. If we are not saved, then we are not spiritually alive and if we remain that way until we die, then we are eternally separated from God. So then…James 1:18
18 Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures.
Both His will that I was saved and that you were saved, if you’re saved but also that He would save us by the Word of Truth, (remember the end of verse 21 told us to receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls). By God’s will. See God wants you to go to Heaven. You don’t have to turn to these passages but other places that confirms what James is writing here.
7 The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul; The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple;
Another place 1 Peter 1:23
23 having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever,
OK, so smelling salts out. The first step toward going from sowing seed to producing fruit. Very first step to bearing fruit by becoming more like Jesus and then reproducing ourselves by encouraging others to become Christians, or even encouraging other Christians to fall more and more in love with Jesus Is receiving that seed, having it implanted in us, and having it save us. Jesus is revealed in the Word and Jesus wants to save you.
OK, number 2. Let’s look at verse 19
19 So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath;
Now I have heard this passage preached in so many different arena’s. I don’t think I’ve ever attended a marriage conference where it didn’t come up concerning communication. God gave us one mouth and two ears, so we should listen twice as much as we talk. If we are slow to speak and truly listen we can consider how we want to respond, rather than just lash out and react.
It’s in every social media rebuking message out there, it’s a part of several apologetics programs on how we can share our faith with others or as Paul did, reason with people. We have to listen if we’re going to do that. All good stuff, not wrong stuff, or a total misapplication, but in context, James is talking about the Word of God here, so this should be our response to the Word.
When we engage with God’s Word are we quick to hear? When we read the bible are we easily distracted, do we let our personal preferences filter what we are willing to receive, or are we quick to speak and say no way God. When we come to bible study or to a church gathering, are we quick to hear? Do we walk in these doors with the heart and mind that it doesn’t matter who the speaker is that morning, when I come here I expect that God is going to speak to me through His Word?
Do I come with preparation (maybe read ahead), do I come with anticipation that God is going to have something for me every time we gather and open the Book, I know He wants you to hear from Him every time His living Word is spoken. Am I swift to hear and to receive, do I have a pen and a journal in anticipation of recording what stands out, what application from it can I make in my life?
We are to be swift to hear, but also it says slow to speak. Again some really practical advice when it comes to communication, but this is not about our relationships, it is about our relationship with the Word of God. Be quick to hear it, and be slow to speak. What is that about. Is He saying hear it, receive it, but don’t tell anyone? Of course not. How can we be quick to speak when it comes to God’s Word?
It is sharper than any two edged sword right? Heb 4:12-13
12 For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
13 And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.
How can we be quick to speak? God I read that and I object! Or even God I see what Your Word says here but no, I’m not ready, or I’m not willing, or no, I don’t want to give that up. And we are to be slow to wrath. The Word is not a weapon that we try to slay people with, so that we might win. The Word is a sword but we shouldn’t swing it with the intent to harm.
We need to be quick to hear. Fast to receive it.
So first, we must recognize that it reveals Jesus and has the power to save, second, we must be quick to receive the Word and understand in those areas that we may disagree with God, we’re wrong. We need to receive it with meekness and begin to allow the implanted Word to change our lives and make us more like Jesus. He says in verse 20
20 for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God.
So us being angry, or vengeful, and quick to get there is not a righteous thing. God’s wrath is different than the wrath of man, so we are to be slow to wrath. Now the third thing I want you to see here is in verse 21.
21 Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.
James is telling us that in order for the Word to have it’s perfect work in us, there are things in our life that we must lay aside. Meaning that there are things that may have been a part of our lives, that now that the Word has been sown, and that grain is being developed, no longer belong there. You remember the story Jesus told in Mark chapter 4. If you read through the rest of that chapter, you’ll see that the disciples, the ones Jesus was telling the story to, didn’t understand it all.
The cool thing for us... is that they did then, what we should do now, when there is something we don’t understand. And that is to go back to Jesus an ask. So they go to Jesus and they tell Him, we don’t get it, so He continues to explain. If you go back there to Mark chapter 4. Look down at the 14th verse.
14 The sower sows the word.
15 And these are the ones by the wayside where the word is sown. When they hear, Satan comes immediately and takes away the word that was sown in their hearts.
So again, a farmer sows some seed, and that seed lands on different types of soils, in fact this passage is sometimes referred to as the parable of the soils. But as the seed lands there are different effects that occur as the result of the type of soil in which the seed is received. This first one describes those that hear the words being spoken, sort of like the old cartoons of Charlie Brown in the classroom at school. Want, wa, want, wa, wa.
They are not quick to hear, they are turned off and tuned out, the smelling salts are only an irritant to them, not something that clears the cobwebs, so Satan snatches is away quickly and it has no effect. Verse 16
16 These likewise are the ones sown on stony ground who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with gladness;
17 and they have no root in themselves, and so endure only for a time. Afterward, when tribulation or persecution arises for the word’s sake, immediately they stumble.
These are the ones that would hear the Word, and receive it with gladness. Yes, this is what I’ve been looking for! I need to do this, I need to be set free from my guilt and shame. So maybe they respond in the moment, but never determine that they are going to let the Word take root in their lives. Never determine to let the Word change things in their lives, and never dig deep enough to let those roots reach water and nourishment, so church is over, and by the end of lunch, or half-time of the game, the change is gone.
Verse 18, this is our tie in back to James, look at it with me.
18 Now these are the ones sown among thorns; they are the ones who hear the word,
19 and the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things entering in choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.
These guys actually hear the Word. Maybe even come with anticipation that the Lord will speak to us. We may know that the Lord desperately loves us and wants to save us and grow us to a fruitful person, but there may be things in the way. Things from this world that are competing for us. James says there’s stuff that we need to lay aside like all filthiness and overflow of wickedness.
We’ll get back there, but verse 19 here is revealing in the categories of things that Jesus gives us here. The first one being the cares of the world. Let me put that a different way. The worries of the world. The worries of our world. The things we wake up thinking about. The things that we allow to consume our time and waste our energy throughout the day, and the things that race through our minds before going to sleep, or for some of us, before laying there trying to sleep.
I know that if I asked some of you if you received anything from the Lord this week. If you were quick to listen to God and He spoke to you through His Word this week, your honest response might be something like, well no, I didn’t really have time…because I worried this week. Everyone’s story might be different about what the worry was, but we sometimes let the cares of this world choke out what God wants to do through His word.
The second category Jesus gives us here is the deceitfulness of riches. Now when we think of riches, probably most of us think of money. It certainly applies to money but it can also mean wealth or a value of treasure. Meaning that we often times place different values on things. Some of you if I were to give you 100 snickers bars you might think yourself rich. Others would not place a high values on snickers bars, but 100 rib-eye steaks would be quite a prize. Still others would value 100 days of sunshine, or 100 days without mosquitoes. So there are different riches that we may place a higher value on than what we place on the Word of God.
So sometimes the reason we aren’t receiving much from the Word, or we don’t see the Word having any significant effect in our lives is because we place a very little value on the Word it’s self. Meaning we know way more about our latest kick or hobbies than we do the Bible. We value other things more. How do we measure this? How much time do you give to the word in comparison to those other things? Often when I’m counseling someone, I ask how much time they are spending in the Word. Very often it’s none, I don’t have the time. Yet we all have the same amount of time and we all find the time to do the things that we want to do, are there treasures in our lives that are deceiving us. Sniff, there’s those smelling salts. Oh, they can burn...
Then Jesus uses the phrase and the desires for other things, that can be the lusts for other things. Are there lusts in your life that need to be put away, need to be laid aside because they are choking out the effect of the Word of God? God wants application of this in all of our lives. God wants His Word to have it’s perfect work in us. He wants it to make us more like Jesus. He wants it to produce fruit in our lives that makes other want to become followers of Jesus, and others to be deeper, stronger followers of Jesus as they get to know Him more like you know Him more through the effect of His Word in your life!
So back in James, again.
21 Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.
Maybe you’ve struggled with this, or been frustrated by this. You’ve gone to church for awhile now. You’ve seen people that got saved after you that have grown more than you. Or are being used by God in ways and in opportunities that haven’t been given to you. You see God doing these things in their lives while you struggle just to show up. Just to make it through the day. You don’t see fruit in your own life. Maybe its because there are things that you still need to set aside. Ask God if that is the case. Verse 22
22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.
When Jesus called us to follow Him, He didn’t call us to be observers. We are to be followers... Disciples. We are to receive the things He says, and to do them. To apply them. Here James is saying that if we are not finding application and taking action, we are deceiving ourselves. Remember last week when we talked about blaming others. Eve saying it was the serpent that deceived her. Well this is different. This is worse, it says deceiving ourselves.
We all know hearers only. I once heard a guy I went to school with put it like this. Imagine if you worked for an up and coming start-up company. Things were going great, it was a constant challenge to keep production up with demand. Things were exceeding everyone’s expectations, but you and the administrative team got things running like clockwork. Until your boss comes to you one day and says we’re expanding.
We want to take what we are doing here and duplicate it in Europe. So he is going to go over there and get things rolling, and he is putting you in charge of U.S. operations. Don’t worry about a thing though, He is still the boss and he will email you instructions as he goes. Now imagine if 6-8 months down the road He comes back.
When he does there is a group of guys out in the parking lot smoking cigars and playing corn hole (for clarity, this is not a military operation). On the other side of the parking lot, someone set up one of those inflatable pools, and a bar-b-Que grill. The boss then walks inside and the receptionists in the lobby have a game system hooked up to the logistic monitors.
He goes down to his office and it has been relabeled the “fellowship hall”, his computers, and file cabinets have all been moved out to the warehouse. He goes to your office and he finds you sitting in a recliner with a reading lamp, a fresh cup of coffee, and music playing in the background. You can imagine the confrontation.
What in the world is going on around here? Nothing is being done! Didn’t you get my instructions? Did you read my emails? Did I read them? OF course I did. I read every single one of them. In fact I’m reading them now. Look, I printed them all out and I had them bound in calf skin, look, I even highlighted this one in different colors.
Why did all my work tools get moved out of my office to the warehouse? Well we needed the space for fellowship. Some of those guys from the warehouse formed a band, and they come into the fellowship hall and the guy from shipping and receiving turning some of your emails into songs and we sing them together. Margaret in marketing made up some bumper stickers. We’ve got tee-shirts so people can tell that we work here.
But what work is being done? How happy is the boss going to be if you aren’t doing anything? James says don’t deceive yourselves. Verse 23 says
23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror;
24 for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was.
The Word of God is like a mirror. When you or I look in the mirror, we do so to see what is messed up, or what do I need to fix before I go out of the house. Last week I went to breakfast with a friend. We talked for a long time after and then he got up to use the restroom. Apparently, while he was in there he took the time to look in the mirror, because when he came out he said something to the effect of thanks a lot, I sat here looking like Alfalfa the whole time and you couldn’t say something!?!
For us the Word of God is like a mirror because in it we see Jesus. When we examine ourselves against what we see in the Word, it should identify things for us that both encourage us, as well as to make us aware of things that must be fixed.
James said there is a type of man that hears the Word, and observes it, maybe discusses it with others. Reads commentaries, but then goes out into the world where there is opportunity for application in his own life, and he immediately forgets all about it. Listen, here is another way we deceive ourselves. Sometimes we come to church, or we go to a night of worship hoping for an experience.
You know what I mean. We want to sense a presence, or we want that tingly feeling. Or whatever it is for you. Maybe a release of emotions during worship, maybe tears or warm feelings flowing throughout your body…maybe, maybe if everything goes just right goosebumps. I’m not trying to mock any of that, or to diminish those time for you with God. But I will say, it is not the emotional highs that you may experience that are going to transform your life. It is not experiences that will change your life. What will change your life is a daily commitment to read, and obey the Word of God.
You life is going to be changed. Your life is going to become fruitful, no longer just sowing seed, but it will be implanted and bear fruit when you receive it in meekness and take action, find application in it for you... and do it.
So the question is not how is God making you feel, but what is God saying to you and instructing you to do? What is the take away, or the so what? In that message for you or that passage of Scripture you are reading that morning, how should it effect your day, how should it effect your life, what is God asking you to do about it?
So for you, today, what is God saying. Maybe you need to receive His Word about Jesus and Get saved. Maybe you need to be swift to hear Him, to listen to Him, to look for the point of application and do it, not argue about it. It might be to take the smelling salts and stop deceiving yourself that reading and learning is enough, if it is not changing you, and as a result of that changing others around you, maybe it is time to lay some things aside. Surrender your worry. Lay aside filthiness. Verse 25
25 But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.
26 If anyone among you thinks he is religious, and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this one’s religion is useless.
27 Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.
I know I’ve gone long and we’re wrapping up here, but don’t miss this last part it might be God’s Word for you this morning. We are all very familiar with this last verse…or at least part of it. We get that true religion is to visit orphans and widows in their trouble…oh wait there’s more…and to keep oneself unspotted from the world. To lay those things aside, to get ride of any wickedness. You guys thought I was repetitive, but James brings it right back.
So this morning, as we close in prayer. I want you to hear and receive this word. I’m going to pray and as I do, ask God what it is you need to lay aside this morning, that you would no longer deceive yourself about a lack of fruit. That from this day forth, you would become a productive doer. One that even if you don’t understand it all, you can see God producing fruit in. Let’s pray.
Grace and Peace