Are You Listening?
James 1:19-27
Introduction:
I enjoy working in the garden (“working” may be too strong a word!), but by the
looks of things I am not necessarily very good at it! Yes the zucchini are going crazy, but the tomatoes are
not looking too healthy, and not even a single eggplant has been harvested to
date! With all the rain we have had the weeds are doing quite well however! We
can all envision what a healthy, growing garden might look like. But what
does a healthy, growing Christian look like? One thing that James is doing
in this letter is giving us a “word picture” of that precise truth. He first asks how does one respond to trials
(1:1-12)? The authentic believer, a
genuine Christ follower, is growing through the trials encountered in life.
Then James asks how are we responding to temptations (1:12-18)? Do we pass the
buck, or do we face temptations by remembering the Lord and looking to Him for
strength? In today’s passage James
continues his description of authentic faith by asking “how do we respond to
the Word?” Today we’ll see the importance
of listening to God and desiring to obey Him. Listen: the God who is, the Creator and
sustainer of the universe, has spoken. He inspired human writers to put pen to
paper (or papyrus!) and to write down exactly what He knew that we needed for
faith and practice. But “listening” is not merely allowing the sound waves to
reach your eardrums and reverberate a little! Jesus said “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow
me…” “Listening” is not merely hearing words, but hearing with faith, receiving
the Word as God’s Word, and already asking God how He would have you respond.
Remember the famous quote from Nate Saint who said his life didn’t change until
he came to grips with the fact that obedience is not a momentary option. It is
a die-cast decision made beforehand. That is normal, healthy, Christianity. As
the hymn writer said: “Trust and obey, there is no other way to be happy in
Jesus, but to trust and obey…”
The Big
Idea: Authentic faith is marked by a
desire to hear and obey the Word of God.
I.
If we genuinely believe we will have a heart to receive the Word (1:19-21).
“Knowing this…” (James 1:19). In view of God’s gracious work in our
lives as outlined in v.18, considering His sovereign hand guiding us through
times of testing to mature our faith, how should we therefore live? James
begins by stating three attitudes or characteristics that we should pursue that
focus on the idea of receiving the Word with an attitude of submission.
Remember this plays off v.18, “Knowing this [v.18] do this…” Be…
1. “…swift to hear…” (v.19). Rather than reluctantly receiving the Word,
we want to hear the truth, we long for the pure milk of the Word that we might
grow from it. Paul described the
effectiveness of the Word in us, God’s purpose in giving us His revelation, when
he said in 2 Timothy 3:16-17, “All
Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for
reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be
complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.” God gave us what we
need in this book to know Him, and to walk with Him through the darkness of
this world, not only existing, but living abundantly and effectively carrying
out His mission. We should be “…swift to
hear…” His life giving Word, and…
2. “…slow to speak…” Proverbs 29:20 says, “Do you see a man hasty in his words? There is more hope for a fool than
for him.” Rather than arrogantly asserting “what we think” we should
receive the word, eagerly, already willing to bend our ideas and our will to
what it says. In Rom 9:20 Paul asked as he taught about the sovereignty of God,
“But indeed, O man, who
are you to reply against God?” In the context of hearing
and receiving the Word of God I think being “slow to speak” means actively
listening, receiving what the Word says, without at the same time formulating
in our mind “what we think” it really means (or what we think it should mean!). John MacArthur related
the story of a young man who went to a famous Greek orator and asked him to
teach him the art of public speaking. The prospective student rambled on and
on, not letting the teacher get a word in edgewise. When they finally got to
the point of discussing the fee the teacher said “I will have to charge you a
double fee.” When asked why the teacher
replied “I will have to teach you two skills, first, how to hold your tongue,
second, how to use it.”
3. “…slow
to wrath…” Odds are someone hearing this is getting angry right now. Don’t
shoot the messenger, let’s hear the Word of God! In general the idea of having control over
our emotions is biblical. One
characteristic of an elder is that he is not to be “pugnacious” ie. “a person
who strikes out [in anger] at others.”
Anger itself is not necessarily bad, but in this context it seems to be
in the context of our response to God and His word. We might not always like
what we read in the Bible, sometimes from our limited human perspective things
can even seem unfair, but we need to have a heart willing to receive the truth. Here is why…
“…for the wrath of man does not
produce the righteousness of God…”
(James 1:20). In the following verses
James gives a little more detail on these three ideas (quick to listen, slow to
speak, slow to anger). He begins with being slow to wrath. “For…” This is the reason why we
should take that course: if we are pursuing the righteousness of God,
controlling our temper and our tongue is a good place to start.
Verse
21 gives us the productive path toward conformity to Christ:
1. “…therefore lay aside all filthiness and
overflow of wickedness…” The things of the world and our fallen human
nature. We know the truth about
ourselves: we are all sinners, by birth and by choice. The word “lay aside” in
this exact same form, appears in three other passages in the New Testament:
Eph
4:25 “Therefore, having put
away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for
we are members one of another.”
Heb
12:1-2 “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so
great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin
which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set
before us, 2 looking to
Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith…”
1 Pet
2:1-2 “So put away all malice and all
deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander.
2 Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk,
that by it you may grow up to salvation…”
The
language pictures the taking off of a garment or the setting aside of some kind
of burden. Falsehood, deceit, sin, these things hold us back from allowing
God’s Spirit to fill us and direct us. This is the idea behind repentance. What we need to do is…
2. “…and receive with meekness the
implanted word…” Friends, is that your heart’s desire when you come to
church? Is that what you look for in your Sunday School class, or in your small
group Bible Study? When you pick up the Bible for a quiet time in the Word (and
I hope you do every day) are you humbly receiving it as the Word of GOD? When you hear the Sunday morning message, are
you here to be entertained, or to hear what God says in His word? The pulpit I
preached from in New Jersey had an engraving on the back, facing the preacher:
“Sir, we would see Jesus…” That’s a convicting thought for the preacher, its
with fear and trembling that I come before you to proclaim the Word of God. But
the point James is making is that we need to be teachable, we need to be an
active and willing hearer. Notice the attitude with which we are to receive the
Word: “…with meekness…” Humility.
What a strange idea. Not thinking badly of ourselves, but seeing ourselves
truthfully, honestly. And then receiving
the Word of God which brings life, which matures our faith. Authentic faith is marked by a desire to hear
and obey the Word of God.
II.
If we genuinely believe we will desire to obey the Word (1:22-25). In
these verses James is spelling out in more detail what he means by “quick to
listen.”
“But
be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.” Both the
words “hearers” and “doers” are rare in the NT, outside of James they are both
found in only one other verse: Romans
2:13, “For it is not the hearers of the law
who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be
justified.” The noun form seems to imply that this is what characterizes
their lives. I remember Stu Taylor saying that most Christians are educated far
beyond their level of obedience. Is it
your heart’s desire to humbly receive the Word of God, and then to do it? If we don’t have that attitude, James says we
are…
“…like the man who looks in the mirror…” As I get older I do my best
to avoid prolonged looks in the mirror. I
have a cousin who changes her facebook picture regularly, and its fine, she
can’t take a bad picture! As for me, I
got one photo from about five years ago that a friend photo shopped to the
point that it doesn’t look too bad, and I am sticking with it! The Word
is like a mirror, it exposes our flaws, our blemishes, smudges that need to be
wiped away. Will we look honestly in the mirror of the Word, and then respond
to it? We put those two questions on the
bottom of the sermon outline each week not just to take up space. 1) What is
God saying to me in this passage?
2) What would God have me to do in response to this passage? It’s
a step in the process of the preaching and hearing of the Word that is between
you and God. He is speaking. He wants to use the Word to mature us. Are you
listening? Am I? I hope so! Authentic faith is marked by a desire to hear and obey
the Word of God.
III.
If we genuinely believe we will examine our conduct in Light of the Word
(1:26-28). “If anyone thinks
he is religious...” (v.26).
As in English, “religion”
can be “pure and undefiled” or it can
be empty ritualism that amounts to idolatry (Paul used the term in Colossians
2:18 to describe the worship of angels).
A lot of people would describe themselves as “very religious” yet they
are clearly not submitting themselves to the Word of God, their “religion” is
their own idea about what God is like.
They are just deceiving themselves! Genuine faith, authentic
Christianity, will engage us in a process of transforming our heart, and so
also transforming our speech, since “out of the abundance of the heart the
mouth speaks.”
This
is what genuine religion, authentic faith looks like: it changes our heart, and
in the process transforms our actions. One visible evidence is caring for the
needy, such as “widows and orphans.”
James will say quite a bit about the poor (and the rich!) in this letter. One
thing we’ll learn is that God is no respecter of persons, He is interested in
every human being. Why is it that the rich have such resistance to following
Jesus in the Gospels? It is not that material things are bad in themselves – it is that we so easily fall in love with them.
Genuine faith gives us perspective – we will view money as a means of helping
those in need and ultimately of pointing them to Jesus. Our new vision
statement reflects the basis of that idea: “We envision a
community of Christ-followers rooted in the Word, treasuring God as supremely
valuable and proclaiming the riches of His grace to the world.” That is a vision that takes faith, authentic faith, in Jesus.
What is God
saying to me in this passage?
Authentic faith is marked by a desire to hear and obey the Word of God.
What
would God have me to do in
response to this passage? One definition of “faith” is “taking God at His
Word.” Why should we do that? If we are certain that God is good, and if we are
confident that His word is true, we should be eager to hear from Him and obey
Him. Is that your attitude when you pick up the Bible to read it? Is that your
heart when you come into a Bible study or Sunday School class or when you enter
the morning worship service? Warren
Wiersbe said “Attitude determines outcome.” I am increasingly convinced that is
true when it comes to the blessing we receive when we gather together. Do we
come expecting to meet with Jesus? He is here. Are the words we are
singing biblical and true? Then sing from your heart to Him! And are we
listening to the Word spoken, expecting to hear from Him, longing to humbly
submit ourselves to Him? He is the
Vinedresser, the Master Gardener, working in us to mature us and to bring forth
fruit, fruit that will last. That is what authentic faith should look
like. AMEN.
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