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Title: Oh foolish Me Text: James 1:22-25 Date: 03-29-04.am Thesis Statement: In the verses 19-21 James told us the first characteristic of genuine faith was that it hears and receives the Word of God. Hearing, however, is not isolated from doing. Faith not only hears the Word faith obeys the word. When we truly become hearers of the word we also become doers of the Word. James 1:21-25 21 Therefore putting aside all filthiness and {all} that remains of wickedness, in humility receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls. 22 But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves. 23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror; 24 for {once} he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was. 25 But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the {law} of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man shall be blessed in what he does. (NAS) You might be surprised to hear that James is writing about divorce in this passage. He’s talking about Christians who are divorced from the truth of God’s word because they erroneously believe that agreeing with God’s word is the same thing as obeying God’s Word. James in his point blank way says we must go beyond just receiving the Word but actually act on what we have heard. There is an ethical and moral obligation on the part of Christians to apply faith to practice. I read of a professor who referred to people who only hear the word as auditors. He compared them to people who audit his class rather than taking it for credit. The difference between the auditor and the student taking the class for credit is auditors usually have no investment in the class it doesn’t cost them anything or if it does it’s very little. He said, for the most part they are not interested in doing the class assignments and regularly cut class they do like to take part in class discussions but it’s evident they only pickup bits and pieces of the material. He concluded auditors really don’t listen very well. Christians must not be auditors we have to move from being believers to being behavers. We must earnestly hear and then respond accordingly. Proving ourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers.” (James 1:22). Andrew Carnegie said, “the older I get, the less I pay attention to what men say, but instead watch what they do.” James warns, the problem with being just a listener of the word and not a doer is we delude ourselves. We mislead or deceive ourselves about the genuine nature of our faith and our commitment. We don’t deceive God, He knows our hearts, He knows whether our profession of faith is genuine, or whether we are just bystanders. We usually don’t deceive friends or family because they know if our walk matches our talk. The only person really fooled is our self. I read in article in Discipleship Journal this past week that mentioned a survey conducted by U.S. News and World Report in 1997. In it Americans were asked who they thought was most likely to go to heaven. In the survey 65% of respondents said Oprah Winfrey and Michael Jordan were “very likely” to go; 79% believed Mother Teresa would make it to heaven. Only one person scored higher than Mother Teresa. Do you know who it was? The respondent 80% of those responding felt they were “very likely” to go to heaven. When we fail to be doers of the word, we deceive ourselves with a false sense of security. We mistakenly believe that because our name is on a church roll, or because I’ve always been in church, or because my mother or father were Christians I am. We reason because I’ve been a good person and never done anything very bad I’ll make it to heaven. We delude ourselves into believing that because we play a part, our salvation is sure and secure. That delusion is dangerous, it has eternal, everlasting consequences, because as long as we deceive ourselves we close our ears to the convicting Spirit of God. We deceive ourselves about the nature of our relationship with Christ, and every aspect of the Christian life obviously revolves around a close personal relationship with Jesus Christ. When we are hearers and not doers we distance ourselves from Jesus rather than draw close to Him. James likens this to looking in a mirror. The phrase he used means to gaze intently into the mirror. James compares/contrasts the word of God to a mirror. With a mirror a person can look for hours and make sure their hair is just right their makeup is right, their beard and moustache is trimmed, but as soon as we leave the mirror things change, the next time we pass a mirror we do the same thing all over again. Then when we get away from the mirror we forget what we looked like. It’s an interesting thing, I’ve tried to close my eyes and get a picture of myself and I find I can’t. I can get a picture of everything around me but I can’t get a image of my own face. Of course when I forget what I look like I count it a blessing. The other problem we encounter when looking in a mirror is we often see what we want to see. I received an email recently that was titled the difference between women and men. It showed an attractive lady looking in the mirror and seeing herself as being plump. On the other side was a rather large man looking in the mirror and seeing himself as a body builder. That’s the kind of deception James is talking about for those who simply hear the word without obeying it. Their perception is deception they can’t remember and they see only what they want to see. In this case they perceive only the external person because they have not internalized the message. They deceive themselves so they leave and in effect forget to follow through on what they have heard. They haven’t seen what the mirror truly revealed. On the other hand James compares someone who is a doer of the word to the person who looks intently into the mirror of perfect Word of God seeing not external characteristics, but their internal qualities. The person who is a doer sees their standing in the presence of a holy and righteous God. They have heard and understand their need for repentance and acceptance. They see the love God has for them and how it was manifest in the cross of Christ and they respond to God’s grace in true faith and humble obedience to His commands. Like Paul, James is talking about bearing fruit in our lives, not just being busy. It is a wonderful thing and a necessary thing to listen to the Word of God, but it’s purpose is not just to be heard. It’s purpose is to change lives. It is to set people free from sin and transform them into the image of the Living God. A person isn’t a true disciple unless they actually follow the Master’s teachings. To believe so is the height of self-deception. The person who is an effectual doer of the word, James says, will be blessed in what he does. In other words he or she will be genuinely fulfilled. The word blessed is transformed in the New Testament from meaning merely emotional happiness to meaning having an inner sense of well being, an inner peace produced by godly character, and godly living. In being obedient to the Word of God, James says, a person develops a sense of well being in all areas of life, even in the trials and struggles of life. Beginning in 1:26 and going through 2:12, James gives three illustrations of how this truth is applied. The first in verse 26 is control of the tongue. In chapter 3 James calls the tongue a fire, a restless evil and full of poison. I remember an old saying we used as kids that said: sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me. Nothing could be further from the truth. Words do hurt, and they can never be retracted. Once spoken they can never be unspoken. James says if we have internalized the word we must bridle or control our tongue. We must refrain from gossip, slander, deceit and all types of filthy language. Paul says we are to let no corrupt speech come out of our mouths. If we don’t have control of our tongues again James says we are deceiving ourselves and our religion is worthless. The second illustration involves taking care of those who are in need. James uses widows and orphans as an example. They were the most neglected and unrepresented of society at that time. The word translated visit in this verse doesn’t mean just go to where they are as we use the word visit. It’s the same word translated bishop or overseer. It means to look out for. Christians are to actively engage in a ministry of looking out for and ministering to the underprivileged and less fortunate of society. We are to help meet their physical needs as well as spiritual needs. If we are genuine disciples of Christ our religion must be more than superficial, and how we minister to those in need reveals the true nature of our discipleship. The third example involves discrimination, particularly within the church, and especially between rich and poor. Verse 6 of chapter 2 implies that kind of partiality was happening in the churches. James says this is inconsistent with faith. It is wrong, he says, to show the rich person special attention because his wealth and influence can be of benefit to the church, while at the same time looking down on the poor person because they have less to give financially. James uses the illustration of rich and poor because that was a particular problem for his readers. It is also problematic today because churches often see people for what they can add to the church coffers. The principle, however, applies to any situation or any characteristic where we might tend to show favoritism to one person over another. The gospel is given to all persons, God uses all kinds of people to accomplish His goals. Everyone he places within the body is given gifts by the Spirit to strengthen and edify the body, every person is important, and every person is expected to be a doer, not just a hearer. God shows no partiality and neither should we. An unknown writer described the way many in the modern church fall short of Christ’s demand to become doers of the word: I was hungry and you formed a humanities club and discussed my hunger. release. Let me ask you this morning, are you a hearer or a doer of the word of God. Are we as a church hearers or doers or are we being foolish and deceiving ourselves? James says we must be doers not just hearers. We must allow God to take our lives, our hands our feet, our church and let them be consecrated to Him. Are you willing to be a doer of the Word? |