DOERS OF
THE WORD
James 1:
16-27
Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren.
Every good gift and perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation
or shadow of turning. Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth,
that we might be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures.
James,
the brother of Jesus, has written this letter to mature believers to help us grow in our walk with Him. The overall theme is to help us draw closer to God. In our lesson this morning we are going to examine
how important the word of God is, in our quest to draw near to Him. It was God’s
will and love that has bought us back from a sinful path to a loving relationship with Him, and He does this through the word
of truth.
Peter
tells us that this word of truth is what you are now listening to. 1st
Peter 1:22-25:
“Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere
love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart, having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible,
through the word of God, which lives and abides forever, because ‘All flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as
the flower of the grass. The grass withers, and its flower falls away, but the
word of the Lord endures forever.’ Now this is the word which by the gospel was preached to you.”
Notice
how the word of God and love of brethren are connected here. If we are going to draw closer to God, and that should be a goal
of each of us, then we must pay closer attention to His word, the word of truth. Jesus would say in John 8:31-32:
“If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed.
And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”
Are
you free this morning? Are you free from the doubt and trouble of an uncommitted
life? How important a part does God’s word play in your life? Is it the guiding light for you as you journey through this life?
Psalm 119:105:
“Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.”
As
we attempt to walk closer to God, and it is His love for us and His will, that we do so; it is His word that directs our steps
toward Him. His word is like a light that helps us see the direction we are going. RB had a flashlight with him this week that would light up a city block on a moonless
night. That is the way God’s word acts as a light for us. It shows us the safe direction to go and it exposes to light what thrives in darkness. Carry God’s light in your heart at all times.
So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak,
slow to wrath; for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God.
Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word,
which is able to save your souls.
This
is a powerful statement. Notice first of all that it is addressed to brethren
as is emphasized often in this letter. This writing is for those who are already
faithful and is meant to be an encouragement for each of us to walk closer to God. Let us be swift to hear, slow to speak,
and slow to wrath. We each need to learn to be better listeners. We oft want other people to listen to us but we do not want to listen to them. We must learn to listen better to the implanted word and to one another.
Here are some keys to being a better listener:
1. Listen to understand, not to respond
Effective listening goes beyond hearing someone’s words. Effective
listening creates an environment where the other person
feels that you understand them.
2. Be quiet
Being quiet gives you the opportunity to hear the words, the
tone, and the meaning behind the words. It gives you the chance to observe the speaker’s body language.
To help
you remember this tip, I’ll share two quick statements with you:
• “When your mouth is open, your ears
are closed.”
• “LISTEN and SILENT have the same letters.”
3. Let them finish their thoughts
In
other words, don’t interrupt the speaker. From the previous tip, this idea seems obvious. However, I have seen many
arguments and misunderstandings that stemmed from interruptions. It’s hard to remain silent. It’s even harder
to remain silent until someone has completely expressed their idea.
4. Maintain eye contact
Effective listening
means observing everything about the speaker’s message. People communicate at least as much with their body language
as they do with their words. Good listeners learn to “listen” with their eyes as well as with their ears. If you choose to work on something else (answer e-mail, fill out paperwork, etc.)
while someone is speaking to you, they will not “feel” that they were heard.
5. Ask questions to ensure
that you understand
Just because you heard the words and observed the body language, don’t assume that you understand.
If a particular point is unclear to you, ask a question to clarify it before you respond. Even if you think you understand
the message, make sure you do by clarifying it with the speaker. You might say something like:
• “Just
to be sure I understand you, let me repeat back to you what I thought you said…”
• “I heard
you say… Is that correct?”
• “If I understand correctly, your concern is…”
When
you clarify, remember to let them correct your understanding. You don’t have to agree with their perspective. You do
have to make sure that you understand it. Effective listening helps to resolve conflicts, build trust, inspire people, and
strengthen others. It often requires you to “bite your tongue,” and, from my personal experience, I know that
it can be hard work. I also know that the results are worth the effort.
I
think that effective listening is very important to not only hearing the word but to doing the word. We are to be slow to speak and quick to hear but we are also to be slow to anger. The wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God.
Friday
I picked up Madison at pre-school and we have a designed plan for doing that. We
all pull our vehicles under a carport type structure at the front entrance of the building and then two of the vehicles are
loaded at a time and they leave and the next two then pull forward to pick up their children.
The teachers rotate helping load the children and everything usually goes well unless this one teacher is there and
she must talk with every person for five minutes each. This has a tendency to
irritate me and Friday it made me angry. I wanted to blow my horn and I had to
bite my lip when I finally got to pull up to load Madison. I was angry but I
am glad I did not do anything rash. What would I have accomplished if I had let
my anger control the situation? No good would have come out of it and my anger certainly would have not produced the righteousness
of God. I could have made an enemy because I was delayed a few minutes. That
would not have been doing the word.
Here are some thoughts when dealing
with anger:
1) Tune in to your feelings (self-awareness). Start by noticing what you're angry about and why. Put
into words what’s making you upset so you can act rather than react.
Ask
yourself: What’s got me angry? What am I feeling
and why? You can do this either in your mind or out loud, but it needs to be clear and specific.
2) Stop and think (self-control). This is where you stop for a minute to give yourself
time to manage your anger. It’s also where you start thinking of how you might react — but without reacting yet. Ask yourself: What can I do? Think of at least three things. For example,
in this situation you might think:
3) Consider your options (think it through). This is where you think about what is likely to result
from each of the different reactions you came up with.
4) Make a decision (pick one of your options). This is where you take action by choosing one of the
three things you could do. Look at the list and pick the one that is likely to be most effective.
5) Check your progress. After you’ve acted and the situation is over,
spend some time thinking about how it went.
These five steps are pretty simple when you're calm,
but are much tougher to work through when you're angry, so it helps to practice over and over again.
Ephesians 4:26 “Be angry, and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on
your wrath, for give place to the devil.”
Anger is a natural emotion, it is not a sin but we need to control our anger and not let our anger control us. The wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God.
But be doers of the word, and not hears only, deceiving yourselves. 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; for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. 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
Setting
here and hearing the word of God or spending time reading the Bible in your own home, is great and if we are going to draw
closer to God, a necessity. But James tells us that we must not only hear the
word, but we must do the word. “Be
doers of the word, and not hearers only.” Are you a doer of the word? In
this section we are told that if we are just a hearer of the word we are like someone who looks in a mirror and sees themselves,
then they turn away from the mirror and forget completely what they saw.
The word
of God that brings you freedom is called the perfect law of liberty in verse 25. What
is that perfect law of liberty? James refers to the royal law in chapter 2:8
and quotes:
“You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
Jesus would say in Matthew 22:37-40: “You shall love the Lord your God
with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the
first and great commandment. And the second is like it: You shall love your neighbor
as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”
If we are to be doers of the word we must have our priorities in order. God
must be first in our lives and we must truly be committed to Him. We must love
Him with all our heart, soul and mind. We must also love our neighbor as we do
ourselves. If we have tasted the word of God, if we have looked into the perfect
law of liberty, then we have seen the light that will guide our lives.
But
we must continue in it. We cannot draw closer to God by just occasionally hearing
is word and then not putting it into our lives. We cannot just start and not
continue. The Christian way of life is a life-long journey of commitment and
growth. We are made in His image and we thus have the ability to choose to stay
the course or not. It is our choice. What
do you choose?
We must not be a forgetful hearer. If we read a passage that instructs
us to love our neighbor on Sunday and we go out on Cortez Avenue on Monday and are rude and angry with the way someone is
driving then we are a forgetful hearer. To be a doer of the word we must let
God’s word guide us all through this journey of life. We must obey it to the fullest and not be a forgetful hearer. We must be a doer of the work. James
tells us if we will do this then we will be blessed in what we do. Are you a
doer of the word or are you a forgetful hearer?
Here are some thoughts that will help you to be a better listen to God’s word.
These were borrowed from the Life Application Bible Commentary on James.
1.
Read the Bible aloud to yourself with expression.
2.
Use small cards with verses printed on them to refer to throughout the day.
3.
Whenever a verse includes a command, think of at least three ways you can put that command into action
that same day.
4.
Ask someone else (maybe even a Christian that you don’t know very well) to comment on the verse
that you are trying to understand or obey.
5.
Ask for an explanation when someone mentions a verse or passage you do not understand.
6.
Memorize section of God’s Word.
7.
Meditate on the parts of God’s Word you have memorized.
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. 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
think the idea that is expressed in this oft quoted passage is that God had rather us be involved in the lives of those in
need than just setting in a church building on Sunday morning. Worshiping Him
and hearing His word are important, but He wants us to be doers of the word we hear.
Pure religion is not only hearing the word but during the week He finds us truly helping those who are in need especially
those who are easily preyed upon by the course of circumstance, such as the widow and orphans in their afflictions and problems. We are also as doers of the word are to control our tongue and James will deal with
this more, later in the letter and we are to keep ourselves unspotted from the world.
We are to be doers of the word and not hearers only.
