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TEXT: James 1:19-25
SUBJECT: Hearing and Heeding the Word of God #3: Heeding
A couple of weeks ago we began a short series called Hearing and Heeding the Word of God. For the purpose of this study, I define ‘the Word of God’, not as the Bible read in private, but the Bible preached in public. While no sermon is inspired by God, a sermon that is faithful to message of God’s Word is God’s Word. What our Lord said to the preachers He sent out long ago is still true today—
He who hears you hears Me, and he who rejects you rejects Me and Him who sent Me.
It is flattering to think you would listen carefully if Christ Himself came down to preach the sermon. Flattering, but not true. The hearing you give me, Mike, and the other sinful men who stand in this pulpit is the hearing you give your Lord and Savior.
If preaching is the Word of God, it demands something of us. Unlike you and I, the Lord never speaks an idle word. He speaks to be heard and heeded. Last week we spent our time exploring how to hear Him better than we do; now we come to the hard part: heeding the Word of God.
THE TEXT
Our brother read the first chapter of James. The text is taken from it, vv.21-25—
Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of 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 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.
--The Readers--
James is writing to his beloved brethren whom he earlier identifies as the twelve tribes…scattered abroad. The wording is Jewish, but the meaning is Christian. The scattered tribes are God’s people all over the world. This means his counsel is not for one people in one place and one time, but is designed for every believer in every place and every time. Including you and me, here and now.
--The duty--
What does he want us to do? He wants us to do the Word, or to live in obedience to God. Does ‘obedient’ mean ‘perfect’? Of course not. While no child is sinless, some are obedient. Not perfectly, but really; not every minute of every day, but overall, they submit to their parents’ authority and do what they’re told. If Christians are not angels we are obedient children (cf. I Peter 1:14). This is what a doer of the Word is: obedient.
--The Contrast—
What is the opposite of obeying the Word? I would say, ‘disobeying’ it. But this is not what the verses say. The contrast is not between doing the Word and—rejecting it, arguing with it, persecuting those who preach it—but something a lot quieter and more respectable. The opposite of doing the Word of God is…hearing it!
Does he want us to hear God’s Word? Sure he does. A couple of verses earlier he says, Be swift to hear it. But we mustn’t leave it there. Hearing is not enough, even if it is a regular and reverent and enthusiastic hearing. An Old Testament story comes to mind. It’s at the end of Ezekiel 33.
As for you, son of man, the children of your people are talking about you beside the walls and in the doors of their houses; and they speak to one another, everyone saying to his brother, ‘Please come and hear what the Word is that comes from the Lord’. So they come to you as people do, they sit before you as My people, and they hear your words, but they do not do them; for with their mouth they show much love, but their hearts pursue their own gain. Indeed you are to them as a very lovely song as one who has a pleasant voice and can play well on an instrument; for they hear your words, but they do not do them.
Do you get the picture? Ezekiel is a beloved preacher. People flock to hear his sermons and invite their friends. They sit quietly, faces glowing with joy, and take in every word. When he’s done, they thank him for his efforts and tell him what a great blessing he is to them. Over dinner they discuss the message and all agree: it was the best one they ever heard—and next week will be even better!
Preachers want this kind of hearing. But not the Lord! He says the hearing they gave Ezekiel was a bad one! Because ‘they hear your words but they do not do them’.
--The illustration—
To drive home the point, James compares ‘hearers’ and ‘doers’ with men who look in the mirror. Here’s my take on it.
Ronald and Richard are twin brothers who like the same woman at work. One day over a bowl of spaghetti, they agree: we’re both going to ask her out for Saturday night—and may the better man win. When lunch is over, the brothers go into the men’s room to make sure they look their best. But neither one is looking too good at the moment because they’re both messy eaters and have big globs of tomato sauce hanging from their chins. Ronald looks into the mirror, sees the spot on his face, does nothing about it and then forgets it was there. Richard, on the other hand, sees the stain on his face and wipes it off. At five o’clock, they walk to the woman’s desk and ask, ‘Are you free Saturday night?’
Who gets the date? Ronald who sees the spot and does nothing about it? Or Richard who sees the spot and does something about it? I think the date goes to Richard.
Now suppose the brothers are in church. The pastor is preaching on a sin they’re both guilty of and he urges them to confess their sin and trust in God’s mercy to forgive them of it. Ronald hears the Word; Richard does the Word. Who gets the blessing? Richard gets it again and for the same reason: when he sees a need he does something about it.
The Lord wants us to be like the wise brother in my story and not like the foolish one. He wants us to be doers of the Word and not hearers only.
THE TRANSITION
Everyone in this room is a hearer of the Word. But is everyone a doer? If you’re no doer at all, you need to repent of your sins and put your faith in Christ, for it is not until you are connected to Him that you can do God’s will at all—
Without Me, you can do nothing.
But if you’re a bad doer (as I am), you need to listen to James and do what he says. How do we become better doers of the Word?
CONFESS
We start with confessing our known sins, v.21a—
Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness.
Picture a man working on his car for several hours on a blistering hot day. His clothes are stained with grease and his body smells of sweat. What does he need to do? He needs to take off his dirty clothes and step into the shower. This is what James has in mind--only it’s not his shirt and body that need washing, but his soul.
How do we get rid of the stain of our sins? We start by confessing them to the Lord and asking for pardon. Until we do this, we will never be doers of the Word—we cannot be. Because ‘doing the Word’ depends on two things: a good conscience and the work of the Holy Spirit.
As long as our sins are not fessed up to, we will feel guilty and ashamed, and these things will keep us from the Lord and His mercy. As long as we lie to God, we grieve His Holy Spirit and absent the Spirit we cannot hear or do the Word.
If it’s good to shower your body on Sunday morning, it’s better to bathe your soul. Instead of staying up as late as you can on Saturday night or getting up at the last minute Sunday morning, why don’t you make time for examining yourself before the Lord, confessing the sins that come to mind, and finding forgiveness in your Savior’s blood.
Because James does not name (or hint at) any one sin, we can apply this rule to every sin, especially the sins of not apologizing to people you have wronged and holding a grudge against people who have wronged you.
Being self-righteous men, the Pharisees were very big on worship and very small on apologizing. The moment you start apologizing from the heart, you feel like a sinner and that’s plays havoc with your ego. Thus they were always going to the Temple but seldom saying, ‘I’m sorry’. The Lord, however, said they had their priorities backward. Your worship is useless until you make things right with the people you’ve wronged, Matthew 5:23-24—
If you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled, and then come and offer your gift.
They went to the Temple, partly, to hear the Word of God. But the Word would not get through to them until they apologized to the people they wronged.
If we need to apologize to some, we need to forgive others. While the Lord understands a grudge, He never approves of it—never, under any circumstances will He overlook an unforgiving spirit. If you’re not forgiving, you are not forgiven, and if you’re not forgiven, you cannot do the Word.
We start ‘doing the Word’ by confessing we haven’t.
WELCOME
If this is where we start, it is not where we stop. Confessing our sins is followed by receiving the Word, v.21b. To ‘receive’ is to ‘welcome’ the Word the way a man welcomes a friend into his home.
If you know how to welcome friends into your home, you know how to welcome the Word into your life. Suppose a man rarely invites anyone over, and when he does he’s bored to tears with their company, does not care what they like or dislike, and rushes them off as soon as he can. Would you feel welcome in his home?
If not, how can the Word feel welcome in our hearts when we seldom go to church, and when we do we’re bored with the sermon, have no desire to obey it, and cannot wait until its over? The Word of God is not a party crasher. It will not go where it is not wanted.
Do you want the Word? If you do, come to church every week you can, and when you’re here, listen carefully to the sermon, enjoy it, remember it, meditate on it, and give thanks for the privilege of hearing it.
The man who shies away from the Word will never become a doer of the Word. If you want to be a doer, welcome the Word every time it is preached. If you have something better to do on Sunday, by all means do it. But, first, tell me: What’s better than hearing the Word of God?
REMEMBER THE STAKES
Finally, if you want to become a doer of the Word, remember what is at stake. People who hear the Word of God but don’t do it, deceive themselves, v.22. About what are they deceived? They’re deceived about their standing with God. They think they’re saved and going to heaven. But they’re not. A couple of pages later James says a faith in God that does not obey God does not save us from the wrath of God. This is not his peculiar doctrine. Both Paul and our Lord say the same thing.
No one affirmed justification by faith alone more than Paul did, but the same man said—
Not the hearers of the law are just, but the doers of the Law shall be justified.
People who just hear the Word are not right with God now and they won’t be on the Day of Judgment. Unless they become doers of the Word.
If Paul is unsettling, our Lord is downright scary, Matthew 7:21—
Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord’ shall inherit of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven.
If only doers of the Word are saved, then hearers and talkers are not. Doing the Word is a matter of life and death. When God persuades you of this, you’ll want to be a doer of the Word—and you will be.
ENCOURAGMENT
Because God has not just commanded us to be doers of the Word, He has also provided for us. The Father chose us to be doers of the Word, Ephesians 1:4—
Just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and without blame before Him.
The Son died for us to make us doers of the Word, Titus 2:13-14—
Our Great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works.
The Holy Spirit produces good works, Galatians 5:22-23—
For the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
The Word itself enables us to obey it, John 17:17—
Sanctify them through your truth; your Word is truth.
Preachers help us do the Word, Ephesians 4:11-12—
He Himself gave some to be Apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors who are teachers, for the equipping of the saints, for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the Body of Christ.
Private Christians assist us in doing the Word, Hebrews 10:24—
Let us consider one another to stimulate unto love and good works.
Angels help us do the Word, Hebrews 1:14—
Are they not all serving spirits sent to serve those who will inherit eternal salvation?
We are responsible to do the Word, but we are not alone! Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, Scripture, preachers, the church on earth and the angels in heaven are with us. This means we will become doers of the Word in spite of our weakness, folly, and sin. Because God wants us to, and what He wants He gets.
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