James 1:19-27 Just Do it

Last week we looked at some verses in James 4. They ended with this statement in verse (4:17) Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn't do it, sins.

Living IS about doing! We are called to serve, to respond, to go, and to obey… We are called out because we have a relationship with God… a transforming relationship. What we do is supposed to deal with Eternal Significance… that’s why you were created, so JUST DO IT! That’s what we hear from James.

And it is what we need to hear right now as a church body. Last week we talked about various options that we have as a church, but options are meaningless unless we are willing to do them.

If we know what we need to do and don’t do it, that’s sin, it’s missing the mark. For us to do what God wants there are some real basics,

Those things are pretty obvious, but you know we are pretty good at avoiding the obvious. If you have heard even a whisper of God calling you, if you are willing to follow, and if you are determined to do what God wants, listen up. Here’s some…

a) Slam Dunk Advice:(1:19) My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry,

i) Doesn't that sound obvious! This is Duh stuff... it's the kind of statement we should all have memorized... should all have implemented in our lives!

(a) Proverbs 10:19 When words are many, sin is not absent, but he who holds his tongue is wise.

(b) Proverbs 13:3 He who guards his lips guards his life, but he who speaks rashly will come to ruin.

(2) A tribute was once paid to a great linguist... they said he could be silent in seven different languages![i]

(1) This is slam-dunk advice, but we all blow it. Have you ever seen someone miss a slam-dunk...

(2) Righteous Anger is not something that human beings have very often… Often when we let loose our anger it's like firing a gun inside a steel room… the ricochets are deadly!

(a) The person may have deserved it, but it doesn’t normally have the intended results!

ii) James then tells us to Dump the bad habits, out with the old, “Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent…”

(1) Much of our anger comes from our own sense of falling short… from being angry with ourselves!

(2) The Greek word that is translated as get rid of, has the sense of taking off a set of clothes…Taking off our old lifestyle and putting on our new life, the one we find in Christ

iii) Then accept the WORD humbly! and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you. The putting off of evil is to be accompanied by the receiving of something else... With the receiving of the implanted word.

(1) Jeremiah 31:33, "This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time," declares the LORD "I will put my law in their mind and write it on their hearts I will be their God and they will be my people

(2) What James is saying is that the Christian must not think he is done with the Word of God after it has saved him. Accept its words as binding and begin to live by them.

a) Verse 22 is the driving verse of this section (1:22) Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Paul writes in Romans that because of the Grace of Christ we are to “…call people from among all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith. (Romans 1:5) Jesus said in Luke 11:28, "Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it."

i) Jesus' preaching is filled with the incredible wonder of the Grace of God... but He also calls us to radical obedience.

ii) Both factors, the gracious initiative of God and the grateful response of man, make up the Good News... Jesus Christ came to give us life and give it abundantly![ii]

(b) Will you offer your money... the things you value to further the Kingdom of God?

b) Take a GOOD look! (1:23) Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror (1:24) and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like.

i) What a contrast! You’ve heard the saying, “in one ear and out the other.” Isn’t that what we see in vs. 23-24…

(2) But so often that’s what we do with our faith… It sounds so good on Sunday, but then Monday happens or Tuesday or Wednesday and it’s all out the window!

(3) Take a good look at yourself, measure your actions against what you believe!

ii) And take a long, intentional and consistent look at Jesus. (1:25) But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it—he will be blessed in what he does.

(1) Look at Jesus… He perfected the law… and his Good News brings us freedom! We put our faith in HIM and He gives...

(2) The freedom and the power to do what He says! Matthew 11:28-30… the last part of the Beautiful Letdown tells us that His yoke is easy, and his burden is light!

(b) And as we do, we are blessed… we are happy… we live life the way we are meant to live it!

a) Rein in your tongue (1:26) If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless.

i) The topic of the tongue runs throughout the book of James… we saw it in verse 19 and we’ll see it again in chapter 3 and in 4:11-12. The tongue is powerful, but its power must be controlled or directed for it to accomplish good.

ii) The tongue tells a lot about us… We all know people who know how to “talk the talk.” If all a person does is “talk the talk”, they are deceiving their heart… have you ever told a lie for so long that after a while you actually believe it.

(1) Tell my story about (not) playing one on one with “World B. Free” when the Clippers were in San Diego.

(2) We can do this with our faith… we can “talk the talk” but never actually allow God to have control over our lives… we don’t “walk the walk” and people see right through us into our hypocrisy.

iii) Sometimes this “talk the talk” actually looks like work… but it just ends up being religious activity… sometimes people think that going to church or participating in stuff at church makes us Christian… if that’s all it is, then even that action is hot air!

b) Pure Religion - Now realize that religion is about what we do... it's not about what Christ has done. Our "religion" won't save us, but through our religion, our living out lives of faith, we can be used by God to bring others into a saving relationship with Jesus! That's what the “doing” of James is all about... Christ came to "seek and to save what was lost." (Luke 19:10). That's our job too! James gives us two of the purest ways to express our faith:

i) Care for the unfortunate... care for the helpless! (1:27) Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress

(1) God exhibits this in himself… he is A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling. Psalm 68:5.

(2) And he exhibited this to us… we are helpless to save ourselves, so he offered himself, Jesus, as a sacrifice for our sins. Christ saves us (Romans 5:8) But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

(3) And so 1^st John 3:16-18 - 16 This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. 17 If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? 18 Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.

(4) We’ve got to ask ourselves, as a church and as individuals, what are we doing? What does God want me to do for those who are in need? Let’s pray about it, but then let’s hold each other accountable… Let’s Do It!

ii) Because we've been saved from sin, we must Stay Pure - and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

(1) We need to avoid be tainted by the value system of the world… this may mean giving up some stuff and re-evaluating our value system, is it based on God’s Word and His desires, or on the worlds words (there are plenty of these) and worldly desires.

(2) This area of our lives “penetrates beyond our actions and forces us to consider our attitudes and beliefs from which our action springs.”[iii]

James tells us stuff we already know, but in a way that confronts us and forces us to go deeper…

Don't make your relationship with God a Sunday event! Get involved with people around you! Let this perfect law... the One the gives freedom, get into you! And change you!!

[i] From William Barclay's commentary on James & Peter

[ii] Moo, Douglas, see below.

[iii] Moo, Douglas, Tyndale New Testament Commentary: James, (William B. Eerdmans Publishing, Grand Rapids: 1997), p. 87. (This commentary was used as a source for other parts of this sermon, though because this sermon was written in many places and many situations throughout the week, I can’t remember which was what or where… so if it was really good, it was probably Moo.)

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