God's Wisdom in Hearing and Doing

be angry and do not sin.

The Bible provides a thick instruction manual for handling anger. And if we don't receive these instructions, if we don't heed these warnings, we are going to produce something that is entirely unrighteous. Anger that is produced quickly, anger that is unchecked and uninstructed, this is what James refers to as the anger of man. And James makes it clear that the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. While verses 19 and 20 speak specifically to anger, verse 21 broadens this idea out to every single area of our lives. When we think about what we're saying, when we think about what we're producing, we need to be slow. We need to be careful. We need to be properly instructed We need to handle ourselves with care. James tells us to put away all filthiness, put away all rampant wickedness, all the sin that we're prone to produce. We're called to take it off. We're called to be done with it entirely. No excuses, no footholds, no lingering. Put it away. That's much easier said than done. Right? The filthiness and the rampant wickedness that James is referring to here, it's something that is produced deep within us. We saw back in James 1.14 that sin and temptation is ultimately sourced in our own hearts. It's in the deepest parts of our inward being. And in sin, we are bound to produce filth and wickedness and unrighteousness before God. So we can't just take sin off. Ultimately, we need to totally replace it. It needs to be totally replaced with something else. We need to put something else on. James tells us to replace our sin with God's Word. To receive the implanted Word, which is able to save your souls. Here in verse 21, James tells us that the remedy for our sin, both for our sinful desires and for the sin that we produce, is the implanted Word, the Word that can save, which is ultimately the Word of God. God's Word is ultimately found in the 66 books of the Bible, the inspired, infallible, authoritative canon of Scripture that has been given to us by God through the apostles and prophets. This is the word that saves. This is the word that we always need to be receiving. We're told to receive it with meekness, with humility. We need to recognize that our hearts are deceitful and desperately sick, just as Jeremiah 17 9 tells us. And we need to go to God as our great physician to receive the cure. Verse 21, it's medical. It's a prescription for our souls. James describes God's word as the implanted word here because we all need spiritual surgery. Medically, an implant is a foreign object that's placed inside the body. And James teaches us here that God's word is something that is not innate within us. It's not something that we just naturally possess or something that we're going to find in our hearts if we just dig deep enough. No, we need to go outside of ourselves if we're going to be instructed in salvation and righteousness. And James tells us that we need to act humbly and we need to act quickly. If you go to the doctors and they diagnose you with a life-threatening condition, you're going to need to believe the doctor, accept the diagnosis, and begin treatment immediately. Otherwise, you're not going to survive. Similarly here, James prescribes God's word to us with that same intensity and urgency. We would be foolish to think that a second opinion or self-medication is going to save our souls from the filthiness and wickedness that is produced in our own hearts. And with that, James ends verse 21 with complete confidence and utter assurance that if we humbly receive the implanted Word, it is able to save our souls. God's Word is effective. It won't return void. It will do its work in teaching and training and correcting and completing the men and women of God, just as 2 Timothy 3 promises. If you're here this morning and you're not a Christian, first, we are so grateful to have you here. Maybe you resonate with this idea of being filthy. Maybe you've come here this morning looking for a way to get clean. Well, the Bible's first words for someone like you is called the gospel. And in a word, the gospel means good news. In a couple sentences, the gospel is the message of salvation that God offers to sinners like you and me. God created us and calls us to obey him and enjoy him, but we've all rejected him and we've rebelled against him. That rejection is called sin. And while the punishment for our sin is eternal death and hell, God has also graciously provided a way for our souls to be cleansed and saved. He sent his son, Jesus Christ, to live a perfect life in our place, to die on the cross for our sins, and to rise from the dead to defeat the power of sin and death for us. And God's word tells us that whoever believes in Jesus to save them from their sin will be saved for eternal life. The first word that we're told to receive is the quote unquote word made flesh. Jesus Christ, who would be your Savior and Lord and who would cleanse you from your sin if you place your trust in him for your salvation. So I'd strongly encourage you, if you're not a Christian before you leave here today, talk with someone about receiving Jesus as your Savior and Lord. Ask them about their story, what Jesus did to cleanse them. Ask them questions about what that means. And ask them what it would take for you to follow Jesus. and be cleansed from your sin for yourself. For those of us who are Christians, it's important to remember that God's word is not just the starting point for the Christian life. It's also essential for every single step that we take in our walk with God. We need to always be quick to hear. God's word is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path. As I said earlier, without God's word, we're traveling blind. We may have already received the gospel, but there is still so much more that God has for us in his word as well. Words of wisdom, words of comfort, words of healing, words of warning, words of guidance, words of abundant life and inexpressible joy. Now, I recognize that read the Bible, is probably the most generic sermon application out there, but it's what our text tells us, so I've got to give it to us. With that, I do wonder if some of us just get this twinge of guilt and shame when we hear, read the Bible more, because we know in our hearts that we're not spending enough time in God's Word. If that's you this morning, I'd like to hopefully just provide some encouragement and tips in this department. First, don't put unbiblical parameters around reading the Bible. And what I mean by that is that there is not a biblical mandate to have a daily quiet time first thing in the morning over a cup of coffee before all your kids get up. You also don't need to read through the Bible in a year. You don't need to stick to a specific Bible reading plan. Now, yes, those are good ideas. I'm not saying don't do that. But sometimes we conflate these good ideas with God's law and then we end up with a weight on our conscious that just has no business being there. So if one particular method of Bible reading doesn't work for you, there are other tools that God has provided for us to hear from him. One helpful illustration that I've seen for getting into God's Word, we use this in campus outreach. It's called the hand illustration. Each finger on the hand represents a different method for learning the Bible. And the idea is that all five of these methods are necessary to get a grasp on God's Word. You see what it did there? You use all five fingers, you get a grasp. It's cheesy, it's great. Hearing both the Bible and sermons, reading, Studying, memorizing, and meditating. Hearing, reading, studying, memorizing, meditating. You may be struggling to read and to study for 30 minutes a day, but can you listen to the Bible as you clean your dishes? Or fold your laundry? Or mow your lawn? Or walk between classes? Or drive between job sites? Maybe you could write a verse on a note card, just pull it out of your back pocket a couple times a day. Psalm 23, one,

the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.

There's a Bible memory verse for you right there. Maybe instead of hearing more from God's word, you just need a moment to process what you've already been hearing, to meditate on the words that God has already given you. to just sit with a passage of scripture and think about how your life would be different if you took that scripture to heart. All these, these are all good and right ways to be hearing and receiving God's word. Another incredible tool for us that God has blessed us with is the people around us. So get together with someone and read the Bible with them. Maybe you're not a self-starter, you're a self-motivator. Maybe that's not you, but it's a lot easier to be held accountable when you have somebody else holding you accountable, right? I mean, most of our member-led Bible studies at JPBC, they just consist of people getting together, reading the Bible, and talking about it. No curriculum, no pre-prepared questions. If you want more information about those, just email anyone on the back of your bulletin, or come find me, or really talk to anyone around you. We'd be happy to give you more information on that. You also don't need anyone's permission. I don't need to give you permission, or you don't need my blessing to get together and read the Bible with someone. Utilize your lunch breaks. Utilize your coffee breaks. Meet up with somebody. Read one-on-one. Call them on the phone. I know technology, we always talk about the dangers of technology for our spiritual life, but let's also use technology as a blessing. Call somebody, share a verse with them, read together for 10 minutes in the morning. Can you even just incorporate questions about Bible reading into your normal conversation? Hey, what have you been reading recently? What's been blessing you recently? Can I share with you what God's been teaching me in his word recently? Even just talking about what you're reading with one another. It would be so edifying. Parents, utilize the children's ministry. The children's ministry doesn't just have to be for children. Memorize the Bible basics verses with them. Ask them about the lessons and the stories that they've learned. Tell them about what you've been learning upstairs while they're downstairs. I know for me, Jeremiah 17 7,

blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord.

If you have kids in Bible Basics or you taught Bible Basics, that verse might sound really familiar. That was a memory verse in Bible Basics. I learned about that verse. That verse was spoken to me first and foremost by my own kids as we were just recapping. And that's now a verse in my Bible memory bank. All this to say, the context for getting into our Bibles are far less important than the content of the Bible itself. So long as we're following James' instructions here to hear quickly and receive humbly, we can trust that God is going to use his word to save us and to keep us. Let's turn now to the rest of our passage. Consider the second major imperative for this morning. Do. Follow along with me as I read verses 22 to 27.

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 who looks intently at his natural face in the mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, Being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing. For if anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person's religion is worthless. Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this, to visit orphans and widows in their affliction and to keep oneself unstained from the world.

As I mentioned earlier, James 1.22 could be considered this thesis statement for this entire book. And James starts this verse with the word, but. And as I once heard one of our missions partners say,

the buts are big in the Bible.

And yes, I laughed really hard when I heard that. The Christian life, it's not just about gaining information. It's ultimately about transformation. God's word is living and active and he has given us his word to be lived out and acted upon. Hearing and doing, they're two sides of the same coin. You can't have one without the other for genuine faith. James tells us that if we're simply hearing God's word and not doing it, we're just deceiving ourselves. We're not actually being instructed by God. We're not actually receiving his word. We're still letting our sinful hearts be the loudest voice and the ultimate ruler of our lives. Now there's a million ways that we could probably illustrate this point. And I think one of the sweetest things about this passage is that James gives us a God-inspired, inerrant, and infallible illustration to teach us about this deception. Simply hearing the word without doing is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in the mirror, for he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. Now, we all know what we look like. We don't need to spend a lot of time in the mirror to be able to figure out, to be able to pick ourselves out in a photo or to be able to describe ourselves to someone else. James here is telling us that God's word is supposed to be as deeply ingrained into us as our very faces. Right, it's meant to define us, it's meant to describe us, it's meant to identify us. To walk away from the mirror and not know what we look like suggests a serious problem. And James tells us that if we just hear God's word without doing it, that we're suffering from a serious problem as well. We're suffering from spiritual amnesia. Scripture, it's meant to transform us. It's meant to redefine us. It's meant to regenerate us. God's words are words of power. And power, by definition, controls and influences and produces and affects. And as James says in verse 25, God's word is the power to liberate and to bless us as we do it.

But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets, but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.

When James speaks of the perfect law and the law of liberty here, It's important for us to see just how much weight James puts on God's word, how heavy it is. It's not just good advice. It's not just helpful tips. It's not just, hey, why don't you try this out and see what happens? It's law. God's word is not something we just take or leave as we see fit. His word is truth, and his word rules. between God's Word and our feelings, if there's a disconnect between God's Word and our experiences, if anyone around us or anything inside us contradicts God's Word, God's Word is the law by which we must conform to. When we look at the the law or the the Torah and Scripture, the law is primarily referring to God's commands as they were given to us in the Old Covenant. the covenant that God made with Israel on Mount Sinai. And we see in places like Romans and Galatians that the law, the law itself doesn't actually liberate us or bless us. The law rather makes us conscious of sin and it reveals our lack of righteousness. Galatians 2 tells us that if we simply rely on our obedience to the law to save us, well then we're under a curse. So the law does constrain us and it curbs us so that sin may not take its full appraving defects on our lives, but the law itself isn't liberating. God did not reveal his law to be a source of freedom and salvation. No, the law as we see it in the old covenant was only a shadow of something to come. James here is referring to a different law, the perfect law that liberates, which can only be found in the gospel. You see, as Christ fulfills the law on our behalf and frees us from its demands and its curse, he also ushers in the promised new covenant, where God says that he will put his law and his spirit within us. He will write his law on our hearts and he will cause us to walk in his statutes and obey his rules. The gospel, the new covenant, frees us both from the power of sin and it also empowers us to live the lives that are genuinely and truly pleasing to God. So while the one who tries to justify himself by the works of the law will be cursed, James tells us the one who looks into the perfect law of liberty and perseveres, the one who hears and does God's law in this new covenant, gospel-centered way, dependent primarily and solely on Jesus Christ, that person will be blessed. This is the third way that we see God using his law and scripture. It shows us our sin, it curbs evil, and then for the believer, the law teaches us how to express our love and our gratitude and our delight in God as his new covenant Christ-redeemed people. Does that mean we're gonna obey his law perfectly? Does that mean we're gonna obey his commands perfectly? No. No, on this side, of eternity, the presence of sin will not be completely eradicated. But the law that we're called to follow as Christians can actually be followed. So Augustine prays in his confessions,

God commands what he wills and he grants what he commands.

God himself through the power of the Holy Spirit at work in each and every one of us makes his commands possible for us to obey. And his commands for us, for his people, they're meant to be a source of blessing. They're meant to provide us with joy and peace and encouragement and comfort and assurance. So for some of us, This means that we can stop constantly navel-gazing. This means that we can stop carrying a burden on our back as we strive to live faithful Christian lives. It means we don't have to constantly be second-guessing our intentions. It means that we don't have to keep looking for the underlying sin behind every single good thing that we do. We can be genuinely assured and encouraged that in Christ, We are doing good and God-pleasing things. For others of us, these verses, they're probably gonna be a wake-up call. There may be some complacency or some laziness or some presumption that's crept into your life. You may be experiencing a case of gospel amnesia right now. you may not be doing what the Lord requires of you. Some of us may already be thinking of ways that you could be doing the Word more faithfully. For others of us, we may be ready, we may be excited to get to work, but we don't know which direction to turn. We need some guidance. We need to figure out where to go, what to do. God, what should I do next? What's my next step? On our last two verses, James provides us with three specific ways that we ought to be doing God's Word. So if you're looking for specific ways to do God's Word, let's just start here. Consider these. Verses 26 to 27, James says,

if anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue, but deceives his heart, that person's religion is worthless. Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this, to visit orphans and widows in their affliction and to keep oneself unstained from the world.

Today we use the word religion to describe the whole sum of every single belief system that's out there. So Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Buddhism, Taoism, Hinduism, you name it, all that religion, big blanket term. We'd be wrong to read these verses as if James were just giving us criteria for which religions are valid and which ones are wrong. He's not saying that every single religion that promotes a bridled tongue and that tells you to care for orphans and widows is right. No, instead, here, James is pointing us back to the religious system of rituals and worship in the Old Testament, and he's clarifying the nature of true worship and ritual piety. and ritual purity, excuse me. So similar to Micah or Hosea or the other prophets, James is telling us that true religion is ultimately found in our moral purity and our social ethic and not just in a ritual or in a sacrifice. So with that, let's briefly consider the three ways that James speaks about pure and undefiled religion. And we'll do this as a way to conclude our sermon this morning. First in verse 26, we see a call to bridle the tongue. We've already been told in verse 19 to be slow to speak, and James is going to repeat lessons on the tongue throughout his letter, multiple places, which means that our tongues are really, really important for the Christian life. Verse 26, he drives that importance home with some very strong language. A failure to bridle the tongue is a deception of the heart. Someone with a bridled tongue has a worthless religion. He's going to speak about the tongue in much more detail in chapter three, but for now, It's worth noting here that the tongue must be controlled. If God's Word is going to do anything, it is going to affect the way that we speak. It's going to control the words that come out of our mouth.

Out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks

, as King Jesus tells us. True faith in Christ it's going to start with a profession of faith. There is nobody that is truly born again or saved by God's grace who has not professed the words, Jesus is my Lord and Savior. And for someone that does profess Jesus as Savior and Lord, the Bible makes it clear that a credible profession of faith will be displayed through our mouths. In one sense, it means that we hold back. It means that we need to bite our tongues. It means that we are not to lie, not to gossip, not to slander. But controlling the tongue also means that we need to use our tongues as well. A controlled tongue is not simply a mute tongue. We're called to speak words of truth. Words of love, words that edify and honor and build up. Words of praise and confession and thanksgiving. Words of supplication, words of humility and vulnerability. Words of hospitality and welcome. For the quiet and reserved and introverted among us, I don't think this is saying that you're in sin just because you have a disposition to not speak. But I do think this means that we may need to consider speaking out beyond our comfort level sometimes in an effort to faithfully control our tongue. Second of our three commands that we see in these final verses are to visit widows and orphans in their affliction. Family unit is the most basic and critical social unit in God's kingdom. And it is deeply painful to be widowed or orphaned. More than that, widows and orphans, historically they've been two of the most vulnerable demographics in a society. Women and children depended on men as their heads of the household for provision and for protection. And God, has always held widows and orphans with special regard and refers to himself as the father to the fatherless and the defender of widows. James here, he's not promoting a new idea or a new command. God has always commanded his people to care for and protect and provide for widows and orphans. So rather, James is saying here that a pure and undefiled worship of God is going to be involving aligning our hearts with his hearts as we look around and see the people around us. It means we are going to have mercy as God does. It means we are going to do justice as God calls us to, as God himself does. It means we are going to reflect God's heart in who we care for and who we protect. The vulnerable, the weak, the suffering, the fatherless, and the husbandless. Now, I don't want to declaw this command at all, but I do recognize that not every one of us will be able to fulfill this commandment in the exact same way. And I want to recognize that being the primary caregiver for an orphan or a widow is a massive undertaking. And I know this because I have seen the many in our congregation who are doing this right here, right now. I mean, as I look out and I take stock of our congregation in this regard, it is so moving to see. Adoptive parents, foster parents, our Way Truth Life ministry, our Southwood and our West Haven ministry, our members who are caring for their widowed parents, members who regularly visit our homebound members, members who visit the Linden House, members who just work in healthcare. I don't point all these out to pat us on the back or to say that we've checked the box in this regard, but I do think it's worth honoring all of you in our congregation who have taken on such a role because it's heavy. So if you're considering how to be more faithful in this area, let me just encourage you to reach out to someone who is already taking care of orphans and widows and see how you can come alongside them. Offer yourself to them, join them as there is need. Specifically, reach out to Cheryl and Dennis Reinhart, the couple who leads our mercy ministry. They do a fantastic job of assuring that our elderly and our homebound members are visited and cared for. So get involved in what they're doing. Go along with them for a visit. Finally, James tells us that pure and undefiled religion is to keep oneself unstained from the world. So just as we are to reflect God in his mercy and his justice, pure worship is to reflect God in his holiness as well. Pure and undefiled worship involves a single-minded devotion to God in every area of our lives, especially our personal lives. Again, James is not promoting a new idea or command here. This is an echo of the very first commandment,

have no other gods before me.

Now, in order to be unstained from the world, it doesn't mean that we should retreat from the world. The world here is speaking to the fallen and sinful ways that our culture and our society oppose God. And yet, This is not a call to never enter into the mess. The call to personal holiness here, coupled with the call to care for the vulnerable, this is the epitome, according to James, this is the epitome of true worship and of wise Christian living. This is how God's people engage with the fallen world, and this is how God's people overcome the world. This is how the kingdom of God comes about on earth as it is in heaven. God's people moving the boundary markers one person at a time, starting with themselves. This is knowledge applied. This is God's word done. This is what wise and genuine gospel living looks like in every single one of our lives. So I pray and I hope that God's word for all of us would be quickly heard, that it would be genuinely done, and just as Augustine says, may the Lord grant what he commands. Let's pray. Lord, as we sang this morning, truly done so much for us by your grace in Christ. And Lord, we thank you for the way that you have saved us, the way that you have given us your spirit, the way that you have caused us to know you and to love you and to glorify you. Lord, as we are about to sing in our last song, we pray that the mind of Christ lives in us. We pray that your words dwell in us. We pray that your peace rules us, that Christ's love fills us, and that your beauty rests on us. We pray all this for our good, and we pray this for your glory. It's in Jesus' name we pray, amen.