17 Mar James 03: Listening and doing His word

James 1:19-27

¹⁹ Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; ²⁰ for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. ²¹ Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.

²² But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. ²³ 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 a mirror. ²⁴ For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. ²⁵ 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.

²⁶ If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person’s religion is worthless. ²⁷ 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.

 

 

Every day, we listen to various news from television, radio, or social media. Most of them we only read and move on. I love reading news, but some, like Hollywood or new Marvel movies, don’t really move me. I read them, but there’s no reaction; I just move on. However, if it’s news about Manutd, I’ll react. If they win, I’m so happy; if they lose, I’m sad, though not very sad since we’re used to it. If we don’t see news as important, it won’t move us. Now, how do you see the Word of God?

 

If I ask whether you see the Word of God as important news, I believe you’ll say yes, 100%. But the real question is, “Are you moved by the Word of God? Do you apply it in your life?” In James’ words, he said, “If you love the Word of God, it should move you to obey it.”.

 

Some of us have been Christians for many years, wondering why we don’t feel any benefit from the Bible. Then, we question if the Bible is relevant to this era. We feel there is no real benefit of reading the Bible. Why? Because you haven’t integrated the Word of God into your life.

 

James is a book that showing us what real faith looks like in practices. James is talking to people who heard Gospel and they profess their faith in Jesus. His concern is that if they have relationship with God, what does it look like in practice? What difference that faith make in your life? That’s big question from the book. This pericope will tell us one of the differences what faith will make. The difference that you will make is If you have relationship with God, you will have really relationship with Word of God. If I have to summarize today’s sermon, this is what James tries to say to us: “If you love God, you will love the Word of God. And if you love the Word of God, you will obey it.” That relationship with God’s word will be marked by 3 things. Listen to the God’s Word, Meditate the Word and Obey the Word. 

 

1.     Listen To God’s Word (1:19-21)

 

¹⁹ Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; ²⁰ for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. ²¹ Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.

 

James is practical guy. Verse 19 – 19 Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger. What is James trying to tell us here? He is explaining the key to being a good listener: be ready to listen, take your time to speak, and don’t get mad quickly.

 

If anyone here considers themselves good listeners, please raise your hands. For married couples, raise your hands if you’re married to a good listener. Every day at home, we always have time to share with one another about anything, like problems at work, business, breaking news, etc. We’ve been married long enough that I can tell when she seems to listen to my sharing but isn’t really listening. She responds, but if I ask again, she won’t get it. We can listen but not truly understand. Here, James encourages us to be active listeners to the Word of God.

 

It doesn’t matter if you are someone who likes to be alone or someone who likes to be with others a lot. Being active listener isn’t about the kind of person you are. It’s not about being better at answering questions, and it’s not a problem with how you act. Being a good listener is about what’s inside your heart.

 

Let’s think about when someone tells us an interesting story. Are we really listening to them, or are we already thinking about our own exciting story to share? Sometimes, when someone tells a sad story, we might try to tell an even sadder story of our own. Another example is when we argue with friends or our spouse. Why do small disagreements turn into big fights? It’s often because we aren’t really listening to the other person. Instead, we’re busy thinking about what we want to say next to win the argument. We’re not listening. In these moments, we’re not following James’ advice to “be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to get angry.” We’re more interested in sharing our own thoughts than hearing what others have to say. The same thing can happen when we listen to someone talking about faith. We might look like we’re listening, but our minds are wandering, and some of us might even start dozing off.

 

But listen to this. This is not a matter of giving the wrong response. It’s not about changing your response to preaching. The solution to this matter doesn’t involve altering your behaviour, like saying, ‘I want to become a better listener. Mr. Google says you need ‘eye contact’ and to be responsive.’ What you’ve been doing is maintaining eye contact with the preacher and continuously saying ‘hmm.. ok ok’ every time your spouse is talking or listening to preaching. This matter is not our behaviour issue.

 

In that moment we don’t want to listen to other, in that moment we think what matters the most is me. You think that your opinion is the most important opinion that people need hear and follow. This issue is heart problem, the self-centredness. Everything has to go my way; not according to God’s way. Paul Tripp put it this way “Your ears listen for what your heart craves. Do you know why we struggle to be good listener? Because I am so filled with zeal for my own kingdom” We do not want to listen because we are full of our own agenda. We are full of our own purpose.

 

This is what James said in verse 21 – “21 Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls”. James is saying that give up your self-centredness, repent and turn away from it and receive the implanted word. James said, “receive with meekness”. We need humble heart to do this. In another words, we must humbly cultivate a heart that welcomes the word. It means we love to hear God to tell you who He is and what He wants; not letting our imaginations or our desire to decide our life. 

 

For us to receive the Word, we need to have heart that capacity to listen the Word of God. James said put away all filthiness. We must be willing to get rid of anything that can prevent us from hearing God.  So, if you love God, you love to listen and read the Word. But listening is not enough. It is only the first step. It leads me to second point.

 

2.     Meditate God’s Word

²² But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.

 ²³ 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 a mirror. ²⁴ For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. ²⁵ 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.

 

Right now, we are all sitting here listening to the sermon. We agree with what it says, and we might thing that job’s done, and I will let God’s work in my life and I can forget about it tomorrow. This is what James says, you are deceiving yourselves. James explained this in brilliant illustration in verse 23-24; ²³ 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 a mirror. ²⁴ For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. What is the purpose of a mirror in your house? To show you what you really like. When you look yourselves, you can check how you look. Before you go to church, you check in the mirror make sure the hair is tidy. Imagine you want to go to first date. You just had your lunch and you had “Martabak Cokelat Keju”. As you know the best martabak is the one that has a lot of chocolate and butter. It is overfilled everywhere. Before you go to date, you look into the mirror and check your face and teeth make sure no chocolate on your face. If you have chocolate on your face, if you are heathy human being, you will clean it. That’s the reason we have mirror is to show us what needs to be fixed. The main reason we have mirror in our house is not to show us how awesome we are; “look at me I am so wonderful”.  “Look at me, even I have a lot of white hairs but I look like wise man”. We look to the mirror to show what needs to be fixed.

 

That’s the purpose of the Word of God. We are not supposed to look to mirror and appreciate ourselves – “I am not like that pharisee. I am not like Israel. Look at me, I am so faithful”. When we look to Word of God, it should do heart surgery. Healthy Christians will look to the mirror and do something. Not like the guy in this illustration – 24 For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. This guy does notice there is chocolate on his face but do nothing because he forgets. He is the guy who go for first date with chocolate on his face and teeth. When you read the Word of God, you do something and make adjustment in your life. If not, you may read the Bible just for sake of getting more knowledge or facts or maybe just for winning argument with your friends. This illustration shows us how the Bible show us what we’re really like, but this illustration also shows us that how foolish we are when God reveal some things about you that need fixing and you go away and do nothing.

 

How can we look to God’s Word? 23b – he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. Notice that James did not say about someone who quickly looks at God’s Word. He is talking about someone who looks intently and carefully. In other words, we need to study the Bible. We are to meditate the Word of God.

 

Scripture commands us to meditate Word of God. It does look different to other popular world meditation. Other meditation encourages you to empty your mind but biblical mediation is not emptying the mind but filling in with God’s word. It’s not self-focused like other meditation practices; instead, Christian meditation is God-focused. We are meditating for who He is, what He has done and what He calls us to do. It is delighting in God and in His Word and allowing gospel truths to transform you.

 

This is such an important topic for us. I am speaking personally. I sometimes fall into the belief that listening to as many podcasts as possible, reading a lot of books, sticking to a daily Bible reading plan, or attending many Christian conferences is sufficient. We may think that it is good enough to gain wide exposure to all these, but the truth is we may miss the depth of God’s Word if we are too busy skimming through. That’s we do, we are skimming through. We become passive recipients and overloaded with all those sermons and podcasts, not taking time to meditate on those truths. Don’t get me wrong; there is nothing wrong with doing all those things. Hearing and exposure the scripture is good thing but it is only the starting place. We need to absorb it. How? By meditating the God’s Word. This meditation of God’s word that lead to experience God and lead to transformation.

 

Donald Whitney said meditation of God’s word is like the bridge between ‘hearing the word of God’ and ‘doing Word of God’.  It is easy to hear God’s Word and not do it. It is easy to get very excited with the sermon but forget about this and not changed in our life. It may be because we failed to meditate the God’s Word.  Some of you may be wondering why it is hard for me to doing God’s Word. Or some of you are wondering why I am bored when I read the Bible.

 

I don’t mean that every time you read Bible, you get captivated. Sometimes you don’t get anything, that’s ok. James said in verse 25 – ²⁵ But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres. When it is hard to do this, James understand our struggle and he said perseveres. When your hardship make you stop meditating the Bible, James said ‘perseveres’.

 

Here are some applications that you can try: Firstly, set aside time every day to read and study God’s Word. You might say, ‘I’ve done it. I set up time every day and even set an alarm for 9 at night.’ What time do you normally sleep? 8 pm? It doesn’t work like that. So often, we leave God with leftover time and energy. If you are too tired at night, you may want to try first thing in the morning. The main point is that we have to be intentional and disciplined, putting aside all distractions.

 

Secondly, slow down. We are living in the world that everything must be in hurry. Done one thing and go to another thing. We need to slow down. That’s why just reading and re-posting good quote are not enough for our spiritual growth. This is one example. In John 11:25 ESV Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live. If you just read quickly, ok yes Jesus is the resurrection and the life, amen, I know that and move on. But if you slow down, even the first 2 words “I am” – it means that nothing else can give you life. Jesus is the only one can give you life so that we can rest in Him. Jesus said, “I am the only one.”. Ask yourself, “What do they mean?” “Which area of your life need to be changed?”.  Ask God what He wants to say to you through the text and consider how you can apply the passage to your life in practical ways. It is better to read one chapter and meditate afterward than to read several chapters and not to meditate.

 

Thirdly, join MC (our cell group). If you don’t know, what we just hear today we will talk and discuss again in our MC. I am always blessed with discussion we have in our MC. How they apply Sunday sermon in their life. How the word of God changes their perspective of seeing life or hardship.

 

If we love God’s word, we can not only listen and study but we need to obey it. It leads me to my last point; Obey His Words.

 

3.     Obey His Words

²⁶ If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person’s religion is worthless. ²⁷ 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.

 

We can not say we love God and then we live like devil. We can not say we are christian and then we pick and choose the verses that you want to follow and ignore the ones that hard to follow. One of hard one to follow is control our tongue. James has previously cautioned us that only listening to God’s word without obeying means we are deceiving ourselves. Now, in verse 26 – ²⁶ If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person’s religion is worthless. He emphasises that if we don’t control our speech, we are also deceiving ourselves. This is a straightforward truth – not managing our words indicates a lack of genuine commitment to God. If we claim to be spiritual, Christian, or religious but fail to control what we say, we may not be Christian. If our words are hurtful, false, or cause problems, lie or gossip, it might mean we’re not really changed by God.

 

Instead of doing those things, James comes with good example. ²⁷ 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. The proof that we truly listen and respond to God’s word is seen caring the needy. The orphan and widow in James’ day were the most needy.

 

Sometimes, we love talking about Bible or doctrines, but so often our actions don’t always line up. It’s like there’s a big gap between what we say and how we live. The purpose of meditation of God’s Word is that you allow ourselves to be moved by His Words. Following God’s word isn’t just a rule to follow or something that might help a bit. It actually changes us. This is God’s promise ²⁵ 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.

There is blessing waiting for us for the doer of the word. What blessing? As we live by God’s word, we experience true freedom. Really? I thought Bible has a lot restrictions. We have this wrong idea that if we remove all restrictions, we end up with freedom. But it is completely wrong. Disobedient people think they’re free, but really they’re in bondage to sin. Obedient people may at times feel restricted, but they’re in freedom, no longer enslaved to a sinful nature. If you want to know freedom from guilt, lust, fear, loneliness, aimlessness, and emptiness, you must abide in the truth.

 

In order to be blessed in our doing, we are to stare into the perfect law of God. But do you know what we see when we stare into the perfect law of God? We see martabak cokelat keju. We see our flaws. We see our imperfections. We see how much we fall short of God’s standard. So how can we be blessed when what we deserved is condemnation? We need to stare even harder at God’s perfect Word. Because when we stare harder at God’s word, do you know what we see? We see the Word of God who became flesh. God became flesh, just like you and me. He did this because he loves us and because he wanted to make a path to heaven for those who chose him. He knew we couldn’t do it on our own and we needed help, and so he did what he needed to do. We see the only man who lives the perfect law of God flawlessly. Jesus took the punishment for our disobedience, facing God’s anger in our place.

 

In this pericope, James makes it very clear to all of us about the importance of obedience. Your knowledge of the Bible does not mean anything without obedience. One thing that we can ponder with this pericope is that if James really wants us to obey, he can just keep saying again and again, “We need to obey, otherwise you will die.” I believe more people will obey. Or he just needs to list all things that we need to obey. Here, he only puts two examples at the end. Why doesn’t he list hundreds of points that we need to obey and give scary warning to the church? Instead, he wants us to be active listeners and meditate on God’s Word. Why did he choose that approach?

 

It is because he wants the obedience that we do is not out of fear but out of love. I think James wants us, through active listening and meditating on God’s Word, we realise that how much God loves us. James wants us to saturate our hearts and minds with the realisation that God showered His love upon us even when we were still sinners. Then, we can let that love pour out in thankful obedience.God doesn’t want us to obey Him because we are scared of him. He doesn’t want us to obey him because we are scared of hell. God wants us to obey him because we love God.

 

Let me close with this story. This is the true story of a group of prisoners working on the Burma Railway during World War II. At the end of each day the shovels were collected from prisoners. On one occasion a Japanese guard yelled about a missing shovel, getting really upset and paranoid. He insisted that whoever took it should come forward. No one moved. “All die! All die!” he screamed and aiming his guns at the prisoners. At that moment one man stepped forward and the guard shot him to death with his gun while he stood silently to attention. When they returned to the camp, the tools were counted again and no shovel was missing. Why would someone be willing to die for others, especially when he hasn’t done anything wrong? The innocent man had sacrificed his life to save the others. 2000 years ago an innocent man stepped forward for us and sacrifice his life to save us. That’s kind of relationship should move us to obey Him. In John 15:13, it says that ‘There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.’

 

The beauty of Christ, who loved us and gave himself for us, is the reason we obey. Our obedience flows from a love God. It’s not that we “have to do” something but that we “want” to do it. Brian Chapel put this way “We do not have a relationship with God because we obey; we obey because he has made a relationship with us.

 

 

Discussion questions:

 

1. What struck you the most from the sermon?
2. Based on your experience, why do you think it is hard to listen to God’s word?
3. Explain the difference between listening and meditating on God’s word. What can you do to meditate on God’s word more?
4. How does the gospel enable us to obey God’s word?