Hearing and Doing the Word;
Jas 1:19-27. Post this at all the intersections, dear friends: Lead with your ears, follow up with your tongue, and let anger straggle along in the rear.
God's righteousness doesn't grow from human anger.
So throw all spoiled virtue and cancerous evil in the garbage. In simple humility, let our gardener, God, landscape you with the Word, making a salvation-garden of your life.
Don't fool yourself into thinking that you are a listener when you are anything but, letting the Word go in one ear and out the other. Act on what you hear!
Those who hear and don't act are like those who glance in the mirror,
walk away, and two minutes later have no idea who they are, what they look like.
But whoever catches a glimpse of the revealed counsel of God—the free life!—even out of the corner of his eye, and sticks with it, is no distracted scatterbrain but a man or woman of action. That person will find delight and affirmation in the action.
Anyone who sets himself up as "religious" by talking a good game is self-deceived. This kind of religion is hot air and only hot air.
Real religion, the kind that passes muster before God the Father, is this: Reach out to the homeless and loveless in their plight, and guard against corruption from the godless world.
THE WORD OF GOD
James has been speaking of God as the Father of lights. Now he reminds us that He is our Father also, and that He has given us a unique role in His vast creation. We can fulfill that role by obedience to the word of truth (vv. 19-27).
But This passage outlines the part played in the new birth by the word of God as it is applied to us by the Holy Spirit. We are told that “Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures.” Of His own will—this tells us what prompted Him to save us. He was not forced to do it by any merit in us. He did it of His own free will. His love to us was unmerited, unbought and unsought. It was entirely voluntary on His part. This should cause us to worship! He brought us forth—this describes the fact of the new birth. By this spiritual birth we become His children—a relationship that can never be changed since a birth can never be undone. By the word of truth—the Bible is the instrument of the new birth. In every genuine case of conversion, the Scriptures are involved, whether orally or in printed form. Apart from the Bible, we would not know the way of salvation. Indeed, we would not even know that salvation was available!
That we might be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures—there are three prominent thoughts in connection with the word firstfruits. First, the firstfruits of a harvest was the first sheaf of ripened grain. The Christians to whom James was writing were among the first believers in the Christian Dispensation. Of course, all believers are a kind of firstfruits of His creatures, but the primary reference is to the Jewish Christians to whom James wrote. Second, the firstfruits were offered to God in gratitude for His bounty and in recognition that all comes from Him and belongs to Him. Thus, all believers should present themselves to God as living sacrifices (Rom 12:1-2). Third, the firstfruits were a pledge of the full harvest to come. James likened his readers to the first sheaves of grain in Christ's harvest. They would be followed by others down through the centuries, but they were set forth as pattern saints to exhibit the fruits of the new creation. Eventually the Lord will populate the whole earth with others like them (Rom 8:19-23). The full harvest will come when the Lord Jesus returns to reign over the earth. In the meantime, they were to yield the same kind of obedience to Christ which all the world will yield during the Millennium. And though the passage refers primarily to first-century Christians, yet it has an application for each one of us who honors the name of Christ.
1:19a The rest of this chapter gives practical instructions as to how we can be firstfruits of His creatures. It sets forth the practical righteousness which should characterize those who have been born again by the Word of Truth. We know that we were begotten by the word in order to manifest the truth of God. So then, let us now discharge our responsibility.
We should be swift to hear. This is an unusual command, with almost a trace of humor in it. It's like saying, “Hurry up and hear!” It means that we should be ready to hear the word of God, as well as all godly counsel and admonition. We should be teachable by the Holy Spirit. We should be slow to speak. It is surprising how much James has to say about our speech! He cautions us to be guarded in our conversation. Even nature itself teaches us this. Epictetus noticed so long ago: “Nature has given to man one tongue, but two ears, that we may hear from others twice as much as we speak.” Solomon would have agreed heartily with James. He once said, “He who guards his mouth preserves his life, but he who opens wide his lips shall have destruction” (Pro 13:3). He also said, “In the multitude of words sin is not lacking, but he who restrains his lips is wise” (Pro 10:19). Compulsive talkers eventually transgress.
1:19b, 20 We should be slow to wrath. A man who is quick-tempered does not produce the kind of righteousness which God expects from His children. Those who lose their temper give people a wrong impression about Christianity. It is still true that “he who is slow to anger is better than the mighty; and he who rules his spirit than he who takes a city” (Pro 16:32).
1:21 Another way to manifest ourselves as firstfruits of His creatures is to lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness. These vices are likened to soiled garments which are to be set aside once for all. Filthiness includes every form of impurity, whether spiritual, mental, or physical. The expression “overflow of wickedness” may refer to those forms of evil which are a holdover from our unconverted days. It may refer to sins which overflow from our lives and touch the lives of others. Or it may refer to abounding evil, in which case James is not so much describing an excess of evil, but the intensely wicked character which evil has. The over-all meaning is clear. In order to receive the truth of the word of God, we must be morally clean.
Another requirement for the reception of divine truth is meekness. It is all too possible to read the Bible without letting it speak to us. We can study it in an academic way without being affected by it. Our pride and hardness and sin make us unreceptive and unresponsive. Only those with submissive, humble spirits can expect to derive the maximum benefit from the Scriptures. “The humble He guides in justice, and the humble He teaches His way” (Psa 25:9). “But on this one I will look: on him who is poor and of a contrite spirit, and who trembles at My word” (Isa 66:2).
James speaks of the Scriptures as the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. The thought is that the word becomes a sacred deposit in the Christian's life when he is born again. The margin of the RV reads “the inborn word.” This word is able to save your souls. The Bible is the instrument God uses in the new birth. He uses it in saving the soul not only from the penalty of sin, but from its power as well. He uses it in saving us not only from damnation in eternity, but from damage in this life. It is doubtless this present, continuing aspect of salvation James is speaking of in verse 21.
1:22 It is not enough to receive the implanted word; we must obey it. There is no virtue in possessing the Bible or even in reading it as literature. There must be a deep desire to hear God speaking to us and an unquestioning willingness to do whatever He says. We must translate the Bible into action. The word must become flesh in our lives. There should never be a time when we go to the Scriptures without allowing them to change our lives for the better. To profess great love for God's word or even to pose as a Bible student is a form of self-deception unless our increasing knowledge of the word is producing increasing likeness to the Lord Jesus. To go on gaining an intellectual knowledge of the Bible without obeying it can be a trap instead of a blessing. If we continually learn what we ought to do, but do not do it, we become depressed, frustrated, and callous. “Impression without expression leads to depression.” Also we become more responsible to God. The ideal combination is to read the word and obey it implicitly.
1:23, 24 Anyone who hears the word but does not change his behavior is like a man who takes a fleeting glance in the mirror each morning, then completely forgets what he saw. He derives no benefit from the mirror or from looking into it. Of course, there are some things about our appearance that cannot be changed. But at least we should be humbled by the sight! And when the mirror says “Wash” or “Shave” or “Comb” or “Brush,” we should at least do as we are told. Otherwise the mirror is of no practical benefit to us.
It is easy to read the Bible casually or because of a sense of duty without being affected by what we read. We see what we ought to be but we quickly forget and live as if we were already perfect. This type of self-satisfaction prevents spiritual progress.
1:25 In contrast is the man who looks into the word of God and who habitually reduces it to practice. His contemplative, meditative gazing has practical results in his life. To him the Bible is the perfect law of liberty. Its precepts are not burdensome. They tell him to do exactly what his new nature loves to do. As he obeys, he finds true freedom from human traditions and carnal reasonings. The truth makes him free. This is the man who benefits from the Bible. He does not forget what he has read. Rather he seeks to live it out in daily practice. His simple childlike obedience brings incalculable blessing to his soul. This one will be blessed in what he does.
1:26, 27 Useless religion and pure and undefiled religion are contrasted. Religion here means the external patterns of behavior connected with religious belief. It refers to the outward forms rather than the inward spirit. It means the outer expression of belief in worship and service rather than the doctrines believed.
Anyone who thinks he is religious, but cannot control his tongue, ... this one's religion is useless. He might observe all kinds of religious ceremonies which make him appear very pious. But he is deceiving himself. God is not satisfied with rituals; He is interested in a life of practical godliness.
An unbridled tongue is only one example of futile religion. Any behavior inconsistent with the Christian faith is worthless. The story is told of a grocer who apparently was a pious fraud. He lived in an apartment above his store. Every morning he would call down to his assistant, “John!”
“Yes, sir.”
“Have you watered down the milk?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Have you colored the butter?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Have you put chicory in the coffee?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Very well. Come up for morning “devotions!”
James says that such religion is useless.
What God is looking for is the practical type of godliness which takes a compassionate interest in others and keeps one's own life clean. As examples of pure and undefiled religion, James praises the man who visits needy orphans and widows, and who keeps himself unspotted from the world.
In other words, the practical outworking of the new birth is found in “acts of grace and a walk of separation.” Guy King describes these virtues as practical love and practical holiness.
We should put our own faith on trial with the following questions: Do I read the Bible with a humble desire to have God rebuke me, teach me, and change me? Am I anxious to have my tongue bridled? Do I justify my temper or do I want victory over it? How do I react when someone starts to tell an off-color joke? Does my faith manifest itself in deeds of kindness to those who cannot repay me?
