WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:09.240 Well, good morning, church. Our sermon today is based on James chapter 1, verses 19 through 27. 00:00:10.259 --> 00:00:15.519 I invite you to turn there with me in your Bible at home. I'm going to begin reading, 00:00:15.679 --> 00:00:25.379 actually, one verse earlier in verse 18. So, James chapter 1, picking up in verse 18. 00:00:25.379 --> 00:00:28.060 Let me read this for us. 00:00:28.059 --> 00:00:34.079 Of his own will, he, that is God, brought us forth by the word of truth, 00:00:34.659 --> 00:00:40.200 that we, that is the church, should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures. 00:00:41.979 --> 00:00:47.159 Know this, my beloved brothers, let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger. 00:00:47.899 --> 00:00:51.539 For the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. 00:00:52.399 --> 00:00:57.640 Therefore, put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted 00:00:57.640 --> 00:01:04.620 word, which is able to save your souls. But be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving 00:01:04.620 --> 00:01:10.659 yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently 00:01:10.659 --> 00:01:15.659 at his natural face in a mirror, for he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what 00:01:15.659 --> 00:01:21.400 he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, 00:01:21.400 --> 00:01:26.240 being no hearer who forgets, but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing. 00:01:28.000 --> 00:01:32.620 If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue, but deceives his heart, 00:01:32.740 --> 00:01:39.800 this person's religion is worthless. Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this, 00:01:40.380 --> 00:01:46.420 to visit orphans and widows in their affliction and to keep oneself unstained from the world. 00:01:46.420 --> 00:01:55.719 Let's pray. Father, we have just sung and prayed that you would show us Christ and through the 00:01:55.719 --> 00:02:00.740 preaching of your word, you would open our hearts to the reality of who you are and to your kingdom. 00:02:01.939 --> 00:02:08.860 So we pray that would be true. Lord Jesus, have mercy on us this morning as we come to your powerful 00:02:08.860 --> 00:02:16.940 word. And by your spirit, would you give us ears to hear, hearts to receive, and then lives that would 00:02:16.940 --> 00:02:21.640 express all the goodness that is here for us to see about you and about who we are, God. 00:02:22.880 --> 00:02:26.120 Lord, bless this time for Christ's sake. Amen. 00:02:28.580 --> 00:02:32.900 Well, I wonder if you've ever had the experience of forgetting what you look like. 00:02:32.900 --> 00:02:39.240 Sometimes this can be simple and humorous. You attend a conference and you put on one of those 00:02:39.240 --> 00:02:45.240 hello, my name is stickers. And then at the end of a long day, you realize in the rest stop on the 00:02:45.240 --> 00:02:49.980 drive home that you're still wearing that sticker when the cashier at Starbucks greets you by name 00:02:49.980 --> 00:02:54.680 and says, well, hello, Nick, what can I make for you? And you say, oh, I forgot I'm still wearing this 00:02:54.680 --> 00:03:01.520 name tag. I remember an even more embarrassing story from college. A friend on the morning of a job 00:03:01.520 --> 00:03:07.800 interview had cut, had nicked himself shaving. So he put little pieces of tissue on his face to stop 00:03:07.800 --> 00:03:13.160 the cuts. Well, in his nervous rush to get to the interview on time, he had forgotten that the tissue 00:03:13.160 --> 00:03:18.560 was still on his face. And he didn't realize it until after the interview was actually over. 00:03:19.760 --> 00:03:24.300 That was a pretty painful story to hear. And, you know, it's funny that long ago, I don't actually 00:03:24.300 --> 00:03:31.439 remember whether he got the job or not. You know, in our text this morning, though, James is exhorting 00:03:31.439 --> 00:03:41.219 us not to forget who we are. Don't forget what you look like. In a sense, these verses bring us to 00:03:41.219 --> 00:03:46.139 the primary message of James's letter. This is his big idea. This is his thesis that he's going to 00:03:46.139 --> 00:03:52.199 unpack in the rest of the letter. We've been brought forth by the word of truth. Now we must remember who 00:03:52.199 --> 00:04:00.340 we are. We have to go on to receive that word and even more to do that word. In other words, James is 00:04:00.340 --> 00:04:08.819 telling us what it means to live life as God's new creation people. In verse 18, he calls us the 00:04:08.819 --> 00:04:15.920 first fruits of God's creation. You see, when the gospel comes to a person, the saving message of 00:04:15.920 --> 00:04:21.160 Christ, and the Holy Spirit causes a person to be born again through faith in Jesus, that person is, 00:04:21.220 --> 00:04:28.819 as Paul will say in 2 Corinthians, a new creation. You know, here's the big picture of the Bible, 00:04:28.819 --> 00:04:38.219 of redemption. God is renewing all of creation around Jesus, his Son. And the forefront of that 00:04:38.219 --> 00:04:44.579 work, the advanced foretaste of all the world being made new, the sneak peek of what's to come, 00:04:44.639 --> 00:04:50.259 the future made present in the here and now, the reality of heaven come to earth, that amazing reality, 00:04:50.259 --> 00:04:58.759 the first fruits, if you will, are actually you and me. Those who've come to know Jesus as king, 00:04:58.860 --> 00:05:02.759 to be forgiven and made new through the gospel of grace, the word of truth. 00:05:06.060 --> 00:05:11.920 But the word that gives us new birth isn't a sort of static or inert or a lifeless thing. No, 00:05:11.959 --> 00:05:16.920 it's full of life. And James says, if you are the new creation, then that means you need to go on 00:05:16.920 --> 00:05:21.480 receiving the word and you need to go on doing the word. The word isn't just the start of our 00:05:21.480 --> 00:05:26.860 spiritual life, it's the beginning and middle and end of our spiritual life. And in the passage 00:05:26.860 --> 00:05:33.540 before us, there are sort of two central imperatives, two commands, two sort of directives that James 00:05:33.540 --> 00:05:37.620 gives us that drives this whole section and help it to hang together. And we're going to look at 00:05:37.620 --> 00:05:40.840 those two imperatives. First, we're going to look at receiving the word and then we're going to look 00:05:40.839 --> 00:05:47.419 at doing the word. So first, we need to receive the word. We see this in verses 19 through 21. 00:05:48.159 --> 00:05:55.419 James starts with three commands. Let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger, 00:05:55.959 --> 00:06:01.659 for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. Now, the righteousness or 00:06:01.659 --> 00:06:10.739 the justice of God here in James is what we might call the saving reign of God. God's kingdom of justice 00:06:10.740 --> 00:06:16.660 and righteousness. And James says, if we want to be participants in the advance of that saving reign, 00:06:16.660 --> 00:06:25.439 the spread of the new creation, then we need to slow down. We need to slow down. 00:06:27.040 --> 00:06:31.579 And I think in our age of social media, this is hard. Most of the time, we are tempted to be quick 00:06:31.579 --> 00:06:38.019 to anger and quick to speak our minds. But that won't bring about God's justice, James says. 00:06:38.019 --> 00:06:44.819 Of course, James is speaking in general terms here. Not all human anger is wrong. There are some 00:06:44.819 --> 00:06:53.259 things that ought to arouse in us a definite no. However, too often our anger is not righteous anger. 00:06:53.620 --> 00:06:59.819 It's anger coming from a place of fear or a place of pride. And rather than listen first, 00:07:00.060 --> 00:07:05.240 we speak and we speak words that cut and that hurt, words that defend our own interests, 00:07:05.240 --> 00:07:10.680 rather than words that heal, that build up, that bring truth and light and grace. 00:07:12.840 --> 00:07:19.939 But what's the answer? How do we slow down? It's very interesting that James doesn't just say, 00:07:20.079 --> 00:07:25.379 well, you just try harder. You just slow down. No, he says, if you're having trouble slowing down and 00:07:25.379 --> 00:07:30.939 listening well to others, then you need to start by slowing down and listening well to God. 00:07:30.939 --> 00:07:38.740 Notice James starts verse 21 with the word, therefore. We need to slow down. And here's how. 00:07:40.120 --> 00:07:47.379 Here's how. Put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted 00:07:47.379 --> 00:07:54.519 word which is able to save your souls. Remember the context of verse 18. God's brought you forth 00:07:54.519 --> 00:08:00.639 through the gospel. You're a new creation. And so put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness, 00:08:00.680 --> 00:08:06.439 he says. And now that word put away is a word used for taking off, for changing your clothes, actually. 00:08:07.419 --> 00:08:12.680 And filthiness and rampant wickedness, that's all those old patterns and behaviors of our old life, 00:08:12.740 --> 00:08:18.680 the anger, the self-justifying talk. James says, that's not the real you anymore. 00:08:18.680 --> 00:08:26.800 You can take it off and you can put it away. I spend a lot of time in the summer working on my house 00:08:26.800 --> 00:08:32.700 and I have a pair of clothes, actually a couple pairs of clothes that I use to do that work. And I'll tell you, 00:08:32.759 --> 00:08:36.620 those clothes are pretty filthy. There's paint on them, there's wood stain all over them, there's rips, 00:08:36.740 --> 00:08:41.539 there's tears, they get worse and worse as the years go on. But when the job is done, 00:08:42.539 --> 00:08:46.779 when the work is over, I take those clothes off and I put them away. 00:08:48.679 --> 00:08:55.879 You see, friends, in the gospel, we're told of a job that's been completed, but it's not been 00:08:55.879 --> 00:09:03.139 completed by us. It's been completed by another for us. When Jesus died and rose again, he finished 00:09:03.139 --> 00:09:09.439 the job once and for all of reconciling us to God, of making us clean and new. So now we don't need 00:09:09.439 --> 00:09:16.279 those old clothes anymore because the job is done. The anger that I used to use to protect my interests 00:09:16.279 --> 00:09:23.240 in fear, the anger that I used to use to protect my reputation in pride, the words that I used to 00:09:23.240 --> 00:09:28.620 use to tear down other people in my insecurity, to justify my actions in order to gain approval, 00:09:28.839 --> 00:09:37.059 all of that is done now. Christ has died, Christ has risen, the justifying work is done, 00:09:37.059 --> 00:09:45.959 and my fear and my pride can be swallowed up in his immense love for me. 00:09:48.059 --> 00:09:53.919 And those old clothes that I used to use to try to get the job done, 00:09:54.759 --> 00:10:03.539 they can be put away now. And instead, I can receive with meekness the implanted word. 00:10:03.539 --> 00:10:11.120 Because the more I really listen to God's word, the more we really internalize it, 00:10:11.360 --> 00:10:16.599 the more we can slow down and keep those old clothes in the closet. 00:10:19.439 --> 00:10:24.399 That's what James means when he says it's able to save your soul. It's able to do the ongoing work 00:10:24.399 --> 00:10:30.019 of making us more and more like Christ. You see, we've been reconciled to God once and for all 00:10:30.019 --> 00:10:36.399 through Jesus's death and resurrection by faith alone through him. Now God is actually making us 00:10:36.399 --> 00:10:42.439 more and more like Jesus's son. He's refashioning us from the old way of life and forming us into 00:10:42.439 --> 00:10:47.500 this new creation life that we truly are. And in the background here, there's this whole sweep of 00:10:47.500 --> 00:10:52.779 Old Testament promise that we read a little bit of earlier in the service from Jeremiah 31. 00:10:53.779 --> 00:10:59.579 Jeremiah spoke of a new covenant when God's word wouldn't just be an external word that comes to us, 00:10:59.580 --> 00:11:04.720 but it would be written on our hearts and when our sins would be remembered no more. 00:11:07.060 --> 00:11:12.379 That's what Jesus accomplished once for all on the cross. And that's what the Holy Spirit applies 00:11:12.379 --> 00:11:17.660 and affects in us through faith. You see, friends, we are living right now 00:11:17.659 --> 00:11:27.179 in the time of the amazing fulfillment of the promises of God. All the writers of the New Testament 00:11:27.179 --> 00:11:33.299 would have said the time that we've been waiting for is right now. It's happening right now. 00:11:34.339 --> 00:11:41.159 The new covenant's here and the word is in us and our sins have been remembered no more. 00:11:41.159 --> 00:11:53.039 So what does it look like practically for us to go on receiving the implanted word with meekness? 00:11:53.899 --> 00:11:58.579 Well, let me suggest three practices, three things, three practices that will help us to slow down 00:11:58.579 --> 00:12:03.360 in our relationship with God so that we can slow down in our relationship with others. 00:12:03.360 --> 00:12:12.039 First, the practice of silence. When you begin your times of personal prayer in the morning or in the 00:12:12.039 --> 00:12:18.340 evening, whenever it is for you, I wonder if you might just take even five minutes and be quiet before 00:12:18.340 --> 00:12:26.259 God. Be quick to listen in those times of prayer. Now, you may think just sitting there and being quiet 00:12:26.259 --> 00:12:30.940 sounds kind of silly. It may seem like you're actually doing nothing until you actually try it. 00:12:30.940 --> 00:12:37.980 When you sit still, you take a deep breath and you become aware of the presence of God around you. 00:12:39.340 --> 00:12:43.740 And then you start to become aware of the rumblings and the preoccupations of your own heart. 00:12:44.900 --> 00:12:48.700 And you listen and you let God be God in that moment. 00:12:51.940 --> 00:12:55.860 Second, the practice of slow Bible reading. 00:12:55.860 --> 00:13:02.200 Don Whitney, one of the great writers about spiritual practices and disciplines of the 20th 00:13:02.200 --> 00:13:08.419 century once said, sometimes we need to read less so that we can meditate more. 00:13:09.899 --> 00:13:13.019 And you know what he means by that? I think you actually already know. 00:13:13.700 --> 00:13:18.279 You know, if you read five chapters of the Bible in a morning, you don't really have enough time 00:13:18.279 --> 00:13:27.240 to think deeply about it. But if you read five verses, then you actually allow yourself to slow 00:13:27.240 --> 00:13:32.839 down and hear what God is saying. Now, reading through the Bible in a year is a great goal and 00:13:32.839 --> 00:13:41.779 more of us should be doing it. But for your time of personal prayer, read less to meditate more. 00:13:41.779 --> 00:13:48.319 Be slow to speak and quick to listen in those moments with God. Let the words of God come to 00:13:48.319 --> 00:13:54.100 you slowly. Think it over in your heart and your life. All those preoccupations that bubbled up in 00:13:54.100 --> 00:13:59.299 those moments of quiet before God, now you can start to hear how God may actually be speaking to them 00:13:59.299 --> 00:14:06.339 through his life-giving word. You know, it's sort of like tea and hot water. You know, you have to let 00:14:06.340 --> 00:14:13.820 the word sort of seep into you so you can draw out the flavors. And for that, you've got to read slowly. 00:14:16.639 --> 00:14:23.680 And then you can start to hear what God is saying to you today. What promise is there for you? 00:14:24.639 --> 00:14:29.600 What invitation is God making to you? What command is there? What challenge is there for you today? 00:14:29.879 --> 00:14:35.900 Sometimes when we slow down before the word, it gets uncomfortable. And God's really starting to do 00:14:35.899 --> 00:14:43.679 his work. So the practice of silence, the practice of slow Bible reading, and third, the practice of 00:14:43.679 --> 00:14:49.980 praying your real life. If we're going to be slow to anger with others, we need to be acknowledging and 00:14:49.980 --> 00:14:56.240 praying our own angers and fears and insecurities before God. We need to be praying, in other words, our 00:14:56.240 --> 00:15:02.019 real life, not the life we think we should be living in sort of a masquerade before God in prayer. 00:15:02.019 --> 00:15:07.299 And that doesn't mean blaming God for our problems, but it does mean honesty before God, 00:15:07.720 --> 00:15:12.079 so that God's implanted word and his grace can go down into those interior parts and do the work 00:15:12.079 --> 00:15:20.759 from the inside out, deep down in our souls. So what does it mean to live as those who've been brought 00:15:20.759 --> 00:15:25.539 forth by the word of truth? It means an ongoing receptivity to the word. It means slowing down 00:15:25.539 --> 00:15:31.519 before God, receiving the word in meekness, in humility, so that we can slow down and be agents 00:15:31.519 --> 00:15:38.039 of God's justice with others, so that in our relationship with our neighbors and our spouse 00:15:38.039 --> 00:15:46.759 and our children and our communities on social media, we can be quick to listen and slow to speak 00:15:46.759 --> 00:15:55.039 and slow to anger. But receiving the word is only half of the equation here for James. 00:15:55.500 --> 00:16:02.059 The second part, he says, is that we must be doers of the word. Do the word, James says here. This is 00:16:02.059 --> 00:16:07.799 verses 22 through 27, the rest of chapter 1. And you can see there, again, this underlying structure 00:16:07.799 --> 00:16:12.419 to James' thinking here. The word gives us birth in verse 18. Then we must go on receiving that word 00:16:12.419 --> 00:16:17.059 in verse 21. Now we must put the word into action and be doers of the word in verse 22. Otherwise, 00:16:17.259 --> 00:16:22.659 James says, if we're merely hearers of the word only, then we've deceived ourselves, he says. 00:16:23.740 --> 00:16:28.360 We are self-deluded. We're living a lie. We might say we are Christians, but we are not. 00:16:28.939 --> 00:16:33.899 We might think we're part of the new creation, but in reality, we're still very much stuck in the old. 00:16:36.179 --> 00:16:40.839 James likens it to looking in a mirror. Now, mirrors in the ancient world were usually made of 00:16:40.840 --> 00:16:46.280 polished metal, and they weren't as clear as our modern-day mirrors, but they got the job done. 00:16:47.000 --> 00:16:51.660 And imagine, James says, looking at your natural face in a mirror and then walking away at once 00:16:51.660 --> 00:16:57.420 and forgetting what you look like. It's sort of silly, isn't it? Especially in the ancient world 00:16:57.420 --> 00:17:01.920 when mirrors aren't as common as they are today. Imagine getting a chance to really see yourself 00:17:01.920 --> 00:17:06.539 and then walking off as if you hadn't seen it in the first place. What a waste! 00:17:06.539 --> 00:17:17.940 But now consider, if that's true of a mirror, it's even more true of God's word. When you look 00:17:17.940 --> 00:17:24.099 into God's word, you aren't just seeing your natural face. You are seeing who God created you to be. 00:17:24.759 --> 00:17:27.639 You're seeing your true, eternal image. 00:17:27.640 --> 00:17:37.540 That's part of the reason why James calls it the perfect law, the law of liberty. Here is completion. 00:17:37.920 --> 00:17:45.560 Here is freedom. For James, the law found in Scripture which has been fulfilled in Jesus the Messiah, 00:17:46.520 --> 00:17:54.640 the law which is perfected in the call to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, 00:17:54.640 --> 00:18:04.040 and to love our neighbor as ourselves. This, this is how the human machine is meant to run best. 00:18:04.200 --> 00:18:10.060 This is where freedom and joy is found. You know, even more when we see that Jesus is the fulfillment 00:18:10.060 --> 00:18:16.180 of all the law, the prophets, and the writings. And when we start to see that every story and every 00:18:16.180 --> 00:18:23.780 promise and every command starts to echo and show us a new perspective on the face of Jesus, 00:18:23.779 --> 00:18:31.980 when we realize that this image of Christ that we see throughout the Scriptures is who God has formed 00:18:31.980 --> 00:18:40.000 us to be, then we start to realize that staring into the perfect law of liberty 00:18:40.000 --> 00:18:46.500 is seeing not just our natural face in a mirror, but our eternal face. 00:18:46.500 --> 00:18:57.440 This is life as it was meant to be. And imagine getting a glimpse into that, 00:18:58.240 --> 00:19:09.220 and then moments later walking away and forgetting it all. How silly. Imagine seeing the path of freedom, 00:19:09.579 --> 00:19:14.039 the path of wholeness, seeing the face of Jesus, seeing our own face, who we've been created to be, 00:19:14.039 --> 00:19:22.059 and then walking away as if nothing happened. James says, remember who you are. 00:19:23.259 --> 00:19:31.480 When you look into the law of liberty, persevere. Be a doer who acts. Live this new life that you've 00:19:31.480 --> 00:19:39.859 been given by grace. For there in the living, there you will know, he says, God's blessing. You will be 00:19:39.859 --> 00:19:46.399 blessed in your doing, he says. Now, James, does it mean that life will suddenly get easy? 00:19:47.179 --> 00:19:53.479 Life sometimes gets harder when we start doing the Word. And blessing here, you know, doesn't mean 00:19:53.479 --> 00:19:59.359 worldly health and worldly wealth. That's not what James is talking about. No, God's blessing 00:19:59.359 --> 00:20:09.639 is God's fatherly favor. Do you want to know a richer communion with God? Do you want to have a deeper 00:20:09.639 --> 00:20:14.639 sense of his love? Do you want to have a near intimacy with God through your sorrows and joys? 00:20:15.919 --> 00:20:23.819 James says that it's found in the living. When we don't merely hear the Word, but we do it. 00:20:23.819 --> 00:20:31.439 When we take those steps of faith. Now, what does that look like practically? 00:20:32.619 --> 00:20:37.279 James mentions three things here in verses 26 through 27. Now, he's going to unpack these themes 00:20:37.279 --> 00:20:41.799 in the chapters that follow, but James sort of lays them out here as a sort of summary of what's to 00:20:41.799 --> 00:20:44.899 come. You'll see in the weeks that come as we walk through this book of James that we're going to 00:20:44.899 --> 00:20:49.919 circle back on a lot of these themes and sort of explore them in a lot more depth. But here, 00:20:49.920 --> 00:20:55.220 James sort of lays them out and he says, you know, if you don't have these, then your religion 00:20:55.220 --> 00:21:03.380 is worthless. Now, religion here doesn't mean what we usually mean today. When we say religion, 00:21:03.480 --> 00:21:08.279 we usually mean one of those big families of belief and practice that shape people's whole lives. You 00:21:08.279 --> 00:21:13.519 know, when we say religion, we mean Christianity or Islam or Judaism or Buddhism. But that's not what 00:21:13.519 --> 00:21:21.379 James means. When James says religion, he means the outer actions of worship. You see, he's talking 00:21:21.379 --> 00:21:27.200 to Jewish Christians and he's saying, you can do all the outer actions of worship. You can go to church, 00:21:27.339 --> 00:21:31.960 you can listen to the Bible, you can go through the prayers and the songs, etc., etc. But if those 00:21:31.960 --> 00:21:37.980 outer actions aren't matched by a compassionate and holy life, then your religion, your outward 00:21:37.980 --> 00:21:49.980 practices are worthless. Literally, they are powerless. They won't do a thing. They won't extend God's 00:21:49.980 --> 00:21:59.339 kingdom. In fact, that word worthless there, powerless, is often sometimes used of the worship of idols in 00:21:59.339 --> 00:22:05.059 the Bible. So James is saying, you know, if you're just going through these outward acts of worship, 00:22:05.059 --> 00:22:13.639 it's almost idolatry. So what does it look like then to put the word into practice, to be a doer of 00:22:13.639 --> 00:22:21.759 the word? First, James says, we have to bridle our tongues. Ah, what a powerful image that is, isn't it? 00:22:22.759 --> 00:22:27.379 A bridle is something that you put around a horse's face and mouth to make it turn this way and that. 00:22:28.339 --> 00:22:35.039 James is saying, your tongue, your speech is like a horse. It's full of power and you can 00:22:35.039 --> 00:22:39.680 use that power to trample things down and to run off and to kick up dirt and create all sorts of 00:22:39.680 --> 00:22:48.240 havoc or you can use that power, you can harness that power to produce good. Like a horse, you could 00:22:48.240 --> 00:22:53.879 plow a field for harvest or pull a cart full of grain or carry a rider to his home. Your words 00:22:53.879 --> 00:22:56.240 can be a life-giving force. 00:22:56.240 --> 00:23:07.900 So how do we use our tongues? To bring life or to spread death? Again, this is especially true 00:23:07.900 --> 00:23:14.380 in our internet age. Words have power and so often we use words with almost no discretion, 00:23:14.380 --> 00:23:17.960 like a pack of wild horses just trampling down the weary. 00:23:17.960 --> 00:23:27.620 But look at Jesus. At one point in the Gospel of John, Jesus said, I speak just as the Father taught 00:23:27.620 --> 00:23:33.319 me. As you read the Gospels, you see that Jesus' words were always the right words, whether it was 00:23:33.319 --> 00:23:40.500 a question or an encouragement or even a rebuke. Always his words were bringing life. And that's 00:23:40.500 --> 00:23:47.799 what the Holy Spirit, through the implanted word, is producing in us. As we participate with the 00:23:47.799 --> 00:23:54.079 ongoing work of God in us, our speech doesn't need to be an uncontrollable horse, but it can be a 00:23:54.079 --> 00:24:03.200 life-giving force for good. So first, being doers of the word means bridling our tongue to speak 00:24:03.200 --> 00:24:09.980 words of life. Second, James says it means visiting orphans and widows in their affliction. Now, widows and 00:24:09.980 --> 00:24:15.200 orphans were particularly vulnerable in the ancient world. And the Old Testament contains countless 00:24:15.200 --> 00:24:24.660 exhortations to show care and compassion toward them. Why? Well, because God's own heart is a heart of 00:24:24.660 --> 00:24:33.519 compassion. God cares for the vulnerable, the weak, the poor, the needy. And so, compassion for the 00:24:33.519 --> 00:24:44.759 vulnerable must be our heart too. You see, the new creation life isn't a life of seeking power and 00:24:44.759 --> 00:24:52.920 prestige and control. The new creation life is found among the least of these on the margins. 00:24:53.879 --> 00:24:58.400 They're precious in God's eyes. That's the forefront of the kingdom of God. 00:25:00.180 --> 00:25:05.000 So, brothers and sisters, friends, don't be afraid to visit someone who's struggling. 00:25:06.640 --> 00:25:11.920 Of course, that probably looks like a phone call today or a socially distant driveway conversation with 00:25:11.920 --> 00:25:17.240 face masks or whatever it is. But all the same, don't be afraid to reach out, to show care and 00:25:17.240 --> 00:25:26.920 compassion, to simply show up. After all, isn't this what Jesus showed us? His care for the weak, 00:25:27.039 --> 00:25:33.160 for the lonely, for the orphan and widow, it was undeniable. It was among the least of these that 00:25:33.160 --> 00:25:40.820 he chose his first followers, built his church, and advanced his kingdom. And isn't that the heart of 00:25:40.819 --> 00:25:52.740 the gospel? When we were poor and needy and weak, utterly vulnerable in our sin and death, at just that 00:25:52.740 --> 00:26:05.019 time, God visited us in our affliction, literally showed up in the flesh and rescued us. Not because of 00:26:05.019 --> 00:26:11.279 works we had done, not because we deserved it, but because of his own compassion and grace. 00:26:13.359 --> 00:26:20.240 That is the baseline of our whole life as believers in Christ, as the new creation, as the church. 00:26:21.519 --> 00:26:29.759 So, as we seek to live out the word then, it has to mean a likewise compassion towards the weak 00:26:29.759 --> 00:26:36.359 and towards the vulnerable. Third thing that it means to be a doer of the word. 00:26:37.500 --> 00:26:43.019 It means to keep oneself unstained from the world, James says. Now, what does James mean by the word 00:26:43.019 --> 00:26:49.980 world? When the New Testament writers talk about the world, what they mean is human society living 00:26:49.980 --> 00:26:57.119 without any reference to the true God. Human society living on the basis, not of the true God, 00:26:57.119 --> 00:27:03.919 but of the idols of power and control and security, whatever it may be. But the church, you see, the 00:27:03.919 --> 00:27:09.699 church is meant to be different, to be distinct, to be a kind of new society within the midst of the old. 00:27:10.199 --> 00:27:16.339 A society that approaches the sort of everyday things like money and sex and power and influence 00:27:16.339 --> 00:27:22.979 in completely different ways because we're serving a completely different king. The living and true God, 00:27:22.980 --> 00:27:30.660 the Lord Jesus. Because we serve a different Lord, our lives look very different in the midst of the 00:27:30.660 --> 00:27:43.200 world. And so, for example, things like racism should have no place in the church. What it means to be the 00:27:43.200 --> 00:27:48.839 new creation, the first fruits of God's kingdom, is to proclaim that all women and men of all races and 00:27:48.839 --> 00:27:53.879 nationalities and nationalities are created equally in God's image and are worthy of equal honor, 00:27:54.199 --> 00:28:00.379 justice, and respect. And to stand up for these things and to live in distinct ways. 00:28:02.980 --> 00:28:10.939 That's what it means to be a doer of the word and not a hearer only. To live in ways that are utterly 00:28:10.939 --> 00:28:16.519 distinct at times from the world around us. To be in the world and not of the world. And you know, 00:28:16.519 --> 00:28:25.279 sometimes that very well might bring opposition. To live in a way that's unstained by the world, 00:28:25.420 --> 00:28:31.940 serving a different God than the gods of this age, that will make the church unpopular at times. 00:28:34.379 --> 00:28:42.160 But you know, Jesus himself has gone before us. He lived a life of radical distinction 00:28:42.160 --> 00:28:48.380 from the world. He was crucified and put to death at the hands of this world. 00:28:50.420 --> 00:29:00.200 And so, if trials come, we need not fear. Even if a cross lies before us, our Lord has already gone 00:29:00.200 --> 00:29:04.900 there. And he has emerged victorious in the resurrection. And he is seated at the right hand 00:29:04.900 --> 00:29:10.160 of the Father, where he reigns in justice and grace, ready to return and make all things new. 00:29:11.740 --> 00:29:15.920 You see, there's nothing to fear for those who are doers of the word. 00:29:16.880 --> 00:29:20.759 No, James says, that's where God's blessing is to be found. 00:29:23.600 --> 00:29:25.580 And so, church, James says, 00:29:25.579 --> 00:29:34.339 let us not forget who we are. We've been given new birth by the word. So now let's receive the word 00:29:34.339 --> 00:29:39.559 and let's be doers of the word. And in so doing and in so receiving, 00:29:40.220 --> 00:29:47.960 we'll know the power and we'll know the presence of the one who is the incarnate word, the Lord Jesus, 00:29:47.960 --> 00:29:53.000 who was the perfect receiver and the perfect doer of the word. 00:29:55.120 --> 00:29:57.759 And that incarnate word, our Lord Jesus promises, 00:29:58.380 --> 00:30:03.360 that he will most surely complete the good work that he has begun in us. 00:30:04.620 --> 00:30:05.740 Amen. Let's pray. 00:30:12.539 --> 00:30:14.799 Father, we confess this morning that these 00:30:14.799 --> 00:30:17.720 words from the book of James, 00:30:18.339 --> 00:30:20.359 they're challenging to us, God. 00:30:21.259 --> 00:30:22.740 We acknowledge that we often 00:30:22.740 --> 00:30:25.220 would much rather 00:30:25.220 --> 00:30:26.960 think our own thoughts 00:30:26.960 --> 00:30:28.839 than think your thoughts after you. 00:30:30.159 --> 00:30:31.180 We acknowledge, God, 00:30:31.220 --> 00:30:33.259 that so often we would much rather do our own thing 00:30:33.259 --> 00:30:35.099 than do your thing. 00:30:38.779 --> 00:30:39.139 Lord, 00:30:39.180 --> 00:30:40.839 for some of us, as we hear this challenge, 00:30:40.839 --> 00:30:42.720 it pricks sensitive 00:30:42.720 --> 00:30:43.440 consciences. 00:30:44.799 --> 00:30:47.480 Lord, for some of us, 00:30:47.519 --> 00:30:49.619 it can drive us to almost a sense of despairing 00:30:49.619 --> 00:30:51.700 about whether we are actually in Christ or not. 00:30:53.519 --> 00:30:55.299 Lord, I pray that by your spirit, 00:30:55.440 --> 00:30:57.139 you would comfort those who need comfort. 00:30:58.279 --> 00:31:01.039 Father, remind them that the grace and mercy of Jesus 00:31:01.039 --> 00:31:04.159 covers all of our sins and ushers us into this new life. 00:31:05.720 --> 00:31:07.659 Lord, but for those whose hearts are hard, 00:31:09.059 --> 00:31:10.539 would it open up something new? 00:31:10.539 --> 00:31:13.319 Would your spirit continue to do his work 00:31:13.319 --> 00:31:14.899 in the days to come? 00:31:17.359 --> 00:31:19.059 Lord, please make us a people 00:31:19.059 --> 00:31:21.319 who are not just hearers of the word, 00:31:21.399 --> 00:31:21.920 but doers. 00:31:22.839 --> 00:31:25.659 Help us each step of the way, 00:31:25.740 --> 00:31:27.779 depending on your grace and on your strength, 00:31:27.879 --> 00:31:30.119 to live this new life that you've given us. 00:31:30.119 --> 00:31:34.239 Jesus, you said that 00:31:34.239 --> 00:31:36.359 when people see 00:31:36.359 --> 00:31:37.539 our good works, 00:31:38.159 --> 00:31:40.199 they'll give glory to our Father in heaven. 00:31:41.059 --> 00:31:41.919 Would that be true? 00:31:42.819 --> 00:31:44.219 Would people see our good works 00:31:44.219 --> 00:31:46.539 and give glory to your name, Father? 00:31:47.619 --> 00:31:48.099 Amen. 00:31:48.099 --> 00:31:48.199 Amen. 00:31:48.200 --> 00:31:48.759 Amen. 00:32:06.940 --> 00:32:09.000 Amen. 00:32:09.019 --> 00:32:09.279 Amen. 00:32:09.380 --> 00:32:10.240 Amen. 00:32:10.380 --> 00:32:11.340 Amen. 00:32:11.340 --> 00:32:11.380 Amen. 00:32:11.440 --> 00:32:12.519 Amen. 00:32:12.519 --> 00:32:15.519 Amen.