Doers of the Word
Scripture Reading: James 1:17-27
17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights,
with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning. 18 Of His own will He brought us forth by the
word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures.
19 So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath; 20 for
the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God.
21 Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of 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 observing his natural face in a mirror; 24 for he
observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. 25 But he who
looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the
work, this one will be blessed in what he does.
26 If anyone among you thinks he is religious, and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own
heart, this one’s religion is useless. 27 Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is
this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.
For the past almost 2 months we've been on focused on 'the Kingdom'. I would
have some great idea to preach on but the Spirit has been consistently bringing me
back to the kingdom. Christ spoke so much about the kingdom. 'The kingdom of
heaven is like...." In Matthews account Jesus says that one phrase 12 times. He
says "The kingdom of heaven is at hand", "theirs is the kingdom of heaven". He
warns the Pharisees that "they will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven". He
tells us that "Not everyone who Lord, Lord will enter the kingdom of heaven. It seems
that the kingdom of heaven was very important to our Lord Jesus, and if it was
important to Him, it should be important to us. We have to stop living for the world
and start living for the kingdom.
I've heard people say things like, "II live for my children" or "I live for my wife or
husband" or " I live for softball, or bowling, or football or shopping or whatever" but
that's all wrong. Jesus told the multitude they would have to hate their mother, wife
and children, brother and sister, even their own life (Like 14:26) to be His disciple.
Many of them could not handle that and left. It's the same today. How many times
have you heard this scripture preached? Most people wouldn't know how to receive
it. Jesus was not saying that He wanted them to mistreat their relatives. He was
emphasizing the level of dedication we would need to the kingdom. It can not matter
what our parents, or spouse, or children, or siblings say. It can't even matter whether
we live or die. All that matters is the kingdom.
This passage is written by James the brother of Jesus. I always like reading John
because he seemed to be Jesus' best friend so get a different perspective than what
you get in the other gospels. James being His brother brings yet another
perspective. He likely did not begin to understand his brother's teaching until either
late in His ministry or after His death and resurrection. Remember when he and his
mother and brothers came to get Jesus because they thought He had lost His mind
(Matthew 12:46-50, Mark 3:30, Luke 8:19). So James begins by saying something I
believe is extremely important for us to hear. Every good and perfect gift is from
above. I think we hear it but I don't know if we really heard it. It also say that in Him
there is no variation. He gives us good things, period. So why do people say things
like, "God took your mother to be with Him in heaven". I wonder how many children
grew up hating God because of a statement like that. Or how about "God put that
sickness on you to strengthen your faith". How horribly wicked is that? How about
this one, they call terrible natural disasters 'Acts of God'. Are they really? People
have actually said He sent the hurricane to New Orleans to punish them. Jesus said,
"The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come
that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly." It's our
adversary that comes to steal, kill and destroy. Sometimes God must withdraw His
protection because He can not be a liar. It's like if I say, "Kimberly, that pan is hot,
don't touch it" and she touches it anyway. Did I burn her? No it was her choice to be
disobedient that caused the burn.
What's my point with all this? As Jesus says in John 10:9, He is the door, if anyone
enters through Him they will be saved. He in Matthew 16:16-19 after Peter answers
that He is the Christ, Jesus says He will give us the keys to the kingdom. So what is
the key, that He is Christ. So He is the door, and accepting that He is the Christ is
the key. He says that if we are His friends we will do whatever He commands (John
15:14). We must start doing what He says without any thought of how it will make us
look or whether people will like us or even if we will live, because if we don't come
through the door, we will not get in.
In verse 19 James exhorts us to be swift to listen, slow to speak, and slow to
wrath. Unfortunately many people spend the whole time the other person is speaking
thinking about what they will say next, then they talk to much, and get angry because
somebody looked at them funny. The reason we need to be really careful to not get
into wrath is because it does not produce God's righteousness. It's not about the
kingdom. When you get mad and cuss out Joe or Sally or whoever, don't think they
forgot you said you're a Christian. We are supposed to be ambassadors for the
kingdom.
Next he tells us to lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness. I used to love
horror movies. I used to laugh when stupid people got killed for doing something
stupid. There have been movies that I've really wanted to see but as we watch them
either the language or the sexual content or something makes me turn it off. Paul
talks about us renewing our mind to the mind of Christ. We have to live in this world
but we do not have to be of his world. And you know what, it can be difficult when all
your friends are saying have you seen this or if you're in a movie theatre with friend
to get up and leave because something is inappropriate but it's necessary. In the
very next verse it says that we should be doers of the Word and not just hearers. If
we just come and listen to a sermon on Sunday and nod our heads and say Amen
then go out and live just like everyone else, we are deceiving ourselves. And I don't
think it's just because we'd be being hypocritical, I think we'd be deceived because
we would say we have accept Christ as our Lord and Savior but we really haven't.
Where do you think those people who say Lord, Lord but don't get into the kingdom
come from. I think it's the people that thought it was just about walking down the aisle
and saying a prayer, or getting dunked in water, or showing up on Sunday. And you
know what, that's sad. If you make someone your lord then you do what they say
because they're the boss, period. Is Jesus the Lord of your life? Have you really
opened the door to the kingdom or are you standing on the doormat feeling like
you've made it?
Religion is useless. Traditions mean nothing. Open the door, come in, our
Father's been waiting for you to come home....to the kingdom.
Sermon by: Denise Baxley
Date: February 12, 2006