M/Y/ God's Word!

GJ Farmer

James • Sermon • Submitted 6 years ago

James 1:19–27

Word of God

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Christians must make the Word of God central to everything they do, and when they do, they will be blessed.

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INTRODUCTION

ILL: Tried to give someone advice you get 1 of these responses:

Tried to teach someone something you get 1 of these responses:

Instructing someone and they are zoned out. Everything goes over their heads. They didn’t hear anything.

Instructing someone and they heard you but didn’t listen.Did their own thing.

Instructing someone and they heard you and listened, but they didn’t do it quite right. (At least they are learning)

Instructing someone, they heard and listened, and they got it right.

TRANSITION

When it comes to the Word of God, we probably find ourselves in one of these places. All of us at some point didn’t know the Bible and maybe didn’t care. We care more about “My word” than God’s Word.

The title of my message (God’s Word)

Continuing in James series. Last week we talked about how we can have Joy in trials. Don’t simply look at the situation, but look at Jesus.

Tonight we’re going to look at how not only is hearing and knowing God’s Word important, but there is more we need to do, and when we do we are promised to be blessed by God.

EXPOSITION

Continuing in James series. Last week we talked about how we can have Joy in trials. Don’t simply look at the situation, but look at Jesus.

1. Receive the Word (vv. 19-21)

EXP: "My dear brothers and sisters...” This is a call to all Christians to push the pause button on our words and tune in to God’s Word. “Quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger.” How many times has disobeying one of the exhortations gotten us into trouble? We tend to do the opposite.

Slow to listen- understand/learn what needs to be learned.

Quick to speak- jumping to conclusions, giving opinions before learning what is necessary.

Quick to anger- we get upset with others in a sinful way, doing damage to relationships and tarnishing our witness.

ILL: A lady once came to Billy Sunday and tried to rationalize her angry outbursts. "There's nothing wrong with losing my temper," she said. "I blow up, and then it's all over." "So does a shotgun," Sunday replied, "and look at the damage it leaves behind!"

She said. "I blow up, and then it's all over."

"So does a shotgun," Sunday replied, "and look at the damage it leaves behind!"

EXP: Instead, James says we should be the opposite. Quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to anger. These don’t come naturally to us.

James wants us to understand that living the Christian life isn’t something that is natural. Instead, what we want to do is in our flesh. But we are called to a different life (v. 21).

How do we do that? Seems like a HUGE challenge.

ILL: Planting a tree in our front yard because we were left with no trees. Didn’t grow quickly, but was making progress.

Just like a large tree doesn’t grow overnight, growing in the ways of the Lord doesn’t happen overnight either. It begins by planting.

This morning in the children’s sermon, we talked about planting God’s Word into the hearts of people.

Each one of us, first must...Say Point 1.

If we want to honor God in our actions, we must begin by receiving His Word and planting it in our lives (v. 21b)

Why does he use the analogy of planting the Word? Parable of the sower:

Matthew 13:3–8 CSB

Then he told them many things in parables, saying: “Consider the sower who went out to sow. As he sowed, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured them. Other seed fell on rocky ground where it didn’t have much soil, and it grew up quickly since the soil wasn’t deep. But when the sun came up, it was scorched, and since it had no root, it withered away. Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns came up and choked it. Still other seed fell on good ground and produced fruit: some a hundred, some sixty, and some thirty times what was sown.

Matthew 13:1–8 CSB

On that day Jesus went out of the house and was sitting by the sea. Such large crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat down, while the whole crowd stood on the shore. Then he told them many things in parables, saying: “Consider the sower who went out to sow. As he sowed, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured them. Other seed fell on rocky ground where it didn’t have much soil, and it grew up quickly since the soil wasn’t deep. But when the sun came up, it was scorched, and since it had no root, it withered away. Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns came up and choked it. Still other seed fell on good ground and produced fruit: some a hundred, some sixty, and some thirty times what was sown.

Just like a seed takes root, God’s Word needs to take root in your life. Spend time in it, get to know it, seek to understand it. Be quick to listen to it and learn from it.

As Jesus said at the end of the parable,

Matthew 13:9 CSB

Let anyone who has ears listen.”

2. Do the Word (vv. 22-25)

EXP: However, James new that it isn’t enough to simply hear the word and listen to it. To live the Christian life and be blessed by God, we must move from receiving the Word to doing the Word. (v. 22)

Say Point 2.

How many Christians are fooling themselves, thinking that all there is to the Christian life is sitting and listening to a sermon, a Bible study, or something similar? There is so much more to what God has called us to do. That is realized in doing the Word.

God’s Word is like a mirror.

Show a mirror.

ILL: Looking in the mirror to get ready in the morning. You can have in your mind this beautiful picture of what you think you look like in the morning, but a mirror gives you the truth. God’s Word does the same thing.

God’s Word shows us who we are, flaws and all. It shows where we have messed up.

ILL: Imagine if I walked away from the mirror and just forgot what I looked like in the morning. I went to work that day. What a mess! How foolish would I have to be? Instead, I’m going to try to fix the problems. Hair, teeth, etc.

God’s Word gives us a blueprint for fixing our problems. That is the Gospel. And when we do what the Word of God we are promised something (v. 25).

3. Show the Word (vv. 26-27)

EXP: Now James moves from talking about receiving the Word and doing the Word. To bringing up the idea of religion. Religion is a Word that may scare people (seems to be something that isn’t genuine)

What James meant by religion is an outward showing of what is happening in your life. As you receive the Word, and do the Word, there should naturally be a showing of the Word to others.

Say Point 3.

Why does James point out that you can’t be religious without controlling your tongue? Because the tongue can do so much damage to our Christian witness. We will discuss more when we get to chapter 3.

ILL: The story is told of a zoo that was noted for their great collection of different animals. One day the gorilla died, and to keep up the appearance of a full range of animals, the zookeeper hired a man to wear a gorilla suit and fill in for the dead animal. It was his first day on the job, and the man didn’t know how to act like a gorilla very well. As he tried to move convincingly, he got too close to the wall of the enclosure and tripped and fell into the lion exhibit. He began to scream, convinced his life was over…until the lion spoke to him: “Be quiet, or you’re going to get us both fired!”

Instead, if you want pure religion, a true outward showing of God Word in your life, James mentions specifically to look after orphans and widows and keep yourself unstained from the world. Why orphans and widows? These were the poorest of the poor. In that culture, they had no one to take care of them. By doing this, the Christian had no motivation for serving other than purely loving and caring for someone in a terrible position.

We must be careful, because while we may not be able to, the world can spot a hypocrite quickly.

Our mission as Christians should be to show the Word in our actions- helping those who need help, with no other motivation but our love for Christ. Keeping ourselves unstained from the sin of the world, with no other motivation but our love for Christ.

The Bible is more than just any book on our shelves. We must treat it as more than a coffee table decoration, and more than a book of suggestions. Christians must make the Word of God central to everything we do. We must receive God’s Word, do God’s Word, and show God’s Word. When we live our lives with God’s Word in high priority, we will be blessed.

CONCLUSION

What about you? Is God’s Word a central part of your life?

Do you need to receive the Word?

Present the Gospel

Do you need to get into it more?

Do you need to do the Word?

Have you only been reading, but not applying.

Do you need to show the Word?

Do something to show God’s Word to others.