This post by christinecoltman was originally published at GRACE PLACE
This is our third study in James, concluding chapter 1. I am speaking on more than one verse this time!!
We began with discovering that the book of James is general advice for general Christians in general situations when we reach for wisdom. Not an accusation, but a view of what authentic faith looks like in the real world.
Kathy spoke powerfully last time about trials; those general, everyday trials that we all face. In James 1, Kathy showed us a mindset that weighs it up and, though trials hurt, get God’s perspective, that he will provide for us and equip us in our trials, giving us wisdom and grace in our time of need. We know the outcome is secure; we don’t have to question God’s character and say, ‘WHY GOD?’, because he remains the generous God who gives wisdom.
“Whatever is a good and perfect gift has come from God” (v17)
But when we doubt God, we begin to deceive ourselves:
Deceiving ourselves -> temptation -> sin -> death
Trusting God -> perseverance -> maturity
So, we need to apply the Word of Truth (v18), get to know the truth about God, who is generous and good and does not abandon us in trials, so that we can persevere to the end and receive the crown of life. That focus on the Word, the Word of Truth, is the pivot which turns us to James 1:19-27.
This is the last part of this chapter, which is an overview of the themes he will really expand on; looking at how our vertical relationship with God needs to be right, and then how we can get our horizontal relationships with others right, too.
Building on the study that many of you did in your study, we’re going to look more closely at those three areas of trial: Listening, Speaking and Doing.
Read James 1:19-27
I wonder how you felt when that was read. Maybe there was a spark of recognition, you remembered studying this in the past few weeks and it brought back some reminders of being a good listener, and especially a good listener of God’s Word.
Maybe you were frustrated, that James starts saying something, then moves on to something else really quickly.
Maybe you were uncomfortable because you know you’re not quick to listen but VERY quick to speak and pretty hot-tempered. You know you’re not the first in line to help the widows and orphans.
I suggest you may be feeling like one of those because that’s how I have been feeling every time I’ve sat down with this passage to prepare.
Here’s another one. Maybe you had a quiet smile to yourself about getting rid of moral filth and not being polluted by the world, because, right now, you are putting on your most Christian face, but you know that there is that dark corner you really hope no one else asks you about because it is eating away at you like poison. I know that’s me, as well.
I look in the mirror of God’s Word, and I think, “Oh no, I look like THAT? Really?? That’s really ugly! Oh no! Can everyone else see that, too?”
Well let’s start there. Because otherwise, that one giant worry is going to distract you for the whole night.
If you look in the mirror of God’s Word, and it shows you moral filth and being polluted by the world, then tonight you are 100% sitting in the right place.
Look up. Look up there. See the cross?
God ALREADY KNOWS what you look like. He knows all the times you dodged helping orphans and widows. He knows what you said. He knows there is violence in your heart, that you are quick to anger. He knows that you pick up all kinds of habits and dirt from being in this world.
He knows and he cares.
He cares so much he sent Jesus Christ to pay for all that. He sent Jesus to live perfectly in a way you could not. He sent Jesus to die painfully and experience total separation from the Father, so that you would not. He sent Jesus to rise again to new life, so that you could be welcomed in and be part of that – DESPITE everything else, despite looking like this.
James writes this passage to fill us with love for the Christ who has set us free from guilt and shame, to renew our hope that he will keep us strong as we persevere in trials.
So if, like me, you read James 1:19-27, and you look in the mirror of God’s Word, and I think, “Oh no, I look like THAT? Really?? That’s awful! Oh no oh no oh no! Can everyone else see that, too?”
YES. YES, God can see that. And maybe YES everyone else can see that too.
But God sees it and he LOVES you. He sees you and he loves to rescue you. Because that’s who he is. He knows who you are; do you know who he is? Over and over and over again in the Bible we see he is the God who helicopters in and saves you. The God who rescues. The God who makes a way. The God who cleans up afterwards.
God looks at us and sees Jesus’ blood covering every sin.
So, when we come to the cross with humble hearts, aware of our screw ups and longing for God’s rescue, he does not say “Your divine bank account is empty, you have run out of credit, there’s no grace left for you”. Not at all! I’m going to briefly leap ahead to James 4:6; “HE GIVES US MORE GRACE”.
Also, furthermore, God doesn’t forgive us and then leave us to figure out what’s next on our own; he gives us his Word to direct us. Sometimes when we read the Word it convicts us and points out our errors. It’s uncomfortable; but we need to recall that this is not an accusation; there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. It’s a call to come and be in Christ Jesus. This (James) is a view of what living faith looks like, and a call to work with God’s Holy Spirit to become more like Jesus, and less like that mess we saw in the mirror.
30 SECONDS TO PAUSE, REFLECT, PRAY, and come to this passage with the right attitude. “There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus”. But be ready for God to convict us of sin and welcome us at the cross.
Four sections:
1) Quick listen/Slow speak/Slow anger -> righteousness.
2) Moral filth and evil -> humbly accept word -> Save you.
3) Listen to the Word -> Do it -> blessed
4) Religion which God accepts -> pure and faultless
I’m going to roughly go through the passage in order… well, I’m going to try. But look, “Listen” appears at the beginning and also in part 3, as then “righteousness” and “religion which God accepts” (which is aka righteousness) are the beginning and end of the passage…
So I’m going to start at the beginning and talk through these issues and conclude with the final one… but they overlap a lot so I’ll have to bring in bits from later in the passage to help. I mean, in my introduction I’ve already talked about the mirror of God’s Word, which is kind of section 3, so…!
1) listen/speak/anger –> no righteousness.
So, going back to these trials; these are the things we wrestle with every day. “When going through trials, sometimes all we talk about is ourselves. It fills our worldview. It dominates our thinking, speaking, waking, sleeping.” (Allberry) Our speaking quickens, and so can our temper. “Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires. “
James says this because, often, our anger is NOT slow in coming. Consider the last few times your temper flared. How quickly? What caused it? Quick anger is often misdirected. We get angry because things don’t go our way. Something blocks us from getting what we want. For me, the quickest place my temper flares up is driving. Other drivers. They make me so angry. They’re so slow. They might as well walk rather than get in my way. Going down the hill from Corsham to Chippenham at 40mph. Can they not read? IT IS A 60 LIMIT. They keep me away from what I want. I hate that. And unsurprisingly, this leads to hot angry words, someone even a gesture, or two.
Well, James points out that (v19-20) “Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires. “
This is not the way to righteousness.
I might leap to my own defence: Jesus was angry, too! (Mark 10:14, Mark 3: 5, Mark 11:15-17). Yep, true. But Jen Wilkin observes that he got angry twice in 30 years. That anger was slow in coming. And he got angry not because someone cut him up at a roundabout, but because people were getting the way of God’s will and insulting God. People were buying and selling in God’s House, they were out for themselves and preventing others from worshipping God with their greed. Jesus was properly mad about it; and his anger was the kind of anger that brings about righteousness, because it puts you in line with God’s will for the world. I can assure you that my angry shouting on the Sainsbury’s roundabout does not bring about God’s will. Instead it leads to moral filth and evil. v21 says:
“Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you.”
2) Moral filth and evil -> humbly accept word –> Save you.
So, v19 if we turn it upside down, says “slow to listen, quick to speak and quick to be angry” that is connected to (v21) moral filth and evil. This is connected. Sam Allberry explains the link; ”Listening advice, anger management, and now ethics. This all links to how we respond to God’s Word.” Because how we respond to God’s word will give us the entire framework for our ethics, for how we listen, for what and how quickly we get angry.
This is a central moment in v21: HUMBLY ACCEPT THE WORD. Don’t reject it. Don’t fight with it. Don’t be proud and talk back. Humbly accept that maybe, just maybe, God has it right and you have it wrong. (I’m preaching to myself here, can you tell?!?!)
From verse 19, we see that the way to NOT produce righteousness is by talking over people, and getting angry quickly. That is not what God wants to see in our lives (for a reminder of context; this was to baby Christians with no living mature example, trying to follow the Spirit’s leading. James is showing which direction the spirit will lead!!).
The way we deal with sin is by listening to God’s Word (v21), the word of truth that saves us (verse 18).
If you want to have a better heart, a more godly mind, a cleaner mouth and more productive hands, make sure you use your ears. We are not going to change without God’s Word. It is when we have learned to listen carefully to him that we can begin to live lives to please him. You need to spend time with someone if you are going to develop a sense of what they like.
The antidote to the poison of evil and moral filth, the way to produce the righteousness that God desires, is to accept the word planted in you. The word of truth. Listen to it! It can save you!
3) Listen to the Word -> Do it -> Blessed
So. Are you listening? How are you listening?
Read verses 22-25. “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it-not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it-they will be blessed in what they do. This mirror image; haha I’m so witty! This mirror imagery here – do I really need to explain it? You look in the mirror and you see something is wrong with your face. (LIPSTICK ON FACE) And then if you go away and forget, what good does it do you? What was the point of looking in the mirror?
ABSOLUTELY NO POINT.
You may as well have not looked in the mirror in the first place. (Is that describing your Bible time right there? It has zero effect and there was no point in looking in the first place? Feeling uncomfortable? Look up.)
“But the girl who looks intently into the mirror and continues in it… not forgetting what she saw in God’s Word but DOING IT – she will be blessed in all she does.”
Sometimes we look in the wrong mirror. We look in the mirror of our friends. Jen Wilkin points out that we can keep a friend as a mirror who is not quite as good at things as us, not quite as organised, not quite as together; so that we feel good about ourselves. Then we have a mirror-friend who is better than us, she’s cleverer, prettier, more successful, her kids are astrophysicists and all play in the church band…
When we look in either of those mirrors we compare ourselves to other people and we are on a road to pain, not blessing! Comparing ourselves to others is a disaster. That mirror gives shifting standards for good and bad; what was good fashion in the 90s is NOT good now. Or actually it is. Anyway. The hairstyles change, the lengths of skirts change, attitudes to plastic packaging change.
We need to compare ourselves to the Lord. He is the true example of right-living and right-thinking. He is the truly successful one. When we look at the mirror of Jesus, we see what he really is and we see ourselves as we really are.
If you find yourself trapped in comparing yourselves to the wrong people and the wrong things, I highly highly recommend GRAHAM BEYNON’S BOOK, MIRROR MIRROR.
So, returning to my original point. Look up. Look at the cross. God already knows what you look like. That’s why he sent Jesus. Do you know what you look like? Do you want to know? You need to know. Look into the mirror of God’s Word.
Here’s another thing. God already knows how often, and how intently you look into his Word.
So if you are feeling uncomfortable right now, like I said at the beginning, this is not an accusation. We are here to find out about the authentic life of faith. What it really means to follow Jesus. This Bible here is to remind you of what you are like and also what GOD is like; he is the one that loves to rescue you, pick you up again, clean up again. That is his character. That is who he is. Will you come to him and repent and be changed? Will you allow the Spirit to prod you, and show you what you are like so that you will humbly work with the Spirit to be transformed?
There are two things going on in verses 22-25. Listen. And Do. If you don’t listen to God’s Word, if you don’t look in the mirror, you won’t know what to do. The antidote to the poison of evil and moral filth, the way to produce the righteousness that God desires, is to HUMBLY accept the word planted in you. The word of truth. Listen to it and DO IT.
So the first thing is listen. Are you listening? How are you listening?
And then the second one. Are you doing? How are you doing with doing?
One of the fundamental turning points of my youth was someone looking me in the face, slamming their hand down on the Bible and saying, “You know what it says; why aren’t you doing it?”
Maybe you don’t know what it says. Maybe listening is hard.
If you’re someone who struggles with listening, here are two ways I can encourage you to listen.
1) together with others – because I might be terrible at listening, but I love a chat!
2) on your own – because… point one. I love to chat! So, I also need to get into God’s word alone.
Studying God’s Word together
Getting together to read and understand God’s Word together is something Christians have always done. On Easter Sunday, Jesus walked with two disciples and opened the scripture with them. Philip and the Ethiopian in the chariot. The early church got together to check if what Paul was teaching was in line with the Scripture (Acts 17). And there are huge benefits when we study together. God’s Spirit is at work in all of us, and all of us bring our own experiences and insights. This helps us to iron out any misunderstandings we have, correct any confusion, and build each other up. We keep each other focussed on Jesus and we can get God’s perspective on things. Whether that is in a Bible study like this, a smaller life group, or when 2 of you meet as a study buddy.
I’m actually pretty shocking at this. I get really feisty when I read the Bible. It’s a real argument between me and what it says. Sometimes it is so unrealistic. I mean, have you read that bit in Matt 5: 38-40, when Jesus says “You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’ But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also. And if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well…” Hang on. IT GETS COLD IN BRITIAN. I WANT MY COAT!!! THIS IS MADNESS!!! Jesus is asking too much of me.
At this point, if I am studying God’s Word with someone, I inevitably react badly. I either put on my professional teacher persona, and draw back from saying what I think, and make sure I pose a REALLY CLEVER question, so I don’t have to reveal just how difficult I find Jesus’ teaching.
Or sometimes, like today, I own up and I say – I really don’t understand that. Is he really saying what I think he is saying? And then everyone looks at me and thinks, well she’s incredibly stupid. It’s obvious what Jesus is saying…
Or I just crumple and don’t say anything. Because if I said that I didn’t get it, someone would doubtless explain it to me and it still wouldn’t deal with my heart issue – which is, that, like Jonah with his shady plant, I think this coat is MINE and don’t recognise it as God’s gift to me, which doesn’t really belong to me, which is his to give and take away, as an act of grace to someone else. And I know I’m wrong. And I don’t like it. And I don’t want to admit that in front of anyone else.
So. Studying God’s Word with me is an exercise in patience for ANYONE WHO DARES. You have to put up with my frustration. My anger. My heart issues (which reveal that I am basically a spiritual 5-year-old). At which point I just don’t want to put anyone through that.
How do you help someone like me? How do you study the word with someone who fights with it? With someone who doesn’t get it? Who is afraid to admit they don’t get it? Who doesn’t like what it says? How do you study with Bible with someone whose mental health is fragile, or has a very tender conscience?
What do you find helpful about studying God’s Word with other people? What makes it difficult? How do you study the Bible with someone like me?
Studying God’s Word on our own
We must not lose the joint aspect of listening to God’s Word… but we also need to hear it for ourselves. One-on-One with God.
This term I have a new boss at work. Her desk is not in the staff room, next to mine; she has her own office. Sometimes, rarely, I bump into her in the staff room, but most often I now send an email and book an appointment. A slot when we are both going to give each other undivided attention.
Have you got a slot for God, when you know you are going to listen really closely to him and give him undivided attention?
A lot of people call it Quiet Time. But as I said earlier, I get pretty feisty with the Bible. Sometimes God is lucky to get a word in edgeways! I highly recommend using a book like this one (James For You). So my Bible slot is over breakfast. That’s when I listen to God. It’s that precious, silent 4 minutes after I’ve made the packed lunches and before my son appears and I start nagging him to do his teeth and put on his shoes (and that’s your school shoes, NOT your trainers). On a good day, God gets 6 minutes when I am listening only to him.
James’ advice to me is – be quick to listen. Show God the same courtesy you show you partner, your boss, your kids etc. When God is speaking to you, be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to become angry. God might want to speak to me at a different time to the 4 minutes I graciously carved out for him. When God speaks, whenever God speaks, be quick to listen.
James is challenging us to be good listeners – to each other, and to God. Because we’re facing trials, all of us. And we need his wisdom. If we truly want to be wise and live a life that produces righteousness, we need first and foremost to accept the word God has so kindly planted in us, and listen to it.
3) DO THE WORD -> blessed
Read verse 25. “But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do”.
Listening in the first place is a massive hurdle to overcome. But listening in itself is not the end goal. The end goal is actually living a life which pleases God. Aka obedience. Not a very popular word these days, except for dog owners.
But as a great comfort and encouragement to us, James reminds us that when we do it, we are blessed. It is good for us like medicine and it is good for us like chocolate, too! It’s like medicine because it gets rid of that moral filth and pollution – and it’s like chocolate because it’s a blessing too.
SO this is something to be excited about. Let’s be blessed! Let’s listen and do what the Word tells us!
What does it look like when we DO what the Mirror of God’s Word shows us?
Well, the answer to that is chapters 2, 3, 4 and 5! So, I am going to leave that as a bit of a cliff-hanger; however, we do have a nice snapshot here in verses 26-27.
4) RELIGION WHICH GOD ACCEPTS…. -> pure and faultless
Read verses 26 and 27. “Those who consider themselves religious and yet do not keep a tight rein on their tongues deceive themselves and their religion is worthless”. OK OK so keeping a tight rein on your tongue is one thing that needs DOING. But that’s chapter 3, so we’ll save that for the spring.
“Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world”.
Looking after the widows and orphans – that is, the poor, the vulnerable, those who have NO-ONE to help them.
In the society James was writing in, in the Roman world, there was no benefit system. No universal credit. No welfare state. The patriarchy was strong. Women couldn’t own property in their own name and when their father, husband or male relative died, they could be left homeless, jobless… It could be a shortcut to slavery. Here is a command to ALL Christians – men and women – to look after the people who are falling apart and falling off the bottom of society. Jesus says to the rich man, “Sell all you have and give to the poor” (Luke 12:33). This is all covered in James chapter 2 so I’m not going to go too far down this road.
We may live in a beautiful corner of the world here in Wiltshire, with affluence all around us. But you only have to scratch the surface to find people who are struggling financially, people in emotional distress. The doorway centre in Chippenham helps the homeless. Did you get the Shelter or the Salvation Army Christmas appeal through your door yet? What about people in Ukraine, and in other warzones? They literally have no home. Who cares about them? GOD cares. And if we listen to the Word and do it, we’ll care too.
THIS is the kind of action God loves to see. This is RIGHTEOUSNESS, the opposite of human anger (v19) and the opposite of lots of talking. As the song says, ‘A little less conversation, a little more action please!’
Chapter one of James is focussed on our relationship with God and how it changes us to be more like Christ. Tonight’s passage gives us four mini-pictures of how we can be full of righteousness, how we can be saved, how we can be blessed, how we can be pure and faultless.
It all pivots around that central moment in v21: HUMBLY ACCEPT THE WORD.
1) Quick listen/Slow speak/Slow anger -> Righteousness.
2) Moral filth and evil -> Humbly accept word -> Saved.
3) Listen to the Word -> Do it -> Blessed
4) Religion which God accepts -> Pure and faultless
When you listen to God’s Word, are you humble? Or are you proudly fighting with it? Are you quick to listen and slow to speak, or are you defending yourself and answering back all the time like a teenager? Are you longing for God’s blessing but avoiding doing what he says?
I want to return finally to what I said at the beginning. Look up. Look at the cross.
God ALREADY KNOWS. He knows about the moral filth and pollution. He made a way to be clean. He knows about the talking back and blatant refusal to do what he says. He invites us to look at his Word one-on-one with the Holy Spirit and also together with his people; not to accuse but to change us to be more like Christ. To be transformed into his likeness, with ever increasing glory! And to look in the mirror, with a humble attitude; come excited to be changed, excited to learn how to live a righteous life, happy to find that DOING what it says is God’s blessing for your trials and your everyday.
Let’s take a few moments for personal prayer. A chance to be humble as we come to our discussion time. Doing God’s Word blesses us like medicine, and it also blesses us like chocolate.
QUESTIONS
1) Do you find that doing God’s Word is a blessing more like medicine or more like chocolate?
2) What do you find helpful about studying God’s Word with other people? What makes it difficult? How do you study the Bible with someone like me?
3) How can you become more humble as you approach God’s Word?