Do What It Says – Sermon 30 August, 2015

Do what it Says
James 1:19-1:27
Hearing is the only way any of us is able to follow the way that God has opened up for us. We have to be good listeners. In today’s passage James is challenging us to take our faith in Christ seriously to change our behaviour. In simple words he is saying that we have to be willing to listen to what God says to us and then change our behaviour to conform our will to God’s Will. In order to do that, we have to do three things:
1. We have to hear The Word
It should not be surprising to us that God has given us two ears and only one mouth. He expects us to spend more time listening than He does speaking. But this is hard for us. We, as human beings, think that what we have is so important that we are convinced that it should be said. It is just our nature. James wrote: “Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry”. He wasn’t just talking about our willingness to speak and not listen to others. He was talking about our willingness to speak and not listen to God. He says: “Word planted in you, which can save you” is the Word of God. We should not miss this point. We need to be more interested in hearing what God has to say to us than telling Him what we think! We need to hear the Word of God. Usually we are more interested in talking to God than listening to Him. Many believers pray more frequently than reading the Word. This implies that we are quick to speak, but slow to listen to what God has to say.
We need to be listening because our life depends on it.
James goes on to say that it’s not enough just to hear the Word. We have to move beyond hearing to the Word.
2. We have to accept The Word
A Bible inscription says: “This book will keep you from sin; Sin will keep you from this book.” This is true. The more we allow sin to control our lives, the less we are willing to expose ourselves to God’s Word because we don’t want to suffer. We don’t want to be convicted. It’s not pleasant to be confronted with the fact that we are not living up to our potential, so we avoid the subject all together and find ways to miss worship, to bypass Bible reading and to be busy when Bible study is going on. It is by an act of the will that we choose not to accept the Word of God into our life
James says we must get rid of some things before God’s Word will grow and flourish in our hearts. We have to rid ourselves of “moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent.” James is saying here is that our heart is like a garden, and the things that we plant within it are the kind of fruit that we will bear. We don’t plant potatoes and reap corn. One of the absolute sayings of life is that we reap what we sow, and if we want to reap godliness we will never do it if you are sowing ungodliness. James says, “Make a choice to rid your life of that filthy weed and allow God’s Word to grow and prosper in your life.”
That is so easy to say, but so hard to do. Then James challenges us to go beyond simply accepting God’s Word. He is saying: “Just do it!!”
3. We have to do The Word
James is an elder or a leader in the church in Jerusalem. He has seen people coming to worship who hear the word, and even accept the word, but who continue to live the way they want. In verse 22 he says: “Don’t deceive yourselves. Do what it says”. There is no value in just listening to the Word. Don’t think there is some value in simply accepting the Word as true. You must act upon it.
We can hear something, even accept it as true, and never let it change our behaviour. People hear and accept the Word of God and yet live lives of disobedience. A lot of Christians mark their Bibles, but there are all too few who let their Bible mark them. It is so easy to hear a Word from God and say “Yes, I hear that, and I accept that as true,” and that is the end of it. But to let God’s Word dwell in us, and grow within us, is a challenge.
We have to look into the mirror to see who we are, what we have become, how we have used our years on this earth. When we look at God’s Word we see our state.
We read the Word and move from the listening to the talking phase of our conversation with God and pray. When we do that we are glancing in the mirror. But it should be more than that. When we read God’s Word, it is the time for God and us to consider who He is and who we are. We can do this by pondering. We need to listen to God’s Word, because our life depends on it. The Word will bring purity in our lives.
The more we listen to Him as if our life depends on it, the more we will be captivated by God and motivated by the needs of others to help. That is when we are most like God, when we love others so much that we can’t help but help them when they can’t help themselves.
We need God’s help. Our life does depend on His mercy and grace. When we were separated from Him by our sin, helpless in our state of death, God reached out and spoke. “The Word became Flesh” the apostle John wrote, “and dwelt among us.” It will be unwise to not listen to the One who came to direct us from this life into the next one. He called us to follow, and then He gave His life away on our behalf. Now that’s what He calls us to do on His behalf.
The challenge is very clear and simple.
Yes, Hear the Word!
Yes, Accept the Word!
But, DO it!
If we do what God says we will not have an easy life; a life full of joy and happiness without any difficulties. But we will have the strength and the power:
First to resist evil and
Second go through the difficult path of life.
That’s what it means to do the Word.

Krikor Youmshajekian