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God’s Word and True Worship
(This is Bible study based on Book of James
Chapter 1:19-27) - EditorGod delights in honoring true faith. If we truly seek to walk in His way, He will show us the way of pure and genuine religion. The Bible demonstrates that we can live in a fellowship with God and enjoy His presence. It is always a walk of faith.
The greatest gift of God to mankind is the gift of the new birth to those who believe on Jesus Christ. God gives regeneration in contrast to lust which gives birth to sin and death. God's Word gives the new birth. James brings out a vivid contrast between the spiritual birth by the Word of God and the awful birth of sin that leads to death (James 1:15, 18; cf. Eph. 1:13; Col. 1:15). The Word is the instrument by which spiritual birth comes about. We became sons of God when we heard and responded to the good news of salvation called the “word of truth” (James 1:18; Eph. 1:13; Col. 1:15).
In James the new believers were called "a kind of first fruits" of this new creation because there would be a greater harvest to come in the future. These scattered Jewish Christians were the first fruits of a great harvest. They were the beginnings of something great because God was at work in them.
James whole argument is now that you have been born again your new life should have the characteristics of that new kind of life. This new life must be in obedience to God and in order to do it we must be ready to hear and apply God's Word. His children hear His voice and obey Him. It is James assumption that his readers have already accepted Christ as their Savior and have the assurance of salvation through faith in Christ. Now he encourages them to live out the ethical implications of the Gospel they have accepted. How then shall we live?
Calvin said, "Doctrine must be transfused into the breast and pass into conduct, and so transform us as not to prove unfaithful." God is more concerned about our everyday character and conduct than with our performance of religious rites. We dare not substitute the profession of Christian faith for its reality. Sound doctrine is no substitute for practice, and social action is not a substitute for sound Biblical doctrine, either.
What is our attitude toward the Word of God? How do we treat it? What is our response to God’s pleading and instruction to us? In what kind of soil has the seed of God been planted?
In James 1:18 the “word of truth” is the regenerating word, a seed for birth, whereas in verse 19 the seed is to be nurtured so it will thrive. We are to receive the word of God as humble listeners, not excited speakers.
The most precious gift of God is the gift of a new heart. God put His whole heart into bestowing this gift to us (1:18). He planted the seed of a new life of holiness into our hearts. We have been born again by the Word of truth, by the Word of God (1 Peter 1:23), by the Word of the Gospel which always bears fruit (col. 1:5-6).
Alexander Ross writes, “Just as the fruits which ripen first herald the new season of ingathering, so those who had been born again by the Word of truth announce a new order of things in the spiritual world, and they are the pledge and the prophecy of a golden world-wide harvest yet to be gathered in” (NICNT, The Epistles of James and John, p. 36).
The context of verses 21-22 primarily relates to hearing the word. Do I listen for God’s voice as I listen to His word? We need not be rushing into conversation to proclaim God’s word to others before we have paid sufficient attention to it ourselves. Men who love God’s word and handle it with care spend a lot of time on their knees before God.
Studying God’s Word is like a dog gnawing on a bone. You chew it, ponder, reflect, compare with other Scriptures and confess a lot to God.
WE NEED A RIGHT ATTITUDE TOWARD GOD’S WORD (1:19-20)
“This you know, my beloved brethren. But let every one be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger; for the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God” (vv. 19-20).
We must be ready to listen to God’s Word (v. 19)
“Let everyone be quick to hear . . .” Satan has a way of quickly dulling our hearing. Do you have God turned off? Are you quick to hear? Are you choosy and picky about your food? Are you picky about the waiter? Are you picky about who serves you the food? We get the same way with God. We not only pick and choose what we want to eat, but we will only eat food served to us by certain authors, or preachers or critics. We get into a comfortable box and only eat from a few chosen people who think or emote our particular way.
We need to sit silently and listen to God’s Word opened to us. We need to meditate on and ponder over words and sentences. We need to weight the nuances, examine who is speaking, listen carefully so we can gain its meaning.
There is a word of warning to us who preach and teach God's Word. We must not be hastily running to proclaim God's word when we have not taken time to pay attention to it ourselves. We must take time to let it do its work in our hearts before giving it out to others.
A. T. Robertson said, “Poor listening will make poor preaching of a really good sermon. Good listening will come near to making a good sermon out of a poor one.”
We must control our tongue (v. 19)
“Let everyone be quick to hear, slow to speak . . .” We learn while listening not speaking. We must learn to spend time in silence preparing our hearts for true worship. We need to keep our mouths shut so our minds will be ready to hear.
Too often we are quick to jump in to speak, or to correct, to put our two cents worth in, rather than remaining quiet and reflecting on the Word. Sometimes we cannot hear because we have too much to say.
The ancient philosopher Zeno said it is obvious that since we have two ears and one mouth we should therefore listen twice as much as we talk.
We must have a calm spirit (vv. 19-20)
“Let everyone be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger; for the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God.” We cannot receive God’s truth in an agitated, hostile, angry atmosphere. You cannot take an angry spirit with you into the place of worship. Attitudes make all the difference in the world when we come to God’s Word and worship before His throne of grace. It is too easy to allow the mind to become distracted by thoughts of resentment, bitterness, hatred, vengeance, hot temper, etc. These feelings distort our thinking and capacity to assimilate God's Word into our lives.
Our responsibility is to act on the knowledge we have received in God’s Word. We have become regenerated by the Word of truth therefore we must listen continually and obey it.
If may well have been that the teachers in the church were uncontrolled in the use of their tongue. Perhaps they were quick to talk and get involved in fierce controversies and wild denunciations rather than quiet listening and pondering of His Word.
What is my attitude toward the reception of truth? James’ warning is to those who misuse God’s Word. Do we quarrel over it? Do we use it for self-promotion, justify our legalistic attitudes or prove private interpretations?
Anger does not work the righteousness of God. Inspired preaching is not angry preaching. “Half-inspired and half-angry” preaching does more harm than good. Righteousness does not spring out of wrath. The whip of sarcasm with a scolding tongue-lashing does not produce righteousness.
Yes, there is sometimes justifiable anger that is necessary, but it is as Robertson calls it, “compassionate anger.” Paul said we can be angry and sin not (Eph. 4:26). His warning is don’t let the sun go down on your anger. Vengeance is mine says the Lord.” Let’s lead that up to the Lord.
Anger is like squeezing a tube of toothpaste. You cannot put it back in the tube. Once you say it in anger it is out and you cannot put it back in the tube, or take the words back.
Wild uncontrolled wrath will produce mischief, but not the righteousness that is pleasing to God. Too often, “righteous indignation” is nothing more than our own selfish and bigoted opinions served up in anger toward others who do not agree with our distortions.
The word for “anger” in the original is orge. It is indignation, wrath, hot temper, sullen anger and probably here sarcasm, angry judgment.
Wrathful individuals do not practice the kind of conduct which is right in the sight of God. They cannot make clearheaded, unbiased, dispassionate decisions that will glorify God. They do not produce righteousness. Anger inflames and takes over and leads to hasty and unguarded talk. It is a vicious cycle as talk inflames anger, and the anger inflames the talk. It gets hotter and hotter as the moments pass.
Perhaps it was the free conversation style of the early Christian worship services that James has in mind and some of the members were taking advantage of this freedom of expression. There was serious wrangling going on in the service. Robertson notes, “Such violent talkers break up the spiritual life of a church. The less they know, the more they talk. They have . . . opinions on every subject of politics or religion. They know how their neighbors should act in the smallest details and criticize everybody and everything. They are happiest when all is agog with talk of some sort; and the more gossipy it is, the better they like it. ‘They cannot think, and it is a relief to them to hear their own voices’ (Dale). Epictetus . . . ‘Let there be silence for the most part or let that which is necessary be said in few words’” (Robertson, Studies in Epistle of James, p. 63).
WE NEED A REPENTANT ATTITUDE TOWARD ALL SIN (1:21)
“Therefore, putting aside all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness, in humility receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls” (v. 21).
“Wickedness” or malice is the vicious nature which is bent on doing harm to others. It is the depravity of a mind which is opposed to humanity and just dealings. This “wickedness” refers to hidden sins, motives, and attitudes that corrupt the behavior of people.
James uses an interesting word that we translate “filthiness” (rupos). It is a medical term meaning to remove “wax in the ear that plugs up the sound.” There are some things that need to be cleaned out of our personal lives so we can hear and obey God's Word. “Man’s sins can make him deaf to God.”
Another way of picturing what James is saying is to take off from ourselves dirty garments. We must remove all that is filthy in God's sight. Tasker observes, "The man who has been restored as a Christian to a state of righteousness with God must have these 'filthy garments' taken from him and be clothed with a change of raiment signifying his new status."
Before we can receive the Word we must confess our sins. We must put aside all filthiness and all wickedness that remains in our lives that we are aware of. Removal of “all that remains of wickedness” refers to the wrong that encased our motives and attitudes that lies beneath the surface of our lives. Every believer brings into the new life inconsistent behaviors and attitudes to this new life in Christ. This is the battle of the old and the new nature.
It is like gardening. We need to pull out the noxious weeds in our spiritual garden. If James carries the figure of the garden through all the verse as Moffatt translates: “So clear away all the foul rank growth.” These are the weeds of “filthiness” and “overflowing of wickedness.” The impurity needs to be pulled out and thrown aside so we can humbly receive God’s truth.
This putting aside is repentance—the turning of the mind that results in a change of behavior and attitude toward sin and God.
How much sin will God tolerate in our lives? The Psalmist said in Psalm 66:18, “If I regard wickedness in my heart, The Lord will not hear.” The Psalmist is referring to those inner thoughts, actions, deeds, lusts, etc. that shouldn’t be there. If I continue to permit this object, or thought to be there, and I cherish it, nourish it, cast approving glances of love and desire toward it, then I am regarding sin in my heart. If I reflect on it with pleasure I “regard” it. Therefore, if I desire anything evil in my heart it is sin and it breaks my fellowship with God.
We have a bar of spiritual soap in 1 John 1:9-10. Let’s use it often. “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us.”
WE NEED HUMBLE HEARTS TO RECEIVE THE WORD OF GOD (1:21)
The Word of God is a precious seed that is planted into the soil of the heart. Therefore it is essential that we have the right attitude toward it. We must come with a gentle, open, and teachable spirit. Do I welcome God’s truths into my heart? Do I entertain it in my mind and will? Simply agreeing with the truth is not the same as obeying it. We must act on what we hear, and be obedient to it.
Do I have a teachable spirit? “In humility” means with gentleness. Am I humble enough to be taught? Am I teachable? Am I humble enough to teach others?
“In humility receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls” (v. 21b). When I “receive” God’s Word I welcome it into my home, and generous hospitality is availed to it. Let’s not be finicky eaters of Spirit-meals prepared for us by God, but let’s don’t be gullible for every cult that knocks at the door either.
“In humility receive the word implanted,” describes the roots that spring from the seed in good soil. The Holy Spirit prepares the soil of our heart to receive God's Word. When we welcome it it takes root and transforms our lives out of which these virtues are produced. The Word of God roots itself like the seed in the heart. The Word is received by humbly planting it in the heart. It grows to be a part of the believer’s nature. It becomes a part of your thinking, emoting, cognitions and decisions. Emphutos is the union of the word into the nature and heart of man. It roots itself like a seed into the heart and grows. It is this Word rooted in the good soil of the heart that is able to save.
With authentic Christianity the believer continually strives for more and more everyday obedience to the Word that has been implanted into his heart. There is a spiritual danger in just hearing without acting on what you know to be true. You can even deceive yourself at the point of your own salvation. Doers of the Word have the right attitude toward God’s word that leads to action.
The “implanted” word roots itself inwardly with power to save your souls. “It brings a present salvation here and now (John 5:34), a new life of purity,” says Robertson. “It helps in the progressive salvation of the whole man in his battle with sin and growth in grace (2 Tim. 3:15). It leads to final salvation in heaven with Christ in God (1 Peter 1:9). The gospel is the power of God unto salvation (Rom. 1:16); the very power of God pulls in it (cf. Heb. 4:12f). . . Men may scoff at and scout the message of God, but it saves men’s souls. What else does that?”
The believers at Berea in Acts 17:11 “received the word with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily, to see whether these things are so.” Lord, give us receptive minds and hearts and willing obedience to be Bereans.
The tendency in our generation is to become church salad-bar hoppers going from one salad bar to another picking and choosing a little here and tasting some new ingredient there simply for our own emotional and mental treat. We do not take time to allow the Word to settle down and make its home in our hearts. The message, study or devotional must always lead to change in our lives.
A. W. Tozer well said, “ . . . too many Christians want to enjoy the thrill of feeling right but are not willing to endure the inconvenience of being right. So the divorce between the theory and practice becomes permanent in fact, thought in word the union is declared to be eternal. Truth sits forsaken and grieves till her professed followers come home for a brief visit, but she sees them depart again when the bills become due” (The Root of Righteousness, p. 53).
OUR RESPONSE TO THE TRUTH OF GOD’S WORD ENSURES TRUE WORSHIP (1:22-27)
True worshipers are doers of God’s word. It is not enough just to “hear” God’s Word we must act upon it. We must be doers. If we fall short and do not act on it we become self-deceived. Self-deception is the root of hypocrisy.
We see an excellent example in the early church in Acts 6:1ff. The first organization in the early church was spiritual, simple and sufficient, not carnal, complex and corrupt. They were concerned about reaching out to the needy and helpless to minister in the name of Christ. Deacons were men who served the needs of the community.
Prove yourselves to be doers of the word (v. 22)
“But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves.”
The “hearers” (akroatai) were academic auditors who listened and took notes, and had no assignments, responsibilities or tests. They simply audited courses like we do in our day. They were “hearers only” and did nothing else but listen. Hearing without doing is valueless. It is self-deceptive. James may be referring to sympathetic hearers in the synagogues, but who never became real disciples. Be quick to humbly receive and continue in the implanted word. Those who "hear the word of God, and keep it" are the ones who receive God's blessing (Luke 11:28). The old rabbis said there were two crowns, one for hearing and one for doing.
Do not be deceived (v. 22)
James uses a word for “delude” meaning “to reason beside the point, to misjudge, to miscalculate and therefore to deceive oneself by fallacious reasoning.” He deludes himself by cheating in his reasoning processes. How easy it is for everyone of us to fall into self-deception on the crucial issues in life. If we see only the “baffling reflections in a mirror” we produce no change in the heart and life.
Illustrated by two listeners to God’s Word (vv. 23-25)
One of the listeners is a forgetful hearer and the other is an effectual doer. James illustrates with a man before an ancient mirror made of polished metal. The Word of God is like a mirror as it reflects what is taking place in our hearts. It shows us areas in our inner lives that need to be cleansed. Observe the two responses to the observation of God’s Word.
One looked at himself and was “gone away” with lasting results. Mayor brings out the change in Greek tenses: "Just a glance and off he goes." All that he saw in the Word of God is now out of sight and out of mind. If we do not act quickly on what we see or hear in God’s Word we will quickly forget it and not be obedient. Our tendency is to quickly forget what we do not like in ourselves when we come under the steady, pure light of God's truth. We want to quickly dispense of reality and go back to our selfish ways.
Do I want those qualities of eternal character as described by Paul in Galatians 5:22-23, or the inevitable results of a mind set on sin? A quick brush with truth will not produce lasting results. A fleeting vision of what God wants us to be will not produce character.
The good listener takes time and the trouble to "look intently" (parakupto) into God's Word and consider the implications for his life. The phrase “looks intently at” is “to stoop down and look into in order to see something exactly” and to recognize. Here he is looking into the mirror to examine it more minutely. He takes his time and peers into the Word to grasp its meaning and make application to his personal life. He continues to look intently into the word. Robertson writes: “The man remains by the side of the roll of the law spread out before him and unrolls page after page with the keenest interest and zest until he rightly grasps the meaning of God. Thus he puts the Word into practice. He has it stamped on his mind and heart. He is a Christian pragmatist. He . . . practices the presence of God. He translates the word of truth into his own life and becomes a living epistle” (p. 70).
“The mirror of the Word of God reveals man to himself; it shows him that there is something seriously wrong with the nature which he brought into the world with him,” notes Ross (p. 40).
“For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror; for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was” (vv. 23-24).
The disturbing thing for James is the man who takes a quick passing glance at himself in God’s word and quickly forgets it with a suddenness of action and the permanence of results. Just a glance at truth and he is off and he stays away. “The mirror of God’s word never flatters,” says Ross. It tells us exactly what it finds. The Word of God and the Law of Christ does not in any way relax the stern demands of the Law of unchangeable righteousness.
In verse 25 we see a man bending down over a mirror, peering into it in order to examine more minutely what it reveals. “The man who continues looking into the mirror of God’s Word sees in it things far more wonderful than his own face. He sees not only his filthy garments, not only the spots and stains on his life; he sees in it Christ, the Christ of the thorn-crowned brow, the Christ of the cross, his Savior, whose blood cleanses him from all sin,” Ross (p. 41). The true worshiper “seeks to conform his life more and more to the law of liberty: as he sees Christ more and more clearly in the Word, he is changed more and more into His image, ‘from one degree of radiant holiness to another’ (2 Cor. 3:18). . . This man regards the law of Christ as perfect, because it is final and complete . . . “ (Ross, pp. 41-42).
It speaks of the “law of liberty.” The law often appears to be something that curbs freedom. But this is only when the Law represents a requirement which we do not want to fulfill. If the Law prescribed exactly what we wanted to do and forbade what we do not want to do, then freedom to do what we liked, and obedience to the Law would become identical. This is what has happened to the real Christians observes Leslie Mitton. The believer regards the law of liberty because he finds in it the expression of a Father’s love reaching out to protect him.
Tasker says it is "a perfect law because it is the law of the new covenant which Jeremiah prophesied would be written by God in men's inward parts and upon their hearts (Jeremiah 31:33). It is not therefore something imposed upon the believer from without in the form of a code of external rules and regulations. It is not for him a dead letter but a living power." It enables the believer to find true freedom in God's perfect will.
Crucial to everything is my attitude toward God, His Word, and my spiritual appetite. If I have the right attitude toward God's Word it becomes a living power in my life. Do I love His Word? Am I eager to obey it? Am I anxious to forget what I don't like as soon as possible? Do I make His Word my daily delight?
SOME ABIDING PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS
James makes practical application of these principles in vv. 26, 27. "If anyone thinks himself to be religious, and yet does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this man’s religion is worthless. Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world."
Fine religious talk cannot replace godly living.
Do you have an unruly horse wandering around in your mouth? James regards the tongue as an unruly horse that needs bit and bridle held fast by the master to take control of it. The unyielding tongue is allowed to run loose and say whatever pops into the mind of a spiteful heart.
James says take control of the tongue. Here is the image of the man putting a bridle in his own mouth to restrain himself, not an animal or someone else. There is nothing so empty as pouring forth a great flood of religious words with little reality of personal experience in them.
Anger destroys our spiritual, mental and physical life.
If you have a problem with anger in your life take some time and come to a deep resolve to deal with it now. If you need professional help please get it today. If you suspect you have a problem ask your family and friends to be honest with you and get their help.
Personal purity is not an option. It stems from a pure heart.
Our own spiritual life must be like the holy garments of the high priest of Israel, “undefiled” and “unspotted.”
We have a responsibility to keep ourselves unspotted and unstained in a world characterized by human depravity.
A religion that is “undefiled,” free from contamination in the sight of God expresses and demonstrates unselfish love to the helpless.
What are some religious professions without practice in your life?
How are you specifically reaching out to the helpless, the widows and the orphans?
How are you keeping yourself unspotted and unstained in a world that is intolerant of God’ word?
Freedom comes through obedience.
James moves from the figure of the ancient metal mirror to the believer reflecting on the words of the perfect law fulfilled in Jesus Christ. His word in the Gospels is perfect (Matt. 5:17). Jesus perfectly embodied the Law and kept it perfectly. The fulfillment of the Law was perfectly obeyed in the life of Jesus. But James places the emphasis on the liberty that Jesus’ law brings. Those who obey His perfect law find freedom because it is the principle of grace. His freedom comes through obedience. If you do not obey the laws of the road you will kill yourself and others. It will produce nothing but chaos and failure if you disobey God. The Ten Commandments freed Israel from anarchy. The new law that Christ brings gives absolute freedom. “If the Son shall make you free you are free indeed.” I meet people everyday who are slaves because of their attitude toward God’s Word.
The wonderful thing is God’s law is perfect and ultimately it will make perfect those who keep it in Christ.
Let’s don’t be careless in our speech.
If we appear in our own estimation to be religious and perform religious duties, but do not bridal our tongue we are only deceivers. The use of the tongue is a major theme in this epistle as we shall see in chapter three. Just as there is healing in kind words there is death and destruction in harsh words.
James uses the word threskos for someone who is scrupulous in giving details to formal worship. "Such a person may be very careful to use the right words when he is performing a religious ceremony, but very careless in his speech at other times," notes Tasker. His religious performance fails to please God. Remember what Jesus said in Matthew 15:8-9 when He quoted the prophet Isaiah? Jesus called them hypocrites and said:
‘This people honors Me with their lips,
But their heart is far away from Me.
‘But in vain do they worship Me,
Teaching as doctrines the precepts of men.’ ”
The religious observer takes pains to see that everything connected to the rituals are pure and undefiled, but forgets to check up on his heart. How does his religious worship translate into daily life? What kind of action does it produce? Does it issue in sympathetic and practical service to others?
James use of the word “visit” suggests responsibility for and support of the orphans and widows in their distress.
Behind hypocrisy is self-deception. James places the emphasis in true worship not on empty ceremony, but on moral integrity and love expressed in helping the helpless.
James restates what Jesus said will take place on judgment day (Matthew 25:36-43).
Let me quote Tasker again because he is right on target.
. . . There must be a perpetual striving after personal holiness. The believer must never be blind to his duty to express his faith in love, but at the same time, in the midst of all the distracting and demoralizing influences of the world around him, which lies wholly in the evil one (see. 1 John 5:19), he must keep himself pure by continual remembrance of the demands of the all-holy God. The lambs that were offered under the Old Testament sacrificial system had to be without blemish: so the Christian must keep himself unspotted from the world that he may offer himself a holy and living sacrifice acceptable to God. "Keep yourself pure" was one of Paul's last admonitions to his young friend Timothy (1 Tim. 5:22) (TBC, General Epistle of James, p. 55)
James says something to our morally polluted society. Personal purity and moral integrity is the standard for Bible believing Christians. The spirit of the age is anything but pleasing to God. Our culture is depraved and polluted—not so much environmentally as morally and spiritually. G. Campbell Morgan said the Christian is to correct the spirit of the age, not catch it.
Since you know God’s word, act on your knowledge.
When we quietly listen to God speak through the Scriptures He gives us the strength to obey it. When we listen intently to God’s Word we cannot stay the same. We cannot stay where we are and go with God. There is life in the Word of God if it is lived. It is quick go give energy for those who put it to the test in life.
What is the result of a right attitude toward God’s Word? James says it will tame the tongue, help the helpless and produce integrity in a chaotic world. Evidence of a true religion is a tamed tongue because the heart has been changed. Every chapter in James has something to say about our speech. Only God can tame the wild beast in our mouths. Jesus puts the emphasis on what comes out of the heart (Matt. 6:1-18). Intemperate speech reveals our self-deception.
How do you live such a life? It is not in our resolve or our will power, but in our dependence upon God. Remember, He is the giver of “every good gift,” and He gives generously. He wants us to succeed in the Christian life. It springs from His grace. Because we are His born again children we can look to Him for grace and truth. He will guide us and strengthen us in our daily walk with Him.
Today's Verse:
