Do you own a bible? How many? In America, Bibles are everywhere. You can find them in grocery stores, book stores, motel rooms, everywhere. They’re available in all sizes, shapes, translations, versions, leather bound, paper back. Every year the Bible out sales every other major best seller. Last year there were 500 million Bibles published in the world in 18,000 different languages portions of the Bible. In America we are glutted with the word of God on the airways, radio, TV, books, magazines. It’s everywhere. Yet millions of people still miss the blessing of the Bible.
It promises comfort, strength, hope, wisdom, joy, power, and purpose. But just because you have a bible doesn’t mean you’re going to get the benefit from it. Niki and I had a treadmill at our house. It became a place we draped our clothes! Just because we had it doesn’t mean we are going to be fit. I’ve got dumbbells under my bed. Just because I have them doesn’t mean I will be muscle bound. When I was pastor in Eagle Pass, TX a man at men’s group told me that he wants to lose weight so he buys salads, but after a while they wilt in the refrigerator because when he opens the refrigerator he reaches for tortilla’s not salad. Like a Bible, having and buying it doesn’t mean you will get a blessing from it.
- Receive God’s Word (vs. 19-21)
“My dear brothers, take note of this:”
- Listen (vs. 19a)
“Be quick to listen, slow to speak…”
Concentrate on listening. Like the two Aggies in the grocery store. One was staring at the frozen orange juice. What are you doing said the other Aggie? I’m making orange juice, see it says orange juice from concentrate” v. 19 “Be quick to listen…” Give it your full attention. Be alert. Don’t miss it. “quick to listen… slow to speak …” When I’m talking, I’m not listening. God gave us two ears and one mouth for a reason. We ought to listen twice as much as we talk. Your mouth has the ability to close your ears stay open and never close. That’s for a reason. In order to save face we need to keep the bottom half of it shut. Many of our problems are caused because we’re quick to speak rather than being quick to listen. Concentrate. Be ready. Be ready to receive God’s word.
- Check Anger (vs.19b)
” … and slow to become angry … “
We don’t hear much when we’re angry, upset, bitter, resentful. Bitterness is a barrier, an emotional block that keeps us from hearing God’s word. Some may ask, “How come God never speaks to me.” Maybe you’ve got some resentment in your life you need to get rid of. An article in Reader’s Digest said when you listen it actually lowers your blood pressure; when you speak it raises your blood pressure. James says, “be slow to anger.”
What is your emotional state, normally, when you come to church on Sunday morning? In many homes on Sunday morning it’s hectic. Frustrating. Anger flares. Niki and I used to get into fights on Sunday mornings for about the first two years of our marriage. “Grrreat Lords Day!” Then we come at the last minute, frantic, frustrated and expect God to speak to us. Our problems ceased when I would make the right preparations and get up earlier. Do you prepare for Sundays? In order to do that maybe plan ahead.
- Confess (vs. 21a)
“Get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent …”
Before you can plant the seed you need to do a little weeding. Ear wax can block your hearing and when you have a filth /sin in your life it blocks your hearing. It prevents God’s word from getting into your heart. He says get rid of the evil, anything that we know that isn’t right in our lives. God says, Lay aside all of the emotional garbage, the old habits, the junk in your life so that God’s word can get through to you.
How can we be clean? By confession. “If we confess our sins, He’s faithful and just to forgive us and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
- Be Humble (vs. 21b)
“humbly accept the Word planted in you …”
Teachable, yielded, humble, willing to be changed. He says “humbly accept the word of God planted in you…” Don’t act like you know it all. If you know it all, God’s word can’t get through to you. Pray, “God, do what You need to do in my life.”
James gives an illustration. He says it’s planted in you. He gives the illustration of a garden and seed. The Bible, all through Scripture, compares itself to seed. Jesus told the parable of the sower and said, the word of God is a seed and it’s planted in our hearts. How is it you can take two seeds that are exactly the same and plant them in two different locations and get two different crops in fruitfulness? One soil is prepared and the other is not.
How is it that you can take two people and put them in the same service and hear the same message. “Two people went to a church service. One complained the music was bad, people unfriendly and the message unhelpful. The next said, the music was moving, the people were loving and the message was helpful. They actually went to the same service! How can one person get blessed by it and the other person says he didn’t? One heart was prepared and one wasn’t. James says we must receive the word of God with the right attitude.
2. Respond to God’s Word (vs. 22-24)
“Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.” (vs. 22)
I must do something about it, act on it, live it, practice it.
The word “listen” is the word for “auditor”. In Seminary some people were scared of Masters level classes, the research papers and tests so they would audited the classes. It can be done in college. You don’t take it for credit, no tests, no responsibility, no research. You were totally relaxed. You just listened, you didn’t have any intention of applying it. We have a lot of auditors in the church. They come to church, walk in, hear the word of God, walk out with no intention of ever being changed. I did it too, but it never changed me. We must respond to God’s word, let it change us if we’re going to be blessed by it.
- I use a mirror to evaluate myself (vs. 23-24)
“ like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like.
James uses an illustration here. God’s word is like a mirror. The purpose of a mirror is to evaluate us. We use them to evaluate ourselves. We look in a mirror to access the damage from the night before. Then you do something about it. What good is a mirror if you don’t do anything about it? Niki has a saying that I hear when we get around large groups of people and someone will be wearing something that is questionable. She says, “Does their mirror not work?” God says a mirror reflects what we’re like on the outside. God’s word reflects what we’re like on the inside.
Have you ever seen yourself in the Bible? Hebrews says, “God’s word detects the thoughts, intents, motives and desires of the heart.” Some people don’t read the Bible because they’re afraid. They’re unwilling to face themselves and see themselves as they really are. They don’t want to look at the mirror of God’s word.
James says it’s self deception when we don’t let it change us. We think that just listening to content is making us spiritually mature. The test of maturity is not knowledge. The test of maturity is character and life change. “Knowledge puffs up” I need to practice it, apply it, put it in my life.
And knowledge increases responsibility. The more we know the more we’re accountable for. What am I doing about what I know? Jesus said, “To whom much is given, much is required.” And James said, “To him who knows to do good and doesn’t do it, it’s sin.”
Illustration: Let’s say you gave a friend a best selling book on body building because they wanted to work out and get healthy. You say, this book can change your life. It’s fantastic. It has changed the lives of millions of people. It will keep you strong. They say, “Great” Then you don’t see them for 6 months and then come back and they look unfit and unhealthy! You say, “What happened? Didn’t you read the book?” What if they said to you, “I read the book. I enjoyed it. This is the greatest book I’ve ever read. I loved it. I even underlined portions of it with colored markers and memorized sections of it and even started a group study of the book and looked at the etymology of every single word of the book. Every night I would spend a couple hours studying it.”
How often does that happen with the word of God? We give awards for memorizing Scripture but we don’t give awards for doing Scripture. We hear people say, “I read through the Bible” but don’t hear, “I did the Bible.”
We need to mark our Bibles, but we need to let the Bible mark us. It’s not how many times you’ve been through the word of God it’s how many times it’s been through you. We’ve got to be a doer of the word. I deceived myself in thinking that because I had knowledge that made me mature. Having knowledge of a body building book doesn’t produce muscles. Just because we know something doesn’t mean we act on it.
Barna and Gallup polls show that “Many many Americans believe.” Some of the top Bible teachers of the nation are on the radio at any time of day and you can hear godly men teaching the word. You can hear the Word of God 24 hours a day. A lot of us are lulled into the fact that because we’re hearing a lot abut God, we are maturing. The truth is, your young children or grandchildren may be more spiritual than you. They may know little but if they doing it they eclipse you in spiritual maturity.
That is what James is addressing. He’s saying, If you want to be blessed, you’ve got to live the word of God, not just hear it. Not just know it.
Depth is doing! I try to make messages practical so we can put it into practice.
I heard about the guy who came to church late. He walked in just as the service was completing. He said to an usher, “Is the sermon done, yet?” The usher was wise and said, “The sermon has been preached, but it is yet to be done.” Be doers of the word, don’t merely listen. Put it into practice.
I pray that our church church will develop the reputation that people say, “They’re doers of the Word. They practice what everybody else talks about. They live it.”
People have a Living Bible. You ought to be a Living Bible.
What’s the best translation of Scripture? The translation that translates into your life.
3. Remember God’s Word (vs. 25)
Three ways to Remember
- Pay Attention
“… the man who looks intently into the perfect law…” (vs. 25a)
Investigating. Focus intently on the word of God.
There are two ways you can look at a mirror. You can gaze at it or you can glance at it. All of us have done both. It’s human nature that you can’t walk by a mirror and not look at it. When you glance at it, you immediately walk away and forget what you’ve seen. It didn’t do you any good. Many people try to have a quiet time that way or read the Bible that way. They don’t want to gaze at it, but glance at it. Give God five minutes. God says He wants us to gaze at the word. Look at it intently in detail.
Questions to ask yourself”
- Is there an Attitude to change?
- Is there a Command to obey?
- Is there an Error to avoid?
- Is there an Example to follow?
- Is there a Promise to claim? Look for promises, there are over 7000 promises in the word of God.
- Is there a Prayer to pray? There are lots of prayers in the Bible. You can take those prayers and pray them for yourself and for others. You can know they’ll be answered because they’re in the Word of God.
- Is there a Sin to confess?
- Meditate
“… and continues to do so …” (vs. 25b)
That means over and over and over. The Bible calls this meditation. When you think about something over and over its meditation. Meditation is not put your mind in neutral and contemplate lint in your navel. Yoga and all this Eastern Religious mindlessness has warped our thinking. Meditation means to think seriously about something over and over.
If you know how to worry you can meditate. Take a negative idea and think about it over and over it’s called worry. Take God’s word and think about it over and over, it’s called meditation. The Bible says, meditate on God’s word. Jesus said, “…if you continue in My word, then you’re truly My disciples.” Read it and review it. The outlines I give each week are not only that you can keep up with me, it’s so that you can review it during the week. God says, You want to be blessed by the word? Review it.
We need to fill our minds with the word of God. James says, You want to be blessed? Reflect on the word. Think about it by reading it and reviewing it.
- Memorize
“… not forgetting what he has heard.” (vs. 25c)
In Psalms 119 it says “Your word I have hidden in my heart that I might not sin against your.” Memorize God’s word if you want to be blessed by it. *We remember what’s important to us.
A Little boy saw his Grandfather reading his Bible and asked Grandpa are you studying for your final exam? You see two things will remain for eternity. Your soul and God’s word, its worth knowing and remembering because it will always be around.
Take notes, write things down. If you value God’s word you’re going to take notes on it. The United States Air Force did a study and found that we forget 95% of what we hear within 72 hours. This statistic depresses a pastor. I spend all week preparing a message to give on Sunday. By Wednesday you’ve forgotten 95% of what I’ve said unless you’ve written it down. Mark up your bible, write in it. James says receive God’s word with the right attitude, reflect on God’s word by reading it, reviewing it, remembering it.
What is James saying to us? He’s saying “What are you going to do about what you already know?” What are you going to do about it today? Maybe some of you need to decide to start preparing better for worship. Get up a little earlier so you’re not so rushed, come in late half way through the songs. I sit down, here for the whole service, I tune in to God and get calm and collected and I’m quiet and ready. I can say, “Lord, here I am. Teach me. So I can be blessed by God’s word.”
Maybe some of you need to say, “I’m going to read through the Bible daily.” Join our reading plan. Scan this code and read along through each book of the bible.
“I’m going to start memorizing Scripture. I’ll pick a verse a week and hide God’s word in my heart.
You need to find a place of ministry where I can get involved.” Impression without expression leads to depression. If you’re always taking in, one study after another, and never get out in ministry, it’s going to rot your spiritual life. *You will sit, soak and sour!
James is saying that the blessing of the Bible comes when we start living it.
Will you join me?
Darrell
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