Faithful Living - Studies from the Book of James
No 8 "Living the Life" Ch 1V18-21 - Pastor Jack Anderson
Introduction. As the Church has now entered the new millennium, the
world is longing to see what true religion is. There is so much counterfeit
Christianity on the market today.
As new age movement gathers momentum, and
cults are on the increase, it is therefore imperative for the true church of
Jesus Christ to be clearly identified, and through her life make all the
difference until Jesus comes.
James has been dealing in verse 18 with
True or "pure" religion.
1:18 of his own will begat he
us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits
of his creatures.
This verse begins in the believers past
experience of God's grace in salvation.
The
Perpetuity of the New Birth
"Of His own will begat
he us"
God takes the initiative in this act. The
New Birth is all of God from beginning to end.
James tells these New Testament Christians, that the Father of lights chose to give them
birth. The new birth is Infinite in its being, in its beginning, and in its
blessing. James goes on to speak of
The Production of the New Birth.
Of his own will begat he us
with the word of truth,
The Believer has been born again by the
word of truth, by the incorruptible seed of the word of God, which lives and
abides forever.
The "Word of Truth is Divine in its
nature, distinctive, and dynamic in its power. It’s the gospel of God’s Grace
and it is durable, for it is settled in heaven.
The Purpose of the New Birth.
V 18 "that we should be a kind of
first fruits of His creatures"
Having received the new birth "by the
word of truth", this new life is now to be evidenced by growth and
development.
This will take place when we respond to
the Word, which we have believed. James is making it very clear that having
experienced the new birth, this should now be seen in the expression of life.
God never intended for us as His children,
to stop with knowledge, but rather that to allow His truth to be a dynamic
force for change in our lives, and change in our behaviour.
2 Cor
5:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old
things are passed away; behold, all things are become
new.
Eph 2:10 For
we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath
before ordained that we should walk in them.
While good works do not save us, we are
saved to do good works. It is absolutely crucial to have the right goals.
Instead of asking what sort of life do I want, we
should ask, what sort of life does God desire for me.
How does our Saviour expect us to live?
Happiness and fulfilment will consist of identifying this, and then making it
our own aim. James tells us that God desires a righteous life for us.
How can we make an impact on an
increasingly secular society in this millennium? How can we make a difference?
By giving people a picture of what true Christianity is all about, and we can
only do this by "Living the Life"
As someone once put it, "Holiness is
the visible part of Salvation". The point is well made: faith, mercy,
grace, and the new birth ---these things are invisible, but you can see
Holiness, and it proves the reality of our salvation to others.
The burden that James has is, that belief and behaviour should go hand in hand,
and in two verses, he touches on three areas of life, in which the new birth
should express itself.
1. Be Ready
to Hear.
1: 19 wherefore, my beloved
brethren, let every man be swift to hear,
The Righteous person will be swift,
(prompt and ready) to listen to God.
The Believer should have an insatiable appetite for sound
doctrine, and should be eager to avail himself of all opportunities of
increasing his knowledge of the word of God.
(Robert Johnston)
Our Lord said, "The sower soweth the word—He that
hath ears to hear let him hear"
James is calling for alertness and for a
readiness to receive the truth of the word of God. The spoken and the written
word are available to every one of us.
Think of the hours of preaching that the
average Christian hears in the space of one year! Then think of the words of
our Lord
Luke 12:48 For
unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required:
Apply these words from Jesus to those who sit under sound
evangelical Preaching and Teaching week after week and year after year.
Surely we have a solemn responsibility to
obey the exhortation—
1:22 But
be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. (KJV)
If we are swift to hear it will make us
swift to obey.
How often do we bow our heads when we come
to the place of worship and say with Samuel of old " Speak Lord
for your servant heareth"
A righteous man is quick to listen. He
listens first to God. He listens to what the Bible says, and especially when
the Bible is being preached.
He'll be saved from an absolute disaster
if he will listen. If the apostle Peter had listened to what the Lord had said
there wouldn't have been the tears and sobs of sorrow the following day.
How much do we know of the quiet, silent waiting on God? Longing for the Holy Spirit to lead us into all truth and to
impress upon our hearts that truth.
Do we come to the house of God ready to
hear what the Lord has to say?
Sadly, there are times when we are not ready to hear. We
have been occupied with lesser things, and far too busy, to keep alert and to
hear what God has to say to us for our benefit, for blessing, and spiritual
development, that we might be Righteous.
How we need to find the spirit
of the Hymn.
Speak Lord, in the stillness
While I wait on Thee
Hush my heart to listen
In,
expectancy.
The first characteristic that James is
looking for in a Righteous person is, a readiness and an eager hunger for the
word of truth.
1. Be Ready
to Hear.
2. Be
Reluctant to Speak.
V 19 "let very man be
swift to hear, slow to speak"
Our tongues are the barometers, of whether
we are living a righteous life or not.
The righteous man is slow to speak. How
different is the spirit of our age? –
There is this emphasis on expressing your
feelings, and letting everything hang out.
"Be slow
to speak, says James".
James is not exhorting us to take vows of
silence. How could a Christian, - who has good news to tell, ever take a vow of
silence without sinning? Neither is he with these words encouraging an
unsociable distance. James is concerned here with speaking out words,
thoughtlessly.
The Lord Jesus speaks of 'idle words' and
having to give to Almighty God an account of them.
"For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned" (Matt. 12:37).
There is an old saying; "many a man
has had to repent of speaking, but never one of holding his peace." Some
Christians are blighted with the craving for continuously talking and
chattering about everything under the sun.
James' concern is, that we might never be rash, that we would be
slow to speak, (think before we speak) and then speak, when we see our duty
clear, carefully weighing up what we are going to say.
Friends, it is no coincidence, that we each have two ears
and one mouth. Could it be that we should listen twice as much as we talk? We
can reverse the instruction of scripture, we are slow to listen and quick to
speak, and this is the reason we get into trouble.
Prov 10:19 In the
multitude of words there wanteth not sin: but he that
refraineth his lips is wise.
Prov. 17:28) "Even a fool, when he holdeth his peace, is counted wise: and he that shutteth his lips is esteemed a man of understanding"
James 1:26 If any man among
you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his
tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man's
religion is vain.
James 3:6 And the tongue is
a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth
on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell.
The Believer who is "Living a Righteous Life" will
not utter barren and hurtful words. The tongue can be a very dangerous weapon.
Benjamin
Franklin--- A slip
of the foot you may soon recover, but a slip of the tongue you may never get
over.
Oswald
Chambers -- The great test of a man's
character is his tongue. The tongue is the ambassador of the heart.
Friends, the tongue is a wild beast; once let loose, it is difficult to
chain. There is danger, when a man throws his tongue into high gear before he
gets his brain a-going.
Some use the tongue for Blasting, they
just love to gossip. Some use the tongue Blazing, for
destroying someone’s character.
The unspoken word never defeats one. What one does not say, does not have to be
explained.
Others use the tongue for
boasting.
Let every man
be slow to speak!
About
Themselves
The former
Beetle, John Lennon foolishly boasted,
"Christianity will go. We're more popular than Jesus now.
How sad it is, when a gifted and
articulate Christian’s speech is dominated by the capital
"I" This is actually the sign of one, who is lacking
in spiritual growth and maturity. The Believer’s tongue is never to be used for
boasting, only for blessing.
Paul writes in Rom
3:24 Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in
Christ Jesus: v 27 Where is boasting
then? It is excluded. This word
excluded means " entirely shut out, banished.
It was
Archbishop William Temple who said, "The
only thing that man contributes to his salvation is SIN, from which he needs to
be saved". Therefore salvation is a cause for rejoicing and not for
boasting.
Boastfulness is never becoming for a
Christian. We should never boast
about "what we are" for we are just poor lost sinners, who
have been saved by Sovereign Grace. We should never boast about what we have.
Paul says to the Corinthians--
1 Cor
4:7 For who maketh thee to
differ from another? and what hast thou that
thou didst not receive? Now if thou didst receive it, why dost thou
glory, as if thou hadst not received it?
The impact of this question is
inescapable. What do we have of material possessions, ability,
resources, and spiritual power that we did not receive from the free giving
hand of God in Grace?
The Answer is
Naught
have I gotten but what I received
Grace
has bestowed it since I have believed
Boasting
excluded pride I abase
For I am only a sinner saved by Grace.
Therefore, we should never boast of "What
we do" Let us ever
remember that any valid work we do for God, however costly, faithful and
effective, it is the outcome of Grace alone. For, without Him, we can do
nothing.
The Apostle Paul acknowledged this fact 1 Cor 9:16 For though I preach the
gospel, I have nothing to glory of: for necessity is laid upon me; yea, woe is
unto me, if I preach not the gospel!
Let every man be slow to speak!
A. About
Themselves
B. About The Other Person.
Be slow to speak especially when you are
making judgements about people or their behaviour or doctrine. For when we pass
judgment upon others, we are suggesting how far above them we are?
There are very few Christians, who have
not been guilty of saying things about others which have been unkind, unfair,
unloving and even untrue. We must keep this in mind and be slow to speak.
When we say that a person is so careless,
we are implying that we are careful people. If we say that we don't like that
man’s pride, we are actually implying, that we
ourselves are models of humility. Or, when we speak of someone’s stinginess in
giving to the Church, we are promoting our own generosity?
Friends, one of the most sinister and crippling acts in the
life of the
There are Christians, who would never
dream of physically hurting another human being, but verbally, they constantly
abuse others, who are their brothers and sisters in the Lord
Illustration.. The story is
told of a woman who was an awful gossip in the Church. For years her malicious
tongue had caused much hurt and damage. At last, she became convicted of this
terrible sin. She asked her Pastor what could she do to make amends for the
words, which she had spoken and for the hurt she had caused?
The Pastor told her to take a bag of
feathers, go round the village and place a feather outside the home of each
person, whom she had offended.
Sometime later she came back with an empty
bag and said to the Pastor " I have done what you
told me, but I do not feel any better".
The Pastor responded, "
I would not expect you to feel any better, for you have only done half
of the job. I want you to go back and pick up the feathers again. It so
happened that a strong wind was beginning to blow, and later this poor soul
returned with an empty bag saying,
"Pastor, I cannot find a single
feather". To which he replied;
"It was easy to put them down but now
they are gone with the wind. Yes—and so it was with your words of gossip,
criticism, and rumour, it was easy for you to scatter your words, but now they
are gone and it is impossible to bring them back".
From now on be "Slow to
Speak"
Beloved, be slow to Speak, for we can
throw away an unkind word and when it is gone from our lips, it is gone
forever. Let me remind you of some of the things God hates.
Prov 6:16 These six things doth the
LORD hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him:
Prov 6:17 A proud look, a lying tongue, and
hands that shed innocent blood, An heart that deviseth
wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief,
Prov 6:19 A false
witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren.
God hates anything that hinders His
Work and divides His people.
It was J.B
Simpson, who said " I would rather play with fork lightening, than to
speak a reckless word against a servant of God".
Criticism and rumor
can spread like wildfire bringing hurt to so many.
Prov 26:20 Where no wood is, there the
fire goeth out: so where there is no
talebearer, the strife ceaseth.
1. Be Ready to Hear "Swift
to hear"
2. Be
Reluctant to Speak "Slow to
speak"
3. Be
Resistant to Wrath
V 19b, 20 "Slow to Wrath: for the
wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of
God"
The righteous man is also slow to become
angry. This is the most important barometer for the God-pleasing life.
The
Imperative "be slow
to wrath"
It does not say that we are not to become
angry, but that we are to be slow in doing so, and within well-defined limits. All anger is not wrong, Righteous anger is attributed to the Lord himself. Psa 7:11 God judgeth the righteous,
and God is angry with the wicked every day.
God
is angry at unrighteousness,
injustice, and false religion.
You will remember how Jesus made a whip to drive the moneychangers out of the
temple.
The apostle Paul exhorts the Ephesians,
not to allow righteous anger to become sinful anger, by letting the sun go down
on their wrath Eph. 4:26 .
Although, there is such a thing as
Righteous anger, the problem is, rarely is man's anger righteous. Anger doesn't
do ourselves or anyone else any good, in fact, the
very reverse. Think of what the world does when it's enraged.
What sin anger is, when allied to the
deceit of our own hearts, how quickly we justify to ourselves every display of
our anger as righteous.
The sin of anger lies in this! It gets
angry for the wrong reasons, Cain was angry with Abel out of envy, and so
killed him.
Moses fell into hatred, when he saw a
taskmaster beating a fellow-countryman in
The
Imperative "be slow
to wrath"
The
Incentive v 20 "
For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of
God.
Anger, that comes from man, is from his sinful nature and does not reflect the
Righteousness of God, which should be seen in His people.
It is God’s design to produce practical righteousness in His
children. Our goal is to have the righteousness of God produced in our lives,
and anger does not promote righteousness
"An angry
man stirs up strife, and a hot-tempered man abounds in transgression" (Prov. 29:22).
Anger gives the
Devil a foothold in your life by filling you with guilt and destroying your
walk with God.
Anger is frequently out of control and leads to other sins.
How is God honoured, our own lives strengthened, the
church advanced, or the souls saved, by our anger?
If you're under pressure, the only
response is patience, meekness and endurance, not retaliation.
Think of the Lord Jesus: When they hurled
their insults at him, he did not retaliate: when he suffered, he made no
threats.
Be slow in becoming angry. Stop! Think! And
consider why are you so angry? Emotions are fast but
the fastest is anger.
So, when the Bible talks about being slow
to anger, it is talking about an approach that will control anger, and defuse
it, and help us to avoid the destruction that anger can cause.
If we slow things down, for example, we
can avoid misunderstandings. Go slow. Don't jump to conclusions and say some
things you may live to regret.
John Owen says, "As long as there is a treacherous heart that is prepared to
neglect the need for obedience in every area, there is a weak soul that is not
allowing faith its whole work."
God had
every reason to be angry with us; yet he saved us.
Therefore, instead of anger, we need to develop
love and joy and peace and gentleness, the fruit of the Spirit.
The
Christian must be
" Swift to hear" "Slow to Speak"
and "Slow to Wrath"
May the mind of Christ my Saviour
Live in me from day to day
By His love and power controlling, All I do and
say.
Control
yourself! Anger is only one letter short of danger.
Hot heads
and cold hearts never solved anything.