I Pity The Fool Series

There’s another word that’s pretty important in this verse – it’s the word “steadily or intently”. The doer of the word is disciplined enough to spend the time it takes to know what God wants him to do, whereas the listener is content to check off his bible reading on his “to do list” for that day. I love the way George Duncan says it, “God does not reveal the deep things of the Spirit to the casual xian who simply drops in for a chat.” NO – God is waiting to speak to those Christians who are willing to give his word the depth and the discipline it takes into order to do what it says.

Notice the last half of v.25 – “If you do what it says and don’t forget what you heard, THEN God will bless you for doing it.” God’s promise of blessing is irrevocably linked with our obedience. You can’t have one w/o the other. For far too long churches have patted themselves on the back because they’ve established wonderful educational programs. You can read through the bible in a year, memorize a new verse every week, check off your quite time every day, but if you aren’t DOING what God says then you’ll never experience the blessings he promises.

So how do you know which group you fit into? How do you know whether you are a listener or a doer? Well, James being the very practical writer that he is gives us a little test at the close of chapter 1. The test is pretty basic since it’s only got 3 questions. James asks, “How are you doing in the area of self-control? What do you do when you see someone who is in need? And is your culture effecting you or are you effecting it?”

Now James is going to have a lot more to say about the tongue in chp.3 but he still uses it here as a basic test of your self-control. Look at how down to earth he gets. If you claim to be religious, if you claim to know God and you don’t control your tongue then you are fooling yourself, you are self-deceived; you’re only playing the church game. Then he just comes right out and says that kind of religion is worthless, useless for both you and those who might be watching your life. Your tongue is an indicator of his heart. What comes out of your mouth first travels through your heart. So don’t fool yourself and think that your loose tongue is a tiny little problem. Actually James 3:5 says the tongue is a small thing but it can cause enormous damage.

The second test has to do with our compassion quotient. James uses orphans and widows as examples, but real faith, a real relationship with God doesn’t stop with certain types of people. This question basically asks how tender is your heart? Are ready are you to lend a helping hand? The implication is if you are always on the receiving end then something’s wrong with your religion. When’s the last time you helped a stranger, a neighbor or even a friend? That’s what real compassion looks like and its what Jesus expects from you and me. Listen to what Jesus said to his followers in Matt. 25:44-45, “Lord, when did we ever see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and not help you?’ And he will answer, `I assure you, when you refused to help the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were refusing to help me.”