Listening and responding to the Word of God
James chapter 1:19-25
Introduction-
Last week we begun a study in the book of James. A series called “A faith that works.” Most people today have a faith that is not working. In fact, they cannot even define their faith, because most of the time it is all over the place. On fire one day, beaten down and depressed the next. Mountaintop one day and the valley the next... sometimes all in the same day. We agreed by all the amens last week that faith is an action word. You live faith. You walk in faith. You have to step out into faith. When faith isn’t active, it is dead. Dead faith does us no good, and God says that it is impossible to please God with dead faith. Read James 1:19-25
James gives us a new lesson this morning. Listening to and responding to the Word of God for our lives. That is not easy to do. Quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to become angry. Most of the time it is the opposite. Quick to talk. Slow to listen. And aggravated when people don’t hear what we are saying. I was at a pastor’s meeting on Wednesday and you can imagine 15-20 pastors having a discussion. Everyone quick to comment. I found myself getting aggravated because I was not getting my fair share to talk. I was not the main speaker. The problem is most of the time, we listen enough to wait for our time to talk. We don’t absorb what is being said, because our minds are focused on what we will be saying. My wife Becky and I were in a restaurant, she says to me “you did not hear a word that I just said to you.” I had to apologize to her, I was waiting for my opportunity to tell her something. If we are doing this in our everyday life and in everyday situations, it is no wonder that when it comes to God’s Word, we don’t really hear it. We don’t respond to it because our minds are focused somewhere else. God gave us two ears and one mouth for a reason. I believe it is because we should be listening 2 times as much as we talk. That principal will definitely help us in our lives with people we come in contact with. It will also help us in our spiritual life with the Lord Jesus. Speak little or be slow to speak..God says that to us because we cannot listen well when we are talking. Listening intently is how we absorb what is being said. Becky has learned to reel me back in when I go off the deep end. You talk about prayer, which most people admit to doing on a regular basis. Truth be told, it is seldom a conversation, it is usually monologue between you and God. We try to tell God what we think He needs to know. The Hebrew Rabbis had a saying that we have two ears and one mouth for a reason. Our tongue is put behind a wall of teeth. Some say that is where we get “bite your tongue”. A protection that we will not say something stupid.. Eccl. 5:2 “So let your words be few” don’t talk so much, because you are putting your foot in your mouth. Proverbs 13:3 “The man of few words and settled mind is wise; therefore even a fool is thought to be wise when he is silent.” I know that we all know people that we had one opinion of them and then they began to talk. Ruined the whole thing God gives us the problem- keep quiet. Don’t just talk for the sake of talking. God gave us instruction- what we need to do. God calls for action- you heard what I said, what now I’ll give you the points to write down right up front this morning.
1. Learn to listen Both to people and to God
2. Do what we know to do Both with people and with God.
3. Don’t let anger cause us to say something that we wish we could take back.
4. When we look into the mirror- see and respond to what God is telling us needs to be addressed.
Here we go
I. Listening
They say that women speak 2 times as much as men. Men between 8-15,000 words a day. Women between 15-30,000 words a day. Dave Ramsey says they can accelerate to 125,000 words. That would be like a machine gun folks. Everyday. All day long Did I say everyday...... So you can understand words are constantly being shot as us.
Parents- raising us and being our mentor.
Boss- giving us instructions on what he/she expects of us to become a better employee.
Pastor- shooting sermons at you/ advice for spiritual things.
Dave Ramsey and other teachers- giving you advice on how you can live better lives.
God- prayers, pastors, elders, word of God. All this advice. All these words. You sometimes just think you need to go into overdrive. More often over-load. God says “Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.” God wants us to hear, respond, obey, apply it. Everything God wants to give us, we only get it when we receive it from Him. “To as many as received Him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God (John 1:12) Teachable spirits. Meekness not weakness. Meek not a angry hostile spirit that knows it all. The Word when planted in good soil, which is a whole other sermon is able to save our souls and direct our lives. God’s word planted properly produces holiness of life, Godly character, righteousness of God.
We are responsible for planting the godly things in our lives and according to the word, get rid of or strip away all the evil things.
II. Do the things that we know to do.
Be doers of the word. Become what God has shown us and told us. Truth of God is not just information we put in our mind, it is a life that we live. People enjoy the singing, preaching, Bible studies. We work very hard to make that happen. They come to receive the blessings, but some never do anything with it. God is looking for people to be a blessing. People who want to invest their lives living the word.
Illustration
There is a difference between reading the menu and eating a meal. There is a difference between holding a prescription and taking the medicine. Why would the Lord warn us so heavily about being doer’s of the word.? Because some come to God’s word like it is a monster smorgasbord. They eat till they cannot even walk, and then do nothing with it. A lot in and nothing out makes a person pretty uncomfortable. We do not want you to be unreasonable at home. Lazy on your jobs. Unreasonable with your kids. Do “As unto the Lord” We reflect as Christians what God is doing in our lives.
III. Do not let anger cause us to say something we will regret.
Hurting people hurt people That is a fact Hurting people say hurtful things
(V2) get rid of moral filth, and the evil so prevalent.
Man’s anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires. Man’s angry zeal in debating God’s words is what has caused holy wars, the situation in the middle East. God says true righteousness is sown in peace, not in wrath. Filthyness is cleansed away by God’s word working in our lives.
IV. When we look in the mirror, see and respond to what God is telling us needs to be addressed. Let’s be brutely honest, some look in the mirror like the fonz. Hey ..... everything is perfect.
1. Some use a piece of aluminum foil for the mirror, and we don’t get a good picture. It is blurry.
2. Some have their mirror all full of stickers. It looks good, but it doesn’t do much good, because right where that zit would be exposed, you can’t see it because you placed a nice smiley face sticker.
3. Some have broken mirrors. You look through it and everything is distorted, kind of like the amusement park of mirrors. It been that way so long, you think that is normal.
4. What you need is a good mirror. Where God shines the light on the things that need to be addressed.
Haphazard look, casual look, intentional look, there is a difference. Careless people make careless mistakes. Assembly worker who is not careful can get hurt. James used the Greek word for “looked” here. It is the same Greek word used when the disciples looked in and found the tomb empty. It means , carefully, intentionally, studying something, to give full attention, not to miss any details. People say “Come to Christ, He will set you free, we are not under the law, but under grace. That is true. Praise the Lord! But the other side of that principal of God is often missed and never applied to our lives.”
bring every thought under the captivity of Christ.
God requires us to Love God with all our heart, mind, soul, and body.
All that you are and all that you possess belongs to God.
Hate sin and love the person.
In closing:
when we have done these things, we have listened to the Word of God, and applied the principals to our lives.
Stop casually looking in the mirror. Yield to Him. Confess your faults and allow God to change your life.
“Happy are all who search for God and always do his will” Psalm 119:2
Jesus is telling us the great tragedy is people hear the Word, listen, but never apply it to their lives. There is no change . There is no power. There is no working of the Holy Spirit. Be doer’s of the Word. If you know the Lord, it ought to make a difference.
The way we treat our family and friends.
How we work on our jobs.
How we file our income taxes.
How we support our church.
How we even drive our cars.
Living the truth will change our lives. Can make the impossible -possible.
Altar Call
