A Study of the Letter of James
James 1:19-21
September 04, 2013
Read Scripture:James 1:19-21
19 My dearly loved brothers, understand this: Everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger,
20 for man's anger does not accomplish God's righteousness.
21 Therefore, ridding yourselves of all moral filth and evil, humbly receive the implanted word, which is able to save you.
In v19 James says, "...my dearly loved brothers..." which reveals to us that this was NOT an admonition of spite or anger.
This was a brother in Christ reaching out to other brothers in Christ to teach and admonish (correct) their behavior... out of love, not harsh rebuke... out of care and concern, not seeking retribution!
We don't know how James came about teaching on the issues he was writing about... whether these were the issues were reported to him that they were present in the congregations he was addressing...
OR... that James merely knew and understood human nature and had also witnessed several of these things begin to happen in churches in which he was a part...
Either way, James was addressing several issues that the church was dealing with, and as we have seen and learned... what the church is STILL dealing with... b/c these are issues of our human nature... these are things we ALL face and deal with in our lives...
James knew that they were dealing with these things and James wanted to deal with these things in a loving, yet firm manner...
We see his compassion come thru here in this phrase that even tho' he may sound harsh... this is being done out of love!
We then see James say further on in v19, "Understand this..." James continues his instruction. He states that he loves them and the implication is that this is being done out of love, but that does NOT change the direct nature of his teaching. “Understand this...” is a definite call for the readers to pay attention to what he was about to say...
In other words James wanted the readers FULL attention for the upcoming teaching! James knows just how important this principle was going to be and always IS for the believer!
ALL of God's word is important and we are called to be obedient to ALL of it...but we know that as humans we fail MORE in some particular areas than we do in other areas.
In this passage, James dives into one of those MOST difficult areas where MOST of us fall short and have trouble...
We find him starting right here in v19 where James instructs believers to, "be quick to listen" I believe that listening to others, especially when we disagree with them is NOT something we do very well as humans... this is a human nature thing... some of us deal with it better than others, but some of us really struggle with this in our lives!
I believe that women are usually (not all the time) better listeners than men are... I believe the older we get, with more life experience we have a tendency to learn to listen first...
BUT for the most part this is a universal issue for all of humanity, but we must realize again WHO James is speaking to here, James is speaking to believers!
SO... this means he has been told OR has seen that this was a problem in these churches to whom he was writing this letter...
So, why is listening so hard for us? I believe it is b/c listening takes time & effort on our behalf, AND most of us simply do NOT want to take the time OR feel we don't HAVE the time to hear out the other person...
Instead, what we want to do is to share OUR solution (b/c ours is best...right?) to their issue and then move on... BUT James' instructin BEGINS by sharing how important listening is for the believer...
Another aspect here for the believer is that when we are willing to listen... It reveals our heart; it tells others that we are willing to put aside our own self specifically as a time to minister/listen to them.
Now understand listening to someone does NOT mean you have to agree with them... but what it DOES reveal is that you care about them, even in disagreement you show your Christian love for them by being willing to listen...
FIRST, James tells us to be quick to listen... in other words I believe what James is saying here is that for the believer, listening is the most important step we do in ministry and it should be the FIRST thing we do...
When we learn to focus on relationships with others by being willing to listen... it speaks VOLUMES about Christ to them! But NOT only with those to whom we are listening to, but with God as well. We must learn to LISTEN to God first... and not jump to telling Him what to do!
After listening we then seek James saying that believers are to be, "...slow to speak..." After we are quick to listen, James says we must not jump to saying something we MAY regret later!
In this short phrase, what James is passing on is the principle that states "you have 2 ears and one mouth so you should listen twice as much as you speak"
Here James is cautioning believers to NOT move to quickly to speak. Let me ask you something tonight, how often do you find yourself jumping into a conversation to speak and then soon after you speak, you are regretting what you have said...
First James instructs on patience in listening and now he is instructing on patience in WHAT we say! Patience in speaking allows us time to pray and think on what is going to come out of our mouth...
Believers must be judicious and cautious with our words, We must guard our witness thru our speech or LACK of speech.
We must remain faithful to the truth of God's word in all we do and to do this, we must have a deliberate and intentional focus on what we are about to say and how we go about saying it...
In fact, HOW we say something is very important and we can see where this addressed by James, we can look at what James follows this up with...it is an action of 'attitude'...
"...and slow to get angry..." I cannot remember how many times I have said I was going to listen only to allow the first thing that was said sends me into an angry tirade...
We can be and get angry as anger in and of itself is not sin, but it is what we do with that anger that can and will lead to sinful actions on our part.
In our verses tonight, James calls for patience in every aspect of this verse:
Patience to FIRST listen instead of thinking only what we have to say has worth...
Patience to NOT jump to words before we have had time to hear all of what is being said, and then time to absorb and process what they have said, time for us to pray and seek godly counsel in what we may say, IF we are to say anything at all!
Then patience in how we react to what is said and the situation it may create. We are to be patient!
In v20 James gives us an overall reason why we need this patience in our lives... it is b/c when we are NOT patient we have a human tendency to get angry and blow up... we tend to overreact (not me you may thing...) We have a tendency to allow anger to control how we react.
Once again, anger in and of itself is NOT the sin, but anger that is birthed in the human heart that is based on human emotion is an anger that cannot please God and will not produce anything God desires! Like James says, "...it does not produce God's righteousness..."
The fact of the matter is that God does not want us blowing up or 'going off' on those who have done wrong or made terrible choices... this anger only leads to resentment and guilt and pushes people away from God.
Instead thru His servant James, God calls us to be patient... and in v21 we see HOW we can do this...
Jesus speaks of NOT speaking about the sin of a brother until you have dealt with your own sin first... He does this in Luke 6:42 when he says,
(paraphrased) "How can you say, 'Man let me take the speck out of your eye,' when you yourself fail to see the plank in your own eye? If you do this you are a hypocrite! The 1st thing you need to do is take the plank out of your own eye and then you can see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye!"
Now what Jesus was teaching on was not judging and being humble... HIs teaching was about NOT feeling or acting self righteous and condescending in our attitude.
Jesus says, before you even begin to address the sin or problems of others you must take a very close look and inventory into your own life, and then before you can help anyone else you must deal with your own sin.
Here James says essentially the same thing... it is the same principle. For you to be patient and listen, for you to NOT jump to speech and admonishment, for you to NOT become angry... James even shares with us how we can do this in v21
He says, "Get rid of..." is a phrase that also reveals our heart as it implies willful action on our part. It tells others that we willing to make the choice to rid ourselves of the evil things in that prevent us from being a godly and patient believer who is able to minister to others!
James tells us to get rid of ALL THE FILTH (Wow that covers a great deal of things) Filth is a word that covers anything that is NOT clean...
From a spiritual perspective this would refer to anything NOT of God in our lives! How deep does that go for you as a person?
Get rid of all filth and evil... How do we do that? James says, to humble ourselves to the Word of God! Just as Jesus says NOT to judge others but first examine yourself... this is humbling yourself to NOT judge but to be judged...
Here James says we are to humble ourselves to the Word of God... the Word of God that we have IN our lives and in our hearts is powerful!
It has the power to deliver us... and to help us to be patient and LISTEN like we should... and to help us to NOT speak when we shouldn't and to speak when the time is right.
James is telling us that, as believers, we must refrain from anger even when it may seem anger is what and where we should go...
We are called to submit ourselves to the Word of God for guidance... this is what James is telling us! James is saying that we must submit to God's word and when you do that you will be able to BE the believer God desires...
So where are you tonight...
Are you willing to submit to the Word of God in your life?
Are you willing to become a LISTENER first to minister to those around you... revealing your heart in Christ?
Are you willing to NOT leap into saying something before praying about it and seeking godly counsel on it?
Are you willing also to be slow in your anger... to see things thru the eyes of Christ and seek to reconcile rather than rebuke?
What James is saying here is something we ALL have to deal with and that ALL of us struggle with in one way or another... what is YOUR struggle?
This is MY prayer:
God help me to submit to your word... God help me as I study and meditate on Your word... God help me to listen and be patient!
God forgive me for my self-moral pious attitude... God please do NOT allow me to camp out on a self-absorbed, self-righteous hillside and be judgmental in my attitude and actions!
Please help me to be patient in my listening, slow in my responses and Lord control my anger! God I want to submit to Your word to allow me to be the follower you desire!
