“Faith That Works: The Active Life”
James 1:19-27
A young pastor’s wife came to her husband one day with a look of obvious concern. He lovingly inquired as to the problem. She replied that she had really been struggling lately with the sin of vanity. “How’s that?” asked her husband. She said, “Well, every morning when I get up and look in the mirror, I just can’t help thinking how beautiful I am and then wondering how all those other women, who aren’t as beautiful as I am, feel.” Her loving, pastor husband calmly responded, “My dear, that’s not a case of vanity so much as it’s a simple case of mistaken identity!”
How much time do you spend in front of the mirror? How often do you look in the mirror? What do you do with what you see there? James, in discussing discipleship, uses the mirror as his key image. In trying to encourage the persecuted believers to be faithful, loyal disciples, James reminds them of the keys to discipleship. And those keys remain the same for us today.
The first key to discipleship is to BELIEVE THE WORD. We live in an age when people love to discuss, debate, and debunk the Word, rather then believe it. Yet James says, verse 21: “...humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you.” Believe it; accept it as true. It is already in you so with meekness let it take root, and give it room to grow. James had become convinced of the necessity of belief. So had the disciples. As John wrote his Gospel, he repeatedly hammered home the concept of belief. The gospel of John, in fact, is called the gospel of belief; his theme is “BELIEVE AND SEE.” Consider these verses, from the beginning, middle, and end of Johns’ Gospel: (1:7) “He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all men might believe.” (14:11) “Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves.” (20:31) “But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.” Accept Jesus’ words as true, and see what happens. This certainly smacks at our tendency to dissect, discuss, and dismantle the Word, especially when it says something we don’t like or understand. But remember that Jesus never asked, “Do you agree with me?”, or “Does this sound reasonable to you?” He just said “Follow me.” “Obey.”
James point is that FAITH IS A CHOICE, NOT A DEBATE. We simply need to decide our attitude towards the Word. We have two choices:
First - DO NOT BELIEVE. I can live life in disbelief - and if I’m wrong, then I’ll suffer the eternal consequences. Or, second, DO BELIEVE. If I’m wrong, I will at least have lived an abundant life. And if I’m right, this Word will save me. So I can spend my life waiting for proof to believe or I can believe and spend my life being the proof! So James urges us to get rid of the evil around us by humbly accepting the Word - believe the Word already planted in us - and be saved from that evil.
So why are you here this morning? To learn a new truth that you can discuss, debate, dissect? To grab on to some morsel of truth you can then argue with fellow students or coworkers? To mark the Word or to let the Word mark you? Are you going to ponder or believe? Jay Kessler put this whole idea of belief in perspective for me. Someone once asked Jay, former President of Taylor University, if he really believed that God could make a fish big enough to swallow a man - that in a day of such scientific knowledge and advancement, did he really believe this to be true? Jay replied, “Let me tell you, I not only believe that He can make a such a fish, the God who made the sun and the moon and the stars, if he wanted to, could air condition and carpet the fish!” Believe in the Word!
The second key to discipleship is to APPLY THE WORD. James observed that many people, even well meaning people, listen intently to the Word - they may even diligently study it and be anxious to hear it preached and taught; but they only deceive themselves. WE MUST NOT DECEIVE OURSELVES. We may hear the Word and feel better; perhaps we even look down in pride on others who don’t spend as much time in the Word we do; maybe we even feel uncomfortable if we miss church or Sunday School on a given Sunday. But what do we do with what we hear? If the Word says to repent, do we repent? If it instructs us to tithe, do we tithe? If it commands us to forgive and to love, do we forgive and love?
There’s a simple truth here – JUST HEARING THE WORD DOESN’T CUT IT! Hearing about a great banquet doesn’t fill my stomach; hearing about a cool stream doesn’t quench my thirst; hearing about money in the bank doesn’t make me wealthy; hearing about a shelter next door doesn’t protect me during a storm; hearing about a new cure for cancer doesn’t cure me. And if we think it does, we are deceived. Scripture is meant to be applied - and too often we step back, ponder, reflect, question, argue rather than step up and apply it to our own lives.
Similarly, every time I think someone else needed to hear a particular Word more than I did, I’m deceiving myself. It’s so easy to sit comfortably in the pew, listen to the sermon and immediately put up an umbrella so that the admonitions can run down my neighbor’s neck! (1) Repent? Joe sure needs to do that! An altar call? I love them - we have so many members who really haven’t taken the call seriously yet! Love our neighbors? Matilda needs to hear that - she’s the grump of our neighborhood! We deceive ourselves!
The alternative, James says, is that WE CAN BE DUTIFUL. Intentional hearing is the key to discipleship. The question always is, “What does this say to me, about me? What must I do in light of this Word?” Instead of letting the Word go in one ear and out the other I must make sure it travels into my heart and mind and leads to obedience. James illustrates it this way: “Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is 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. But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it - he will be blessed.” It’s like a mother telling her young child to go wash his hands and face and come to dinner. He runs off to the bathroom, splashes a little water on his hands, and hustles to the table. Mom says, “Did you wash your face?” He sheepishly answers, “Yes.” And then she’ll ask, “Didn’t you look in the mirror?” We are to see ourselves in the mirror of Scripture as God would have us see ourselves; and we must ask questions about what we see to APPLY IT TO OUR LIVES.
Jesus made it clear when he identified who were true disciples: “By their fruits you shall know them.” He also warned, “Not everyone who says to me Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven.” Someone has written an appropriate piece entitled “The Lesson:”
“Then Jesus took his disciples up on the mountain, and when they had gathered around him he taught them, saying: ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn... Blessed are the meek, Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness...Blessed are the merciful...Blessed are the pure in heart...Blessed are the peacemakers...Blessed are those who are persecuted...’.
Then Simon Peter said, “Are we supposed to know
this?” And Andrew said, “Do we have to write this down?” And James said, “Will we have a test on this?” And Philip said, “I don’t have any paper.” And Bartholomew said, “Do we have to turn this in?” And John said, “The other disciples didn’t have to learn this.” And Matthew said, “May I go to the restroom?” And Judas said, “What does this have to do with real life?”
Then one of the Pharisees who was present asked to see Jesus’ lesson plans and inquired of Jesus “What is your terminal objective? Have you completed a task analysis? What about a diagnostic survey?” And Jesus wept.”
Application must follow belief. That paves the way to the third key to discipleship, which is to ACT ON THE WORD. James informs us that we must move from the mirror to the marketplace, from where we hear, believe, and apply the Word to where we live out the Word. When we do, James says the first impact will be that WE WILL BE BLESSED (vs. 25). God has created the world in such a way that those who obey, who act on the Word, are blessed. It’s guaranteed! As Jesus said to his disciples on the night in which He was betrayed, “I have given you an example... Happy (blessed) are you if you do it.” We are blessed through acts of obedience. So how will you leave here this morning? How will you handle and react to what you’ve heard here? What difference will this all make to you tomorrow? Into what obedience are you being called? Will you merely go forth and say, “Boy, preacher, I liked what I heard this morning?” Or, “People sure needed to hear that?” Or will you strengthen some obedience in your life? The key is to act on the Word.
The second impact is that we must BE CHRISTIAN IN OUR SPEECH (vs. 26). “If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless.” Does your speech break down or build up? Discourage or encourage? Drive away or invite? Do your words defame Christ or honor Him? Recall that even Jesus said that we would be judged for every idle, inappropriate word. And while James says much more about the tongue later in this letter, his basic thrust here is to reiterate that “out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.” If we are obedient to the Word it will lodge in our hearts and our speech will reflect Jesus Christ. Even as we ask WWJD (What Would Jesus Do?), we need to ask WWJS (What Would Jesus Say?). If we do not keep a tight rein on our tongue, James says, “...our religion is worthless.” Can you pass the test of the tongue? What is your religion worth?
Acting on the Word also INCREASES OUR DEISRE TO SERVE. The true disciple is a compassionate person. Verse 27: “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress...” The widows and orphans in distress represent afflicted, persecuted people. They are some of Jesus’ “least of these.” Robert Wuthnow, in his book Acts of Compassion, writes: “The saints remind us that life is meant to be lived for others before it is lived for ourselves. We become saintly when we break out of self-absorption or the stresses of everyday living long enough to think about the needs of others... It may be no accident that Jesus’ parable of the Good Samaritan, with its emphasis on caring for others, stands out as perhaps his best-known teaching. Something is us resonates with the story of selfless giving. ... The family members we live with, the neighbors ... the bosses...the homeless strangers...all provide us with moments we can share ourselves.” In John’s words (IJn. 4:20): “Anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen.”
True discipleship, acting on the Word, is more than eloquent preaching, elaborate vestments, flowing robes, formal liturgy, magnificent music, and wonderful worship. It is COMPASSIONATE SERVICE IN THE WORLD. Let’s be wary of being so taken up with the beauty of this place of worship and the warmth of being together that we fail to put forth the time, money, or energy to be of practical Christian service. Can you pass the compassion test? Act on the Word through compassionate service.
And acting on the Word also involves (27) SEPARATION FROM EVIL. James states that we are to keep “from being polluted by the world.” And it’s not as hard as it sounds - if we are speaking well, and serving compassionately, the evil of the world will have a tough time getting into us. The more we serve, the more we love, the more we usher in the Kingdom, and the less we’re stained by the world. We go form the mirror to the marketplace but still remain holy. How do you fare on the holiness test?
All three of these keys deal with our witness to the world. James understood that THE BULK OF THE PEOPLE DO NOT READ THE BIBLE; THEY READ YOU. What they see in and hear from us determines what they think of Jesus. That’s why it’s so crucial we believe in the Word, apply the Word, and act on the Word; Jesus’ reputation is at stake! Hear the words of Edgar Guest: (2)
“I’d rather see a sermon than hear one, any day;
I’d rather one should walk with me than merely tell me the way;
The eye’s a better pupil and more willing than the ear.
Fine counsel is confusing, but example’s always clear,
And the best of all the preachers are the men who live their creeds,
For to see good put in action is what everybody needs.
I soon can learn to do it if you’ll let me see it done;
I can watch your hands in action, but your tongue too fast may run.
And the lecture you deliver may be very wise and true,
But I’d rather get my lessons by observing what you do.
For I might misunderstand you and the high advice you give,
But there’s no misunderstanding how you act and how you live.”
Are you living the active life? Can you see yourself in the mirror - as God sees you? Now what? There is a Word implanted in you which can save you. Now what? Jesus calls you to be a disciple - to believe, apply, and act. Now what? You are to do more than hear - be a doer. Now what? Nothing has happened here this morning unless it happens where you are this afternoon and tomorrow. Now what?
Mirror, mirror, on the wall - teach us discipleship first of all.
(1) Louis H. Evans, Make Your Faith Work, Fleming H. Revell Company, © 1957 by Flaming H. Revell Company, p.41
(2) Edgar Guest, “Sermons We See”, from the book Collected Verse by Edgar A. Guest, © 1934, The Reilly & Lee Co., Chicago, as quoted in Evans, p. 43-44
