(illustration by Wes Humble @ WesHumble.com) Can you imagine what it was like for the church in Smyrna as they watched their beloved and aged pastor burn at the stake? Polycarp was his name. He was a disciple of Jesus’ disciple, the Apostle John. One could tell it immediately because he possessed the same tenderness and compassion as his mentor.
Polycarp was Bishop of the church at Smyrna (present day Turkey). Persecution broke out in Smyrna and many Christians were fed to the wild beasts in the arena. The godless and blood-thirsty crowd called for the carcass of the leader – Polycarp.
The authorities sent a search party to find him. He had been taken into hiding by some Christians… but the Romans tortured two young believers until they finally disclosed his location. When the authority’s arrival was announced there was still time to whisk Polycarp away but he refused to go saying, “God’s will be done.”
In one of the most touching instances of Christian grace imaginable Polycarp welcomed his captors as if they were friends. He talked with them and insisted they eat a meal. He made only one request before being taken away – he asked for one hour to pray. The Roman soldiers listened to his prayer. Their hearts melted and they gave him 2 hours to pray.
They had second thoughts as well and were overheard asking each other why they were sent to arrest him?
Other authorities also experienced a warmed heart when Polycarp arrived. The Proconsul tried to find a way to release him too. “curse God and I will let you go!” he pleaded.
Polycarp’s reply was: “For eighty-six years I have served him. He has never done me wrong. How then can I blaspheme my King was has saved me?”
The Proconsul again looked for a way out. “The do this old man, just swear by the spirit of the emperor and that will be sufficient.’
Polycarp’s reply was: “If you imagine for a moment that I would do that, then I think you pretend that you don’t know who I am. Hear it plainly. I am a Christian.”
Even with more appeals by the Proconsul, Polycarp stood firm. The proconsul threatened him with the wild beasts.
Polycarp’s reply was: “Bring them forth. I would change my mind if it meant going from worst to best, but not to change from right to wrong.”
The Proconsul threatened, “I will burn you alive!” Polycarp’s reply was: “You threaten with fire that burns for an hour and is over but the judgment on the ungodly is forever.”
The fires engulfed him. The witnesses noticed his faith and joy. He was singing as the flames rose. He was finished off with a dagger. He was buried for the cause of Christ on February 22, 155 A.D. It was as much a day of victory as it was a day of tragedy.
Polycarp faith is an example for us all and it gives us pause to think about our faith. Is our faith deeply rooted as Paul described in Colossians 2:7: Have your roots in him. Build yourselves up in him. Grow strong in what you believe, just as you were taught…
This morning we are going to look at James 1:19-25 as our second sermon in the book of James. James is a book about faith in action. In the first century, Polycarp would have known this passage and read this writing of James. Let’s read it together: James 1:19-25
My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, 20 because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires. 21 Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you.
22 Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. 23 Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror 24 and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. 25 But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do.
Just like our last passage in James a couple weeks ago, there is a lot here to swallow. James deals with thinking before talking; being slow to anger; fleeing from the evil around us; knowing God’s Word and living by it; and finally does your actions model the faith you claim to have.
For our purpose this morning I want to sum up what he saying by looking at faith in action. I want to look at what it means to be serious about our faith and challenge our way of thinking. Or to sum it up even more I want to look at the Word of God our blueprint for life and how we respond to it.
I. Receive The Word
Well first we need to receive the Word. Hear in Canada we do not have to look too far to find a Bible. I think many of us probably have many different Bibles from different translations and I think most pastors have a shelf full of Bibles.
If you are in need of a Bible, we can hook you up. In our country and in North America there are probably more Bibles than people, but that is not the case in other parts of the world. That is a big concern and there are many working to get Scripture written in every tongue and dialect so people can read the Word of God in their own language.
However, we have a problem in our country …a major one! With all the Bibles we have there are millions missing the life giving truth that comes from reading the Bible. Furthermore, many Christians do not take the time to read their Bibles and let the Bible influence their lives.
So like I said: James starts out by dealing with thinking before talking; being slow to anger; fleeing from the evil around us and then he says these words: Don’t be too proud to accept the word that is planted in you. It can save you.
What is keeping us from receiving His Word today? Like I said it is available. I counted 30 Bibles in my office, about 20 in the administration office, I know there is a bunch more down stairs and in our book shelves and even in our chair racks. We have access to Bibles, what is keeping us from the Word of God? We all have the Word, but have we received the Word. We need to take it off the shelf and read it.
II. Embrace the Word
Secondly, we need to embrace the Word. It is one thing to read the Bible; it is another thing to embrace it. There was so much to read in college and often the profs would say you cannot read everything perfectly, but find the important stuff and skim the rest…the problem was I just wanted to know the page number of the important stuff. Well it is pretty hard to embrace if you are skimming or reading out of obligation or ritual. We must embrace.
Someone once said: “This book will keep you from sin; Sin will keep you from this book”. And that is so true! The more we are out of sync with God’s plan for our life, the more we are dabbling with sin the less of a drive we will have to get in the Word. The devil likes nothing better than for us to be living in bondage.
(The preacher stood on the corner by sermon central) The preacher stood on the street corner preaching to anyone who would listen. A man approached him who looked a bit rough and crude. "Can I help you" asked the preacher. "I think you can" said the man.
The preacher said "would you like me to tell you about Jesus?" "No." "Would you like me to pray for you?" "No." "If you don’t want me to tell you about Jesus, and you don’t want me to pray with you, how can I help you?" "You can give me your Bible."
"Why would you want my Bible if you have no interest in knowing more about Jesus?" "I noticed that the pages of your Bible are very thin; I can use the pages to wrap cigarettes.
Wisdom came suddenly to the preacher, who said, "I’ll give you the Bible, if you will agree to read a page (of the Bible) before you smoke it." The man agreed, took his new Bible, and left.
The preacher thought he had seen the last of him and he could get another Bible.
Several months passed, and the preacher was on the street corner once again. A man came up to him. "You don’t know me, do you?" said the man. "No. I don’t think I have ever seen you"!
"Yes you have. I’m the man you gave a Bible to (about a year ago)." The preacher couldn’t believe he came back. "What happened? Tell me what happened." "Well, I smoked Matthew, and then I smoked Mark, and then I smoked Luke--and then John smoked me."… Well it is time we all let the Word of God smoke us…Let’s embrace the Word!
III. Get Movin!
Well after we embrace the Word we need to get movin!. James tells us: Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. 23 Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror 24 and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like.
From his book, Improving your Serve by Charles Swindoll we have this excellent illustration. I may have used it before, but it is so prevalent.
Swindoll says: Let’s pretend that you work for me. In fact, you are my executive assistant in a company that is growing rapidly. I’m the owner and I’m interested in expanding overseas.
To pull this off, I make plans to travel abroad and stay there until the new branch office gets established. I make all the arrangements to take my family in the move to Europe for six to eight months, and I leave you in charge of my busy organization. I tell you that I will write you regularly and give you direction and instructions.
I leave and you stay. Months pass. A flow of letters are mailed from Europe and received by you at the national headquarters. I spell out all my expectations.
Finally, I return. Soon after my arrival I drive down to the office. I am stunned! Grass and weeds have grown up high. A few windows along the street are broken.
I walk into the receptionist’s room and she is doing her nails, chewing gum, and listening to her favorite disco station. I look around and notice the wastebaskets are overflowing, the carpet hasn’t been vacuumed for weeks, and nobody seems concerned that the owner has returned.
I ask about your whereabouts and someone in the crowded lounge area points down the hall and yells, “I think he’s down there.” Disturbed, I move in that direction and bump into you as you are finishing a chess game with our sales manager.
I ask you to step into my office (which has been temporarily turned into a television room for watching afternoon soap operas).
“What in the world is going on, man?”…“What do ya’ mean…?”…“Well, look at this place! Didn’t you get any of my letters?”…Letters?
Oh, yeah—sure, got every one of them. As a matter of fact … we have had letter study every Friday night since you left. We have even divided all the personnel into small groups and discussed many of the things you wrote. Some of those things were really interesting.
You’ll be pleased to know that a few of us have actually committed to memory some of your sentences and paragraphs. One or two memorized an entire letter or two! Great stuff in those letters!”
“Okay, okay—you got my letters, you studied them and meditated on them, discussed and even memorized them. BUT WHAT DID YOU DO ABOUT THEM?”
“Do? Uh—we didn’t do anything about them.” (Chuck Swindoll from his book Improving Your Serve; pp. 170-171)
We can receive the Word and embrace the Word, but if we don’t get movin then we are like the employees in this story. We can read, study and even memorize, but we need to be putting into practice the Word. 22 Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.
Don’t just be hearers, but doers. I like what the New Beacon commentary on James says on these verses: What we believe becomes obvious in what we do. It is not enough to say we believe the gospel. It must make a difference in our lives.
Conclusion
In conclusion, I love how our passage ends: 23 Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror 24 and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. 25 But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do.
How many times have you got up in the morning and started getting yourself ready by looking in the mirror, but then the tea kettle whistled, your child demanded your attention, the garbage truck is coming down the back lane and you need to rush out and put you bin in the back alley…Okay that is me.
But in the meantime, you forgot what you were doing, you forgot to finish your prep work and you left the house with your hair not finished, toilet paper stuck to your face where you cut yourself shaving, you missed a spot of makeup, or shaving… and you head our into the world.
James I think is comparing this to our spiritual lives. How many times are we distracted from reading the Word, getting into the Word and knowing the Word? As a result we head into life and our behaviour and actions would indicate that we were not looking intently into His mirror.
We need to look into His mirror and see the reflection of Jesus. We need to be conforming to that image daily. If we are forgetting what we are seeing or not recognizing Jesus in the reflection…then we have work to do. We need to embrace the Word.
