Today, we’ll be taking a look at James 1:19-25
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, because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires.
“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.
“Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.
“Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like.
“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.
James 1:19-21
“My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires.
“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.
Quick to listen - slow to speak - slow to become angry
Have you ever found yourself being quick to speak and slow to listen?
This can be real embarrassing.
Have you ever listened to the beginning of what someone was saying, jumped to a conclusion about what they were going to say and responded sharply and then later found out that they were actually going to say something different than what you thought they were going to say?
Embarrassing, wasn’t it?
I have had to learn to keep my mouth shut until the person speaking has finished what they were saying. Oh, and it also helps to actually listen to what they are saying …
I remember one Wednesday evening at the Bible study when Pastor Karenlee was teaching and I thought she was explaining something wrong. I jumped in and in front of everyone started “discussing” the correct interpretation of the passage. As it turns out she was about to explain the correct meaning of the Scripture but I had already jumped to a conclusion and my conclusion was wrong.
Do you know what happened when we got home? Nothing. She never said a word but I knew that I had hurt her feelings and had embarrassed her in front of the group.
Quick to listen - slow to speak - slow to become angry.
But Jesus got angry!
Jesus was angry when the temple, His father’s house, was being turned into a den of thieves yet He showed endless humility during His “trials”, beatings and crucifixion.
The Lord God was angry with the people of Israel. The Lord God was feeding them each day with manna and sustaining them but it was not what they wanted and His anger was aroused against them.
Tell about …
… the anger of the Lord God against the people of Israel when Moses was up on the mountain of fire receiving the Ten Commandments and Aaron was down in the valley fashioning a golden calf for the people to worship and giving the idol the praise for Israel’s great deliverance from Egypt.
If we indeed have been crucified with Christ and we no longer live but Christ lives within us and if we are indeed filled with the Holy Spirit, shouldn’t we be angry with the same things that make God angry?
Shouldn’t we be angry that abortionists are carefully guiding the baby from the womb and not killing the infant until the last moment so that they can harvest and sell the organs to the top bidder. As one light hearted abortionist put it, “I need a Lamborghini.”
Shouldn’t we be angry when we hear of women and young boys and girls who are kidnapped and sold into sexual slavery. (MannaFreedom.com)
1. 90% of all children and youth trafficked for sexual purposes in the U.S. are American citizens.
2. Every minute two children become victims of sexual exploitation.
3. Each prostituted child serves between 100 to 1500 clients per year.
4. Human sex trafficking is now considered the 2nd largest and fastest growing illegal trafficking activity in the world. It is a $27+ billion a year industry.
5. 80% of trafficking victims are female and 60% are children.
6. Underage girls are the bulk of victims in the commercial sex market including pornography, stripping, escort services, and prostitution.
7. More than one million children are forced to work in the global sex industry every year. Between 100,000 and 300,000 American children become victims of sex trafficking annually.
8. The average life span of a child caught in the sex slave trade is 2 years. They die from either suicide, murder, contracting HIV/Aids, or overdosing on drugs forced on them.
9. Within 48 hours of a child hitting the street one third are approached by sex traffickers.
10. The average age of entry for a girl into prostitution in the U.S. is 13 years old, for a boy 12.
Shouldn’t we be angry when we see certain examples of the church of God
Being prostituted as a “get rich quick” scheme?
Proclaiming that all paths lead to God?
Endorsing sin that is clearly a rebellion against God?
Well, if we should be angry about all of these things then what is it exactly that we shouldn’t be angry about?
You see James doesn’t just leave it at “angry”, he goes on to define the type of anger that should be avoided when he says,
James 1:19b-20
“Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires.”
Why do we need to be “slow to become angry?” Because, we need to make sure that we are becoming angry for the right reasons. Notice that verse 20 specifies what type of angry it is that “does not produce the righteousness that God desires.”
HUMAN ANGER! (The wrath of man (KJV)
James 1:19b-20
“Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires.
“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.”
The “therefore” in verse 22 absolutely and irrevocably ties “human anger” to moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent”.
2 Corinthians 12:20-21 lists a representative sampling of this moral filth and the evil that is prevalent …
“For I am afraid that when I come … there may be discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, slander, gossip, arrogance and disorder … impurity, sexual sin and debauchery …”
Cain killed Abel because of jealousy and a fit of rage …
Now, compare the list above (read it again) with one of our memory Scriptures:
Galatians 5:22-23
“The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control; against such things there is no law.”
When I look at my life does it look more like the list found in 2 Corinthians 12 or the list found in Galatians 5?
James 1:22-25
“Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.
“Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like.
“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.”
Why do people look, or choose not to look, into a mirror?
Some don’t look because they don’t care what they look like!
Some don’t look because they don’t like what they see.
Some look because they want to admire themselves.
Some look because they want to be presentable.
The Word of God is a spiritual mirror reflecting the condition of our souls.
Some don’t look into the Word of God because they couldn’t care less about their spiritual condition. Their only focus is this world and whatever they have set up as the “god” of their life; money, possessions, power, popularity, beauty, human philosophy, intellectualism, religious activity, etc. They are running after their “god” with all of their might and really have no desire to seek God.
Some don’t look into the Word of God because they don’t like what they see when they look at the reflection. There may be a certain sin to which they are attached and they don’t want to give it up. That sin is in reality the “god” of their life. And, you can be assured that whenever they look into the Bible the Holy Spirit will be faithful to remind them of that sin that is separating them from God. So, it is just more comfortable to not look at all than to be reminded that they have a false idol set up in their life.
Some look into the Word of God in order to admire themselves. Do you know that you can be a very religious “Christian” and not have a relationship with God at all? Did you know that? It’s called legalism.
We find a perfect example of this condition in the Holy Scriptures:
Recount the story of the Rich Young Ruler
Finally, some look into the Word of God because they want to be presentable.
Have you ever looked into a mirror and noticed something out of place? Perhaps your shirt wasn’t buttoned correctly. Perhaps it’s a full length mirror and you notice that you have one brown and one black shoe on. Perhaps there is some toothpaste drool in the corner of your mouth. Whatever the case may be you are checking to see if you are presentable and will not go into public and be embarrassed.
Some look into the Word of God so that they will be presentable to the Lord and so that they will properly and reverently represent Him to the world.
2 Timothy 2:15
“Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the Word of Truth.”
2 Timothy 3:16-17
“All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”
This is the person who
James 1:25
“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.”
Do you want to be blessed in what you do? Then look intently into God’s Word guided by the Holy Spirit and obey what it says!
James 1:26-27
“Those who consider themselves religious and yet do not keep a tight rein on their tongues deceive themselves, and their religion is worthless.
“Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.”
We are to be humble. Human anger comes from pride.
Conclusion
