The Person In The Mirror Part 2
Scriptures: James 1:21-24; Romans 1:18-23
Introduction
This message is part 2 in my series “The Person In The Mirror.” In my message last week I shared with you what was recorded in James chapter one. He said “Therefore, putting aside all filthiness, and all that remains of wickedness, in humility receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls. But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror; for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was.” The key take away from these verses is that when we refuse to be doers of the Word after we have heard it we delude ourselves as if we looked at ourselves in the mirror and walked away forgetting what we looked like. Imagine if you will, that you looked at your face and then could not pick your face out in a group of pictures because you forgot what you looked like. This is the picture that James is painting. James said that we should put aside all filthiness and wickedness and receive the Word implanted (engrafted) which is able to save our souls.
I. The Word Implanted Within Us
Before we go to the first chapter of Romans that I asked on last week that you read in preparation for today, I want to spend a few moments explaining what James meant in verse twenty-one. He said “…..receive the Word implanted, which is able to save your soul.” That word “implanted” (engrafted in the King James Version) has a specific meaning and I do not believe it was chosen at random. The word implanted means “to fix or set securely or deeply, to set permanently in the conscious or habit patterns.” Engrafted means “to join or fasten as if by grafting; become grafted and begin functionally normally.” What James was saying is that the Word of God has already been implanted within us or grafted to us! By definition it means that this is something that has been within us but we still have to choose to accept it. I will show you shortly that Paul also confirms this. This is why James could say with confident that when we refuse to be doers of the Word we delude ourselves because that Word is within us. God created the spirit that dwells within us and our spirits know He exists. This is why mankind has always created some image of a higher power to worship, it’s within our spirit to know that there is a higher being deserving of worship. The problem came when mankind decided that they could decide on whom that higher being was and could make their own images of what that being looked like. It’s too difficult to accept a God that we cannot see so therefore we require an image so we can physically describe Him. When man did not have that image, he created his own and called it god. Your spirit man knows that God exist even though our soul (our intellect) may not choose to acknowledge Him. Because we “spiritually” know that God exist it is natural to understand that spiritually we have His Word within us.
When we accept Christ and that Word that has been implanted within us we give that Word the power to function within our lives. Think about it like this. When someone experiences a major burn, they often receive skin grafts. The physician takes skin from another part of the body and “attaches” it to the burned area to help it heal. If the skin graft is successful, it attaches, heals and allows that area to function close to normal. You will have a scar, but the area is healed and the person is functional. If the person does not have the skin graft, then that area of the body begins to die and can actually threaten the life of the person. Now think about this image in reference to the Word of God being engrafted to us or being implanted within us. When we become doers of the Word, the graft is successful. However, when we refuse to be doers of the word it is the same as our bodies rejecting the graft thus the graft becomes unsuccessful. We do not function normally as defined by the Word of God. Does this make sense? Turn now to the first chapter of Romans. I will not finish this today as I want to make sure we understand what we have at stake here. Just as a reminder, we know from James that we have a responsibility to be doers of the Word because anything short of that we delude (mislead, deceive) ourselves. We also know that the Word of God has been implanted (engrafted) within us and our spirits know God exists even if our intellect denies it. Finally we have seen that we must accept that Word if our souls are to be saved. Let’s begin reading at verse eighteen in Romans chapter one.
II. No More Proof Required
“For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures.” (Romans 1:18-23)
In these verses it is clear that mankind has something internal that lets us know that God exists and when we deny His existence it requires some active thinking on our parts. When we think about how we can misunderstand God’s existence and who we are within His Son, it starts with what we choose to believe. Consider these four ways in which we understand the world around us.
• Seeing. When we have our eyesight, we gain an understanding of the world around us. Things that we see with our eyes help us to understand the environment that we are in. For example, if you’re driving down the highway and you see an ambulance approaching you with its lights flashing, you pull to the side because you see that something is going on somewhere and you do not want to hinder those going to the scene to help. You understand that when you see the ambulance approaching with its lights flashing you pull over even if you do not hear the sirens. Some people cannot accept God and His Word because they cannot “see” Him with their natural eyes.
• Hearing. The second way of understanding is through our hearing. When we listen we understand things that we may not see with our eyes. For example, when you hear a siren approaching what do you do? You begin to look around to see where it is coming from so you know what your response should be. In this situation you cannot see the source of the sirens, but you know it’s approaching. Some people refuse to accept God and His Word because they cannot “hear” Him with their natural ears even though their spirits are crying out to Him.
• Soul/Mind. The third way that we understand is with our mind. Our mind takes in what we see and hear. It processes the information and reaches conclusions. It also learns from experiences and things that it is exposed to over time. However, because of the level of knowledge that the mind often acquires, it often rationalizes why God cannot exist. Or, if He does exist, it’s not in the way most Christians believe. God does not make sense in an intellectual way and anything that requires faith to believe simply means that it cannot be explained intellectually.
• Spirit. We also understand things through our spirits. What is so interesting is that we see, hear and process with our spirits and it is our mind that often overrules what the other three have agreed upon. Our spirits know that God exists because He created our spirits. Our spirits are eternal and will exist in some fashion forever – whether with God or without God. That is a fact that no amount of intellectual justification will change.
The atheist says there is no God. The agnostic says it’s impossible to know if God exists. God simply says “I AM!” My eyes have not seen God but I know that He exists. How? Look at the world around us and ask yourself how any of this could just come into being by evolution. My ears have not heard God audibly, but I have heard from His creations. Every time I hear your voice of the voices of the animals in the world He created, I know He exists. My soul has accepted God’s existence based on the evidence that has been presented to it. Finally, my spirit has always known God exists because it came from Him! So why is all of this important – let’s go back to what we read in Romans chapter one.
Verses eighteen and nineteen says “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them.” (Rom. 1:18-19) Here we read that God’s wrath is being revealed because He has given the truth to man and man has rejected it. We actually suppress the truth of God through our unrighteousness. God did not hide Himself or His Word from us; it’s been there for us to receive. In verse nineteen Paul writes that what is known about God is within us because God made it evident to us. Please understand I know that many people believe that they cannot read God’s Word and understand it enough on their own. They believe that they need to be taught by someone more knowledgeable than themselves and this can be true. However, there are things that we can know because of the Spirit of God who is trying to influence us. There are things that we know because our spirit has told us because God’s Word has been implanted within us. We have a basic foundational knowledge of God that should draw us to Him. It is within us and has been there from the day we were formed in our mother’s wombs. However, many choose to shut that revelation down to be able to operate in their own will. We have all been there. Regardless of our personal decisions, God’s word remains the same. Look at verse twenty.
“For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.” (Romans 1:20) Remember what I said about being able to see God with our eyes. Paul writes that from creation God’s invisible attributes, His power and divine nature have been clearly seen through what has been made. What has been made? Everything around us. In other words, the world itself is proof of God’s existence. We are proof of God’s existence! What additional proof do we need? Because we have so much proof before us Paul says that we have no excuse to continue to live as if God did not exist. Let’s continue reading.
“For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures.” (Rom. 1:21-23) In these verses Paul says that even though mankind knew God they chose not to honor Him. He says they did what continues to be done today – SPECULATE about Him. There are so many conflicting theories about God and His Son that’s it’s not surprising that many people are confused and left without the ability to hear what their spirits are telling them. He says through all of the speculations their hearts became dark. It has not changed since his time. Verses twenty-two and twenty-three say that while mankind thought they were wise, they became foolish. How did they demonstrate their foolishness? By creating their images of gods based on God’s creation. In other words, they took what God created, made an image of it and called it god, and then began to worship the image that they created. They began to worship the creation versus the creator! I have got to stop here and will continue next week with God’s response to mankind’s arrogance.
Before I close this morning I want to quickly summarize what I want you to take from this message. James said the Word has been implanted (engrafted) within us and all we need to do is receive it. Therefore, if we are not doers of the Word, we are deluding and deceiving ourselves thinking we are one way versus who we actually are. He said it’s like looking at our reflection in a mirror and walking away and forgetting what we look like. He made it clear that we have no excuse because the Word has been implanted within us! As a Christian, I must always recognize my image – not my physical image, my spiritual one.
Paul told us in Romans that it is within us to know that God exists. He has given us all the proof that we need and if we choose not to accept it, it’s on us. In the verses that we read we see the process that mankind when through to deny God. However, because mankind knew there was a higher power, they copied things that God created and made their own images of a god to worship. So instead of worshipping the creator they chose to worship images the creator created. All of these things were done in mankind’s search for a god while denying the one true God and we are still doing the same thing today.
When you look in the mirror –who do you see? Look beyond your physical appearance and see the true you – the one God created to serve Him.
Until next time, “The Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord make His face shine on you and be gracious to you. May the Lord lift up His countenance on you and give you peace.” (Numbers 6:24-26)
