Bona Fide
A study of James
Part 6
“ Just do it”
How many of you have ever put anything together without reading the instructions?
How many times has this worked out with less than perfect results?
Most things in life require instructions
Things that seem so simple to us now as adults
Were once difficult tasks
Tying your own shoes
Going to the bathroom by yourself
All second nature for most of us now
But even these simple things required instruction at one time in our lives
Think about trying to bake a cake or a pan of cornbread without a recipe
Or build a building with a blueprint
Even easy things like putting together a bicycle for Christmas
Or tying a knot
Require some form of instruction
Without instructions
We could very well have ended up sitting here in diapers
With our shoes untied this morning
Without instruction we could build building that look like the leaning tower of Pizza
Or bake cakes that looked and tasted more like mud pies than dessert
And I shudder to think of the two seated
Three wheeled bicycles sitting under the tree on Christmas morning
You see
We need instructions
But
In order for those instructions to be effective
We need to listen to them
Or read them
But even more so we must apply them
Simply reading them
Or hearing them
And then
Going on our way
Is a recipe for a mess
Or even a disaster in some cases
--- Pause--
If we can agree here this morning that
Instructions have value
If we can agree on the importance of reading, listening to and using the instructions in the areas of everything to personal hygiene to building construction
Why do we have so much trouble following God’s instructions for our lives?
Today we will continue on our quest to connect the dots that James
Lays out for us
To help us become Bona Fide Believers in Christ
Those believers that the world sees as Genuine
The Real deal
We have looked at trials, storms and wrecks. Their causes and our reactions to them
We have studied about testing and temptations
Endurance and perseverance
Standing firm and wavering
Allowing ourselves to be blown by the wind
---Pause---
In the last couple of weeks
We have looked at our own hearts
Prayerfully with a discerning eye
And discovered that our temptation to sin comes from our own hearts and our own desires
God uses the wrecks that surrender causes
And Old slick uses our temptation against us to attempt to lure us away
But the temptations themselves come from inside of us
Then we connected yet another dot
Actually 3 more dots
As we learned that in order to be Bona Fide
And in order to show the love of Jesus
We must be quick to listen
Active listening we called that
And slow to speak
Meaning we need to engage our hearts and minds before engaging our mouths
Then we discussed the two types of anger
Righteous anger
Things that go against God and his word
And Human Anger
We saw how we must not sin in either type
But focused on the fact that the anger that comes from our hearts
Never pleases God
And actually hurts the cause for Christ
Today
James
Continues this line of teaching
He continues
Drawing dots
That he knows
When connected
Will produce actions, words and thoughts that are pleasing to God
Please open your bibles to James 1
James 1:22-25
Let me read this passage in context
In its entirety
Then we can break it down and apply it to our lives
22 But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves. 23 For if you listen to the word and don’t obey, it is like glancing at your face in a mirror. 24 You see yourself, walk away, and forget what you look like. 25 But if you look carefully into the perfect law that sets you free, and if you do what it says and don’t forget what you heard, then God will bless you for doing it.”
Verse 22 a
“But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says.”
In simple terms James says follow the instructions
If you want the results that God has for you
If you want all he has for you
Follow the instructions
A little quick history lesson
In the time of this writing few had the ability to read and even fewer had their own copies of scripture
So the word was read aloud, listened to and memorized
Today it is unusual for someone not to be able to read
And it is also unusual for someone not to have a copy of God’s word of their own if they want one
If you don’t have one and want one
See us after service
--Pause---
So in an effort to apply this to our lives
James means
Don’t just listen to it
Don’t just read it
Put it to use
You see when we don’t follow the instructions
We often end up with less than the desired results
Yes
I know even a blind hog finds an acorn every now and then
But most of them are skinny
And most wish they could see so they could find more acorns
So James
Says
Don’t rely on luck
Listen to
Read and apply the bible to your life
Or
Or
Or what you may ask
Read verse 22b with me
“Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves.”
I thought about this a lot
Fooling our selves
How are we fooling ourselves?
By only listening
By Only reading?
You may be asking the same question
Some of you may remember back in our study of Hebrews
“The mirrors of our lives” was the sermon
I used a funny mirror as the illustration for that sermon
And showed how the trick mirror showed a different picture then the reality of God’s word
You see
We are fooling ourselves
Like the images in that mirror
When we don’t apply the instructions to our lives
What I mean by this
Is by not using the instructions to prompt the changes we need to make in order to become more like Christ
We fool ourselves into believing our sin is not so bad
At least I’m not ---------
I don’t like that rule some say
I want to do what I want ----others say
But we are fooling ourselves
By claiming to be Bona Fide Believers
While living counterfeit lives
Let me remind you James says latter in his book
In James 4:17 to paraphrase
----Knowing right and choosing to do wrong is a sin----
You see many want to have their cake and eat it too
Call on the name of Jesus when it is tough= Help me Jesus, please
And live like the devil when it’s not- Not now Jesus, talk to me when I ‘m in anther wreck
This is how we are fooling ourselves when we don’t apply the word to our lives
We fool ourselves
By justifying our sin
Minimizing our sin
Normalizing Our sin
By renaming our sin
By reclassifying our sin
By claiming that God is just old fashioned and he needs an update
Let’s get real this morning
Let’s get Bona Fide
You can call sin by other names
You can try to justify it, normalize it, rationalize it, rename or classify it
You can call it something else
But God still sees it as sin
And sin
Is evil
And there is no evil in God
So
we being created in his image go against the very nature of God
When we choose to disobey his word
Listen to me
God wants you to hear his word
He wants you to read his word
But then he wants you to follow the instructions you heard and read
He wants you to do what it says
Verse 23-24
3 For if you listen to the word and don’t obey, it is like glancing at your face in a mirror. 24 You see yourself, walk away, and forget what you look like.
Imagine going to the mirror
The real mirror
Not one of the trick mirrors
And looking at yourself
And then walking away and not remembering what you look like
Not likely – right
We know what we look like
Now imaging going to the mirror
And looking at yourself
And finding mud or dirt on your face
Three days stubble on your chin
Crud in your eyes – Mom always called it sleepy – but it was crud
Messed up hair-----
Women ----makeup gone wild or just gone
And then walking away without doing anything about it
Just going about your business as if nothing was out of order
That just makes no sense
Why did you look in the mirror in the first place?
To attempt to remember what you looked like?
Or to recognize and correct imperfections in your appearance
I think most of will agree
The latter applies
Not the former
You see the mirror shows flaws
And we make corrections according to the image we see
God’s word
Is a mirror for our lives
It is designed to show us where we fall short
Places where we need to make changes
Holes we call them in cowboy terms
But it also gives us instructions as to how to make corrections
But once again
If we don’t use it
It don’t work
You see
The real sign of an effective bible study
A productive bible study
Is the amount of change that it stimulates in your life
When we apply it- Do what it says
It affects our speech, our actions. Our thoughts
Our very being
When we don’t
We just keep on like we are
Flip back to James 1:25a with me
25 But if you look carefully into the perfect law that sets you free,
The perfect law that sets you free
The mirror of God’s word- The perfect law
Many people want to think of God’s word as restrictive
But notice here
James says it is the word that sets you free
Free to do anything you want?
You can ---if you want to live in disobedience to God
We have that ability
We have free will
But
We will miss out on his blessings when we do
What James means here
Is not free to do as we wish
But
Free from the fear of death
Free for the fear of hell
Free to be forgiven of all of your sins
Free to live as a custom made-Bona fide believers in Christ
Free to grow spiritually
Free to find and receive the blessing he wants for you
Free to live
Free to love
Free to receive love
We are freed from our old lives
Our old sins
Our old hurts and hang-ups
Our old bitterness and unforgiveness
Our old anger and resentment
We are freed to walk in the glory of our savior
Not perfect
Not by a long shot
But perfectly forgiven
Here is the icing
Not only do you receive the desired outcome in your life when you follow the instructions
Not only are you set free
James says we get more
Verse 25b
“And if you do what it says and don’t forget what you heard, then God will bless you for doing it.”
If you read it
Listen to it
And do what it says
Apply it to your life
Just do it
He says God will bless you for doing it
Blessings from our Lord
Nothing this world has to offer can compare with that
---Pause---
So let’ put feet to this
Here are a few practical ways that we can do as James teaches
If you want truly effective
Life changing bible study
Pray before you read or listen to God’s word
Ask him to show you what he has for you
Ask for his wisdom and guidance for understanding
Then open the word
Don’t try to read it all at once
Read small portions
Think about what you read
Read it again
Ask what does this mean for me and my life
Write down scripture and your thoughts
By reading or hearing and then writing down what you learn you are actively applying God’s words to your life
Then
Make changes in your thoughts, words and actions
When the mirror of scripture shows you what is out of order
Seek Godly council when you don’t understand what you are reading
Memorize scripture
I know
This I hard
But
Let me remind You Jesus used scripture hidden in his heart to withstand to attacks of Satan in the dessert
Listen
Applying God’s word in all areas of our lives becomes habit
And soon
Like tying your shoes or going to the bathroom by yourself
It becomes second nature
And soon you can spend your time reading and applying the instructions for the bigger things
Cause the small stuff takes care of itself
You see
When we say we are Christians
And we don’t do what the instruction book says
We ain’t Bona Fide
Stop fooling yourself
Just do it
You will never be sorry
Close from the heart
Pray
