Genuine faith aligns with the Word 1:19-27
A legacy is not a list of accomplishments. It is the imprint
you leave on the future. Brian Dodd
There is no godliness without a vibrant relationship with the Word of God.?
Alignment empowers!
To align with the Word, we must: (build)
?1. Receive the word. 1:19-21 (on screen)
? 2. Respond to the word. 1:22-25(on screen)
?3. Renewed by the word. 1:26-27 (on screen)
Happy Father’s Day! If you’re a dad, stand so we can celebrate you this morning. Going to give out a gift card to the dad who has the wildest outfit this morning. If you think you’re a candidate, come on up! (have audience judge)
There is nothing more important to society, to our country, to our church, and to our families than godly dads. A godly dad is a light for Jesus in his workplace. A godly dad stands in the gap for his family, protecting them both physically and spiritually, praying for and guiding his children wisely. A godly dad loves his wife as Christ loves the church.? One of the things I love about Rush Creek is how the men in our church take seriously their walk with God and the responsibilities He gives them. Every man has a chance to either extend the legacy of his godly dad if he had one, or begin a new legacy if he didn’t. A legacy is not a list of accomplishments. It is the imprint you leave on the future. Brian Dodd
And of course, it goes without saying, a godly dad’s life is built on and aligns with God’s word. There is no godliness without a vibrant relationship with the word of God.? That goes for everyone this morning, doesn’t it? The child sitting with her parents, the teenager trying to stay awake right now. The woman who struggling at home being both mom AND dad. This applies to each and every one of us: There is no godliness without a vibrant relationship with the word of God. It is the word of God that directs us. It is the word of God that instructs us. It is the word of God that gives us hope in despair and strength in adversity. ? Turn with me to James 1:19-27 in your Bibles. We continue our series out of the book of James. This book is maybe THE most practical book in the entire New Testament. It helps us connect the dots between faith… and practice; between what we should believe and how we should act. Remember, the theme of James is: ‘Genuine faith produces a genuine life.’ Our problem is that we say we believe one way and then we act another, right? We say we believe that we should be patient, but we honk at the person sitting in front of us who is not moving at a green light! We say that we believe we should be pure, but we look at images that cause us to lust. We say that we believe we should be content with whatever God gives us, but we keep chasing the illusions and false promises of materialism.? So in the passage we’re studying this morning is about aligning our lives with God’s word. Alignment is what empowers. Alignment empowers! (Hand motions) God has all this power He offers to us, but our lives have to be in alignment with His word. Note to self, if you are not experiencing power and victory in your life, it’s because your life is not aligned with the word of God.
So To align with the Word, we must: (build)?1. Receive the word. 1:19-21 (on screen)
Look at v.21 again. “humbly receive the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.” The word implanted…it’s the only time it is used in the New Testament. It’s the idea that the word has been planted in our hearts and it brought salvation to us. Remember Jesus told the parable of the sower: he sowed seed indiscriminately; some fell on rocks and didn’t take root, some fell on shallow soil but died out; some fell in soil with thorns that choked it out; but some fell on fertile soil and it grew and bore fruit. The word of the gospel has taken root in the hearts of most of us here and has brought what? Salvation.? But we are admonished here to receive the word. That’s odd. How do we receive what is already in us? Here’s what it means. When Jesus would go throughout Galilee teaching, many times the Bible says that they received His word gladly. So it’ the idea to water and fertilize and cherish the word in us by accepting what it says; by receiving it gladly.
It’s interesting in this passage that it ends with the idea of hearing and receiving the word gladly, but it begins with a discussion about angry outbursts. Look at vv.19-20 “My dear brothers and sisters, understand this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to anger, 20 for human anger does not accomplish God’s righteousness.” Dang! James is so stinking practical. There’s nowhere to hide. There no way to dodge this. My irritation, my anger, my outbursts of frustration do-not-achieve the righteousness of God.
Notice the progression: be quick to listen.(slow down) Be slow to speak. Be slower to anger. The idea is that if I focus on listening instead of lambasting someone, that it will cool my jets and keep me from getting angry. Are you someone like this? Guys, ask your wife. Ask your friends. Receive the truth about yourself.
Do you receive the word gladly? We lose people all the time here at RC who go somewhere else because they don’t receive the word of God gladly. They’d rather hear a watered down version of the gospel. They don’t want to hear that they’re morally depraved and needs Jesus to save them. They don’t want to be challenged to abandon their fleshly desires. Don’t want to be admonished to adopt biblical, merciful perspectives about immigrants and gays. Don’t want to be encouraged to invest generously in kingdom work. We lost about 10-15% when we went through Unleashed last Fall. Why was that you think? Didn’t want to hear it. Didn’t receive the word gladly.? 2. Respond to the word. 1:22-25(on screen)
There are folks who just hear with their ears but don’t hear with their hearts. They come, they listen, but they don’t really intend to put what they hear into practice. What does the Bible say about themselves? Look at v.22: they are deceiving themselves. That word for deceiving mean to cheat. We cheat ourselves when we don’t listen with the intent to respond and obey the word of God.? How do we cheat ourselves? If we don’t learn and live by the word of God, we will slowly but surely begin to wander down the wrong path. ? I love the 1st Psalm. “How happy is the one who does not walk in the advice of the wicked or stand in the pathway with sinners or sit in the company of mockers! 2 Instead, his delight is in the Lord’s instruction, and he meditates on it day and night. 3 He is like a tree planted beside flowing streams that bears its fruit in its season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers.” ? When we treat the word of God casually and indifferently, you cheat yourself of happiness and joy. You cheat yourself of the experiencing the highest of pleasures, you cheat yourself from living a peaceable, meaningful and victorious life.? James says we’re like a guy who looks at ourselves in a mirror and then after he walks away, forgets what he looks like. In fact, I try NOT to look in the mirror because I don’t want to be reminded what I look like, right? Lots of conjecture about what this means: gaze at a mirror and then walk away forgetting what you look like. Some say James used a man here cause there’s no way a woman would just glance in a mirror and then forget what she looked like. Don’t boo me…I’m just the messenger. It’s interesting that studies reveal that men look in mirrors about as much as women. The difference is we men look more often but less time each time.? No—James is pointing out an absurdity. It’s absurd to think a person would gaze at himself in a mirror and then actually forget what he looks like or even who he is. Absurd. It’s absurd to think that you and I would listen to or read the word of God and then not respond to it.
Rather, we are to what? Look at v.25 (on screen) Instead of listening and forgetting immediately, we are to gaze intently at what? The law of freedom. Law and freedom—that’s a paradox right? But it’s so true. Some folks have the wrong idea of God and His word. They think that God is no fun, that He wants to take away all our toys, and relegate us to a life of empty and boring servitude. How many songs put forth the idea that God’s way and God’s people are stifling and enslaving. Billy Joel’s song, Only the Good Die Young, “I'd rather laugh with the sinners than cry with the saints. The sinners are much more fun.” This is an abominable lie. The Bible does say that sin is pleasurable—but only for awhile. Eventually it enslaves us and renders us helpless. ? But the person that what? v.25 again (on screen). Looks intently at the law of freedom… and what? Perseveres in it. Not just listening, but responding to it and walking in it. What about THAT person? He is blessed. He has and experiences the favor of God in his life.? Listen, I’ve lived both ways. With and without the favor of God. And I can tell you from experience, there is NOTHING that compares to the favor of God. You want the favor of God? Read the word with the intent to do what it says. Listen to the preaching of the word with the intent to do what it says. Study the word of God and do what it says. Memorize the word of God and let it’s incredible mysterious power provide what no thing or no one this side of heaven can provide. Where are you on memorizing vv.2-4???3. Renewed by the word. 1:26-27 (on screen)
James caps this section of his letter off with kind of a summary statement: if your belief, if your religion doesn’t impact how you act, then it’s as worthless as a purity ring on the finger of Brittany Spears. ? No--genuine faith shows up in a genuine life. James touches back where he began talking about the tongue back up in v.19. Instead of being someone who pops off with your mouth all the time, be someone that lives the Christ-life in an honoring way. Don’t take on the values of this world. Live out the values of the person of Jesus Christ: humility, self-denial, stepping in and helping the less fortunate.? Plug Nehemiah Project…(need a slide w/ pic of guys enjoying working together; Shane’s email)
Forty-two-year-old David Saunders waited on the driveway of his Hanover, Michigan, home for his 4-year-old daughter, Danielle, to get off her school bus. A pickup truck was stopped behind the bus. Saunders crossed the street to meet Danielle at the bus and then the two crossed the street together and stood in the Saunders' driveway. Suddenly he noticed that a car behind the bus was traveling too fast to stop safely before entering the crossing zone. The car swerved to avoid the pickup and went into the Saunders' driveway. Heading directly for them both, Saunders grabbed Danielle by the arm and flung her away from himself and into their front yard.He was then struck by the car. Saunders was pronounced dead at the scene. Danielle was treated for minor injuries at a nearby hospital and soon released. The 16-year-old driver and a 15-year-old passenger were not injured. Sheriff's Captain Tony Philipps said, "It was a heroic act by a father to save his child. He did everything he could, and in the process, he lost his own life." Stand with them. Stand for them. Stand between them and anything that can harm them. This world wants your children. Don’t let it have them. Protect them, whatever the cost.
