HOW TO BENEFIT FROM THE BIBLE
Growing Up Rather Than Giving Up - Part 5
James 1:19-27
Our lives are to be governed and controlled by the word of God, The Bible. Yet there are many in churches through out America the are governed and controlled by their fears, doubt, unbelief, wrong emotions and bad feelings.
The Bible is a book of blessing and benefits. It promises comfort, strength, hope, wisdom, knowledge, joy, power, and purpose. But just because you have a bible doesn’t mean you’re going to benefit from it.
· A preacher and a soap manufacturer were walking down the street one day. As they walked they notice how wrongly people were treating each other. The street were filled with corruption. The soap manufacturer looked at the preacher and said, " Preacher, that bible you preach must not be any good, it’s not helping anyone. Look at all the filth and corruption ". The preacher didn’t say anything, he just kept walking. After awhile they came up on some children that were dirty and nasty. It look as though they hadn’t taken a bath in weeks. The preacher looked at the soap Manufacturer and said, " That soap you make must not be any good. Look how filthy and dirty these children are ". The soap manufacturer replied, " Soap doesn’t work unless you use it and apply it ". That’s " right " said the preacher. " It’s the same way with the Bible. The bible want work unless people use it and apply it to their lives ".
Folks I am here to tell you this morning it doesn’t matter how many bible verse you can quote from memory. It doesn’t matter how much bible you know. You do need to know and commit God’s word to memory, but unless you use it and apply it to your daily life it will not benefit you at all. You will only experience the blessing and benefits of the bible as you apply the bible to your life and your circumstances.
Many people mark their bible but they never allow their bible to mark them. As you study God’s word, God’s word will study you.
v. 25 is the key verse, "The man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard but doing it, he will be blessed in what he does." The Bible is called the perfect law because it’s exactly what I need. It promises freedom and it promises blessing.
James, being his practical self, gives us three steps on how to benefit from the Bible.
I. THERE MUST BE A WILLINGNESS TO RECEIVE THE WORD OF GOD
vs. 21, " Receive (Accept) the word planted in you." Circle the word "receive". This word in Greek is a hospitality term which literally means "to openly welcome the word" -- come on in. If we’re going to benefit from the word of God, then we must welcome the word God into our lives. In order for us to benefit from God’s word it must gain access into our lives.
James says it is the engrafted word. In other words This word is planted in you. In Matthew 13 Jesus told the parable of the sower and the seed. Jesus said, the word of God is the seed and the soil is the heart. In this parable Jesus gives us three conditions of the heart that will hinder the effectiveness of God’s word in our lives. And then He tells us about the right heart condition.
1. The heart is not unprepared to receive the seed. They hear the word but don’t understand it the devil comes and steels it away.
2. The hardened heart. He hears the word and receives the word with joy. But it doesn’t last long for when trouble comes he is offended because of the word. This reveals a lack of commitment to stand when faced with trouble.
3. The Crowded heart. The cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the effectiveness of God’s word in our lives. The word of God is crowded out. This person is to busy trying gain the wealth and prosperity of the world and has no time for God’s word.
4. The prepared heart. The ground as been cultivated and watered with prayer. The weeds have been pulled to make room for the word of God.
How is it you can take two seeds that are exactly the same and plant them in two different locations and get two different crops in fruitfulness? One soil is prepared and the other is not. How is it that you can take two people and put them in the same service and hear the same message. One person gets blessed by it and the other person says he didn’t get anything out of it. One heart was prepared and one wasn’t. James says we must receive the word of God with the right attitude. He tells us how to prepare our hearts to receive the word of God.
A. We Must Listen Careful.
Hebrews 2:1 So we must listen very carefully to the truths we have heard, or we may drift away from them. ( The Living Bible. )
I must listen carefully to the word of God. . v. 19 "Be quick to listen..." Give it your full attention. Be alert. Don’t miss it. "... slow to speak ..." Pay attention to what is being said so you can be sure of what is being said. When I’m talking, I’m not listening. God gave us two ears and one mouth so we ought to listen twice as much as we talk. Many of our problems are caused because we’re quick to speak rather than being quick to listen. Learn to listen carefully to God’s word. Be ready. Be intent. Be ready to receive God’s word. Be careful.
I know people that when you share the word of God with them rather than carefully listening, they are thinking how about how they are going to reply back to what God’s word says. I know that the word of God says that, But what about this or what about that. These people are always looking for a loop hole in God’s word. Something that would release them from their responsibility to obeying God’s word. There are no loop holes in God’s word.
I remember a story about a devout atheist. He was laying on his death bed. A preacher walked in to have prayer with him. The preacher saw that this man was reading the bible and said I am glad to see you studying God’s word. The atheist said, " I am not studying, I ma looking for a loop hole. All my life I have been an atheist. I never have believed in a creator or God. Now I am going to face the God I never believed. Those were the last words he ever spoke.
B. We Must Remain Calm.
Be calm if you’re going to receive God’s word and be blessed by it. v. 19b "... and slow to become angry ..." A calm and peaceful attitude will allow us to be more receptive to God’s Word. If you’re relaxed, people can communicate with you more. The anger spoken of hear is anger toward God’s word and the one who is speaking God’s word. Some people when they need correction in their lives don’t appreciate or welcome the word of God that brings that correction.
The word for anger here means a seething anger that only you and God know about. It is not a blow up but a clam up. This an anger that cause you to be upset, bitter and resentful. If I may put this in my own words. James is saying Don’t get upset with God’s word and his messenger; Don’t get bitter at God’s word or His messenger. Don’t resent God’s word or His Messenger. Be blessed by it, benefit from it.
We don’t hear much when we’re angry, upset, bitter, resentful. Bitterness is a barrier, an emotional block that keeps us from hearing God’s word. Some may ask, "How come God never speaks to me." Maybe you’ve got some resentment in your life you need to get rid of. An article I read from Reader’s Digest said when you listen it actually lowers your blood pressure; when you speak it raises your blood pressure. James says be calm, be slow to anger.
What is your emotional state when you come to church on Sunday morning? Do you come with a calm attitude? Do you come angry at someone in the family.
I use to have a family that came to church every Sunday morning angry with each other. Before they would leave home they would get into an argument with each other. They would miss God’s blessing because they would set in the pew Angry, upset, bitter and resentful to each other. Finally the word of God sunk in and changed them. They were able to come to church and benefit from God’s word. If you get angry at someone at home the answer is not to stay at home and miss God blessings. Get over and gone. You can not control what people do or what they say. All you can control is how you respond to it and how you allow it to effect you. Your anger will not accomplish God’s righteous purpose. Verse 20 For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God.
C. We Must Be Clean.
v. 21 "Get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent..." Before you can plant the seed you need to do a little weeding. The word "filth" that he says you’ve got to get rid of is actually the Greek word that means "ear wax". In other words get the wax out. When you have a sin in your life it blocks your hearing. It prevents God’s word from getting into your heart. He says get rid of the evil, anything that we know that isn’t right in our lives. God says, Lay aside all of the emotional garbage, the old habits, the junk in your life so that God’s word can get through to you.
Get rid of those things that would hinder you from hearing God’s word. How can we be clean? By confession. "If we confess our sins, He’s faithful and just to forgive us and cleanse us from all unrighteousness." The Living Bible says "Get rid of all that’s wrong in your life, both inside and out."
D. We Must Be Willing To Comply.
Teachable, yielded, humble, willing to be changed. He says "humbly accept the word of God planted in you..." Don’t act like you know it all. If you know it all, God’s word can’t get through to you. Pray, "God, do what You need to do in my life."
God says if you want to be blessed and benefit from His word, first you have to receive it. Receiving God’s word is not enough. James says we not only need to receive the word of God, but...
II. THERE MUST BE A WILLINGNESS TO REFLECT ON THE WORD OF GOD.
v. 23 "Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and after looking at himself immediately goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like." James uses an illustration here. God’s word is like a mirror. The purpose of a mirror is to evaluate us. We use them to evaluate ourselves. We look in a mirror to access the damage from the night before. Then you do something about it. What good is a mirror if you don’t do anything about it? God says a mirror reflects what we’re like on the outside. God’s word reflects what we’re like on the inside.
Have you ever seen yourself in the Bible? Hebrews says, "God’s word detects the thoughts, intents, motives and desires of the heart." Many years ago, Queen Elizabeth, who was beautiful in her youth, in the later years of her reign ordered that all of the mirrors be removed from Buckingham Palace, because she couldn’t stand to face that she was growing old.
A lot of people don’t read the Bible because they’re afraid. They’re unwilling to face themselves and see themselves as they really are. They don’t want to look at the mirror of God’s word.
James gives us three practical ways to reflect on the word of God,
A. We Must Read God’s Word.
v. 25 "the man who looks intently into the perfect law". He’s actually talking more about research than he is reading. Investigating. The word "look" in Greek means "to stoop down and gaze in".
Focus your attention on the word of God. There are two ways you can look at a mirror. You can gaze at it or you can glance at it. All of us have done both. It’s human nature that you can’t walk by a mirror and not look at it. When you glance at it, you immediately walk away and forget what you’ve seen. It didn’t do you any good. Many people try to have a quiet time that way. They don’t want to gaze at it, but glance at it. Give God five minutes. God says He wants us to gaze at the word. Look at it intently in detail.
That’s how you look intently at the word of God. Look at the details. James says we need to receive the word of God and then reflect on it, first by reading it and second by reviewing it.
B. We Must Review God’s Word.
v. 25 "...and continues to do so..." That means over and over and over. This is called meditation. When you think about something over and over its meditation. Meditation means to think seriously about something over and over. If you know how to worry you can meditate. Take a negative idea and think about it over and over it’s called worry. Take God’s word and think about it over and over, it’s called meditation. The Bible says, meditate on God’s word. Jesus said, "...if you continue in My word, then you’re truly My disciples." Read it and review it. The outlines I give you each week are not so that you can keep up with me, it’s so that you can review it during the week. God says, You want to be blessed by the word? Review it.
Psalm 119:97 "I meditate on your word all day long." Every businessman ought to memorize Joshua 1:8. If you’ll do one thing God promises to bless you with success. And that promise is IF you meditate on His word.
Read it and review it continually. Stay in it and be faithful to the book. I know some people that are more faithful to Ann Landers than they are to God’s word.
We need to fill our minds with the word of God. James says, You want to benefit from God’s word? Reflect on the word. Think about it by reading it and reviewing it.
C. We Must Remember God’s Word.
v. 25 "... not forgetting what he has heard." You will benefit in your spiritual life by developing a habit of memorizing Scripture in order to apply it to your daily life. It will benefit you on a personal level and on a spiritual level to developing the habit of memorizing Scripture for the purpose of growth and development.
"Thy word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against Thee." Memorize God’s word if you want to benefit from it. We remember what’s important to us.
Take notes, write things down. If you value God’s word you’re going to take notes on it. Go home and study those notes until they become a part of your life.
III. THERE MUST BE A WILLINGNESS RESPOND TO THE WORD OF GOD
Verse 22-24 But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. For if any man be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: For he beholdeth himself, and goeth away, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was.
I must do something about it, act on it, live it, practice it. vs. 22 "Do not merely listen to what the word says and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says." I know that all of you have heard the saying, " Practice makes Perfect. Let me give you a new one. Practice means Progress.
Any response to the word of God that does not produce a lifestyle of obedience is self deception. Understand what James is saying, If we are not doing what the word says we are deceiving ourselves.
What good is a mirror if you look at it and don’t do anything about it? When you gaze into the a mirror you see the real you. You see all were you need to make improvements. James says we see our natural face. In other words we see face that we were born with. When we study God’s word we see all of our imperfections, our weaknesses, our short comings and our sin. The good news is, when we study God’s word it also reveals what we need to do to correct all these problems.
We are deceiving ourselves when we hear the word and we don’t apply the word to correct the problem. We hear the word week after week but don’t allow the word to change us. We think that just gaining content is making us spiritually mature. The test of maturity is not how much you know but how you practice of what you know.
Let me ask you a question. How many of you would allow a doctor to operate on you? If he said Don’t worry I have read all the books on how to do this procedure. You ask How many time have you practice this procedure? His answer to you is, Oh this is the first time. You are not going to feel very comfortable with that doctor. But we all have to start somewhere. Don’t we?
My honest prayer on Sunday afternoon is that you will remember what I said and put it into practice. It is my prayer pray that Crenshaw Church of God will develop the reputation that we are doers of the Word. They practice what the word of God says.. They live it." You should be a Living, Walking Bible. The best translation of Scripture is when you translate it into your life and let it change you.
v. 25 (Phillips) "The man who puts the law into practice wins true happiness."
Jesus said John 13:17, "Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them."
James concludes this section with three examples of practicing the word. He covers each of these in the rest of the book so we will be back to them.
A. Practice The Word By Controlling Our Tongue
In v. 26 he says, One of the ways you can know that you are a doer of the word is you have a controlled mouth. "If any one considers himself religious and does not keep a tight reign on his tongue he deceives himself and his religion is worthless." One of the ways you can know if you are a doer of the word is you have self control over your words.
B. Practice The Word By Caring For Others.
"Religion that our God and Father accepts as faultless is this. To look after orphans and widows in their distress." I help the helpless. Social concern, a caring heart.
C. Practice The Word Without Compromising.
"To keep oneself from being polluted by the world."
D. Practice The Word By Being Converted.
Verse 21 Receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save you.
We experience the Benefite of the God’s word when we start living God’s word.
Conclusion: Nine things to look for as we Receive, Reflect & Respond to the word of God S.P.A.C.E.P.E.T.S
S - Is there a Sin to confess?
P - Is there a Promise to claim?
A - Is there an Attitude to change?
C - Is there a Command to obey?
E - Is there an Example to follow?
P - Is there a Prayer to pray? There are lots of prayers in the Bible. You can take those
E - Is there an Error to avoid?
T - Is there a Truth to believe? Is there something I just need to believe God for?
S - Is there Something to thank God for?
