James 1:17-27
“Be Doers Of The Word”
As a preacher of the word, I have the privilege of sharing with you some of my life stories, learnings and wisdom.
As a preacher of the word, I also have the responsibility of preparing a message for you that is hopefully helpful to your walk with God as a Christian in today’s world.
In order for me to be a speaker, I must first be a listener.
I must listen carefully to what concerns members share with me.
I must also be careful that what is shared is shared in confidence.
So I must practice here what James is preaching.
I must be a “doer” of the word.
As a leader in the church, I must also be a “doer” of the word.
But I cannot be a “doer” of the word without you.
Each of you must also be “doers” of the word, so that together, we can accomplish some “doing”.
If I stand up here and talk about “doing”, and it goes no further, I might as well not even prepare a message.
“Doing” is part of the “being” a Christian.
And by our “doing”, God does indeed bless us.
It took me 20 years of my adult life, but God eventually blessed me with a good husband.
When I first met John, he was a big talker.
But because he has a heart for God, “The Word of God” has taught him that he also needs to be a good listener.
Last weekend, he showed me how much of a listener he has become.
It is no secret that we enjoy ballroom dancing together.
In fact, Mambo is John’s favorite, and he has a reputation for being the “Mambo King”!
Having entered the age of adulthood in the ‘70’s, one of my favorite dances happens to be the “Hustle”, which is not John’s favorite.
But last weekend, John was a “doer”.
He listened to my desires to dance hustle with him and he suggested we practice some hustle moves together.
I didn’t have to nag him.
I didn’t have to make him jealous.
I didn’t have to try to win him over.
He just blessed me out of the blue sky.
He became a “doer” of hustle.
What a happy wife that made me.
It just made me want to do something special for him.
I can just imagine how happy it must make God when we listen to what He wants and then become “doers” of His word.
Our sermon text focuses on what God’s desires are for us.
God wants us to be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to anger.
God also does not want religiosity.
He doesn’t want us to become people who appear to be religious on the outside without being pure and undefiled on the inside.
In other words, God wants us to have pure hearts.
He wants us to look beyond our outward appearance, deep down into our souls to see what needs to be purified.
One of my favorite praise songs is “Refiner’s Fire”.
It begins…”Purify my heart. Let me be as gold and precious silver.
Purify my heart. Cleanse me from within. Deep within.
Refiner’s fire. My heart’s one desire. Is to be holy. Set apart for you Lord.
I choose to be Holy. Set apart for you my master. Ready to do your will.”
God wants us to be active Christians, not passive Christians.
God also wants us to be unstained by the world.
He wants hearts that are refined, like pure gold.
He wants us to act on His behalf in the world.
Changing the world for His purpose.
Positively affecting the world for His truth, justice, and mercy.
We need to turn outward….
Outside the walls of our church building to the community around us.
We have good people in our congregation.
We have members who have grown up in this church.
We have members who have spent time wisely in Sunday School and worship.
Our good people need to meet the people of the community who are lost.
There are people in this community who have no idea what true Christianity is all about.
The secular world hears about the priest who was killed in prison while serving his sentence for molesting 120 boys over a 20 year period.
The secular world hears about the split in the Episcopal church.
It’s time for this part of the secular world to see how true Christians act.
We have a powerful opportunity to spread our love to our community.
To invite the lost into our fold.
To embrace them and show them Christian love.
Let us teach them James 1:17-18.
“Every generous act of giving, with every perfect gift, is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. In fulfillment of his own purpose he gave us birth by the word of truth, so that we would become a kind of first fruits of his creatures.”
There are many starving people around us.
They may have food on their tables, and in their kitchens, but they still feel empty because they haven’t experienced the fruit of the spirit of God.
Let us teach others how to live in peace.
Let us be examples of how to live in harmony.
Let us show others how to love our neighbors.
Let us invite others to get to know the God whom we love and serve.
Let us become “doers” of the word.
Let us not let the world grab us up and tire us out.
Let us let the Holy Spirit of God move upon us and within us.
Let us let the Holy Spirit of God give us strength and energy and desire to be ambassadors and witnesses for Christ.
When I walk down the halls of PPH, almost everyone smiles and says “Hello”.
I can feel the spirit of God as I walk throughout the building.
But the world does not know that kind of peace.
Just driving down Rising Sun Avenue proves that there is a mindset of “me first” in the world…and every man for himself.
But that attitude will never bring inner peace like we know it.
That “move out of the way attitude” does not bring a spirit of gentleness.
We have a big job to do.
We need to flex our spiritual muscles.
I know we can do this together.
It doesn’t take one person, or one group of people.
It takes all of us together, to share the responsibility.
We have been spiritually fed.
Now we are equipped to spiritually feed others, or at least invite them here to be spiritually fed.
Sometimes we might feel like salmon swimming upstream.
But look at the blessings we will receive from our efforts.
God promises to bless us.
We just need to trust God’s promises.
May we look to a season together of harvest.
The fields are ripe and they are ready.
The world needs God.
We have been given the responsibility to tell the world….even if it’s in our own little part of the world, here in Philadelphia.
May God add a blessing to His Word as we all become “doers” in the Name of Christ.
Amen.
