The Word Of Truth

The Word of Truth

James 1:19-26

Online Sermon: http://www.mckeesfamily.com/?page_id=3567

Does your form of religion get you closer to God? Are the externals of your faith such as going to church regularly, almsgiving, prayer, fasting, reading God’s word, and singing a true reflection of what is in your soul? Anyone can put on a mask of religious pretentiousness and proudly sit in the seat of self-assessed holiness and fool the masses but when it comes to God who knows your every word, thought, and deed there truly is no place to hide. In today’s passage James tell us the glorious news that God chose to give us birth through the word of truth! We have before us a beautiful love letter from God that is like a mirror showing many aspects of His holiness and how far off, we miss the mark of being more like Him! And yet if we are going to be honest with ourselves, we must confess that we rarely read God’s word outside of church and even when we do, often we are merely looking to amass Scripture so that we might convince other members of the church that our religious mask is indeed genuine! But to be holy as God is holy His word must be like a double-edged sword that is not only invited to judge the thoughts and attitudes of the heart but also to be practiced by us the firstfruits of all God created! Rarely do we listen to God’s word but instead try to speak our truth into it so that we might receive justification for the sins that we so thoroughly enjoy! Surely the religion that God accepts as pure and faultless requires far more from the redeemed than platitudes of pretend righteousness that at best can only offer ashes of hypocrisy upon His holy alar! In today’s passage in James 1:19-26 we are going to learn that for religion to be pure and faultless it be based on listening and obeying the word which means keeping a tight reign on one’s tongue, taking care of the widows and orphans and to keep from being polluted by the world.

Birth Through the Word of Truth

“He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all He created” (18)

When James states “God chose” he does not mean “election” but with the same free will that God

demonstrated in the creation story of Genesis out of His grace God chose to give humanity the means by which one could be born into His family and kingdom! This good and perfect gift did not come from “human desire which leads to sin and death” (1:15) but from God’s desire to “take His word and write it upon our hearts!” His act of grace demonstrates the essence of His character, one who “does not change like shifting shadows” (1:17) but always filled with love, grace, and mercy. For James the new birth is accomplished through the “word of truth.” God spoke and all creation exists, but the written word is the instrument by which the Gospel and salvation are revealed. Paul states that “faith comes from hearing the message” (Romans 10:17) and Peter says that “you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God” (1 Peter 1:23). It is in the grand narrative of the word of God that we learn “how God lovingly brought us back to Him by sacrificing His Son on the cross so we could experience forgiveness of sin and new life.” The new birth James refers to is the same one that John expresses as “birth from above” (John 1:12-13, 3:3), and Paul calls a Spirit-Created new life (Galatians 8:11; 1 Corinthians 15:22, 36, 45). James finishes verse eighteen by stating that the purpose of this new birth is that “we might be a kind of firstfruits of all He created” (18c). In the OT firstfruits “described the initial portion of the crop that was set apart for God (Exodus 23:16–19; Numbers 18:13) In the NT firstfruits is a term often used to refer to Christians (2 Thess. 2:13; Rev. 14:4; and also Rom. 16:5; 1 Cor. 16:15) In view of both of these definitions James is stating that those who experience the new birth through belief in the Gospel message are to be consecrated unto God and as such are to be lights or a foretaste of His transformative grace now and a “preview of the coming harvest” when God “makes all things new in all creation.” Considering the grace and mercy you have received, have you truly set yourself apart for God and are you as the firstfruit of all He created reading the word by which you were saved and obeying the laws God has written on your heart?