FRIDAY 18 June 2021 “Do it!” James 1:19-27

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Hello my “Walking with Jesus” friends,

I wonder if you like Friday’s as much as I do? The weekend is right around the corner, right?

This morning I’m thinking about a terrible reality that you probably experience often, as I do. People who don’t keep their promises, or people who give advice and then do something very different from the advice they gave. May I ask, how do you protect your heart from being wounded by people like that?

We’re walking through the little letter written by James, the 1/2 brother of Jesus. It’s in the New Testament of the Bible and we’re in the first chapter, today let’s look at vs. 19-27. “…Everyone should be quick to listen and slow to speak and slow to become angry, for man’s anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires.” If it helps you to understand, you can substitute the word “holy” for the word “righteous”. Yes, we know God desires that we live “holy lives”, in fact Peter wrote: “…just as He who called you is holy so be holy in all you do.” (1 Peter 1:15) May I ask…how strong is your desire for holy living…living a God honoring life? This hunger is one of the genuine evidences of a person who has been authentically saved by Jesus, and the Holy Spirit is alive and working in their life!

Have you discovered the power of LISTENING? We see James here said we should be “…quick to LISTEN and slow to SPEAK…”, does that describe you and me? We learn much more when we listen then when we talk, don’t we?! Wisdom is found in listening. May I give you a few wise words from king Solomon about this:

1. Prov. 21:23 “He who guards his mouth and his tongue keeps himself from calamity.”

2. Prov. 17:27,28 “A man of knowledge uses his words with restraint, and a man of understanding is even-tempered. Even a fool is thought wise if he keeps silent and discerning if he holds his tongue.”

3. Prov. 18:13 “He who answers before listening – that is his folly and his shame.”

4. Prov. 15:1,2,3 “A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger. The tongue of the wise commends knowledge, but the mouth of the fool gushes folly. The tongue that brings healing is a tree of life, but a deceitful tongue crushes the spirit.”

As you can see my friends, Proverbs is filled with practical wisdom that can be very, very helpful to living life wisely and without regret! May I urge you to drink from the fountain of Proverbs very often, maybe a little everyday?

So James calls us to recognize the danger of talking too much, listening too little and moving too quickly to losing our self-control and turning angry. (James 1:19,20) Do you agree with James’ summary statement? “…for man’s anger does not bring about the righteous [holy] life that God desires.” And what specific ‘best practices’ have you learned for guarding your tongue so you don’t say things you’ll regret, or speaking more than you listen, or letting your emotions get carried away into anger? What wisdom do you share with your kids and grandkids about this? How do they respond? Have you shared some of your wisdom with them lately?

I like how James doesn’t mince words. He doesn’t beat around the bush. With James, it’s straight talk. Listen: “Get rid of all moral filth and evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you.” (James 1:21) I have a cousin who is a very good dentist, I trust him. I admit to you I grew up with dentists using very old equipment and it was a painful experience for me. Oh when I heard it was time to see the dentist I could hardly sleep at night, as boy. It’s much different now, but I understand that the dentist has a very important decision to make that is a mirror of the decision you and I have every day. When we see the decaying bad stuff in our lives, what do we do about that?

We can ignore it and hope it will simply go away or not hurt our lives too much. That’s never a good idea is it? Or we can pretend and simply cover it over, like painting over mold or telling the dentist to simply put a cover over the decay in our tooth…again a very bad idea, right? Or we can root out the decay, clean the place where the decay was, and replace the decay with wonderful, solid stuff that we can build our future on! That’s what a good dentist does, right? Now it might hurt a bit, especially if the decay is deep, but in the long run, getting the decay out is the only wise thing to do, right? Isn’t that what James is talking about here?

Can you identify the stuff that James calls “moral filth and evil” that might be taking root in your life, and are you courageous enough to root it out? Have you noticed simply going through normal life our clothes get dirty and need to be washed once in a while? It’s the same with our hearts and minds! We live in a world filled with such ‘moral filth and evil’ that we can’t escape it, and it affects us. Sometimes it finds a weak spot in our hearts or minds and it begins to take root! James calls us to do a self-check OFTEN and then take action, with the help of the Holy Spirit, to clean your mind and heart from the decay you find in you, and then fill your mind and heart with God’s Word which should be planted deeply in you! Are you doing that often my friends? How often… everyday!

I love how James calls us to be people to root God’s Word so deeply in our lives that we live by it, we DO what it says to DO! “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves! Do what it says!” (James 1:22) Have you ever heard the phrase, ‘in one ear and out the other‘? Or how about this one: “it’s water off a duck’s back”! You know what they mean right? It describes a person who hears important, wise truth but disregards it. They act as if they never heard it! If you are a parent or grandparent you understand how much it hurts when our kids or grandkids disregard our wisdom and act as if they never heard it, right? So when God is watching your life and mine, does He see us disregarding His important life truths that He has made available to us in His Word?

May we look at one more great truth in these few verses from James today? “If anyone considers themself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on their tongue, they deceive themself and their religion is worthless!” (James 1:26) WOW! What do you think about that? When you see a person in church and yet during the week you know them to be a foulmouth liar or someone who speaks hurtful words often to others… what stirs up in your spirit about that person and their ‘religion’?

Finally James strikes right at the bullseye of the target: “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” (James 1:27) Now we understand Jesus has not invited us to a ‘religion’ but rather to an authentic relationship with God through Him. James, as you can see, is going to be calling us to consider this powerful question, over and over, throughout his letter: how does our behavior and our words either validate or deny our claim that we have a relationship with Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord?

Throughout the Bible God calls us to be aware of the harsh reality that orphans and widows often live without the most fundamental God design for living life with a content heart. . .a family! Sadly, in our day, we have millions of children who have been rejected, abandoned by their parents, and we have millions of adults whose spouses have either died or walked away leaving their marriage vows behind and deeply wounding their spouse. An authentic relationship with Jesus awakens in us a natural love and compassion for those wounded, love starved children and adults. What are you doing about that when you see them, my friends?

So today my friends, James is calling us to a self evaluation, especially if you call yourself a “Christian”, as follower of Jesus! I’m inviting you to go back and read these few verses, and ask the Holy Spirit of God to help you see deep into yourself, as God sees you. . .and then, take action as Jesus leads you!

Today’s Scripture is James 1:19-27.

Choose below to read or listen.

Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.

Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here.

Pastor Doug Anderson 262.441.8785
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)

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