Be Doers of the Word

James’s Call to Genuine Faith and Obedience

Please turn in your Bibles to the book of James and chapter one. I'm going to begin reading in verse 16, James chapter one, verse 16 and following. This is God's holy and infallible word. Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren.

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above and comes down from the father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning. Of his own will, he brought us forth by the word of truth that we might be a kind of first fruits of his creatures.

So then my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear slow to speak slow to wrath for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God. Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word which is able to save your souls.

But be doers of the word and not hearers only deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror. For he observes himself goes away and immediately forgets what kind of man he was.

But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work. This one will be blessed in what he does. If anyone among you thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this one's religion is useless.

Pure and undefiled religion before God and the father is this to visit orphans and widows and their trouble and to keep oneself unspotted from the world. Please pray with me. Oh Lord, I pray that that we would heed your word today and that we would become doers of the word.

Not in a part time way, oh Lord, but in every respect that our lives would be characterized by joyful and thankful obedience. That we would long to know your truth. That it would satisfy our souls. And even more, oh Lord, that we would put it into practice comprehensively, exhaustively in our lives.

I ask your blessing upon your people as they come to your word and ask this in Jesus' name, amen. Please be seated. As we've been studying James, there's been a recurring notion that has been the undercurrent of the message thus far and we remember that James seeks a genuine faith in Christ of those who are hearing and that goes for his audience and the Holy Spirit through his inspiration and preservation of his most holy word has also delivered that to you and to the church throughout the ages.

A genuine faith in Christ which is marked by obedience and is growing up to full maturity. So a question that arises today that I hope to answer is how is this lofty goal of being made perfect and complete in Christ accomplished?

And it's that title of the message today, be doers of the word. We are a long way to being perfect and complete in Christ and mature if we are those who are doers of the word. God has made us in his image and through the decisive work of Christ he has made us a new creation.

He made us to be something and we are daily being remade and becoming something more in him. We are sanctified. We are set apart and we are made to be holy and entirely consecrated to his service. We are united to Christ and filled with his spirit.

He gives us his word. We receive it with gladness. He has not withheld his truth and he has not withheld his expectations. And he is delighted to bless us. In our text today, since we have been granted so great a salvation in Christ, we have a covenantal privilege and obligation.

We have to perform something. We must give him the entirety of our hearts and lives in worship and obedient service. Nothing in reserve. The entirety of your person belongs to Christ. He is your life.

Give him the worship and adoration and praise and give him all of your attention and give him all of your obedience. We must be doers of the word. Today, those five words. Our title. It's our thesis and application.

All in those few words. Texts like this preach themselves. They are familiar to us, but this poses a challenge. We know it, but do we really know it? Do we love it? At the thrust of James, most importantly, do we live it?

There are two portions of scripture that will probably alluded to in the Sermon on the Mount that are tethered to our text. The first is found in Matthew 5, 19, and the other is in Matthew 7. It's interesting.

Our theme here in James forms somewhat of bookends of Jesus' message on the Sermon on the Mount. Today, for those of you who need an outline, I have three points for you. First, very simply, the title of the message there in your bulletin.

Be doers of the word. Be doers of the word. Second, what's a doer of the word to do? When I began studying and thinking about this about a week ago, around the time that we were before last week's service, this is one of those messages that goes, OK, yeah, we have to be doers of the word.

What is a doer to do then? It's a question we have to get into. And third, there's a blessing to be attained. It's in the last verse, verse 25. We're covering verses 22 through 25. The Geneva Bible, to give us a kickoff into our exegesis, says this.

Therefore is God's word heard that we may frame our lives according to the prescript thereof. The God's word is heard that we may frame our lives according to the prescript thereof. Well, let's look at our text again, beginning at verse 22.

But be doers of the word. Now, this word be is a little more rich and vibrant than mere existence. In English, it's kind of a word that kind of means it means several things, but it kind of means to just exist in a way.

But in this construction, under the inspiration of the spirit, this has an idea of to come into being, to emerge. To transition from one point or realm or condition to another, maybe more like becoming.

It signifies a change of condition or state or place. And maybe very important for us today, it implies motion, movement and growth. You are to become a doer of the word. Not merely a hearer. And this present tense construction means that this is kind of a permanent condition or state of the believer.

You may have been a doer of the word some years ago, and now your faith is flagging a little bit. The principle is I'm a Christian. I'm alive. Therefore, I'm a doer of the word. That's universally so.

It's not for super spiritual people and preachers and elders and those kinds of people. Every Christian is here commanded to be a doer of the word. And it's something that we are in some sense, partially we're growing in this way, but we are becoming or should be becoming.

And after Sunday, this Sunday, we must be becoming more and more and more doers of the word. We're becoming something. We're becoming more of what we already are in Christ. To be in Christ means that this work, this progressive work has begun, that we would be doers of the word.

The second important word to consider for us to have a full understanding of what the text is saying is this idea of doers. I think it's a strange English word. It's awkward on the page to me, doers, but it's a blessed word.

In scriptural parlance, this is one who obeys or fulfills the law. Matthew 5 19 says this. Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches men so shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven.

But whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. I've been meditating upon a subject and it's the subject of the glory of man and the glory of God. This has been a private devotional thought I've been having.

And everyone, every one of us is pursuing glory. Every one of us is got a sinful tendency to promote self glorification or to win the applause of men, to have the glory of men. Every Christian should aspire to glory and that aspiration for glory should be for the glory of God.

It's better than any celebrity glory. It's better than likes on your social media posts. It's better than a steam at the office. It's better that than people saying that you're a great man or woman. You and I have been it's been laid out before us that there's a blessing in pursuing the glory of God.

And it's manifested in some way in our obedience and our allegiance and our devotion and our service and our working for him. Whoever does, whoever is a doer and teaches them to be doer parents, teach your children to be doers of the word.

Then you shall be called great. And the kingdom of heaven. You'll recall that James is seeking a genuine faith marked by obedience. There's another reference is one of the only ones I'll probably have you turn to today in the interest of time.

To see how integrated this thought is in Jesus ministry, turn back to the book of Luke in chapter eight. Gospel according to Luke. In chapter eight, we'll be looking at verses 19 and following Luke eight.

I still stand by my theory about the identity of James, and I know I have detractors in the congregation on this. I think this is one of the evidences that may bolster and support it for James being the brother of Jesus.

Luke eight, beginning at verse 19. Then his mother and brothers came to him and could not approach him because of the crowd. And it was told him by some who said, your mother and your brothers are standing outside desiring to see you.

But he answered and said to them, listen carefully. My mother and my brothers are these who hear the word of God. And do it. See, the appeal is familial connection. Jesus, give your mother and your brothers the time of day.

Let them come through the crowd and come near to you. And Jesus kind of gives a superior allegiance. We are family centric people, rightfully so. But but Jesus says, those who are really united to me and those who are close to me, they're not my blood relatives.

They're those who hear the word of God and do it. Act upon it. One theory about this is that this was striking and formative in James's own thinking and conversion later, because he was at this time, if he was the brother of Christ, he was an unbelieving man and him.

It's astounding, isn't it? Those who have the covenantal tie to Christ. There's a superiority there. There no doubt were earthly cousins and and maybe even siblings or something in the in Jesus's family, distant relatives who did not believe him to be the Messiah.

But but someone born thousands of years later in a different part of the world could be called a brother of Christ because he met the covenant privilege and obligation of hearing. And doing. It's very powerful stuff in order to be this kind of person, you have to be a doer of the word.

Go back to our text. Again, I'm giving a little not technical parsing, but a little explanation of the language so that we might have a fuller picture of what we already know to be true. The next word for consideration.

Is the word. Now, this word is a very complex word. It covers things like the scripture, the person and work of Jesus Christ. This word is the expression of thought of God, and that is found in the scriptures.

For the Jewish man, the Torah is the the word of God. It is the very voice of God, the instruction of how to live. And that's very much at the heart of what Torah means. This is how you are to live as a person who belongs to God, who's united to Christ.

The very essence and substance of the doctrine of scripture is that we are a people who live a certain way, who conform to the holy standard of God. And we're striving to to put to death those things which are contrary to it.

Christ, as the word made flesh, has communicated the mind of God to us completely. He's done it in the inspired scriptures and he embodies the truth as the law giver in his own person. And he shows us what the word is and how we are to live.

So we start thinking about living like Christ lived to have a life that is characterized by Christ likeness. We look to Christ and when we look to Christ, we realize that every jot and tittle of this he has kept and he's excelled.

He is the exemplary doer of the word. Now, this flows out of his essence and own divine substance, but in practical terms and obedience, he lives this out in this incredible exemplary fashion. He is the ontological doer.

It springs from his very essence. If you want to know what holiness and righteousness are, you have to look at Christ. And his teaching is found not only in the words in red, but throughout the whole of scripture.

It's his word. It's communicated to us in this accessible, incredible, powerful fashion. To be a doer then is to think in accordance with God's revelation. And to act upon that truth like Christ would.

This is a high standard for the people of God. But you and I are called to this. As we'll find out at the end, there's a path to great blessing in this. So you and I are not only to be theologically savvy.

And not only able to carry on a conversation and talk about our particular affinities. And we have to acknowledge this is one of the greatest weaknesses in the Reformed Church. We have a sophist type religion sometimes because we like to just talk about it.

Just talking about it is not enough. We have to implement it. We have to be men, women, and children of action. We have to do it. Must be doers of the word. Well, the phraseology continues and it says, and not hearers only.

When I think of hearers, I think of the people who come and they're sincere in their devotion. They come and they listen maybe to the sermon. They come to church. They read their Bibles and they're less disciplined to act on it.

But it seems to be more negatively given to us in the scriptures. It's found only here and in Romans 2 .13 in the New Testament. And Romans 2 .13 says this. For not the hearers of the law are just in the sight of God.

But the doers of the law will be justified. That's an incredible statement from Paul who's accused of being light on the law. Only those who do it will be justified. And in fact, an extra biblical usage with the Greeks.

It defined the men who gathered to listen to the great orators and lecturers. We have some of that in the church. We like to hear fine sounding arguments. I agreed with him. I disagreed with him. And we go on and live our lives.

Unmoved, unchanged hearers. It reminds me of some of those who gathered at Mars Hill. And God in his grace, I think saved a number of them at the Areopagus in Acts 17. It says this. That they appeal to Paul after hearing some of the gospel message.

And they said, may we know this new doctrine of which you speak. For you are bringing strange things to our ears. Therefore, we want to know what these things mean. For all the Athenians and the foreigners who were there spent their time and nothing else.

But to tell or hear some new thing. Let's not be those kinds of Christians who like to quibble over details theologically. It's all important. We should always be striving for the truth. But do you love the debate and the game more than the substance of it?

Oh, we're so smart. Look what we've accumulated in our knowledge. How bereft of glory are we if we do not live it? What a judgment upon the people of God to to fill their minds with lofty ideas, with no intention of living it.

James and the Holy Spirit is calling us. To be a different kind of person, to be a doer of the word. Not a hearer, there's a danger there in the deception. I don't want to be deceived. And this deception is a self-deception.

This is a reasoning which is contrary to the truth. And you and I do this. The noetic effects of sin have hit our brains and we we reason wrongly. We put connections together that ought not to be put together.

We reason falsely. And this is why our minds have to be renewed. We have to give great attention to the diligent, attentive, zealous study of the word. Paul says in Colossians 2 .4,. Now I say this, lest anyone should deceive you with persuasive words.

I love the old King James, which says, lest any man should beguile you. The reason these warnings are in Scripture is because we are prone to being deceived. And we know now because of this noetic effects of sin and the corruption of our own hearts, which we've already considered in chapter one, that the desires I have can be deceived.

Deluded. It could be filled with self-deception. There's a great danger to not be a doer of the word. To be merely a hearer that you would be self-deceived. Well, now he gives us a very good illustration.

In verse 23, please look at that. It says, if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror, for he observes himself, goes away and immediately forgets what kind of man he was.

Children, I don't know if you know this, and there may be some. This is from my memory bank of being a younger person, which is now a long time ago, I'm told by my children. Our mirrors are made from polished sand.

In the ancient world, they didn't have this mirror technology. They would take a piece of bronze or silver or gold and they would polish it to that high sheen and they would look at themselves and that would serve as their mirror.

And it was accurate. If you ever polished silver, it's very reflective. You can see your face in it. Now, when we think about this, we think this is kind of strange. And children, this may seem like an awkward statement to you.

How could you look at yourself in the mirror and immediately forget what kind of man you were? What kind of person you were? You know what you look like, although I have to tell you, you've never actually seen your face.

You've seen the reverse of your face. You've seen the opposite, a reflection of your face. What I think is striking here is, imagine I have cut my face and I've got a big gash. And it requires some kind of attention, probably sutures or stitches or something and the like.

And I'm spurting blood out. And as I look at myself in the mirror, I go, this is not a big deal. I'll go on with my day. Well, that would be unwise. Well, when you look in the mirror, you see something else.

I don't know if you've noticed this. There are lines forming on your faces and creases. That youthful glow you had as a child, as a young adult, that has faded. And when you look in the mirror, that should remind you that time is short and I must be about the business of God.

There's a lot of things that can happen in the mirror. I think the biggest illustration of this language is this. When you or I look in the mirror, we see a redeemed child of God bought with the blood of Christ.

And I think that's the biggest picture here. The unwise man looks in the mirror and he forgets that he belongs to Christ and he's been united to him and he's been forgiven and he has salvation. And now he's a holy man.

He goes and he doesn't give attention to being a doer of the word. May we never forget what kind of man we are. We also have some humility. The perfect mirror of God's word shines on our faces and it is like a makeup costume mirror.

It amplifies and magnifies all of the flaws and blemishes. And this should be a cause for our rejoicing because that blemished man, woman or child in the mirror with all of those marks and pox and everything that is unpleasant.

That man, that woman, that child has been redeemed by Christ. And I also need to go to work. Employing the means of the word and the operation powerfully of the spirit. The counsel of brethren. I need to go about the great work of being remade, recreated, renewed in Christ.

That mirror illustration is pretty good. There's another way to look at this that we have to consider. Look at verse 25. A contrast is given. This is the. Anti man who forgets. But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty.

It continues in it. I should point out to you, this probably should cause our minds to jump back to the Sermon on the Mount again. Because Jesus doesn't give a new law. The perfect, preeminent, exemplary lawgiver gives us the fullest picture of the law through his own mouth and life and actions.

He teaches us all of those things that the law has already commanded the people. In his word. The righteous man, the smart man, the wise man looks into this perfect law. What does he do? Look at the language.

He continues in it. I think this. Language is interesting. The. The disciples, when they. Ran to the empty tomb. I want you to think for purposes of illustration. I'm taking some liberty with the grammatical usage of the word to illustrate the point of James here.

To look intently would probably be a better. Translation. The disciples, Peter and John. They ran. To the open tomb. And they stooped down sideways. And peered into and looked intently into the empty tomb.

Can you imagine the wonder and amazement of the risen Christ? The empty tomb. How attention grabbing, how much engagement mentally and bodily did the disciples have looking at the empty tomb? You and I.

Should look. At the word of God. With that intensity. We're seeing the revelation of God's salvation and redemption in Christ. And he's telling me he's giving me my marching orders. It's also. Used in first Peter.

To talk about what the angels did when they looked intently. The thing they desire to look into. The angels are intently looking upon the glorious Christ and sinful humanity and they're they're intently gazing.

Their attention is grabbed. Why does the king of glory redeem them? Why are they the objects of his affection? That's how the angels look upon. The salvation of God's people. There's an intensity. I believe you and I are called.

To have focus. Self. Discipline. And actually. Strenuous exertion. To look into this perfect law of liberty. And not merely to study it. To meditate upon it. That word chewing the cud is closely associated with the idea of meditation.

We are grinding on it. We're contemplating it. We're looking at it from every facet and angle. And we're also going to swallow it. We're going to assimilate it. We're going to take it into our own person.

And we're going to live from that truth. Which we have taken and heard. And meditated upon and chewed on with our mouths. And it's going to go down into our stomachs. And it's going to be used. To energize.

Our Christian lives. He who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues it. Continues in it. And is not a forgetful hearer. But a doer of the work. This one will be blessed. In what he does. We just studied this in Philippians.

To give you some structure and help to the language. To continue in it is like what Paul said in Philippians 1. Paul was committed. Even though he's in a Roman imprisonment. He's going to stay with the Philippians.

He's going to send emissaries. He's going to write letters. He's going to do whatever it takes. Listen to what Paul and his attachment to the Philippian church is. And use it to apply this concept of how intently you and I are to peer into the glorious word of God.

Be confident of this. I know that I shall remain. And continue with you all. For your progress and joy of faith. Paul is going to stay there. He's going to abide there. He's going to remain there until the end.

He's going to persevere in it. You and I need to persevere in our study. Well, that took a little longer than I thought, but I'm going to finish. This is point two. How does the doer of the word. What does the doer of the word.

What's he to do? I'm going to try to show you how to do this. Maybe a new way of Bible study for you. I want you to turn back to Matthew 5. Sermon on the Mount. This is not going to be long. This is very important to attempt to apply the principle.

The Sermon on the Mount. I've selected two. And truthfully, very randomly. Of the Beatitudes. And for those of you who are wondering, there's 1 ,050, depending on how you count it, imperatives, commands in the New Testament.

I'm actually going to read you a few of those in just a minute to further illustrate this point. But we think, and maybe for the theology nerds among us, not every imperative is a command. Most of them are.

The future indicative can also be a command. So there's even probably a bigger list of things that we should do. 1 ,050! That's a lot! In the New Testament. I'm going to pick verse 6. Look at that. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled.

Now there's one way to read and hear this passage to say, Hungering and thirsting for righteousness is a good thing. You should do that. But we have to get into the language and attempt to apply it to our own lives.

This is a statement of blessing. This isn't really so much structured in the form of a command, is it? But when I read something like this, if it's a blessed estate that a Christian can reside in, then I should eagerly pursue that.

So those who hunger and thirst for righteousness will be filled. Now why this illustration? Well, let me take a stab at it. The basic needs of the body, and this is what I want you to begin training yourself to do, is to see the connections and try to use those connections to further pierce your own heart with the truth.

The basic needs of the body are persistent. You cannot go very long without food. Some of you have had loud belly growlings even today in our worship service. And even more so, you can't go very long without food or water, even shorter, without some great discomfort.

As a Christian, you have to know what righteousness is. So I have to be a student of the word, and I have to know who Christ is. I need to get it through sound teaching and Bible study and prayer, and additionally through the counsel of godly and mature believers.

And then righteousness for me, after reading this, needs to become a life pursuit that should be as persistent as eating and drinking. How many times per day do you eat meals? I have a son. I haven't teased my children from the pulpit in a long time.

Today's the day. I have a son who is a grazer. His name's Elijah. He eats all day. So Elijah, you got a big problem now, son. Your pursuit of righteousness should be on the tip of your tongue, the growling of your belly, the slaking of your thirst.

It should be as persistent as your hunger and your thirst. How many times per day do you eat, have a snack, take a drink? Your life should be characterized by an intense longing for Christ and his righteousness.

That's how basic, but that's how you become a doer of the word. You say, that's mine. I own it. Now I'm marching to that beat. I'm going now. This has been brought to me in the word. Now I'm acting. The second, let's look at Matthew 5 verse 9.

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. I read this and I go, it would be nice to be a peacemaker, to be a doer of the word. This principle demands action. You now, I've read it to you.

You have to ask yourself this. Am I peaceable? Am I contentious? Am I self-willed? Am I selfish? Do I seek the good of my neighbor? Do I actively pursue the good of my neighbor? These are hard questions.

You might find that the peacemaker problem is you. You're the reason there's strife and contention in the church or the family. That's the first part. Secondarily, to be a doer of the word. Am I willing to get my hands dirty?

Am I willing to enter the fray of conflict between two brothers who are at odds? Most of you today are not. Are you willing to enter into the messiness of someone else's life? I really don't want to get involved is a common Christian response.

We have an obligation. We're called to the blessing of being peacemakers. Am I willing to risk my own personal tranquility to bring peace to the church? Am I willing to sacrifice myself and my interests and my comfort and the easiness with which I get along with all the people in the church in order to bring about peace in the church?

Will I pray for and counsel the parties who are in distress? It's a far long way from just reading, blessed are the peacemakers. Again, it's only a partial answer to do a lot more on each of those. Well, I've laid a lot on you, but I'm going to lay a little bit more unapologetically.

I have some B statements because we're called to be doers. B statements commands in scripture and some do statements that we'd be doers. And I have a put off and put off. It's gonna be very quick. I just want the bulk of this to kind of fall on you.

And you think about what's required of us to be doers of the word. Be exceedingly glad. Be reconciled to a brother. Be perfect. Be wise as serpents, harmless as doves. Be ready for Christ's coming. Be content with your wages.

Be merciful. Be like faithful servants. Be thankful. Be at peace among yourselves. Be patient toward all people. Be no partaker of sin. Be sober and hope. Be sober and pray. Be sober, grave, temperate, sound in faith, charity, and patience.

Be sober, loving, and love your husbands and children if you're a young woman. Be sober-minded if you're a young man. Be in that behavior as is becoming to the saints if you're an older woman, Titus 2.

Be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient if you're a young woman. Be ready to give an answer of the hope that is in you, 1 Peter 3. Be of good cheer. Be baptized. Be converted. Be transformed.

Be kind of brotherly love to one another. Be fervent in spirit. Be patient in tribulation. Be given to hospitality. Be afraid if you're lawless. Be no idolater. Be followers of Paul as he followed Christ.

Be followers of God. Be followers of the faithful and patient. Be not children in understanding. Be men of understanding. Be steadfast. Be unmovable. Be unmovable again. Be always abounding in God's work.

Be strong in the Lord. Be of good comfort. Be of one mind. Be separate from the unclean. Be renewed in spirit. Be angry and sin not. Be tender-hearted one to another. Be filled with the Spirit. Be like-minded.

Be of one accord. Be anxious for nothing. Be an example to believers in word, conversation, charity, spirit, faith, and purity. Be a partaker in Christ's sufferings. Be gentle to all people. Be apt to teach.

Be in season and out of season. Be careful to maintain good works. Be content with what you have. Be doers of the word. Be afflicted and mourn. Be patient till Christ comes. Be holy in conversation. Be pitiful.

Be courteous. Be examples of the flock of God and don't lord it over them, 1 Peter 5. Be subject to one another. Be clothed with humility. Be sober. Be vigilant. Be mindful of prophecies and commandments.