The Law
Convicts
The Lord
is good at getting my attention. Maybe I
should even say that the Lord is good at slapping me across the face. Because there are times when I get too proud
of myself and there are times when I get distracted from what really matters in
this life and there are times when I become completely self-absorbed to the
harm of everyone around me, and I need a slap in the face… or two… or
three. And thankfully the Lord is more
than willing to do that for me! Now
sometimes he does that through certain people in my life who make me stop and
think how I am acting; and sometimes he does that by allowing different
difficulties in my life to rearrange my priorities; but many times he gives me
a slap in the face with a simple verse or two from the Bible. James 1:22 is one of those verses. “Do not merely listen to the word, and so
deceive yourselves. Do what it says.”
Ouch. That gets me every time. Because every time I feel as if I’m doing
fairly well as a Christian, every time I assume that most of my life is
relatively God-pleasing, then I seem to run across James 1:22 again and I get
slapped in the face one more time. “Do not merely listen to the word, and so
deceive yourselves. Do what it says.”
Does
this verse make you feel a little guilty too or is just me? Because we sit here in a worship service
every Sunday, listening to the words of God and agreeing with all of them. And we delve into the details of what the
Lord says through Bible studies during the week and we are supportive of them
all. And we read our own Bibles at home,
soaking in the absolute truths of God’s word and subscribing to each of them. But agreeing to and being supportive of and
subscribing to God’s Word is one thing; actually “doing” what the Lord tells us
to do is something completely different, isn’t it? And that’s why this verse gets me every
time. It convicts me. It reminds me about what I do not do and how
hypocritical I really am sometimes. “Do not merely listen to the word, and so
deceive yourselves. Do what it says.”
That really is a slap in the face.
Especially considering that one of the ways people should be able to
identify us as Christians is by what we do.
Actions
Identify a Christian
Take a
look at what you do as a Christian compared to what God tells you to do. And we can start right here with the
directives surrounding this very verse in James 1, directives that should be
distinctive of Christians. God told us just
a few minutes ago that “Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become
angry” (v.19). Now I’m sure that no one in here was offended
by those words - we all agreed in our own minds that this is exactly what a
Christian should do. But did you
honestly intend to go home and put those words into practice? Did you think to yourself, “You know, you’re
right, Lord! I’m going to be quick to
listen to everyone as often as possible; I’m going to be slow to speak no
matter what I have to say; I’m going to do my best to hold back my anger
regardless of the situation. That’s
something I’m going to implement right away!”
Was anything like that going through your mind when the second Scripture
reading was read or were you just listening to those words without intending to
do them?
What
about the words that God spoke to us a few verses later? “If
anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his
tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless” (v.26). When you heard those words earlier this
morning did you honestly think to yourself, “That’s something I need to work
on; and I’m going to work on it.
I’m going to keep a tight rein on my tongue so that I don’t undermine
the Christian name that I carry; I don’t want to dishonor my God by the
inappropriate things that I say. And I
am going to make sure that I do a better job of that in the future - starting
today.” If something like that ran
through your mind when James 1 was read… all I can say is: Wow. If that is the case, you are a much more
mature Christian than I am. Because I only
listened to those words; I wasn’t planning on making the effort to integrate
them into my everyday life!
But
that’s precisely what a Christian does: a
Christian does. A Christian won’t just listen, a Christian
will do the things the Lord asks him to do.
And so as we go down the list of commands and instructions in the pages
of the Bible, the hundreds and hundreds of ways in which a Christian can
identified, how do you fare? Are you a
doer of God’s word or are you normally just a listener? Are you content to simply sit in a worship
service and hear these words or are you someone who does not hesitate to get
out of that chair and carry them out?
Of
course, even when we actually try to do the things the Lord asks us to do, we
are usually miserable at it, aren’t we?
We can have the best of intentions and put in a lot of effort in getting
those things done, but most of the time we fall far short! It’s a scary thing to think that one of the
main ways a Christian can be identified is by our actions. Because I, for one, certainly do not do what
I should do as often as I should do it.
Christ is “The
Doer”
So where
does that leave us? If we don’t do what
we should do, and if we can’t do what we should do even if we wanted to, where
does that leave us? It leaves us with an
ego that is deflated, a conscience that is loaded down with guilt, and a whole
list of commands that have yet to be carried out. And so that also leaves us with a need for
something that can give us confidence again, for something that can take away
those guilty feelings, for something that can accomplish those commands that we
cannot accomplish on our own. But we
need more than a something, don’t we?
What we need is a Someone to do those things. We need a Doer. We need Jesus. Because God in his Word doesn’t just slap us
in the face, he also lifts our face up to see Christ and what he did on our
behalf. Everything in the Bible has been
written to turn people to their Savior.
Even a passage like James 1:22 is meant to steer us in the direction of
Jesus. “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what
it says.” Even this verse points us
to Christ because when we read these words we realize that Jesus is the only
person that could ever do what these words demand! He is The Doer. The Accomplisher of our salvation. The one who said, “Yes, I’ll do it all” and
the one who actually did.
Take
some time this week and read through some of the stories of Jesus. And when you do, count how many things Jesus actually
did. He was always doing something; he
was never sitting back and watching as the world passed him by. He preached, he taught, he instructed; he
healed, he cured, he forgave; he performed miracles publically on the waters of
Galilee, privately on the mountains of Israel, and personally inside the houses
and bedrooms of those who believed in him.
And on top of it all he was always keeping every one of God’s laws every
moment of every day! Be loving, God said…
done. Be kind… done. Be honest, truthful, and faithful… done. Be dedicated to your God… done. Be dedicated to everyone else… done. Be tortured… done. Be crucified… done. Be a corpse… done. Be alive… done. Everything that his Father asked him to do,
he did. Everything that we were supposed
to do and didn’t, he did. And he did it
all not to prove how good he was or to gain any credit for himself. Jesus did all of those things so that we
wouldn’t be held accountable when we couldn’t.
What Jesus did counts for us.
What Jesus did has been put on our record. Because what we failed to do was put on his.
A Christian is a “Doer”
Which
means that we can now look at a passage like James 1:22 in a different
light. We know that we do not need to
keep God’s Word perfectly to get to heaven; Jesus has already done that for
us. But we also know that when we try to
do what the Lord tells us to do and not just listen to it, we are pleasing our
God who did so much for us. Instead of
an obligation, God’s commands are now opportunities. Instead of a requirement for forgiveness, they
are ways in which we can praise the Savior for the forgiveness he has already
earned. “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what
it says.” “OK, Lord! I’ll try to do it! I know how much you have done for me; I know
how much you are doing for me right now; I know how much you have promised to
do for me as long as I live on this earth and all the way through
eternity! And so I am more than happy to
do what your Word says and not just listen to it! If that is what makes you happy, if that is a
way in which I can show my appreciation for your love, then that’s exactly what
I am going to try to do!”
And
that’s why a Christian is a “doer” - not because he has to but because he wants
to. Not because he’d feel guilty if he
didn’t but because his guilt has already been taken away. A Christian tries to do what the Lord tells
him to do; a Christian strives to accomplish the tasks the Lord gives him; a
Christian makes an effort to carry out the directives that the Lord has laid
out. It’s one of the ways a Christian is
identified in this world. Not the only way. And it’s not a fool-proof method either. But when a person does what the Lord commands
joyfully and enthusiastically, that is a fairly strong indication about who
that person really is.
Be a Joyful
Doer
“Do not merely listen to the word,
and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.” You have a wonderful opportunity this week:
to put these words into practice. It
does no good to listen to these words on a Sunday morning without trying to carry
them out Monday through Saturday. And so
when you go home today and you honestly try to implement God commands into your
life - and you do so with a happy heart, excited to find ways that you can
thank your Savior - that is one of the most pleasing things that you could ever
do for your Lord. It honestly makes him
happy; it thrills him to see that kind of attitude in his children. Because he is no longer upset that you don’t
do everything perfectly, he is simply content that you do what you do for
him. “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what
it says.” Gladly, Lord. Gladly.
Because what a joy and privilege it is to do this little thing for him
who did so much for us.
Amen.
“May
our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace
gave us eternal encouragement and good hope, encourage
your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word.” - 2 Thess. 2:16-17
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