JAMES: PRACTICAL FAITH - Living Proof (James 1:19-27) - 5-4-25

JAMES: PRACTICAL FAITH - Living Proof (James 1:19-27) - 5-4-25

INTRODUCTION

Persevere to maturity

James 1:19-27 NIV

My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires. Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you. Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do. Those who consider themselves religious and yet do not keep a tight rein on their tongues deceive themselves, and their religion is worthless. 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 ‭1‬:‭19-27‬ NIV‬‬‬‬

I.  HUMAN ANGER

James 1:19-20 NIV

“My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires.”

‭‭ James‬ ‭1‬:‭19‬-‭20‬ ‭NIV‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬

The Indian political and spiritual leader, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (1869 - 1948), once said, "Man should forget his anger before he lies down to sleep."

The Roman emperor, soldier, and stoic philosopher, Marcus Aurelius

Antoninus Augustus (121 - 180), once said, "How much more grievous are the consequences of anger than the causes of it."

The American journalist, Ambrose Gwinnett Bierce (1842 - 1914), once said, "Speak when you are angry and you will make the best speech you will ever regret."

The Chinese thinker and philosopher, Confucius (551 B.C - 479 B.C.), once said, "When anger rises, think of the consequences."

The American poet, Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803 - 1882), once said, "For every minute you remain angry, you give up sixty seconds of peace of mind."

A.  Anger does not get us where we want to go

B.  Another way

1.  Quick to listen 

2.  Slow to speak

3.  Slow to become angry

Babe Pinelli (umpire who was behind the plate for Don Larsen's perfect World Series game) wrote an article for The Second Fireside Book of Baseball, titled "Kill the Umpire? Don't Make Me Laugh!" in which he told about his rookie year of 1935, when he was told that he should not call a strike on Babe Ruth, who was winding up his career with the Boston Braves. Pinelli didn't see it that way. When he was behind the plate and Ruth came to bat, and a close pitch went by that Ruth didn't swing at, Pinelli deemed it a strike and so called it. Ruth turned to the umpire and bellowed, "There's forty thousand people in this park that know that was a ball, tomato-head!" Pinelli didn't lose his cool. He replied calmly, "Perhaps--but mine is the only opinion that counts." Ruth had no answer for that.

II.  GET RID OF . . . 

James 1:22-25 NIV

“Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do.”

‭‭James‬ ‭1‬:‭22‬-‭25‬ ‭NIV‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬

A person must put off every dirty thing and lay it off to the side away from himself. If he enjoys the dirt and filth, then his mind is going to be on it. His mind will not be clear, not enough to hear the Word of God.

William Barclay makes the point that the Greek word for "filthiness" is taken from the Greek word rupos. The word is sometimes used to refer to wax in the ear (The Letters of James and Peter, p.66).

The picture is descriptive: a person with wax in the ear cannot hear the Word of God, not clearly. Therefore, he must take the wax out of his ear and put it away or else he will be deaf to the Word of God. He must put aside all that remains of naughtiness, wickedness, and evil. 

Dr. Larry Petton, Sermon Central, January 28, 2024.

A.  Moral filth and evil

1.  Moral filth

2.  Evil

3.  So prevalent

B.  Accept the Word

1.  Humbly

2.  Do not merely listen to the Word

3.  Do what it says.

James 1:23-25 NIV

Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do.   

James 1:23-25

III.  WORTHY RELIGION

The 19th-century Danish theologian Soren Kierkegaard identified two kinds of religion--Religion A and Religion B. The first is "faith" in name only (2 Tim. 3:5). It's the practice of attending church without genuine faith in the living Lord.

Religion B, on the other hand, is a life-transforming, destiny-changing experience. It's a definite commitment to the crucified and risen Savior, which establishes an ongoing personal relationship between a forgiven sinner and a gracious God.

This difference explains why for many years British author C. S. Lewis had such great difficulty in becoming a Christian. Religion A had blinded him to Religion B. According to his brother Warren, his conversion was "no sudden plunge into a new life, but rather a slow, steady convalescence from a deep-seated spiritual illness--an illness that had its origins in our childhood, in the dry husks of religion offered by the semi-political churchgoing of Ulster, and the similar dull emptiness of compulsory church during our school days."

Our Daily Bread, “10,000 Sermon Illustrations”, March 15, 1994.

James 1:26-27 NIV

“Those who consider themselves religious and yet do not keep a tight rein on their tongues deceive themselves, and their religion is worthless. 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 ‭1‬:‭26‬-‭27‬ ‭NIV‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬

A.  Tight rein on tongue

Bit controls the horse by controlling the mouth

B.  Look after others

1.  Widows

2.  Orphans

C.  Keep oneself from being polluted by the world

"The religion of Jesus is the religion of a little child. There is no affectation about a disciple of Jesus, he is as a little child, amazingly simple but unfathomably deep. Many of us are not childlike enough, we are childish."

Oswald Chambers

CONCLUSION

Anger does not get us where we want to go. We need to get rid of moral filth and accept the Word.  We need to live a true, worthy religion.

"A religion true to its nature must also be concerned about man’s social conditions. Religion deals with both earth and heaven, both time and eternity. Religion operates not only on the vertical plane but also on the horizontal.

It seeks not only to integrate men with God but to integrate men with men and each man with himself. This means, at bottom, that the Christian gospel is a two-way road. On the one hand, it seeks to change the souls of men and thereby unite them with God; on the other hand, it seeks to change the environmental conditions of men so that the soul will have a chance after it is changed. Any religion that professes to be concerned with the souls of men and is not concerned with the slums that damn them, the economic conditions that strangle them, and the social conditions that cripple them is a dry-as-dust religion. Such a religion is the kind the Marxists like to see - an opiate of the people."  

Martin Luther King, Jr.

INVITATION

It is our custom to offer an "invitation" following the preaching of the Word.  You may want to follow Jesus.  You may want to proclaim your faith.  You may want to repent (stop doing ungodly things and start doing Godly things).  Perhaps you want to be baptized for the forgiveness of your sins     and receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.  Possibly, if you have already responded to God’s call in these ways, you would like to become a member of Kenwood Church.  If you have been moved by the Holy Spirit to make a decision in your life, you can come forward now.  If you would like, I would be honored to speak with you following the service about what God is doing in your life.