James 1:19-27

Teacher: Rusty Kennedy
​Series: James (Acts)

Rusty's Notes

• James transitions from seeking wisdom to confronting poverty.
• Wherever wisdom is the goal, hearing will be a first virtue.[1]

HEARING AND DOING THE WORD
James 1
19 My dear brothers and sisters, understand this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to anger, 20 for human anger does not accomplish God’s righteousness.

• “dearly loved brothers” – the small group of Jewish Christians who have come to understand Jesus was the Messiah.
• Context – Matthew 12:31-32 - Therefore, I tell you, people will be forgiven every sin and blasphemy, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. 32 Whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the one to come.[2]
• Two generations of Jews would not have ears to hear.
• Imagine trying to have a discussion with a person who can’t hear what you are saying… no matter how simple you make it!
• Having “brothers” who understand what you are teaching is a huge deal!
• Religious works may be manufactured, but they do not have life in them, nor do they bring glory to God.
• Real fruit has in it the seed for more fruit, so that the harvest continues to grow fruit, more fruit, much fruit[3]
• One who is listening rather than lambasting is the one who is slow to anger[4]
• Romans 10:17 - So faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the message about Christ.[5]
• Proverbs 10:19 - “but the one who controls his lips is prudent.”[6]
• Proverbs 17:27 - “The one who has knowledge restrains his words”[7]
• In the Garden, Peter was slow to hear, swift to speak, and swift to anger—and he almost killed a man with the sword.[8]
• One may not be able to control their emotion of anger but they can control their tongue & action.
• Passion can lead to anger.
• Sometimes there is a fine line between passion & anger.
• Kids or spouse will say, “Stop yelling at me.”
• There is a fine line between being passionate and yelling as well.
• “righteousness” – Is this behavioral acts or a state of being?

21 Therefore, ridding yourselves of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent, humbly receive the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.

• This can quickly be interpreted as “it is your works that save you.”
• What actually “saves” you?
• Jeremiah 17:9 - The heart is more deceitful than anything else, and incurable—who can understand it?[9]
• Ezekiel 36:26-31 - I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will remove your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. 27 I will place my Spirit within you and cause you to follow my statutes and carefully observe my ordinances. 28 You will live in the land that I gave your fathers; you will be my people, and I will be your God. 29 I will save you from all your uncleanness. I will summon the grain and make it plentiful, and I will not bring famine on you. 30 I will also make the fruit of the trees and the produce of the field plentiful, so that you will no longer experience reproach among the nations on account of famine.
• “‘You will remember your evil ways and your deeds that were not good, and you will loathe yourselves for your iniquities and detestable practices.[10]
• Christian obedience is never fully habitual. It requires a daily “putting on Christ” for its realization.[11]
• Wednesday Night – Christian obedience… obedience to the Spirit.
• I still have habits… but I also have room to hear the “implanted word”.
• “implanted word” – John 1:1 - In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.[12]

22 But be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.

• “word” is God
• James’ audience would have probably heard this message in the context of public worship[13]
• Believers have become skilled at sitting in the pews on Sundays and never experience the life Jesus intended for them.
• 2005 – Hurricane Katrina… woman got up to share… “I realized after sitting in my pew for all these years that I had become spiritually constipated, so I came to help.”

23 Because if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like someone looking at his own face in a mirror. 24 For he looks at himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of person he was.

• Looks in the mirror and the mirror shows him something about himself but he doesn’t do anything in return.
• Checks his identity briefly and walks away… quickly forgetting who he really is.
• James is telling the man to look more closely at who he really is… so that you may remember.
• Those who know their identity and remember it… can’t help but act out of it… You will tell everyone!
• FedEx

25 But the one who looks intently into the perfect law of freedom and perseveres in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer who works—this person will be blessed in what he does.

• Bought a new used car this week.
• Had to stoop down to study it intently.
• “perfect law of freedom” – No capital “L”
• This is the Good News!
• Christians are weary of sharing their faith with nonbelivers because they have been taught to teach them the Law… or have even interpreted James as Law when he clearly is saying that we are FREE!!!!
• Why are they blessed? Not things received… not even joy from what they have done…
• But blessed because of what they have… what they know… and what God has already done in them!

26 If anyone thinks he is religious without controlling his tongue, his religion is useless and he deceives himself.

• “religious” – external observances
• Satan has even crafted war on the word “religion”
• Pure religion has nothing to do with ceremonies, temples, or special days.
• Pure religion means practicing God’s Word and sharing it with others, through speech, service, and separation from the world.[14]
• If the heart is right, the speech will be right.
• Matthew 12:34-35 - Jesus said, “For the mouth speaks from the overflow of the heart. 35 A good person produces good things from his storeroom of good, and an evil person produces evil things from his storeroom of evil.”[15]
• Tozer - When religion loses its sovereign character and becomes mere form, this spontaneity is lost also, and in its place come precedent, propriety, system—and the file-card mentality.…

Here’s how the file card works when it gets into the Christian life and begins to create mental habits: It divides the Bible into sections fitted to the days of the year and compels the Christian to read according to rule. No matter what the Holy Spirit may be trying to say to a man, still he goes on reading where the card tells him, dutifully checking it off each day.
Every Spirit-led saint knows that there are times when he is held by an inward pressure to one chapter, or even one verse, for days at a time while he wrestles with God till some truth does its work within him. To leave that present passage to follow a prearranged reading schedule is for him wholly impossible. He is in the hand of the free Spirit, and reality is appearing before him to break and humble and lift and liberate and cheer. But only the free soul can know the glory of this. To this the heart bound by system will be forever a stranger.[16]
27 Pure and undefiled religion before God the Father is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself unstained from the world.[17]

• Deuteronomy 14:29 - Then the Levite, who has no portion or inheritance among you, the resident alien, the fatherless, and the widow within your city gates may come, eat, and be satisfied. And the Lord your God will bless you in all the work of your hands that you do.[18]
• Ezekiel 22:7 - Father and mother are treated with contempt, and the resident alien is exploited within you. The fatherless and widow are oppressed in you.[19]
• Acts 6:1 -  In those days, as the disciples were increasing in number, there arose a complaint by the Hellenistic Jews against the Hebraic Jews that their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution.[20]
• “unstained” - This is not a definition of religion but rather a contrast to mere acts of worship and ritualistic observances that are commonly called “religion.”[21]
• It is our way of life… naturally.
• James wasn’t legalistic…
• He taught what the law of freedom looks like!
• If you hear the “word” and are obedient to the “word”, you will bear the mark of a believer.
• This is totally opposite of today’s definition of religion… If we claim to be Christians we must act.

I can act out of my own self will (sin) or I can act out of obedience to the “word” (Spirit).

[1] Richardson, K. A. (1997). James (Vol. 36, pp. 88–89). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.
[2] Christian Standard Bible. (2017). (Mt 12:31–32). Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.
[3] Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Vol. 2, p. 346). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.
[4] Blue, J. R. (1985). James. In J. F. Walvoord & R. B. Zuck (Eds.), The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures (Vol. 2, p. 823). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.
[5] Christian Standard Bible. (2017). (Ro 10:17). Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.
[6] Christian Standard Bible. (2017). (Pr 10:19). Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.
[7] Christian Standard Bible. (2017). (Pr 17:27). Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.
[8] Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Vol. 2, pp. 346–347). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.
[9] Christian Standard Bible. (2017). (Je 17:9). Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.
[10] Christian Standard Bible. (2017). (Eze 36:26–31). Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.
[11] Richardson, K. A. (1997). James (Vol. 36, p. 91). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.
[12] Christian Standard Bible. (2017). (Jn 1:1). Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.
[13] Barry, J. D., Grigoni, M. R., Heiser, M. S., Custis, M., Mangum, D., & Whitehead, M. M. (2012). Faithlife Study Bible (Jas 1:22). Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software.
[14] Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Vol. 2, p. 349). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.
[15] Christian Standard Bible. (2017). (Mt 12:34–35). Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.
[16] Tozer, A. W., & Eggert, R. (1998). The Tozer Topical Reader (Vol. 1, p. 22). Camp Hill, PA: WingSpread.
[17] Christian Standard Bible. (2017). (Jas 1:19–27). Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.
[18] Christian Standard Bible. (2017). (Dt 14:29). Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.
[19] Christian Standard Bible. (2017). (Eze 22:7). Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.
[20] Christian Standard Bible. (2017). (Ac 6:1). Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.
[21] Blue, J. R. (1985). James. In J. F. Walvoord & R. B. Zuck (Eds.), The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures (Vol. 2, p. 824). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.