Hearing the Word

Click here for the audio message of James 1:19-27

Last week we read about two tests that James gives us regarding a true believer. The first test was their inner response to trials. The second test was their response to temptations. In all circumstances we are to rely on God to strengthen us.

You can know a true believer by their response to the Word of God. Whenever a believer hears the Word of God, they want to hear more of it while trying to understand, live out, and obey what they have already heard. That is the natural response to the Word of God for the believer.

We must be careful though not to just have a scholarly or intellectual interest in the Gospel, but we must have that heart desire to obey it. This is not just a one time emotional feeling; rather it is a life long pursuit.

This morning James continues on the topic of hearing the Word of God. How many of you out there think you are a good listener? How many of you are listening right now?

Think about some of the conversations you have been involved with or have heard. Usually they go like this. One person is telling a story and even before that person is finished with their story the other person is telling their story and trying to one up the person with their tale.

Listening is a tough skill for most of us to master. James tells us that we need to be good listeners not only to each other, but to God as well. Unfortunately, most of us do not take the time to really listen to others or God today.

God desires for us to be obedient to His Word. That is why He gave it to us. He gave us His Word not only for His glory and honor, but for our own good as well.

James tells us to be quick to hear and slow to speak and slow to anger. I suspect when most of us here get anger we don’t start punching, kicking, or throwing things. We probably start with mean words and facial expressions.

So God tells us to listen rather than speak and it will tame our anger. “The anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God.” Jesus taught His followers to love their enemies, not resent them.

God gave us two ears and one mouth right, so I suppose we should listen twice as much as we speak. You know when you are listening and I mean truly listening to someone you don’t always have to have an answer for them.

Sometimes people just need to talk and get the topic off their mind. They aren’t looking for criticism or a meaningless generic response. They just need to talk and that is ok. We need to listen to them and be there for them.

We as Christians have the Word of God planted in our hearts. But sometimes worldly things can grab hold of us and pull us from living out God’s Word. James tells us to put aside all filthiness and all wickedness so that we may continue to grow in our relationship with God.

As we grow in our relationship we will be doers of the Word, not just hearers. Meaning, we hear the Word of God and then we act upon it. Many people do indeed hear the Word of God, but never really act upon it.

They are those lukewarm believers. Like the church in Laodicea, Jesus will spit them out. Many people in this world think they are religious. In fact, I’ll bet everybody that I work with on a daily basis would identify themselves as Christians. But I’ll bet only a few actually practice their faith.

See many people hear the Word of God and say they are religious, but never act upon their faith. That is James’ point in this letter. God wants us to live out our faith each and every day. People who love and obey God show it in their lives.

It is indeed easy at times to fall into the traps of this world and become and easy believer, a hearer only. But as we saw last week with our trials and temptations we need to depend on God for help and our strength. He is in control. He is dependable. We can count on God to be there for us.

We need to continuously read, study, and apply God’s Word to our lives. Even though we will never get to that goal of perfection in this life, we need to continue to press on toward that mark like Paul.

One final note though. We must also be careful not to just do good works thinking that is what God requires of us to get into heaven. That is not the case. We do good works and live out our faith to show obedience to God. We do these things because we are saved, not because they will save us.

This week I would ask you to be doers of the Word and not just hearers only. Live out your faith and serve your Lord, not to be saved, but because He has already saved you through the sacrifice that He made on the cross for us.

Closing Prayer

Heavenly Father, we thank you for your Word to help us live in this dark world. Help us to be your humble servants. Help us to listen to others and to listen to you this week. Strengthen us so that we may take what we hear from you and act upon it in a way that gives you the honor and glory you desire and deserve.

AMEN