We all want to make the most of our life…and probably each one of us has a list of things…at least in our minds…of what it takes to achieve that.
James is telling us that it isn’t enough to get the list straight in your mind…just thinking about it is not going to make it happen…we must be doers as well… here James is elaborating on what exactly that means…he starts off with the word…
21 Therefore,
James is telling us to look back at some of the things he has written about what it takes for us to make the most of our lives…knowing how we
…should approach sin and temptation
…the importance of being…quick to hear…slow to speak…and slow to anger.
…and most importantly…the dangers of being deceived.
It’s not just THINKING about doing the right thing…it’s DOING the right thing …it’s possible for us to get our list right and still have our lives be wrong by not doing what we know to be right.
I suspect jails and prisons are full of people who knew to do the right thing…or at least knew what not to do…but didn’t do it.
This is exactly the danger of easy believism of salvation…same principle …the error is in the fallacy of thinking that all I have to do is do some religious stuff and I’m Heaven bound.
James says that won’t do…it requires a conscious decision to:
21 put aside all filthiness (a word that occurs only here in the New Testament) and all that remains of wickedness, in humility receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls.
22 But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not just hearers who deceive themselves.
23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror;
24 for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was.
25 But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of freedom, and continues in it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an active doer, this person will be blessed in what he does.
That sums up the entire Christian walk…if this was all the information you had in what it takes to live a Christian life, you’d be good to go…put aside filthiness and wickedness…be not only a hearer but a doer of God’s Word…and rejoice in the blessings from God.
Again…it’s not just enough to KNOW to do the right thing…it’s a matter of DOING the right thing…be a doer.
You cannot expect to be blessed by God if you continue to live a lifestyle that is controlled by filthiness and wickedness.
That’s the importance of receiving ‘the word implanted.’
In seminary you have to take preaching classes…both in the preparation and in the delivery of sermons…the emphasis is on expository preaching…it’s a form of preaching that details the meaning of a text or passage.
That’s what I want to do with the word ‘implanted’…I want to detail the meaning of the word…in the Greek (ἔμφυτος) ‘implanted’ has two general meanings.
FIRST…it can mean inborn…something that is intuitively known like the difference between good and evil…do you really have to tell someone that stealing is wrong?…you intuitively know that…you don’t have to be taught that…it’s instinctively known.
SECONDLY…it can also mean like planting a seed in the ground…goes back to the Parable of the Sower [Matt. 13:1-8] where the seed…the Word…is sown into the hearts of men…probably here in this context is what the word is referring to.
So how do we receive the word implanted?
One way is to listen to people who are familiar with what the Word says… here the importance of receiving the word implanted is so you won’t be deceived by those who distort the Bible for their own personal gain.
Every Sunday morning we have Sunday School…a lot of churches have done away with it…not us…we have teachers who are diligent in preparing their lessons…going far deeper into the Word than what I can in preaching.
Here’s the benefit in hearing the word taught by our Sunday school teachers… people who are less than creditable in knowing God’s Word can distort the Bible which significantly impacts not only our image of God but gives a misleading account of what the Bible says.
It’s one thing to read the Bible to know what it says…there’s a lot of people who know what the Bible says…it’s another thing to be led by it …they just simply ignore it or think all the commandments associated with living a Christian life are merely suggestions.
They mistakenly believe that salvation is just acknowledging Jesus as Lord and going through the motion of doing some ‘churchie’ things…so they do.
— They walk the aisle
— They make a profession of faith
— They’re baptized
— but they continue to live the same lifestyle as they did before.
That’s the meaning of…prove yourselves doers of the word, and not just hearers…that is the necessity of having the word implanted.
Notice…when James refers to the Word being implanted…being sown into the hearts of people…he is indicating that this verse is for those who are already saved… James is not talking to unbelievers here…how do I know that?
TWO WAYS I know that:
FIRST…The word of God is not engrafted or implanted in the hearts of lost sinners…it’s foolishness to them…they can’t grasp it…understand it…they reject it…refuse to accept it as true…that’s why it’s only engrafted in the hearts of God’s children.
SECONDLY…this verse and the words ‘able to save your souls’ is not viewed as our salvation from condemnation…it’s natural to think of this verse as talking about salvation…he’s not talking about being saved.
Rather what he’s referring to in this context must be viewed as the salvation of our inner character…from the selfish corruption of our hearts that includes filthiness and wickedness.
If God’s Word is to be effective in delivering our character from sinful corruption and transforming our character into Christ’s righteousness…it must be received.
It can only be received if it’s first heard…hence the importance of opening our ears to God’s Word…of not stagnating in our Christian growth by being lazy in our commitment to be in church…but striving in our spiritual maturity.
That is why we must not refuse to receive the commands and corrections from God’s Word…the importance of having the word ‘implanted’ is so it may continually take deeper roots within our hearts as the governing principle of how we live our lives.
No shortage of people claiming to be saved…everybody’s saved, right?…NO… because they refuse to receive the commands and corrections from God’s Word …every person has a responsibility to be obedient to God.
People want to tell you how much they love Jesus… ‘Oh how I love Jesus’… here’s the proof…If you love me keep my commandments. [John 14:15].
The person who is truly related to Christ through saving faith responds gladly to His word….the person who does not belong to Christ gives evidence by having no interest in hearing or obeying God’s Word.
Here’s the confirmation that validates the promise that when we embrace God’s Word into our lives and live a life that is in agreement with His word …it…is able to save our soul.
Obedience to the Word of God is the most basic spiritual requirement AND is the common denominator for all true believers.
Here’s how salvation works…God empowers us to have faith…that faith in turn draws us to God…it makes us want to come to Him…God’s divine power coupled with the truth of the Scriptures draws us to God…we then make the determined decision to accept that faith and believe in Jesus as Lord and Savior… that brings salvation to its final perfection.
Salvation can be seen as being in three tenses…which proves the eternal security of the believer:
Past tense…We have been saved (justified) by God from His judgement.
Present tense…We are kept saved (sanctified) through the daily process of growing into the image of Jesus.
Future tense…We will be eternally saved (glorified). We shall be like Him.
James says with the final results being…the salvation of your souls…So…how do we distinguish the soul from the spirit…what exactly is the difference?
The Bible clearly states that we are composed of three parts…the body…the soul…and the spirit [1 Thess. 5:23] …but it should not be understood as defining three separate parts of a person…but as representing the whole person.
The spirit is the part that enables us to perceive God…it’s how we can know and communicate with God…it provides each person with a consciousness of God.
The soul is intertwined with the spirit…but at the same time there is a clear distinction between the two [Heb. 4:12] it distinguishes us as individuals …it’s how we tell us apart from one another…could say it’s your personality.
To simplify…these are the parts of a person.
Spirit – The part of you that communes with God.
Soul – Your personality, mind, will and emotions.
At death both your soul and spirit go with you to paradise.
Body – The physical part of you that gives testimony to whether or not you’re a Christian
That is just a very basic description…theologians like to go much deeper than that…we’re not…most will agree there is an unresolved mystery regarding the interrelationships between the spirit…soul…and body…and how each one affects the other…but for our discussion what I’ve given is adequate.
James then makes a statement that has had denominations fighting with one another for centuries.
22 But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not just hearers who deceive themselves.
I think probably the top two issues that have plagued the church for centuries is the misunderstanding concerning the security of the believer and working my way to heaven.
There are two views on what this means.
Regarding working my way to heaven James seems to be saying…if you’re not working…doing things…then you need to be…but here’s the mistaken idea people believe happens when you do.
…that will make God like us
…that He’ll find favor in us
…that we can be more acceptable to Him
…that somehow that might offset some of the bad things I’ve done in my life
…that it elevates my position in Heaven…without really having to make the commitment to become a Christian.
Here’s the difference between Christianity and the other 4,000 religions in the world…it’s the mistaken idea that I have to do something and when I do… well…take your pick of which one of those blessings God will respond with.
Only in Christianity is God reaching down to man…in every other religion in the world it’s always man attempting to reach or please God…on their terms.
Back in the 70’s there was a little paperback book titled “How to be a Christian Without Being Religious” …it embraced that idea…you became a Christian by doing things…pleasing God is accomplished through human effort…how to be religious without necessarily being a Christian.
There’s a benefit to that if you’re not particularly interested in being ‘churchie’ …here’s what that does…it frees you from organized religion and the religious system that suggests the pastor is the spiritual leader of the church…who put him in charge anyway?
…It frees you from having to go to Church but still allows you to have a form of godliness
…it releases you from the feeling of guilt that not going to church causes
…it frees you from the financial bondage that going to church imposes on you
…and it breaks you from the religious oppression that Church inflicts on you.
Instead of having all the grief of going to church and having to put up with all the ‘do this’ ‘don’t do that’ that accompanies church…you just do things and God blesses you for them.
That segues into the correct and true meaning regarding being a doer… and it does means what it says…that every believer should be a doer of the word.
Doing what? …really how important is it that we be doers of the word…isn’t that directed at people who are in full time ministry?
By making that statement here’s what James is saying…he’s separating true Christians from those who are unbelievers.
Here’s the difference…two areas of concern:
One is the unbeliever who may show signs of being saved but will eventually return to their previous lifestyle showing no evidence of being born again and remaining that way.
The second area of concern are the multitudes who seem to imagine that they have done all that is required of them for salvation…doing those things I previously mentioned.
— They walk the aisle — They make a profession of faith — They’re baptized
But the influence of God’s Word on their lives had no effect…they continue to live the same lifestyle as they did before…tragically believing they are saved when they’re not.
So let me ask you…how do you know if you’re a true believer?…James has just told us…prove yourselves doers of the word…I’ve already mentioned one way.
If you love me keep my commandments. [John 14:15].
If you’re striving to follow…obeying…and keeping Jesus’ commandments… then what comes naturally will also confirm your position in Christ.
By this shall all men know you’re my disciples if you have love one for another [John 13:35].
Merely hearing the word…even understanding and believing what you hear …but not following through on what you hear is self-deception if you don’t reduce it to practice.
In a nutshell here’s what James is saying…he’s pushing back on those whose idea of Christianity is to simply coast through life…who say…‘I believe’ then gloss over their commitment with no action and then call that faith…that goes back to the word James uses three times in chapter one alone…being deceived.
It’s not a matter of working your way to Heaven because you can’t…but it is doing the work of a Christian in how we live out our lives during our stay on earth and when we do James says this man will be blessed in what he does.