James: A Letter from Jesus’ Brother
Doing The Word -- James 1:22-27
I want to start off this morning with some bad news, and then some good news. The bad news is that, as the Old Testament prophet Jeremiah says, our hearts are terribly deceitful (Jer 17:9). That’s a frightening thought: my heart – my heart! – can deceive me. My heart can tell me that something is true when it’s false; something is right when it’s wrong; something is good when it’s bad.
And that’s bad news because if your own heart deceives you, if the thoughts and feelings that are right there in your own heart are deceiving you, how could you ever know it?
But there’s good news. It’s right at this point that once again we see God’s great love and mercy towards us. God knows that our hearts can deceive us, so God has given us a tool which, if we will use it, will expose every deception. This tool is the Bible. If we will hold this book up against the thoughts and feelings in our hearts – we will be able to see which are true – and which are deception.
And in James 1:22-27 God exposes one of the most dangerous and subtle deceptions we can face. Let’s turn there together. If you need a Bible, raise your hand and the ushers will bring one to you. James 1 is on page 1011 in the Bibles we are passing out.
This book of James is actually a letter written at around the year 44 AD by Jesus’ brother, James, to a group of believers who fled
22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.
23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror.
24 For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like.
25 But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.
26 If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person's religion is worthless.
27 Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.
In v.22 James calls us to be doers of the Word. And he says that if we are hearers only, and not doers, then we are deceiving ourselves. So it’s crucial that we each open our hearts to God’s Word this morning – and ask – am I deceiving myself by being a hearer and not a doer? How could I tell? So let’s ask what does it mean to be a hearer and not a doer?
In some ways this is obvious. But let’s let James help us think it through.
First of all, it means you are a hearer of the Word. If you are a hearer and not a doer you do think it’s important to hear the Word of God. That might mean you regularly read the Bible on your own, or you regularly listen to sermon podcasts, or you regularly come to church to hear the teaching and preaching of God’s Word.
But secondly, it means you hear and then forget. Look at what James says in vv.23-24 --
23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror.
24 For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like.
So being a hearer-only is like looking intently at yourself in the bathroom mirror, seeing exactly what you look like, but then going away and forgetting what you just saw. Like if you looked in a mirror ten minutes later and you were shocked – “who’s that?” Of course that’s ridiculous. No one does that. But if you are a hearer and not a doer, that’s what you are doing: you are looking intently into God’s Word – and then ten minutes later you have forgotten what God’s Word said.
You can also see this issue of forgetting in v.25 --
25 But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.
So if you are a hearer and not a doer the problem is that you hear God’s Word but then immediately forget it.
And then third, the result of this hearing and then forgetting is that you do not do God’s Word. And James lists three specific ways in which his readers were not doing God’s Word. Let’s look at each of these to see if they apply to us. One is in v.26 --
If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person's religion is worthless.
So let’s say you hear in God’s Word that you should bridle your tongue – that you should not gossip or slander or boast – but then later that day you are gossiping or slandering or boasting; and you continue your life gossiping and slandering and boasting. What’s happened? You’ve heard the Word, but you’ve forgotten what you heard. You are a hearer and not a doer.
Another is in the beginning of v.27 --
Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction …
Let’s say you hear in God’s Word that you should visit orphans and widows in their affliction – and you know of orphans in China, of a widow down the street, or other needy people – but later that day you are on to something else with no thought of doing anything for anyone – and that continues day after day and month after month. What’s happened? You’ve heard the Word, but you’ve forgotten what you heard. You are a hearer and not a doer.
Another is at the end of v.27 –
Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.
Let’s say you hear in God’s Word that we should keep ourselves unstained from the world – to keep our hearts clean with our highest love being for Jesus – but then later that day you’re loving money more than Jesus, loving sexual thoughts more than Jesus, loving food or clothes more than Jesus – and that continues throughout your life. What’s happened? You’ve heard the Word, but you’ve forgotten what you heard. You are a hearer and not a doer.
So these are three areas James’ readers struggled with. But we can be hearers and not doers in other areas as well:
Have you heard that Jesus wants you to spend time with Him in prayer and God’s Word – but you never spend time with Jesus? Then you are a hearer and not a doer.
Have you heard that Jesus calls you to love your neighbors – but never make plans to meet and love your neighbors? Then you are a hearer and not a doer.
Have you heard that Jesus wants you to care for the poor – but your checkbook shows nothing going to the poor? Then you are a hearer and not a doer.
Have you heard that Jesus calls you to forgive those who harm you – but you continue to harbor a grudge? Then you are a hearer and not a doer.
So that’s what it means to be a hearer and not a doer. And in v.22 James says that if we are hearers and not doers then we are deceiving ourselves. So what deception do these hearers-who-are-not-doers face? James tells us in vv.26-27. Now I have to tell you that in these verses James uses the word “religious” and “religion.” We often use those words negatively – but James is using them in a positive way – kind of like we’d use the word “spirituality” today.
So with that in mind, look at what James says in v.26 --
If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person's religion is worthless.
So if you are a hearer and not a doer you are deceived in thinking your religion is worth something. But James says it’s not. It’s worthless. It does nothing for you. So what is James talking about? What is religion supposed to do for you?
He explains in v.27 --
Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.
What we need more than anything else is to be pure and undefiled before God. See, God is absolutely pure and undefiled – perfectly loving, flawlessly good, and impeccably just. And because God is absolutely pure and undefiled, we can only come into His presence if we are pure and undefiled.
But we are not pure and undefiled, because we have all sinned against God. So not only does this mean we cannot know and love God, but we face punishment from God. So our crying need is to be pure and undefiled before God.
But God sent Jesus. Jesus lived a morally perfect life, and Jesus died for our sins. So when you trust Jesus – God puts all your sin upon Jesus, and punishes Jesus for your sin, and God takes Jesus’ morally perfect life, and gives His moral perfection to you as a gift. So you are pure and undefiled before God by faith alone – by trusting Jesus.
But James wants us to understand that if we hear God’s Word but do not do God’s Word then we are not pure and undefiled before God – we have not been accepted and forgiven by God. That’s the deception James is talking about. If you are hearing but not doing God’s Word, don’t be deceived into thinking your religion is worth something; don’t think you have been forgiven through Jesus and are pure and undefiled before God. If you are hearing but not doing, your religion is worthless – you are not forgiven and pure and undefiled before God.
So James is clearly saying that doing is necessary. That to know that you are forgiven and pure and undefiled before God – doing is necessary. And what James is saying here is taught throughout God’s Word. For example, in Matthew
So doing is absolutely necessary. But why? Why is doing absolutely necessary?
It’s not because our doing has to be perfect to know that you are forgiven and pure and undefiled before God. That’s clear from James 3:2, where James says that “we all stumble in many ways” – we all, including James himself. So James is not talking about perfect doing. James is talking about growing doing.
So why is growing doing so important? It’s also not because it earns acceptance and forgiveness from God. How do we receive acceptance and forgiveness from God? Through Jesus – by trusting Jesus. It’s not that we earn forgiveness by doing; we receive forgiveness by trusting – trusting Jesus.
And yet James says doing is absolutely necessary. Why? It’s because doing shows that your trust in Jesus is real. If you genuinely trust Jesus, if you have genuine faith in Him, then you will do what you hear; not perfectly, but growingly. So doing is absolutely crucial – not as a way to earn forgiveness from God, but as the way to confirm that you are trusting Jesus whose death gives you forgiveness from God.
It’s like the numbers on a blood pressure gauge. To live you have to have numbers at a certain level on the blood pressure gauge. Those numbers are absolutely necessary. But those numbers aren’t what gives you life. Those numbers show the heart-beat that does give you life.
Your doing is like the numbers on a blood pressure gauge. To be forgiven you have to have doing. The doing is absolutely necessary. But the doing isn’t what gives you forgiveness. The doing shows that you have the faith that does give you forgiveness.
So, please, don’t be deceived. If you don’t bridle your tongue, you have no reason to think you are forgiven through Jesus God. Not because you haven’t earned it; but because your lack of doing shows that you are not really trusting Jesus.
If you don’t care for orphans and widows and the needy, you have no reason to think you are forgiven through Jesus. Not because you haven’t earned it; you can’t earn it. But because your lack of doing shows that you are not really trusting Jesus.
If you don’t fight to keep yourself unstained from the world, you have no reason to think you are forgiven through Jesus. Not because you haven’t earned it; you can’t earn it. But because your lack of doing shows that you are not really trusting Jesus.
So how do we start doing? Here’s the good news. Everything Jesus calls you to do, He will enable you to do. Everything. On your own – you can’t do anything he calls you to do. But Jesus Himself will enable you to do everything He calls you to do – not perfectly, but growingly.
So the Bible is like a menu. Just like every item on the menu is for you – and can be yours – so every command in the Bible is for you – and can be yours. You place your order by prayer and relying on Jesus and stepping out in faith.
So do that. Turn your heart to Jesus. Humble yourself before Jesus. Admit before Jesus that you can’t do anything. Look to the Cross and trust His death to break the power of sin in your heart, and trust the gift of His Spirit to work obedience in your heart.
And then open up God’s Word and get strength and encouragement and with God’s Word in your heart – start doing.
Here’s my story. A few years ago it dawned on me that I was hearing Jesus call me to love my neighbors, but I was not doing anything to meet and love and share Jesus with my neighbors. I was hearing but not doing.
But I also realized that I could not do this on my own. Like Jesus says in John 15:5 – apart from Him I can do nothing. So I humbled myself before Jesus and admitted that I could not do this on my own. But I also knew that if I would abide in Jesus I could love my neighbor.
So I started praying that Jesus would change my heart, and give me love for them, and overcome my timidity. And I started thinking deeply about Scriptures in which Jesus promises to be with me and satisfy me and strengthen me and speak through me. And I found my heart changing; I found my love for my neighbors increasing, I found that I was more interested in them, and I felt more sadness that they didn’t know Jesus.
And then Jesus gave Jan and me this idea about having a barbecue in our cul-de-sac and inviting all the neighbors to come. So last summer we did that. And it was a blast. We got to know our neighbors, we enjoyed great steak and chicken and lamb kabobs, and we built relationships that have been continuing.
And since then Jesus has given us more ideas about connecting with them that we have and will be pursuing.
But here’s the good news: every command Jesus gives in the Word He will enable you to start doing. Not perfectly. But growingly. So open up God’s Word, cry out to Him, let His word strengthen and encourage you – and start doing.