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FAITHFUL LIVING 8
“Living the Life” Ch 1V18-21
Introduction. As the Church has now entered the new millennium, the world is longing to see what true religion is. There is so much counterfeit Christianity on the market today.
As new age movement gathers momentum, and cults are on the increase, it is therefore imperative for the true church of Jesus Christ to be clearly identified, and through her life make all the difference until Jesus comes.
James has been dealing in verse 18 with True or “pure” religion.
1:18 of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.
This verse begins in the believers past experience of God's grace in salvation.
The Perpetuity of the New Birth
“Of His own will begat he us”
God takes the initiative in this act. The New Birth is all of God from beginning to end.
James tells these New Testament Christians, that the Father of lights chose to give them birth. The new birth is Infinite in its being, in its beginning, and in its blessing. James goes on to speak of
The Production of the New Birth.
Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth,
The Believer has been born again by the word of truth, by the incorruptible seed of the word of God, which lives and abides forever.
The “Word of Truth is Divine in its nature, distinctive, and dynamic in its power. It’s the gospel of God’s Grace and it is durable, for it is settled in heaven.
The Purpose of the New Birth.
V 18“that we should be a kind of first fruits of His creatures”
Having received the new birth "by the word of truth", this new life is now to be evidenced by growth and development.
This will take place when we respond to the Word, which we have believed. James is making it very clear that having experienced the new birth, this should now be seen in the expression of life.
God never intended for us as His children, to stop with knowledge, but rather that to allow His truth to be a dynamic force for change in our lives, and change in our behaviour.
2 Cor 5:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
Eph 2:10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.
While good works do not save us, we are saved to do good works. It is absolutely crucial to have the right goals. Instead of asking what sort of life do I want, we should ask, what sort of life does God desire for me.
How does our Saviour expect us to live? Happiness and fulfilment will consist of identifying this, and then making it our own aim. James tells us that God desires a righteous life for us.
How can we make an impact on an increasingly secular society in this millennium? How can we make a difference? By giving people a picture of what true Christianity is all about, and we can only do this by “Living the Life”
As someone once put it, “Holiness is the visible part of Salvation”. The point is well made: faith, mercy, grace, and the new birth ---these things are invisible, but you can see Holiness, and it proves the reality of our salvation to others.
The burden that James has is,that belief and behaviour should go hand in hand, and in two verses, he touches on three areas of life, in which the new birth should express itself.
1. BE READY TO HEAR.
1: 19 wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear,
The Righteous person will be swift, (prompt and ready) to listen to God.
The Believershould have an insatiable appetite for sound doctrine, and should be eager to avail himself of all opportunities of increasing his knowledge of the word of God.
(Robert Johnston)
Our Lord said,“The sower soweth the word—He that hath ears to hear let him hear”
James is calling for alertness and for a readiness to receive the truth of the word of God. The spoken and the written word are available to every one of us.
Think of the hours of preaching that the average Christian hears in the space of one year! Then think of the words of our Lord
Luke 12:48 For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required:
Apply these words from Jesus to those who sit under sound evangelical Preaching and Teaching week after week and year after year.
Surely we have a solemn responsibility to obey the exhortation—
1:22 But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. (KJV)
If we are swift to hear it will make us swift to obey.
How often do we bow our heads when we come to the place of worship and say with Samuel of old “ Speak Lord for your servant heareth”
A righteous man is quick to listen. He listens first to God. He listens to what the Bible says, and especially when the Bible is being preached.
He'll be saved from an absolute disaster if he will listen. If the apostle Peter had listened to what the Lord had said there wouldn't have been the tears and sobs of sorrow the following day.
How much do we know of the quiet, silent waiting on God? Longing for the Holy Spirit to lead us into all truth and to impress upon our hearts that truth.
Do we come to the house of God ready to hear what the Lord has to say?
Sadly, there are times when we are not ready to hear. We have been occupied with lesser things, and far too busy, to keep alert and to hear what God has to say to us for our benefit, for blessing, and spiritual development, that we might be Righteous.
How we need to find the spirit of the Hymn.
Speak Lord, in the stillness
While I wait on Thee
Hush my heart to listen
In, expectancy.
The first characteristic that James is looking for in a Righteous person is, a readiness and an eager hunger for the word of truth.
1. BE READY TO HEAR.
2. BE RELUCTANT TO SPEAK.
V 19 “let very man be swift to hear, slow to speak”
Our tongues are the barometers, of whether we are living a righteous life or not.
The righteous man is slow to speak. How different is the spirit of our age? –
There is this emphasis on expressing your feelings, and letting everything hang out.
“Be slow to speak, says James”.
James is not exhorting us to take vows of silence. How could a Christian, - who has good news to tell, ever take a vow of silence without sinning? Neither is he with these words encouraging an unsociable distance. James is concerned here with speaking out words, thoughtlessly.
The Lord Jesus speaks of 'idle words' and having to give to Almighty God an account of them.
"For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned" (Matt. 12:37).
There is an old saying; "many a man has had to repent of speaking, but never one of holding his peace." Some Christians are blighted with the craving for continuously talking and chattering about everything under the sun.
James' concern is, that we might never be rash, that we would be slow to speak, (think before we speak) and then speak, when we see our duty clear, carefully weighing up what we are going to say.
Friends, it is no coincidence, that we each have two ears and one mouth. Could it be that we should listen twice as much as we talk? We can reverse the instruction of scripture, we are slow to listen and quick to speak, and this is the reason we get into trouble.
Prov10:19 In the multitude of words there wanteth not sin: but he that refraineth his lips is wise.
Prov. 17:28) "Even a fool, when he holdeth his peace, is counted wise: and he that shutteth his lips is esteemed a man of understanding"
James 1:26 If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man's religion is vain.
James 3:6 And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell.
The Believer who is “Living a Righteous Life” will not utter barren and hurtful words. The tongue can be a very dangerous weapon.
Benjamin Franklin---A slip of the foot you may soon recover, but a slip of the tongue you may never get over.
Oswald Chambers -- The great test of a man's character is his tongue. The tongue is the ambassador of the heart.
Friends,the tongue is a wild beast; once let loose, it is difficult to chain. There is danger, when a man throws his tongue into high gear before he gets his brain a-going.
Some use the tongue for Blasting, they just love to gossip. Some use the tongue Blazing, for destroying someone’s character.
The unspoken word never defeats one. What one does not say, does not have to be explained.
Others use the tongue for boasting.
Let every man be slow to speak!
About Themselves
The former Beetle, John Lennon foolishly boasted, “Christianity will go. We're more popular than Jesus now.
How sad it is, when a gifted and articulate Christian’s speech is dominated by the capital
“I”This is actually the sign of one, who is lacking in spiritual growth and maturity. The Believer’s tongue is never to be used for boasting, only for blessing.
Paul writes in Rom 3:24 Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: v 27 Where is boasting then? It is excluded. This word excluded means “ entirely shut out, banished.
It was Archbishop William Templewho said, “The only thing that man contributes to his salvation is SIN, from which he needs to be saved”. Therefore salvation is a cause for rejoicing and not for boasting.
Boastfulness is never becoming for a Christian. We should never boast about “what we are” for we are just poor lost sinners, who have been saved by Sovereign Grace. We should never boast about what we have.
Paul says to the Corinthians--
1 Cor 4:7 For who maketh thee to differ from another? and what hast thou that thou didst not receive? Now if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it?
The impact of this question is inescapable. What do we have of material possessions, ability, resources, and spiritual power that we did not receive from the free giving hand of God in Grace?
The Answer is
Naught have I gotten but what I received
Grace has bestowed it since I have believed
Boasting excluded pride I abase
For I am only a sinner saved by Grace.
Therefore, we should never boast of “What we do”Let us ever remember that any valid work we do for God, however costly, faithful and effective, it is the outcome of Grace alone. For, without Him, we can do nothing.
The Apostle Paul acknowledged this fact 1 Cor 9:16 For though I preach the gospel, I have nothing to glory of: for necessity is laid upon me; yea, woe is unto me, if I preach not the gospel!
Let every man be slow to speak!
A. About Themselves
B. About The Other Person.
Be slow to speak especially when you are making judgements about people or their behaviour or doctrine. For when we pass judgment upon others, we are suggesting how far above them we are?
There are very few Christians, who have not been guilty of saying things about others which have been unkind, unfair, unloving and even untrue. We must keep this in mind and be slow to speak.
When we say that a person is so careless, we are implying that we are careful people. If we say that we don't like that man’s pride, we are actually implying, that we ourselves are models of humility. Or, when we speak of someone’s stinginess in giving to the Church, we are promoting our own generosity?
Friends, one of the most sinister and crippling acts in the life of the church of Christ is “Criticism” Many of us have been criticised and many of us have criticised others. Few there are who can claim exemption from this charge.
There are Christians, who would never dream of physically hurting another human being, but verbally, they constantly abuse others, who are their brothers and sisters in the Lord
Illustration..The story is told of a woman who was an awful gossip in the Church. For years her malicious tongue had caused much hurt and damage. At last, she became convicted of this terrible sin. She asked her Pastor what could she do to make amends for the words, which she had spoken and for the hurt she had caused?
The Pastor told her to take a bag of feathers, go round the village and place a feather outside the home of each person, whom she had offended.
Sometime later she came back with an empty bag and said to the Pastor “ I have done what you told me, but I do not feel any better”.
The Pastor responded, “ I would not expect you to feel any better, for you have only done half of the job. I want you to go back and pick up the feathers again. It so happened that a strong wind was beginning to blow, and later this poor soul returned with an empty bag saying,
“Pastor, I cannot find a single feather”. To which he replied;
“It was easy to put them down but now they are gone with the wind. Yes—and so it was with your words of gossip, criticism, and rumour, it was easy for you to scatter your words, but now they are gone and it is impossible to bring them back”.
From now on be “Slow to Speak”
Beloved, be slow to Speak, for we can throw away an unkind word and when it is gone from our lips, it is gone forever. Let me remind you of some of the things God hates.
Prov6:16 These six things doth the LORD hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him:
Prov 6:17 A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief,
Prov6:19 A false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren.
God hates anything that hinders His Work and divides His people.
It was J.B Simpson, who said “ I would rather play with fork lightening, than to speak a reckless word against a servant of God”.
Criticism and rumor can spread like wildfire bringing hurt to so many.
Prov26:20 Where no wood is, there the fire goeth out: so where there is no talebearer, the strife ceaseth.
1. Be Ready to Hear”Swift to hear”
2. Be Reluctant to Speak“Slow to speak”
3. BE RESISTANT TO WRATH
V 19b, 20 “Slow to Wrath: for the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God”
The righteous man is also slow to become angry. This is the most important barometer for the God-pleasing life.
The Imperative “be slow to wrath”
It does not say that we are not to become angry, but that we are to be slow in doing so, and within well-defined limits. All anger is not wrong, Righteous anger is attributed to the Lord himself. Psa 7:11 God judgeth the righteous, and God is angry with the wicked every day.
Godisangry atunrighteousness, injustice, and false religion. You will remember how Jesus made a whip to drive the moneychangers out of the temple.
The apostle Paul exhorts the Ephesians, not to allow righteous anger to become sinful anger, by letting the sun go down on their wrath Eph. 4:26 .
Although, there is such a thing as Righteous anger, the problem is, rarely is man's anger righteous. Anger doesn't do ourselves or anyone else any good, in fact, the very reverse. Think of what the world does when it's enraged.
What sin anger is, when allied to the deceit of our own hearts, how quickly we justify to ourselves every display of our anger as righteous.
The sin of anger lies in this! It gets angry for the wrong reasons, Cain was angry with Abel out of envy, and so killed him.
Moses fell into hatred, when he saw a taskmaster beating a fellow-countryman in Egypt and he murdered the Egyptian. What retaliation did Pharaoh take for that action against the Israelites? Moses had to spend the next forty years living on the edges of a wilderness because of his anger.
The Imperative “be slow to wrath”
The Incentivev 20 “ For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God.
Anger, that comes from man, is from his sinful nature and does not reflect the Righteousness of God, which should be seen in His people.
It is God’s design to produce practical righteousness in His children. Our goal is to have the righteousness of God produced in our lives, and anger does not promote righteousness
"An angry man stirs up strife, and a hot-tempered man abounds in transgression" (Prov. 29:22).