Last week, we talked about believing that God can help you to line up your interior lives with your exterior lives. What you say and how you live – there is a powerful life to be lived when those two things line up. Remember, that’s what the book of James is all about. So this week, we’re checking out James 1:19-26, and James is going to start to get specific with us about what areas of our lives we need to examine. Let’s start in verse 19:
19My dear brothers and sisters, be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry. 20Your anger can never make things right in God's sight.
There is a certain rhythm in this verse – quick, slow, slow. Quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to get angry. Usually, we do it the other way. Slow, quick, quick. Slow to listen, quick to speak, quick to get angry.
But God’s way is backwards of how we are, just like it normally is: Quick to listen: • prepare to hear what the other person is really saying – and not just to HEAR it, but to really listen to their heart and what they’re trying to communicate. • There is a reason that God gave us two ears, and one mouth. Slow to speak: • This doesn’t mean that we talk slowly, or deliberately. It means that we are strategic and thoughtful about what we say and WHEN we say it. Don’t be an over-talker. The Bible is full of warnings about over-talking:
Prov. 10:19: When words are many, sin is not absent, but he who holds his tongue is wise. Prov. 13:3: He who guards his lips guards his life, but he who speaks rashly will come to ruin. Prov. 29:20: Do you see a man who speaks in haste (quickly without thinking?). There is more hope for a fool than for him!
So what’s the solution for the overtalker? It’s that quick, slow, slow pattern. Listen more. Don’t interrupt.
Check your heart for the motive behind why you want to talk in the first place! Sometimes we talk too much because we’re insecure, or because we’re trying to defend something about ourselves that doesn’t need defending.
As believers, we have to get to a place where every word we speak is weighty – filled with purpose and meaning and truth and encouragement. And if your exterior life (what you do and say) lines up with your interior life (what you believe) – you’ll have to do a lot less defending of yourself, and you’ll have a lot less to feel insecure about.
But there is one more part to the quick, slow, slow rhythm. It says be slow to anger, 20Your anger can never make things right in God's sight.
If you have a problem with anger, flying off the handle, losing your temper, you need to get back to the basics of being quick to listen, slow to speak...and I promise you’ll start to become slow to anger.
See – it doesn’t say, “NEVER be angry.” There is a way to be angry that is not a sin. It’s right to be angry about sin or injustice, but the anger we’re talking about in this passage is not that kind of anger – it’s man’s anger – when you just lose it.
Anger like that doesn’t help your faith, and it doesn’t help the person or people you’re angry with. God is your protector and defender – if something’s gone wrong against, you can trust God to take care of it. Remember last week, I mentioned the scripture that says, “the name of the Lord is a strong tower, those who run into it are safe.” He’s like your freeze tag base. If you can make it to him, if you can bring your anger to him, and let him be your defender, you’ll be safe. As believers, we’re called to be like Jesus, to reflect the same stuff God is – remember, we’re made in his image. And God, is slow to anger and filled with lots of love. That’s his character, and it can be ours, too, if we’ll take to heart this quick, slow, slow pattern. 21So get rid of all the filth and evil in your lives, and humbly accept the message God has planted in your hearts, for it is strong enough to save your souls. 22And remember, it is a message to obey, not just to listen to. If you don't obey, you are only fooling yourself. 23For if you just listen and don't obey, it is like looking at your face in a mirror but doing nothing to improve your appearance. 24You see yourself, walk away, and forget what you look like. 25But if you keep looking steadily into God's perfect law--the law that sets you free--and if you do what it says and don't forget what you heard, then God will bless you for doing it.
Can you imagine what would happen on the football field if the wide receiver went out for a pass and once he caught the ball, just stood there? What if didn’t tuck the ball and run? Everyone would start shouting and screaming at him? “What’s he doing!? He has the ball – now run!” A lot of Christians are the same way – the receive the Word of God, they hear it, but they stand there. James is again telling us to grab the ball and run.
To start, he’s saying get rid of all the filth and evil in your lives. He doesn’t leave room for a few pet sins, he says ALL. Then he starts into this business about not fooling yourselves. Over and over in this book, James uses the words, “Don’t deceive yourselves, or don’t fool yourselves...” He’s saying, “Hey – get real with yourself. Are you doing the stuff? Is this a real thing in your life, or are you just messing around?”
In college, there is a way to take a class without actually doing any work. It’s called auditing. When you audit a class, all you have to do it listen. You don’t have any tests, there’s no homework to turn in, and noone checks up on you. It costs less to take, too. You don’t even have to take notes. You just show up, maybe listen, and then leave. It’s possible to do the same thing here. You can be here, but basically be auditing God.
If you’re not doing the stuff, if you’re just coming and listening, you’re basically auditing God. James is saying, “don’t fool yourselves. Auditing is not the real thing. If you think that just attending church is going to make you a mature Christian, you’re fooling yourself. Maturity comes when you DO THE STUFF – when you make application of God’s very words to your life.
The difference between listening and doing is like the difference between simply reading the menu and eating the food. One nourishes you and helps to give you life, and one just leaves you hungry, and full of information about what you could have, but don’t.
So to nail this thought home, James uses this really cool word picture. 23For if you just listen and don't obey, it is like looking at your face in a mirror but doing nothing to improve your appearance. 24You see yourself, walk away, and forget what you look like. 25But if you keep looking steadily into God's perfect law--the law that sets you free--and if you do what it says and don't forget what you heard, then God will bless you for doing it.
He uses the image of a mirror to help us understand. Can you imagine someone looking in a mirror to check their appearance before heading out, and then forgetting what was there?
I mean, picture it. They step to the mirror intending to make changes based on what they see...and they notice that their hair is messed up, their zipper is down, their shirt is untucked and they have toothpaste gunk on their mouth. They see all of these things, and while they’re looking there, they know these need changed.
And then they walk away, out to school or practice, and don’t change a thing! What was the point!? Why look in the mirror in the first place if you’re not going to make changes? That’s what a mirror is for!
James says that the Word of God is our mirror. We look into it to see how we need to change. It CAN reflect who we really are, and who we really should be. It CAN show us the ugliness, the zits in our spiritual lives, as well as the gleaming bright white great parts of our lives and character.
But if just glance at the mirror of God’s word without taking the time to really “look steadily into it,” we won’t get an accurate picture. Like I had Chipotle for lunch today – and imagine I had one of those little green pieces of cilantro stuck in my teeth. If I just briefly looked in the mirror, I might now see that piece of crud stuck between my teeth. You have to look intently into the mirror to see it – and to dig it out.
Same thing with God’s word: if you just glance at it every once in a while, you’re going to miss some things it’s trying to reflect back to you. And if you don’t make changes based on what you see, then what was the point in the first place.
James wraps up by giving us another example of how we should let the mirror of God’s word change us.
26If you claim to be religious but don't control your tongue, you are just fooling yourself, and your religion is worthless. 27Pure and lasting religion in the sight of God our Father means that we must care for orphans and widows in their troubles, and refuse to let the world corrupt us.
When it all comes down to it, he brings us right back the basic principle – your religion has to have feet. It has to be lived out.
It might look controlling your tongue, it might look like taking care of the poor – but this relationship you’re a part of – the fact that you’ve been reconnected with God – is meant to end in action.
I want to challenge you this week to spend some time considering how your speech reflects the fact that you know God and are loved by God. When you speak this week, consider why you’re talking in the first place. Consider what you’re saying – is it actively building people up in their faith, or is it tearing others down. No middle ground – either you’re helping others with your words, or you’re hurting them. God calls us to a higher standard, and gives us his very own Spirit, the very stuff of God, to help us pursue that standard. I believe that you can each transform the relationships in your lives, starting this week, if you’ll take to heart and put into action what we’ve talked about tonight.
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Last week, we talked about believing that God can help you to line up your interior lives with your exterior lives. What you say and how you live – there is a powerful life to be lived when those two things line up. Remember, that’s what the book of James is all about. So this week, we’re checking out James 1:19-26, and James is going to start to get specific with us about what areas of our lives we need to examine. Let’s start in verse 19:
19My dear brothers and sisters, be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry. 20Your anger can never make things right in God's sight.
There is a certain rhythm in this verse – quick, slow, slow.
Quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to get angry.
Usually, we do it the other way.
Slow, quick, quick.
Slow to listen, quick to speak, quick to get angry.
But God’s way is backwards of how we are, just like it normally is:
Quick to listen:
• prepare to hear what the other person is really saying –
and not just to HEAR it, but to really listen to their heart
and what they’re trying to communicate.
• There is a reason that God gave us two ears, and one mouth.
Slow to speak:
• This doesn’t mean that we talk slowly, or deliberately. It means that we are strategic and thoughtful about what we say and WHEN we say it. Don’t be an over-talker. The Bible is full of warnings about over-talking:
Prov. 10:19: When words are many, sin is not absent,
but he who holds his tongue is wise.
Prov. 13:3: He who guards his lips guards his life,
but he who speaks rashly will come to ruin.
Prov. 29:20: Do you see a man who speaks in haste (quickly without thinking?). There is more hope for a fool than for him!
So what’s the solution for the overtalker? It’s that quick, slow, slow pattern. Listen more. Don’t interrupt.
Check your heart for the motive behind why you want to talk in the first place! Sometimes we talk too much because we’re insecure, or because we’re trying to defend something about ourselves that doesn’t need defending.
As believers, we have to get to a place where every word we speak is weighty – filled with purpose and meaning and truth and encouragement. And if your exterior life (what you do and say) lines up with your interior life (what you believe) – you’ll have to do a lot less defending of yourself, and you’ll have a lot less to feel insecure about.
But there is one more part to the quick, slow, slow rhythm.
It says be slow to anger,
20Your anger can never make things right in God's sight.
If you have a problem with anger, flying off the handle, losing your temper, you need to get back to the basics of being quick to listen, slow to speak...and I promise you’ll start to become slow to anger.
See – it doesn’t say, “NEVER be angry.” There is a way to be angry that is not a sin. It’s right to be angry about sin or injustice, but the anger we’re talking about in this passage is not that kind of anger – it’s man’s anger – when you just lose it.
Anger like that doesn’t help your faith, and it doesn’t help the person or people you’re angry with. God is your protector and defender – if something’s gone wrong against, you can trust God to take care of it. Remember last week, I mentioned the scripture that says, “the name of the Lord is a strong tower, those who run into it are safe.” He’s like your freeze tag base. If you can make it to him, if you can bring your anger to him, and let him be your defender, you’ll be safe. As believers, we’re called to be like Jesus, to reflect the same stuff God is – remember, we’re made in his image. And God, is slow to anger and filled with lots of love. That’s his character, and it can be ours, too, if we’ll take to heart this quick, slow, slow pattern.
21So get rid of all the filth and evil in your lives, and humbly accept the message God has planted in your hearts, for it is strong enough to save your souls. 22And remember, it is a message to obey, not just to listen to. If you don't obey, you are only fooling yourself. 23For if you just listen and don't obey, it is like looking at your face in a mirror but doing nothing to improve your appearance. 24You see yourself, walk away, and forget what you look like. 25But if you keep looking steadily into God's perfect law--the law that sets you free--and if you do what it says and don't forget what you heard, then God will bless you for doing it.
Can you imagine what would happen on the football field if the wide receiver went out for a pass and once he caught the ball, just stood there? What if didn’t tuck the ball and run? Everyone would start shouting and screaming at him? “What’s he doing!? He has the ball – now run!” A lot of Christians are the same way – the receive the Word of God, they hear it, but they stand there. James is again telling us to grab the ball and run.
To start, he’s saying get rid of all the filth and evil in your lives. He doesn’t leave room for a few pet sins, he says ALL. Then he starts into this business about not fooling yourselves. Over and over in this book, James uses the words, “Don’t deceive yourselves, or don’t fool yourselves...” He’s saying, “Hey – get real with yourself. Are you doing the stuff? Is this a real thing in your life, or are you just messing around?”
In college, there is a way to take a class without actually doing any work. It’s called auditing. When you audit a class, all you have to do it listen. You don’t have any tests, there’s no homework to turn in, and noone checks up on you. It costs less to take, too. You don’t even have to take notes. You just show up, maybe listen, and then leave. It’s possible to do the same thing here. You can be here, but basically be auditing God.
If you’re not doing the stuff, if you’re just coming and listening, you’re basically auditing God. James is saying, “don’t fool yourselves. Auditing is not the real thing. If you think that just attending church is going to make you a mature Christian, you’re fooling yourself. Maturity comes when you DO THE STUFF – when you make application of God’s very words to your life.
The difference between listening and doing is like the difference between simply reading the menu and eating the food. One nourishes you and helps to give you life, and one just leaves you hungry, and full of information about what you could have, but don’t.
So to nail this thought home, James uses this really cool word picture.
23For if you just listen and don't obey, it is like looking at your face in a mirror but doing nothing to improve your appearance. 24You see yourself, walk away, and forget what you look like. 25But if you keep looking steadily into God's perfect law--the law that sets you free--and if you do what it says and don't forget what you heard, then God will bless you for doing it.
He uses the image of a mirror to help us understand. Can you imagine someone looking in a mirror to check their appearance before heading out, and then forgetting what was there?
I mean, picture it. They step to the mirror intending to make changes based on what they see...and they notice that their hair is messed up, their zipper is down, their shirt is untucked and they have toothpaste gunk on their mouth. They see all of these things, and while they’re looking there, they know these need changed.
And then they walk away, out to school or practice, and don’t change a thing! What was the point!? Why look in the mirror in the first place if you’re not going to make changes? That’s what a mirror is for!
James says that the Word of God is our mirror. We look into it to see how we need to change. It CAN reflect who we really are, and who we really should be. It CAN show us the ugliness, the zits in our spiritual lives, as well as the gleaming bright white great parts of our lives and character.
But if just glance at the mirror of God’s word without taking the time to really “look steadily into it,” we won’t get an accurate picture. Like I had Chipotle for lunch today – and imagine I had one of those little green pieces of cilantro stuck in my teeth. If I just briefly looked in the mirror, I might now see that piece of crud stuck between my teeth. You have to look intently into the mirror to see it – and to dig it out.
Same thing with God’s word: if you just glance at it every once in a while, you’re going to miss some things it’s trying to reflect back to you. And if you don’t make changes based on what you see, then what was the point in the first place.
James wraps up by giving us another example of how we should let the mirror of God’s word change us.
26If you claim to be religious but don't control your tongue, you are just fooling yourself, and your religion is worthless. 27Pure and lasting religion in the sight of God our Father means that we must care for orphans and widows in their troubles, and refuse to let the world corrupt us.
When it all comes down to it, he brings us right back the basic principle – your religion has to have feet. It has to be lived out.
It might look controlling your tongue, it might look like taking care of the poor – but this relationship you’re a part of – the fact that you’ve been reconnected with God – is meant to end in action.
I want to challenge you this week to spend some time considering how your speech reflects the fact that you know God and are loved by God. When you speak this week, consider why you’re talking in the first place. Consider what you’re saying – is it actively building people up in their faith, or is it tearing others down. No middle ground – either you’re helping others with your words, or you’re hurting them. God calls us to a higher standard, and gives us his very own Spirit, the very stuff of God, to help us pursue that standard. I believe that you can each transform the relationships in your lives, starting this week, if you’ll take to heart and put into action what we’ve talked about tonight.
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