James Post #7 – James 1:21-25

We are already in the 7^th post of this blog on the Book of James.  It’s been great for me to dig into this letter once again.  I am enjoying writing this and hope that you are too.  I’ve heard from a few of you and want to say ‘thank you’ for your interest and your comments.  I won’t take the time for any specific introduction to today’s verses other than to say we’ll be working through James 1, verses 21 through 25.  Take a minute to read that passage out of your Bible, would you?

Today I’m going to work through the passage verse by verse so here goes.

21.  “Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you.”

The very first thing that struck me as I read this verse was when James talked about “all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent” and I thought, it sure is.  Our culture seems saturated in this stuff.  Sex is used to sell all kinds of products and to titillate us I so many ways.  It’s seen in movies, magazines, books, advertisements, billboards, the list goes on and on.  Whenever we see some of this on TV, especially in the ads, I am so thankful that our children are grown up.  I can’t imagine the kinds of questions some of these would generate in young minds.  You parents of young children as well as teens have a tough job nowadays.  I don’t envy you at all.

“Get rid of it!”  This is what James tells us to do with all this stuff.  By “feeding” on this for long periods of time we become jaded and even desensitized to it.  We see so much blatant sexuality, unnecessary violence, foul language and just plain weird stuff that it starts becoming the new “norm” for us, even for us as believers.  I believe this applies to our thought lives as well.  God wants us to clean up our act (behavior) and clean out our closet (memories, desires, dirty little secrets).  He’s talking about all the things you may have shoved back in there…way back in there where you hope no one will see them.  James tells us to confess it to God, to get it out of our lives!  And then he tells us what to replace those thoughts with.  He says to “humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you.”  The meaning here should be pretty obvious to you.  He’s talking about the word, God’s Word, the scripture.  The word, “planted in you”, suggests that it needs to take root and grow in you.  That’s what God wants you to do with His word.  Let it be planted in you, taking root and growing.  That’s how you bear fruit for Him.  The first “fruit” is your own salvation.  As you understand what Jesus did for you by reading about it in the Word, you make the decision to accept His sacrifice and become one of His children.  And as more fruit develops in your life, it becomes something that others can see in your behaviors as well as your attitudes.

22.  Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.  

Do what God’s word says to do!  It’s not complicated.  Being a Christian or attending church or even reading your Bible isn’t just about feeling good.  James says if you just listen to the word you are deceiving yourselves, that you are fooling yourself into thinking that’s enough.  James says it means something when it makes changes in your life.  He explains it very simply.  “Do what it says!”   It could not be any easier to understand.  It’s about putting into practice what God tells you to do.  Sounds just like a popular sneaker company’s motto…Just Do It!  That’s pretty straight forward don’t ya think?  Then James continues in the next couple verses by expanding on exactly what he’s talking about.  He gives us a visual image to further help us comprehend.

23. 24. “Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like.”

Have you ever gotten up in the morning, stumbled to the bathroom to brush your teeth, looked up at the mirror and thought, “Yikes, what happened”!  Not really.  I’m just seeing if you are paying attention.  When we look at our own reflection in the mirror it is very vivid.  We look in the mirror to see very detailed and intricate details of our appearance (hair, teeth, blemishes, makeup, age spots, wrinkles, etc.) but after we have walked away the image fades rather quickly.  Some people do the same thing in church.  They sit there on Sunday morning and are very attentive to the message given through song, scripture or the spoken word.  They leave church thinking that they’ll review or reread the scriptures later on but too soon the “glow” seems to fade.  They get busy and before you know it those thoughts are just a faint, distant memory.  They leave church after Sunday morning with great intentions but they, too, fade. 

It’s like a lot of things we work to learn.  I’m sure you heard the phrase “Use it or lose it.”  I learned some German in college and took some Conversational Spanish a few years ago while working in Florida.  I got fluent enough that I took my wife out and ordered our entire meal in Spanish.  She seemed quite impressed but I really wasn’t confident about how I had done until the food came.  I guess I did alright.   No complaints.  Today, I don’t think I could even put one sentence together in Spanish (or German) because I haven’t used it in my life since those earlier days.  James says that it’s the same with scripture and lessons learned from word.  Hearing it isn’t enough.  We have to apply it!  It’s like dieting...I'm long on knowledge but short on application.  You can have lots of information but if you don’t apply it there’s little or no benefit in your life.

25.  “But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it—he will be blessed in what he does.” 

James says in verse 25 that we need to “look intently into the perfect law that gives freedom.”“Looks intently” means to read with deliberate focus, determined, concentrated, sharply fixed.  Like your surgeon looking at Xrays/MRI/CAT scans.  Imagine how you would feel if you asked your Doctor how your scans looked and he said “Oh yeah, well I glance at them and don’t think there was anything there to worry about.”  How would you feel?  I’m guessing you wouldn’t be very comforted or relieved.  You would want to know that he looked it over thoroughly, that he had studied it and had confidence in his understanding of what the scan showed and what it meant to your case.   God wants us to “look intently” at his word in the same way…to study it, to understand it and to apply it.

James goes on in this verse with the phrase  “continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it—he will be blessed in what he does”.  That expands or reinforces what we’ve been talking about already.  God wants us to be consistent in looking into His word.  He wants us to remember what we’ve read and learned.  He wants us to put what we’ve learned into practice in our daily lives.   Then James reminds us that if we do these things we will be blessed because of it.  That’s a promise you can take to the bank! 

Did you notice what vs. 25 says about the perfect law?  It gives freedom!  Don’t put yourself, or others, under unnecessary burdens.  You don’t have to pay the price for your sin.  God isn’t going to settle some old debt on your shoulders.  Why?  Because Jesus already did!  As the old hymn states: Jesus paid it all.  All to him I owe.  Sin had left a crimson stain, he washed it white as snow.  When we understand the gospel, the perfect law of God, we see that Jesus has set us free from the guilt, shame and penalty of our sins.  That’s why he came to earth in the first place.  I hope that each of you have already made the decision to accept Christ and his sacrifice on your behalf.  It truly does give us freedom.  I will close today’s post with a couple more verses which speak to the closing point today.

“God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”       2 Corinthians 5:21

“It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.”      Galatians 5:1

“if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.”       John 8:36

Until next time, I pray that God will bless you as only He can.