James Statement That the Word-Doer Will Be Blessed Parallels Jesus Own Words in John 13:17

The Mirror of Freedom and Blessing James 1:25 Preached by L Going at WACC – January 28, 2001 Let me ask you a question. Are you free? As Americans we value our freedoms. Our state motto on every New Hampshire auto registration tag reads “Live Free or Die.” So are you living free? Even the freedom that our founding fathers advocated was not ultimate freedom. The freedom they envisioned for our country carried with it a price tag. Such freedom required all citizens to be responsible and to adhere to the rule of law. Today freedom is seen to be the removal of more and more restraints. Every restraint and social taboo against personal happiness and self-indulgence are viewed as contrary to personal freedom and expression. What is becoming apparent is that as a nation our people are becoming slaves to the quest for personal freedom and expression. Self- indulgence never leads to freedom but to increasing bondage.

You may not be on the path of unrestrained self-indulgence but are there issues in your personal life that seem to keep tripping you up? Are you satisfied with the way your life is going? Are there things that you do that seem to be actually harmful to your well being? Does your life ever seem to be out of control? You may not be subjected to the tyranny of king or dictator but do you ever find yourself subjected to the tyranny of your appetites. Charles Dickens once remarked “Subdue your appetites, my dears, and you’ve conquered human nature.” That is the problem we all struggle with to one degree or another. It is in the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and the covenant that he ratified with his shed blood that we alone find freedom from enslavement to our selfish desires.

Dave Wilkinson relates a true story that starkly illustrates how in fact left alone without God’s grace we are all prisoners to our fallen natures.

“ Thomas Constain’s history, The Three Edwards, describes the life of Raynald III, a fourteenth-century duke in what is now Belgium. Grossly overweight, Raynald was commonly called by his Latin nickname Crassus, which means “fat.” After a violent quarrel, Raynald’s younger brother Edward led a successful revolt against him. Edward captured Raynald but did not kill him. Instead, he built a room around Raynald in the Nieuwkerk castle and promised him he could regain his title and property as soon as he was able to leave the room. This would not have been difficult for most people since the room had several windows and a door of near-normal size, and note was locked or barred. The problem was Raynald’s size. To regain his freedom he needed to lose weight. But Edward knew his older brother, and each day he sent a variety of delicious foods. Instead of dieting his way out of prison, Raynald grew fatter. When Duke Edward was accused of cruelty, he had a ready answer: ‘My brother is not a prisoner. He may leave when he so wills.’ Raynald stayed in that room for ten years and wasn’t released until after Edward died in battle. By then his health was so ruined he died within a year…a prisoner of his own appetite.”

James is warning us as professed believers not to deceive oursleves concerning our relationship with the Lord by thinking that hearing the Word is all that genuine faith produces. Rather genuine faith in the Gospel of Jesus Christ leads you to become a Word

Sermon Series on The Epistle of James 1 "A Letter to God's Pilgrim People about Practical Issues of Faith" Doer. As we said last week this is descriptive of a characteristic that marks the life of every one who is born of God. John MacArthur writes. “He is describing characteristic behavior, not occasional activity. It is one thing to fight; it is something else to be a soldier. It is one thing to build a shed; it is something else to be a builder. James is not merely challenging his readers to do the Word; he is telling them that real Christians are doers of the Word. That describes the basic disposition of those who believe unto salvation.”

A Word doer is a true believer. This does not mean that one who is a true believer will always perfectly practice the Word. We all fail here. A doer of the Word will fall, stumble, fail, and sin but he will not be satisfied with this state of affairs. He goes back to the Word and engages the Word with the prayer and purpose to hear, receive and find grace to obey. Yet if all you do is hear the Word then you need to take care. James says that such a person deceives himself. Deceives himself about what? I take this to mean that he deceives himself about his relationship with God. He thinks he is right with God but he is not.

It is a healthy faith that honestly wrestles with the Scriptures, which brings real change into your life. When all is said and done you as a believer must do the word. You must be more than concerned to do the word. You must have more than good intentions to do the word. You must do more than plan to do the word. You must do the word. A doer of the word interacts with the Word with the commitment to hear the word so as to do it. James calls the Word the “perfect law of liberty.” It is the mirror of the perfect law of liberty. The verb “looks” in verse 25 describes a serious encounter with the word. The New International Version translates the word “looks intently.” But here unlike the man in the mirror who goes away forgetting this one continues or perseveres and does the word. He does not stop looking until he becomes a doer of the work. The work that the word calls him to do he does. The more in faith he does the more freedom and blessing he experiences.

The law of liberty I take to mean the entire New Covenant. This includes the grace and Lordship of Jesus Christ. This involves a proper application of the Old Testament Scriptures in light of the Gospel. It encompasses the law, as it has been fulfilled by Jesus Christ. Many commentators I think rightly see how close James relies on the teaching of Jesus Christ as found in the Gospels. He seems to have written this letter with a copy of the Sermon on the Mount in front of him. Jesus teaches us that as we hear and obey his teaching our lives will become stable. Listen to what our Lord teaches from Matthew 7:21-27

Not every one who says to me, `Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, `Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?' And then will I declare to them, `I never knew you; depart from me, you evildoers.' "Every one then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house upon the rock; and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat upon that house, but it did not fall, because it

Sermon Series on The Epistle of James 2 "A Letter to God's Pilgrim People about Practical Issues of Faith" had been founded on the rock. And every one who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house upon the sand; and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell; and great was the fall of it."

This is what James says although he speaks of freedom or liberty. The Word of God by which we have received spiritual birth that is now implanted within us is also that which can bring us into liberty. But that liberty only comes as we come under the law or rule of Jesus Christ. The Gospel not only justifies us it transforms us. The rule of the New Covenant is the path to greater freedom from sin. Sin enslaves you. The Word of God sets you free. Which brings me to the benefits of becoming doers of the Word.

The first is that you will experience more and more freedom in your life. The more in faith you do the work that the Word teaches, the more experiential freedom you will enjoy. This is not a legalistic view of the law, wherein I foolishly think that by complying I will earn God’s pardon and justification. Rather it is freedom from sinful attitudes and behavioral patterns. Faith leads to obedience and obedience to God’s Word brings freedom. Dr. Jay Adams gives a couple of good illustrations of this kind of freedom. There is a child who wants to play the piano. She really can’t wait to begin. But she does not want to practice. She likes going to her lessons and sitting next to the piano teacher and playing along with the teacher. Her mother has all she can do to get her to practice. So the little girl sits at the piano and bangs away but the sound she makes is not music. She is not free to play the piano. She is bound by her lack of knowledge and experience. Freedom to play will come only as she does her lessons and gains experience through practice. The other illustration he gives is of a train. Imagine a train (like in the children’s story, “The Little Train that Could”). He is tired of the train tracks. They are too restrictive. He wants to travel through the countryside, over hills and down in the valleys. So one day he jumps the tracks and starts to go over the rolling hills, only to get bogged down. He can’t move. When is the train really free? It is when he is on the tracks. So we are truly free when out of faith and love we are doers of God’s Word. His Word is the perfect law of liberty.

The second benefit of becoming a doer of the Word is that you will be blessed in what you do. Now it is important to state what James is not saying here. He is not saying that you will be blessed for what you do. That would be a form of works righteousness. Rather he says you will be blessed in what you do. You will be blessed in your ways. To be blessed means that you will know and experience God’s gracious help and assistance in what you do in obedience to the Word.

When the mirror of God’s Word points out something in your life to which you must give attention and you begin to take the specific steps to do so the promise is that you will be blessed in your doing. When the Word of God reveals to you a particular work, response, or task that you must do and you in faith begin to do it even though it is hard and presses you, God will graciously help you. He will be at work with you in the work the Word directs you to do. God always blesses the obedience you render in faith. This is what is stressed in Psalm 1.

Sermon Series on The Epistle of James 3 "A Letter to God's Pilgrim People about Practical Issues of Faith" Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water, that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers.

James’ statement that the Word-doer will be blessed parallels Jesus’ own words in John 13:17: “If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them,” and in Luke 11:28: “Blessed are those who hear the word of God, and observe it.” There is fruitfulness in the labor, work, ministry and counsel of the man and woman who hear God’s Word and do it.

We see ourselves in the word. The Scriptures expose our sins, needs, moral marks, as well as, direct us to the remedy for change, which is the grace of God that comes to us through the Lord Jesus Christ. You hear the word attentively but then when you leave church you forget what you heard. The Word of God showed you things about yourself, things that needed spiritual attention and grooming. You saw that moral blemish yet when you left you forgot what you are like. God shows you what you are like so you can do something about it. Then the Word directs you in the obedience that God is calling you to render. As you do in faith you will find God right there helping you in what you do.

One of the reasons for not growing more in your knowledge of God’s Word is that you do not do what you already know. What kind of a truck mechanic would Rod White be if all he ever did was read manuals on engine repair and set in lectures on how to work on Mack trucks? How skilled would Bob Willey be in carpentry if all he ever did were watch Bob Villa’s or Norm Abrams’ videos? You need to do the word. Whatever the Lord shows you from his word that you need to do. It is always going to be hard at first. You may even mess up. But you will not grow in grace unless you trust God’s grace to help you do His Word. As you hear the Word ask yourself questions like these. From this passage of Scripture is there a sin that God is pointing out that I must confess? Does God want me to trust him with in a particular issue and do what is right even though it may be costly? Is there a particular attitude that I have that needs to change? Is there someone from whom I need to ask forgiveness? Is there someone I need in love to speak to about a particular problem in our relationship? Do I need to watch my tongue? Is there someone that the Lord wants me to reach out to for ministry? Do I need to humble myself and seek help from a mature believer with this problem I am having?

There is a journal to which I subscribe called the Credenda Agenda. The tittle, which is in Latin, translated means “Things to be believed. Things to be done.” That sums up the message of James. We are to believe the Word and we are to do the Word. Our Christian pilgrimage is stymied and stuck when we fail to believe or we fail to do. As we hear God’s Word we must always be looking for those things to be believed and those things to be done. Anything less will lead us away from the truth of God’s Word.

Sermon Series on The Epistle of James 4 "A Letter to God's Pilgrim People about Practical Issues of Faith"