The law – a looking glass

Exposition on the Book of James Part 5.

If you haven’t yet, please check out part 1 of this series, The ideas of James are all centered around the idea of a perfectly forged faith that makes us perfect.

We have been working on building our house for quite a while now. There are some things that we just don’t have a place for and certain things that we don’t have up. We don’t have a working clock hung on the wall. We do have a clock; it just doesn’t tell the time anymore. We have rooms in our house that don’t have lights, we take a flashlight into them so we can see. We also don’t have a mirror on the wall. Not yet at least. My wife has a mirror on a stand that she uses when she puts on her makeup, but it is pretty small, and I often don’t know where this mirror is. There are times when I really need to find a clock or look in the mirror. There are times I can’t find a flashlight and need to go into an unlit room. Most of the time, everything is fine without these things. But there are a few times when I really need one or more of these things, but we either don’t have it or I can’t find it.

Most people (especially Christians) live their lives without consistently accessing the Bible or spending time seeking God in prayer. Most of the time, it doesn’t seem to matter all that much. They are building a life, and while they may have a Bible, and they may have a relationship with God, but it is frequently neglected. Most days go by without a noticeable need to pray. Unfortunately, three divorces latter, or three kids born outside of God’s design for marriage, two career changes, many of heart aches and a whole lot of sin later, they find themselves in dire need of that relationship with God and his word, and the worst part is many never recognize that decision they made every day to neglect God’s word was the very thing that allowed them to get to that place. It is not easy to leave the paths of sin that we have lingered on for so long to walk in fellowship with God daily.

When we turn on the lights, we can see the trash that needs to be delt with. When we have a mirror, we can see our face that needs to be washed. When we ignore those things, they get worse and worse. Our lives, void of time spent in God’s Word become cluttered with junk, and often times sin. We may not see the effects of skipping a few days in God’s presence, but over a long period of time, it will become evident in our live.

James warns us first of being slow to wrath. If we neglect time with God we often become a bitter and angry people. This is not how we should live our life. James says that “the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God” There is a time to be mad about things. There is a righteous anger. However, this is in context of the temptations (trials) that we are going through. God wants us to be swift to hear” when temptations come. I believe primarily that means quick to hear from him. We need to be in a place to listen for God to speak. Sometimes God uses other people to talk to us, sometimes he uses events to get our attention. But when we are in the midst of a temptation, we need to be swift to hear from God. We also need to be slow to speak. I think this means that we need to not talk about our problems to other people unless they are part of the solution. We need to be careful to guard against murmuring and complaining. Mostly because we do not understand the reason God allowed the trial to come or the circumstance to happen. From God’s perspective it is not an evil event – if you are a saved person then God will use the situation for good. We need to be careful about opening our mouth too soon. Let the trial pass then when we have a better perspective, we can use it to tell others about how God worked in our lives. Until we have that perspective, we need to keep our mouth shut. Wait for the rain to settle, then we can have a better view of what God is doing with the storm. Also, if we speak to fast from the wrong perspective that can cause us to get angry about the situation. Joseph could have been angry with his brothers when they were cruel to him. From our perspective he had a right to be mad about that. He could have even gotten to a point where he was mad at God for allowing it to happen. Instead, Joseph was slow to wrath and slow to speak evil of his brothers. On the other side of the trial he found that God did really use it for good, not evil.

The idea of worketh not is the same one used about our faith. The temptation of our faith worketh Patience, and patience brings perfection. But wrath is often the opposite of faith. If we allow ourselves to get mad about something it is often because we do not see that God can use it for good. We do not see it from God’s perspective. Our wrath does not work – or produce – the righteousness of God. I believe James is saying here that when a trial comes, we have two options. We can take the trial at face value and begin to get mad about the things going on an speak reproachfully, or we can take the trial at faith value knowing the goodness and character of God, and that he will use it to make us conform closer to his image and adopt his character.

James continues this thought by saying “Wherefore lay apart all filthiness” Basically because we now understand that our wrath does not work – or bring forth – the righteousness of G0d we need to lay apart – or remove from us as a piece of clothing is taking off – all filthiness. That is everything that is contrary to the character of God. He then adds “and Superfluity of Naughtiness” that is the abundance or overflowing amount of wrong deeds. Said simply, stop doing wrong. But he does not end with the wrong. He tells us how we can live a life that does work the righteousness of God. That is by receiving “with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls.”

Engrafted means grafted on the inside; it is as a tree has taken on a new nature. I have native pecan trees on my property that have been grafted on with paper shell pecans. The fruit that I receive is no longer the small fruit of the native pecan but the large, sweet nut from paper shell. Even more so with the Word of God. it is able to save our soul. I believe this is more than our eternal salvation, though it is true in that respect as well. The salvation of our souls is that the Word of God is so powerful it is able to save life, eternal and temporal. That person who is neglecting the Word of God is not following what the Word says and therefore is constantly choosing the wrong path. If the Word of God has become a part of us. it is how we live out the words of Jesus. It is how we love our enemies and do good to those that hurt us and want evil things to happen to us. It is how we avoid sin, and we were just told that the end result of sin is death. The Word can keep you from sin, but our sin can keep us from the Word. We must allow God to use his Word to bring about his righteousness in our lives.

James does not just want us to know what the Bible says about sin. He doesn’t want us to just know the books of the Bible in order. He wants us to understand more than the cute little bedtime stories of the Bible. In order for the Word of God to take hold of our lives, we cannot just hear the Words of God, we must Do them. “But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.” There are many a church goes who hear the word of God preached every week. The hear the message and maybe even get convicted by it, but they fail to make the commitment to follow the word of God. as soon as they leave the room, they develop amnesia and go do the same things over and over again. They deceive their own self, thinking that they have a walk with God and thinking that they are doing good but soon they will wake up to the fact that they are they still have all the problems that started with. They may not know the cause and might even blame God or think that Church doesn’t work, or that the Word of God has failed them. The best plane left undone is the same or worse than not having a plane. We cannot take the parts of the Bible that we like and ignore the rest. It is an all or nothing book. We cannot take salvation through faith alone and by the goodness of God alone, but then think that God is okay with fornication, drinking alcohol. or simply living life without consulting God. God will not bless the life lived apart from his word.

James continues “For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was.” It is the word of God that will reveille to us the mistake we are making in our lives. It is the mirror that allows us to see ourselves from a different perspective. How foolish is the person that looks into the mirror to wash his face but leaves the dirt untouched. He no longer sees the mess of a person he is, but everyone else can see it.

The man that wants to be clean before God, he must come to God’s Word in faith; believing that it will reveal the flaws and show him God’s perspective. “But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.” notice the word, continueth. this denotes a lingering. a good deal of time spent. God seldomly answers quickly, it often takes an intentional amount of time. This man will be blessed in his deeds. God will bless and help this man have a biblica;l perspective because he is following the Bible.

James then ends this chapter with two conflicting examples. Vain religion and pure religion. A man that says he believes in God but his words show that he does not trust God. It is like the man who says he has lots of money but is always begging. It is a contradiction. His words show that his faith is vain. The other person is visiting the widows and fatherless in their affliction, he is comforting other people. He is proving that He believes God is good so he is doing his best to show others that God is good. He is also keeping himself unspotted from the world because his religion or faith tells him that his God is unspotted from the world because his God is Holy and just and good and righteous. He is living what he believes.

Which person to you relate to? Are you the first to gripe about a situation or are you the first to help a person in need? are you a person that is allowing their believe in God to dictate their actions or are you acting without considering the goodness of God? Are you actively trying to draw people closer to God or are you pushing them away with your voice. IS your faith vain?

James 1:19-27 KJV

Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath:

For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God.

Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls.

But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.

For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass:

For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was.

But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.

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.

Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.

S. T. 
Acts 20:24
"But none of these things move me..."