Live the Word

  

[The following is a manuscript of my message delivered on Sunday morning, the 5th of November, 2023, at Pilgrim Reformed Church.  A recording of our service should be available on our YouTube streaming channel: 

https://www.youtube.com/@pilgrimreformedchurch1992/streams.]

Two weeks ago, before our 5th Sunday sing-along, we began looking at the letter that the Apostle James, a brother of Jesus, wrote to the early church.  At that time, I said that James was primarily concerned with the practical aspects of Christian conduct.  In this letter he provides concrete, ethical instructions on how faith works in everyday life, with less focus on theology and more on practicality.

In the opening, he told us to resist the ways of the world, resist feeling sorry for ourselves when troubles befall us, resist the lure and desire for financial wealth, and resist the devil, as he tempts us to do evil and tries to destroy our faith.  Today we’re going to continue with James’ advice as he gives us good, solid guidance on living as our Lord would have us live.  Please listen and follow along to verses 16 through 27 of the 1st chapter of the letter written by James to the early church, and I’ll be reading from the New English Translation of our Holy Bible this morning…

16 Do not be led astray, my dear brothers and sisters. 17 All generous giving and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or the slightest hint of change. 18 By His sovereign plan He gave us birth through the message of truth, that we would be a kind of firstfruits of all He created.

19 Understand this, my dear brothers and sisters! Let every person be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger. 20 For human anger does not accomplish God’s righteousness. 21 So put away all filth and evil excess and humbly welcome the message implanted within you, which is able to save your souls. 22 But be sure you live out the message and do not merely listen to it and so deceive yourselves. 23 For if someone merely listens to the message and does not live it out, he is like someone who gazes at his own face in a mirror. 24 For he gazes at himself and then goes out and immediately forgets what sort of person he was. 25 But the one who peers into the perfect law of liberty and fixes his attention there, and does not become a forgetful listener but one who lives it out — he will be blessed in what he does. 26 If someone thinks he is religious yet does not bridle his tongue, and so deceives his heart, his religion is futile. 27 Pure and undefiled religion before God the Father is this: to care for orphans and widows in their adversity and to keep oneself unstained by the world.

--James 1:16-27 (NET)

Let us pray…  Heavenly Father, we are blessed to have this letter from one of Your Son’s earthly brothers to study and learn from.  It provide us with good, practical guidance on how we should act as followers of Christ Jesus, how we should live as He wants us to live.  And it encourages us to remain steadfast in our service.  Thank You, Father, for seeing to it that this letter would still be available to us today.  Sadly, Father, we don’t always spend as much time in our bibles as we should, learning more about and gaining insight into Jesus from those who walked with Him and knew Him best.  Too often the demands of life press in on us and consume all our waking hours.  Please help us see the wealth of good information contained in Your word.  Please open our hearts and our minds to Your message.

Speak to us now, Father, that we might hear Your voice through Your Spirit within us and better understand what You tell us this day.  Please protect us from those who serve Satan and carry out his evil deeds.  And Father, please keep us strong in our faith, of one mind and one purpose in our love, worship, and service, and healthy and safe in the days ahead.  This we pray in the precious name of Your Son, Christ Jesus our Lord.   Amen.

Here's an interesting little story that Clayton Bell wrote for a 1986 issue of Preaching magazine:

A number of years ago Norman Cousins wrote an editorial in Saturday Review in which he reported a conversation he had on a trip in India.  He was talking with a Hindu priest named Satis Prasad.  The man said he wanted to come to our country to work as a missionary among the Americans.  Cousins assumed that he meant that he wanted to convert Americans to the Hindu religion, but when asked, Satis Prasad said, "Oh no, I would like to convert them to the Christian religion.  Christianity cannot survive in the abstract.  It needs not membership, but believers.  The people of your country may claim they believe in Christianity, but from what I read at this distance, Christianity is more a custom than anything else.  I would ask that either you accept the teachings of Jesu in your everyday life and in your affairs as a nation, or stop invoking His name as sanction for everything you do.  I want to help save Christianity for the Christian."

Let that sink in for a minute: “I want to help save Christianity for the Christian.”  We don’t know exactly when this conversation took place, other than “a number of years” before 1986, nor could I determine if Mr. Prasad ever came to America.  But his assessment of American Christianity in the ‘80s was spot on, I’d say.  Unfortunately, the only thing that’s changed is that it might be in even worse shape now.

There are a couple of solid points in this, but I think the most telling in our culture today is that Christianity is not a social club.  We need believers, not members.  It’s not a custom to be practiced, or even honored as such.  It’s a way to live.

You may have heard me say it before, but we must not let anything, not even religion, get in the way of our worshiping and serving our Lord Christ Jesus.  If we continue to call ourselves Christians, we must fully accept and follow the teachings of Jesus in our everyday lives and affairs.

And family, this is the sermon James is preaching.  The message he speaks of, that was implanted in us, is the Gospel, the Good News of salvation through Jesus the Christ.  This is the Word, the Truth.  God gave us birth through this message of truth.  It isn't enough to hear the word, to listen to the word - we must live the word!

So here is James, a brother of Jesus, telling us to live out the word, to live as Jesus lived.  But what does Jesus Himself have to say?  Hear the words of our Lord as recorded by the Apostle Matthew in verse 21 of the 7th chapter of his Gospel account…

21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter into the kingdom of heaven — only the one who does the will of My Father in heaven.”

--Matthew 7:21 (NET)

Calling Jesus “Lord” isn’t what secures our salvation.  Simply recognizing Him as the Christ, the Son of God, doesn’t cut it – the devil and his demons know exactly who Jesus is.  We must do the will of God.

That’s an action word there: “do”.  We must get up and get out and do the will of God.  And how do we know the will of God?  It’s contained within His word.  We must put His word into practice.

Again hear the words Jesus spoke, this time as recorded by the Apostle Luke in the 6th chapter of his Gospel account, verses 46 through 49…

46 “Why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and don’t do what I tell you?

47 “Everyone who comes to Me and listens to My words and puts them into practice — I will show you what he is like: 48 He is like a man building a house, who dug down deep, and laid the foundation on bedrock.  When a flood came, the river burst against that house but could not shake it, because it had been well built.  49 But the person who hears and does not put my words into practice is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation.  When the river burst against that house, it collapsed immediately, and was utterly destroyed!”

--Luke 6:46-49 (NET)

It can’t get any clearer than that.  “Why do you call me “Lord” but then don’t do what I tell you to do?!?”  If we truly accept Jesus as our Lord and Master, then we will obey His every word without question, without hesitation, without fail.

Is what Jesus tells us to do all that difficult to carry out?  Well, yes and no.  What He tells us is clear: love one another.  What He commands is simple: go and make disciples.  He even tells us how to go about it, by telling others everything that He has told us, teaching them all He taught, sharing with them the love He shared with us.

But for most of us, this is difficult.  We’re shy when it comes to spreading the word.  We’re timid, afraid of what others will think of us, worried about how they might react.  As for loving one another, some people just aren’t all that loveable.  So too often we fail to do what Jesus tells us to do.  We may sing, “On Christ the solid rock I stand”, but family, I worry that too many “Christians” today are standing in quicksand.

Family, God’s message today is fairly simple.  Don’t just listen to His word, don’t just read it – live it.  This is what Jesus did.  He did what His Father in heaven willed.  He not only lived God’s word, He breathed life into it.

This is the example He set for us to follow.  As did our Lord, let us live the word.  In the blessed name of Christ Jesus our Lord, the Son of God, who showed us how to live.  Amen.

Let us pray…  Almighty God, thank You for the apostolic letters in our bible, written by those who knew Your Son best, including His earthly brothers.  Thank You for the solid guidance they provide and for their words of encouragement that strengthen us in our day-to-day lives.  Too often, Father, we are too timid to carry out the command Jesus gave us.  Too many times we let prejudice and hatred overcome any love we may have for a person.  Forgive us those times, please Father, when we falter and fail in our service.  Please help us understand the importance of doing Your will, just as Jesus did.  Help us live out Your word.  And please help us to not be afraid to share our Lord Jesus with others, sharing Your love, so that they too may be saved by Your mercy and His sacrifice.  And Father, please shield us from Satan as he attacks our faith and tries to pull us away from You.  Help us be better servants, glorifying You in all we do so that the world can see You in us, through our deeds, in how we live.  And help us remain strong, faithful, and true to You in all things, no matter what the world throws at us or holds out before us.

Please hear us now, Father, as we pause for just a moment to speak to You through Your Spirit within us, promising to be more obedient to Your commands, and seeking Your help to do so…

Lord Jesus, You warned us that we must put Your words into practice, to do what our heavenly Father wills us to do.  When we do what You tell us, we build our future on the firmest foundation of all.  Thank You, Lord, for showing us how we should live by how You lived.  We pray, Lord, that we will not only spend more time in God’s word, but that You will help us live it out as we move forward in this life.  Please, Jesus, help us reach out to the non-believing world, sharing the Gospel message with the lost.  Help us show them Your love by showing our love.

And Jesus, please shield our minds and our hearts from the world’s lies and empty promises.  Guide us around all the devil’s traps and snares.  Help us see though his temptations.  Please help us be faithful and true to You, putting all our trust in You, all our hope in You.  Heal the hurts that separate and divide us one from another.  Help us keep our focus on the things of heaven and the needs of others rather than on anything this life might offer.  This we pray in Your blessed name, Christ Jesus our Lord and our Savior.  Amen.