04 From Hearing to Doing: How James Exposes Self-Deception (James 1:19-27)

Speaker: Welcome to Wednesday in the Word with Krisan Marotta. This is the fourth lesson in a series on the book of James. God has identified the real problem in our lives and has provided the only solution. The question is, will we respond? Krisan teaches us today from James 1, verses 19 through 27. Krisan Marotta: When my daughter was about four years old, we were doing a puzzle together, and she had two of the pieces mixed up, and she kept struggling to make them fit in the wrong places. And finally she got frustrated enough, she asked for help. And I said, Well, look at the two pieces again and see if you can try them the other way around. Well, she ignored my advice and kept struggling to put them in the wrong places and finally getting really, really frustrated. And I said, She demanded that I help her, and I said, Sweetie, I already told you the solution, but you don't believe me. And with perfect childhood logic, she said, I believe you, mommy, but it's not true. And I remember thinking, I'm going to use that in a talk one day. And here it is. Because the point of our verses today is I think how we respond to God. And sometimes we say, I believe you, God, but it's not true. So God has identified the real problem in our lives, and the real problem is our sinful broken hearts. He has identified the real solution to that problem, the only solution to that problem, faith in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. And the problem is sometimes we say, I believe you, God, but it's not true. There's this other thing that I think you need to deal with. And we easily deceive ourselves. You probably notice that James uses the word deceived three times in, or the idea, three different words, but in verse 16, 22, and 26, he says, Don't be deceived. He's sounding this warning. Don't be taken in by lies and delusions and falsehoods. So just to set the stage for where we are, let me review where we've been in chapter one. So in 1 through 8, he encourages his readers to consider it joy when they go through trials because of the purpose the trials serve. So this should all be reviewed to you. Trials test your faith, and this process of testing your faith has a maturing effect in your life. It brings you wisdom, it brings your faith, makes your faith stronger and more complete so that you become a mature believer lacking in nothing. And then he says, What should you do if you look at your life and you say, Well, that's not me. My faith doesn't look like that. I don't have that kind of wisdom in maturity. He says, Ask God. He is generous and he won't hold your foolishness against you. He can and will bring you to maturity. And then he tells us the first time, don't be deceived. You have to commit yourself to God, to believing in him, that he will answer your prayers. So if your foolishness comes from lack of belief or rebellion or double dealing, like, well, I'll see God if he's there, but I'm going to keep my plan B in my back pocket. He says that kind of thing don't expect to receive anything from God. Then in 19 through 18, I think he gives us one of those situations where they are acting foolishly and lack wisdom. And he says, the humble, lowly believer is the one who will ultimately be exalted. Even though he seems to lack everything now and to be lowly now, the rich unbeliever who seems so high and mighty now is going to be humiliated. So if I'm a poor believer, what perspective should I have on wealth? And he's basically saying, you have no reason to envy the rich. You have no reason to envy the rich unbeliever because you stand to inherit the kingdom of God. And then if you look at your life and you go, well, that's not my perspectives, he gives two reasons why, where you might be wrong in your understanding. In 13 through 15, he says you don't understand yourself rightly. And in 16 through 18, he says you don't understand God rightly. So in 13 through 15, he says, the problem is you, not God. The problem is not that he's out to get you, the problem is you're a sinful person. So every temptation comes not from God, it comes from the fact that we are sinful and broken. And by contrast, in the verses about God, every good gift comes from God. So it's not just that every all the that God's gifts are good, it's that every good gift comes from him. There's no place else to find them. So that brings us to 19. And we're just going to go through it in chunks. So in 19, we're going to start with 1, 19 through 21. Know this, my beloved brothers, let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger. For the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. Therefore, put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word which is able to save your souls. So the real study question, of course, is how does 19 follow from 18? How does it fit in this context? And there are people who think he truly switches gears here, and that almost as an aside, he says, Oh, and by the way, here's some good advice on how to get along with each other. And that's possible. But while that's good advice, it doesn't answer how does it fit with what he just said. So back up a few verses to 16 through 18. He says, Don't be deceived. Every good gift, every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change of his own will. He brought us forth by the word of truth that we should be a kind of first fruits of his creatures. So you'll notice in 18, he's talking about the word of truth, and he circles back to that again in 21 with receive with meekness the implanted word, which suggests to me this is not a tangent that he mentions the word in 18. He has our verses that we're trying to figure out how they fit, and then he comes back to the implanted word. So he's just been saying, when you're tempted, the source of the temptation is you, not God. The source of the problem is your own evil heart, and in contrast, God is the one who is giving you every good gift. So then the real issue is how are you going to respond to that truth? Are you willing to hear God out? So when you're presented with this word of truth, the gospel message, that you are saved by grace through the blood of Jesus Christ, that the real problem is your own sinful heart, and the only solution is the grace of God. How do you respond? And I think James is saying, here's how you respond: be quick to hear the gospel, slow to talk back to God, as if you know a better way, and especially slow to be hostile or angry toward God. So quick, I think, in this context, is eager. You should be eager to hear the word, slow to talk back and slow to get angry. And it makes much more sense to me in the context if he's talking about this is how you should respond to God, not how you should treat each other. It is true, that's good advice for how we treat each other, but I don't think that's what James's point is here. So it also makes sense, I think, with it makes sense with what comes before, and then verse 20, the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. There are several ways to understand that phrase, the righteousness of God. I don't know how much study you did on it, but the one that I choose is right standing before God, or the justification that only God can give. So being right with God such that his wrath is satisfied and you are no longer under wrath. So the anger of man does not produce right standing before God. Getting angry with him is not gonna accomplish anything. It is not going to get you where you want to be. Hanging on to your hostility and your anger toward God is not going to impress him, it's not going to force him to save you, it's not going to gain you anything. Your anger is not going to produce justification, I think is what he's saying, the right standing with God. So I understand these verses 19 through 21 to be much less about how we get along with each other and much more about how we get along with God. So, what is the response you should have to the gospel? Here it is, when you're presented with this truth, we just talked about that sin is that our sin is the real problem, God is the real solution, you respond to it with humility. The only hope for true justification and righteousness is found in humbly listening to the gospel message. And you'll notice in verse 21, he uses the language of undressing to put away, as if I'm wearing filthy rags and I should take them off and throw them away. So, of course, as Bible students, we want to say, what is that metaphor for? What do the filthy rags correspond to in reality? He's not saying, I have to get rid of all my sin before I can receive the gospel. We can know, we can rule that out from basically the rest of the New Testament, not to mention the Old Testament. I think he's talking more about attitude and repentance. So the filthy rags are the anger from verse 20, the talking back to God, the not listening to him, the pride, the self-righteousness, the attitude that says, I'm the master of my own fate, I can solve my own problems, I'm gonna do this, you know, that kind of shaking your fist at God. That's the thing we're supposed to strip away, that attitude. Cast off all that pride and anger at God, remove all that like you would shed filthy clothes, and instead humbly receive the word which will take root in your heart and grow to maturity and save your souls. So basically, I think he's saying stop justifying yourself. Stop clinging to your pride, stop clinging to your evil actions, your excuses of well, I'm not that bad, or that that stuff doesn't apply to me, and humbly embrace the gospel. Because as he's just said, we're the guilty party, God is the just and righteous party. The problems that we that we face come from our own sin in our lives, and God is the source of goodness. Therefore, that hostile response to God, that rebellion against him is all wrong. You should just repent, sit down, be quiet, and receive the gospel. So imagine if Jesus Himself came in and started teaching this class, and we all started interrupting him and contradicting him and saying, No, I want you to talk about this other thing over here, or you're wrong there, or what we really need to learn is that. I think that's the idea of 19. If I really grasp the problem and that the problem is me and my sinful heart, and that the mercy of God is the solution, then the proper response, sit down, be quiet, and listen. Accept it is true. Accept it with that humility and quietness that that's what I need to hear. I mean, is there really any question that all the problems in our lives come from sin? Our own sinfulness, the sinfulness of others, all that death, despair, brokenness is a result from results from us not being the people that we should be. So we think of sin and death as having this, you know, far-off outward consequence, but it has immediate consequences and the brokenness, the bitterness, the despair, the office politics, the war, the divorce, the broken relationship, the hurtful words, the neglect, all that stuff comes from sin. And that's, I mean, when we look around, how do you that's the real problem? I need a heart transplant, and God's the only capable surgeon. No one else can save me. But thankfully, he has offered to save us based on the blood of his son. So the only appropriate response is to listen to that message that will save your soul, that will solve the real problem we have. But he's gonna go on to talk more about how we then should respond to this word. Let's go on with 22. But be doers of the word, not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in the mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets, but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing. If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person's religion is worthless. Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father is this, to visit widows and orphans, orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world. So having just talked about how we should receive the implanted word that can save our souls, he says, but you need to do more than hear it, you have to do it. And this is one of the major themes of the letter he's gonna come back to over and over. That faith in the gospel calls on me to respond, it calls on me to do something. And as we go through James, our main task is gonna be to understand exactly how this is true. So it's very easy to respond to this and say, oh, you need to be a doer, not a hearer, and then put our particular pet project into the blank. Okay, so we will do this. You know, like James says, be a doer, uh, not just a hearer, so donate money to the building fund or join the Peace Corps or become a missionary or take in a foster child or adopt an orphan or something. We put in whatever God has put on our heart and said, that's it, that's what we should do. Now, don't misunderstand me. Those are all good things to do. All those projects and actions are worthy callings, they're valid callings, and they may be things I am called to do. So I'm not saying those are wrong or that service is wrong, but I am warning against the temptation. I think everyone whoever reads this verse has to put whatever passion is on my heart, fill into the blank and apply it to everyone else, and saying, Well, you're not doing the word right if you don't do this, because that's what God's put on my heart. So we have to ask the prior questions, what does James have in mind? What obligation would he put on us? So what it when he says, be a doer of the gospel, we want to fill in that blank. What does that mean in a lot of ways? So, what what do you think James has in mind? And I'm gonna argue that he is saying something about the nature of belief itself, namely that the gospel affects the way we live. And it that will express itself in a number of ways. So just give you another analogy. Imagine that you're lost in the jungle, and a native comes up and says, Okay, here I am, I am the best trail guide in the jungle, I can get you out of here. Do you believe me? And you say, Yes, I believe you. And he says, Great. Follow me, we're going north. And you say, Well, north doesn't look so good. That's uphill. Let's go south, it's downhill. I think that's the way we should go. Well, if I believe he's the best trail guide in the jungle, that should affect my response to him. And if I continue to ignore his advice and it and try to do things my own way, then at some point you can go, you know, you don't really believe he's the best trail guide in the jungle. Because if you did believe that, you would follow his advice. You would act a certain way. Your belief has an implication for how you're gonna act, how you're gonna respond, and what you're gonna do. And I think that's the kind of situation James is talking about. That Christian belief is not an empty claim. If we claim to have faith, that faith has implications. It changes things. So it's not just, you know, a theological aptitude test that we can forget once we turn in our test paper, and we're not studying the Bible to acquire data, you know, or find sentimental sayings we can put on needlepoint pillows or something, or you know, the fodder for the scholarly debate to get our name in the right journal. That's not why we're studying. The Bible teaches us that the gospel is the power of God for salvation, and embracing it changes us. Embracing it means when the trail guide says, go north, I say, lead the way, because I believe that's the right way to go. I believe that's true and right. And I think that's what he's saying by being a doer and not a hearer, that I don't think he has a specific, okay, no, so you have to join the building fund or whatever. He's saying if you believe this, it has implications for what you think, what you say, how you act, how you live your life, how you respond to trials, and everything about you. So because I believe God's way to be true and right and good, and the world's way to be broken and fallen, I will strive to live a certain way. I will strive to live based on what I believe to be true. Now, he is not saying that our works earn us any kind of acceptance before God. So he's not saying, okay, prove that you believe by doing the right thing, and then we'll see, maybe God will bless you if you prove yourself hard enough. He is not saying that. There's a very difference for that. He's not saying that we can earn our salvation in any way or earn blessings or earn earn grace. He's not saying I have to prove my worthiness by an absence of sin or complete obedience, or even a reasonable good faith attempt at obedience. He's not saying that. God accepts us as sinners because of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and that's as true today as the hour we first believed. But what he is saying is belief makes a difference. If I really believe the gospel is true, then it will change what I think. I will act as if it's true. Just like if I really believe the trail guide is the best in the jungle, when he says go north, I hop too. Because if the gospel doesn't involve my entire life, I haven't actually embraced it or believed it. And as we've seen in chapter one, trials in particular confront us with those choices. Where we have to go, this is hard. I want to go this way, but God says go that way. Do I trust him? Do I trust him that he's still God if this if he puts me in this situation? If he never gives me this thing I'm asking for, do I still trust him? If he takes away that thing I know I have to have, do I still trust him? If I lose my wealth, if I lose health, if I lose my best friend or whatever, do I still trust him that he's in control? It forces us to act. It forces us to say, I've always said the way to go is north, and now, boy, that way looks hard. Am I still gonna follow him if he says go there? And that's I think what James is talking about, the nature of belief itself, that when we believe, we and when we truly embrace the gospel, it changes how we think and act and speak and respond. And he's gonna give us lots and lots of ways, this is true, as we go through the letters. Sometimes he's gonna speak very generally and abstractly, and sometimes he's gonna give us very specific examples. So he says, but be doers of the word, not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in the mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away at once and forgets what he's was like. So here's one of those metaphors. Oh James is famous for his vivid metaphors. And so let's break down the mirror here. He's basically you can read at first glance that we're not supposed to use the gospel the way we use a mirror. So what about the mirror is the comparison? So you think about the way we use a mirror. I go to it, I you know, I take a quick glance, I say good hair day, bad hair day, you know, whatever, and then I walk away. If I spent all day gazing at myself in front of the mirror, you would think something is wrong with me. That's not the way I'm supposed to use a mirror. I'm supposed to take a look, you know, fix the stray lock of hair, straighten the scarf, and then move on. That's the normal way we use a mirror to look, move on, and forget what we saw. But James is saying that's not how the gospel is supposed to be like. Notice the emphasis on it once forgets what he was like in 24. We are not supposed to take a look at the gospel, say, oh yeah, okay, and then move on and forget it. So the gospel is not supposed to work like a mirror in that I walk out of church on Sunday and it's out of sight, out of mind, I've forgotten everything. Now, it does work like a mirror in that I can look at the gospel and really see and understand who I am. So it can reveal to me what is true and false about me and the world I live in and what sort of persons I am. That that is, there is a sense in which the gospel is like a mirror, but I think the in that sense, but I think the point James is bringing out because of 24 at once forgets what he was like, is what happens after you look? Do you remember or do you forget? So the problem is we were not meant to forget the gospel the way we are meant to forget our image in the mirror. So we don't hear the gospel on Sunday and Wednesday and then forget it the rest of the week. Instead, it's supposed to change us. So we respond to the word of truth, the gospel, differently than we use a mirror. And if we're a hearer and not a doer, then we are treating the gospel like a mirror, out of sight, out of mind. What we want to do instead is remain. The gospel is the sort of mirror that I should want to look in all day and never forget what it shows me about myself, such that I ultimately believe it and live like it. Then he has this wonderful phrase, the perfect law of liberty. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres being no hearer who forgets, but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing. So that's the contrast we expect. Looking at something and walking away and forgetting is contrasted with. Looking at something and abiding or persevering in it, remaining it. But notice he has this phrase, the perfect law of liberty. And I think he's just referring to the gospel or the word of truth, but instead he has this wonderful phrase. So, you know, as Bible students, we always have to ask why. I always used to, the example I use is when my children were little, if my husband came home and I said, Do you know what your son did today? He expects one thing. But if I he comes home and I said, Do you know what my son did today? He expects something else. So when they use this phrase, you know, the law of liberty, what's he setting up? What does he want us to expect? And I think he's just referring to the gospel, and I think perfect law of liberty there is acting as a synonym for the word of truth that he just had a couple verses back and that both of them mean the gospel, but why use this particular phrase? It seems contradictory. A perfect law and a law of liberty. So let's talk about that a little bit. I think his point is the gospel is like a law in that laws call us to do something. So we have laws about stoplights and traffic lights, and we obey them because we are expected to respond to that law. So the law says click it or tick it, and so we buckle our seatbelts when we get in the law. The law says stop at a red light, so we stop at a red light. It calls a response to us. The law is there and says, this is how you must act, and we obey it because we believe it to be true, or we don't want the consequences. So the gospel is like a law in that sense. I think that's why he's pulling it out. It ought to elicit a response. It's something that we read, and just like a law is meant to be obeyed, the gospel, the law of liberty, ought to elicit a response from us. So, in that sense, and you can see why that makes sense in the context. The gospel is this good news, but it is good news that makes a difference. So, say I've been living in a prison camp for many years, and the news comes that the Allied forces have won the war, they're at the gates, freedom is at hand, that's a message of liberation, and it demands a response from me. If I go back to my bricklaying in despair, I have not received that message of liberty. But if I shout for joy and run to the gates to welcome my freedom, then I've understood. And James is clarifying that's the kind of law this is. This is a law that brings liberty. This is a law that brings freedom. So it's in contrast, I think, to the Mosaic Law. The Mosaic Law wasn't a bad thing, it was a good thing. As Paul says in Galatians, it was this kind of tutor, this drill sergeant, that drove us to Christ. So it was not intended to set me free, it was not intended to save me from my sin by enacting strict obedience, it was intended to show me, wait, I can't meet this law and drive me to the cross. So the gospel, by contrast, is a law of liberty. It is a law that sets us free, that brings about my freedom. So a law puts me under obligation to act a certain way, and that is true of the gospel, but having understood the gospel, there's a response I should make, and that response will lead me to freedom, not slavery. So it's the gospel is a law that does not bind me in slavery, it sets me free in love and service. So, and there's two ways, two things it frees us from. So, as unredeemed sinners, we are trapped under bondage to our sin and to our immorality. I'm under the law, I stand condemned, I'm evil and sinful, and I can't change myself. Only God can do that through grace. So I don't deserve grace. I've done nothing to earn it, but the gospel brings me freedom by releasing me from that bondage. So it solves both the problem of my guilt and the problem of my bondage to sin. So Christ's death on the cross pays our price that satisfies God's wrath so that we can be forgiven. And then because we are forgiven, the gospel sets us free so God can give us his spirit and begin that maturing, strengthening process. So that's the sense in which the gospel is a law of liberty. The old law couldn't set me free from my guilt, nor could it rescue me from my sin. It could only show me that I had a problem. But the new law, the perfect law of liberty, the gospel, can solve both those problems. It sets me free from my guilt and from my slavery to sin. unknown: Hallelujah. Krisan Marotta: So the question then is in what sense do we have to do it? Because now we've got this, we've explained this law of liberty, but in what sense we have to do it? And as we go through the book, that's exactly the question James is going to answer. I think that is the main theme of this book is how do we do that? So the gospel story tells me what God is up to in the world, it tells me what God's up to in my life, most particularly what my real problem is, and what the real solution to it, and that requires a response. So here's the problem, here's the solution, am I gonna embrace it? What am I gonna do about it? So we all start out believing the wrong problem and the wrong solution. You know, I can fill in the blank a number of ways of what I really need. I need more money, I need maybe more fame, more prestige, an easier life, more health, uh, better friends, more glamour, uh, whatever. We fill in the blank and we say, if I just had that, whatever it is, then I'd be happy. That's the problem. And if I believe one of those things are my problem, then I'm gonna act and live a certain way. But the gospel says those things that you're pining after, that's not your biggest problem. That's not what you really need. What you really need is a solution to your sin. Because because of sin, we are under God's wrath, we're facing uh God's judgment, and our lives are filled with pain and trials because of our sinful choices. That's the real problem. And the gospel tells me God has provided a real solution. So Christ laid down his life on the cross on our behalf so that God can forgive us. We won't be condemned, life will not be futile, we will find in the end that God has given us a strong, mature faith that brings about our inheritance in the kingdom. And if that's the story I believe, then I'm gonna live my life differently than if I don't believe it. I'm gonna strive for different things, I'm gonna value different things. Maybe I don't have to demand that I get my fair share or the last word or solve every problem in my favor because I believe God is about doing that, because God is about bringing me, uh bringing, setting the wrongs of this world right. So if I believe that, how should I live? And James says the first thing you should do is not forget it. Remember it. Don't treat it like a mirror that you glance in on Sunday and forget the rest of the week. So the first response is live as if you believe this. Let it make a difference. It involves your entire life. So a response of faith means I abandon my old way of life, I changed all those values and priorities. I could lose all my possessions, I could lose favor with my peers, or lose my health, or my very life, and the gospel says I haven't lost anything because I have the kingdom of God. So do I believe that? Do I live like that is true? The best analogy I think I can give to this is is um, and I actually think this is the way I like to think of worship, is romance. You know how when you meet someone new and you start falling in love with them and you change your whole life because you start thinking, oh, how will he think if I wear this, or what will he think if I say that, or what would he like? And you start redefining who you are in terms of the person you now love. And I think that's the kind of response God is asking of us. We, in a sense, fall in love with the gospel and we start asking ourselves, well, how would God think about this? Or what would he think? And I start redefining who I am and what I think in light of my new love in that sense. That's the kind of response he's talking about. That if we believe the gospel, it changes us. Now, unlike romance, it doesn't fade away, it shouldn't fade away. It may get hard at times, but um, so don't take that analogy too far. Okay, so there's lots of ways my belief could be expressed. James is gonna give us some particular ways. We've already seen one example in how we treat money, and I think 26 and 27 are another way. He's gonna give us a lot more throughout the letter. In fact, he comes back to wealth and the tongue over and over again in this letter. Okay, so let's look at 26 and 27. If anyone thinks he's religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person's religion is worthless. Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this, to visit orphans and widows in their affliction and to keep oneself unstaying from the world. So I think this is one of these examples. I think he's using the term religious in verse 26 as a synonym for believer. The Greek word doesn't actually refer to Christianity, but it does refer to this kind of outward act of worship, this reverencing. So I think he's using it just as a synonym of a believer. If you claim to be religious, if you claim to be a follower of Christ in our case, if you claim to have faith and embrace the gospel, it should affect your speech. It should make a difference. And I'm not going to spend too much time on that because he's going to come back to speech a lot in this letter. So we're going to talk more about it in the coming weeks. But one of his themes is how we use our tongues is an expression of what we really believe. So the way I speak and use my words is an indication of what's inside of me. And I think he's saying, don't tell me you consider yourself a Christian when everything that comes out of your mouth contradicts it. That kind of belief is worthless. So if you're claiming to believe the gospel and your speech shows otherwise, maybe what you laugh at or what you value or what how you speak about other people or to other people, then you're like a man who forgets his image in the mirror. That's not the way the gospel should work. I want to spend more time on 27 because it's more of the problem verse, if you will. Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this, to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world. So you're probably aware of the debates. You can just Google social gospel and you'll find all kinds of debates, and both sides point to this verse to support their case. And in fact, this verse is uniquely kind of particularly used to uphold the debate, to claim that it is incumbent on every believer to care for the poor, the economically poor. So the question is, is that really what he's saying in context? If we went to James and we said, So if I live my whole life and I never had the chance to help someone who is economically poor or a widow or an orphan, have I failed? What would James say? And I think he would say, no, you haven't failed. Because remember the context. The very next thing he's going to talk about in chapter two is how we treat rich people and poor people. The very next verse is show no partiality. And that's exactly the kind of situation with widows and orphans. So remember, in James's culture, widows, well, women and children derive their social status from the patriarch of the house they belong to. So where you fit on the social totem pole was in large part determined by who your father was. So widows and orphans have no father. So they're the bottom of the barrel in the social status. They lack a patriarch, so they don't count much for anything in society. So just like he pointed to the rich in a few verses back, I now think he's pointing to the other end and he's saying, the temptation is to think, why should I care for widows and orphans? They can't help me. They have no wealth to help me out, they have no status. So remember, he's writing to refugee readers who have been dispersed across the region because of the persecutions, so they're in this position where what do you want to do when you're a refugee? You're you move to a new city or a new place, you want to fit in. You want to talk like the people you're around now, and you want to curry favor with the rich and powerful. They can give you a better job. They can buy your wares, they can make your life better. How can a widow and orphan help me? Well, they can't. In fact, they might drain my already meager resources because they might need help from me. And I think James is saying that's precisely the kind of thinking the gospel changes. So don't tell me you believe the gospel and then act as if social status of this world makes a big difference, or riches of this world makes a big difference. Don't tell me you believe the gospel and blaspheme God or that you live like social status matters. True religion is not concerned with the social status of people who are in trouble. True religion is concerned that there are people in trouble, regardless of who they are, whether they're high or low on the totem pole, it doesn't matter. Because the gospel tells us that's not our real problem. Social status, wealth, who my patriarch is, that's not my real problem. My real problem is I'm a sinner, and it's everybody else's problem. So when he says true religion is concerned with is this, I think he's saying this is one of those places where your attitude should have changed. You should now think we are all sinners in need of grace. Prestige, family pedigree, economic status, that stuff is irrelevant. That shouldn't matter. My attitude toward that kind of thing should change. So I should be concerned about people in trouble, no matter who they are. And I think that's his point. I don't think he would say, no, you actually have to visit a real live widow or orphan, but you're thinking about what matters in life, about who what makes people valuable, about what makes people worth interacting, about who needs your time and attention, that ought to change with the gospel. Because that the gospel levels the playing field. The gospel says, all that way we measure each other, that's bogus. We're all kindergartners and we're grading each other on who reads the best. But the point is we're all kindergartners. We all read terribly. We have a problem. The problem is sin, and that's what God's gonna solve. So I think that's why he brings it up, especially since the very next thing he's gonna go on to say is show no partiality. No partiality means no partiality. It doesn't mean, you know, we can reverse that and say, oh, well, fawn all over the poor and snub the rich. No partiality means no partiality. That kind of thinking ought not to matter. Okay, then secondly, true religion keeps itself unstained from the world. In other words, the world around us has wrong values, tells us the wrong stories, values the wrong things, and true religion recognizes and rejects that. So I was trying to figure out how to explain what I think that phrase means. And the best example I could come up with is politics. Because, you know, newly elected politicians, they always go to Washington and they claim I'm different. I'm gonna clean up the mess created by my predecessors, I'm not gonna give in to all the power and the politics. When I get there, I'm gonna be me, everything, I'm gonna change everything, and then what happens when they arrive? You know, the lure of power, the lobbyist money, the cronyism, they it all corrupts them and they become just like the people they replaced. And that's the type of compromise I think James is warning against. That keep yourself unstained from the world. You're gonna get out there and you're gonna think, I'm the one that's gonna be different, I'm the one that's finally gonna get this all right. And he's saying, no, be careful. The only way to get to do that is with the grace of God. So you can't serve two masters. The world is attractive, it has lures, it has enticements, it's gonna try to corrupt you. So flee from them. Keep yourself unstained from it. Don't give in to those temptations. And of course, the only way to do that is by the grace of God. What he remember what he said in 1.5. If you don't have this kind of wisdom or faith, what you should do is ask. Okay, let me start wrapping this up. Let me go back through then, I think, the argument of the section as I understand it. Essentially, he's saying there are two responses to the gospel. In 19 through 21, humble yourself before God, and in 22 through 27, let that gospel change you, let it change you from the inside out. So in 19 through 21, our response to the gospel, to this message that sin is the real problem should be humble repentance, eagerly listening, embracing it as true, letting go of our anger and bitterness toward God. And then in 22 through 25, not only do we need to hear it, we need to live like it's true. So, unlike a mirror image that we forget the minute we look away, we let it change us, we let it make a difference. And then 26 and 27, what kind of change am I talking about? Um, that understanding and embracing the gospel should change the way I speak and the way I view others. So the world has its one way of measuring people and grading people, like social status, uh pedigree, economic opportunity, whatever, that's no longer relevant. That's not the way we measure each other. All right, so in the few minutes we have left, let's uh let's ask, so what? So if you're thinking, great, that's not me. My life doesn't look like that, my speech doesn't sound like that, I'm not that kind of person. That's where don't forget one five. All you have to do is ask. God would give generously to those foolish people like us, and he gives generously without reproach. So the temptation, I think, is to start saying, I gotta do better. I gotta go out there and and and really try harder. Ask. You can try, you can strive for righteousness, but the first step is prayer and ask, asking. And I find to me the surest way to flee compromise is to focus back on gratitude. So when the siren song of the world starts sounding pretty sweet, and I start wanting to fit into the world or looking like everybody else, go back to the basics. What's the real problem? What's the real solution? And I think the siren song of the world fades when we focus on who am I really? What do I really need? And that is, I'm a sinner in need of grace. And what has God done for us? He has saved us by grace. So I also think that we ought to take very seriously, James repeated warnings about don't be deceived. He's called that three times through this chapter, and then add to that the phrase like if anyone thinks he's religious, we ought to take that seriously and say, oh, that that only applies to someone else. Don't brush it off. It's very easy to deceive ourselves with religious rat rituals. So we can go to church every week, we can use the correct vocabulary, we can engage in all the acts of piety that our culture says are the ones you have to do right now, or proper Christian appearance, and we can deceive ourselves into thinking, I'm pretty good. Look at all I'm doing. I go to church, I know Greek, I'm on all the right committees. You know, Greek is easier than being righteous, and it looks really good. Unfortunately, it doesn't gain you anything. It's not righteous in this anyway. But you can look at all those outward things and say, get really, it's really very easy to take yourself too seriously, to get puffed up with yourself, especially our religious selves, and say, look how well I'm doing. I'm not like my neighbor, not like that other guy. And James is saying, be careful, don't be deceived by outward appearances. Look at how you're changing on the inside, not the outside. Do you see your speech changing? When you fail, do you regret it? How do you respond when you when you f tumble headlong into sin? Is there repentance? Is there regret? Is there remorse? Do you genuinely care for those in need, regardless of their circumstances or their social status? Do you refuse moral compromise? Or how do you respond when you fail? So those are all inward matters of the hearts. The things that he's been talking about are the kind of change we should see, are who I am on the inside. And to the extent that I see my life changing and my attitude and my values changing, I can say, thank, praise be to God, because his spirit's at work in me. So I think we should take his warning seriously about don't be deceived and be very careful that we don't get caught up in our outside selves and forget that real change has to take place in our hearts. And then we should also take him seriously that all we have to do is ask. If we're failing, if you look at yourself and think the other, you know, you can fall off the horse on the other side. Either I'm all puffed up or I'm in despair. Despair is the other problem because God has promised to save us. He has promised to give faith to those who ask. He can and will change me. That's part of the promise. So don't fall into off the other side of the horse and say, oh, woe is me, I'll never get there. I'm not that kind of person and into despair because it's not up to you to make yourself that kind of person. That's the promise of the gospel. So we cry out to God and we say, I believe, help my unbelief. I long for the righteousness of Christ, I'm not there yet. I hunger to be freed from my sin, I'm not there yet. But I trust you that on your timetable, the way you're doing it, through whatever trial you're putting me through, that this is best, that you know best, that you're in control, and that you plan to change me through the work of your spirit. All right, let's stop there and let me pray for us. Father, thank you that you are a God who takes sinners like us and changes us from the inside out. And we just confess that we are not the people we should be, and that in this life we will never be free completely from the sin that so entraps us, but that because of the death and resurrection of your son, you have promised to release us eventually, to use us in this life, to to eventually right those wrongs, and to make us the people we should be. And we ask for that wisdom, we ask for that maturity and the courage and the perseverance to face whatever path you put us on, whatever trial, whatever hardship, whatever situation, that we would know nothing can happen to us that is outside of your control and that is outside of your plan, and that you would give us the faith to take each day at a time to follow you and trust you, so that we would be doers and not hearers only. In Jesus' name. Amen. Speaker: We're glad you've been with us at Wednesday in the Word with Krisan Marotta. We hope you've been encouraged and challenged to depend on the Lord. Please let us know if you have questions about this study. We are on the internet at wednesdayintheword.com, where you will find this and other Bible studies.