This week, we have been addressing one of the most
common objections and accusations that those who are far from God have when it
comes to Christianity and the church, which is that the church and Christians
are a bunch of hypocrites. We have been looking at a letter to early followers of Jesus that was written by
the half brother of Jesus called the book of James, where we discovered a timeless
and true principle when it comes to the faith that works and the issue of
hypocrisy. And that timeless and true principle is this: The faith that works
produces a life of integrity.
So far, we have talked about the
reality that the faith that works produces a life of integrity that responds to
others the right way. As followers of Jesus we live lives of integrity that
reveal and reflect Jesus to others when we are swift to actively engage others
by actively listening to others. We live lives of integrity that reveal and
reflect Jesus to others when we are slow to express our opinions to others and
instead take the time to listen to their opinions. We live lives of integrity
that reveal and reflect Jesus to others when we are slow to express our
displeasure and disapproval of others.
In addition, we discovered that
the faith that works produces a life of integrity that accepts the message and
teachings of Jesus. As followers of Jesus we live lives of integrity that
reveal and reflect Jesus to others when we accept the message and teachings of
Jesus by not being full of ourselves, but by humbly placing ourselves under the
authority of the message and teachings of Jesus. We live lives of integrity
that reveal and reflect Jesus to others when we accept the message and
teachings of Jesus so as to rid ourselves of the moral corruption and
wickedness that can cause us to stumble in our relationship with Jesus. And we
live lives of integrity that reveal and reflect Jesus to others when we accept
the message and teachings of Jesus in a way that results in our lives
reflecting God’s transformational activity in our lives as we become more like
Jesus. Today, we will see James reveal for us a third way that the faith that
works produces a life of integrity in James 1:22:
But prove yourselves doers of the word, and
not merely hearers who delude themselves.
Now if you grew up in church or went to church for any
length of time, you probably heard this phrase. But what exactly does this
church mumbo jumbo talk phrase actually mean? This phrase, if communicated in
the language we use in our culture today would have sounded something like
this:
Make sure that as a follower of Jesus you are living your
day to day life in a way that actually follows the message and teaching of
Jesus. Make sure that you do not deceive yourself into thinking that hearing
the message and teaching of Jesus is the same as actually following the message
and teaching of Jesus. Make sure that you do not deceive yourself into thinking
that knowing a lot about Jesus is the same as knowing and following Jesus”.
James then paints for us a timeless word picture to drive this point home
beginning in verse 23-24:
For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not
a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror; for once he has looked at himself and
gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was.
Now I imagine that one of the first things that all of us
did when we woke up this morning was to look in the mirror. Some of us looked
in a small mirror. Others looked in a full length mirror. Some of us even
looked at a hand held mirror on the way to work or school this morning. But,
why did you look in the mirror?
We look in the mirror to contemplate and consider what we
look like, don’t we? We look in the mirror because the mirror exposes what we
really look like, doesn’t it? Because the mirror doesn’t lie, does it? Have you
ever woke up in the morning, only to discover a new patch of acne on your face?
Or a new wrinkle? Or a few more grey hairs? Or a few less hairs? You did not
realize what had happened overnight, until you looked into the mirror. And then
you wish you did not look in the mirror. And the stronger the mirror, the more
it exposes.
A few years ago, when we took the students to New Orleans
for the challenge conference, we stayed in a hotel that had one of those
professional concave mirrors. You know the mirror that exposes every single
pore on your face. That mirror revealed and exposed things that I had previously
never seen on my face. Like how poorly my electric razor shaved my face. You
see, we look in the mirror to either verify that we look o.k. or to expose the
things we need to change before we head out into public.
Now, if you were to look in the mirror in the morning to
see that you had a bunch of toothpaste still on your lips and had only shaven
half of your face and that your hair was all out of place, how would you
respond? You would not respond by leaving the toothpaste on your lips, would
you? You would not respond by leaving half of your face unshaved, would you?
You would not respond by leaving your hair a mess, would you?
No, you would not take the time to contemplate and
consider what you saw in the mirror and then walk away and do nothing to deal
with what was exposed when you looked in the mirror? James explains that is exactly what we do
when we deceive ourselves into thinking that hearing the message and teaching
of Jesus is the same as actually following the message and teaching of Jesus
does. James explains that is exactly what we do when we deceive ourselves into
thinking that knowing a lot about Jesus is the same as knowing and following
Jesus does.
James point is that the message and teachings of Jesus
are a mirror that exposes areas in our life that are out of place and need to
be taken care of. The message and teachings of Jesus are a mirror that exposes
areas in our lives that do not line up with the life that Jesus calls us to
live.
However, the person who deceives himself into thinking
that hearing the message of teachings of Jesus is the same as following the
message and teachings of Jesus responds to what is exposed by the message and
teachings of Jesus by walking away from those teachings and doing nothing with
those teachings. James then contrasts the person who deceives himself into
thinking that hearing the message of teachings of Jesus is the same as
following the message and teachings of Jesus with one who actually follows the
message and teachings of Jesus in verse 25:
But one who looks intently at the perfect
law, the law of liberty, and
abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this
man will be blessed in what he does.
Now when James uses the phrase to look intently, this
phrase is a word picture of one stooping down in order to examine something
from a closer point of view. James is explaining that the person who looks in
the mirror of the message and teachings of Jesus with a focus on not simply
hearing, but actually contemplates and considers what the message and teachings
of Jesus have exposed and are calling them to do, and then acts by following
and aligning one’s life with the message and teachings of Jesus, that person
will be the recipients of God’s blessing, or divine favor, in their lives.
And it is here that James reveals for us the reality that
the faith that works produces a life of integrity that obeys the message and
teachings of Jesus. As followers of Jesus we live lives of integrity that
reveal and reflect Jesus to others when we respond the message and teachings of
Jesus by obeying them. We live lives of integrity when we respond to what the
message and teachings of Jesus expose in our lives by addressing those areas in
our lives so that our lives are aligned and following the message and teachings
of Jesus.
So here is a question to consider when it comes to the
issue of integrity: Are you obeying the message and teachings of Jesus in your
life? Or are you deceiving yourself into thinking that hearing the message and
teaching of Jesus is the same as actually following the message and teaching of
Jesus? Are you deceiving yourself into thinking that knowing a lot about Jesus
is the same as knowing and following Jesus?
Because the faith that works produces a life of integrity
that obeys the message and teachings of Jesus. James then reveals for us a
fourth way that the faith that works produces a life of integrity in verse 26:
If anyone thinks himself to be religious, and
yet does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this man's religion is worthless. Pure and undefiled
religion in the sight of our God
and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the
world.
Now James statement here, if communicated in the language
we use in our culture today, would have sounded something like this: “If anyone
considers themselves to be living a life of integrity with God in their
relationship with God, and yet does not hold in check his tongue, they have
deceived themselves at the core of their being and their worship of God is
empty and lacks truth”. James here is revealing that we are hypocrites when our
worship of God does not match up with our words toward others. James is echoing the words of his brother
Jesus, who said the following in Luke 6:45:
"The
good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth what is good; and
the evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth what is evil;
for his mouth speaks from that which fills his heart.”
James then explains that, by contrast, worship that is
pure and full of truth before God “is to visit orphans and widows in their
distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.” Now when James
refers to visiting widows and orphans in distress, this phrase conveys the
sense of exercising oversight and care in order to look after widows and
orphans that were experiencing trouble and distress. In the culture of the day,
as it is today, widows and orphans were marginalized by society and were
especially vulnerable.
In addition, James explains that worship that is pure and
full of truth before God results in a life that persists in displaying the
character of Jesus in the midst of a world that is hostile to God and places
itself in opposition to God and God’s kingdom. And it is here that James
reveals for us the reality that the faith that works produces a life of
integrity that worships Jesus with our words and our actions toward others.
As followers of Jesus we live lives of integrity that
reveal and reflect Jesus to others when we worship Jesus with our words toward
others. We live lives of integrity when we worship Jesus with our actions
towards others that reveal and reflect Christ in our character and our conduct
toward others.
So here is a question to consider when it comes to the issue
of integrity: Do you worship Jesus with your words and actions toward others?
Or do you view worship as something that occurs for an hour on a Sunday? You see, worship, simply put, is a response. Worship is a response
that is focused on who God is, what God has done, and what God has promised to
do. Worship is not simply singing, reading your Bible and prayer, although it
can involve singing, Bible reading, and prayer. Worship is a lifestyle; worship
is a life that is lived in a way that is focused on and that responds to God’s
character and activity in the world.
Because, the timeless reality
is the faith that works produces a life of integrity. The faith that works
produces a life of integrity that responds to others in the right way. The faith
that works produces a life of integrity that accepts the message and teachings
of Jesus. The faith that works produces a life of integrity that obeys the
message and teachings of Jesus. And the faith that works produces a life of
integrity that worships Jesus with our words and our actions.
So how are you doing? Are you a
hypocrite, a poser who says “here is the message and teachings of Jesus, and
you need to follow them, but I am not going to follow them”. Or are you a human
being who is striving to follow the message and teachings of Jesus, yet
sometimes falls short.
Because the faith that works
produces a life of integrity.
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