The Book of James, God’s Word, His Revealing Mirror, James 1:19-21 - Lesson 8

James 1:19-27,  Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath: ²⁰For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God. ²¹Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity (a superabundant or excessive amount) of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls.

The context of James 1 prior to this admonition to be swift to hear, slow to speak and slow to wrath is that God sends adversity our way in order to perfect us.

That adversity is designed to work the righteousness of God in our lives.

But that righteousness will not be brought about through the wrath of man expressed by quickly spoken words that are not reasoned and well thought out and arrived at by being quick to hear.

God is looking for that piece of marble which will count it all joy when the hammer pounds the chisel, for that piece of marble looks to the end of the process, not the process.

The block of marble accepts the pounding of the hammer on the chisel in order to be perfected.

And for you to be perfected it is God’s will that you be conformed to the image of his Son.

Ponder for a minute how far you are from that conformance and how much work the sculptor has to do to make that happen!

Considering how far you and I are from that image, is it any wonder that we must face the diverse trials of life that bring about that conformance?

Adversity is designed to reveal our deficiencies.

But God does not leave us to ourselves during that adversity but provides for our needs in times of trial, producing maturity, wholeness and conformance to His Son.

The perfection, the completeness, the wanting of nothing comes to those who do not kick against the pricks of adversity.

But many times adversity brings out the worst in men or women, anger and harsh words, even the exercise of wrath against others and even God.

So James cautions the marble to not rebel with quick words, unreasoned words, words not fitly spoken, words that will hinder the conforming power of the sculptor.

James has already told us to ask of God for wisdom and that wisdom most assuredly will come from the Word of God.

But it may also come from those who can give godly counsel from the word, or it may come from those who have previously endured such affliction themselves.

Hebrews 2:18 tells us of this connection,  For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succour (help) them that are tempted.

Did you ever think that the adversity that you have suffered was given to you by God so that you may help others who are going through similar trials?

We should therefore be quick to hear and to heed godly counsel.

Conversely, we should be slow to speak and slow to anger.

Adversity many times, results in blow ups where things are easily said and done that are foolish and hurtful.

Some people have learned that anger is a way of manipulating others.

It is common for people to use anger or threats of anger to get their way.

This never works the righteousness of God but only promotes fleshly desires and wants

Human anger may produce sinful results, but James tells us that it will never achieve God’s righteousness.

The flesh never produces righteousness, and human anger in contrast to godly anger, is a manifestation of the flesh:

We read of this in Galatians 5:16-26,  This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. ¹⁷For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. ¹⁸But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law. ¹⁹Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, ²⁰Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, ²¹Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. ²²But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, ²³Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. ²⁴And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. ²⁵If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. ²⁶Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another.

So this same message is here in James 1:21, where we read:

Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity (a superabundant or excessive amount) of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls.

Here is the choice all Christians must make.

It is either that you let the flesh rule or the Spirit rule.

For if you walk in the Spirit you will not fulfill the lusts of the flesh.

James tells the believer to lay apart all filthiness of naughtiness by receiving that which is implanted in our souls, the engrafted word of God.

James has told us that it is the Word of God that was the instrument of our salvation.

He now tells us it is that same word that is able to save your souls which means it is the instrument of our sanctification.

Sanctification is the act of making you holy which means the act of setting you apart.

Now His reference to saving your soul means that which takes place after conversion, that is the present working of the sculptor in your life.

There is the past part of your salvation, that of being born again, there is the present part of your salvation, that of being conformed to the image of Christ, and there is the future part, our ultimate perfection, when we all stand before Christ in our new bodies.

But James 1 speaks of the present part of your salvation, that of being conformed to the image of Christ.

And this conformance is connected to not only being a hearer of the word but also being a doer of the word.

For he says in James 1:22,  But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.

Here is practical instruction from James.

Hearers of the word who do not do the works of the word are deceived.

Hearers only may think that they are right with God but they are deceived for only those are right with God when God’s word is such to not only bring about hearing but to also bring about doing.

James is not preaching works salvation here but only a recognition that true Biblical salvation will result in good works.

James is saying that if you think merely hearing God’s word is enough then you are deceived.

You can be the greatest Bible scholar in the world but that status without works is inadequate.

God’s word is a unique book, in that it is designed to move you to work.

The Bible is a book to be read, and practiced, just as our Lord taught in, Matthew 7:21, 24-27,  Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. ………²⁴Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: ²⁵And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock. ²⁶And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: ²⁷And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.

The wise man is the hearer and the doer and because of that his life is built upon Christ.

He hears the words of Christ and lives his life by those words which will produce good works for God.

The foolish man is only the hearer and because of hearing only he has no life built upon Christ and therefore he produces no works for God for he is like the house built upon the sand.

Jesus on many occasions pointed out the true nature of the Pharisees for the Pharisees said one thing but did another thing.

He called them hypocrites.

They proclaimed certain things to be true and rebuked others for not practicing those truths but they did not practice them themselves.

Jesus told the people in Matthew 23: Pay attention to what the Pharisees tell you and do it.

But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they teach.

The ridicule of the world always goes most harshly to those who preach one thing but do another.

Jesus told the people to pay attention to the Pharisees for they were learned in the scriptures.

But when attention is paid let the scriptures do a work in you in spite of the fact that the Pharisees were not letting that happen in their lives.

This is a paramount truth for James amplifies the truths that Jesus preached, for he does not want the saints to be as the Pharisees, simply hearers of the word only.

Paul told Timothy to study to show himself approved of God.

This means to take the scriptures as specifications that are used to arrive at a specific product.

I remember working for my father in law as a young man.

He was a dental instrument maker and had very high standards as every instrument was made by hand.

But he had in his mind standard instruments to which he compared every instrument that he made.

He studied each instrument that was in process next to the standard in his mind and then gave his approval that it met the standard or he took it back to the work table and made minute adjustments until it conformed to the standard.

That is what Paul told Timothy.

Jesus Christ is the standard.

The Bible is the set of specifications that is to be followed to arrive at children of God who conform to that standard.

But the hearer only of the word studies the specifications but never adjusts the product to conform to the specification.

It is like the worker on the production line who is to remove the products that do not conform to the specifications.

But instead lets them go on to the point where the customer finds the flaw and returns the goods as unworthy.

James has no patience for the hearer only so he urges his readers to hear the Word of God and to heed it, by putting it into practice.

And he expounds on it this way in James 1:23,24,  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: ²⁴For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. ²⁵But 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.

Now there is a reason for looking into a mirror.

And there should also be a reason for looking into the Word of God.

We have a two sided face mirror at home.

One side shows the face in its real size but the other side shows it in magnified form.

You don’t want to use the magnified form unless you have a good reason, for it shows up every flaw or blemish.

But the reason you may use it is to do something about the flaws.

The hearer only, does not do anything about the flaw but the hearer/doer sees the flaw and praises the mirror for showing the flaw so that flaw can be dealt with.

The Word of God is the mirror for it exposes all of our sins, all of our weaknesses, and shows us all of our needs.

If we are to be doers of the Word and not just hearers, then we must do something about those sins that our study of the Word of God reveals.

To study the Word of God without applying it is useless and foolish and results in hypocrisy.

When we study God’s Word and heed it, then we are blessed in what we do.

If we do not apply the Word in our deeds, we miss God’s blessing.

Study to show yourself approved unto God is a life long process and that process is designed to conform you to the image of God’s Son, Jesus Christ.

No study, no revelation of what you are, no correction by the washing of the word, results in no conformance to the image of the Son.

James is an in your face book.

It’s message is simple.

Spirituality is not measured by the quantity of our speech for James asks us to be slow to speak.

God tells us to be still and wait upon him.

Paul tells us to study which requires no speech but a listening ear.

The block of marble speaks not but simply reacts to the sculptor’s chisel and lets go of the offending chips of marble in order for the vision of the sculptor to be realized.

The message of James is to let God do his work.

His work is such that adversity will come for it is though adversity that conformance to his Son occurs.

The mouth is of little use in this process for it speaks that which it knows, but the ear receives from God that which will bring about the vision of God for his children, a vision of Christ-likeness in each of his children.