One of the things common to all human beings is the
propensity for self-deception. We
are born masters in the art of convincing ourselves of things that are not
necessarily true. We do it in all
areas of our lives, but for those of us in the church, one area in which we are
particularly prone to self-deception is our own spiritual health.
James 1:22 reads, But
be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. We self-deceive by telling ourselves we
are doing well spiritually because we are in the Word, listening to the Word,
or learning the Word, when the real question is whether or not we are doing the Word. It is a valuable practice to
periodically evaluate our lives to see if this particular brand of
self-deception is working its way into our lives. To that end, for the next few weeks we’ll be taking a walk
through James 1:19-27. May the
Lord use this short series to wake us up to this danger.
This passage teaches us first of all that we need to be hearers of the Word. V19 reads: Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow
to speak, slow to anger. Based
on the context, we know that this is not mere hearing, not mere speaking,
and not mere anger, as if the object of the hearing, speaking, and anger is
indefinite. The context revolves
around the receiving of the Word. The previous verse, v18, teaches that
the Word of truth is the catalyst that brought us the new birth. Then v21 speaks of the “implanted word
that is able to save your souls.”
So both the previous and following verses speak of the communication of
the Word, and the rest of the passage deals with being a doer of the Word. That points to the Word being the
object of the verbs in v19.
So the command is to be quick to hear the Word of God.
“Hear” refers to more than auditory perception. The word means “to listen”. It is an active thing. Pay
attention. Listen to understand. This speaks of
an openness to what the Word has to
say to us, which is clear, considering that James has juxtaposed “hearing”
against the other two verbs in the verse.
It says be “quick to hear,” as opposed to being quick to
speak. What is a common
characteristic of someone who is a bad listener? While the other person is talking they are thinking about
what they are going to say. How
would that apply to the idea of being quick to hear the Word? When we think of the Word as making
claims on us, convicting us, calling us to obedience in areas of our lives
where we have been resistant, we are quick to speak, that is, we are quick to
rebut the Word. In other words, we argue with the Word. Have you ever heard someone teach the
Word in such a way that called you to a form of obedience or belief that you
didn’t like, so you immediately started thinking about why that text couldn’t
mean what it looks like it means?
That represents a heart closed to the Word, a heart that is not quick to
hear. We argue it away rather than
considering the truthfulness of it.
And then even worse, sometimes we react in anger to the
Word - He says be “slow to anger.” This Greek word for anger speaks of a
deep, internal resentment and rejection, in this context, of God’s Word. So to be quick to anger is to be quick
to reject what God’s Word calls us to.
Or for those of us who have a high regard for the Word, we may transfer
our anger to the preacher or teacher, discounting what is said by assuming a
wrong motive.
So what James is calling us to first of all is to be quick
to hear, to be open to what the
Word of God has to say to us, to
not argue against it or reject it but to really consider what it requires of
us.
And then the text tells us why. Why should we be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to
anger? V20, for the anger of man does not
produce the righteousness of God.
Remember that God’s objective is to sanctify us for His glory. v20 tells us that those ungodly
responses to the Word – arguing against it and flat-out rejecting it in anger –
are not going to produce godliness in us, which we know to be God’s objective
for us. So he calls us back to
that God-centered objective, and away from our man-centered objective of making
ourselves comfortable.
So a good question to ask ourselves as we come together to
hear the Word is what is our disposition toward it? Are we open to it or are we defensive? What has been your disposition toward
the Word recently? The first step
to being doers of the Word is to have hearts that truly hear the Word.
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