AM Bible Study Group; April 18, 2012

James 1:22-25

Theme: True blessing in the word comes not merely from the hearing but from the doing.

Pastor James has introduced us, in the previous passage, to the sort of attitudes we should have in order to be receptive to God’s word and gain it’s life-changing benefits (vv.19-21). And now, he gives us the second part of that instruction. It would do us little good to be receptive of it, and yet not faithful to do it.

We should always be cautious of “success” and “self-help” literature. But one famous leader in that movement has said that, statistically, less than 10% of people who listen to “success” material actually do what it says. He said, “The main problem most people have is that they know what to do, but they don’t do what they know.”

We, as Christians, have the same problem. Here, pastor James reminds us of the importance of not only hearing and “receiving” God’s word, but of putting what we hear into practice.

I. WE ARE TO BE “DOERS” AND NOT MERE “HEARERS” OF GOD’S WORD

(v. 22).

A. James writes, "But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves” (v. 22). This is an “imperative”—that is to say, a command. The Bible frequently gives us the instruction that we are to be “doers” of what God says (see Matthew 7:24- 27; Luke 11:27-28; John 13:12-17; Luke 6:46). This is also an imperative in the “present tense”. That means that it’s something that we are to keep on doing as a regular practice of life.

B. James says that Bible "hearers" who do not do this are “deceiving” themselves. People who “hear” the word can easily “deceive” themselves in such a way as to not do it and thus lose the benefit of hearing. They can deceive themselves by being “sentimental” about the word (Ezekiel 33:31-32), or by being “prideful” in the hearing of it (1 Corinthians 3:18-19; 8:1); or can even deceive themselves by justifying the sin that God’s word points to (1 John 1:5-10).

II. THE BLESSING OF HEARING ONLY COMES TO THE “DOERS” (vv. 23-25).

A. James goes on to illustrate: "“For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was." (vv. 23-24). Those who are “hearers only” do not gain the benefit of the word. Stop and think how many times in the course of a day you look in a mirror. Why do you look into it? Why do you keep checking? What good would it do to only look, but never do anything about what you see? The same principle applies with those who look into the Scriptures.

B. By contrast, James goes on to say, "But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does" (v. 25). He says that those who are both “doers” as well as “hearers” are “blessed. This is because of the nature of the word of God. They would be looking into the “perfect law, the law of liberty”—“perfect” because it is from God (Psalm 19:7-11), is complete (Matthew 5:17-19), and leads to the goal of our full liberty in Christ (Galatians 3:22-24; 5:1).

C. Note that "how" they look into this word is important. They not only “look” but look in such a way as to “perceive”. This word in the original language describes a close, intense kind of looking (see John 20:5). What’s more, they not only look intensely and perceive, but they abide in it—that is, remain constantly with the matter and persevere in it. They give it time to change them from the inside out. Finally, they then become not forgetful hearers, but effectual doers. Dr. John Mitchell used to say that he never memorized Scripture—even though it was very apparent that he had. He said that he simply put a passage into practice; and in doing what it said, he ended up memorizing it because it had become an active part of his life and thought.

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J. Vernon McGee used to say that the best translation of the Bible is the one that you translate into action. May we be people who are not only "hearers" but "doers" of the word—truly experiencing the life changing benefits of the perfect law of liberty!