Doers and Hearers: James 1:22-25

Good morning church it’s blessing to see all of you in our online church service, we are going through the book of James under the theme “Faith in action”

I wanna start with a short story, In the month of April and May we see beautiful Gulmohar tree blooming all over our city, last year, I collect lots of seeds, so that someday I will plant the seeds somewhere, the seeds are still with me.

If I didn’t plant that seed I will never see beautiful Gulmohar flower. What I want to convey through this story is, God’s word is like a seed, we come to church hear great sermons and if we never apply those God’s word in our life, it’s like my story, you store those seeds and never plant we won’t harvest anything in our life.

This morning James is saying the same thing James 1:22-25, we shall meditate this text. l will like to read for all of us.

22 But prove yourselves doers of the word and not merely hearers who deceive themselves.
23 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;
24 for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was.
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.

Church, today we shall meditate together 4 very vital points under the topic DOERS and HEARERS. there are two kinds of people in every church, Doers – They heard the word and applied in their daily life.

Mere hearers – They heard the word but never applied in their life. We shall see both Doers and hearers character one after another. With that lets come to our first point.

1. BE DOERS OF THE WORD

22 But prove yourselves doers of the word. James wants all of us to be the doers of the word, The sentence Doers of the word is in imperative so, it is a command to every believer.

Every believer should be doers of the word. Why we be doers of the Word? because The Word of God calls us to action: Putting God’s word into action will change lives, Remember how God changes our lives, we believe the word of God and we allow God to process the word in our life and it brings life transformation.

Putting God’s word into action will change minds, As we process God’s word in our life, as we put the word of God into action, God’s word renew our mind daily and we are more and more like Jesus every day.

Putting God’s word into action will change hearts. As we put God’s word into action/practice, it makes our heart purer and closer before God. When we obey the word of God and when we put the word of God into practice, the word of God sanctify us and make us more like Him.

After preaching a sermon on the mount, Jesus said, we should be doers of the word. If we are not a doer of the word, we are building up our life in the wrong foundation, the wrong foundation that brings misery and destruction in our life.

Matthew 7:24-27 Jesus said,
24 “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.
25 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock.
26 But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand.
27 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”

Anything we will build up apart from Christ will not last and will face great destruction. If you are a doer of the word that will prove that you love Christ. John 14:23. “Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him.”

Application

Are you doers of the word?

In Israel there is a sea called Dead sea, you know river water flows in the dead sea and never flows out, as a result, Its salt concentration is 8.6 times saltier than ocean water.

There are no plants, fish, or any other visible life in the sea. Many people are like Dead sea, they heard and received all they need from word of God but they didn’t put into practice, nothing grows in their heart, Don’t be like the dead sea, those people are physically alive but spiritual dead, Church Let’s be doers of the word and grow in the Lord daily. With that lets come to our second point.

2. MERE HEARERS ARE DECEIVERS

22 But prove yourselves doers of the word and not merely hearers who deceive themselves. James is saying that we are to be “doers” of God’s word, “and not hearers only, hearers only deceive selves” (v. 22b).

People who only “hear” God’s word but who do not “do” what it says, are fooling and deceiving themselves.

They think that they are receiving a benefit from ‘hearing’, when in fact they are robbing themselves of the blessing of God. What exactly does this deception look like?

When we say we believe one thing but don’t act upon it, It is really like we don’t believe it at all. This is similar to the double-minded living that James speaks of in verse 8.

Remember, in verse 8 James says the double-minded person is the one who professes belief but doubts. Here, James says we are deceived if we say we believe but don’t act on the Word. Jer.17:19 Our own hearts are deceitful so much so that we easily fool ourselves.

I have deceived many myself times in my life, I was born in pastor family, heard thousands and thousands of sermon in my life, I can clearly remember how I have deceived myself and God many times knowingly and unknowingly.

This was my idol for so long, I was lazy, I was forgetful, never take the word of God seriously, my life was like a dead sea, nothing growing in my heart, I was living unproductive life.

Slowly God shows my heart idol when I come to know I was deceiving myself, and breaking God’s heart by my sinful behaviour I repent my sin and receive His grace.

Illustration:

Judas Iscariot had the best pastor, the best leader, the best advisor, the best counsellor he saw all wonders and miracles, yet he deceives himself, the problem is not the leadership of the church you go to.

If your attitude or character doesn’t change or your heart doesn’t transform, you will always be the same.

Application: How many times have you deceive yourself and God?

If you have deceived like me, let us repent our sins and received God’s forgiveness and grace. May we all be doers of the word in our everyday life.

3. MERE HEARER ARE NEGLECTORS. (23-24)

23 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;
24 for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was.

Mere hearers are neglecters of the word, James uses an analogy of a man looking into a mirror, once he looks at himself and gone away and he immediately forgot what kind of person he is.

That person is like hearing a sermon or read God’s Word and think, “I must do something about that.”

But then when he gets home and life just gets busy. He has got things to do, people to see, places to go. And just forget. Gods word is like a mirror, and the purpose of a mirror is self-examination;

you can see the flaws and hopefully fix them. We should use God’s word as our mirror. As a mirror, allow it to reflect an image of who you truly are. When it shows you your gifts, use them.

When it shows you what you are doing is sin, repent and change it. When it shows how you can live in the power of Christ, live in it. The word should be a tool for you to use to examine your life, but it must be done truthfully.

Let your time of daily devotion be an opportunity to examine yourselves in the mirror of God’s Word. James brings this up because there are many who sit beneath the preaching and are forgetful and neglect hearers.

Forgetful in this sense: they hear the preaching and even agree with it, but the moment Sunday is over, they forget the Word. They do not carry it with them into their lives. Church let’s not walk away from the mirror of God’s Word.

Application:

Our life priority should be God, if you are neglecting His word and His instruction, If you are not giving priority to His word. You are inviting all life troubles, idols in your heart will control your heart.

Consequences of neglecting God’s word is huge.

1.You will go wrong direction in life coz you are not guided by God’s words

2. Your life will be confused.

3. Nervous, Anxiety and fearful will control your life.

4. You will be easily deceive

5. You wont know the will of God.

6. You will make wrong choices in life.

All these above consequences will face by those people who neglect the word of God. 2 Tim.3:16-17,

16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,

17 that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work

4.DOERS WILL BE BLESSED (25)

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.

James says if you do the Word; if you don’t neglect it; but if you look intently or look fully and deeply into the Word of God to see what it says for our lives.

Which he also calls the perfect law of freedom, you will be blessed. James lays out four steps that we can take to be blessed: Step One: “Look intently.” Gaze into the Word of God and keep looking until you find something. Step Two: “abides by it.”

Once you find something, keep looking. Find more. Step Three: “Not forgetting.” Don’t forget what you discover. Step Four: “But doing.” Do what you’ve learned. Let it change your life.

Just like in the mirror illustration: when we know what we’re supposed to look like, or what we want to look like, we look into the mirror to see if what we see matches how we want to look.

If it doesn’t, we adjust ourselves accordingly. So, also, we must look into the Word of God, see how our lives are supposed to look, and adjust our lives accordingly. We are to look into the “perfect law.”

This is the law that is found in Christ. This is the law of Christ; the law that gives freedom. The law in the Old Testament created burdens and expectations which we could not meet.

The law in the New Testament is fulfilled in Jesus and offers us freedom through Christ. Often we don’t think of a law as freedom. However, the law of Christ certainly does bring us freedom!

We are set free from the bondage of sin and death. We are set free to live for Jesus and live the lives that we were created to live. Jesus said in John chapter 8, “If you continue in my word, you really are my disciples. You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free,” (John 8:31b-32). Psalm 1:1-3.

1. How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, Nor stand in the path of sinners, Nor sit in the seat of scoffers!

2. But his delight is in the law of the Lord, And in His law he meditates day and night.

3. He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, Which yields its fruit in its season, And its leaf does not wither; And in whatever he does, he prospers.

Application: Are you living a blessed life? If you are not living a blessed life?

What is stopping you to receive all the blessings from God. If there is anything to repent?

If there is any idol that is controlling you or stopping you to received God’s blessing, Surrender you heart to God and Let Him bless you so that you will live a blessed and fruitful life.

Conclusion.

Church we have meditate together 4 vital points together under the topic “DOERS AND MERE HEARERS” My final conclusion words will be.

1. Be Doers of the word, when God gave you this life make use of every opportunity and serve Him with all your heart and soul and life because this is the things that matters most.

2. Secondly, don’t deceived yourself like Judas Iscariot. Don’t be like dead sea.

3. Thirdly, don’t neglect God’s word, When God gave you this moment, use it wisely for His glory and fame.

4. Fourthly, You are a blessed child if you are doers of the word. You are like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, Which yields its fruit in its season, And its leaf does not wither; And in whatever you do, you will prosper.