Welcome Verse by Verse Fellowship family, thank you so much for joining us today as we continue our study of the book of James. And, for those watching online, thanks for tunning in today – we are so glad that you could join us as we continue our study of this amazing book. 

My name is Matthew McWaters, and I am one of the associate Pastors here at Verse By Verse Fellowship. Today, I have the privilege to be teaching on James 1:19-27. 

I want to start off by saying that I am very excited to be teaching from this book today – primarily because God used the book of James to change my life. This short, 5-chapter book has drastically impacted the way I think about faith, works, obedience, deeds of compassion, and so much more. 

Not only that, but the book of James has also challenged me to be a better Christian – a Christian that is a doer of the Word! 

Now, with that being said, let’s open with a word of pray before we begin our study today…

Overview

The book of James has a strong Jewish flavor to it, and it was obviously prepared for public reading. James’ tone in the book is clearly authoritative here, but not autocratic or despotic in nature. 

What sets the book of James apart from other books of the Bible is its use of imperatives. The book uses 54 imperatives in the 108 verses that are contained in the book – that’s an average of one call to action in every other verse. 

The purpose of this compelling letter is to encourage the early believers to pursue Christian maturity and a holy lifestyle. This book deals more with the practice of the Christian faith than with the theological or doctrinal precepts we are accustomed to seeing in many other books of the Bible. 

Essentially, James is telling his readers how to achieve spiritual maturity through a confident stand, compassionate service, careful speech, contrite submission, and concerned sharing. He deals with every area of a Christian’s life: what he is, what he does, what he says, what he feels, and what he has.

With his somewhat stern teaching on practical holiness, James shows us how Christian faith and Christian love should be expressed in a variety of actual situations. 

In other words, the book of James shows us the practical side of Christianity.

As for the specific text we will be studying today – James 1:19-27, the focus is on being a doer of the Word and not just a hearer of the Word, which is why the title of the sermon for today is – Be Doers of the Word.

With this in mind, let’s read through James 1:19-27.

Verse Breakdown

James 1:19–27

“19 Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; 20 for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. 21 Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. 22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. 23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. 24 For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. 25 But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing. 26 If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person’s religion is worthless. 27 Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.”

Now, we’re going to examine this passage in three distinct sections. 

Vs. 19-21 focuses on anger and sin.

Vs. 22-25 focuses on doing the Word and not just hearing the Word.

Vs. 26-27 focuses on pure and undefiled religion.

Anger and Sin - James 1:19-21

“19 Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; 20 for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. 21 Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.”

This passage of text starts off with the phrase “Know this.” The word phrase “Know this” is not just a phrase that tells us we should simply know something on an intellectual level. There is more to this word phrase than that! 

In its literary context, the Greek word phase eidō (pronunciation i'-do) is an imperative verb, set in an imperative mood, and it precedes the action that James wants his audience to take – the action of being “quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger.”

To put it in plain English, James is requiring that the actions of being “quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger” be a way of life for all Christians. It is not just a suggestion or some intellectual construct that only requires thought – it is a way of life and James wants his readers to understand how to be doers of the Word. 

Now, after this imperative, James adds a personal and intimate sentiment by using the words “my beloved brothers.” James wanted his audience to know two specific things here – that he considered his audience to be his “brothers” in Christ and that he loved them deeply.

After reminding his readers that they are his beloved brothers, he follows up by saying this, “let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God.”

I want to pause here for a second and say this: I think if we’re truly honest with ourselves and one another, we will find this passage of text to be convicting because all of us from time-to-time struggle with doing the exact opposite of what this verse tells us to do.

James says that we should be quick to hear – which means that we should go out of our way to hear.

At a fundamental level, this verse is talking about hearing other people speak or hearing them out. However, letting other people voice their opinions particularly when we don’t agree with their opinions, is one of the most difficult things people struggle with – particularly in our society today. 

If you have any doubt about this, just think about the last time you were able to have a serious, but loving conversation with someone who you completely disagree with about religion? 

When was the last time you had a serious, yet loving conversation with someone about religious beliefs?

And yet, we are called to be quick to hear! We should be willing to hear other people’s perspective, even if we completely and utterly disagree with them. At the very least, being quick to hear their perspective, might mean that they will be willing to hear your perspective about the Gospel.

Now, if we think about this phrase in view of the context found in verse 22, “but be doers of the word, and not hearers only,” James might be referring to hearing the Word of God.

If this is the case, I would like to point out that we all struggle with this from time to time. Because the concept of hearing isn’t just letting it go in one ear and out the other ear. ακουο, (pronounced ak-oo'-o) which is translated as “to hear” in English gives the idea of actively listening to.

And if that refers to listening to people, then it makes it clear that we are to actively be involved with hearing someone out – not just listening to respond to that person. 

But if this refers to the Word of God, there are serious implications in how we study the Word of God. 

For example, if we hear the Word of God and actively listen to it, then we cannot read the Word of God passively. We can’t simply read the Word of God just to read the word of God, it does not work that way, nor is it beneficial to us. 

We cannot simply read the Bible out of some sense of obligation, like we are checking boxes off a checklist, and not seek to understand and apply what the Bible is teaching.

No, to read the Word of God and actively listen to it requires us to read the Word actively seeking to understand it and seeking to apply it, and James continues that flow of thought in verse 22.

Given this, I think that we should be quick to hear God first and foremost and secondly be quick to hear other people. 

Now James goes on to say that we should also be “slow to speak.” Man, how much easier would our life be if we were slow to speak! How mush easier would life be if we could control our tongue!

The Bible has a lot to say about our tongue and how we speak. In fact, James 3 has a whole paragraph about how destructive the tongue can be. Proverbs 17:28, says that even a silent fool is considered wise, which suggests that those who speak up too quickly look foolish. 

Matthew 12:36, says that every idle word that we speak, we will be held accountable for. Every idle word means even the words that we speak when we think we’re being funny, or when we say it under our breath, or when we don’t mean what we’re saying.

And if we’re being held accountable for every idle word that we speak, it puts an urgency to what James is saying here. By the way, being slow to speak is easier to do when we’re actively listening.

I mentioned that life would be easier for a lot of us if we were slow to speak, so let’s explore that idea for a minute. One of the major reasons that misunderstandings occur in conversations is because one or both persons involved in the conversation is speaking before they truly think about what they are saying.

For example, a conversation can potentially escalate into an argument based on perceived opinions we’re thinking about during that conversation and the need to voice our own opinion during that conversation. If we aren’t careful and we’re quick to speak, we can easily move a casual conversation into being a heated argument all because we were being quick to speak. Having said that, I want to point out three things that being slow to speak does for us: 

It makes it easier for us to be quick to hear.

It slows us down and forces us to think about what we’re about to say. 

And (3) it forces us to slow down enough that it becomes more difficult for the conversation to escalate in anger.

Speaking of anger, James goes on to say that we should be slow to anger, and the Bible actually gives us a pretty good reason for being slow to anger in verse 20.

“Because the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God.”

This isn’t all that the Bible has to say about anger, and I think it would be valuable for us to explore what else the Bible says about anger before we move on.

We sometimes get the idea that anger is sinful, but anger isn’t sinful. Paul, when he writes to the church in Ephesus says this, “be angry and do not sin.” Paul’s words to his readers isn’t don’t be angry because anger is sin; his word is to be angry, but do not sin.

This means that there is such a thing as anger that isn’t sin, and we know that for sure. The prime example of sinless anger is Jesus’ reaction to the moneychangers in the temple in John 2:13-17. “The Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple he found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the money-changers sitting there. And making a whip of cords, he drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and oxen. And he poured out the coins of the moneychangers and overturned their tables. And he told those who sold the pigeons, Take these things away; do not make my Father’s house a house of trade.”

This verse alone gives us a fair evaluation that Jesus was angry with these people for utilizing the temple to take advantage of the people.

But the Bible doesn’t stop there, in John 2:17, “His disciples remembered that it was written, Zeal for your house will consume me.” 

Now I realize that zeal itself is not anger, but when you consider that Jesus made a whip of cords and drove all the animals out, he dumped out all the money, and flipped the tables over – I can’t imagine that Jesus would do all of that and not have any emotion behind it.

And just in case you’re thinking, well fine Matthew, Jesus was zealous, but that’s not actually anger. Let me quickly point out one time when the Bible specifically says that Jesus was angry. 

In Mark 3, Jesus goes into the synagogue and there’s a man with a withered hand. The Pharisees are all standing around to see if Jesus would heal the man so that they could accuse him of working on the Sabbath. 

Mark 3:3 & 5, “And he said to the man with the withered hand, ‘Come here.’ And he said to them, ‘Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to kill?’ But they were silent. Vs. 5, And he looked around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart.”

So, we now see that there is such a thing as sinless anger, but before you get all Zealous and determine to be angry all the time, I want you to consider something: 

Why is Jesus’ anger not sinful?

Well, the answer is strait forward. Anytime Jesus was angry, the anger was for the right reasons. He was angry because of the blasphemy in the temple, the hardness of heart, and sin. 

Anytime Jesus was angry, the anger was focused on sinful behavior and injustice. He wasn’t angry at God; he wasn’t angry at people. His anger never led to hatred of the people! He was angry because people were wronged, and people were in sin. 

Moreover, Jesus was completely in control of His anger. He controlled himself. In his anger, Jesus didn’t become bitter! Jesus didn’t become resentful!

Having said that, I want you to take a moment to compare Jesus’ anger with your own anger. Think about the last time that you were angry with someone. 

What was the anger for? Was it because someone took advantage of other people? 

Was it anger at sin? What was the anger focused at? Were you angry at sinful behavior and injustice? Or were you angry at God or angry at people?

Did your anger lead you to hatred? Did your anger lead you to bitterness?

Was your anger controlled? Or did your emotional state control your behavior?

Why should we be slow to anger? 

Because the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God.

If we are to be angry, it must be for the right reasons, directed towards sinful behaviors or injustice and we cannot allow anger to control us or make us bitter towards people or God!

Any type of anger apart from this, is the anger of man that does not produce the righteousness of God.

The issue James is trying to get at here, is that it is very difficult for a sinful, finite man to express anger without it becoming sinful.

This is why James connects these things together here, because being slow to speak and quick to hear will help to prevent sinful anger.

Let move on to Verse 21. “Therefore, put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.”

The word “therefore” used here connects this sentence with the previous passage, but it continues the same line of thinking.

James creates a contrast between filthiness and wickedness with the implanted Word in this verse. He states that we should put away, or lay aside, take off, all filthiness and wickedness. The image that James is giving here, is the idea of taking off soiled clothing, which is something we all do every day. And to be frank, who wants to walk around wearing dirty clothes all the time.

James tells us to take off all filthiness and wickedness, which are common words concerning sinful behavior. 

And then we are to “Receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.” We take off the filth, and then we put on with meekness the implanted word.

Speaking of the implanted Word, the idea of the implanted word goes beyond just the concept of saving grace. The point of the implanted word is the internalization of the Word of God even after being saved.

What James is suggesting by describing the Word in this way is that Christians should not think we are done with the Word of God after Salvation. That Word becomes a permanent, inseparable part of us, a commanding and guiding presence within us. 

The command to receive the implanted Word is not a command to be converted but a command to accept its precepts as binding and to seek to live by them.

In other words, Christians who have truly come to know Jesus Christ through salvation, demonstrate the fact that they believe by living lives that have been transformed by the Word of God.

We are to put off evil behavior and sin, put on the implanted word of God, which requires us to do the next four things found in verses 22-25.

James 1:22–25 ESV

“22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. 23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. 24 For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. 25 But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.”

Doers and not just Hearers - James 1:22-25

James is starting to connect the passage here. Remember that James started this passage by exhorting us to be quick to hear and earlier I applied that to how we act towards each other. But now James continues the idea of hearing to the word of God.

James says to “be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.”

In other words, we are still to hear the word of God! James does not negate the need to hear the Word of God. 

And we hear the word of God in several different ways. In the time of James, they only heard the Word of God when they gathered to worship God. Someone would have the Scriptures, they would read the Scripture, and then someone would expound on the Word of God.

We still do this today. We still read the Scripture publically and then whoever is preaching is supposed to expound on the Word of God.

James isn’t saying that we shouldn’t hear the Word of God. What he is saying, is that we need to hear the Word of God and act on it! If we are just hearing the Word of God and not acting on the Word of God we’re lying to ourselves, because we aren’t just supposed to hear it, we’re supposed to do the Word of God.

So, how exactly do we do the Word of God?

First off, we must hear the Word of God. We need to hear sound Biblical preaching and teaching, and we need to be studying Scripture for ourselves.

Secondly, we must study Scripture with the intent of listening to the Word. 

Third, we need to act on the Word of God.

James gives this illustration of what someone looks like if they hear the word, but they don’t do it.

James says in verses 23-24, that the one who hears the word, but does not do it, “he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like.” 

James is making the point that someone who reads and hears the Bible, but doesn’t change anything about himself, looks just as foolish as the person who looks in a mirror and doesn’t bother to fix their hair or adjust their outwardly appearance.

For us, this means that as we read and hear the Word of God, we must actively listen for how it applies to our lives.

And before I go any further with this, I want to make something very clear, because we’ve all heard people ask, “what does the verse mean to you?” 

Can I be abundantly and lovingly clear? 

What the verse means to you in a post-modern sense, means absolutely nothing in reality.

And reading Scripture, with the mindset that we can read the same verse and that verse can mean different things to different people is a terrifyingly dangerous way to read and to hear Scripture. 

Searching for what a passage means to me is utterly absurd!

The point of reading, hearing, and studying Scripture isn’t to determine what a particular verse means to us! It is to determine what the original author intended to mean to the original audience. Once we understand that, then we can determine how to apply that passage to our life.

Understanding this is the difference between using Scripture to prove our own points and using Scripture for our own benefit from understanding what Scripture actually says and building our points on Scripture, which is the whole point of having the Bible.

If we read the Bible with the question of “what does the verse mean to me?” we might get the right interpretation of the passage, but more than likely than not, we’re going to convince ourselves that the passage means whatever we want it to mean. And to be blunt this is a huge problem in the church today!

We need to read and study Scripture with the question, “What did the author intend to say?” And, “How do I apply what he actually said to my life?”

The major difference here is that we won’t just have knowledge of what Scripture says, we’ll have the wisdom that Scripture intends us to have because we’re actually following what Scripture says.

Now in contrast to the man who looks in the mirror and walks away without fixing anything, Verse 25 goes on to say this, “But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.”

In contrast to the man who looks in the mirror and forgets what he looks like, is the man who looks into the perfect law of liberty, which is the Word of God, and he perseveres – he continues or stays on the righteous path.

He reads and hears the Word of God, and in his application of the Word of God, he continues in the faith.

And you can tell who these people are. They aren’t just hearers who forget, they’re doers who act.

So, what does it mean to be doers?

It means that we actively hear the Word of God, read the Word of God, and we apply what the Word of God says to our lives.

We’re told to put off sinful and evil behavior, so we put off sinful behavior! We’re told to not only hear the Word of God but do the Word of God, so we hear and do the Word! 

Let’s move on to our next passage, James 1:26–27.

“26 If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person’s religion is worthless. 27 Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.”

Pure and Undefiled Religion - James 1:26-27

Much like the person who only hears the Word and doesn’t do it is this person who thinks he is religious.

In the case of James 1:26-27, this “religious person” is actually self-deceived. 

This type of person who is in church whenever the doors are open. They volunteer whenever possible. They do and say all the right things. If you called them at 2 am to pull your truck our of a ditch, they would be there. 

And yet, according to Scripture, if this person does not “bridle his tongue” his religion is worthless.

I want to pitch a tent and camp out here for a bit, because if you’re like me, you’re wondering what a person’s tongue has to do with whether or not a person’s religion is worthwhile or not. 

So, let me remind you again of some of the verses that talk about a person’s tongue.

Jesus tells us in Matthew 12:36-37, that we will be held accountable for every idle word that we say.

Ephesians 4:29, warns us against corrupting talk coming out of our mouths; and it tells us that we should only speak what is good.

There are a ton of other passages that mention the use of the tongue and being careful with what we say, but I think the most significant verse is in Luke 6:45, in which Jesus, in the middle of the Sermon on the Mount, makes this statement, “The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the heart his mouth speaks.” 

Or in other words, what we say reveals what is in our hearts. 

Another reason, bridling our tongues is important, is seen later in James. James 3 talks about how an uncontrolled tongue can set a forest fire on fire and James in chapter 3 also mentions people that bless and curse out of the same mouth and he states that these things ought not be.

James is essentially stating that a person who claims to be religious and does all the right things, but can’t control his tongue, is treasuring evil in his heart and has a worthless religion.

Now, James’ goes on to finish this paragraph with verse 27, by showing us what pure and undefiled religion looks like. 

“Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.”

Now obviously, this isn’t a comprehensive list of what Christianity looks like. It is just to reminds us that religion without these things he mentions is worthless.

I want to be clear. James is not against having church and having religious rituals for worship if they’re done with a reverent and worshipful spirit. James has made it fairly clear that we cannot do what the Bible says without first hearing what the Bible says.

However, James is concerned about an over-emphasis of hearing without doing.

In other words, true religion that means something extends beyond just going to church.

True religion that means something requires a Biblical action.

In the case of James, it’s the care for orphans and widows and to keep oneself unstained from the world.

Why orphans and widows, you might ask? 

Well, in the first and second century, true orphans and widows were typically ignored and not taken care of. The government didn’t have systems to help the widows and they didn’t have systems to help the children. If a child was orphaned or a person was widowed, they typically wouldn’t be able to provide for themselves and they would end up on the streets. 

Now James isn’t condemning all religious activities that don’t involve visiting orphans and widows, but he’s utilizing them as examples of people that we can help and not gain any reward from. We don’t get prestige and we don’t get money for it. 

We’re simply serving them to serve Jesus and that’s how James can qualify that type of religion as being pure and undefiled.

As we conclude today, James makes one last statement: 

“to keep oneself unstained from the world.”

And this is the same statement that is constantly repeated throughout Scripture: 1 Peter 1:13, “13 Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 14 As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, 15 but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, 16 since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.””

Pure and undefiled religion is to serve Jesus and other people with no ulterior motive and to be holy as Christ is holy.

I want to close this teaching today by saying two specific things: 

    Let the Word of God be the foundation from which your beliefs, attitudes, and actions spring. 

    Remember that pure religion combines purity of heart with purity of action.