Being Doers
The book of James is an antidote for a problem humanity has which has even been rebranded as if it were a Christian idea in modern times. Namely, that faith is about intellectual assent to certain ideas and not obedience. In a single verse, the topic of the book is:
But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.
James 1:22
A “faith” that doesn’t result in a different life from those who do not believe it is a form of self-deception. Such a person may have convinced himself that he affirms certain claims but he’s not living as if they are real. He may admit that some things are “sins” but he does not live as one who despises them. He may claim to believe some things righteous but he does not do those things.
Therefore, we cannot just hear the revelation of God and “accept” it. We must live our lives according to it. Otherwise, we deceiving ourselves by imagining we “believe”.
Man in the Mirror
The word of God is not just something we can listen to and think sounds good. Properly heard, it cuts to the very soul of man. We are left not just thinking that we heard some good “moral lessons” but that we have seen the depths of our own wickedness and the heights of God’s righteousness.
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. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. 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.
James 1:23-25
Some will grab hold on the “law of liberty” phrase and try to claim that this is some sort of command to “do as we want”. Christian liberty is not freedom from God’s authority, but freedom from the bondage of sin! This perfect law is not that we pursue the desires of our flesh, but rather that we be freed from their control to obey God. To understand liberty in terms of self-service is to invert the meaning!
The word of God is the mirror through which we can see our true selves. It shows mankind our own fallen state and need of salvation from our very nature. However, if we walk away from it back into serving ourselves, it is as if we immediately forgot what we had just seen! We trust the very thing we just discovered was untrustworthy!
If, however, we repent of that life and begin serving God we prove that we believe what God has told us, no longer trusting ourselves to know what is right apart from the revelation of righteousness found in Christ.
Very Old Problem
About 600 years before Christ’s birth, God issued severe warnings to many nations through the prophet Ezekiel. The people even came to receive the message gladly!
“As for you, son of man, your people who talk together about you by the walls and at the doors of the houses say to one another, each to his brother, ‘Come, and hear what the word is that comes from the Lord.’ And they come to you as people come, and they sit before you as my people, and they hear what you say but they will not do it; for with lustful talk in their mouths they act; their heart is set on their gain. And behold, you are to them like one who sings lustful songs with a beautiful voice and plays well on an instrument, for they hear what you say, but they will not do it. When this comes—and come it will!—then they will know that a prophet has been among them.”
Ezekiel 33:30-33
By their words they acknowledge Ezekiel was a prophet. They went to him to “hear what the word is that comes from the Lord”. Yet ultimately they came to him only for entertainment. They gathered to him as they would to a musician who performs for their gratification. They would not do as commanded.
God says that it is not until the judgement falls upon them that they will truly “know that a prophet has been among them”. They “believed” that they were hearing the word of the creator and sustainer of the whole universe, but they didn’t not believe in truth. If they had, such pronouncements would have terrified them.
Accepting the Gospel
A person who really accepts the good news of the Kingdom of God has the promise of perfection. However, until the renewal of our bodies we still have the desires of the flesh which wage war against our spiritual desires. We will not live a perfect life.
Yet one thing is certain. We will not live for ourselves or the praise of other men. Instead, we live in service to the King, who is Jesus. Our prayer should ever be that God’s will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven. We will tear down the lofty ideas which raise themselves against the knowledge of God. We will resist the Devil. We do this because it is the only rational response to the revelation found in scripture.
