Life Ministries

 “Four Principles of Faith”
James 1:19-25

    The Book of James is written in a very direct way. It contains a lot of “imperatives” or things that we must do because of our faith. The Book of John 20:31 states “These things are written that you may believe”…But, the Book of James is written to give us the things we need to DO because of what we believe. I would say that most of Paul’s writings were for the same reason.

    This morning, I want to focus in on the words in verse 19 - “Quick to listen”…and bring out four principles of faith that concern how and why we should listen to God’s Word. How we hear has a direct affect on our faith;
Romans 10:17 – “Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ.”
John 10:27 -   Jesus said “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them and they follow me.” Our readiness to hear reflects upon our relationship with God. For instance;
    There are those who are “slow to hear.”  These listeners can hear sermon after sermon and it never seems to affect their lives or their thinking. They may even nod their heads in agreement at some point, or even understand that what they heard was truth, but it makes no difference at all…Matthew 13:13-15 – ““Though seeing, they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand. In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah: ‘You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving. For this people’s heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes.
Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.”
    Then there are those who have “selective hearing”.  They only hear what they want to hear. They “tune out” the things they don’t want or don’t like to hear. Sometimes we have selective hearing on a subconscious level. A mother, for instance can hear her child whimper while she is in the midst of a sound sleep.
    There’s a story told of the old Indian who was walking with a friend down the busy and noisy streets of New York. He suddenly stopped and said; “Did you hear that?”…”Hear what?” … “Did you hear that cricket?”  “How can you hear a cricket in the midst of all this noise?” The old Indian bent over a potted tree on the curb, and sure enough, there was a cricket. “It all depends on what you are listening for” he said.
    Then, of course, there are the good listeners. They are the seekers. They are seeking to know and seeking to grow. This is the kind of listener Cornelious was in Acts 10:30 -33 – “Three days ago I was in my house praying at this hour, at three in the afternoon. Suddenly a man in shining clothes stood before me  and said, ‘Cornelius, God has heard your prayer and remembered your gifts to the poor.  Send to Joppa for Simon who is called Peter. He is a guest in the home of Simon the tanner, who lives by the sea.’  So I sent for you immediately, and it was good of you to come. Now we are all here in the presence of God to listen to everything the Lord has commanded you to tell us.” Good listeners are always ready to hear God speak. They are eager to take notes and hungry to learn. They are literally seeking to grow spiritually and not just content to let spiritual growth just happen to them. There is a certain part or parts of spiritual growth that will happen or “rub off” just because we are there! However, this type of listener desires life change!
    Verse 21 of our scripture in James says – “Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you.  Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.” Remember, James is speaking to Christians. It would seem to indicate there were sins still left over from their past. Sometimes our repentance, our severance with the past, is not as complete as it should be. And, as long as sin is left to linger in our lives, our faith will never really flourish like God desires. Paul says the same thing when he admonishes us to “Put off the old self, and put on the new self”…
    Verse 21 b. “Humbly accept the word planted in you”…If the Word of God is only on the surface, it will never have the kind of influence it is meant to have. It has to be firmly planted! The Parable of the Sower gives us a picture of that surface Christianity; when the Word is only on the surface, is soon stolen by Satan, scorched, or blown away. But, when it is planted in good soil; “it produces a crop yeilding a hundred, sixty, or thirty times what was sown.”
    Finally, he says in verse 22 that we can’t just listen to the Word, we must be do’ers of the Word.  We may hear the Word, and even have the Word in our hearts, but if we never apply it, we never really grow. Many Christians wonder why nothing seems to be happening in their lives when it comes to God, when they themselves are the holdup. These are the principles that James says we must DO in order for our faith to grow and flourish and produce fruit.