True Faith Obeys
Our focus today is that true disciples obey. Here is the main idea: True disciples of Jesus should receive God’s Word with humility, dwell on it consistently, and obey it wholeheartedly.
Obedience is a journey! How many received Jesus into their heart and never sinned or made a mistake ever again? Scripture encourages us how to respond to the truth of God’s word: with action. Words are one thing, action is an entirely different one. It is day by day becoming more like him. Taking active steps towards being the people God has called us to be.
Can you imagine getting all dressed up for your wedding, planning it for months, finally marrying the love of your life and person you were meant to be with, and when the celebration is over your spouse said, “don’t wait up, I have a date tonight with someone…” and they run out the door?!
This is the complete opposite of marriage and all that it stands for! When we say yes to Jesus, we say yes to the actions of a true Christ following disciple. Remember: all of life, for all of life. Our actions and our words align. This is the call, this is the challenge. And it is a daily decision. So how do we make it and follow it?
True disciples receive the word with humility
I noticed something about our anatomy that doesn’t bode well for our actions: we have two ears and one mouth, but we use that mouth twice as much if not more than those ears.
There is a natural tendency in all of us to not receive the word, but to resist it. We either say it is wrong, or compromise on its values and say that the Lord really didn’t mean X, Y, or Z. The book of Acts is full of people who resisted the word of God. They stoned and persecuted the disciples of Jesus. The Old Testament prophets experienced the same treatment. Why is this? Because the word of God is contrary to our natural flesh and its evil desires.
We must approach this book with humility, because if we don’t we will forever be hearers and not doers. Verse 21 tells us to get rid of all moral filth and evil. The challenge here is to take off the world and put on the word of God. It will be contrary to what you are wearing naturally, it might even feel radical. But that is entirely the point. We have to humbly come to the word and let it strip away all that is not of him.
This book, this word, it isn’t an earthly book… it’s a heavenly one. It will challenge you, convict you, disagree with you, because it’s God’s word. It has God’s things in mind, not yours and not mine. Jeremiah 31 says he puts his law on our hearts, Ezekiel 36 says His Spirit is in our hearts… humility of hearts allows those two things to come harmoniously together to enable us to be the people he has called us to be.
We don’t get saved by working, we get saved by receiving. Not just receiving God’s grace, but also his word into our hearts and lives. We work and put our faith into action, yes, but we do this by the Word at work in our hearts, the Word that has given us life (v. 18).
True disciples dwells on the word continually
The challenge comes in verse 25, “look intently into the perfect law of freedom.” My kids love bugs and animals. LOVES them. My daughter frequently would sneak bugs and worms into the house when she was younger. It got so bad that we had laundry loads where dead worms would come out of her clothes. So we had to start patting her down like airport security before she was allowed in anymore…
Do we gaze at and dig into the word of God like this? Are we fascinated with its life, in awe of its beauty, steeped in and deeply engaged in the word of God? How many of us read the word of God in the morning and then when we are asked about it later we forget entirely what we read? That is James’ point when he talks about the man looking in the mirror.
His audacious example of a man looking into a mirror one moment then being unable to pick himself out of a police lineup the next is exactly what happens to those who aren’t steeped in the word.
Some of you I know can load and unload your pistol, take it apart, put it together all in 30 seconds. You can tell me all the models and calibers and sizes and even the ounces the guns weigh! But the only verse we actually remember by heart is John 3:16. We know how many yards from the game, TD passes, actors and actresses names and where they are from, flowers and plants in our gardens, exact trees we shot deer from 18 years ago, etc… fill in the blank. We memorize things that don’t matter all the time. Scripture always takes a back seat.
We are in a war. We need to know our weapon like nobody and nothing else. Because those thoughts come, and they come hard. Those temptations lurk, those opportunities to share the gospel slide into view… but we aren’t ready. We need a bullet in the chamber, safety off, ready to fight for our spiritual soul.
True disciples obey the word wholeheartedly
James 1:22 is the theme verse for the entire book, “But be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.” You have not really listened to the Word if you have not obeyed the Word. This verse is very very clear, the word of God evokes action. If there is no action to the word, then there is no true acceptance of Christ into our hearts.
If you accept Jesus, you obey Jesus. Jesus himself declares this in John 15:14, “you are my friends if you obey what I command.” 1 John 2:4 says, “whoever says, “I know him,” but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in that person.” James claims that you are blind to your spiritual condition if you have heard and accepted the word and fail to act on it.
In Jesus’ famous sermon on the mount, the best sermon ever told, he says this challenging verse in Matthew 7:21-27:
Not everyone who says to Me, “Lord, Lord!” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of My Father in heaven. On that day many will say to Me, “Lord, Lord, didn’t we prophesy in Your name, drive out demons in Your name, and do many miracles in Your name?” Then I will announce to them, “I never knew you! Depart from Me, you lawbreakers!”
Therefore, everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them will be like a sensible man who built his house on the rock. The rain fell, the rivers rose, and the winds blew and pounded that house. Yet it didn’t collapse, because its foundation was on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of Mine and doesn’t act on them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. The rain fell, the rivers rose, the winds blew and pounded that house, and it collapsed. And its collapse was great! (Matt 7:21–27)
Friends, no verse in the Bible brings fear to my heart more than this. Not because I am not assured of my salvation, but I am concerned for those in our church and in the world that believe they are in the Kingdom when in reality they are not. Those that believe the Americanized gospel of slipping up our hand, repeating after me, and then continuing to live unchanged.
This is a westernized American gospel that is antithetical to the gospel. Bishop Brownrigg said, “To deceive is bad, to deceive yourselves is worse, to deceive yourselves about your souls is worst of all.”
I am frighteningly convinced that countless people within the church listen to the Word week by week, and yet it is not planted in their heart. It is evident because they are not acting on it. Sure, they act on the things that agree with their lifestyle, or they act when it is convenient to obey. But when this Word confronts, challenges, convicts, or tries to change them, they put it aside and forget it, never putting it into action.
We cannot just be willing when it is convenient and fits our schedule and our current season, we must be doers. I hear a lot from people I’ve met with that they just want a willing heart. It is beyond willing to, it is doing. Action.
Don’t be willing to obey the Word; obey the Word. Don’t be willing to help the poor; help the poor. Don’t be willing to share the gospel; share the gospel. Don’t be willing to live in purity; live in purity. We are to “be doers of the word and not hearers only.”
Don’t confuse this message for earning your salvation. Jesus does love you as you are in your brokenness and in your pain. He pulls us from the depths of our sin. The ground is level at the cross for all! But, our faith must result in action. Not rootless, actionless speech that sounds good in the classroom but never takes place on the field of life.
Conclusion
A profound book that speaks to this is called “Back to Jerusalem”, written by 3 Chinese pastors. At the end of the book they talk about the difference between believers and disciples, that is, people who say they believe in Christ and those who are actually following him. Or in the words of James, hearers and doers.
They say this: “True disciples are usually people that few understand. They are viewed as potentially unstable fanatics. Often the same governments that tolerate the existence of mere believers will stop at no ends to completely eradicate any disciples within their borders.” Did you catch that? These pastors are saying that the government in China really does not care about people who are listening to the Word. But the government wants to imprison people who are doing the Word.
“How do you obey God’s Word?” The answer is not that you muster up obedience to the best of your ability. No, the answer is to receive the Word humbly, the Word planted in you, and to focus on it, remember it, and hide it in your heart and on your mind. As you do this, that Word which initially gave you life as a Christian will work in and through you and move you to follow God’s decrees.
So don’t settle for just listening to it. There are many followers of Christ that God has been speaking to for days, weeks, months, maybe even years, and by His Word He’s been calling them to do something in particular in their life or in their family. My counsel is this: Do it. Receive the Word humbly, remember it constantly, and obey it wholeheartedly.