Obedience and the Perfect Law of Liberty

 How seriously do you take the word of God?

We likely make bold claims about it, and even defend it is conversations when it is

Consider the ways that we show disinterest in it?

Now consider the various portions of grace we forfeit because of the way that spurns it.

In this passage, James instructs us to receive the word, reminds us of the wisdom in doing it, and gives us real life examples of what this means.

We must receive and obey the Scriptures.

In vs. 21-22, James instructs us to receive the word of God and to allow it to take control of our lives. He says, “Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.” We notice three things about the instruction here.

1. We cast aside sin. Notice the first thing James says, “lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness.” The instruction here is vital. We can never be who God made us and called us to be and cleave to our sin.
2. We meekly accept the word of God. After this, James says, “and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.” The description of the way we receive the word is important. The way James describes it, it is clear that intellectual assent is not all that is in view. We receive it with meekness/humility, which suggests that we receive it in such a way that we allow it to take control over us.
3. We obey what we are taught. Finally, we are told to “be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.” In other words, we must do more than listen, we must act.

Psalm 119:1-4, 9. “Blessed are the undefiled in the way, Who walk in the law of the Lord! Blessed are those who keep His testimonies, Who seek Him with the whole heart! They also do no iniquity; They walk in His ways. You have commanded us To keep Your precepts diligently. Oh, that my ways were directed To keep Your statutes . . . How can a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed according to Your word.”

Thus, we must be a people that receive and obey the word of God.

We must remember the difference between wisdom and folly.

In vs. 23-25, James reminds us of the difference between those who obey and those who do not. He says, “For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.”

Here James makes the same point that is often stated in the Old and New Testaments. Here James tell us that there are two types of listeners, the one who hears and does not obey, and the one who hears and does obey. For the first, he hears, ignores, and then forgets what he is like. The point here is that because of a lack of obedience, he continues on with the same sickness and destruction. But for the one who hears and obeys, “this one will be blessed in what he does.” So then, as we have seen so many times before, obedience is about living.

Matt. 7:24-27. “Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. “But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall.”

Psalm 1. “Blessed is the man Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, Nor stands in the path of sinners, Nor sits in the seat of the scornful; But his delight is in the law of the LORD, And in His law he meditates day and night. He shall be like a tree Planted by the rivers of water, That brings forth its fruit in its season, Whose leaf also shall not wither; And whatever he does shall prosper. The ungodly are not so, But are like the chaff which the wind drives away. Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, Nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. For the LORD knows the way of the righteous, But the way of the ungodly shall perish.”

Thus, we are called to wisdom. That is, wisdom to see what is life-giving and what is not.

We must know what real obedience involves.

In vs. 26-27, James shows us what real faith looks like. He says, “If anyone among you thinks he is religious, and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this one’s religion is useless. Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.” This is vital for us to understand. What James says here is that real faith, the kind that is transformative, and the kind that God is pleased with, involves neighbor love and self-control. Real faith is not just good theology.

Real faith is not just church participation. Real faith transforms us such that we begin caring for the weak among us—the orphan and the widow. Just like Christ who always seemed to look on the weak, the poor, and the broken, James instructs us to do the same.

Matt. 25:31-40. “When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory. All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on His right hand, ‘Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.’ “Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.”

Thus, because we belong to Christ, we must demonstrate our faith by loving the weak, the orphan, and the widow.

Conclusion:

What is your posture to the Word of God?

Do the habits and rhythms of life rightly honor the Scriptures?

Do you bridle your tongue?

Do you care for the weak?