Now, be Good!
Galatians 5:22-23
Mahatma Ghandi, the former leader of India, attended school for a while in South Africa.
While he was a student there he often attended church.
He was attracted to Christ and he often read the New Testament.
Yet, Ghandi never became a Christian.
Listen to the testimony he gave: “I got the impression that they were just a group of worldly minded people going to church for recreation and conformity to custom. I have the highest admiration for the Christian life and the Christ of the Bible. And I might have become a Christian if I had seen one.”
Ghandi rejected Christianity because he saw so little of it practiced among this particular group of people who claimed to be Christians.
Unfortunately, this is not an uncommon experience.
Because many of those who claim to be Christians fail in the area of “goodness”.
Now this word “goodness” can take on several meanings.
But the most likely meaning, is that it is referring to living a life of righteousness.
That is, having a lifestyle that is in conformance to God’s will for our lives.
That’s why I want us to take a look at, James 1:19-27.
19 My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, 20 for man's anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires. 21 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. 22 Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. 23 Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror 24 and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. 25 But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it--he will be blessed in what he does. 26 If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless. 27 Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.
Here James helps us to see what kind of lifestyle God expects of His children.
The kind of lifestyle that will help us too be Good.
What James tells us here can be broken down into 3 basic categories:
1. ACCEPTING THE WORD - READ vss. 19-21.
James 1:19-21 My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, 20 for man's anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires. 21 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.
James refers to God’s Word as the “word planted in you”.
James realizes that if we are to live the kind of life God wants us to live,
a life that produces goodness, then God’s Word much be planted in our life!
But just how does that happen?
Well, to receive God’s Word we have to be:
1. “quick to listen” (vs. 19)
Jesus said, “He who has ears, let him hear” (Matthew 13:9)
Paul said, “faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ” (Romans 10:17).
When we are reading God’s Word, we need to stop frequently and listen for God’s voice.
In other words, as we read the Scriptures, we need to be constantly asking:
“How does this apply to my life today?”
“Are there promises to claim?”
“Are there things I need to change?”
“Is there some action I need to take?”
We need to be quick to listen to God’s Word!
2. Be “slow to speak”.
Zeno, the Stoic philosopher said,
“We have 2 ears and 1 mouth, therefore we should listen twice as much as we speak.”
The Jewish rabbis expressed this even better:
“Men have 2 ears but 1 tongue, that they should hear more than they speak. The ears are always open, ever ready to receive instruction; but the tongue is surrounded by a double row of teeth to hedge it in, and to keep it within proper bounds.”
You never have to take something back you didn’t say.
James is telling us, not to speak until we’ve taken everything into consideration.
So we need to be slow to speak!
3. Be “slow to become angry” (vs. 19)
There used to be a poster that said, “Temper is such a valuable thing, it’s a shame to lose it.”
Anger does not build people up.
If anything, it anger destroys relationships, even our relationship with God.
Anger doesn’t help us to accept God’s Word.
Instead it builds up a wall that keeps God’s Word from coming in.
4. Have a prepared heart (READ vs. 21).
The term "get rid of" was used to describe someone tearing off their clothes.
James says that we have to tear off all the immorality and evil that we have allowed to become a part of our lives.
The bottom line is this:
Those who live the reverse of these verses;
those who are slow to hear, quick to speak, and quick to become angry
will not have the goodness of God in their lives.
They are not going to have a right relationship with God or with their fellow Man.
The 2nd thing that James says we are to do in order to live a Godly lifestyle is to:
2. PRACTICE THE WORD— READ vss. 22-25
James 1:22-25 Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. 23 Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror 24 and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. 25 But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it--he will be blessed in what he does.
It is not enough to hear the Word, we must do what it says.
Many people have the mistaken idea, that hearing a good sermon or Bible lesson,
is what makes them grow in goodness and receive God’s blessings.
But we need to understand, it’s not the hearing alone that brings the blessing, but the doing.
Too many Christians mark their Bibles but don’t allow their Bibles to mark them.
In verses 22-25, James compares the Word to a mirror.
The main purpose for owning a mirror is for personal examination.
As we look into the mirror of God’s Word, we see ourselves as we really are.
James mentions several mistakes people make as they look into God’s mirror.
1st, we only glance at ourselves:
Many sincere believers read a chapter or more of the Bible each day but don’t grow from it personally. Because to them, it is simply a religious exercise, it’s a habit.
In fact it becomes such a habit to some people,
that their conscience would bother them if they didn’t have their daily reading.
But in all reality, their conscience should bother them for reading carelessly.
A cursory reading of the Bible will never reveal our deepest needs.
When we come to the Word of God, we can either view it like a photograph or like an X-ray.
A cursory reading will let us see the surface of God’s Word,
but an in depth look at how it applies to our lives will cause us,
with God’s help, to change our lives that we might become more life him.
2nd mistake is that we forget what we see.
If we look deep into our hearts, what we see will be unforgettable.
Think of how some of the biblical saints responded to the true knowledge of their own hearts:
Isaiah cried, “Woe is me! For I am undone!” (Isa. 6:5)
Peter cried, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord” (Luke 5:8)
Job was the most righteous man on earth in his day, yet he confessed, “I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes” (Job 42:6).
3rd mistake is that we sometimes fail to obey what the Word tells us to do.
We think that hearing is the same as doing, but it’s not.
We Christians enjoy substituting reading for doing, or even talking for doing.
We hold endless conferences on topics like evangelism and church growth
and believe we have made progress.
But there can be no substitute for actual service.
Now if we are going to use God’s mirror profitably, then we must gaze into it carefully and with serious intent.
I appreciate my doctor back in Florida.
When I went to him with a physical problem, he examined me carefully
and then told me in very clear terms what the problem was and what could be done about it.
Our spiritual lives are examined by the Word of God.
The Bible tells us our present spiritual condition,
and what can be done to bring us into an even closer relationship with God.
You see, it’s only when we practice the Word,
it’s when we apply what we have learned, that we can begin to catch the spirit of goodness.
But we must also, according to James, share the word.
3. SHARE THE WORD— READ vss. 26-27
James 1:26-27 If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless. 27 Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.
Real religion has nothing to do with ceremonies, temples, or feast days.
Real religion, as James says, is accepting, practicing, and sharing God’s Word with others.
Other people need what we have.
They need God’s Word to live in their hearts, as it does in ours.
However, if we are to share the Word of God effectively,
James says there are some things we need to understand.
A. Speech - First, we need to learn to control our tongue.
If we don’t learn to control our tongue, James says, our religion, our spiritual life is worthless.
1. To control the tongue means to avoid gossip.
One woman said to her friend: “She told me you told her a secret I told you not to tell her.”
The friend responded, “I told her not to tell you I told her.”
“Well,” the other lady said, “Let’s just not tell her I told you she told me you told her.”
Gossip can destroy a person’s reputation.
Proverbs 18:8 says, “The words of a gossip are as wounds, and they go down into the innermost parts of the belly.”
We cannot be a gossip and catch the spirit of goodness.
2. To control the tongue means to avoid profanity.
Someone has defined profanity as “the effort of a feeble mind to express itself forcefully.”
Paul urged us in Ephesians 4:29 “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.”
The use of profanity has no place in the life of a Christian.
3. To control the tongue means to avoid dishonesty.
When someone asked a little boy what the Bible says about lying, he answered,
“A lie is an abomination to the Lord, and a very present help in time of trouble.”
What the Bible actually says is that the life of the Christian is to be characterized by sincerity and honesty.
4. To control the tongue means to avoid criticism.
An old adage said it like this: “There is so much that is good about the worst of us, and there is so much bad about the best of us, that it does not behoove any of us to talk about the rest of us.”
Before we ever utter a critical word we need to ask 3 questions:
1)Is it necessary?;
2) Is it truthful?;
3) Is it kind?
If what we plan to say doesn’t meet these 3 criteria then we shouldn’t say it.
How can we share the Word of God with others?
How can we live a godly lifestyle, if we fail to control our tongue?
If we gossip about others,
if we use profane language,
if we lie to people,
if we are always criticizing others,
people are not going to listen to us if we try and share the Word of God with them.
If we are to share the Word, then James says we must control our tongue.
B. In verse 27, James says that our sharing of the Word will be manifested in Service.
James says to share the Word is to “look after orphans and widows in their distress”.
1. Now those around us might not always appreciate our help.
One boy scout told his mother he had done his good deed for the day. “What did you do?” she asked.
“Me and Joe and Phil and Tom and Harry and Judd helped this little old lady across the street.”
“Well, why did it take so many of you” his mother asked.
“Because, she didn’t want to go.”
People sometimes don’t want our help, but the Bible says we are to help those who are in distress.
Our Christianity is manifested in what we do, not for ourselves, but for those who are in need.
2. Being a Christian means to be captured by the attitude of Christ
C.T. Studd said, “Some wish to live within the sound of a church or chapel bell; But I want to run a rescue shop within a yard of hell”.
People who are in need, people who are hurting,
would like to see us who call ourselves by the name of Jesus Christ, lend a helping hand.
C. But to share the Word, we have to separate ourselves from the World.
God has placed us in the world to lead the world to Christ, not to become a part of the world.
Does God call us to be around drunks, and prostitutes, and criminals?
Yes He does, but He doesn’t call us to become like them.
He calls us to save their souls, to lead them out of the world,
to help them, to feed them, to clothe them, to hold them,
to show them the way to Jesus.
Conclusion:
James says “listen and do”, “listen and do”, “listen and do”.
True goodness comes from practicing these two things:
Hearing the Word and Acting upon it.
One cold winter morning in the city of Birmingham, England,
A Christian lady noticed on the street a small boy with newspapers under his arm.He had no shoes, and he was standing on the grating of a hot air vent outside a bakery trying to get warm.
Here was a need, so she met it.
She took the boy into a department store and bought him some shoes and socks.
The little boy, in awe over his new shoes, said to the lady,
“Ma’am, thanks for the warm shoes and socks.”
He turned to go, and looked back.
“I wanna ask you a question” he said. “Are you God’s wife?”
The woman was so startled she didn’t know what to say.
Finally she uttered, “No, son, I’m just one of His children.”
And as he turned to leave he said, “Well, I knew you must be some kin to Him.”
Perhaps he could see in this woman someone who had Accepted the Word;
Practiced the Word;
and Shared the Word.
Perhaps for the first time in his life he had witnessed a person
who had learned what it meant to be Good in the eyes of God!