Jam 1:22-24 | KingComments | STEP | . After the wonderful explanation of the work of God in His own James continues with the practice of the new life. His purpose is that his readers, whom he again calls “my beloved brethren”, may know what ought to mainly characterize the new life. The first thing he mentions is “to hear”, to listen. If you are newly converted it is especially important to listen to the Lord and to do that in the attitude of the young Samuel. Eli taught him to say: “Speak, LORD, for Your servant is listening” ( ). The Lord Jesus is the perfect example of Someone Who hears ( ). Therefore He absolutely always knew, when He was on earth, what to say to the right people at the right time. You also can only say something meaningful if you have first listened. It is good to consider why God has given you two ears and only one mouth. Be quick to hear what the Lord has got to say. Do not be quick to respond to what men say. Control your tongue and try not to be rash with your mouth (cf. ). Don’t let yourself be tempted to react sharply and angrily if people treat you unjustly. That anger can just suddenly pop up if you see or hear something that is unjust or if you feel yourself to be offended. Then you lose your patience just like that. . Of course it is not always wrong to get angry. Anger is a feature of God. When He gets angry He exerts His anger in perfect righteousness. Sometimes it is necessary for you to be angry, but be careful that there is no self-interest involved. Therefore it is for a reason why Paul warns us not to sin when we are angry ( ). For when you get angry because of seeing a certain injustice, you can get so upset and angry that you cannot control yourself anymore. Then you say or do things that are not fitting to you as a ‘first fruit among His creatures’. With the Lord Jesus anger and grief go together perfectly ( ), while with us anger can possibly go together with being personally offended. When we are angry because we are personally offended, it has got nothing to do with “God’s righteousness”. In that case it becomes clear and visible that we are our own judge, while there is nothing to be seen of God’s righteousness. . In order not to fall into the trap of a wrong anger, James passes on some instructions. You have to put aside something and receive something. Consider the order. You ought to put aside something first, for then you create room to receive something. James mentions two things you should put aside. As a matter of fact he is up to date when he starts with “all filthiness”. The world is full of that and it easily clings to the believer. Filthiness may just jump toward you; it splashes from the bill boards alongside the road and if you do not watch out it is also on your television or computer screen. Do not look at it, turn your eyes off of them, do not be occupied with such things. You must inwardly take distance of those things. That also goes for “[all] that remains of wickedness”. Do not be tempted to express your anger in a way that you show more of yourself instead of showing the reason why you are angry. James urges for a good mind. That good mind expresses itself in “humility”. If you are humble, God can implant His Word in you. ‘Humbleness’ is the right ground for the implanted Word to grow and to come to maturity. Then that Word can be effective. Then you will be led by the Word on your path of life and in that way you will be able to proceed that path up to the full salvation. Your life will bear fruit that comes from the new creation that you are, a fruit which is a joy to God. . In that way it will become clear that you are not only a hearer of the Word, but also a doer. Herod for example was only a hearer. He loved to hear John speaking ( ), but he was not a doer of the word spoken by John. When it came done to it, he would rather have John killed than go back on a promise he quickly made under the influence of his aroused lust ( ). . John had held up a mirror to him. Herod had looked into that mirror for just a moment. He saw what kind of man he was, but he went away and forgot what kind of person he was. If you read in the Bible you must not do that in a hurry, but calmly. If you just read something quickly, you do not really look into the mirror. The Bible has to be given the chance to show you what kind of person you are, that you may adapt your life to it. . You ought to look into “the perfect law of liberty”. The perfect law is not a series of rules and commandments that God imposes on you as His demands. With the perfect law is meant the whole Word of God. That Word of God holds up to you the law, which means the lawfulness, of liberty. He who has received the implanted Word with humbleness will show the fruits of that Word. That is a lawfulness, a process that cannot occur in any other way. You see that perfectly in the life of the Lord Jesus. The law of God was in Him ( ) and that law completely connected to His desire to do the will of God. A small example may possibly clarify this. If I give one of my children the command: ‘Eat of those cookies’, then he or she does that delightfully, because it is fully in accordance with his or her desire. Being obedient out of love and doing things that you naturally love to do, give the greatest sense of satisfaction. James adds to it that it is important to abide by it; that means that you must persevere. Then you will “be blessed” in what you do; it gives you the sense of happiness. It doesn’t mean that you will succeed in everything you do, but that you experience happiness in everything you do. . James comes back to the tongue. The tongue is the most important measure of what dwells in the heart of man. The Lord Jesus even says that we are justified or judged according to our words ( ). If you know how to bridle your tongue, then you are also able to serve God in the right way. But he who thinks to be religious, who thinks that God should be satisfied with the way he serves Him, while from his tongue comes a waterfall of words, deceives his own heart ( ). Why is James that sharp in his judgment of the tongue? He will explain that penetratingly in chapter 3, but it is already clear here that what matters to him is that it comes down to deeds and not nice words. He says: ‘Just show what religion means to you. All that talking doesn’t mean anything to me.’ He who talks much, but does not do, has a ‘worthless religion’. He may think that he is doing great, but what he is doing is worthless. . In the final verse of this chapter James explains the way it supposed to be. It is about “pure and undefiled religion in the sight of [our] God and Father”. All service of God must happen in purity of the heart. Insincere motives are not to be playing a role here. Even the service itself ought to happen without being stained by using any inappropriate means. Serving God means that God is in the center. He determines how the service is to be done. When you visit widows and orphans in their distress you show them God’s Fatherly love. He is after all the Father of orphans and the Judge for the widows ( ). God’s love seeks the helpless and the socially deprived ones. When you visit them in their distress it means more than only showing your interest in them. It means that you are trying to empathize with them in their circumstances and in that way expressing your concern for them. However, this is not the only way to give substance to ‘pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father’. If that was the case, then Christendom would not be more than a social program. God is not only love, but He is also light. That’s why James adds to it that you ought to keep yourself “unstained from the world”. True religion doesn’t lose out of the sight the natural character of the world, but takes into account that the world has rejected the Lord Jesus. The world lies in the power of the evil one ( ). You have been delivered from it ( ), you do not belong to it anymore. Therefore you cannot use anything from it in your service for God. Everything you would like to use from the world to only make your staying in there as pleasant as possible dishonors God. His assessment of the world should determine your dealings with it, just as His care for the defenseless in that world should determine your care for them. Now read James 1:19-27 again. Reflection: How do you put into practice of what James says in this section?

‏ James 1:22-24

The Practice of the New Life

Jam 1:19. After the wonderful explanation of the work of God in His own James continues with the practice of the new life. His purpose is that his readers, whom he again calls “my beloved brethren”, may know what ought to mainly characterize the new life. The first thing he mentions is “to hear”, to listen. If you are newly converted it is especially important to listen to the Lord and to do that in the attitude of the young Samuel. Eli taught him to say: “Speak, LORD, for Your servant is listening” (1Sam 3:9). The Lord Jesus is the perfect example of Someone Who hears (Isa 50:4). Therefore He absolutely always knew, when He was on earth, what to say to the right people at the right time.

You also can only say something meaningful if you have first listened. It is good to consider why God has given you two ears and only one mouth. Be quick to hear what the Lord has got to say.

Do not be quick to respond to what men say. Control your tongue and try not to be rash with your mouth (cf. Ecc 5:1). Don’t let yourself be tempted to react sharply and angrily if people treat you unjustly. That anger can just suddenly pop up if you see or hear something that is unjust or if you feel yourself to be offended. Then you lose your patience just like that.

Jam 1:20. Of course it is not always wrong to get angry. Anger is a feature of God. When He gets angry He exerts His anger in perfect righteousness. Sometimes it is necessary for you to be angry, but be careful that there is no self-interest involved. Therefore it is for a reason why Paul warns us not to sin when we are angry (Eph 4:26). For when you get angry because of seeing a certain injustice, you can get so upset and angry that you cannot control yourself anymore. Then you say or do things that are not fitting to you as a ‘first fruit among His creatures’.

With the Lord Jesus anger and grief go together perfectly (Mk 3:5a), while with us anger can possibly go together with being personally offended. When we are angry because we are personally offended, it has got nothing to do with “God’s righteousness”. In that case it becomes clear and visible that we are our own judge, while there is nothing to be seen of God’s righteousness.

Jam 1:21. In order not to fall into the trap of a wrong anger, James passes on some instructions. You have to put aside something and receive something. Consider the order. You ought to put aside something first, for then you create room to receive something. James mentions two things you should put aside. As a matter of fact he is up to date when he starts with “all filthiness”. The world is full of that and it easily clings to the believer.

Filthiness may just jump toward you; it splashes from the bill boards alongside the road and if you do not watch out it is also on your television or computer screen. Do not look at it, turn your eyes off of them, do not be occupied with such things. You must inwardly take distance of those things.

That also goes for “[all] that remains of wickedness”. Do not be tempted to express your anger in a way that you show more of yourself instead of showing the reason why you are angry.

James urges for a good mind. That good mind expresses itself in “humility”. If you are humble, God can implant His Word in you. ‘Humbleness’ is the right ground for the implanted Word to grow and to come to maturity. Then that Word can be effective. Then you will be led by the Word on your path of life and in that way you will be able to proceed that path up to the full salvation. Your life will bear fruit that comes from the new creation that you are, a fruit which is a joy to God.

Jam 1:22. In that way it will become clear that you are not only a hearer of the Word, but also a doer. Herod for example was only a hearer. He loved to hear John speaking (Mk 6:20), but he was not a doer of the word spoken by John. When it came done to it, he would rather have John killed than go back on a promise he quickly made under the influence of his aroused lust (Mk 6:21-27).

Jam 1:23-24. John had held up a mirror to him. Herod had looked into that mirror for just a moment. He saw what kind of man he was, but he went away and forgot what kind of person he was. If you read in the Bible you must not do that in a hurry, but calmly. If you just read something quickly, you do not really look into the mirror. The Bible has to be given the chance to show you what kind of person you are, that you may adapt your life to it.

Jam 1:25. You ought to look into “the perfect law of liberty”. The perfect law is not a series of rules and commandments that God imposes on you as His demands. With the perfect law is meant the whole Word of God. That Word of God holds up to you the law, which means the lawfulness, of liberty. He who has received the implanted Word with humbleness will show the fruits of that Word. That is a lawfulness, a process that cannot occur in any other way.

You see that perfectly in the life of the Lord Jesus. The law of God was in Him (Psa 40:8) and that law completely connected to His desire to do the will of God. A small example may possibly clarify this. If I give one of my children the command: ‘Eat of those cookies’, then he or she does that delightfully, because it is fully in accordance with his or her desire. Being obedient out of love and doing things that you naturally love to do, give the greatest sense of satisfaction.

James adds to it that it is important to abide by it; that means that you must persevere. Then you will “be blessed” in what you do; it gives you the sense of happiness. It doesn’t mean that you will succeed in everything you do, but that you experience happiness in everything you do.

Jam 1:26. James comes back to the tongue. The tongue is the most important measure of what dwells in the heart of man. The Lord Jesus even says that we are justified or judged according to our words (Mt 12:37). If you know how to bridle your tongue, then you are also able to serve God in the right way. But he who thinks to be religious, who thinks that God should be satisfied with the way he serves Him, while from his tongue comes a waterfall of words, deceives his own heart (Pro 13:3b ; Pro 10:19).

Why is James that sharp in his judgment of the tongue? He will explain that penetratingly in chapter 3, but it is already clear here that what matters to him is that it comes down to deeds and not nice words. He says: ‘Just show what religion means to you. All that talking doesn’t mean anything to me.’ He who talks much, but does not do, has a ‘worthless religion’. He may think that he is doing great, but what he is doing is worthless.

Jam 1:27. In the final verse of this chapter James explains the way it supposed to be. It is about “pure and undefiled religion in the sight of [our] God and Father”. All service of God must happen in purity of the heart. Insincere motives are not to be playing a role here. Even the service itself ought to happen without being stained by using any inappropriate means. Serving God means that God is in the center. He determines how the service is to be done.

When you visit widows and orphans in their distress you show them God’s Fatherly love. He is after all the Father of orphans and the Judge for the widows (Psa 68:5 ; Psa 146:9). God’s love seeks the helpless and the socially deprived ones. When you visit them in their distress it means more than only showing your interest in them. It means that you are trying to empathize with them in their circumstances and in that way expressing your concern for them.

However, this is not the only way to give substance to ‘pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father’. If that was the case, then Christendom would not be more than a social program. God is not only love, but He is also light. That’s why James adds to it that you ought to keep yourself “unstained from the world”. True religion doesn’t lose out of the sight the natural character of the world, but takes into account that the world has rejected the Lord Jesus. The world lies in the power of the evil one (1Jn 5:19). You have been delivered from it (Gal 1:4), you do not belong to it anymore.

Therefore you cannot use anything from it in your service for God. Everything you would like to use from the world to only make your staying in there as pleasant as possible dishonors God. His assessment of the world should determine your dealings with it, just as His care for the defenseless in that world should determine your care for them.

Now read James 1:19-27 again.

Reflection: How do you put into practice of what James says in this section?