John Gunter: I certainly appreciate Tyler and and his leading of our worship. Amen? Amen. He does a great job. You know, when I first came here, he had never led.
He led the first time, and I said, he's a song leader. We've trapped him. So you all just make sure he knows he's trapped. He does a fantastic job. This week, we are back in our series.
We're doing a six week study of the book of James, and James is a book of wisdom. But the main focus that we're using as we go through this book is talking about being prepared. Again, we are often reactionary when things happen, aren't we? We haven't thought about it. If we had had time to think about it, we may we might could have reacted in a better way.
I am pretty quick in the moment, which drives my wife nuts, because she always says, I'm not quick enough. If I would have been, I would have said, right, where she would have gotten me. Luckily, I'm undefeated in those moments. I win all the arguments. Right?
Is that correct? No? Okay. Just assume you didn't see that. But if we had prepared, if we had time to prepare for moments, we react in different ways, couldn't we?
And that is no different in our faith. Right? We are we know that the storms of life are going to come. Now, we don't know from where, or how they will appear, or what's going to happen, but we know those things are going to happen in life. And so, as we approach this book of wisdom that is James, we're doing so with a with a mindset of we want to be prepared, real faith for real challenges.
We know things are going to come up, and today we are talking about preparing to live what we hear. And so, the focus there is is hearing. Right? We are are coming to the word of God. We want to have the word of God kind of come over us, and and not leave us unchanged.
A lot of times, the problem is not that we haven't heard, the problem is we haven't put that into practice. As you guys know, and I've mentioned, I am a soccer coach as well, and I love it. I absolutely live for it. When I got kind of conned into it back in '23, as soon as it started, I came home and I told Katie, I have missed this. I have missed competition.
I've missed being involved in a team, in a sport, and I absolutely love it. But within that, there are things that will make you pull all your hair out. You remember I had hair when I came here. Right? A little bit, anyway.
It started back here, it still did, but I still had hair. But we live in a time where there's plenty of things to hear. Right? In any way, in any form, and even in our church, we try to reach out in any form we can. You want to hear this on audio?
It's available. You wanna go see the video later, it's available. We're trying to reach people. You live in a time where if you wanna hear something, you wanna hear about something, you can do it. There is an abundance of things to hear.
Now, what is what are the things that you need to hear? That's a different story. But in soccer, often we gather together, and one thing I don't like about soccer is once the game goes on and starts, you only have halftime where you can really gather up your your group and talk to them. And so I hate that. My coaching has basically ended by the time the game starts.
Other than making some adjustments at halftime, you can't do it. But often, we will gather together in practice, and I'm snapping, I'm trying to raise my voice, I'm trying to get people's attention all the time, because there's always something distracting for the kids. And you know the kids that listen, and then you see it immediately applied. Like, you ever watched a kid and you can see them thinking? You ever done that?
Yeah. It's like me trying to dance. One and two and one and You you just see it happening. It's not fluid, but you know, alright, we're working on it, we're doing it. Versus the kid the same kid in the same group that heard the same message that when we get done says, okay, and they have no idea what has just happened.
There is no application, they probably have to have other kids tell them what was just said, or where to go, or what position, or all the things. And so, we all have an opportunity to hear, but it's what we do with that opportunity that that really matters. Right? And so, God doesn't say, you know, I hope you gather together and just listen and go about your way, does he? No.
There's an expectation that as we come into contact with God's word, we are changed. We are different people having heard that because we have allowed God's word to get in and change us. Now, you have to be willing to do that. Our text today starts in James chapter one verse 19. James chapter one and verse 19.
Know this, my beloved brothers, let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger. For the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. Therefore, put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word which is able to save your souls. So when James says this, he is not giving you reactionary tips. He is telling you to prepare, to be proactive.
These are proactive habits of spiritual formation. You know that for generations, people have come up with different ways to kind of prepare and focus, so that when things happen, I am prepared. I am ready. Spiritual formation, that's what it's all about. That I am I can know this, and I can live this in a way that changes how I react to you.
How I live in in harmony with other people. Being quick to hear is a kind of training to be quick to receive before responding. How many times do you hear something and you're thinking about what can I say in response, rather than hearing the information? Wives, do not elbow your husbands. Okay?
We like to fix things, and so we may not be hearing, we're thinking about the solution, we're thinking about something else. Be quick to hear, okay, and slow to speak. That may be tough at times, isn't it? Husbands, if you need to elbow your wives, that's fine. Okay?
We're not going the other way today. But it says, okay, be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger. Because we know, James knows that if you are just thinking about my response, or if I'm not being slow to speak, I can respond in a way that I can't get back. Isn't that the most difficult thing? That in those moments where I react quickly, it's gone.
I can't take it back. We live in an age of I mean, how many of you grew up with typewriters? Like, it was it was even harder on a typewriter. Remember the the erase and all that? I mean, had to make sure it was perfectly over, and all yeah.
My dad was still, last year, trying to repair old typewriters. I'm like, why? You have a computer, that thing is terrible. But he brought them down to Houston trying to get somebody down here to fix them. I'll tell you.
You know, there you go. Get Ryan to fix him. But we live in an age where things are easy to take back, like on a computer, but we have so many avenues to speak and to throw things out there, that once it's gone, it is gone. I'm having to teach my kid, my son, unfortunately, you can can pray for him, he does not have a cell phone yet. That's not for lack of asking for a cell phone.
But we are already teaching about things you put out into the world that cannot come back. It doesn't matter how secret, how private you think they are, once they're out there, they're gone. And that's the same thing with the way we hear, we need to hear, without just blasting out, because how many times do we react in a way we wish we wouldn't have? So how many times if we would have just taken a second, it would have been okay, but we were so quick to move along, and respond, and do all of these things. But what I want you to notice there is, therefore, put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word which is able to save your souls.
Receive it, and that word does some work. Right? If you believe that God's word is living and active and sharper than any two edged sword, right, you've got to believe this. Receive with meekness the implanted word. And so, humility is not weakness, it is kind of this strength under control.
It's not weak to be humble, but receive with humility this word. Proverbs nineteen twenty, listen to advice and accept instruction that you may gain wisdom in the future. So how many of you have been told good advice, and you said, no, thank you, you went the other way, and you thought, oh, if I could have that to do over again? Every kid in here, if you're once a kid, you can say that. Right?
I didn't know why mom or dad or whoever, aunt or uncle, whoever told me that, grandma or grandpa, but I didn't like the answer, so I went the other way, and I came back later, and I went, oh. Yet as you mature and grow, you realize it's from their maturity and growth, and ignoring the people before them, that they learned and got to this place. Right? They listened to advice, they started understanding and seeing the world in a different way because of their years of experience, that they could see the world in a way that was different from you. And so we should have humility that says, I want to learn from you.
I want to listen to advice, accept instruction that I may gain wisdom in the future. Now, I I grew up with my mom's family has has some rough people, that's all there is. They're good people, they're rough people, they lived a very in a very poor time. My mom tells a story, they got to eat meat once a week, and when they ate meat, you didn't know what you were getting. They lived in a part of Tennessee, they didn't My grandpa passed away when my mom was, I think, 14, and they really didn't have anything.
They would eat things like possum surprise and all of that, and so they grew up really in a rough thing. But one benefit I had was, you know, whether they smoked or drank or whatever, when I was with them, they always told me, even the people who did that, they said, I'm John Robert, the way. John Robert, don't you ever do this. Because they couldn't stop it, and they saw they had lived long enough to go, I don't even want be doing this, but you don't ever do it. And so I I was blessed to kind of learn from others' decisions.
Right? Have you ever been in that situation? Right? Sometimes when we want something so much, we just ignore all advice. Right?
Great advice. Thanks for talking to me. No, thank you. But sometimes we we actually live this out. We should accept instruction.
We should look for, okay, the wisdom that comes from, I made a bad decision, you don't make the same one, please, because I've seen how it affects things. Right? And that that's the the power and the strength that comes from church, is that we come together as a group, and we're able to kind of rally around each other, and we can say openly, I hope we can. Hope we have the kind of church where we can say openly, hey, I have struggled with this, you don't want to get in that. Or I have beaten this, and here's how.
Please don't go down that road. And so listen to advice, accept instruction that you may gain wisdom in the future. And so, one practical thing I think we could try is that we could have for a day or a week, we could have a listen first challenge. That every time you find yourself in a conversation, you have challenged yourself, you have committed to, I'm going to listen, and I'm going to pause before responding. For some of you, who are a few words, that may be very easy.
For others of you, you're going to feel like you're you're chewing through your tongue to get through it. Right? But that's a way that we can live out this verse in James, that we are going to be slow to speak. And so, when you have the faith to stop and listen, you allow God to to have the room to work in your life. Right?
Because you're not immediately responding. And so we should stop and listen. Back in verse 22 of James one, but be doers of the word and not hearers only deceiving yourselves. How do you deceive yourself? Because we can gather together, and we can think, oh, I'm glad, you know, everybody pat me on the back, I made it to church today, that I heard, right?
Not hearers only, but I I was in church, and I heard the word of God. I hope you hold that in high esteem, that we hear the word of God. Those things on the board today are the words of God. I hope you hold that in high esteem, but we can we can deceive ourselves in a way that just because I've heard the word of God, that that has done something for me. It says, don't be it says, but be doers of the word, and not hearers only deceiving yourselves.
You have to allow that word to do something in your life. It says, for if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a in a mirror, for he looks at himself and he goes away, and at once forget what he looks like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets, but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing. Now, we may not even get what he's saying there, because in the time this was written, the best you had was some polished metal that you could kinda see what you look like. We live in a time can you imagine explaining to someone even a hundred years ago, right, what it looked like to have a phone that I can immediately take any kind of picture I want of myself, and if I don't like it, I'll put a filter on it, and I'll change it, and my skin will be so creamy.
Make Freddy Krueger look like he just, you know, perfect facial regimen. Right? But that's what he's talking about. So they were used to, you can just kind of make out what you what you look like, and you walk away, and you're like, I kind of forget because we don't see it clearly. Right?
That's what he's talking about. And so you want to be a person who doesn't do that, but you you want to see clearly in a way that says, okay, I understand, I'm not being deceived. I want to see exactly who I am and not deceive myself. And so, glancing at a mirror is not helpful. Right?
You want to be able to look and to know. I am jealous of people who can look at something and then draw it. My brain does not work like that. I was excited in high school, I showed a buddy of mine I guess I was in college, I showed a buddy of mine a new band. They came to my school, and I really liked them.
And so we watched a music video of that band, and the next day he drew from memory that band. I couldn't do that if they were standing in front of me, but he did it from memory. He was able to see very clearly into that, and that's the kind of clarity we need when we assess ourselves. Am I just here hearing it, or am I able to put these things into practice? Am I able to do these things?
And so, when he says, the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty and perseveres, will be blessed in his doing, we need to look at this as the law of liberty is this kind of Christ shaped life that frees us to do good. You should feel a sense of freedom in Christianity, not a sense of I'm shackled down to rules, but I am free to live life in a way that Jesus would live it. To be the example out in the world as Jesus was. You ever thought about what if Jesus was here with you now? How do we we'd act different?
Right? You have the opportunity to be the hands and feet of Jesus. We pray that all the time, don't we? We have the opportunity to be an example of Jesus out in the world. You don't get that accidentally.
You have to prepare, you have to examine, you have to look into this in a way that changes your life. Luke eleven twenty eight says, but he said, blessed rather are those who hear the word of God. Period. Right? No.
And keep it. Okay? It's great that you've heard it, but is it changing your life or your actions? And so looking in a mirror doesn't change you, but following the workout plan does. Right?
What if we all went to the gym this week, and we stood in front of the mirrors, and we took pictures, you know, flexed a little bit, and we never worked out, and we left. And we came back the next week, and we did the same thing, and we thought, why haven't we changed? We know why we haven't changed, don't we? We'd be deceiving ourselves if we thought, man, I am looking good today. Made it in the gym to take a picture.
Francis Chan says it this way, he said, a lot of times our church meetings are like a football game, where all we do is we gather together and we huddle up, and we talk about the play we're going to run, and we all agree it's a great play to run, and we should run it. And then as soon as we break the huddle, we go back to the sidelines, and we never run the play. That's like hearing the word and never putting it into practice, never doing it. And so, we need to be people who not only hear, but we put those things into action. In John thirteen seventeen, if you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.
Put those things you hear into action. Verse 26, James one, If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue, but deceives his heart, this person's religion is worthless. We ought to stop for a minute and practice our listening right there. Right? If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue, but deceives his heart, this person's religion is worthless.
Do you see how we're making a transition from hearing only to what is that hearing doing for you? Oh, I've heard we should be slow to speak, but I'm not actually doing it. If anyone thinks he's religious, but does not bridle his tongue, his religion is worthless. And notice this, religion that is pure and undefiled before God the father is this, to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world. So what he's saying is you don't understand the gospel if all you're doing is listening.
To understand the gospel is to say, okay, there are things that have to change in my life. There's a way I need to speak because I have heard the gospel. There's a way I need to care for other people because I have heard the gospel. It's not something to just brag about that I have heard the gospel, but I come away unchanged. When James says this about widows and orphans, he's talking about the people most vulnerable in this culture, in this time period.
People who may not have any support at all, and they are really at risk of death, starvation, and all of these things, unless the people who have heard put that into action. Do you understand? Because if you're not bridling your tongue, even the smallest thing, your religion is worthless. Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, if we took the actual things out of it, what he mentions here, religion that is pure and undefiled before God is that which has been put into practice. Right?
We could summarize it that way. That I have heard, and I have come away changed, and that makes me go into action in these ways. And I want to be a person who lives this out. This speaks to me because as an adopted person, I think, boy, where could I have been? I kind of know where I've been, or could have been, because I've met both my father and mother, and it's been a while since I've shared my story.
I know some of you are are new here, but my mother put me up for adoption. I was her third child, and she was 20, and my dad didn't have anything either. They weren't actually together, it was one of those things. And she knew that she couldn't take care of me, and she knew that he couldn't take care of me, so she made a decision for him by telling him that I had died at birth. And so, I was put up for adoption kind of in secret from my father.
And so when he found out, he was he was really shocked. I talked to him on the phone, he said, well, had a son, but he died, and I got to say, well, I'm him. About the you know, an exciting thing to be told, I guess, in your life, but he kind of had to wrestle with it. But it took him only a couple of days, and we talked again, and he said, you know what, I think she was right because I would have tried to raise you, and we wouldn't have had anything, and sounds like you're raised in a good home and all of those things. But I think about, know, what if there weren't people out there who cared enough about those who were at risk?
What there weren't people out there who decided, All I care about is me and mine, and I don't care about you and yours and your situation? What would this world look like? You think it's bad now. What would the world look like if we decided, you know what? All I care about is me.
You see, the gospel message is about God giving to us. For God so loved the world that he gave his only son for you. That is the gospel message. And so, if you have heard that, and you don't live a life that gives to other people, and you don't look for the widow and the orphan, the way to give back, the way to serve other people. If I'm only here to have my cup filled and to be served, I've missed the point.
I have heard, and I have not put it into practice. And so prepared believers train their words before the moment of pressure. You understand that? Just as we train our in our minds knowing that the storm is coming, you need to decide and commit right now that I'm going to speak in this way towards others. The best preparation tool I've got for you is if you've got beef with somebody right now, it's awkward, and you don't want to really talk to them, commit right now that when that opportunity comes, I'm going to speak in this way.
With love, and with grace, I'm going to control my tone, and I'll throw out all those things that are running through my mind, and how I need to get them back, or whatever. But if you prepare in that way, then at the supermarket, you don't have to duck down the aisle. None of you all have ever done that, I know. But you are prepared in a way that when that happens, you've already run through it. Right?
Because that's the issue. We go through life, and we understand things are gonna come, but we don't prepare. And so, we should prepare in a way that, okay, I'm gonna slow down, I'm going to bridle my tongue, I want to speak with with love and mercy in my voice, I want to forgive someone if I need to forgive them. I need to practice beforehand. I need to ask myself, is it true?
Is it timely? Is it kind? Or am I just responding in a way that only leads to more anger and fuel on whatever is going on? Because that's the other way to respond. So true faith holds compassion and, I think, holiness together, that we are living a life understanding what God has done for us, and we also want to give that same kind of love and care for others.
Micah six eight, and I've read this recently, it says it this way, he has told you, oh man, what is good, and what does the Lord require of you, to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God. That should be the focus of how we live towards others and towards God, that we do justice, we love kindness, and we walk humbly with our God. But it's not enough to sit here and think that, and think that's a great plan, and not put it into action. Let's not huddle up, let's run the play. Galatians six nine and ten says, and let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap if we do not give up.
So then, as we have opportunity as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, especially to those who are of the household of faith. Look for those opportunities. Pray for those opportunities. Pray for those opportunities with that person that you thought of earlier when I said that. That I want to have a chance to have a good conversation with that person that's not going that well.
We think, I don't know if much good can come from that. It can. If you prepare, if you pray, asking God to help you through that, it can. And you can be in that moment, light in the world, salt in the world, you can be salty. Right?
Prepare. If we do not give up, you will reap in due season. As we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, especially to those who are of the household of faith. And I would say it should be easy to do that for those who are of the household of faith, because we all should be providing that same level of grace and mercy toward each other, but often, that's not the case, is it? Because just like anywhere else, we can have rifts, we can have issues, but we need to remember what we're here for, and who we're here for.
So I want to encourage you to find one person this week who cannot repay you, and try to serve them intentionally. That may be difficult. You may be thinking, well, I don't know anybody that everybody seems to have enough over here. Well, looking for that. Maybe look for the guy on the corner asking for money or water or whatever that is.
And how about this week, we don't have the mindset of, oh, they're just trying to make money a backhanded way. How about let's just be people of salt and light and goodness and kindness and mercy and give them something this week? Not thinking, oh, I don't have enough, but to say, I'm a person who loves God, and I know God's going to take care of me. So I want to ask you this, if your faith does not lead you to action, is it really faith? If all we're doing is saying we are these kinds of people, is it really faith?
Does your preparation your preparation for things, does it involve leading you to commitment? Are you committing to things? Are you preparing, or are you actually committing to things? Are you deciding this is how I'm going to live? John fourteen twenty three says, Jesus answered him, if anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.
But you have to be committed to this. You have to desire to be with God, and so you don't have to wait for a crisis to obey God. We want to be preparing now. We want to understand the words of God now, so that when the crisis comes, not if, but when the crisis comes, whatever it is, we are ready, we are prepared, and we have our tool belt filled with things that help us along the way. I started this sermon by talking about my soccer team, and one of the most frustrating things can be that kid who doesn't listen, though he was in the same group, and he has to be told by his team what to do or what coach said.
But I'll tell you, one of the most important things I think I have in a team is people who have listened and can encourage and can help guide. So, surround yourself with those types of people. That when you're having an issue, or when you're not getting it, or when the storm comes, you are surrounded by a group of people who love you and care for you, and want the best for all of us, not just themselves. And so, surround yourself in people who love. Ask God to help you here with humility.
Ask him to help you act with faith, and to love with consistency. And I believe God will bless you in your preparation. That that next awkward thing that you don't really want to happen, that now you're prepared for, and now you're able to deal with it and walk through it in a way that you come out on the other side, you can hold your head high because you are proud of how you responded. I think we've all felt the opposite of that, and I wish I could take those words back, and we know we can't. So let's be slow to speak this week as we prepare for real faith and real challenges in this world.
So this morning, we've got a a time of invitation. Tyler has a song picked out. If you would like to to respond and to be encouraged by this church, let me just ask you to come right now if you stand and let me say.