← ArchiveJamesBe A DoerDateFebruary 2, 2020SpeakerDr Josh BurnhamTextJamesPassages in this sermonJames 10:30James 1:224:03Matthew 714:02TranscriptMachine transcribed. Click any line to jump there.0:00Thank you so much for joining us. Okay, the book of James, again, James chapter 1, so we're continuing a series that we have called Faith That Works.0:30Because this is what God wants you to know. Truly, faith in Jesus Christ works. It's been tested, it has been tried, and it has been found true. And what we see today is one of James' primary concerns. He wants you to know that if you are in Christ, you should not have a dead faith, but a living faith.0:57Today, James is going to say in his word, through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, that we are to do something about our faith. So let me give you an example about what not to do. Several months ago, we were driving up to our house, and we live on a ridge, and there was a dead possum. And so we have a seven-year-old, and at the time she was four, and every child thought, well, you know, we need, this possum means a proper burial.1:27And I was thinking, yeah, it will, it's called a buzzard. Like, the buzzard's going to eat. But I didn't say that. I didn't, I was thinking it. And so the son, he wasn't interested in the burial. I'm like, look, you, your dad's a pastor, we can do burials. So the young daughter, she wanted this possum to have a proper burial.1:55And so we jumped in the golf cart. I took the shovel, put it in the back of the golf cart. We rode down the hill. And we get close to the possum, and I remember thinking this, okay, I know the possum's been there for at least three hours. But I know possums play possum. And a thought occurred to me, what happens if this rabid animal jumps up and rips my throat out? And then I look over, and my daughter, who's four, is looking at me like, Daddy, come on.2:25I'm like, I have to be brave. So I find this long stick. Because we have a short shovel, I'm thinking, that's, that's like jumping distance. So I get this long stick, and I'm thinking, what can I do? And I say, you know what, I'm just going to push it off the cliff. So I just push it off the road, and there it goes, down the hill, down the valley. And we prayed for it as it rolled down. It was dead. It was dead. And I remember thinking, as I'm praying through James,2:57James is concerned about the church. He said, some of you are dead, and you need life in Jesus Christ. Some of you are dead, and you're playing like you're alive. You're not playing possum, you're playing life. But really, you're laying on the road, and you're stiff. James said, that's not what life in Christ looks like. And so James is saying to us, listen, this faith works.3:24Get up off the road, you dead possums. Jesus can give you life. And if he's given you life, don't go back again. Don't lay down in the road. And if we're honest, spiritually, isn't that what we want to do sometimes? We're comfortable playing dead. And God is saying, I saved you from that. There's so much more that God wants in our life.3:51And so with that interesting introduction, let's read the Bible together. James chapter 1, verse 22. James says very clearly, Be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves, playing dead. Because if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer,4:20he is like someone looking at his face in the mirror. For he looks at himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of person he was. But the one who looks intently into the perfect law of freedom and perseveres in it, and is not a forgetful hearer, but a doer who works, this person will be blessed in what he does.4:48Be a doer. Come to life. Don't play dead. Don't be dead. Faith in Christ works, and faith in Christ changes lives. Let's pray, and then we'll get to work. Father, we are so often, Lord, prone to playing dead in a world that is desperately longing for true life.5:16Father, some here right now with us are dead in their sins and their trespasses. And, Lord, the step of faith you are asking them to take is to trust in Jesus for the first time. Lord, help them come alive. Help them look like Asher, who has given his life to you, and now is walking. He's a doer of your word through baptism. Lord, for the many others right now, I pray that your spirit would change their lives.5:46Lord, some in here right now are dead, and they think they're alive, but they're playing dead. Father, awaken our hearts, awaken our minds to knowing you, to seeking you, to live for you. And, Lord, some of us want to go back to our old days, and the road is comfortable, and it's safer to play dead, and no one knows any different.6:15Lord, help us never go back. Help us not hear this, and it fall on deaf ears. Help us do your word, because it is living, and it is active, and it is through your spirit that changes lives. Lord, we pray this in Jesus' name. Amen and amen. Be a doer. That's it. Be a doer. Verse 22. But be doers of the word.6:43So let me stop, and we need to set a proper foundation. So I want you to think in three ways. Think ready, set, and go. We're going to end on the go. James wants us to understand that we work from salvation, not for salvation. Because if we're not careful, some of you say, do? Man, I can do a lot of stuff. Okay, let's get to work.7:13And if we don't have the spirit living inside of us, it makes no eternal difference. And so James is saying, hey, before you work on the go part, before we get to the ready part, the set part, let's work on the readiness. If you don't know Jesus Christ, you can't do anything. But if you know Jesus Christ, you do a lot of stuff. Because we work from salvation, not for it. So how do we receive what Jesus has in the crucifixion, in the resurrection?7:43It's by receiving the implanted word. So faith comes from hearing, and hearing from the word of Christ. And then James says, though, but if you hear and don't act, you really haven't heard. Faith comes from hearing. Hearing leads to doing. But we work from salvation, not for it.8:07You see, anything outside of God's design is deception, and it is eternally damning. Because here's the danger. A lot of us have grown up in church, and we're good doers. We're just not good hearers. Some of you are good hearers, and you're not good doers. And James will say, but if you haven't, if you're not doing, you haven't heard. And if you haven't heard, then you're not doing. Start with Christ.8:37Verse 22. If anyone is a doer of the word, before you do, you must hear and you must give your life to Jesus Christ. That's why Asher said to you already, he said, I'm not here getting baptized because I want to be saved. I'm here today because I want you to know that Jesus has already changed my life. That's a radical difference. That's the power of Jesus.9:06We work from our salvation. This was the utmost concern of James. And I think it's because James himself had spent time with Jesus Christ and didn't believe. He had heard the word, but he did not yet follow him. It's not until 1 Corinthians that we know that Jesus appeared to James after the resurrection. And it's at that point that James receives the word. And I would, I think James is saying this.9:34Hey, I grew up with Jesus. We played as young boys. And I saw the hand of God upon his life. I heard stories about this miraculous conception, but he was a brother and we didn't believe half of what he said. But now James is saying this. Listen, it's true. I heard about Jesus, but one day I heard, I saw him die on the cross and I heard that he rose again.10:01But you know what? I saw it. And it's true. Hear the word and let the word change your life. And James would say, receive it. Receive the word of Christ. This good news that is for you. You see, we work from salvation, not for it. And James continues. He says to be doers of the word and not hearers only.10:30You see, a great lie of the enemy is this. Some of you believe this lie, so you need to lean in and hear this. A great lie of the enemy is that Jesus will change you. He's just going to wait until you get to heaven. Some of you are like, yes. Jesus is going to change us. And then we look at our life and we realize, well, it'll happen one day when I die. I'm from Mississippi.11:03Y'all have to excuse me. We're a second cousin of Alabama, so y'all get a lot of this. I believe the Holy Spirit is poking some of us and we're dead on the road. And the Holy Spirit is saying, Josh, you're alive. You don't have to wait until you die. You've been born again. Get off the road. Like, that's what the Holy Spirit is doing. Why are you still playing dead?11:31God, through Christ, is not waiting until you go to heaven to change you. It happens the very moment you receive the word of Christ. And so, why is this so important to James? James is saying, look in the mirror. If nothing has changed in your life, you don't know the Jesus that rose from the dead. Because this Christ changes something in our life. And if you're changed from the inside, something changes on the outside.11:59Because we work from salvation. Like, some of you are the dead past him right now and the Holy Spirit is saying, he's talking about you. Get up. We're going to push you off the cliff. Get up. Like, that's what we need in Jesus Christ. And we hear it correctly. There is nothing that you can do today to earn your salvation. God doesn't love you more because you're in church.12:28And he doesn't love people less because they missed today. God loves us for the full measure of Jesus Christ on the cross. There's nothing I can do today to make God love me more. There's nothing I can do to make God love me less. But we believe the lie. If we can't earn our salvation, then we're just not going to do anything after God's given us our salvation. And James says, oh, that is not true. You see, Satan has many of us.12:58Satan knows for some of you he's lost the battle for your soul. Because you've given your life to Jesus Christ. And so you know what he wants now? He wants you to make, he wants to make you ineffective for the kingdom. He said, okay, I know I've lost Josh's soul for eternity. So I'm just going to make him ineffective now. I'm going to make him believe that God is not going to do anything in his life until he sees Jesus face to face. And Christ says, no, that's not how it works.13:27When I change your life, everything changes. Everything changes. And you say, well, what about the sin? Everything changes. What about the things I've done? Everything changes. What about the people that know the old me? Everything changes. And this is not a novel idea. James wasn't praying one morning. The Holy Spirit just gave him this from thin air. I believe the Holy Spirit is echoing back to another famous sermon.13:56The Sermon on the Mount. In Matthew chapter 7, Jesus says the same words. He says this. Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven. But only the one who does. Sound familiar? Here, James would say it this way, but be doers of the word. Everyone who does the will of my Father in heaven.14:26Jesus continues. On that day, many will say to me, I'm so convicted about this passage. Man, listen to this. Many on that day will say, Lord, Lord, didn't we prophesy in your name? Didn't we speak eloquently about our Father? And didn't we drive out demons in your name? And did we not do many miracles in your name? And Jesus will announce to them, depart from me, you lawbreakers.14:52Therefore, everyone who hears these words of mine and acts upon them will be like the wise man who built his house upon the rock. We work from salvation. Martin Luther says it this way. We are saved by faith alone, but a faith that saves is never alone. That's Martin Luther's way of saying, look, don't just sit there and hear.15:24Do, get up, go. Be doers of the word. This is a fruit of the spirit. Verse 23. Because if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, verse 22 says he deceives himself. You see, there's a danger, I believe, in proximity to Christ and not doing or acting upon the word of Jesus Christ.15:49James knows this personally because he was the half-brother of Jesus. He grew up with him. They played football together. Or rugby. I don't know what they played in Israel. Soccer. They played soccer together. And they apprenticed together under their father Joseph. He knew intimately the proximity of the Messiah.16:13But it wasn't until later, until the proximity of Christ began to work in his heart where he received the word of Christ. James says, do not deceive yourselves. I think James is saying, look, don't be like me. Don't deceive yourselves. The word deception means to lead one astray from faith about salvation.16:38James is saying, some of you have led yourselves so far away that you don't even know who Jesus is. Now, what are some of the dangers that we have in proximity of the gospel? Some temptations. I believe one is intellectualism. It is your head knowing what your heart doesn't. You say, okay, so explain that.17:09I'm glad you asked. Intellectualism sounds nice, is articulate, but it's cold, is calculated, and it's prideful. Intellectualism causes other people to say, wow, you know a lot of the Bible. But it causes Jesus to say, depart from me because you don't know me. Man, what a scary temptation.17:38You know why it's scary? Because a lot of us, a lot of you, that's your temptation. Knowing about God. But your heart looking at your brain thinking, I don't know the God you say you know. Another temptation is emotionalism. It's your heart with no head. It's warm and fuzzy. It wants everyone to make an impact.18:07It wants everyone to be loved. This is what we call millennial spirituality. I can say that I am one. It sounds inclusive, but it lacks substance. Emotionalism is the crowd preparing the way for Jesus and saying, Hosanna, Hosanna, Hosanna, glory in the highest.18:35And several days later saying, crucify him. Crucify him. And the same heart that said, Hosanna, is the same heart that screamed, crucify him. Emotionalism does what it feels is right in the moment. There's also legalism. Legalism is hands without ears for the gospel.19:04It's the appearance of righteousness, but it is self-deceptive, as James has already told us. Legalism says, do this. Why? Because we say so. Legalism says, Lord, I prophesied in your name. I don't know what you've done today, by the way, but who in here can say, I drove out demons in the name of Christ.19:29I've done miracles. I've done, I've done, I've done. But not knowing Jesus Christ. Have one of these described you? Maybe you're a doer, a doer, a doer, and you just don't know why. Maybe you have a lot of knowledge, but your heart, you have no heart.19:58You know what James would say about you and me? He would say, you are exactly like a man who has looked into the mirror. And once he looks in the mirror, he forgets what he looks like. Now, let me put some of you at ease. Some of you have looked in the mirror this morning, and you have no clue what you look like. That's not what James is saying. In the ancient world, you look, even today, you look in the mirror.20:27There's remedial application. Meaning, you're looking in the mirror to change something about you most often. Some of you just like to look in the mirror. That's a whole different sermon. That's later in James. We'll get there. But maybe there's something in my teeth. Maybe there's a hair that's out of place. Maybe you're doing your makeup, but you're looking in the mirror so that there will be instant life change. So James is saying, if you look at the Word of God, and God is impacting your life, and nothing ever changes,20:58you're saying, there's something in my teeth. And you never get it out. There's something in my teeth. And it happens over and over and over and over again. See, the Word of Christ doesn't work like that. Some of you right now, the Holy Spirit is working in your life. And you're thinking, okay, this, I don't want to change this. And James is saying, don't just hear. Do. Act.21:28Act. The Holy Spirit work upon your life. Don't lead to legalism. Don't let it lead to intellectualism. Don't let it lead to emotionalism. James is saying, it's not too late to let the Holy Spirit change your life. James is saying, I've been there. It's not too late to let Jesus change you. Be a doer. The readiness is that Jesus Christ is the good news.21:55Being set is looking in the Word. And what's so powerful about the Word of God is there's several hundred people here right now on this campus hearing the Word of God. And the Holy Spirit is working in several hundred different ways at the same time. That's the power of the gospel. And then James says very easily, go. If God has changed you and he's changed your heart, if God is changing you, go.22:23That's what I love about James. He's just very point blank. Ready, set, go. Live the blessed life. What is the blessed life? I'm glad you asked again. Verse 25. The one who looks intently into the perfect law of freedom. Don't miss that. James says God's Word is freedom. It's not slavery. It's not chains. The Word of Christ is freeing to our soul.22:51Once he looks into the perfect law of freedom and perseveres in it, and he is not a forgetful hearer, but a doer who works. Right? We work from salvation, not for salvation. This person will be blessed in what he does. So what is the blessed life? Some of you don't know, but Asher's name. I keep using Asher. He's an easy illustration this morning. Asher is a Hebrew word that means blessedness.23:19Blessed is a man. Asherah is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the ungodly. But his delight is in the law of the Lord. What is true blessedness? Blessedness is doing the will and the work of your Father. Look what James says in verse 22. He encapsulates.23:50He encapsulates. He bookends this passage for people who are just hard of understanding like me. Verse 22, he says, but be doers. And some of us, by the time we get to 25, we've forgotten this. Look at verse 25. This person will be blessed in what he does. What is the blessed life? It is doing the will of the Father.24:18Blessedness is not as, ugh, I've got to do God's will again. Ugh! Isn't that how we sometimes live? Blessedness is, man, like, God, why me? Why would you choose me to do your will again? God, I get to do, I get to do the will of, like, the one who created everything by spoken word, one word.24:43I can hear his voice. And I can do his will. I can see James broken and said, man, I didn't believe my brother. I didn't believe he was the Messiah. I didn't believe. But now I get to do his will. And this is blessedness.25:11You see, when we hear the word of God, we have two different responses. We can remember or we can forget. And when we remember the word of God, it leaves a lasting impression upon our souls where we're never the same. We are never the same. I want you to think about the law really quick of God. You know, if you're trying to teach your kids, maybe, to play the piano, you don't take them to music theory 301 and say,25:39now, I want you to learn every single rule about music theory. And once you learn all the law about playing the piano, and you will be a perfect pianist, then you can start playing. You know what we do?26:08We take our kids who want to play football to football games. And we take young people who want to be concert pianists to concerts. And we take them to musicals. And when they see the beauty and the majesty of what could be, then they can say, I get why this law is here. I get how it builds. And one day, if it continues to build in my life, wow, look what could happen.26:35That's the way the word of God works in your life. It is not, do this, and then he will love you. It is, if you see Jesus and the power of his resurrection and the beauty of his majesty, then we can open his word and we can say, God, I don't want to lie anymore. I don't want to have a falsehood.27:05I don't want to hate my neighbor because I want to be like Jesus. And one day, I trust, God, that you will save me and you will work in me. And if I do your word and I work from salvation, one day I will be perfect. Like he is perfect. That is the power and the beauty of the law of Christ. Look towards Jesus Christ. The person is blessed who does the will of the Lord.27:35Remember the possum? He is somewhere in Odinville right now on his back. He was dead. I can't help but think as we listen to the word of God that the Holy Spirit is poking some of us and saying, you're dead. And you've been playing like you were alive.28:05James is saying, don't wait until you see God face to face to hear him say, depart from me. For I never knew you. Because here's the power of the gospel. If you would just say, God, I'm the one dead on the road. Jesus can come breathe life into you. And he says, you were dead in your sins and your trespasses. Arise. Get up.28:36Get up. You are born again. Don't play the church game. Don't play with legalism or emotionalism or intellectualism. Trust Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior. Say, God, I recognize today, maybe for the first time, that I am dead. But I want life. I want to be a doer and not just a hearer. If that's you today, would you do business with Christ right now where you sit?29:05Say, God, I believe. I believe that Jesus is who he says he is. I believe he will do in my life what he says he will do. And I will trust in you. The Bible calls that repentance. Because you have to let go of yourself. And turn to Jesus Christ. I believe some of us are here. We look more possum-y than anything else. We've been made alive.29:36But sometimes God's looking down thinking, is he dead or just plain dead? I don't want the Holy Spirit to ever have to poke me with a stick and say, wake up. I don't want the Holy Spirit after I have to poke me with a stick and say, did you hear that? Josh, he wasn't talking about your neighbor. He was talking to you. Did you hear that? Get up. Do something. Don't just hear. Don't forget what you heard.30:06Don't forget what you see. But work out your salvation with fear and trembling. Maybe right now the Holy Spirit is saying, that's you. So what does doing the word look like? If you've never given your life to Jesus Christ, doing for you is for the first time saying, God, I believe. I trust in you. I will take that step of faith. Doing is saying, what I heard, I will now do because your Spirit has convicted me and changed me.30:34For some of you, doing is answering this question. Is your family more like Christ because you're living out your faith? Is your neighborhood more like Jesus because you're living out your faith? Because you're doing what you hear. Is your workplace looking more like Jesus because you're working out your salvation?31:00Are you doing what you hear? Maybe for some of you, the question is, is this church healthier and growing and thriving because you're doing the work of your salvation? I don't know how the Holy Spirit is working in your life. But I know the Holy Spirit is working a hundred different ways right now and that he is calling us to do.31:29We're going to have a time of response and we're going to have a time of response and we're going to eat the Lord's Supper. Maybe for you doing is saying, God, I know that I have not been where you need me to be this week. And before I eat at the Lord's table, I want to spend some time in confession. And when you're going to have a time of response and we're going to have a time of response and we're going to have a time of response and we're going to have a time of response and we're going to have a time of response and we're going to have a time of response and we're going to have a time of response and we're going to have a time of response and we're going to have a time of response and we're going to have a time of response and we're going to have a time of response.31:54And when you're going to have a time of response and we're going to have a time of response and we're going to have a time of response and we're going to have a time of response and we're going to have a time of response and we're going to have a time of response and we're going to have a time of response and we're going to have a time of response and we're going to have a time of response and we're going to have a time of response and we're going to have a time of response. Let's pray, Father.← Previous in JamesLet’s Get RealNext in James →Mercy TriumphsMore sermons on James →
