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Listener, do you sometimes feel that your faith is 90% knowledge and 10% action? You're not alone. This week we look at James' exhortation to be doers of the word and not hearers only, and examine the balance between law and liberty. Prepare your heart, and may the Lord speak to you through his word. Good morning, church. It's good to be together this morning. And I'm so glad to be here knowing that we are the body of Christ together, and God is working in our lives, and He's transforming us day by day and week by week and month by month and year by year. And sometimes we don't feel we've changed, but if we look in the rear view mirror, we realize God has been doing a work in our lives. So it's good to be together. And I'm so thankful that we can, because of course we know there are places in this world where people don't have this privilege to come together to worship in this way. We're really uh they are risking quite a bit to come together with other believers. And it's hard for us to enjoy the privilege we have uh without having had that experience. But just to be reminded, we are so blessed to be able to come together. And I'm so thankful because I know so many of you serve in different ways in this church. You're not here just to come week by week, but you get involved. Uh, it can be through the host ministry, the refreshment team, it can be behind the scenes upstairs. You know, someone runs the camera each week for our live stream. Uh, there are many, many ways, and you are appreciated. You are appreciated. So this morning, I understand uh last week, all right. Last week you had Reverend Israel come to speak to you here, and I believe it was an encouraging message. I know he is a wonderful, wonderful brother in the Lord. So I'm glad Reverend Israel was here for you. And then, well, those of you who are here, the rest of us last week were at church camp, and we had a good camp. It was quite good. And we had our speaker, and if you remember, those of you who went, he spoke of the head, the heart, and the hands. And I think that was on the first day. And he spoke about how many here in our very well-developed world struggle to get past the head, right? But we have to get past knowledge, we have to get to the heart, and from the heart to the hands. And today, James is speaking to us about our hands. So before we dive in, would you join me in bowing our heads and uh we just commit this time to the Lord? Precious Lord Jesus, it is indeed such an honor and privilege to be able to come together as a community, as a body of faith to worship you this morning. Lord, would you open our ears, soften our hearts, and ready our hands? Lord, we pray that your word would be effective in our lives. We thank you, Lord, that you've worked change in our lives.

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Would you continue that work in our lives? Lord, may your word be effective in our lives today. We pray this in Jesus' name.

SPEAKER_01 3:45

Amen. Before we dive in, we need to be very, very, very, very crystal clear on something, okay? Salvation is by grace through faith, not by works. Salvation is by grace, that means it's it's a free gift, it's an undeserved gift, it's not something that can be bought or earned. And yet it isn't that everyone ever born is going to be saved, sorry to say, because it is through faith, by grace through faith. And so it's through uh faith that this grace is apprehended. And so we have to, I just want to be very clear because James is uh very focused on the hands, but we all know, we all agree together, we are saved by grace through faith. No amount of good deeds can make us eligible for salvation. Uh, no amount of good deeds can keep us in salvation if we are to think that way. But if you have received the promise of salvation, it's there for us. It is good, it can be relied upon. It is the gift of God, and we know we we take it by we confess our sins and our sinfulness, and we accept the work of Christ on the cross. We believe that it is sufficient for us. And as we receive this, we receive a seal, a promise from God that we would know that we will be saved on that day. And that is the Holy Spirit in our lives. Every believer has the Holy Spirit in your life. And so through this, we remain saved even when we stumble. Friends, let's be honest, we do stumble. All right, I don't know anyone who has suddenly become perfect after accepting the Lord to be Lord of their lives. Okay, so we need this foundation because James is going to go on to hands very quickly. Now, before we get into our short passage today, we need to go back one verse, and this is to verse 21, James chapter 1, verse 21. It says, Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. He says, to receive with meekness the implanted word. We're to receive it with humility, we're to receive it humbly. And this word that comes is to be implanted. It's it's a seed that goes deep into soil and then begins to grow. And so we our hearts are that soil, right? We receive the word, we believe it, we grab hold of it, we trust it, and from there it grows and it grows strong, and we are transformed. And so there's sort of two parts that James has been saying. With verse 21, we have the first part. That is receive the word. Receive the word. That's the first part. And then we go into our passage for today and really the rest of the chapter, and that is obey the word. So James preceding this says, receive the word. Now it is obey the word. And so we come to verse 22. It says, but be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. And this can be considered, I would say, the theme verse for the book of James very easily. Be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving yourself. Basically, walk the talk. Believers. Don't just talk about your faith, walk it out. Walk the talk, be doers of the word and not hearers only. So, what is the word? It's the scriptures, it's the good news, it is the gospel, the proclamation of Jesus, the Son of God, come to earth as fully human and fully God, who lived a sinless life and died for our sins. We believe he was risen on the third day, and he will come again. We can equally say also that it is Jesus Christ because the scriptures say that in the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God. And so this is the word. And James says, be doers of the word, living out a new life in light of the gospel, in light of Christ. Now, when James says be doers of the word, the word be tells us this is something ongoing. This isn't just uh make a stand one time and pray a prayer. Don't just uh one time in your life stand up and do the right thing. Be, continually be, day by day, be doers of the word. Not just on Sunday, not just on Saturday. We have to find a way for those in school, we have to find a way to be doers of the word in school. For those of us in the workforce, we have to find a way to be doers of the word, even in our workplace, because this is God's word to us. Be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving yourself. Is it really deceiving yourself if you if you only hear the word and you don't do it? James goes on with an illustration. Uh verse 23 and 24, 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 mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. So this the second part, we need to know we need to act on the truth. Now, in my home, in my home, I'm the only guy with my three daughters and my wife. I'm the only male in the household. And so we don't have many mirrors, but they get used very, very often. Very often. Especially one particular daughter. I don't want to mention her name, and it's good I can't see her because I'd point at her. Uh, but the mirrors get used very, very often. So, what do we use our mirrors for? We use it to get an accurate appraisal of ourself.

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We use it to see what needs to be changed.

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Some of us we need to check very carefully that there isn't food between our teeth before we go out. We we need to see what is there. What is there, what needs to be changed, and then we go to the mirror to change it. And so, James, okay, he uses uh the word forget. He says, for he looks at himself and goes away at once, and at once forgets what he was like. But it isn't really a matter of forgetfulness. That's not not what James is trying to tell us. He's trying to tell us something much more serious through this word picture. You have to understand as well, in this time, we didn't have the full-length mirror back in New Testament times. Most of the mirrors were still made of a polished bronze or copper. And so you can see just a little picture. It's like a little hand mirror. And to see your reflection, you've got to you've got to really look into it. You've got to really examine. It's not going to be a one-to-one representation of yourself. And so in verse 23, where it says to look intently, James is using this Greek word katanoeo. Katanoeo. And it means to consider, to contemplate, to observe, to understand, to take note of, to perceive. This action is not casual as it's written here. It's not just you go, you look, you walk away, but you're looking intently into this thing. And so uh when you look into the mirror to get an accurate appraisal, to see what needs to be changed, and to be able to change it, it's it's something that you're really examining. And so, just like that daughter who I'm not naming, James is talking about someone who really takes time to study their image, and it's their image in light of the word that they have received. Because remember that this is in context. Verse 21, that implanted word in light of this word. And so in the illustration, they're looking into God's truth, and they see in light of that truth their their behavior, their character, their conduct. They see all that is out of alignment with God's truth. Now, students, if you if you get back exam results, the marks come back, and you see you're really in trouble in one of your subjects, probably mother tongue, and you look at those results and you think about the marks you need to get and where where you need to be going, and then you just walk away and you do nothing about it. That's how ridiculous it is, this picture of the man looking into the mirror. You see, you've checked it out, you've thought it through, you know what where you need to be, and then you do nothing about it. It can't be, right? Or pretend with me for a moment, I'm looking into a mirror right now, small hand mirror, and I really take time to see what's there. And as I look, not just briefly, I take a good look, I have a sober assessment. I see, you know what, there's still envy in my life. There's still times that I don't keep my temper as I should. Sometimes there's greed, sometimes there's pride. As I look at this, I realize that I'm not in alignment with what should be there. It's contrary to the gospel. And if I simply shrug my shoulders and walk away from that, how?

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Right? God sees us.

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How can I look and become aware of these things and do nothing about it? And so, as Christians, we we cannot just simply turn away when we see in light of God's truth that things are not right. See, according to James, we we cannot just keep going that way because real faith produces change. In chapter 2, verse 17, it says, So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, what?

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Is dead, right? Faith by itself, it does not have works, is dead.

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And so, of course, we're not instantly changed, but we do see that God makes changes in our life over time. He's working in our lives, he is the faithful one. When we get tired, when we have a bad day, when we stumble, when we struggle once again with pride or greed or whatsoever, God is faithful. He doesn't give up on us. Alexander McLaren, he's a Scottish uh pastor within the Baptist Church, and this was about a hundred years ago, he wrote this. He says, Not what we believe, but what we do is our Christianity. Only the doing must be rooted in belief. Not what we believe, but what we do is our Christianity. Only the doing must be rooted in belief. Those are difficult words to hear, and yet I think there is something there. Verse 25, uh, the illustration's gonna change a bit. He says, 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. So the illustration changed. Now instead of examining ourselves, we're looking into the perfect law and into the law of liberty. It seems a bit contradictory, right? I I don't know about you. Maybe it's because uh because I grew up in the States, I don't know. The law and liberty, in my natural thinking, these are these are opposed to each other. Law takes away your liberty. Liberty is being free from law. I mean, to me, that it seems a very simple thing, but the biblical definition of freedom is different from our modern thinking. And law is needed. For instance, traffic laws. I don't think we want to get rid of traffic laws. They enable us to drive safe. If everybody just came up and, oh, look at those pretty lights there at the intersection. Those are just a suggestion. I'm running late, I'm just gonna go, I don't care if it's red. We're gonna have trouble, right? We we need the laws to keep us safe. Otherwise, everything would be chaos. Without law, there is chaos. In Matthew, it says that no one can serve two masters. This is Matthew chapter 6, verse 24. It says, No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You'll notice there's no scenario where there is no master. There's no scenario where we are free from any law, anything that is greater than us. And so when the New Testament speaks of freedom, it means freedom from sin and sinfulness. Apart from Christ, we're completely unable to please God because we're fundamentally broken on the inside. We are. And that's the sinful nature. And so we can't help but hurt others and offend God. We end up slaves to sin. And that is what we need to be set free from. That is the freedom that Christ brings, so that we can stop hurting those that we love, those that we care about, that we can stop hurting others for whatever reason, that we don't have to be hurt, but instead that we can be transformed from the inside out. So when it comes to the law, I think generally we we tend to fall into one of two categories, even for us here. There are those who have met and possibly disliked legalistic Christians, those who are all about the laws, or you are the legalistic Christian. You find it difficult both to give and to receive grace. You struggle with it if you're honest with yourself. And I hear you, I understand, but I don't want you to think as we're talking about the law in this verse 25, I don't want you to think about all the laws of the Old Testament. Instead, we consider the words of Jesus who summed up the entire law into something that we can grasp. And I'll just read these from the parable of the Good Samaritan, these few verses. Says, And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? He said to him, What is written in the law? How do you read it? And he answered, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself. We love God, we love our neighbor. Summed up, that's the law that we look upon. In this word picture that James is giving us, looking into this mirror, looking into the perfect law, the law of liberty, loving God, loving your neighbor. What do you see now in the reflection? So the freedom that we have in Christ, it isn't freedom from law, which pains boundaries and behaviors and consequences, but it's freedom from sin and that inner compulsion, that sinful nature which makes us act so selfishly. It is freedom. Freedom to love God as we ought. And I don't know about you, that is the freedom that I so need. Because I know what I need to do. And yet sometimes I struggle to need to do it. I need that freedom to love God, to do what is right, to do what I know is right, what He has revealed to me is right. And so as we consider ourselves soberly, as we look into this mirror, the law of the perfect law and the law of liberty, we must act on what we've seen. And when we do that, that's when God's amazing work takes place in us. And we're no longer the same. And our image begins to change. And as we stare into that mirror, our features aren't what we've seen before. We've begin to somewhat resemble Christ. We are meant to reflect Christ. That's what our Christian walk is all about. I don't know if you have this saying here, but I've heard it said back in my home country before that sometimes couples that have been married for many, many years they start to look like each other. Have you ever heard that? Have you ever noticed that? And you know, it seems to be true. Somehow they they seem to resemble each other a bit. My friends, we are called the bride of Christ. And as God does his work in us, our features change, and we begin to look more and more like him. And so we are meant to reflect Christ. And so this fulfills the scripture. Colossians chapter 1, verse 27. It says, To them, God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. And so, my dear brothers and sisters, this is God's plan for you, that you would walk the talk, that you would act on truth, and that you would reflect Christ. And as you go to school, that you will reflect Christ because your character, your conduct, your head, your heart, your hands are a bit different from those around you. As we go into the workplace, that we will be a little bit different from those around us. And they can see that because you're reflecting something a bit different from what's expected. Have you ever seen those bracelets or other things that have the WWJD on them? You know what that stands for, right? What would Jesus do? Well, there was, uh and this was a big thing way back in my time. It was the very cool thing to have. You have those little bracelets all the time with WWJD. There's a fictional uh literature book entitled In His Steps, written by Charles Sheldon. It tells the story of Reverend Henry Maxwell, who challenges his congregation with this very question, What would Jesus do? And it's a very dramatic book. And in it is imagine what the consequences would be. You know what? There's some friendships that get broken. Some people end up leaving, uh losing their job because they're not willing to do unethical things anymore. Evangelism starts to become powerful. Things are changing, lives are transformed, miracles happen. It's something that has stayed with me. This book was published at the end of the 1800s. It's an old book. And yet it remains a powerful story. And I do think about it from time to time. Because when I look at the mirror and take stock of my life, I have to ask, Am I really what would it look like if I was 100% living for Christ every single day, every hour, every choice? 100%, I can't honestly say that I'm there yet. I'm not there. I wish I was there, I'm not there. And yet, as I look over the years, I can see God is doing a work in my life. And so I believe I reflect Christ a little bit better than when I first begun.

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So, church, I want to ask you, when you look in the mirror, what do you see? I think it's good that we reflect upon our lives from time and time again.

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Again, we're we're not talking anything about working for salvation. That's that's that's not it. But our salvation is it's shown real because we see there are works that come out of it. And if you reflect now on your life and you feel like I've never really done a deed for the Lord, friend, maybe you are not a Christian just yet. Because when we put our faith in God, he transforms us and there is change. There is change. I can tell you he is faithful to bring about change. Again, I I just quote uh this this quote from Alexander McLaren Not what we believe, but what we do is our Christianity. Only the doing must be rooted in belief. It's not the deeds that save us, but they do prove prove that there is a saving faith in your life. Friends, I'm so privileged to be with you this morning. I'm so glad that we can journey together in our faith.

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I'm sure you struggle at times. I also struggle.

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But the wonderful thing is our salvation is not based on how hard we work. It's based on God and His grace and his faithfulness to us. Friends, let's stick with the Lord. Let's stick with our faith. Let's hold on, let's keep trying because God is going to continue working inside of us. That all those things, when we look in the mirror and we see these are not in alignment, he's gonna work those out of us. Amen. We just keep coming to him. That is his goodness. And so that is that is the encouragement I want to bring you today to reflect Christ. Continue to reflect Christ wherever you are. We pray that you've been ministered to by the Word of God today. If you'd like to know more about the Eastern Christian Church, please visit our website at yccanglican.com. Have a blessed day.