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19 My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, 20 because human anger does not produce the righteousness 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 1:19-21
Today, we return to James 1. The goal in this letter from the half brother of the Lord Jesus is the growth in the believers relationship with God. And, the number one tool in the arsenal of God to grant growth to the believer is trials which provide the greatest classroom for the believer in Christ. A believer in the Lord Jesus Christ is one who looks to the Lord for the answers to life's questions. True believers in Christ are defined by the Word of God. Even though there are times when the believer in Christ fails to to be defined by the Lord, it is the longing of his heart to obey Him.
In John 8:31 we read, "Then Jesus said to those Judeans who had believed him, “If you continue to follow my teaching, you are really my disciples."
The product of true saving faith is the wisdom to recognize the intelligence involved in obeying the Word of God. The one who is truly connected to Christ in genuine saving faith hears His voice through His Word. The one who does not hear His Word, therefore, gives evidence of not knowing Christ at all. Again, this will never mean that we will be perfect in our obedience, it means we will sometimes make the decision to be defined by God and His Word.
In v.19 of today's passage we read, "My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry."
The wisdom of God tells us that we must be quick to listen. The issue here is our response to the Word of God. In James 1:18, the Word of truth is highlighted. In James 1:21, the implanted Word is highlighted. Therefore, in James 1, the Word of God is the theme. And, to "be quick to listen" means to listen to the Word of God while we are enduring a trial.
The key here is how we respond to the Word of God. James is describing our eagerness to grasp every opportunity to increase hearing God’s Word. This means as we gain His wisdom, we will respond by pursuing every privileged occasion to hear the Word of God. Wisdom requires hearing God's Word acutely.
The Bible is the source, then, of deliverance out of our trials and temptations. And, as we respond to it, the Word of God becomes the most welcomed friend to the believer because of what it yields, a meaningful and personal fellowship with the living God. When we became believers in Christ, our desire to communicate with God began. And, as we respond to His Word, our desire to hear Him will increase. And, of course, this leads to obedience to God's Word.
Again, in v.19 the believer in Christ is admonished to be: "slow to speak." As quick as we should listen to God, we should be as quick to withhold our rebuttals. We must be quick to hear God's Word, instead of flying off the handle at God. The Word of God is at times very harsh to us. It cuts us deeply and we find it hard to receive it. But, when we have garnered God's wisdom, we will see the genius to throwing a welcome mat out before our hearts with regard to the Word of God.
In v.20 of today's passage we read, "because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires."
There are times when we don’t want to hear the truth that God desires to give us. I had a friend in college who would always say, "You shall know the truth and the truth shall make you mad." Our resistance to God's Word does not produce that which is right for us. In fact, it gives opportunity for anger to well up. It is just plain dumb to ignore God.
In v.21 of today's scripture we read, "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."
Once we have received the wisdom of God we must be wise to sweep out of our hearts anything that hinders the expression of the righteousness of God in our lives. It makes no sense to undermine God in our lives by ignoring His instructions.
The key word in this verse is "accept." Before the Word of God can produce righteousness in our lives, we must unload some things out of our lives. The verb "get rid of" means to take one's clothes off. Before we find ourselves in a position to be defined by God, we must first resist entertaining the thinking of this fallen world which is in contradiction to God's Word.
Our willingness to receive the wisdom of God results in our "souls" being saved. This is not talking about us going to heaven. This is talking about God's wisdom being operative in our lives right now. This is sanctification teaching, the salvation of our "souls."
The word "can" in James 1:21 is a present participle which means it is powerful enough to continually save us. It is God's Word that starts our salvation, and, it is God's Word that keeps our salvation going forward. When we put our faith in Christ, we were saved from the penalty of sin. At that point, we punched our ticket into heaven and nothing can change that. The Word of God, also, has the power to save us from the power of sin. We no longer have to obey sin. We can choose to say "no" to sin. The Word of God has saved us from the penalty of sin and the power of sin, and, in the future, the Word of God will save us from the presence of sin. One day, soon, we will be taken out of this world and we will be in the place where there is no sin, at all.
