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by Gary Sims
08/26/03
Not For Sale
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The Epistles
James 1:17-27 – Lessons on Reality
Key Verses: (The Message)

¹⁷”Every desirable and beneficial gift comes out of heaven.” – God is the source of all things good.
¹⁸”He brought us to life using the true Word, showing us off as the crown of all his creatures.” – We are created as the crowning glory of all creation. He crafted us in His own image, the image of the Christ.
¹⁹”Post this at all the intersections, dear friends: Lead with your ears, follow up with your tongue, and let anger straggle along in the rear. ²⁰”God's righteousness doesn't grow from human anger.” – We are to learn to listen more and talk less. Learning to contain our self-righteousness can lead us to be more sensitive to those around us and to the Holy Spirit.
²²”Don't fool yourself into thinking that you are a listener when you are anything but, letting the Word go in one ear and out the other. Act on what you hear!” – Listening to the Word of God is not sufficient, we must absorb, act, and be changed by what we hear.
²³”Those who hear and don't act are like those who glance in the mirror, ²⁴walk away, and two minutes later have no idea who they are, what they look like.” – We are not called to be shallow. Our depth of understanding and our spiritual growth are meant to go deep and wide.
²⁵”But whoever catches a glimpse of the revealed counsel of God--the free life!-even out of the corner of his eye, and sticks with it, is no distracted scatterbrain but a man or woman of action. That person will find delight and affirmation in the action.” – As we move out into ministry we will be affirmed and reaffirmed.
²⁷”Real religion, the kind that passes muster before God the Father, is this: Reach out to the homeless and loveless in their plight, and guard against corruption from the godless world.” – The actions we are to take as children of God are clear and concise.

Points to Contemplate:

Are you a child of God? Do you feel specifically created and wonderfully made? Do you understand that you are made in the image of God from the Word, which is the Christ? What does that mean to you? How does it affect the way you approach your day? Is there an inherent responsibility when you are wonderfully made in the image of God? Does it help you in adopting an attitude of holiness when you begin to realize from where you came and why?
How is your anger management? Do you flare off at the slightest provocation or do you simmer and boil over time? What sets you off? What types of situations cause you to lose your temper? Out of all the human frailties and weaknesses he had to choose from, why do you think James is focusing on anger in these verses? Does it have anything to do with your relationship with God? Can an angry person be focused on God? Or are they usually focused on the self? Do you see that anger is generally a product of self-righteousness not God-righteousness? Do you recognize that our job is to listen and to be sensitive to the needs of the world and to the promptings of the Spirit? Can you listen for God when you are angry or is He forced to listen to you, instead?
Are you listening? In our high-tech communication world where very few of us are without access to phone or email, would you say we are good at communications? Or, is communication, or the lack of it, a frequent complaint in your church or faith community? With everyone focused on communications as an important tool to ministry, why do we usually fail at it? Why do we hear: ‘Nobody told me?’ What is James telling us to do about this ancient problem? Do you see that he links listening with doing? Did he mention anything about speaking? Listening. It is all about listening. Are you listening?
What is ‘real’ religion? If you were to create a television ‘reality’ show on religion, what elements would you include? What would James include? Does ‘real’ religion include pomp and ceremony? Is ‘real’ religion based in pontification and exhortation? Is there a shortage of ‘real’ religion in our society today? Does the possibility that there is a scarcity of ‘real’ religion begin to explain the out-of-control moral and ethical values in the world along with the dwindling attendance of mainline church denominations? What steps can you make to get “real” with your religion?

Promises of the Gospel:

James is calling us to become “doers” of the Word, not mere listeners. When we are active listeners, when we set aside our self-righteousness and focus on the righteousness of God, instead, our relationship with Him, the “Father of lights”, becomes a vivid reflection of His truth. If we call our selves Christians, attend church, read scripture, and listen to sermons, but are unchanged by what we hear, then we are “worthless” soiled rags to be discarded. James is asking us to look in the mirror that God provides, see the person that He sees, and then walk into ministry, remembering that image so that others can experience the reality that Christ offers to the world.

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