Introduction

All right, thank you, Chris. Thank you, band. I love worshiping together through song, especially looking back to how we started this year with Chris teaching us—maybe reminding some of us, but for some, learning for the first time—what worship is and what it is we do when we sing. Then we went from there, as we learned about worship through song, to learning how to read God’s Word. What is God’s Word? How should we read it? And then we moved from there into actually hearing from Jesus in His Sermon on the Mount. That’s where we’ve been this year in Student Ministries.

We will continue in the Sermon on the Mount in the future. I do hope that over the next year or so, we finish Jesus’s sermon—we’ll see how long it takes. But today, I wanted to slow down, back up, and evaluate our interaction with the Word of God.

Encouragement to Read God’s Word

Hopefully—and I’ve heard from many of you—you actually are reading God’s Word on your own. I have been so encouraged as I’ve heard from a number of you that you have been faithful in opening up God’s Word every single day, or most days, and you have a plan. I’ve also heard from some of your parents that you’re even doing that as families for the first time, or doing it consistently, and that is so encouraging. I’d encourage you to keep going.

If you’re not reading God’s Word on your own, if you heard those lessons about it but haven’t started, then today is a good day to start. The sheets we give you are just a tool—they can be helpful. They provide a format to open God’s Word and ask, “What does it say? What does it say about God? How must this affect me?” It’s a simple way to open God’s Word chapter by chapter. If you start doing that now, in the beginning of your time in Student Ministries, by the time you finish this stage, you may have read through the New Testament multiple times. If each year you add more reading, you could go through the entire Bible a few times. If you keep doing that year after year, think about how many times you will have read the Bible. You don’t get it all at once—you’re not supposed to. You get it bit by bit, and God uses His Word to accomplish His goals in you if you receive His Word rightly.

Receiving God’s Word Rightly

That’s what we’re going to talk about today: how to receive the Word of God rightly. Instead of me simply telling you how I want you to receive it, we’ll go to God’s Word directly, to Jesus’s brother James. He opened his letter saying he’s a slave of Christ. He was a faithful pastor, and in the Book of James, he’s helping a church in trial and difficulty—brand new believers learning to live the Christian life, thrust immediately into trials and persecution. James wants to show them how to live, how to interact with God’s Word, and ultimately, what true saving faith is. Some of them thought they were Christians, they said they had faith, they read God’s Word, but James wants to help them see if it’s real faith or if they are deceiving themselves.

Open up your Bibles to James 1:19. (We also have note sheets; if you don’t have one, raise your hand so we can get you one.) We’ll look at a shorter lesson than usual today. Next week, we’ll be in the evening service, a special night of singing together. We’ll do that periodically, gathering with the church body. The following week will be Q&A, where we’ll address questions about anger, God’s Word, and more. Then, Lord willing, we’ll return to the Sermon on the Mount.

But for now, we’re backing up to say: we have so much of God’s Word coming at us each week—both in sermons and in our personal reading—so how do we receive it? James helps us with that.

James 1:19–21: Put Away Sin and Receive the Word

James 1:19–21 says, “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 soul.”

He gives a command: “Know this.” That’s an imperative. We must be quick to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger. The context especially concerns hearing God’s Word. Then James says our anger does not produce God’s righteousness, so we are to put away sin and receive the Word. We can’t receive God’s Word rightly if we harbor known sin in our lives. Every time you open God’s Word or come to church, ask, “Is there sin I need to repent of?” If you already know there’s sin, address it before you try to receive from God’s Word.

Then James says we are to receive the Word—this Word that the Holy Spirit implants in us. And we must receive it with meekness. Some translations say gentleness or humility. This is the heart attitude that says, “I’m not overly impressed with myself. I’m not powerful or wise; I’m sinful and need cleansing.” That is the posture of meekness that marks saving faith. If we receive God’s Word that way, we find it’s able to save our souls. You aren’t saved by works, but by grace through faith. Genuine believers demonstrate that faith by receiving the Word with humility.

Be Doers, Not Hearers Only

James 1:22–23 continues: “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.” You might be able to fool your friends, your parents, or even your pastors, but you’re not fooling God. If you only hear and never do, James says you are deceiving yourself.

You can feel pretty good about reading God’s Word, taking notes, or even teaching others about it, but if it doesn’t change you, you have reason to question whether you truly believe it. Our short prayer acronym “LUBOT” (Listen, Understand, Believe, Obey, Trust) reminds us we must not stop at merely understanding. We must believe it and obey it.

The Mirror Analogy

Verses 23–24 say that if anyone is a hearer of the Word and not a doer, he’s like a person who looks intently at himself in a mirror, then goes away and forgets what he looked like. I’ve had times where I had something in my teeth or on my face and didn’t realize it. It was distracting and embarrassing to everyone else until someone pointed it out, and then I used a mirror to fix it.

God’s Word shows us where the problem is, but if we close our Bibles or walk away from a sermon unchanged, that’s like seeing the food stuck in your teeth in the mirror, then ignoring it. It’s foolish. God’s Word reveals the truth about us—our sin, our need, who God is, and what He demands of us—and we can’t simply walk away unchanged.

The Law of Liberty

James 1:25 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.”

Calling it “the law of liberty” reminds us that God’s Word frees us from bondage to sin. Yes, Jesus’s commands (like in the Sermon on the Mount) are high and holy, and on our own we could never fully measure up. But God gives believers His Holy Spirit and Christ’s righteousness. We come humbly, saying, “Lord, accomplish in me what You require. Implant Your Word in my heart. Where I fail, I’ll confess. Where I obey, You get the glory.”

We persevere in trial and temptation because we trust God’s Word. We see what He commands, we trust it, and we obey, and God blesses that obedience. That is the only right response for a Christian—to receive the Word in faith and then do it.

Are You Deceiving Yourself?

Consider how you’ve interacted with God’s Word lately. Maybe you hear sermons each week, read the Bible daily, and yet walk away unchanged. If that’s the case, James says you’re deceiving yourself.

On the other hand, some of you can point to ways God’s Word has changed you—some area of sin you’ve confessed, a way your faith has grown, or an act of obedience you’ve pursued. If that’s you, give God glory. He’s working in you and implanting His Word in your heart. But if you realize you’ve mostly been a “hearer only,” there’s a better alternative: repent of known sin, come humbly to the Word, and be a doer who acts on what you learn.

Conclusion & Discussion

Let’s go to our discussion groups now. Look back at what you’ve been reading in God’s Word and what you’ve heard in sermons. Talk about how it has actually affected your life. Has it changed you? Have you been a hearer only, or a doer?

Let’s strive together to receive the Word in repentance and humility, and then to do what it says, trusting God to bless us in our obedience.