Just do it… the Nike slogan was taken from the Bible in the book of James.
We have this knowledge now, we must do something with it.
James is going to help us understand that we are be not just be hearers but doers of the Word.
Contrast 1: actively apply what you have heard. To produce something with what you have, create something with it. God is doing a work in us and wants us to actively participate in our lives, in shaping who we are, that’s what God wants to do.
Contrast 2: we mislead ourselves if we are just hearers. Its not enough, we are diluting ourselves. Doers prove themselves. We prove ourselves by growing and growing, maturing and becoming more and more like Jesus. The work on getting better and better – practicing over and over to get better.
Hearing is just not enough, it requires doing it.
Contrast 3: how they view the Word of God. The doer sees the Word of God as life giving. A hearer sees it as life taking. They don’t like to hear about the convict stuff where as the doer sees what God has for him, the perfect law. It sets us free.
Contrast 4: how do they handle the Word of God. A doer looks, hears and understands it. Hearers hear it, understand it but forget it and it makes no difference in their lives. Doers want to understand what God is saying about everything, they lean into it to understand it.
Contrast 5: the doer of the Word abides in the Word of God. Walk closely with it and learn how to do it and stay with it.
Contrast 6: hearers are forgetful. This has consequences. The more you forget the greater the consequences become and the more that happens to you. The accumulation effect of constantly forgetting. The doers are constantly working on their faith whereas the hearers are not. Be an effectual doer of the Word.
James says the person who gives their lives away becomes a more and more blessed person, a doer.
God wants us to be doers of His Word.
The more we do God’s Word the more He blesses us.
Our choices are extremely important to God. Faith without works is dead.
What is it that God wants you to do?
Jesus is going to ask us about our life and what did you do.
3 tests to see if we are doers: James says to look at ourselves, not with pride but checking ourselves.
vs 26 – check your tongue. Controlling your mouth. A lack of self control
Vs 27 – Are you helping the helpless when they need help?
Vs 27 – being unstained by the world, seek forgiveness and work on not letting the world stain your shirt – comparison to the worldly. Are you investing in the eternal or temporal? Self centered or God centered? What do you want me to do today God?
But what we do or don’t do is a reflection of Christ in us. It is a process over time, pick up and keep moving. Just do it!
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