Renewing Your Vows

James 1:19-27 19My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, 20for man's anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires. 21Therefore, 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. 22Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. 23Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror 24and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. 25But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it—he will be blessed in what he does. 26If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless. 27Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

Queen Victoria received the stunning Kohinoor Diamond as a gift from a maharajah when he was a boy. Later as a grown man this maharajah visited Queen Victoria again and asked for the stone. Taking the diamond and kneeling, the maharajah gave it to the Queen again, saying, "Your Majesty, I gave you this jewel when I was a child, too young to know what I was doing. I want to give it to you again in the fullness of my strength, with all my heart and affection and gratitude, now and forever, fully realizing all that I do."

David Jeremiah observes, "Many Christians gave their hearts to Jesus as a child, but how wonderful to come with greater knowledge and maturity and to say, 'I know I'm Yours, but I want to be Yours with all my heart and affection, fully realizing all that I do.'

"Sometimes we need to renew our vows to Him, just as Peter did following the Resurrection. Sacrificing for God is worth it, and a renewed commitment is like a fresh start with a tried and true Friend."                   

It is this renewed commitment that makes us turn to James 1:20.

God wants us to live a righteous life.  That is what James tells us in James 1:20.  Notice the little phrase, “the righteous life that God desires.”  The KJV says, “the righteousness of God.” 

When we become a Christian, we become one by faith in Jesus Christ.  No one is good enough to go to heaven by being good.  It is by faith in Jesus Christ.

That is not to say that God doesn’t want us to be good, he does.  But he does not want us defining what good is, he doesn’t want us to be trying our best to be good without Christ.  Instead, He places His Holy Spirit in us and that Holy Spirit starts to work on every Christian to make them holy, to purify them, to move them toward living a life that is pleasing to God.  To living a life that is right with God, a righteous life.

That is where the challenge is this morning.  How are we doing in this area?  Have we lost our first love or are we deeply concerned with pleasing God and doing what honors him?

James gives us a list of sorts with illustrations to back up the list of some areas that we can check on. 

First, verse 19 tells us that everyone should be quick to listen. 

If we have a desire to be His with “all our heart and affections,” then in a practical way, we need to start listening more.

Second, we also need to be slow to speak.  There are some people who just have to say something.  They often don’t listen to others, but interrupt and are quick to give their opinions.  God desires that we be careful before we speak.

Third, we need to be slow to become angry.  If you are here today to renew your commitment to Christ, he wants you to start learning anger management.    Anger often drives the two previous traits.  When we are angry we often don’t listen and say much more than we should.  This is a serious problem.  Why?

Because man’s anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires.  If you desire the righteous life that God desires for you, then you need to deal with your anger. 

So many people say, “It’s just the way I am.”  But the gospel’s affect on people in the New Testament had them saying, “That is the way I was.”  God can help you with your anger, but you have to be willing to be helped.  You need to take responsibility and say, “I am an angry person and I need God’s help.”  When you open yourself up that way, you take the first step toward meaningful change and you also are moving towards the righteousness that God desires.

Fourth, get rid of all moral filth.  The ‘therefore’ in this verse refers back to the “righteous life that God desires” in the previous verse.  If you want the righteous life, get rid of all moral filth.  The idea of “get rid of” is a picture of changing clothes.  Take off moral filth.  Shed it as you would dirty clothes.

Another commentator said that this word was used to describe earwax.  Remove whatever stops you from hearing the word of God clearly.

If you are serious about this, look at the movies you attend.  Look at the videos you rent.  Look at the books you read and the magazines you buy.  If you are serious about this, think about the sites you visit on the computer.  If you are serious about living right, put a stop to any inappropriate relationships that may be starting between you and someone of the opposite sex.  If you are becoming emotionally attached to someone at work that is not your spouse or is not a Christian, then if you want to move toward the righteousness that God desires, that relationship needs to end.  Immorality rarely starts with immorality.  Immorality is usually the end result of a series of bad decisions.

Fifth, get rid of the evil that is prevalent.  I like what the King James says on this, “superfluity of naughtiness…” I am not sure what that means, but whatever that means in English sounds bad.

I would note that there is evil that is prevalent in society and evil that is prevalent in us.

We are so often influenced by the world around us.  As he is about to encourage us to listen to the word of God, we can say with assurance that if we want to rise to the challenge of living a righteous life, then we must resist the thinking of the world around us when it conflicts with the clear teachings of the Bible.

If someone were to ask me why I think that premarital sex is wrong, my first answer, though not my only one, would be that the Bible says it is wrong.  If someone were to ask me why I think homosexuality is immoral, my first answer would be that the Bible says it is wrong, though that would not be my only answer.   If someone were to ask me why I thought Darwinism is wrong, my first answer would be because it contradicts the clear teaching of the Bible, though that would not be my only answer.

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what is the good and excellent will of God.  Paul writes this in Romans 12: 1-2

But there is not only evil in society, but each of us has an evil prevalent in us.  We may be gossips, liars, backbiters, complainers, critical or mean spirited, lazy, disrespectful, proud, unloving, greedy, or any of a long list of sins.  If they are prevalent in our lives, we are to get rid of them.

How do we get rid of evil?  The answer is found in verse 22.  “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves, do what is says.”

Last week we had a baptism.  One reason that I emphasize baptism is because I see a real value in people, when they first become Christians, to see the need to go beyond words to deeds.  This is the key to growth.  We can have a list of the seven things to do to overcome anger, but if we never act on that list, nothing changes.  We can hear the greatest messages from the greatest pastors in America.  But if we don’t act on the word of God, it counts for nothing.

Verse 25 says that if you do what you know, you will be blessed.  This is so obvious.  If we do the righteousness that God desires, he will bless us.

Sin is a curse.  When we do wrong, it may seem good for a short time, but it catches up to us.  Newt Gingrich was practicing immorality at the same time he was hammering away at Bill Clinton for his immorality.  Now that he wants to run for president, he is finding that that fleeting pleasure has become a stone around his neck.

Be sure your sin will find you out.  But if you never commit the sin in the first place, you will be blessed.  It may be that some of you will not just listen to this message, but do what the Holy Spirit is telling you needs to be done.  This may be God’s loving warning that it is time to change.   Listen carefully if the Holy Spirit is convicting you.  Don’t walk out of church and then forget this moment.  You will be blessed if you act on this.

James closes this with a negative and a positive.  The negative is this:  If we cannot keep a tight rein on our tongue, then our religion is worthless.  What good is it to spend so much time talking about what we should do if we don’t do it?  It has been a special blessing to me that so many of you have responded to the word of God by taking real steps.  You have put asphalt under your shoes and have stepped out to do what pleases the Lord.  But how many times do we say, “I know I should, but…” Let’s get rid of the “but’s” is our life.

Verse 27 gives a positive illustration.  “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this; to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.”

Do you see what is at the core of this verse?  Action.  When a person looks after widows and orphans, when a person says “no” to sin, these are real steps.  These are real steps that please God.

When you go to the nursing home, stop by and see someone who is alone, help someone who is needy and you do so out of your love for God, this is really a great thing.  This is the righteousness that God desires.  You will be blessed.

And when you turn off a TV show or put down a magazine or refuse to be caught up in gossip or take a stand against something other people want you to do that does not please God, then you will find that you will be a doer, not a hearer and your life will reflect a righteousness that comes from God.  And you will be blessed.