Be Doers, Not Just Listeners

Scripture Reading:  James 1:19-27

OPENING:  We are to show restraint from our passions …  (vs.19) let everyone be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry … It is our duty to hear God's word and apply our minds to understand it …  We shouldn't speak according to our own opinions or run into the heat of our passions …  Be ready to hear and consider what God's word teaches in all cases …  It is our duty to hear how God explains his desires … open our ears and hearts to hear what he is saying to us … People are often stubborn in their opinions because they are not willing to hear what others have to offer against them … We should be quick to hear reason and truth and slow to speak anything that would prevent it … When we do speak, there should be no anger in us … This is how we can live the righteous life God wants for us … Tonight we are going to look at how to obtain  the righteous life God so desires for us …

     What Is Righteousness?:

           The dictionaries definition:  Behavior that is morally justifiable or right … Such behavior is characterized by accepted standards of morality, justice, virtue, or uprightness … The Bible’s definition of righteousness is: God’s own perfection in every attribute, every attitude, every behavior, and every word … So, God’s laws, as given in the Bible, describe His own character, and constitute a line by which He measures human righteousness …

          The Greek word for righteousness describes conduct in relation to others … especially when it comes to the rights of others in business, legal matters, and beginning a relationship with God … It’s contrast is wickedness … The conduct of  someone who, out of gross self-centeredness, neither reveres God nor respects man …  The Bible describes the righteous person as just or right, holding to God and trusting in Him …

          Psalm 33:18-22  But the eyes of the LORD are on those who fear him, on those whose hope is in his unfailing love, to deliver them from death and keep them alive in famine. We wait in hope for the LORD; he is our help and our shield. In him our hearts rejoice, for we trust in his holy name. May your unfailing love rest upon us, O LORD, even as we put our hope in you.

          True and perfect righteousness is not possible for man to attain on his own … the standard is too high … Righteousness is possible for mankind, but only through the cleansing of sin by Jesus Christ and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit … We have no ability to be righteous ourselves … Christians possess the righteousness of Christ, because:

           2 Corinthians 5:21 “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God”

          On the cross, Jesus exchanged our sin for His perfect righteousness so that we can one day stand before God and He will see not our sin, but the holy righteousness of the Lord Jesus.

          This means that we are made righteous in the sight of God … We are accepted as righteous, and treated as righteous by God on account of what the Lord Jesus has done …  He was made sin; we are made righteousness … On the cross, Jesus was treated as if he was a sinner … Even though he was perfect, holy and pure … We are treated as if we were righteous … Even though we are sinful … Because of what Jesus has endured on our behalf, we are treated as if we had fulfilled the Law of God, and had never become exposed to its penalty

          

If we belong to Christ, we are united to Him and no longer slaves to sin: Romans 6:5-6  If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection. For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, hat we should no longer be slaves to sin

          We are made alive with Him: Ephesians 2:5  made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions--it is by grace you have been saved.

          We are conformed to His image: Romans 8:29  For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers

          We are free from condemnation and should not walk according to our flesh, but according to the Spirit:  Romans 8:1  Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,

         We are part of the body of Christ with other believers:  Romans 12:5  so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others

          We now possesses a new heart:  Ezekiel 11:19  I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh.

          Finally we are Blessed:  Ephesians 1:3  Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.

     Why Be Doers?:

          Our new natures still reside in our old fleshly bodies … The two are at war with each another, the old nature is dead, but the new nature still has to battle the old body it now dwells in …  Evil and sin are still present, but a believer sees them in a new perspective … They no longer control him as they once did …  In Christ, we can now choose to resist sin … Now we have the choice to either feed the new nature through the His Word, prayer, and obedience, or feed the flesh by neglecting these things …

CLOSING: When we are in Christ, “we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us” (Romans 8:37) and we can do everything through him who gives me strength. (Philippians 4:13) …  In Christ we are loved, forgiven, and secure. … In Christ we are adopted, justified, redeemed, reconciled, and chosen …  In Christ we are victorious, filled with joy and peace, and granted true meaning in life … Isn't that a good reason to be doers and not just listeners?