notes

Main Point Summary

Hearing a sermon is not enough. Our eyes must also be focused on the example we see in Jesus Christ.

Devotion

This past weekend you likely heard a sermon delivered by your pastor. Maybe it inspired you. Or you may have found yourself distracted by other things weighing on your mind. So, did the message you heard really make a difference in the way you'll live this week? Chances are, if all we do is show up to hear a weekly sermon, we will soon wonder why we show up at all. James tells his readers that their attendance to hearing the gospel is not enough to bring real life-change (v.22b,c). Our first tendency might be to say, "Right! I better get to work on doing what the pastor said in his sermon." But then James does something unexpected. Instead of connecting the act of doing to our hands and feet, he says it's all about the eyes! We instinctively want to work hard to prove that we are good hearers of the Word. But that's impossible! We will fall miserably short of the standard God has set for us (v.24c). Instead, we can turn our eyes and our focus towards the one who can and has lived out this perfect law of liberty, Jesus Christ (v.25b). Amazingly, with our eyes focused on him, our actions and choices are transformed through His righteousness, not our own. Put God's word in front of your eyes all week and get ready to experience God's best in a brand new way (v.25f)!

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editing

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James 1:22-25

nasb

mine

a But prove yourselves doers of the word,

Let the truth of God's word change the way you live!

and not merely hearers

Do not simply leave God's word in your mind without allowing it to bear fruit in your life.

who delude themselves.

For those non-doers are deceiving themselves.

ideaexplanation

negativepositive

For if anyone is a hearer of the word

If a man chooses to hear God's word,

and not a doer,

Yet refuse to act upon it,

series

he is like a man who looks at his 1 natural face a in a mirror;

Then that man is just like a man who studies his image in the mirror

for once he has looked at himself

When he looks at his likeness in that mirror

and gone away,

and walks away

progression

1 he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was.

He forgets immediately his great need for redemption and sanctification.

situationresponse

conditional

But one who looks intently at the perfect law,

But, if you look closely into God's word

a the law of liberty,

that is, the law of liberty

and abides by it,

and choose to live by the words you hear

not having become a forgetful hearer

by not being a forgetful hearer

but 1 an effectual doer,

but instead an active doer as well

actionmanner

this man will be b blessed in 2 what he does.

Then all that you do will be

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ground

discourse