Sermon Central
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Mirror, Mirror On The Wall; Do I Look Like Christ At All? James 1:19-25 Series
Contributed by Stephen Belokur on Aug 26, 2015 (message contributor)
Summary: In this passage James speaks to us about "human" anger and the moral filth of the world. He then compares the Word of God to a spiritual mirror that we need to look into intently if we desire to be spiritually presentable to God.
Today, we’ll be taking a look at James 1:19-25
“My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires.
“Therefore, 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.
“Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.
“Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like.
“But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it - not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it - they will be blessed in what they do.
“My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires.
“Therefore, 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.
Quick to listen - slow to speak - slow to become angry
Have you ever found yourself being quick to speak and slow to listen?
This can be real embarrassing.
Have you ever listened to the beginning of what someone was saying, jumped to a conclusion about what they were going to say and responded sharply and then later found out that they were actually going to say something different than what you thought they were going to say?
Embarrassing, wasn’t it?
I have had to learn to keep my mouth shut until the person speaking has finished what they were saying. Oh, and it also helps to actually listen to what they are saying …
I remember one Wednesday evening at the Bible study when Pastor Karenlee was teaching and I thought she was explaining something wrong. I jumped in and in front of everyone started “discussing” the correct interpretation of the passage. As it turns out she was about to explain the correct meaning of the Scripture but I had already jumped to a conclusion and my conclusion was wrong.
Do you know what happened when we got home? Nothing. She never said a word but I knew that I had hurt her feelings and had embarrassed her in front of the group.
Quick to listen - slow to speak - slow to become angry.
But Jesus got angry!
Jesus was angry when the temple, His father’s house, was being turned into a den of thieves yet He showed endless humility during His “trials”, beatings and crucifixion.
The Lord God was angry with the people of Israel. The Lord God was feeding them each day with manna and sustaining them but it was not what they wanted and His anger was aroused against them.
Tell about …
… the anger of the Lord God against the people of Israel when Moses was up on the mountain of fire receiving the Ten Commandments and Aaron was down in the valley fashioning a golden calf for the people to worship and giving the idol the praise for Israel’s great deliverance from Egypt.
If we indeed have been crucified with Christ and we no longer live but Christ lives within us and if we are indeed filled with the Holy Spirit, shouldn’t we be angry with the same things that make God angry?
Shouldn’t we be angry that abortionists are carefully guiding the baby from the womb and not killing the infant until the last moment so that they can harvest and sell the organs to the top bidder. As one light hearted abortionist put it, “I need a Lamborghini.”
Shouldn’t we be angry when we hear of women and young boys and girls who are kidnapped and sold into sexual slavery. (MannaFreedom.com)
1. 90% of all children and youth trafficked for sexual purposes in the U.S. are American citizens.
2. Every minute two children become victims of sexual exploitation.
3. Each prostituted child serves between 100 to 1500 clients per year.
4. Human sex trafficking is now considered the 2nd largest and fastest growing illegal trafficking activity in the world. It is a $27+ billion a year industry.
5. 80% of trafficking victims are female and 60% are children.
6. Underage girls are the bulk of victims in the commercial sex market including pornography, stripping, escort services, and prostitution.
7. More than one million children are forced to work in the global sex industry every year. Between 100,000 and 300,000 American children become victims of sex trafficking annually.
