Did you ever wonder where that expression The Real McCoy comes from? According to the folks at phrases.org, nobody really knows for sure. Several possibilities are often cited.
• Some think it came from the advertisements for a brand of Scottish whiskey from the 1870’s. To combat cheap imitators, the distiller promoted its drink as the “Real McCoy.”
• Others point to Kid McCoy, a welterweight boxing champion from the late 1800’s. So many lesser fighters traded on his name, the promoters resorted to calling the champ “the Real McCoy.”
• Another possibility is Elijah McCoy, a Canadian inventor of engine lubricants that became popular with steam engines. When lower quality substitutes became common, he patented his product. It became known as the “Real McCoy.”
Whatever the origin of the term, we know what it means—the genuine article, the real deal! (Roger Thomas; “Real McCoy; SermonCentral.com)
Our Tendency to Summarize:
• Moses received 613 Commands (365 negative; 248 positive)
• David Reduced to 11 – Psalm 15
• Isaiah reduced to 6 – Isaiah 33.15
• Micah reduced to 3 – Micah 6.8
• Amos reduced to one – Amos 5.4
• Habakkuk also had tone – Habakkuk 2.4
• Yeshua (Jesus) paraphrased Leviticus 19.18 with Matthew 7.12 (called it the second great commandment in Mark 12.28-31)
James 1.22-27
22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. 23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. 24 For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. 25 But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.
26 If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person's religion is worthless. 27 Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.
Some Observations from our text:
I. Don’t Sit, DO – (22-25)
Several years back, the annual convention of The American Heart Association met in Atlanta. That year 300,000 doctors, nurses, and researchers gathered to discuss, among other things, the importance a low fat diet plays in keeping our hearts healthy. Some smart-aleck researcher did some checking around and found that during meal times, those people consumed fat-filled fast food—such as bacon cheeseburgers and fries—at about the same rate as people from other conventions.
When one cardiologist was asked whether or not his partaking in high fat meals set a bad example, he replied, "Not me, because I took my name tag off." (source: Boston Globe [11-10-93] as quoted in PreachingToday.com)
A. New Birth Leads to New Life
1. New birth by implanted word – James 1.18
2. Receive and DO (1.22-27)
B. Dangerous Uses of the Word
1. Intellectualizing – only head knowledge
a. Great debate – Study or Do?
b. Which is worse:
Which is worse?
*No elders in a congregation – OR –
*Not knowing to have elders in a congregation?
*You get the same results
**We should know AND men should be developing their lives to serve as shepherds
[Men of leisure (Batlanim) in synagogues – not to be esteemed as idle or lazy but were not encumbered by worldly affairs so they were at leisure to take care of the affairs of the synagogue and could give themselves to the study of Torah. The number in a synagogue was to be 10.
c. Hearing/Learning produces doing – Exodus 24.7; Revelation 1.3
2. Ritualizing It – empty externals
a. External rituals are not adequate
b. The Mirror of the Perfect/Complete Torah (Law)
1) Reflects our sins – Romans 3.20
Correct/Groom/Perfect our Behavior
2) Perfected by Yeshua (Jesus) – Matthew 5.17
3) Torah Brings Liberty (James 2.12)
We are not serving God and keeping his commands/laws out of fear as slaves but out of love as sons
3. Forgetting It
“It is one thing to mark our bible; it is quite another to let it have its mark on us.”
a. We are judged by Faith IN Yeshua (Jesus) – Acts 8.36-38; 16.30-34
b. We are Judged by our Actions of Faith – Matthew 25.31-45
The story is told of Franklin Roosevelt, who often endured long receiving lines at the White House. He complained that no one really paid any attention to what was said.
One day, during a reception, he decided to try an experiment. To each person who passed down the line and shook his hand, he murmured, "I murdered my grandmother this morning." The guests responded with phrases like, "Marvelous! Keep up the good work. We are proud of you. God bless you, sir."
It was not till the end of the line, while greeting the ambassador from Bolivia, that his words were actually heard. Somewhat confused, the ambassador leaned over and whispered, "I’m sure she had it coming."
II. Doing Can Be Demanding (26-27)
A. The Burden of the Prophets – Isaiah 1.15-17
15 When you spread out your hands,
I will hide my eyes from you;
even though you make many prayers,
I will not listen;
your hands are full of blood.
16 Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean;
remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes;
cease to do evil,
17 learn to do good;
seek justice,
correct oppression;
bring justice to the fatherless,
plead the widow's cause.
1. Religion of more than Externals
2. Religion of Good Deeds from a Sound Spiritual Condition
3. All is not Equal – Matthew 23.23-24
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others. 24 You blind guides, straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel!
4. Summarizing Leviticus 19.18
a. Shaul (Paul) – Galatians 5.14
For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
b. Yeshua (Jesus) – Matthew 7.12 (“Second Commandment” in Mark 12.28-31)
B. The Impact of the Word on Our Lives – Transformation – 2 Corinthians 3.18
And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.
1. Self-Control
a. The Ultimate Challenge – the Tongue
One of the stories out of the great Welsh revival in Britain in the early 1900’s would be funny if weren’t so poignant. It is said that hundreds of coal miners were so converted to Christ that it affected the production of the mines. The miners worked just as hard if not harder after they became Christians. That wasn’t the problem. The problem was that the profanity of so many miners was so cleaned up that their mules didn’t recognize them anymore and refused to pull the coal wagons.
What’s so bad about a foul mouth? The problem is that our words are windows to our soul and our mind. Our words reveal, for good or bad, what kind of person we are on the inside. The roots of dirty, foul, profane, or blasphemous words grow deep into the human soul.
Set a guard, O LORD, over my mouth;
keep watch over the door of my lips! Psalm 141.3
b. Unspotted lives
Bud Robinson, a Holiness preacher (1860-1942) from TN, was taken by friends to New York and shown around the city. That night in his prayers he said, "Lord, I thank You for letting me see all the sights of New York. And I thank You most of all that I didn’t see a thing that I wanted!"
24 Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, 25 because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen. Romans 1.24-25
But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. 2 For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, 4 treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people. 2 Timothy 3.1-5
15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world— the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. 17 And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever. 1 John 2.15-17
2. Selflessness (James 1.27)
[Missionary serving lepers; Tourist says, “I wouldn’t do that for a million dollars.” The missionary replied, “Neither would I.”
a. Orphans in Ephesus were left to die at the city gate; some kind-hearted people would pick through the stacks of dying babies and save some; others who were involved in the slave trade would choose children that they believed could be trained in certain professions (based on a physician’s calculations of physical structures of the children) and leave the rest to die;
b. Widows – orphans – (even enemies) expect no repayment
32 “If you love those who love you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. 33 And if you do good to those who do good to you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. 34 And if you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to get back the same amount. 35 But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil. 36 Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful. Luke 6.32-36
Conclusion
At the age of 33, Erik Weihenmayer is a phenomenal athlete who loves to skydive, snow ski and climb mountains. Mountain climbing is his specialty. As a matter of fact, he is on track to be one of the youngest to climb all of the Seven Summits, the highest peaks on each of the continents. In 1995 he scaled Mt. McKinley, in 1996 El Capitan, in 1998 Mt Kilimanjaro. In 1999 he climbed Argentina’s Aconcagua. On May 25, 2001 he reached the summit of Mount Everest, a peak that 90% of those who begin to climb never finish. Since 1953, 165 people have died trying to climb Everest, but Erik made it. Now that is an extremely significant feat, but you don’t know the half of it. Weihenmayer suffers from a degenerative eye disease, and when he was 13 he became totally blind. All of his climbs have been without the benefit of his eyesight. Weihenmayer is a blind mountain-climber!
Now you have to ask yourself, “How is that possible? How can a guy who can’t see climb the highest peaks in the world?” If you ask him, he’ll tell you. He has learned to listen well.
- He listens as a bell tied to the back of the climber in front of him shows him which way to go.
- He listens to his climbing partners who shout back to him, "Death fall two feet to your right!" so he knows what direction not to go.
- He listens to the sound of his pick jabbing the ice, so he knows whether his footing will be secure or not.
For Erik Weihenmayer, being a good listener is a matter of life and death. (source: www.touchthetop.com)
• Our Task is to follow Yeshua (Jesus) in the same manner
o We are blind without him
o We must listen and follow his lead
