It’s Powerful
This week Pastor Chip Ingram continues our Resilient series through the book of James. There is power and freedom as we grow in our spiritual maturity; becoming “the person who lacks nothing.” But this requires radical repentance and a wholehearted cultivation of the Word. How do we step into this power? Tune in as we learn through God’s Word together.
Teaching Notes
Resilient – the ability to withstand or recover from a difficult situation.
Review
– To be resilient we must recognize the source and resist the lure of temptations that seek to short-circuit God’s character-building process of endurance in difficult times. (James 1: 13-18)
– To be resilient we must learn to identify and deal with unhealthy angry emotions that poison our relationships with ourselves, God, and others. (James 1: 19-21)
– To be resilient we must actively cultivate and apply the seed of God’s Word (of Truth) implanted in our hearts. (James 1: 21-25)
“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 a man who looks at his face in the mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But 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.”
(James 1: 21-25, NIV)
1.Freedom to become the joyful, mature, Christ-like, person who “lacks nothing” (James 1: 2-4) requires a radical repentance from sinful practices and relational patterns; and a wholehearted cultivation of the Word implanted in our hearts.
“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.” (James 1: 21)
2. How do we wholeheartedly cultivate God’s Word within us?
- We must specifically apply God’s Word to our lives.
“Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.” (James 1: 22)
- Because exposure without application = Self-deception + Death
“Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in the mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like.” (James 1: 23-24)
- Because emersion with application = Freedom + Transformation
“But 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.” (James 1: 25)
“looks intently” = reflect
“continues to do this” = meditate
“does not forget” = memorize
“but doing it” = application
Result = “he will be blessed (favored, happy, satisfied) in what he does.”
3. Summary
In the midst of difficult circumstances (1-12), powerful temptations (13-18), and emotionally challenging relationships (19-21), the man or woman who regularly feasts on God’s Word via listening, reading, studying, memorizing and meditating for the purpose of obeying what is said will be “SET FREE” to become the joyful, winsome, loving person he/she longs to become with God’s hand of favor upon all they do.
RESOURCES:
Daily Discipleship with Chip, “Going Deeper with God,” LivingOnTheEdge.org
How to Hear God’s Voice in Scripture, online course, LivingOnTheEdge.org & the Chip Ingram app
Living by the Book, Howard Hendricks