“23 Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror 24 and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. 25 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. ”
There are two types of forgetting. The first type of forgetting is seen in the way we forget passwords. When you forget a password, that piece of information is gone. You can’t remember it no matter how hard you try. The second type of forgetting is seen in the way that we fail to apply what we still know. I know that we are trying to keep our floors clean this winter. I know that we are taking our shoes off when we come into the house. I can remember, but I don’t. I forget.
There is no moral component to the first type of forgetting. There is nothing morally wrong with forgetting a password. There is a moral component to the second type of forgetting when it involves God. God told Israel, “Be careful that you do not forget the Lord, brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.” God wasn’t warning them about forgetting Him the way you might forget a password. He was warning them about forgetting what they still know. He was reminding them to do what He said.
You can forget God’s word even though you know it. You remember God’s word by doing it. That’s the claim of this sermon: you can forget God’s word even though you know it. You remember God’s word by doing it.
We will see this in two points. First: forgetful listening. Second: attentive listening. We see James’ description of forgetful listening in verses 23-24 and his description of attentive listening in verse 25.
First: forgetful listening. When you speak, you want your listeners to hear. You don’t speak up in a meeting just to flap your gums. You speak because you have something to say and you want people to hear. You have some intensity behind your words. Imagine the intensity behind God’s words. He has something to say and it certainly deserves to be heard. What God says must be remembered. Often it isn’t. That’s verse 23, “Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like.”
James tells us about a man looking in a mirror and doing nothing as a result. Imagine looking in a mirror and noticing that you’ve got a bit of salad on your front teeth and doing nothing about it. You left the dinner party to go to the restroom. You looked at yourself in the mirror. You saw the salad. You did nothing about it and you went back to the dinner party. That’s what James is talking about. That’s how he describes forgetful listening. You are studied by God’s word as you hear it and you do nothing about it.
Forgetful listening encounters the information, remembers the information, but does nothing with that information. This is a common dynamic in parenting. A mother tells her children to take turns with a toy. The children encounter that information. They remember that information, but the one who has the toy does nothing with that information. When the child without the toy cries and the mother intervenes, the one with the toy says, “I forgot.”
That’s forgetful listening. People who do nothing with God’s word are forgetful listeners. They know the information, but they forget it the way I forget to take my shoes off when I come in the house.
The man who listens to God’s word that way does so because he has forgotten three certainties. First, he has forgotten the authority of the speaker. That child who refuses to share that toy has forget the authority of her mother. The man who hears God’s word and does nothing with it has forgotten the authority of God.
Authorities speak with authority. That mother didn’t suggest that her daughter share that toy. She spoke with authority and by forgetting to do that word, her daughter has defied her mother’s authority. God doesn’t suggest His commandments. He speaks with authority and by disobeying this word, people defy His authority.
Imagine a young man who grew up as part of a church. He has heard the Ten Commandments. He can write them down in order. This young man is caught embezzling from his workplace. He hasn’t forgotten the commandment, “you shall not steal.” He has forgotten the authority of God who gave that commandment.
You don’t help with that young man by reminding him of the existence of the eighth commandment. He remembers the words. You help that young man by talking to him about the authority of God who gave that commandment. If that young man doesn’t take God’s authority seriously, it doesn’t matter if he knows the eighth commandment. If that young man does take God’s authority seriously, he will repent of breaking the eighth commandment. He will repent of injuring his employer. He will want to restore his reputation, but above all, he will repent of defying God. He will be like David who, even though he killed Uriah and abused Bathsheba, told God, “against You and You only have I sinned.”
When dealing with matters of authority, you have to deal with the heart. You don’t deal with the heart if you only tell that young man that embezzling is foolish. You don’t deal with the heart if you only tell him that embezzling with bring consequences. You deal with the heart by telling that young man that by stealing he has sinned. God has spoken and this young man has defied God’s authority.
That might sound uncomfortable, but it is uncomfortable precisely because it deals with the heart. If that young man’s heart is sensitive to God’s word, he will repent. If God’s word finds no home in that young man’s heart, he might stop embezzling because embezzling is unwise, he might stop because embezzling brings consequences, but he still has no regard for God’s authority, and he is certainly a forgetful listener. “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.”
This is critical if you have children in the home. Your children will learn about God’s authority from the way you exercise authority. If the authority of God’s word carries no practical authority in your home, you are raising forgetful listeners. You might read the Bible in your home and that’s good. Your children might be part of Christian education and that is an excellent way to teach them the word, but it is you as their authority who are training them to be either forgetful listeners or attentive listeners. Ask yourself, if God’s commandments carry no authority in your home, why wouldn’t your children become forgetful listeners? Why wouldn’t they encounter the information of Scripture, remember the information, and then do nothing with it if they can freely do so under your authority? Forgetful listeners don’t necessarily forget what they’ve learned; they are forgetful of authority.
Forgetful listeners forget the authority of God. They also forget the wisdom of God. They don’t seem to think that God knows more than they do.
That child with the toy doesn’t think her mother knows more than her. She doesn’t see her mother’s wisdom that good relations with her sibling is worth more than a toy. She doesn’t see her mother’s wisdom that pleasing her authority is more important than keeping that toy. That little girl acts like a fool because she doesn’t see the wisdom of her mother.
Forgetful listeners might remember the data of God’s word, but they don’t submit to its wisdom. Many of them would say that, of course, the Bible contains wisdom, but they never seem to put it into practice. They never change their views of time and money to match what God’s word says about time and money. They seem to think the Bible is like a precious vase, decorative and useless. When’s the last time you used a decorative vase? When’s the last time you used your Bible?
Forgetful listeners listen but don’t use God’s word because they don’t think what it says is wise enough to apply. They disobey Proverbs 3:5-6, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to Him, and He will make your paths straight.”
I began learning Hebrew in the summer of 2004. There was a student in our class who was particularly proud of his limited Hebrew knowledge. When we were a few weeks into the class, this student began disagreeing with the professor on particular points of grammar. Our professor was Gary Pratico, who wrote the Hebrew textbook published by Zondervan. Eventually Pratico tired of these disagreements and after listening to another of the student’s arguments said, “Well, in this case, I actually did write the book on the subject.”
Now that young man’s Hebrew skills were weaker because he didn’t submit to Pratico’s wisdom. Forgetful listeners listen that way. They don’t internalize the information as wisdom because they don’t see the speaker as wiser than them.
Forgetful listeners forget God’s authority. Forgetful listeners forget God’s wisdom. They also forget that God’s word brings consequences.
Some people take God’s word as an ideal. They think that the Bible gives us ethics to aim for rather than commands and promises that bring consequences.
God says His word has consequences. That’s why Jesus said, “Everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”
Forgetful listeners forget these consequences. They don’t believe that ignoring Jesus’ words will result in a great crash and they don’t think that putting Jesus’ words into practice will result in sturdiness. They don’t believe that refusing to keep Jesus’ commandments means that they aren’t loving him, and they don’t believe that keeping Jesus’ commandments means that they are loving him even though he said, “if you love me you will keep my commandments.” They need to hear Galatians 6:7, “Do not be deceived. God is not mocked, for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.”
The forgetful listener forgets God’s authority. He forgets God’s wisdom. He forgets the consequences that accompany God’s word. He is like a man who looks at himself, has salad on his teeth, but sees no point in doing anything about it.
Now ask yourself, why does the man who does nothing about what he sees in the mirror keep looking in the mirror? He might do it out of habit. He might do it out of custom. He might do it because he feels that he should. No matter his reasons, his looking is pointless. Now why does a man who listens forgetfully listen to God’s word? He might listen out of habit. He might listen out of custom. He might read his Bible once in a while because he feels like he should. Isn’t his listening just as pointless as that man with the mirror’s looking? That man’s hearing makes no difference.
This is certainly a word for this nation. According to a 2017 study by Barna, 81 percent of Americans believe in some version of Biblical inspiration—that is 81 percent of all Americans, not 81 percent of Christians. Obviously, 81 percent of a nation’s population will have a profound impact on that nation. Does this seem to be a nation in which God’s authority is taken with blood earnest seriousness by 81 percent of the population? Is our national conversation informed by the God’s word or does it, at best, try to twist God’s word? When was the last time that you heard anything about consequences from God in public discourse in a land where 81 percent of the population holds to some form of Biblical inspiration? It seems that part of the reason is that we live in an age of forgetful listening.
Don’t listen that way. Listen as if God had far more authority than public opinion—because He does. Listen as if God were far wiser than the wisest minds ever assembled—because He is. Listen as if what God said carried consequences both immediate and eternal—because that is the case. Don’t listen forgetfully.
Listen attentively. That is our second point: attentive listening. James didn’t want this first century church to listen forgetfully. He wanted them to remember. Throughout Scripture, God’s servants call God’s people to remember. Before he died, Moses told Israel to remember. “Remember how the Lord your God led you all the way in the wilderness these forty years, to humble and test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands.” When Nehemiah and the people building the city wall encountered trouble, he told them to remember, “Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your families, your sons and your daughters, your wives and your homes.” The Psalmist called Israel to worship by way of remembering, “Remember the wonders He has done, his miracles, and the judgments he pronounced.” In many ways the preacher’s role is to help people remember.
What does remembering look like? James explains in verse 25, “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.”
The listener who remembers doesn’t forget what he has heard; rather, he does what he has heard. In other words, you remember what God has said by doing what God has said. If you can write the fifth commandment, but don’t honor your father and mother, you have forgotten the fifth commandment. You remember it by doing it.
Solomon didn’t forget the words of the second commandment. The wisest man alive didn’t forget that God said, “You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them.” The fact that he didn’t forget those words doesn’t mean he remembered them. Elijah remembered that commandment. That’s why he rid the land of the priests of Baal. He remembered the commandment by doing the commandment.
Jesus remembered God’s word that way. There was no disconnect between Jesus’ ears and his will. What he heard, he did. He said, “I have come to do the will of Him who sent me.” Jesus was the perfect soldier in the sense that he did what his commanding officer told him immediately and without reservation. A large portion of Jesus’ discipleship program was teaching his disciples to do what the Father said. The Scriptures are not confusing. We make them confusing when we don’t want to obey. “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.”
The attentive listener does what God says. He also finds freedom in doing what God says. Here in verse 25, James calls the word, “the perfect law that gives freedom.” James says that keeping God’s word is liberating. Many people disagree. They say that keeping God’s word is restrictive. If you think that, ask yourself was David more liberated when he was dancing before God bringing the ark into Jerusalem or after he took advantage of Bathsheba? Was he freer when he was obeying or when he disobeyed? Was Eve more liberated before she ate the fruit or afterwards when she did what she wanted? It seems that obedience is liberating and disobedience is restrictive.
Who was the freest man who ever lived? I dare say that even an enemy of Christianity would have to consider that honor for Jesus of Nazareth. Read his story. He wasn’t constrained by public opinion. He wasn’t restricted by the powers that be. He did exactly what he wanted to do and said what he wanted to say. He is also the only person who always obeyed, “the perfect law that gives freedom.” Submission to God is the pathway of freedom. Sin is the way of slavery. People can certainly turn obedience into legalism, but that isn’t the fault of God’s word. That’s a problem with that heart. God’s word gives freedom.
The attentive listener obeys God’s word. He finds freedom in obeying God’s word. He also continues to do God’s word. James tells us in verse 25 that this man, “looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it.” This listener listens to God’s word, obeys God’s word, and repeats.
That’s not monotonous. That is maturation. If you listen, obey, and repeat, you will mature. If you listen, obey, and repeat, you will hear more in God’s word. You hear more in God’s word as you do God’s word. That’s why a Christian of five years and a Christian of fifty years read the same Psalm differently. The Christian of fifty years hears more in that Psalm because she has obeyed that Psalm more. That’s why Christians don’t outgrow Psalm 23; they just see more in Psalm 23 as they grow.
The attentive listener doesn’t forget what he hears; rather he does what he hears; he finds freedom in doing what he hears; he continues to do what he hears, and he enjoys the consequences of doing what he hears. That’s the end of verse 25, “he will be blessed in what he does.”
The forgetful listener forgets that God’s word brings consequences. The attentive listener remembers. He obeys and enjoys the consequences.
Some Christians shy away from this business of consequences. They seem to think that the man who hears God’s word and does it and the man who hears God’s word and does nothing with it will enjoy the same blessing provided they both profess Christ as their Savior. That has no basis in God’s word.
Don’t ignore consequences. Recognize consequences. Recognize that the man who does God’s word, “will be blessed in what he does.” I fear that some of the lukewarm spirit in churches is due to the fact that we don’t recognize consequences. We don’t seem to believe that the man who does God’s word, “will be blessed in what he does.” We don’t seem to believe that the man who ignores God’s word is a forgetful listener. We are afraid to recognize the obvious truth that the man who keeps God’s word is blessed in what he does because we don’t want those who neglect God’s word to think they somehow aren’t blessed.
The man who hears God’s word and does nothing with it is not blessed in his forgetfulness. He is like a man who sees salad on his front teeth in a mirror and does nothing about it. He forgets God’s authority. He forgets God’s wisdom. He forgets consequences.
If you are that man, you don’t need to study God’s word as badly as you need to do God’s word. Learning more won’t help until you obey what you know. You won’t know God better until you obey what He has said. You won’t become more like Jesus until you obey what he said.
Are you living like an unmolded mass of forgetfulness? That’s not why Jesus died. He became like you so that you could become like him.
You become like him by doing what he says. You love him by doing what he says. “Don’t just be a hearer of the word and deceive yourself. Do what it says.” Amen.