Quick to Hear, Slow to Speak, Slow to Anger

Sermon outline

You can be saved and still be robbed of what God has for you here, because you are looking at life through the wrong lenses; become a doer of the word, put on God's lenses and create the atmosphere to thrive.

1. The testing of your faith produces steadfastness

   Counting it all joy in trials is easier said than done, but whatever you want to build, consistency, faithfulness or capacity, there will be a testing. The Christian walk is not only about being a Christian; it is about having the character and stability to fulfil God's purposes on the earth. The doubter is pushed from one current to the next and must not expect to receive anything.

   “Our Christian walk is not just about us being a Christian. It's about us having the character and having the stability and having the capacity to fulfil God's purposes for us on the earth.”

   • James 1:2-4
   • James 1:5-8
   • James 1:12

2. Sin full grown brings death, but God does not change

   Desire conceives sin, and when sin has been done long enough it becomes normal, so that a person with good values can no longer tell right from wrong in that one area. Full-grown sin removes the empowerment to prosper and replaces it with the empowerment to fail. God, by contrast, has no shadow of turning: He is not hot today and cold tomorrow.

   Illustration: God is not a yo-yo, high one day and low the next.

   “The empowerment to prosper has been removed and has been replaced by the empowerment to fail.”

   • James 1:13-15
   • James 1:16-18

3. Quick, slow, slow: receive the implanted word

   When emotions run high we are quick to anger, quick to open the mouth and deaf to what is said. James reverses the order. The only thing that will save your soul is the implanted word of God by His Holy Spirit, not what an aunt or an uncle said.

   “As Christians, the only thing that's gonna save you is God's word.”

   • James 1:19-21

4. The hearer who does not act forgets his own face

   The man who looks in the mirror and walks away forgets what he looks like; in other words he loses his identity. Such a person keeps asking whether God is real, chasing hidden knowledge, extra books and theories about what Jesus looked like. The doer of the word has tasted and seen that it works, and no outside noise can deceive him.

   “When we are doers of the word, not hearers only, we establish God's truths in our lives.”

   • James 1:22-24

5. To thrive is to flourish whatever the circumstances

   To thrive is to grow vigorously and progress toward a goal from a firm foundation, despite the circumstances. You can flourish like the cedar of Lebanon in the middle of the desert. Comparison is a survival tactic that distorts how you see God's provision: if He has no shadow of turning, His blessing cannot become a curse; only your perspective has gone wrong.

   Illustration: He loves documentaries on the Dakar Rally. Hundreds of teams descend on an unforgiving desert, only one wins, yet simply finishing that distance is a miracle. You may feel you are in a desert, and still you can be an oasis in it.

   “You don't have to be in the Garden of Eden to thrive.”

   • Psalm 92:12

6. Saved, but looking through the wrong lenses

   Using his singers, a crown and several pairs of glasses, he shows that you can wear the crown of life and still receive almost nothing of God's blessing on earth, because you see through the lenses of family culture: know your place, speak a certain way, drink by thirteen, party on Friday and sit in church on Sunday, be the captain of your own ship. What goes in through the eyes comes out of the mouth, so a believer who speaks fear and bad luck nullifies the prayer he prayed in faith. The disciple is the one always under construction.

   Illustration: A row of people on the platform, each in a different pair of glasses with the same crown of life: one in the household of family culture, one in the household of weekend parties, one in the household where no pastor will tell them what to do, and one always under construction. Only the last experiences greatness; the others have greatness but keep getting robbed.

   “Everyone wants to police everybody, but nobody wants to police themselves.”

   • Hebrews 11:6
   • James 1:6-7

7. Get down to the basics: the word and the house of God

   Creating the right atmosphere starts with getting into the word. God instituted the church and gave His Son for it, so being isolated from what He created means being robbed. Thriving takes action and alignment: commit your work to the Lord, align yourself with His will rather than asking Him to align with yours, and run the race with purpose. When you see a problem, be the fix rather than the complainer.

   Illustration: If someone takes your chair in church, sit next to them, come earlier, buy them a Bible or invite them to your cell group, instead of complaining.

   “The devil doesn't need us to be worshipping him. He just needs us to not be worshipping God.”

   • Galatians 6:7
   • Proverbs 16:3
   • 1 Corinthians 9:24-26
   • Matthew 6:9-10

8. We are not waiting to be perfect

   In Mark 16 Jesus rebukes the eleven for their unbelief and hardness of heart, and in the next breath sends those same men into all the world. So the time to move is now, not when you quit smoking or drinking. Bring it home: be grateful for a spouse who cooked and who still teaches the children to honour you, correct what the children pick up from social media and explain why, and wake them for church as you would for school.

   Illustration: Welcome to Woolworths, how can I help you, all day at work, and then home to shout at your wife because she cooked beans curry instead of mutton curry.

   “We are not waiting to be perfect in order to move in God's direction. We are exactly where we need to be now, to move in God's direction.”

   • Mark 16:12-15
   • Proverbs 18:22

In this message