Be ye doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.
(James 1:22)

Getting ready for Sunday school and church, we probably spent some time in front of a mirror this morning. I would guess that most of us used the mirror to shave, put on makeup, comb your hair and brush your teeth. Mirrors are used as tools for personal grooming. We groom ourselves so that we are at least somewhat presentable to the public. We do something with the mirror. It is useful to us. We would consider a person who only gazes at himself in the mirror to be vain.

I doubt that any of us used that time simply to admire our good looks or beauty like Narcissus, the poor figure from Greek mythology, who was renowned for his looks. He was so exceptionally proud of himself and was so vain he ignored everyone around him. As divine punishment he fell in love with his own reflection in a pool, not realizing it was merely an image, and he wasted away to death, not being able to leave the beauty of his own reflection. That is like the sin of one who is fixed on their own good works, who is self-satisfied in his or her spiritual life. A lot of modernist worship and theology is built around that kind of self-centeredness.

There is another way we do what is essentially the same thing. How often we look in the mirror and do not take notice of our flaws? This is more subtle but is essentially the same sin.

James likens a person who only hears the Word of God and does not do what it says to a person who gazes at himself in the mirror and then leaves forgetting what he looks like. Let me try to expand on this illustration. Here is a guy who is unkempt and dirty. He has dirt and grease all over his face. He has "morning hair." He is a mess. He turns on the light in the bathroom and goes to his mirror. He looks at himself in the mirror. In James' illustration the man does not take a quick peak at his face. He gazes at it. He sees all his blemishes. He is aware that he is filthy and that he needs to turn on the water and get the bar of soap and the wash cloth and begin to scrub. He sees that his hair is all tangled and needs a careful combing. As he is standing in front of the mirror he hears the teakettle whistle in the kitchen. So he goes to the kitchen and makes his tea. While he is there, he puts bread in the toaster gets the morning paper and has a leisurely breakfast. He looks at the clock and realizes he has to get dressed for work. He goes upstairs to his bedroom gets dressed, grabs his wallet and car keys and he is out the door heading for a full day at the office. As soon as he turned away from the mirror he forgot what he looked like. It went right out of his head. So he goes to work filthy.

Now we may laugh at such a man. We would never be so careless with our personal appearance. How silly it would be for us to do such a thing. We certainly would not be so careless with the way we use our mirrors for personal grooming.

Yet if we are only hearers of God's Word and not doers of the Word, we prove to be even more careless with a far more important kind of grooming — the care, grooming and cure of our souls. How many times have you found yourself gazing into the Word of God (either in your reading of the Scriptures or hearing the Word preached) as the Holy Spirit was convicting you of issues in your life that you need to begin to address and with His help change? Yet as soon as the sermon ends or you put your Bible down all that leaves you. It happens to us all too frequently. We saw last week that we are to be hearers of the Word. We are to be attentive to what the word says. We are to be eager to listen to the Word. Yet you are not to be only a hearer of the Word. If you only give careful attention to the Scriptures but never do what it directs or reveals you are not really receiving the implanted Word. In fact you are deceiving yourself. You are just like the man in mirror.

Every priest or pastor likes to be told at the church door that a person enjoyed his sermon. But St. James would ask: "what effect will it have on how your live your life?"

Have the Scripture lessons and sermon redirected your imagination and your eyes and your thoughts so as to live according to the standards of the word? Are your relationships different, as the word instructed you they should be? It is in this sense that the Word of God is like a mirror. It shows us what we are like. It also shows us what we must do. Doing the Word of God is how you groom your life making it look more and more like the Lord Jesus Christ.

You will not profit from the Word unless by faith you do what you hear. James is describing people whose lives are either marked or shaped by only hearing the word or by hearing and doing the Word. You may be a good hearer of the Word but if it is not accompanied by doing the word James says you are deceiving yourself. You live under the impression that you are doing what you need to do as a Christian. You go to church, hear the word preached and taught and leave thinking that you have done what is right concerning God's Word. If this is all you do in relation to the Scriptures then you are only a hearer of the Word. If you are a doer of the Word it stands that you are also a hearer of the Word. In verse 25 James describes what he means by a doer of the Word. "But he who looks intently into the perfect law that gives liberty and freedom and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard and read from the Word, but rather does the work the Word tells him, he will be blessed in what he does." Being a doer of the Word does not mean that you always promptly and thoroughly do what the Word commands or directs you to do. You are a doer of the Word because you persevere in doing what the Word says.

Being "doers" means that Christians are ultimately those who 'do of the word of God' — that is who live it out in their lives so that penetrates the entirety of who they are.

Those who claim to be Christians should live in such a manner as to make it obvious to all that Christ holds a position of prominence in their lives. In the smallest ways Christ is reflected in their character, in their care for others, so that even strangers in the will see the glory of God.

Being a "doer of the word" therefore goes beyond worship on Sunday, although it assumes it. The Christian knows that nothing is really beyond the sphere of religion, beyond the sphere illuminated by the teaching of the Holy Spirit in the Bible. In health and sickness, in prosperity or want, in his family circle and in the world, the professed Christian is to positively labor for the cause of Christ, in a life of holy energy, sincere humility, in love and patience, according to the measure of his faith. That it was it means to be a "doer" and not a "hearer" only.

A doer of the word does not do the word perfectly — for we remain sinners — but he continues to seek the will of God through prayer and Scripture.

The one who only hears the Word has no real concern to obey. He actually thinks that he is basically okay with simply hearing or knowing the Word. He feels no call to action. If this he is deceived, like the man who leaves the mirror and forgets his face is dirty.

There may be moments when he sees things about himself that need to change but as soon as he leaves the mirror of God's Word he forgets about such matters. This only hearing the word also begins to become a habitual occupation.

The Apostle Paul writes in Romans 7:19 "The good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice. To be a hearer only is to know the truth, but not to act upon it. This leads to a callous "dead faith" in which there is no sadness, no remorse, no repentance, and no fruits of faith.

This verse is descriptive of the struggle we have in doing the Word. A doer of the Word is not one who perfectly does the Word. A doer of the Word will fall, stumble, fail, and sin but he will not be satisfied with this condition and will return to the Word and engages the Word with the prayer and seek the grace to obey.

So if all you do is hear the Word then you need to take care. James says that such a person deceives himself.

Deceives himself about what? I take this to mean that he deceives himself about his relationship with God. He thinks he is right with God but he is not.

Matthew Henry gives an important word of warning to us all:
"If we heard a sermon every day of the week, and an angel from heaven were the preacher, yet, if we rested in hearing only, it would never bring us to heaven. Mere hearers are self-deceivers; and self-deceit will be found the worst deceit at last. If we flatter ourselves, it is our own fault; the truth, as it is in Jesus, flatters no man. Let the word of truth be carefully attended to, and it will set before us the corruption of our nature, the disorders of our hearts and lives; and it will tell us plainly what we are. Our sins are the spots the law discovers: Christ's blood is the laver the gospel shows. But in vain do we hear God's word, and look into the gospel mirror, if we go away, and forget our spots, instead of washing them off; and forget our remedy, instead of applying to it. This is the case with those who do not hear the word as they ought."¹

James is describing what real justifying faith does in your life. It produces obedience to the Word of God. To be a doer of the word means that you are indeed justified but you are never satisfied with the state of your sanctification. You are not justified by doing the Word. But if you are justified you will be a doer of the Word and not only a hearer.

We spend much more time of course, looking at the sin of trying to "earn our way to heaven" via our good works, and rightfully so, because such is the sin of pride. But James gives us balance on the issue stressing that doing the Word are the fruits of faith. In doing so, James is not neglecting faith.

Faith must precede works, but James warns us that professed faith without works is "dead faith". Dead means lifeless. To be only a hearer is more than just being lazy, it means that we have no real faith all.

Be ye doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.