James 1:19-27 - Homiletics

Deeds, not words.

1. The right spirit for the Christian is the receptive ; ready to hear, and to receive with meekness the engrafted Word, which is to be as the seed falling on the good ground (comp. Matthew 13:3 , etc). A heathen philosopher has noted that man has two ears and only one mouth ; showing that he should be more ready to hear than to speak.

2. A receptive spirit is not alone sufficient. Action must follow. Holy Scripture is a mirror, in which a man may see his own image reflected. The man who merely listens to it sees his own likeness, perhaps, but "goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was." Without doing, what is the good of hearing sermons? Knowledge without obedience only increases condemnation. So our Lord's severest denunciations were for those cities which had known most of his mighty works; and "many stripes" were reserved for that servant who knew his Lord's will and did it not ( Luke 12:47 ). (On the subject of James 1:22 , see a good sermon of Bishop Andrews, 'Sermons,' vol. 5. Serm. 9)

3. Government of tongue may serve as a test of a man's religion, it being "a most material restraint which religion lays us under; without it no man can be truly religious." Sins of the tongue include not only such flagrant ones as lying, swearing, filthy conversation, etc., but what Bishop Butler calls "unrestrained volubility and wantonness of speech," which is the sin more particularly alluded to by St. James, and which is "the occasion of numberless evils and vexations in life." "If people would