Articles

Don’t Just Hear: Do.

by Justin Huffman

In the heart of the Russian capital of Moscow stands the ancient fortress of the tsars, known as the Kremlin. Among the Kremlin’s many curious treasures are two items which form a strangely appropriate pair — the Tsar Bell and the Tsar Cannon. What do two such dissimilar items have in common? Two things. First, they are both the largest of their kind in the world. The bell weighs in at 200 tons, while the 40-ton cannon has a barrel over 16 feet long and boasts a caliber of almost 3 feet, capable of firing projectiles roughly the size of large beach balls… in theory anyway. You see, neither the bell nor the cannon have ever actually been used!

The Tsar Bell has never sounded a single note: in 1731, when it was being forged, it fell into its own casting pit and an 11-ton chunk of the bell was chipped off. The Tsar Cannon, while adorned with a fearsome relief of a Russian lion trouncing a snake (symbolizing Russia’s enemies), has actually never fired a shot. In fact, the cannon balls that were cast for it in the 1800’s were actually just for decoration and so are completely hollow! Both the bell and the cannon are massive monuments of wasted potential.

Wasted Potential

As James penned his general epistle to saints everywhere, he understood the dangers of squandered opportunities and passed-over possibilities. And nowhere is the potential greater, and therefore inaction more disgraceful, than in the presence of God’s Word.

James compares the person who comes under the sound of God’s Word to a man who stands before a mirror.

Now is the perfect moment for informed activity! Now is the time to make alterations, according to the knowledge gained from the reflection.

But, James points out, not everyone takes advantage of this opportunity. Imagine looking into your bathroom mirror, seeing that your hair is disheveled and that you have a large piece of spinach from your breakfast burrito tucked securely between your front teeth, but you turn away and head out the door for a job interview without making any changes! It is a comical picture that James paints for us, but even as we chuckle we realize that we are laughing at our own very real—and very serious—folly.

The fact is that as we hear the gospel preached, or read a portion of the Bible, we look ourselves squarely in the face.

We see our features clearly outlined by the Word of God, and yet too often we simply turn off the light and walk away unchanged. This is the danger that James cautions us against. And then he spends the next 31 verses, all the way through the second chapter of his epistle, driving the warning home.

Vain Religion

James, ever the practical preacher, provides us with specific examples of the genuine religion in which the “doer” of God’s Word must be engaged: bridling the tongue, visiting the helpless, having compassion on the poor (while not favoring the rich).

He contrasts for us the vain religion of those who only hear, with the pure religion of the doer.

James makes the shocking allegation that a man who claims to be religious, but refuses to control his tendency toward gossip, is actually just deceiving himself: his religion, James says, is “vain” or literally “without force, empty.” A man that will not tackle his own tongue is no more a Christian than a cannon with hollow missiles is a weapon. They may boast great things, but they are all show in the end.

By contrast, pure religion is said to necessarily consist of action, of “doing.”

And the “doing” that is to be done is summed up in two verbs: visit and keep (1:27).

In these two words we find Christian discipleship encapsulated, including both our duty toward others and our responsibility concerning our own lives. We are to visit those who are in need, or “affliction”, ministering to them out of a pure and genuine heart. This demands more than just a head full of knowledge about the Bible. Simultaneously, however, we are to keep our own lives unstained from the wickedness of the world around us. According to James, neither philanthropy without piety, nor piety without philanthropy, can pass the test of pure religion.

Dead Faith

But James is not finished. As a pastor, I guess he had seen too many sermons go unheeded, too many commandments ignored, and too many hollow professions of faith. Even as we turn away from chapter one, the second chapter thrusts the mirror in front of us again. He lets us know that inaction is not an option for the faithful disciple.

Three times we here the refrain from James’ lips: faith without works is dead.

How those words sting! They strip away all our self-justification, all our best excuses, and leave us naked in front of the mirror of God’s Word — and what we see is a corpse! That comfort zone that you have worked so hard to encase yourself in, James says, might as well be a casket. The faith that you professed when you told your needy brother that you would pray for him (by the way, did you?), but neglected to actually assist him, has no value to you or to him. It is dead faith.

Faith that doesn’t work is like a bell that doesn’t ring or a cannon that’s never fired — it is useless, profitless.

By contrast, James reminds us, the faithful saints of the Bible showed their faith by their works. Abraham believed God… and showed it by offering his son Isaac on the altar. Rahab trusted God… and displayed her faith by risking her life for the messengers of God. How different the story would have been if she had said to them, “I’m 100 percent behind your cause, but I can’t help you right now; depart in peace, be warmed and filled” and then shut the door in their faces!

As we look in this mirror that James is holding up for us, what do we see?

Are there any changes needed? Have you been faithful to study your Bible, but have forgotten to minister to the poor in your community? Or have you regularly volunteered at the local homeless shelter, but have sunk into a cycle of sinful living? Or perhaps, like many of us, you are not really “visiting” others nor “keeping” yourself as well as you should.

But wait! No matter how discouraging the reflection, don’t give in to the temptation to just turn away. Make a change. Be a doer of the Word, not just a hearer of it. “Whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man…” (Matthew 7:24).

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