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Expository Preaching: Sermons, Thoughts, and Resources of Todd Linn

Book Excerpts, Book of James

Hearing From God

Today’s post continues the treatment of James 1:19-21 and is obtained from our verse-by-verse study of the Book Of James.


In an effort to correct the inconsistent actions of Christians who allow their emotions to get the better of them, James turns to helpful correction, culminating in our receiving the Word of God or hearing from God. 

Receive The Word In Humility 

“…receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.” (James 1:21)

The “implanted word” is God’s Word, namely what God says as recorded in Scripture.  This is the Word “which is able to save your souls,” and James most likely uses the word “save” here in a general sense, as in, “saving you from a lot of trouble,” because he is addressing professing Christians, folks who are already saved.  At the same time, however,  the Word of God is certainly that Word which is able to save all souls!  The Word of God contains the saving message of the gospel, and all who believe and receive the gospel message may be saved.

Yet James’ main concern here is how one receives the Word of God.  He writes: “Receive with meekness the implanted word.”  The word meekness connotes humility, a teachable spirit.  Receive the Word by listening sincerely, assuming the posture of a teachable spirit.

Do you have a teachable spirit?  Do you receive the Word of God with anticipation?  Consider how you arrive for public worship where the Word is preached or a small group setting where the Word is taught.  Do you hunger for preaching and teaching of the Word?  Do you thirst for it because you really want to learn and grow?  Or does your body language and general disposition suggest you’ve pretty well learned all you care to learn?

James says, “Receive with meekness (with humility) the implanted Word, which is able to save your souls.”  Have a teachable spirit.  Demonstrate a willingness to hear, listen, to learn.  

And James refers to the Word as that which is “implanted” in the Christian.  When the Christian reads or hears the Word, the Word is planted within.  To borrow from Jesus’ parable, the Word is sown in the heart just as a farmer’s seed is sown in the ground (Luke 8:4-15).  The Christian must receive the Word with a fertile attitude if he is to benefit from it.  Whether the implanted Word ripens to a harvest depends upon the receptivity and meekness of the one receiving it.

True believers have a natural thirst and hunger for the Word of God.  Because believers have been “born again,” they have new natures with new desires.  Their soul yearns for the food that results in spiritual growth. That food is God’s Word.

Before a person is saved, the Word is not that important to him.  He may find it occasionally helpful or interesting.  After all, a person doesn’t need to be a Christian in order to find the Bible interesting.  A lost person, a non-Christian, may find sections of the Bible rather engaging, even useful at times.

But one of the ways a person knows he is born again is that the Bible is more to him than merely an interesting or helpful book; it is food for the soul!  The Christian has an inherent love for the Word of God and feels he or she must have it, must read it, must hear it, or there will be no growth, no power, and no life.

Imagine you have been marooned on an island and haven’t eaten for several weeks and you are famished.  After your rescue, you are seated at a table where there’s a roast and potatoes and gravy.  How will you respond?  Will you think to yourself, “Well, this all looks rather interesting.  I suppose if I eat some of this it will even be helpful?”  No, you are hungry!  You have natural desires within causing you to crave that meat and you are going to take in as much as you can with great delight.

One reason many professing Christians may lose their joy of feasting upon the Word is because they are trying to satisfy their spiritual hunger pangs with the wrong “food.”  There is so much “junk food” in our culture, so much “filthiness and overflow of wickedness” that we may be receiving this “food” perhaps without our even realizing it.  

In the same way, a person may gorge himself on unhealthy food, depriving his body of necessary nutrients.  The Christian may unwittingly fill himself with the unhealthy food of contemporary culture, causing his spiritual body to languish and weaken.

Think of all the “noise” in our culture that prevents us from hearing the Word: there is ungodly conversation, ungodly music, ungodly books, magazines, and websites.  There are ungodly movies, sitcoms, and Broadway productions.  I realize there are those who defend Christian participation in some of these activities. My point is that there is so much unhelpful “noise” blasting into our lives that we must take care not to allow the Word of God to be silenced.  To the Christian, God’s Word is naturally “music” to his ears.  It is beautiful.  It is wholesome.  It is healthy.  It is life.   

So it is not enough merely to “plug our ears,” silencing the noise.  As we’ve noted before, we must not only say “No” to something, but we must also say “Yes” to something else.  We must reject that which is bad and receive that which is good.

In the Greek mythological epic, The Argonautica, there is a memorable scene where the legendary musician Orpheus helps his sailing companions overcome the beguiling music of the Sirens.  These are the same Sirens Odysseus encounters in Homer’s The Odyssey where Odysseus puts wax into the sailors’ ears so that they would not be enchanted by the music and thus drawn inexorably to certain death.  In The Argonautica, Orpheus plays masterfully upon his lyre, drowning out the seducing sounds of the Sirens so that the Argo sailors may pass by safely.

The bewitching music of the Sirens is much like the noise of the world.  Christians must take care to say “No” to that which is unhelpful and dangerous.  At the same time, however, they must also say “Yes” to that which is helpful and life-giving: the Word of God.  We must listen to the beautiful music of God’s Word, receiving with meekness the Word that is able to save our souls. 1   

What About You?

  • Do you have a natural hunger for the Word of God?  If not, why do you think that is?
  • How might you best prepare to “hear” the Word in corporate worship?  In Bible study?
  • What is some of the “noise” in your life that competes with your hearing from God?

**Excerpt from You’re Either Walking The Walk Or Just Running Your Mouth (Preaching Truth: 2020), pages 43-47, available on Amazon.

  1. I am indebted to David Roper for the essence of this illustration though he utilizes it differently in his helpful book on James: Growing Slowly Wise: Building a Faith that Works (Grand Rapids: Discovery House, 2000), 56-57.

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