Cork Free Presbyterian Church, 10 Briarscourt
(Annex) Shanakiel, Cork, Ireland
Pastor: Colin Maxwell. Email: colin.maxwell@fpcmission.org
READING: JAMES 4:10-17 TEXT: v17 DOING GOOD
Our verse is another example of one of James' characteristics:
The God given ability to speak directly to his readers
This is seen in the Book/Acts when Paul went up to Jerusalem which was James' old stumping ground
There was a potential problem in this visit because the Jewish
Christians (with all their prejudices) had heard that Paul taught:
All the Jews which are among the
Gentiles to forsake Moses, saying that they ought not to circumcise
their children, neither to walk after the customs. (21:9)
This was an untrue report, and some commentators query the way that
James went about relieving the problem which led (indirectly) to the
Apostle Paul being almost killed
However, the incident in Acts 21 reveals how James could be straight enough in his dealings with people
He was not overawed in the presence of the mighty Apostle Paul, but saw
the need and met it by talking in a direct fashion to him
No evidence that Paul resented this in any way
He himself had engaged in such straight talking to Peter (Galatians 2:11)
Seems therefore to have been an overall Apostolic characteristic (sadly
missing in Peter when the certain men/Jerusalem came down)
yet nevertheless an overall feature that the talking should be straight
Such you have here in our text
James bluntly says: To know to do good and to do it not is sin
5 things to observe in our text:
1) WHAT IT IS TO DO GOOD:
A/ Context here must involve each/every thing that James has mentioned in either the epistle/whole or the chapter in particular
Not hard to go through and pick out the clear commands
(quite a few in vs. 8-11 alone)
The one in v15 is clearly accented by the words "ye ought to say"
While others are there by clear implication and easily followed through
B/ But let us generalise and see what lies behind a good thing
What is it to do good? What binds all good things together?
[i] Doing good is something that must come from God
God Himself is supremely good: In Him there is no darkness or badness
In Psalm 52:1 His goodness is said to endure continually i.e. it is
without any end for He cannot be anything else other than good
Therefore it is an argument with Him in prayer that as the Judge of all
the earth that He will do right i.e. always pass a good judgement in
accordance with what is absolute holy and pure and righteous
Again: The Lord is good to Israel/all of a clean heart (Psalm 73:1)
Not merely that He does good…but that He essentially is good
Yet this goodness manifested itself in actions:
Hence the Lord Jesus went about doing good (Acts 10:38)
[ii] Beloved, follow not that which
is evil, but that which is good. He that doeth good is of God: but he
that doeth evil hath not seen God. (3 John 11)
Even Christians cannot do good in their own right
There is none that doeth good (Romans 3:11)
But we can do what is right in the power/God
It is an evidence of the new birth:
If ye know that he is righteous, ye know that every one that doeth righteousness is born of him. (1 John 2:29)
B/ Doing good is not just a series of right actions
Doing good must be from the right motive
James dealt with this back in v2-3 dealing with asking amiss
Not to suppose that the folk prayed for something outwardly sinful e.g. "Lord, bless my Lotto ticket and ensure the following numbers come up…"
But they might well have prayed for legitimate things but for illegitimate reasons i.e. consume it upon themselves
C/ A word to unsaved: Without the new birth, no man can be said to do that which is altogether right
Might be right in the sight/men and even proper e.g. Good Samaritan but it does not measure up to what is acceptable with God
So even the works/righteousness of the unsaved are as filthy rags in
God's sight (Isaiah 64:6) and will ever be until the soul that produces
them gets right with God and seeks pardon for sin
2) WHY GOOD IS TO BE DONE:
A/ Ultimately to the glory/God who is Himself good and does good and
commands that we follow in His footsteps and do good likewise
B/ We should do good for the sake of others - both saved/unsaved
[i] To the saved: Who are our brethren/sisters in Christ
Some of whom stand in great need: 2:15-16
Second chapter shows that it is deeds and not words that count
Pious phrases can sound awfully hollow in/off themselves
[ii] To the unsaved: As an opportunity to witness to them
Salvation Army: Soap, soup and salvation
C/ We should do good for our own benefit:
Helping others etc., keeps us from acquiring a hard heart
It is more blessed to give than to receive (Acts 20:35)
We cannot afford to be indifferent to these matters
3) WHERE WE GET THE KNOWLEDGE OF DOING GOOD:
Text is addressed specifically to those who know to do good
How do we know how to do good?
A/ Obvious source of such instruction is the Bible itself
Turn away my reproach which I fear: for thy judgements are good (119:39)
Bible itself reveals so much to us of our good God
Right from the beginning of the Creation…God is seen to be good:
Several times/Genesis 1 we read: God saw that it was good
As we work our way through all of His revelation, God reveals Himself a
Good God and instructs us, who bear His name, to be do good also
We have instructions on how to do good
We have examples of good man (like Barnabas) and ult. the Lord Jesus
We have (by contrast) examples of bad men with appropriate warnings:
The men/Sodom were wicked before the Lord exceedingly (Genesis 13:13)
We have promises to encourage us to do good
We have exhortations along with warnings like our text
Cannot read the Bible without seeing the difference between good/bad
B/ Even nature itself teaches us the difference between good/bad
The conscience/heathen (with no Bible) has a concept of right/wrong
On this basis, God can send the unevangelised to hell (Romans 2:15)
The animal kingdom is often used to illustrate various responsibilities to be/do good which we have:
When the Lord lamented the stubbornness of Jerusalem, he used the idea
of the mother chick risking her own life for the chickens sheltering
under her wing (Matthew 23:37)
It is not all the survival of the fittest out there
Otherwise the mother hen would flee and abandon her young
C/ We observe the good deeds of others, even of the unsaved
Paradox: None that doeth good (Romans 3:12) yet we read:
And if ye do good to them which do good to you, what thank have ye? for sinners also do even the same. (Luke 6:33)
None that do good, by God's ultimate standards, but even non religious
do good by the much lower standards of men (Relatively so)
D/ Is it not true that often the unsaved put us Christians to shame?
With what sacrifice do they give themselves to helping others
We sit in our holy huddles, trying to judge everything by our Bible
I'm not trying to undermine the authority/Bible nor negate the need of
having a discerning ministry (God forbid) but remember this:
And to love God with all the heart,
and with all the understanding, and with all the soul, and with all the
strength, and to love his neighbour as himself, is more than all whole
burnt offerings and sacrifices. (Mark 12:33)
Do you get that? There is room for the whole burnt offerings etc.,
But to do good and to communicate forget not: for with such sacrifices God is well pleased. (Hebrews 13:16)
It was the Samaritan who helped the wounded Jew…not his own leaders
We can't miss this idea that when we need to do good then we cannot
let religious duties hold us back - it is part of our religion (although not
in any atoning sense) to do good - It is most Christ-like (Acts 10:38)
4) THE SAD CONSEQUENCES OF NOT DOING GOOD:
A/ To know to do good and to fail to do it is sin - as simple as that!
There are but two great commandments in the world
(Of which all the others are but subheadings)
[i] Love/God with all our hearts etc.,
[ii] Love our neighbour as ourselves
Failure here is to transgress the commandment/God and that is the Bible's definition of sin: 1 John 3:4/Romans 3:23
B/ Sin for the Christian is always a serious matter
Sin grieves the Spirit/God who indwells us: Ephesians 4:30
Sin brings reproach upon the name of Christ
Sin discourages the saints/God and causes weariness
Sin saps the Christian himself so that he gets discouraged
C/ It was sin that nailed Christ to the Cross
That ought to reprove us beyond measure
5) THE HAPPY CONSEQUENCES OF DOING GOOD:
A/ Although a negative text, yet it has a very positive implication for us
If it is sin to omit doing good, then it can be fought/conquered
For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil. (1 John 3:8)
We need not be discouraged in this matter, as if no one could do good
We are not whipping boys for an unreasonable God who delights to keep us down and berate us for our failure
He has sent us His Son to die for our sins and He sends us freely of
His Holy Spirit so that through Him we can/will do much good
B/ Doing good (although not meritorious) brings reward to the saint
It honours God:
Let your light so shine before men,
that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in
heaven. (Matthew 5:16)
God says in such a case:
Them that honour me, I will honour (1 Samuel 2:30)
C/ It may be that through some good work that we do, that it will give
a listening ear to what we most fervently preach i.e. the gospel/Christ
It is a great reward to see a soul won for Jesus Christ for eternity
D/ The emphasis of the chapter then must be the emphasis of our text
It does not go over our heads, but sits firmly before our eyes/hearts
We cannot plead ignorance and ignorance is no excuse anyway, but we are robbed of little argument we thought we had
It should not be hard for me to exhort you simply to do good
We ought to run upon this command with a willing and fervent heart
THE END