James and the Sermon on the Mount: Hearing and Doing

Hearing and doing God’s word are a big deal to Jesus and James. Jesus uses this teaching to summarize what he’s been saying in Matthew 5-7. James uses this teaching to start his letter about persevering through persecution. Hearing God’s word and obeying launches our mission with Christ and keeps it going. We’re going to explore both Jesus’ and James’ teaching on this subject to see why it is so important. 

Matthew 7:24-27, “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”

In this great teaching, Jesus summarizes what it means to truly hear his words and put them into action. Jesus has just taught what it means to live with the kingdom of God arriving in Jesus and what he is doing. To truly live for God’s kingdom means tearing down the walls of religion and truly getting to the heart of the matter, our heart. How we treat people, how we speak to them, has more to do with our heart than anything else. We need our heart right with God to truly live for Him. Now Jesus says we need to take his words, take his teachings and do them. If we don’t do them, we are foolish. The trials of life will overtake and we will drown. But a wise person will take these words of Jesus, being transformed by the Spirit and do them. This is how we endure the wild ride of life. This is how we overcome the enemy. By actually doing. 

In James, the context is real. Messianic Jews have been scattered from their homes, under an oppressive leader. They are oppressed financially by the rich and wealthy and are heavily persecuted. James remembers these words of Jesus and sees this teaching as the way not to escape, but to endure these trials. 

James 1:22-25, “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do.”

James says that if we do not do what Jesus commands, it’s as if we look at ourselves in a mirror and then forget what we look like. We are forgetting that we are made in God’s image and that we have a purpose. We don’t remember the teachings if we do not do them. But if we continually meditate, read, and apply the words of Jesus, they become our reality. The blessing we receive, James says, does not come from hearing it but by doing. We are not blessed because we go to church to hear the word, we are blessed because we take the word and apply it. We receive the blessings for an eternal reward. We may still face persecution, we are still going to face hard times but James says the way to endure the trials is to keep coming back to the words of the Master and keep doing them. Encouraging words and generosity, James would go on to say, is how we reach our full potential. 

Trials and problems are going to come. Obeying Jesus does not result in less problems. We are called to endure these problems, not escape them. The way we endure them is to be a wise person by first listening to Jesus and then doing what He says. By doing so, we remember our purpose in life and receive the blessing of a generous God.