A Community Centered on the Word

Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing. If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person’s religion is worthless. Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world. - James 1:19‭-‬27 ESV

Justin Kim

Be doers

When we hear the word of God, do we put it into action in our lives. Or do we hear it and just ignore it from Monday to Saturday. Let us live it out with our fellow brothers and sisters. This isn't a call to pray at the end of every meeting with fellow believers or to always preach to one another. But the relationship between believers should look different from our relationships with other groups outside the church.

A Community of believers

Are there believers that are close enough to speak the word into our lives? Do we let people into our lives close enough to do this? Can we take small concrete steps this week towards one believer in our lives in this way? Do we have someone who we feel safe enough to open up in these ways? If not, can we cultivate those relationships with fellow believers in the church? If so, can we invite one person to speak to the sin in our lives? 

Christ-likeness

The church is supposed to reflect Jesus to the world. To do the word means to be like Jesus Christ. It is not just a group of people who like one another, have similar perspectives, social economic status. The church is a fellowship of believers living out the word together.

And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love. - Ephesians 4:11‭-‬16 ESV