JAMES 1 - MEMORIZED
1 James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes in the Dispersion: Greetings.
2 Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, 3 for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. 4 And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. 6 But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. 7 For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; 8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.
9 Let the lowly brother boast in his exaltation, 10 and the rich in his humiliation, because like a flower of the grass he will pass away. 11 For the sun rises with its scorching heat and withers the grass; its flower falls, and its beauty perishes. So also will the rich man fade away in the midst of his pursuits.
12 Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him.
13 Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. 14 But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. 15 Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.
16 Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers. 17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. 18 Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.
19 Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; 20 for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. 21 Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.
22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. 23 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. 24 For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. 25 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.
26 If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person's religion is worthless. 27 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.
So, why recite all of James chapter 1 when we’re really only going to focus on four verses?
Because before we zoom in, I want you to feel the weight of the whole thing. I’ve noticed something—whenever someone shares about how they started memorizing Scripture, it usually began with a moment like this. They heard someone else recite a chapter, or a whole book. And it did something to them. It stirred something deeper within them. It stirred hunger.
I want to give you that moment. Not to impress you, but to invite you—to show you that this is within your reach. Memorizing the Word isn’t some extraordinary skill reserved for super-Christians. And the goal isn’t just found in completing a task. It’s about being formed in the process.
We say at work all the time: Trust the process. And when it comes to internalizing Scripture—meditating on it, memorizing it, keeping it alive in your thoughts—I want to say the same thing. Trust the process.
People often assume this is all about willpower. “You must be so disciplined.” But honestly? I don’t think the problem is discipline. I think the problem is hunger.
You don’t eat because you’re disciplined. You eat because you’re hungry. Your body craves food.
Take ranch dressing, for example. Ever wonder why it’s so addictive? It’s not just the taste. It’s fat, salt, sugar, acid, and umami—it hits all five of your body’s craving centers at once. Your brain lights up. So of course you go back for more. Your body is wired for that kind of satisfaction.
And here’s the question: What if we prayed to crave God’s Word like that? What if our souls lit up when we took it in? What if we longed for it the way our bodies long for fat and rich food?
As David says in Psalm 63:1 —
“O God, you are my God; I earnestly search for you. My soul thirsts for you; my whole body longs for you in this parched and weary land where there is no water.”
That’s the kind of hunger that leads to transformation. That’s why memorization matters. Not just to carry the Word in your brain, but to let it take up residence in your heart. To crave the voice of God. To properly hear Him.
So what’s supposed to happen when we actually hear the Word of God? What effect should it have on our hearts? And how does that happen?
Let’s be honest: most of our decisions every day aren’t made through long reflection. We don’t sit down and reason through 30 pros and cons before every choice. We live out of the kind of person we’ve become.
We live out of the overflow of our hearts.
And so if we are going to live in such a way that is pleasing to the Lord, if our hearts are going to overflow in a Godly way, then we can’t just acquire new information, we must become a different person.
That’s the effect of proper hearing. That’s the proof. But the purpose behind soaking in the word of God is found in being amazed by God. If we want to live Godly lives, that’s where it starts.
“A godly life is lived out of an astonished heart.” - John Piper
Not just a heart that’s full of facts. Not just a heart that can win Bible trivia. But a heart that has seen something glorious and can’t get over it.
A heart stunned by grace.
A heart melted by mercy.
A heart awed by who God is and what He’s done.
Have you ever heard something so beautiful, so overwhelming, so unexpected… that it literally made you stop and go, “Wait—what?” God did what for me?
That’s the goal of hearing God’s Word. To let our hearts be awed by God. In the Scriptures you won’t really find a comprehensive list of rules of how to live. What you will find is the story of a God who cares deeply for His creation. It’s about Him.
George Müller, the 19th-century missionary who cared for over 10,000 orphans, once said, “The first great and primary business to which I ought to attend every day is to have my soul happy in the Lord.”
Not just to read his Bible. Not just to check the box. But to have his soul happy in the Lord. He knew that if he didn’t start his day with an astonished heart, the rest of the day would live on autopilot.
James is going to go on to say, “Receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls” (James 1:21).
The Word isn’t just something you study. It’s something you receive. It’s implanted. It takes root. It starts to grow in the soil of your soul. And it does what nothing else can do: it begins to change who you are.
When was the last time you were astonished by God’s Word?
Not just interested. Not just curious. Not just slightly moved.
I mean stunned—awed—wrecked—in the best possible way.
If your heart isn’t regularly stirred by the beauty, power, and grace of God… Then you will live your life making decisions out of a tired, distracted, unformed place. And the Word of God will become something you visit occasionally instead of something that forms you daily.
So let’s talk about what happens when the Word of God actually does land in an astonished heart. What does it do in us?
Because James doesn’t stop at receiving a word from the Lord.
The goal of proper hearing isn’t just amazement—it’s action.
The end of proper hearing isn’t just amazement—it’s action. If the Word of God lands in your heart, something must move. Something has to change.
When we hear the Word and it stuns us—when it stirs the heart—it doesn’t just leave us inspired. It reforms us. It reshapes our instincts. And then it prepares us for obedience.
This is the progression: We hear → we’re astonished → we’re changed → we act.
James makes it crystal clear: “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.” (James 1:22)
That verse should shake us a little. Because it means you can listen to sermons, memorize verses, take notes, underline passages… And still live in spiritual deception.
You can be a student of the Word and still be self-deceived, thinking your life is aligned with God when your actions say otherwise.
James says that’s like a person who looks in the mirror, sees something out of place—and just shrugs and walks away. It’s ridiculous. And yet we do it all the time.
Thomas Watson once said, “Take every word as spoken to yourselves. When the word thunders against sin, think thus: God means my sin. When it presses any duty, think, God intends me in this. Many put off Scripture from themselves, as if it only concerned those who lived in the time when it was written. But if you intend to profit by the Word, bring it home to yourselves. A medicine will do no good, unless it be applied.”
Jesus challenged the Pharisees and asked them, “Have you not read the Scriptures…?” (Matthew 12:3-5) Assuming that in them they would find application to their life as well and not just an interesting textual study.
Proper hearing leads to proper action — the word applied to our lives.
That’s the posture of a doer. Not: “Wow, what a good message. I hope someone else hears that.” But: “Lord, where do I need to obey today?”
Sometimes that obedience is immediate and tangible. The Word confronts you—and you know exactly what needs to change. A relationship. A habit. A grudge. A calling you’ve delayed.
Other times, obedience starts smaller. Slower. Like a seed growing roots before fruit. You meditate. You pray. You listen. You wait—and then act when it’s time.
Joshua 1:8 says: “This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.”
There is this progression we see take place whereby we hear, we meditate on what we heard, we act in obedience, and then as God tells Joshua the blessings of the Lord come. We meditate. The meditation is for application. The application is for blessing.
And if you ever doubt what God’s Word can do in you, look at Psalm 19:
“The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul;
The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple;
The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart;
The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes…” (vv. 7–8)
These are tangible physical results and not intangible downloads of information.
God’s Word:
But that only happens when hearing turns into doing.
So here’s the question: Why don’t we obey? Why is it that we can hear the Word, be moved by it, even be amazed by it—and still walk away unchanged?
Why don’t you obey?
God obeys His own Word.
He never calls you to something He hasn’t already lived out. He doesn’t break the first commandment. He doesn’t put anything above Himself.
He doesn’t say one thing and do another.
“God is not man, that he should lie,
or a son of man, that he should change his mind.
Has he said, and will he not do it?
Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?”
— Numbers 23:19
And Paul echoes this in Romans 3:
“What if some were unfaithful? Does their faithlessness nullify the faithfulness of God?
By no means! Let God be true though every one were a liar.”
— Romans 3:3–4
When God makes a promise, He keeps it.
When God declares truth, He backs it up.
When God calls us to obey, it’s because He Himself is the ultimate doer of the Word.
So if the problem isn’t God’s reliability… Then what’s holding us back?
Let’s be honest with ourselves.
If we know the Word…
And the Word is good…
And the God behind the Word is trustworthy…
Why don’t we obey?
If we don’t understand what’s blocking obedience, we’ll stay stuck.
Sometimes, just hearing the Word tricks us into thinking we’re already living it.
James 1:22 warns us — “Be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.”
When we gain knowledge without obedience, we deceive ourselves.
So let me ask: Where do you know more about the Bible than you're living out? Where in your life can you say, “I know what God’s Word says… but I haven’t done it”?
That’s the danger zone — where we know the most but do the least.
The journey from your head to your heart is only 18 inches… But it’s a costly 18 inches.
We know what Jesus calls us to — but we hesitate. We weigh the cost. We talk ourselves out of it. We stay “in process” forever.
But delayed obedience is still disobedience.
We live in a world full of hearing: podcasts, sermons, Bible content nonstop. But hearing isn't the same as doing.
We can talk more about evangelism than we actually share the gospel. We can talk more about prayer with seeming authority than we actually pray. We can talk and talk and hear unendingly utterly convinced that we are doing. But we’re not.
D.L. Moody once finished preaching in the streets of Chicago. Afterward, a sharply dressed woman approached him and said, “Mr. Moody, I do not approve of your method of evangelism.”
Moody smiled kindly and asked, “Well, what method do you use, ma’am?”
She stammered. “I—I don’t really have one. I’m not an evangelist”
And that’s when Moody replied with that now-famous line: “Well then, I like my way of doing it better than your way of not doing it.”
Here’s the thing: it’s easy to criticize from the sidelines. It’s easy to wait until you feel qualified, confident, and polished. It’s easy to become an expert in theory.
But God doesn’t want your perfect method—He wants your obedient heart.
Many of us are experts with no experience.
We think we’re obeying because we love thinking about obedience. But love in Scripture isn’t abstract — it’s action.
In the Shema which we looked at last week — “Love the Lord your God…” — that word “love” isn’t just a feeling. It means loyalty, allegiance, obedience.
Some of us are mistaking loving God for thinking about loving God.
And even worse — we confuse someone else’s obedience for our own. We sit next to people who are soaking in the Word, living it, obeying… and we think by proximity, that must mean we’re doing it too.
But listen: You can’t see yourself in a mirror someone else is looking in.
You’ve got to go to the Word yourself.
Some of us hesitate because we’re afraid we’ll do it wrong.
We’ve seen other people try to obey and it got messy. They fumbled. So we grow cynical. We think: If I can’t get it right, maybe I shouldn’t try.
But that’s pride masquerading as wisdom. God doesn’t need your perfection — He wants your pursuit.
Obedience isn’t about getting it all right — it’s about trusting Him enough to take the next step.
The devil doesn’t always try to destroy your faith with lies. Sometimes he just lulls you into delay. Into almost. Into later.
J.C. Ryle said: “Tomorrow is the devil’s day. It is not yours. You may never see it.”
Hebrews 3:15 reminds us: “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts...”
So where are you telling God “tomorrow”? Where have you delayed what you already know He’s called you to?
Don’t give the devil what he wants.
Obey today.“Tomorrow is the devil’s day.”
Satan doesn’t need you to say no — he just wants you to say “not yet.”
Every time you push obedience to tomorrow, you choose disobedience for today.
“I’ll forgive them… tomorrow.”
“I’ll start giving… later.”
“I’ll read the Word more… when life slows down.”
“I’ll share my faith… when I feel ready.”
But obedience doesn’t wait. It trusts. It moves. It acts — today.
God’s Word is like a mirror (James 1).
And when you look into it, sometimes what you see is hard.
Conviction. Weakness. Brokenness. Sin.
So what do we do?
Instead of repenting, we go looking for a different mirror.
One that flatters us.
One that says, “You’re fine.”
One that doesn’t tell the truth.
You will never find a better mirror than the Word of God. Because this is the mirror that shows you your true reflection — and your Redeemer.
This is the mirror where you see the One whose image you were created in.
This is where you hear your name called.
This is where the Word of God speaks over you:
“You are mine.”
“You are new.”
“You are called.”
So when the Word confronts you, don’t turn away.
What mirror do I run to when I don’t like what I see in the Word?
Only one mirror shows you who you are and who you're becoming in Christ.
So now what?
You’ve looked in the mirror.
You’ve heard the Word.
You’ve seen where your life doesn’t line up.
The question now is not: Did you enjoy the sermon?
The question is: What are you going to do?
Will you trust Him?
Will you obey?
Because this is where transformation begins. Not just in knowing the Word, or hearing it, or agreeing with it—but in doing it. In taking the next right step—even if it’s small. Even if you’ve failed before.
2 Corinthians 7 says that godly sorrow leads to repentance. That’s what the Word is meant to do—not crush you, but change you. To lead you into life, freedom, and joy.
You haven’t truly handled Scripture until you’ve been moved by it.
Moved to worship.
Moved to repentance.
Moved to obedience.
So what’s your next step?
Maybe it’s forgiving someone.
Maybe it’s confessing a sin.
Maybe it’s stepping into a calling you’ve been putting off.
Maybe it’s picking the Bible back up tomorrow morning—because you’ve been relying on secondhand faith.
Maybe it’s finally surrendering your whole life to Jesus.
Whatever it is—don’t delay.
Hebrews 4:1-3 - God’s promise of entering his rest still stands, so we ought to tremble with fear that some of you might fail to experience it. 2 For this good news—that God has prepared this rest—has been announced to us just as it was to them. But it did them no good because they didn’t share the faith of those who listened to God. 3 For only we who believe can enter his rest.
2 Corinthians 8:10-11 - 10 And in this matter I give my judgment: this benefits you, who a year ago started not only to do this work but also to desire to do it. 11 So now finish doing it as well, so that your readiness in desiring it may be matched by your completing it out of what you have.
Not later. Not tomorrow.
Today.
Confession
“Start by asking God to show you anywhere you’ve been a hearer but not a doer. Anywhere you’ve known the truth, but ignored it. Just ask: ‘Lord, where have I been hearing but not obeying?’”
Surrender
“Now, bring that thing to God. Whatever He showed you—surrender it. Lay it down. Pray something like: ‘God, I want to obey You. Give me the courage, the strength, and the faith to do what You’re asking.’”
Request the Holy Spirit’s Help
“Ask the Holy Spirit to help you walk it out this week. He doesn’t just convict—He empowers. Invite Him to transform your desires and walk with you in obedience.”
Closing Prayer
“God, thank You for speaking to us. We don’t want to walk away unchanged. Give us soft hearts, ready feet, and a hunger to obey. Help us not just to admire the truth, but to walk in it. By Your Spirit, make us doers of the Word. In Jesus’ name. Amen.”
“If God put something specific on your heart and you need help walking it out, don’t do it alone. Talk to someone today. Come up for prayer after service. Obedience starts with a step.”
Resources (*the views expressed within the following content are solely the author's and may not necessarily reflect the opinions and beliefs of Mountainside Church):
Village Church - Doers of the Word
Phone: (828) 202-9143
Email: hello@mcboone.com