“Quick to Hear, Slow to Speak”
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. –James 1:19&20
God has given us spiritual rebirth through the Word – our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. In today’s text James proceeds to explain how we live according to the Word. There is a simple logic to the apostle’s instruction – if we are born of the Word, then our primary function is to listen. What is more, if we are principally to listen, then we have to be silent. You cannot hear and speak at the same time.
Our tongue is one of our greatest enemies. Its troubles do not primarily come from what we say to others, but from what we say to ourselves. Over the last few days we have discussed how we are complicit with Satan when we fall to temptation. Our part in falling comes in simply listening to our own words. When we speak, our words must be from the Word, out of which we have been born. We cannot do this unless we keep silent and hear what God tells us in Scripture and faithful preaching. All our words should be framed by Scripture. We should carefully consider what comes out of our mouths and make sure it is pleasing to God, and edifying to our brethren.
James warns us that not listening is connected to anger. There are several causes for anger, but a major one is not being heard. We resent it when we are not acknowledged. Our natural reaction to this is to speak more and louder. To be sure, there is such a thing as righteous anger – Jesus exhibited it when he cleansed the Temple. However, it is rare, and is only legitimate in those who are full of the Word – which is why Jesus was above reproach in what he did. Such is the corruption of our hearts that we will use issues in the Church to secure the acknowledgement we crave. Many saints have consecrated the idea of anger and think it a fruit of the Spirit. This is a grave error. James, as well as Paul who we just studied, tells us anger is not a regular part of the Christian life. It is a disqualifier for leadership in Titus, and is a sign of a flawed spirituality in James.
In circumstances great or small, we must be controlled by the Word. Unrighteous anger is directly attributable to listening to our own words and not God’s. Make no mistake, we will be frustrated in our dealings in this sinful world. And, we do not repress this anger simply for the sake of being nice. But we are to always examine our anger in the light of the Word, and discern its legitimacy. When we do, we are likely to find as many errors in ourselves as we do in the person or circumstance we are troubled by. This will in turn prepare us for a course of action born of our new life in the Word, rather than simply speaking to save face.