There are those who somehow would separate theory from reality . . . who would talk of being “street smart” rather than “book smart” . . . who would see the two as being somewhat mutually exclusive. There are those in the church who would see it the same way . . . somehow distancing the relationship of Bible knowledge from “practical Christianity” . . . minimizing the need to know the word . . . claiming that “just doing it” is what’s important. But, if I’m reading James correctly this morning, I don’t know that you can separate the two. James’ letter is intensely practical . . . it deals with being doers . . . it concerns “pure and undefiled religion.” But as I hover over the first chapter of James the basis for “doing” is hearing . . . the genesis for true religion is right doctrine . . . and, it seems to me, James establishes that in order to get to the works, you need to start with the Word.

“Of His own will He (i.e. the Father of lights) brought us forth by the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures . . . Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.” (James 1:18, 21)

Begotten by the word of truth . . . set forth as an initial “harvest” of firstfruits . . . so were those first century Christians. They were the prototype . . . the first examples of the gospel’s impact . . . the first members of the body . . . the first stones in the living building . . . the first kings and priests of Messiah’s “not of this world” kingdom. And there’s a degree to which I think all believers can claim some of this . . . maybe not firstfruits exactly . . . but part of that harvest . . . more “produce” intended to speak of a different way, a different land, a different motivation for life. But it doesn’t end with the initial harvest . . . in fact, that was to be just the beginning.

Born of the word . . . yes . . . but then they were to be shaped by the word . . . the implanted word . . . or, as the old KJV says, “the engrafted word.”

The idea here seems to be more than that of just a seed being sown . . . but of a shoot from one type of plant being implanted or grafted to another so that the second might take on more the characteristics of the first . . . that it might bear fruit in accordance with the shoot’s plant of origin. And ours is to receive that shoot . . . the image of Christ via the word of God . . . with meekness. We’re to take it in submissively and obediently . . . to allow it to become part of us . . . to let it define us more and more . . . to give it the nurture needed to bring forth much fruit. In so doing, we “save our souls”. More than this referring to the initial act of salvation which saves us from the “penalty of sin” . . . the engrafted or implanted word can take over and choke out the weeds of wickedness as it saves our soul from the “power of sin.”

And I’m a bit in wonder at the spiritual dynamic associated with the implanted word . . . or as James refers to it a little later, “the perfect law of liberty” (1:25). I think I’m just doing my devotional readings . . . or just working through some Bible study . . . but God sees it as divine horticulture . . . the grafting of the heavenly within the earthbound . . . the insertion of the nature of God within the redeemed nature of man . . . a series of organ transplants, beginning with a new heart . . . all through the implanted word . . . all through the word of truth.

What folly to think we can be like Christ apart from the word. He is the Word . . . check out the opening verses of John’s gospel. He is the Living Word . . . and His written word is the key to living for Him and like Him. When we put away the junk that defiles the ground . . . when we cultivate the ground so that it is supple and filled with the nutrients of humility and teachabilty . . . then the implanted shoot of the word starts to takeover . . . and the reality of “the theory” becomes evident in the living out of “the practical.”

Oh, that God’s people would determine to be people of the Book . . . that they would not cede to the enemy’s deception that somehow we can do Christianity apart from the implanted word . . . that they would seek the Vinedresser to graft more and more of His living word into our souls . . . that we might be doers . . . doers of the word growing in us . . . for His glory . . . amen!