5 Steps to a Successful ‘Transplant’ of God’s Word in Your Life

Let’s focus in on James 1:21-25 and explore what it means to fully receive the Word of God into our lives in a way that actually promotes lasting transformation and an ever-increasing walk of power.

We don’t want to be hearers only. The Bible commands us to be doers.

We are called to lead people into repentance; to make sure they have a faith that is in Christ and Christ alone; and to help people get saved, water baptized, and filled with the Holy Spirit. We are responsible for finding opportunities to lay hands on the sick to see them recover and to impart blessing to people through the laying on of hands as the Holy Spirit leads. We’re to encourage believers to live for God on earth so they can experience the joy of their heavenly rewards. Similarly, we’re to warn the unsaved that the only eternal recourse for one who rejects Christ is the lake of fire. God has made a way for us to do all of these things, because He included them in His Word as foundational principles that help define our walk with Him. They’re important to God, and we have the ability to do them!

 James 1:21 provides key instruction to ensure that you are a doer of the Word you have just learned and, thus, a true disciple of Jesus. It says, “Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls.” Let’s take this verse apart and explore what each part means so you can really understand it.

 If you read verse 21 in context, you see that James was talking about our response to the Word of God that we have heard. James wrote, “Lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness.”

The phrase “lay apart” is translated from the compound Greek word apotithimi. The word apo means away, and the word tithimi means to lay down or to place. When you compound the two words, the new word apotithimi means to take something off, to lay it down, and to push it away and put space between you and that object. This word apotithimi paints the picture of someone making sure a certain object is so far from him that he can’t reach it to pick it up and put it back on again.

In fact, this is the Greek word used to describe the act of removing old, dirty clothes. So think about what that’s like when you come to the end of the day and it’s time for you to go to bed. If you’ve been wearing dirty clothes, how do you get your clothes off? Do you stand in front of the mirror and say, “Okay, clothes, I’m done with you. You’re no longer needed, and you’re dirty. I’m finished with you!” — and then expect your clothes to just jump off of your body? Of course not. If that’s how you tried to do it, you’d go to bed still wearing your dirty clothes. The only way you’re going to get your clothes off your body is by making the decision to utilize your hands, even if you don’t explicitly think through the entire process: “I’m going to push these buttons through the button holes. I’m going to unzip this zipper. I’m going to take my arms out of these sleeves one at a time. I’m going to take off these pants one leg at a time, and I’m going to remove these dirty clothes from my body.”

Now let’s apply this analogy to the phrase “lay apart” in James 1:21. James was saying that as we hear the Word of God, we may discover an area of our lives or a belief system that doesn’t line up with the Word. When that happens, it isn’t enough for us to simply recognize that something isn’t right in our walk with God. That isn’t going to change us. We have to make a decision to deliberately remove what is wrong from our lives.

 This is actually describing the act of repentance. Repentance is the conscious decision to embrace God’s truth and then make any needed changes to line up with that truth. It is to pray along this line: “Lord, the way I think about and deal with this area of my life is wrong. Therefore, I’m going to begin taking steps right now to get my way of thinking about this in line with Your Word. I’m going to take off that wrong mindset and lay it down.” And because the word apo is part of that Greek word apotithimi, you are actually saying, “I’m going to put so much space between me and that old, sinful mindset that I won’t be able to easily reach over, pick it up, and put it back on again!”

That apo component is an important one, because when we’ve thought wrongly about something for a long time, we’re very easily inclined to pick up that wrong mindset again, “put it back on,” and continue to think that way. We see, then, that James was talking about our responsibility to make a permanent break with what the Holy Spirit points out as wrong in our lives — pushing it so far away from us that we can never reach it again.

It reminds me of a story I once read of a man who wanted to lose weight but kept going to the refrigerator to look for something tasty that he shouldn’t eat. And after eating what he shouldn’t have eaten, he would pray again, “Oh, God, please help me change.” The man sincerely wanted to change — but his flesh so wanted to eat the wrong type of food. Finally, in desperation the man padlocked the refrigerator and put the key in a place he couldn’t easily get to. In other words, he did something to prohibit himself from being able to readily open the refrigerator door and violate his diet!

 Of course, that man’s solution for his particular problem wasn’t permanently practical, since eventually he would have to open that refrigerator door and choose the right food to eat. But what he did to his refrigerator door to solve his problem illustrates my point. This is the strategy you have to adopt concerning any area of your life that grieves the Holy Spirit. You must do whatever is necessary to make it very difficult to transgress the commitment you made before God to change in that area.

 Perhaps you’re giving up cigarettes or another bad habit. Or maybe you know you’ve been associating with a wrong person or group of people. Or perhaps you have come to realize you have a wrong way of thinking or believing that doesn’t line up with God’s Word. Whatever it is, you have to do something to permanently bar yourself from going in that wrong direction again. You have to apotithimi — take that hindrance off your life, lay it down, and then push it so far away from you that you will never be able to reach for it to put it back on again.

 Notice what James said next: “Lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness.” Taken in context, he was talking about wrong believing and wrong thinking — and in the strongest terms. That word “filthiness” is the Greek word rhuparia, which describes someone or something that is so dirty that he or it stinks. This word rhuparia can also mean exceptionally cheap or low quality. This means when we walk in the way of sin, it causes us to drastically devalue ourselves.

Many years ago when Denise and I pastored in Arkansas, there was a mentally challenged man who came to our church, and he just didn’t know to practice proper hygiene. When he walked through the door of the building, we knew that he was there because we could smell his entrance! He was grimy; his elbows were dirty; and his clothes stunk. He worked in a chicken factory in the midst of the blood of slaughtered chickens, and he would come to church still dressed in his soiled, blood-stained work clothes! Every time I see this phrase “lay apart all filthiness” from the Greek word rhuparia, my thoughts immediately go back to that man.

James used the Greek word rhuparia in this verse to make it very clear how the Holy Spirit views the sin we hold on to versus “laying it apart.” When we entertain and tolerate a wrong mindset, an erroneous belief, or an unbiblical way of acting in our lives, the Holy Spirit says, “That sin carries a stench. Spiritually, it is grimy — filthy! Yet you’ve made the decision to continue in what you’re doing, what you’re thinking, and what you’re believing, even though you know that it’s wrong and not fit for your life in Me.”

 James went on to further describe this ongoing condition of filthiness by writing “superfluity of naughtiness.” The word “superfluity” is a Greek word that describes a river so swollen with water that it’s now spilling out of its banks. This means if you don’t get a grip on what is wrong in your life, it will just continue to get worse and worse and worse until it becomes an over spilling superfluity and begins to affect every part of your life.

The Bible calls this condition “superfluity of naughtiness.” The word “naughtiness” comes from the Greek word kakia and depicts something rank, something foul, or something filled with stench. Whatever is being described with this word is just a horrible, putrid mess!

 How does an area of a believer’s life sink into this rancid condition? It happens when the Holy Spirit confronts the believer about a spiritually degenerative process in his life, and the believer chooses to remain stuck in his condition, even though he knows that his actions, habits, system of belief, or ways of thinking are wrong. For this type of believer, it just takes too much effort to make the necessary changes. Consequently, his condition becomes spiritually grimy, stinky, and, finally, putrid.

That’s what James meant when he wrote, “Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls.” He was saying in essence, “Hey, get rid of that hindrance. Take it off. Lay it down. Get it away from you! Instead of walking around in all that filth, all that wrong thinking, all that wrong believing, receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls.”

A Transplant That Will Save Your Life

 Let’s look at that phrase in James 1:21, “Receive with meekness the engrafted word.” The word “engrafted” is the Greek word emphutos, which describes something that was put in you later on in life or something that is subsequently planted in you at a later date. In other words, you were not born with this; it was not original with you. It is something that was placed into you subsequent to your natural birth.

The best illustration of this concept would be an organ transplant. When someone has an organ that has failed, that person’s life is in jeopardy unless someone donates his or her organ, allowing the person with a diseased organ to receive an organ transplant. The organ transplanted into the patient’s body during that surgery isn’t original to that person, but he has to have it in order to live.

It’s interesting that when a donor organ is placed in a patient, his or her body immediately tries to reject it. Think about that. The new organ is there — placed inside to save the person. He cannot live without it. But because it’s not original in him, his body says, “This doesn’t fit. This isn’t comfortable. This was not originally a part of me.” And the only way the transplant surgery will be deemed a success is if the patient’s body finally “receives with meekness” that “engrafted” organ.

The word emphutos that James used when writing about the “engrafted word” carries that same idea. Here we have the picture of someone who has his own ideas about things, his own belief system. Maybe he has grown up in an environment of traditional religious ideas. But then he hears that the Word of God has the power to save his soul — the power to transform him from the inside out. And he makes a decision that he is going to receive the Word with “meekness.”

The word “meekness” comes from the Greek word prautes, which describes a person who knows and likes what he thinks, but has decided to lay aside and deny his own feelings, deny his own thoughts, deny his own opinions, and willfully and deliberately submit to the authority of someone else in order to receive what that person has to say or impart to him. James was saying in this verse that the only way God’s Word will ever take root in a person is through this quality of prautes, or “meekness.”

When people hear the word “meek,” they often think that it means someone who is weak. That is not what the Greek word prautes means at all. Rather, prautes describes someone who thinks he is right but has submitted himself to someone else. He therefore makes the deliberate decision to deny himself the right to act on what he thinks or prefers and to instead submit himself to the word of that person he has committed to serve.

To receive the Word of God with meekness, you have to say “no” to your old ways, “no” to your flesh, and “no” to your own opinions, which are usually very strong. You have to deny yourself, open your heart, and deliberately say, “I am going to receive what I need from the One I have committed my life to.”

Five Steps to a Successful ‘Transplant’ of God’s Word in Your Life

In order for the Word of God to be truly transplanted in you, there are five steps you must take:

1.        Submission: You have to be submitted to the Word and the authority of God. You have to make a decision that you’re going to come under God’s authority, believe what He says, and do what He tells you to do, regardless of how you feel.

2.        Elimination: You have to eliminate all other voices, feelings, and opinions — including your own. Eliminate anything that would distract you.

3.        Decision: You have to make the decision: “I will not veer from God’s Word. I’m going to be committed to what He says and to the principles of His Word. I’m in this for the long haul!”

4.        Continuation: You can’t just follow these steps once. You have to continually implement them — continually denying yourself, continually remaining in submission to the Word of God, continually eliminating whatever is a hindrance to your spiritual walk. You have to continually say, “I’m going to receive this word. This word may not feel natural to me. It may be different than what I’ve been taught in the past. However, this is the word that has the power to save me, change me, heal me, and totally alter my entire course of life, and I need to have this if I’m going to live the fullness of what God intends for my life.”

5.        Reception: As you follow steps 1 through 4, things finally kick into gear and the Word begins to produce life in you. You begin to truly receive the Word of God into your life. When you reach this stage of true reception, this verse says the Word “is able to save your soul.”

The word “able” in James 1:21 comes from the Greek word dunamis and describes power. When you deny yourself and open your heart to the Word of God — when you submit to the Word, eliminate wrong thinking, make the decision to stick with the Word, and continue in the Word daily in order to deeply receive from its eternal truths — all of these right decisions release a flood of divine power in you and through you. It’s like that transplanted organ when it finally begins to take root and function correctly in the new environment — and, as a result, preserves a life. As you embrace the truths of God’s Word, the life in that engrafted Word will begin to release its saving power into your soul.

The word “save” is the Greek word sozo. It means to deliver, to save, or to heal. The word “soul” is the Greek word psyche and refers to the mind or the emotions. If you’ll embrace the Word and make a decision to submit to it, the Word of God will begin to deliver your head — and it’s your head that needs to be delivered because that’s where all the wrong thinking takes place.

The saving power in the Word also works to heal your body, prolong your life, deliver you from bondages of every sort, and cause every area of your life to prosper and be blessed. You must have the engrafted Word in order to grow and thrive in this life. Yet when you first hear the Word and its truth enters your heart, your mind may be tempted to reject it.

This is a common occurrence as the engrafting process begins to work in a person’s soul. He begins to read the Word or hear the principles of the Word taught, and the Word enters his heart. The spirit of the person is drawn to the life in that truth. Meanwhile, his traditional belief system might be causing him to think thoughts like, Wait a minute. That isn’t what I’ve heard in the past. I don’t know if I like this.

Soon the person’s unrenewed mind begins to try to reject the truth that doesn’t fit. Or perhaps this person’s flesh doesn’t like what the Bible is telling him that he needs to change in his life. So just as the human body tries to reject a donor organ, this person’s flesh or mind may try to reject the Word that has been engrafted into his heart with the power to save his soul.

What does the medical world do to help a person receive a donor organ that his body will no doubt be tempted to reject? First, the person has to submit to an operation and be willing to have his body opened up in order to exchange his damaged organ for the new one. Then he has to submit to the very tender care of a doctor, who has the responsibility of hovering over him and keeping watch over his condition. The patient also has to faithfully take the prescribed medicine in order to help his body adapt to the donor organ so it can thrive in its new environment. Usually the transplant patient will have to take that medication regularly for the rest of his life, since his body will always be tempted to reject this organ that wasn’t originally a part of him. But, finally, that healthy donor organ will begin to kick in and work the way it is supposed to — and as it does, it saves the life of that person.

That’s exactly how this soul-saving process of “receiving the engrafted word with meekness” works. And it is exactly what we have to do when the Word of God comes to us. We must follow those five steps that cause us to receive the Word with meekness: submission, elimination, decision, continuation, and reception. These steps are essential if the engrafted Word is going to begin to produce the power to change us from the inside out and, in the process, save our soul.

Consider what you have learned on the foundational doctrines that you need to understand. Take, for instance, repentance. You may not like to repent. You may not even feel like repenting. But like it or not, the act of repentance will save your life. You have to choose to submit to and receive what God says about repentance and then do it and continue in it.

Then you must make the decision that you’re going to eliminate everything in you that says you don’t need to repent. From this point on, you’re going to begin to repent whenever you need to because you are submitted to the Word of God. As you continue in that commitment, the truth about repentance and its fruit will kick in, and you’ll begin to receive the reward of your obedience. Your willingness to walk with a clean heart before the Lord will release life-transforming power in your life. It will save your soul.