James 3:1-12 "Praise & Cursing"

This week's message is quite short as we spent time focusing on our youth's trip to CHIC this summer.

Have you ever looked out the window at an airport at a huge jumbo-jet and wondered at the fact that one little person at the controls of that plane is controlling the whole thing? Or perhaps you’ve seen a navy battleship or aircraft carrier and been amazed how though it takes many people to keep it running, it only takes one person to steer it.

Today’s scripture is all about little things that have control over big things: A bit in a horse’s mouth; a spark that can burn down a forest; a rudder that can control a ship; and a tongue that can influence a person so much.

Now I like the fact that the scripture today comes at this issue of taming the tongue from a number of different directions. It really spends some time talking about the issue in different ways to help you wrap your mind around it. But, because we were remembering CHIC this week and I don’t have much time today, I just want to look at one specific thing that today’s scripture says. It’s in verses 9 and 10.

“With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God’s likeness. Out of the same mouth comes praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be.”

These verses remind us that our relationship with God is intimately related to our relationships with those around us. We cannot pretend to love God and live in hatred of God’s people. I understand this truth. I believe it! And yet, I find that I also have difficulty bridling my tongue.

Now I have to acknowledge that it may not always seem like that. Working in Chicago, some co-workers sometimes marveled at my even-keeled temperament. One time I went into a friend’s office after having been in a staff meeting where we all were yelled at for something we had no control over. You see, our boss didn’t get this concept of taming the tongue and was perfectly willing to scream and yell at us when he felt like it. I was seething mad and furious about it, as were my co-workers. I went into my friends office and sat down to talk about what we had just been through. I started out, “I am so angry right now!” My friend looked at me and wondered, “You are?”

I don’t always show my anger, but it does cause me to say some stupid, hurtful things that I should never say. I think all of us can think of something that we said to someone that we wish we had never said. And usually it is anger that brings out these horrible comments. And the sad truth is that you can never take them back. You can apologize. You can beg forgiveness. You can even be forgiven by the person you have hurt, but relationships are changed and broken down by hurtful words.

As children we are taught a rhyme that is the lie that we are supposed to pretend is true. “Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me!” Perhaps we think that if we say this enough we will be able to actually believe it.

James has an important message for us here. Words do damage. The tongue is the most dangerous weapon we have. And we are called, we are implored, to control our tongues, to step back from the moment and stop ourselves from saying things that tear people down.

This morning we all joined together in praising God. We worshipped in song as we do every Sunday. Our songs may have been a little different but our tongues were filled with praise. Praising God is more than just an activity for us. It is more than just something we do. It is who we are created to be. And when we praise God we are saying that we are that very thing that God has created us to be.

Let today’s praise be a center of your life that defines for you what else you will be doing with your tongue. Let your speech be a speech that praises, not one that curses. When you speak to those around you are you speaking with love or out of hatred? James makes it very clear. The same mouth should not be praising and cursing. Which path are you going to take? The path of praise?

We gain power when we learn to tame our tongue. We end up with a bit more control in our lives. Our relationships with those around us are improved when they are no longer having to get past painful and hurtful things that we have said to them. And, best of all, we are better able to focus on praising God and worshiping him when our tongues aren’t tied up with curses.

James 2:1-10 "The Royal Law"

This week's sermon is a little different than what was preached on Sunday. I had originally planned an introduction that was totally different than what I went with. The Spirit spoke on Saturday night and my new intro never got written down. I also found myself continuing to go back to it through the sermon so none of this actually appears in the written sermon.

So I guess it is worth considering this a first draft or perhaps the shooting script which Sunday's sermon came from. The introduction on this one is totally different and was not used.

Back when I was in grade school, there was a group of us who carpooled to school. There were between three and five families who lived in a general area whose parents took turns taking us to and picking us up from school. One of the parents had to take us a bit earlier than normal and so we had extra time at school before school got started. We would be able to go out to the playground and goof off. One of my friends and I were digging one day in the school sandbox and discovered that under the sand there was clay. Now I don’t know what got it in our head, but we were sure that this clay was worth something. And so, when we were dropped off early for school we would go out and dig in the sand box for clay, which we would then store in plastic containers which we brought home and buried in my back yard.

Again, I’m not sure why it is that we thought that this was going to be worthwhile for us, but we were convinced that this clay buried in my back yard was going to make us rich. And because we believed this, we were willing to do things that we wouldn’t normally do. I think I remember getting into our cabinet where we kept our plates and bowls and taking bowls to put this clay in so it could be buried. Only the best for the clay. I also think I remember getting in trouble with my parents for playing with these bowls. Burying bowls in the back yard was not something I would ever have thought would be right, normally, but because of the clay which would make us rich, it was okay.

The point of this story, other than embarrassing myself, is to show a simple example, a childlike example, of how our beliefs affect our actions. I believed that this clay under the school sandbox was worth something. Therefore I ruined bowls from home and went through all this effort to get the clay home from school and hidden in our back yard. What I was doing didn’t make sense to anybody else who saw it, but it made sense to me because of what I believed. Of course, my beliefs were wrong. The clay at school… not really clay at all and not really worth anything. But really, that’s not the point. The point is that I believed something different than my parents and therefore they were completely unable to understand my actions. The same is true today. We, as Christians, believe something different than others in the world around us. But, this time, what we believe is actually right. The thing is that those around us won’t understand what our actions are all about if they don’t believe the same things as us. Our actions will look like foolishness to the world around us.

I. Faith and Works

The book of James has an important message for us. It tells us that it is not enough to say that you believe something. You have to act out your beliefs. Later on in chapter two, after what we read this morning we are told that “faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.” This is a pretty harsh statement. James goes on, though, “You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.”

James makes a good point. Accepting a group of facts as true in the back of your mind is not a salvific event. But so often, this is precisely what we are told our faith really is. We accept that we are saved by “believing in” Jesus. But what does this truly mean? There is a lot of different language in our Christian faith as well as in the Bible that helps us to understand a bit better what it is that this means. A common definition in the Christian Church for believing in Jesus is Accepting Jesus as your personal Savior. I remember first buying into this definition when I was in high school. It has its value. But it also can be a dangerous way to define our faith. The value is obvious. By seeing that Jesus is our personal Savior, we realize that God wants relationship with each of us individually. You aren’t saved because your parents were saved. You aren’t saved because you go to church. You are saved because you have a personal relationship with God. Also, in high school, a distinction was made in some of the reading I did, saying that our relationship with Jesus is personal, not private. I think this touches on the dangers of this language. We often want to think that our relationship with Jesus is a private one. It’s just me and God and that’s it. But that is definitely not the way that God works. Throughout the Bible, God is constantly working with groups of people and he calls for us to come together as a group of individuals to worship him. He honors it when groups come together in his name. He says that that is the place where he is present. The other danger with a personal Jesus is the idea that comes from this language that Jesus is a possession.

But the Bible has different language to describe what it means to believe in Jesus. It tells us that we need to proclaim that Jesus is the Son of God. This is actually a requirement for leaders in the church. If you don’t acknowledge Jesus’ divinity, you are a false prophet. If you don’t admit that Jesus is God than your message isn’t a Christian one. The Bible also spends a lot of time talking about faith. I love this word because in the original Greek the word has two different meanings. It means to have faith, which is to believe in something. But it also means to be faithful, which means to stay true to something. So every time the Bible tells us to have faith in God it is telling us to trust God, but it is also telling us to be faithful to God.

And so, believing in Jesus is more than just something you do in your head. Having faith means being faithful as well. This is what is described in scripture. This is the way our faith is to work. If you believe something, you’d better live in a way that is congruent with what you believe.

If you believe that there is more than just this world, your life should be lived with the coming world in mind. If you believe that Jesus was raised from the dead, then you no longer live in fear of death. If you believe that Jesus calls for us to follow his commandments, then you’d better not be lying, cheating, murdering, stealing, coveting… well, you get the picture. And if you truly believe what is written in our own Declaration of Independence, that all men are created equal, then you’d better treat people equally.

II. Favoritism

James talks especially strong about this last one. Listen to what he has to say, “Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in shabby clothes also comes in. If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say, ‘Here’s a good seat for you,’ but say to the poor man, ‘You stand there’ or ‘Sit on the floor by my feet,’ have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?”

James is telling us to act in a way that is contrary to the way this world works. He is telling us to treat the poor in the same way that we treat the rich. Show them the same respect. Treat them with the same honor. This just may look like foolishness to the world around us. It may not make sense. In this world we are taught the importance of treating the powerful with deference. We are expected to suck up to those who are in authority over us. The wealthy have earned special treatment and deserve it. This is something that we don’t always see spelled out so very clearly, but it is obvious when you look closely for it. We still live in a world where class matters and where prejudice reigns. We look at those around us who are not as well off as we are and we tell ourselves that they deserve to be where they are because of their lack of work or resourcefulness. Or we look at those who are really wealthy and attack them for taking advantage of those around them to get where they are.

But then we read today’s scripture and we realize that God does truly believe in the equality of all people. Now, in James, this is presented by distinguishing between the rich and the poor, but it is clear throughout scripture that God has more than just this distinction in mind. All people from all backgrounds and all places are looked upon by God with love. And God even has a special place in his heart for those who are weak and poor. In truth, at least half of the Old Testament prophets are written about this very issue. You see, God wants us as his people to treat all people equally. He wants us to reach out to the poor in the same way we do to those who are well off. And this doesn’t mean just to accept them in your worship service, either. It means that we are called to help those who need it. But, we as God’s people aren’t always good at this. And it seems that we haven’t been good at this throughout history. But that doesn’t get us off the hook.

God has chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him. How can we treat the poor badly? These are the very ones that God loves. We are called to reach out with that same love towards them.

But again, I think that this has more to it than just reaching out in love to the poor. I think it is God reminding us that he has created all people equal. Is that something that you really believe? It’s something we give lip service to, but it’s not necessarily something that we all live out. You see, we all seem to believe that we are better than others. We think that we are better than people of different races, perhaps. Or that we’re more civilized or more righteous. If not other races, we are definitely better than people who are not Christians. We have believed in Christ and these other people have not so that makes us better people, right? Wrong. In fact, in some ways I believe it makes us worse. You see, Paul tells us that even our faith is a gift from God so that we have no reason to boast. And we are also told that as Christians we are promising to be faithful to God. We accept God’s word as law and yet we choose not to follow it. How can we possibly think we are better than those who don’t believe they should be following the rules.

So, don’t let yourself be filled with the sin of pride. Instead realize that if anything, you are luckier, more blessed, than unbelievers, because you have been shown God’s grace. And hopefully, accepting this, you will reach out to those around you with that same love and that same grace.

God wants us to get past our own prejudices and preconceptions about those around us. Instead, he calls for us to radiate his love to this world around us that needs to see it. James refers to this as the royal law. Jesus calls it the second half of the great commandment. It is the center of what it means to be faithful to God. “Love your neighbor as yourself.” This is what we are called to do as Christians. This is what we are called to be. Amen.

James 1:17-27 "What Is Religion"

We're back with all new sermons to begin a new school year.

I. Spirituality vs. Religion

In today’s world it is not always en vogue to be “religious.” I have heard many a person say that they would describe themselves as spiritual but not religious. Usually they mean this as a putdown on religion. They feel connected to some higher power but they want nothing to do with a religion with its rules and strictures. They want to believe in God but they don’t want to have to follow him.

I have heard Christians take this same argument on, as well. When I was in high school we were fond of making a distinction between Christianity and other religions. We would say that other religions were religion but Christianity was a way of life. We would go on to say that religion was about earning your way into heaven, which other faiths attempted to do, but Christianity was about accepting the fact that you cannot. This is a fair distinction, but I’m not sure that religion is the best word to use to make this distinction.

Last spring a group from our church went to Omaha to see the Saint John’s Bible. It is a Bible being written and illustrated by hand and it is absolutely amazing. The main artist who is working on the project had a PBS special done about him. On the special he made the distinction between spirituality and religion. I found myself rolling my eyes as he began to say that he didn’t feel that he was a religious person but he did feel that he was a spiritual one. “Here we go again,” I thought, “someone pretending that their own spirituality is better than what religion has to offer.” But then I was surprised by his next comment. He went on to say that he believed in God but he wasn’t committed to following God in the deep way that religious people were. He felt that he didn’t put enough energy into his relationship with God to consider himself religious.

Wow, he just flipped the paradigm over. And he got it right in a way that many people fail to see through their whole lives.

Religion and spirituality are connected in a way that we aren’t often willing to admit. People claim to be spiritual but have no religion. When this happens they discover that they really don’t have very much. Others have religion but no spirituality behind it. When this happens their actions have no meaning to them.

II. The Early Church

This struggle between spirituality and religion may seem new but it is something that the church has been struggling with from the beginning. The book of James is about that very struggle. You see, there were people back in the early church who claimed to be spiritual but not religious. They defined this with different words, but they were basically saying the same thing. They said that all you need is faith. They said that no matter what your actions are, it is what you believe that matters. They thought that it was your intentions and not your decisions that defined you.

And to a certain degree, they were right. But James came to them and told them that intentions are not enough. He told them that it wasn’t enough to say you believed. James understood that if you truly believed in the message of Jesus it would show itself in your life. James was convinced that faith without works is not really faith.

It is worth pointing out that there were others in the early church, Paul refers to them as “those from James”, who went to the other extreme. They felt that Jesus’ message was one of rules and laws only. They felt that you needed to work if you wanted to earn salvation. This is the way it had always been, this is the way that it shall always be. These people took James’ message to its extreme in the same way that the “belief only” people took Paul’s message to its extreme. But both sides missed the point that we are saved by grace, through faith, and this not from ourselves but a gift from God. But once saved by grace we are called to change our lives and live out the life that God calls us to.

Did you know that Martin Luther wanted to throw the book of James out of the Bible? He did. For him, it stunk of works righteousness and ignored the power of God’s grace. But he was reading it in a time where the church had moved all the way to religion without spirituality and they were so works focused that they didn’t understand the concept of grace any more. The church as a whole had moved all the way over on one side of the issue and here was Luther, trying to pull them back to the center. Thankfully, cooler heads prevailed and the book of James remained in the protestant Bible. And it’s a good thing because the message of James is one that we dearly need to hear in today’s world where anything goes and actions don’t always line up with words.

III. James’ Commands

James has a simple message for us in the passages we read this morning. He is talking about how we need to follow God’s commandments if we truly want to consider ourselves Christians. Later on he makes it clear that these aren’t things that we are supposed to do to earn our salvation. Rather they are things that will help show what it is that we really believe and who it is that we really follow. But it is worth looking at the commands that James gives. They aren’t your normal dos and don’ts. He isn’t telling people to follow the Old Testament laws. He isn’t telling them that they need to eat kosher (as the people who Paul argued against did). What he is telling all of us is that there are certain things that we should do if we truly want to live the life of a Christian. These are worth noting:

First, we should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry. I like to think of this as not allowing our passions to rule us. I also like to think of this as listening to someone you disagree with and trying to understand where they are coming from instead of attacking them right away. You know, it’s very sad but people often treat those they are closest with in ways they would never treat a stranger. People treat their families, their spouses, their closest friends in a way they would never think of treating someone they do not know. If someone started yelling or screaming at someone in a store or in a public place, people would wonder what in the world is wrong with that person. But often we feel like we can act horribly when we are at home with those who we are most familiar with. Don’t you think, especially with our families, we need to take these words of James to heart. Don’t be quick to get angry with people. Instead listen to what they are saying. This is a powerful message and one we need to learn to follow.

I knew a guy in college who would every now and then erupt in seething anger at his girlfriend. Our college was small enough with thin enough walls that everybody knew what was going on. A number of us worried about them when they got married. It wasn’t the fact that he got angry and yelled that truly bothered us, though. It was the fact that he seemed to think that he could not do anything about it. Both he and she would say, you know he has a bad temper and he just gets this way and there’s nothing to be done about it. That may be how it felt to him but there was something that could be done. James wouldn’t tell us to control our anger if it wasn’t possible. But this guy I knew would try and try and his anger would overtake him. Well, it is only through the grace of God and learning to follow in his footsteps that we will learn to be listeners and cool our anger.

James goes on with more ways we should live. He tells us to get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you. Again, the call is to turn away from the sins of this world and focus on the truth and love that God has already placed in your heart. Perhaps this means not reading some of the magazines you read. Perhaps it means turning off the television. I’m sure it means that we should all at least hit mute during commercials. Do you realize how much filth there is in commercials? Well, I don’t need to go there, it is a pet peeve of mine. Perhaps it means you need to be more careful with the websites you browse. Perhaps it means you need to stop the gossip you hear. James isn’t talking about what we are doing, here. What he is talking about is what we are taking in. If you consume a bunch of junk you will start to produce junk. If you consume that which is Godly, you will become more Godly. Surround yourself with the things of God, not the things of this world.

James continues. Don’t just listen to what God says… do it! James has just told us to consume the things of God not the things of the world. But he goes on to tell us that we need to act upon these things that we have consumed.

Lastly, James tells us that God does expect us to be religions people. But the religion that he expects from us is not necessarily the religion that we would think. The religion he expects from us is this, to take care of those who are in distress and to keep yourself from being polluted by the world.

Last week I told you that we are not to think of this world as our enemy. Those around us who are not Christians are not the enemy we fight… they are the people who still need to hear the good news. We need to go out into their world to share the good news with them. Now, this week, we are reading James which tells us to protect ourselves from being polluted by the world around us. Well, which is it? It is both. It is all about our mindset. If we enter situations to be influenced by the things going on around us we are going to stray away from the truth. But if we enter this world with the intent to influence it with God’s love and God’s truth, then it won’t be polluting us, we’ll be polluting it. And the pollution we have to offer is a glorious one.

So, God wants us to be both spiritual and religious. He wants us to believe and act out our faith. James offers us some very practical ways to do this. Things we can begin to work on this very day. Be slow to anger. Listen to those around you. Avoid pollution from the evils of this world. Don’t only listen to God’s word, act upon it. Care for those who need to be cared for. Wow. Quite the list. Where to begin? The place to begin is with God’s grace. God loves you. He wants what is best for you. He is there with you to help you through as you work to make these changes in your life. He will give you what you need to do this. God doesn’t expect us to fix ourselves. He offers to come beside us and help us work through these things together. What a good God we have. And how I want to be the child that he has planned for me to be. So let us all open ourselves up to him and his help so that he can work in our lives and make us new in him. Amen.