Fighting Fire

Bible reading James 3:1-12 NLT 1 Dear brothers and sisters, not many of you should become teachers in the church, for we who teach will be judged more strictly. 2 Indeed, we all make many mistakes. For if we could control our tongues, we would be perfect and could also control ourselves in every other way. 3 We can make a large horse go wherever we want by means of a small bit in its mouth. 4 And a small rudder makes a huge ship turn wherever the pilot chooses to go, even though the winds are strong. 5 In the same way, the tongue is a small thing that makes grand speeches. But a tiny spark can set a great forest on fire. 6 And among all the parts of the body, the tongue is a flame of fire. It is a whole world of wickedness, corrupting your entire body. It can set your whole life on fire, for it is set on fire by hell itself. 7 People can tame all kinds of animals, birds, reptiles, and fish, 8 but no one can tame the tongue. It is restless and evil, full of deadly poison. 9 Sometimes it praises our Lord and Father, and sometimes it curses those who have been made in the image of God. 10 And so blessing and cursing come pouring out of the same mouth. Surely, my brothers and sisters, this is not right! 11 Does a spring of water bubble out with both fresh water and bitter water? 12 Does a fig tree produce olives, or a grapevine produce figs? No, and you can't draw fresh water from a salty spring. Introduction What a powerful passage, eh? James really wants us to take our words seriously, doesn't he? It may sound strange, but I struggled in preparing this sermon because I wondered whether we still needed to examine the way we used words. After all, our society is so obsessed with political correctness and the just and inoffensive use of words. Surely a Jew from almost 2000 years ago has nothing left to teach us! As I talked this over with Graham, it became very apparent that James has much to teach us. In fact, we may need his warnings now more than ever! So let's dive right in. The tongue is a window Our words change the direction of our lives (vv. 1-5) The thrust of James's first five verses is that our words have immense power to change the entire direction of our lives. It's easy to forget how important words are, when we are bombarded with slogans like, "actions speak louder than words." Sometimes that's true, but words are quite loud on their own. Think about the three girls from Logan who thought it would be a good idea to lie about their trip to Victoria when they flew back into Queensland a few weeks ago. It was their words, their declarations, that landed them with criminal charges, changing the course of their lives. It was their words that allowed them to infect others, and possibly even kill. Words have power! Proverbs has much to say about words, such as this pithy proverb: Proverbs 14:3 NLT 3 A fool's proud talk becomes a rod that beats him, but the words of the wise keep them safe. That, of course, is why James warns teachers that they have greater responsibility. My words, right now, right here, have power, and I am being held responsible by God for what I say! Um, I think we might just finish up and go to worship, now! No, it's OK. I think I'll risk it. By ourselves we have no control of our words (vv. 6-12) If all that was not scary enough, James's second point about words is that we have no control over them! We've figured out how to control so much of creation, but we still can't control our own mouths. It turns out that the tongue is the most transparent window to our soul. Whether we want it to or not, it pours out what is in our heart. Jesus says, Matthew 12:35-37 NLT 35 A good person produces good things from the treasury of a good heart, and an evil person produces evil things from the treasury of an evil heart. 36 And I tell you this, you must give an account on judgment day for every idle word you speak. 37 The words you say will either acquit you or condemn you." But this idea that our words simply spill out who we are, what we feel, what we desire and hope for-well, that's a terrifying idea for the people of the world. As Jesus says of people who have not received his Spirit: Matthew 15:18-19 NLT 18 But the words you speak come from the heart-that's what defiles you. 19 For from the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, all sexual immorality, theft, lying, and slander. And so we build elaborate structures to filter our speech before it can cause harm. In Japan the entire language is structured to enforce politeness. In postmodern Western culture we have created the complex architecture of political correctness to ensure that we don't offend anyone. Jane Austen lived in Regency England and she wrote about the rigid structures her society had constructed to protect people in her famous novels such as Pride and Predjudice and Emma. Do you think that any of these methods work? Let's look at what Jane Austen thought. Here is a pivotal scene from the most recent adaptation of her novel, Emma: [clip from Emma] Do you think Emma's elegant words made her comment to Miss Bates any less hurtful? In the same way, is it any less hurtful when we rename a brand of cheese but still speak of indigenous Australians with disregard (or fail to speak of them at all)? We may build fire breaks to prevent the spread of the fire, we may exercise controlled burning, we may use fire-proof building materials, but a tiny spark can still trigger devastating destruction. It's the same for words. We can build all sorts of protections: resilience and gracious understanding, political correctness and taboos. But at the end of the day, an idle word spoken in spite can still ruin lives. So what is the solution? Well, to prevent any sparks! Wisdom: World's vs. God's But how do we prevent sparks? How do we stop vicious words being spoken? As Proverbs says, and James agrees, that is what wisdom is for. So let's turn now, with James, to the topic of wisdom. James reminds us in verse 13 that wisdom is practical, it leads to a good life. Too often we think of wisdom as something possessed by mysterious saints, taken out on holy days and polished for display. But wisdom is simply the art and craft of living well. Worldly wisdom's nature, origin, and fruit (14-16) Unfortunately, while it is easy to define what wisdom is, it is much hard to find good wisdom-wisdom that leads to a fruitful, loving life. James attacks the so-called wisdom exhibited by some of the Christians he is writing to. He accuses them of being driven by bitter jealousy and selfish ambition. When these desires are joined, as they too often are in our world, they create a heart who cares only for themselves. Any care they have for others is only in order to use them as tools for their own purposes. James says that this sort of attitude will lead to disorder and evil, which makes me think of the state of our world today. For example, the selfishness of people protesting that their human rights are being violated. How? By being required to take measures to protect others (and themselves) from COVID-19. But their selfishness goes on to cause disorder and sickness. Or what about the way that issues that genuinely need addresses are taken over by selfish people for their own goals? They so often show no regard for the people who they are supposedly helping, instead willfully destroying livelihoods. When God's wisdom is rejected, society falls into chaos. Worldly wisdom's impact on the church (4:1-3) And that is partly our fault, as the church. James is speaking to the church when he condemns worldly wisdom, because James's brothers and sisters are living out of worldly wisdom instead of Godly wisdom! And they should know better, we should know better, because we should know that worldly wisdom comes straight from hell! Look, all of us struggle with worldly wisdom. It's the wisdom we were born with, after all. I think of a few years ago when I was trying to make important decisions on behalf of Mosaic church. As much as it pains me to admit it, when I look back now I can see how much I was driven by jealousy and selfishness. And that impure wisdom undermined my ability to be a stronger advocate for God's will. It came out in intemperate language, sarcasm, and sometimes simple spite. We all struggle with a mixed heart, and the more we give in to jealousy and selfishness, the more we will tear apart our relationships. God's wisdom's nature, origin, and fruit (17-18) But, thanks be to God, there is another way! That way is the wisdom that God gives us--and remember: James 1:5 NLT 5 If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking. The wisdom that God gives us is pure, untainted. A truly wise person is peace loving and making-the Greek word here is the origin of our word "irenic." The wise person is always gentle with others. They will listen to others and be willing to change their mind on a matter that doesn't violate God's directions. They are full of mercy and go about doing good things. They are scrupulously fair and genuinely sincere and authentic. Imagine a church full of people like that! Wouldn't you love to hang out with them? That's what God is shaping us into. God is working in the hearts of the people of Renew to bring that about. All we need to do is to keep asking God for his wisdom. Application to us As we think about how to live out James's high goals, we need to remember that he has presented here with two extremes: the completely worldly and hellish "wisdom," and the completely pure and Godly wisdom. It is rare to encounter anyone, Christian or otherwise, who is completely at one extreme or the other. Our goal, then is to move towards the full expression of God's wisdom. So long as we are facing in that direction and inching towards that goal, we are growing more like Christ. Sometimes we will make progress in great leaps and bounds, other times we will slow down to a crawl, or even slip back a little. But don't be discouraged, James 1:5 NLT 5 If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking. It doesn't matter how many times a day we need to ask God for help, he is eager to offer it. After all, when we gave our lives to Christ, God adopted us into his family. We're his now, and he desires the best for us, and won't hold anything back. So what does it look like to be wise? Well, imagine a situation where there is something contentious. A wise person doesn't "stir the pot," instead they will try to understand everyone's perspective. I could do with more wisdom. Just this week someone asked me a question and I replied with a reasonable answer. At least it seemed reasonable to me, but because they hadn't defined their terms, and I didn't ask them to, I ended up offending them. A wise person is always looking for the opportunity to find agreement. Years ago a lapsed Bishop, James Pike, debated a skilled opponent who demonstrated the weakness of Pike's doubts about Christianity. Despite having his poor logic rubbed in his face, Pike moved further away from faith, until he debated Francis Schaeffer, the famous apologist. Schaeffer, unlike the previous debater, looked for every opportunity to agree with Pike, without compromising his own position. When he died a little later, Pike had been preparing to go to study under Schaeffer. Always look for opportunity to agree. A wise person is always gentle. They think about how their words will impact the other person, even if that means that it makes their own life more difficult. That doesn't mean they aren't direct when that's required. A surgeon still uses a scalpel. But they use the sharpest scalpel possible in order to cause the least damage. And if a scalpel isn't necessary, they won't use it. A wise person doesn't show favouritism. In church we often show favouritism towards those who contribute more, especially time-wise. Certainly, we will spend more time with people who spend more time with us, but we must be careful not to forget about those who can't spend so much time. At afternoon tea time it's tempting to gravitate towards those we have more in common with, but what about those who are sitting on their own? Finally, a wise person is sincere. The Greek for this actually means not hypocritical. Christians are constantly accused of hypocrisy, and it is something we should be ashamed of if we are ever guilty of it. God demands single-minded commitment from us. Another way of expressing this, is that a wise person is authentic, they don't pretend to be something they are not. Authenticity is something we strive for at Renew. Imagine being able to simply say what you think and feel, without filters, and without worrying about hurting anyone! Imagine a church full of people free to share their struggles, joys, fears, failures and triumphs without worrying about what people will think or say. As our hearts are transformed into the likeness of Christ, we can increasingly do that, secure in God's gentle, humble wisdom, relaxing into our wonderful identity as children of God. Let's pray. Page . Exported from Logos Bible Software, 5:25 PM August 10, 2020.