The Danger of Riches

Text: James 5:1-6

Focus: Worldliness and Riches

Function: To help people get a proper perspective on their wealth.

Form: Expository

Intro:

From J. Ligon Duncan, Pastor First Presbyterian Church, Jackson, MI.

As we know, James is written to believers. The intention of the book of is to teach us pure religion: how to love God and love our neighbor, to teach us how to be pure and not worldly. Today’s lesson is on the worldliness of riches.

Our Lord and our God, James' words are jolting and bracing. They are convicting. Especially for us who live in a prosperous land and a prosperous culture, who experience the blessings and benefits of widespread prosperity. And so we would think Christianly about this. Give us a mind to hear Your word. Search us out to see if there is any unclean thing in us. Challenge us, we pray, by Your word. Help us not to resist, or to be tempted to apply this word to someone else other than ourselves. At the same time, O Lord, it may be this very sin that reveals to someone in this room the need for saving grace. If that be so, draw that one to Jesus Christ. All these things we ask in Jesus name. Amen.

James' words are, to be blunt, blunt. This isn't very nice language. James’s words are blunt. And we have to ask ourselves, "To whom is James speaking?

Is this how you would expect a Christian minister to speak to a congregation that he assumes to be brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ?

After all, over and over in the book he refers to us as ‘brethren.’

As we ask that question, who is writing to? Let us consider what he is teaching first:

I. Your use of money may reveal the presence of worldliness in your heart.
What's James teaching? Well, he's teaching us the same thing the rest of the Bible teaches us, that our use of wealth is an important spiritual indicator. And in this passage he shows four ways that we can see problems with our use of money. He shows us four ways in which we can see that the problem of worldliness in the use of wealth is not just a problem for someone else, but a problem for ourselves. And I’d like you to see those four things.

First, he begins with his master point. You see it in verse 1. "Come now you rich, weep and howl for your miseries which are coming upon you." In this verse James gives a call to the rich to consider the final judgment to come, and to tremble in light of that final judgment.

And James is teaching a very important lesson in that verse. He's simply reminding us that (SHOW) Your use of money may reveal the presence of worldliness in your heart.

Now there's considerable debate amongst commentators as to whom these comments are directed to. Is James speaking about wealthy Christians in the congregation? Or is he speaking about wealthy unbelievers?

And there are some good things to argue both pro and con. For instance, people will point out the fact that James frequently reiterates when he is speaking to believers in this book the word, using "brethren." And in verses 1 through 6, you will remember that the word "brethren" was not used.

On the other hand, the very phrase "come now" which introduces the section was used in reference to believers just a few verses before in chapter 4. So there are reasons to read it both ways.

At the very least James' words are designed in part to create a mindset amongst believers about wealth. Let's say that James is talking about wealthy unbelievers. Let's just assume that for a minute.

The fact that he's writing something that he's directing at wealthy unbelievers, but he's writing in a book that he's sending to believers, indicates that he wants believers to hear what he's saying to those unbelievers, to think about it, and to have it impact their own mindset with the way that they deal with their own material wealth.

And let me say, it's also tempting because of the language James uses to say, "Well this is not something he's writing to me. I'm not rich. I don't have an annual income of above $200,000, or a million dollars, or wherever you want to set it artificially, wherever rich becomes. But whatever it is, it is always $l0,000 more than I’m making.” Now rich is up there somewhere.

Before you're quick to excuse yourself as not being among the rich, let me ask you to think about it three ways; historically, globally, and personally. Historically, it is simply a fact that we live in the wealthiest nation in the world, and we live in the wealthiest nation in the history of the world, and we are the wealthiest Christians in the history of the world. That puts us among the wealthiest Christians to have ever walked on this planet. You are rich by comparison.

In Chapter 2, he references wealthy has having a gold ring, almost every married man has one.

Think globally as well. Amongst the Christians who live on this planet right now, you are without question the wealthiest Christians on this planet.

Almost every mission agency throughout the world is primarily funded from us.

We are the country that is giving the most in that regard, because our Christians have more than others.

I might also add that our Christians don't give proportionally more than others. We only give absolutely more than others. But that's another story for another day.

We are the wealthiest Christians in the world. We have brothers and sisters in Christ who are facing starvation. On Tuesday, September 11, 2001, 2,976 people died in the terrorist attacks, but 36,315 people died of starvation.

We need to remember what we have in a global perspective. And we need to take account of what we have personally. Think of what you have in comparison to your parents, your grandparents and your great grandparents. James' words are not for somebody else. They're for us. Let's not excuse ourselves.

And James uses jolting language. And he calls on the rich here to lament their impending doom because of their misuse of wealth, and by implication he calls on them to repent. He wants us to consider our use of wealth in light of God's scrutiny of that use of wealth. He wants to consider our use of wealth in light of the final judgment, in light of God's standard of measurement, in light of God's evaluation, and live accordingly.

In the background of James' directive here you can hear the words of Jesus in Matthew 25 and the parable of the talents; or the call of Abraham, blessed to bless others, and God's judgment of how those men used their resources.

James is reminding us that our use of money reveals something about either the spirituality or the worldliness of our hearts. Our attitude toward and our use of money and things is a major indicator of either our Christianity or our worldliness.

And, I suspect, for many professing Christians in this room, it's an indication of both. In other words, it's an indication that we do have a spiritual desire to follow the Lord. But on the other hand we see a lot of the world in our heart. We need to realize what we are. We are rich and that brings certain challenges.

(SHOW) Do you view yourself as the rich recipient of God's bounty? And do you use your money and things in light of that?

Over and over the bible says that the way you use your money is an index of who you really are. Not just the money that you give to church and charitable organizations, but the way you use all your money and things.

II. (SHOW) Your home inventory (and the general presence of extras) may reveal wealth-worldliness.
James gives you four areas to look at to make an evaluation of your own money and things. Here they are. In verses 2 and 3 here's his first area. He gives here a specific condemnation of hoarding wealth and things.

Let me put it provocatively. Your home inventory and the general presence of extras may reveal something about wealth worldliness in your life. Notice James' illustration. "Your riches have rotted, your garments have become moth eaten, your gold and silver have rusted. He speaks of overage, spoil, of moth-eaten clothing, and of disused wealth. All of them are signs of hoarding wealth. A person has so much they can't even get around to using what they have. So their clothes end up being moth-eaten. They never get to use the riches that they have so those riches rot, and even their gold and their silver tarnish because they never can use them. They never can clean them and prepare them for use. He's speaking about the hoarding of wealth.

Our closets indicate this. When we were looking for a home, a year and a half ago, I noticed something, the newer the home, the larger the closet. Our house was big when it was built and it has a walk in closet, but that closet isn’t big enough for all our stuff.

The hoarding of wealth is a sin in three ways. It's a sin because it's an improper use of wealth. There's a quote in your bulletin. Take a look it From Randy Alcorn: He says, (SHOW) "God prospers me not to raise my standard of living but to raise my standard of giving.”

God gives us more money than we need so that we can give generously." When we hoard, we're improperly using the wealth that the Lord has given us. He has given it to us that we might be more generous in giving.

Secondly, hoarding of wealth is a sin because it may indicate that a person finds his/her satisfaction in things rather than God.

Hoarding of wealth is a sin, thirdly, because it shows no awareness of God's scrutiny and final judgment, that one day He will come and take account.

Good money management and wise financial planning alone is not Christian stewardship. (SHOW) Learning to give away, to evaluate real needs, to limit expenditure on self and family is essential.

Isn't that the point of Jesus' story of the rich fool in Luke 12? If our wealth use is self-use, and often disuse, then we don't have a kingdom view of wealth. In the kingdom view every dime counts.

Now we tend to be scrutinizing when it comes to the church or the charitable organizations budget, and then we tend to allow our own portion of the budget, and less careful when it comes to what we want to spend for fun. But both ought to be scrutinized. God prospers us that we might be generous in our giving. And our home inventory itself may reveal a wealth worldliness.

III. (SHOW) Your lack of fair treatment of employees may reveal wealth-worldliness.

Secondly look at verse 4. Here James gives a specific condemnation of the mistreatment and lack of concern for the well being of employees. He says that your lack of fair treatment of employees may reveal a wealth worldliness.

Now, I know of only one employer here, and I know how well they treat their employees, so why should I mention this point?

Well, let’s think about it in a practical way.

When I was in Seminary, they had a code of conduct for us seminarians. Every time we went to a restaurant with wait staff, we had to tip at least 15%. My son worked in a restaurant during college and he told me that many times, people would come in, pray before a meal and make a show of their faith and then leave a pathetic tip of less that 10%.

Those people make their living that way. So, here is what I do, if the waiter/waitress is poor, I give the 15%, if they are good, I give the 20% rounded down to the nearest dollar and if they are great, I give 20% rounded up.

Shoes. My son will tell you the arguments we had growing up over the fancy gym shoes they wanted to wear. They saw the athletes making the millions and endorsing a shoe brand and they wanted to be like these heroes. Their peers judged them and their worth by the quality of their shoes. But I was thinking of my own budget, and more importantly, I was thinking of this system of sweat shops and children being exploited in 3^rd world countries to make these shoes and the immorality of the whole system. How and were we spend our money indicates our concern to make sure that the business arrangement is win/win for everyone involved.

SERRVE. Dan Patterson serves on the board of SERRVE. Serve is an organization dedicated to selling original craftwork by artisans without exploiting them by taking the bulk of the profit for themselves.

IV. (SHOW) Your self-indulgence may reveal wealth-worldliness.

Thirdly if you look at verse 5 James identifies another area. He specifically condemns selfish extravagance in our use of wealth. He's saying that our self-indulgence may reveal a wealth worldliness. James has really started meddling now. He says, "You have lived luxuriously on earth and led a life of wanton pleasure; you have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter." He attacks extravagant comfort and the softness of luxury.

What he's attacking is a life without self-denial. Any general pattern of the use of our wealth that is only self-focused and self-pleasuring is sinful. We must learn to deny ourselves. We need to ask questions like this; "What have we given up to support the work of the church or of missions, or to care for poor Christians?"

Not, “What have we given?”, but, “What have we given up? How have we denied ourselves? What have we refrained ourselves from?” If our spending and our Christian giving does not have a component of self-denial, then we're sinning. And this is especially true in the case of the greatness of the needs of the world.

I wonder how much of our money, in our congregation, is thrown away on personally trivial things during the year, which if we totaled up would have made up our deficits? You know, I’m not sure I even want to see that number. Are we giving up in our giving?

If we're never self-restraining, if we're never self-denying, then we're in sin. It's just that simple. No matter where our level of income is, if we're not denying ourselves from time to time, we're in sin. And frankly the more you have, the harder it is to deny yourself in that way.

Notice again in each of James' statements, there is no condemnation of wealth in and of itself. Nothing wrong with it. This is no class warfare that's being enjoined, urging poorer Christians to resent what wealthier Christians have, but in each case it is a condemnation of how wealth is misused.

You see, wealth itself is not sin. Sin comes in three ways. First, it comes in how we get our wealth. Do we get our wealth at the expense of our neighbor? Secondly, it comes in our heart attitude towards wealth. Do we love that wealth, that worldly wealth, too much rather than loving God and fearing him above all else? And thirdly, it comes in our use of wealth. And therefore, the giving of a significant proportion of our wealth for the Lord Jesus, a giving of a significant proportion of our wealth for the aid of the needy, a moderate and modest self use of our wealth, are all three conducive to our resisting sin in these areas.

(SHOW) May God give us grace to respond to his message with both generosity and prudence.

Let's pray.

Our Lord and our God, search us out. Convict us of our sins. Change us. Make us to be a more generous people. Help us to resist the onslaught of a world that tells us that real life is in the taking, and help us to believe what Jesus says. That real life comes when we give it away. This we ask in Jesus' name. Amen.

The Wisdom of Humility

Text: James 3:13-18

Focus: The danger of self-ambition

Function: To help build a sense of community.

Form: GOK

Intro:

When I first read this passage, I think of the danger of jealousy. But as you unfold the passage, you see James highlight the sin of selfish ambition. (SHOW) Jealousy is born out of selfishness.

(SHOW) Jealousy keeps us from being genuinely happy at the success and good fortune of others.

Feelings of jealousy expose that in the core of our hearts, we still struggle with the sin of bitterness, unforgiveness and covetousness.

I love the 10 commandments. I think my favorite command is: “You shall not covet.”

Last month we did a series from Ephesians on Spiritual warfare. We are at war with spiritual forces in this world. If we were to use a military analogy to the struggle with have against sin, the struggle to fulfill the commands for us to be nice and don’t be naughty, then coveting is our first line of defense.

It is our primary weapon. When we covet, we are not only sinning against the person whose success, home, career, spouse, car or whatever it is we covet, but we are also sinning against God who is the one gives us gifts.

We are sinning against the Holy Spirit who promises to give us the peace we need to enjoy the circumstances that God has placed us in.

And James points this out with a contrast between God’s wisdom and false wisdom.

He points out a contrast between true religion and false religion.

He points to a place where we can be able to accurately discern the motivations of our own heart.

It is the contrast between being religious and being spiritual.

(SHOW) James tells us that authentic Christianity is to take care of widows and orphans in need (love others) and to keep oneself unstained by the world (love God).

As I am doing this study, I realize the two can’t be separated. We love God by loving others and we love God by keeping ourselves pure.

But the world has a way of reacting to conflict different that God’s way.

What does that mean, unstained by the world?

In this passage, as he contrasts worldly wisdom with Godly wisdom, we see how it plays out in the way we treat other people.

Ever since the fall of Adam and Eve, the world has been given over to competition.

That was the curse of the fall of mankind. The bible speaks of a future where that will change back to the original creation and the Lion will lay down with the lamb.

In the theory of evolution, we see that whole concept being “the survival of the fittest.” Every animal, species and individuals within species must out-compete the other animals, species and individuals for a limited amount of resources.

It literally is a kill and be killed world out there.

The sinful ways of that kind of mentality reached its pinnacle during the reign of terror perpetrated by Hitler.

He believed in what was known as Social Darwinism.

Social Darwinism is a form of a moral code that derives its ethics from “survival of the fittest.”

If in nature, for example, a pack of wolves turn on a wounded wolf, there is nothing immoral about it. The fittest get to survive and if it is okay in nature, then it is okay in humanity.

Things aren’t as bad now as they were then, but the world’s system is certainly not the one Jesus taught us.

So how do we as Christians overcome this system and still live as Christians in this world?

Well, his explanation of false wisdom or false religion helps us to be able to discern it.

And he plays it out right in the context of the Christian community. He exposes how easily we are tempted to fall back into that way of relating to each other.

He exposes false religion and hypocrisy among us.

You have met the religious person who brags about what they have done. You have met the religious person who talks a good talk, but still has a heart that carries bitterness and resentment?

You have met the religious person who manipulates the situation in order to maintain a power base and is threatened by anyone else who shows some potential?

Pretty soon they start spreading rumors about the other person’s sincerity. They start questioning his or her intentions. They go over that person’s words with a fine tooth comb and if there is a way to twist it, they do and they tell others about it.

All the while they look pious and holy, but inside there isn’t genuine concern, love or compassion for others.

How do you know that this isn’t true of yourself at times?

And he talks about this as a warning to each and every one of us. This is part of how we keep ourselves pure.

So how do we know that our own motivation isn’t born out of selfish ambition.

There is an easy test. (SHOW) If you start feeling jealous of the success of others, there is something wrong with your motivation.

James is asking us to examine our OWN hearts to see what our motivation is.

I had a couple of parishioners once who disagreed about parenting styles; one was stricter than the other.

Their disagreement heated up and they got into this competitive mode about which one was right.

One of the fellows came to me one day and said “Pastor, brother so and so used to have a drinking problem in High School. Last week I heard his son talking about a beer commercial and he was praising the use of beer. You better talk to so and so.”

I answered him by pointing out that I knew these men had a negative history and he was being too critical of this other fellow’s shortcoming. I told him that his envy was beginning to show. I told him that he had enough to do in worrying about his own struggle with sin.”

So, here he was “appearing spiritual” but the attitude of his heart was bleeding through his actions.

(SHOW) James is asking us to examine our OWN hearts to see what our motivation is.

When there is conflict in a family, when there is conflict between factions, when there is conflict at work, when there is conflict between friends at school, even the conflict between political parties, the one side is always quick to point out the flaws of the other side, they even look for excuses to judge the other, when you see that happening in yourself, it is an indication that you are struggling with the sin of selfish ambition.

Jealousy is an indicator of selfish-ambition and a lack of love.

I mentioned those two guys; one of them was a constant source of conflict in the church. He appeared religious, always had the right thing to say, he had a lot of faith, but the actions around him did not reflect Christlike behavior.

Look at this verse from our text (SHOW): Do you want to be counted wise, to build a reputation for wisdom? Here's what you do: Live well, live wisely, live humbly. It's the way you live, not the way you talk, that counts… …But the wisdom that comes from God is at first Humble.

Humility means that it isn’t self-promoting. Humility means that it is genuinely happy at the success of others.

Why is it hard to be happy at the success of others? Because we have a sin-nature that wants to promote ourselves and place ourselves first.

But God’s wisdom causes us to rejoice in one another’s success.

Look at this passage from “the Message” (SHOW): ¹⁸Real wisdom, God's wisdom, begins with a holy life and is characterized by getting along with others. It is gentle and reasonable, overflowing with mercy and blessings, not hot one day and cold the next, not two-faced. You can develop a healthy, robust community that lives right with God and enjoy its results only if you do the hard work of getting along with each other, treating each other with dignity and honor.

Selfish ambition and jealousy gets in the way of real community. And God wants to build a true and loving community for you in your lives.

I want to describe the Church that way: (SHOW) The Church is an authentic community of people who love Jesus and are committed to the welfare of each other and the world around them.

But it isn’t just the church that God wants to build this community in. God wants to build it in your home, in your office, in your school.

You have the power inside of you. The power of the Holy Spirit is there.

But look at the last line of that scripture we just read: (SHOW) You can develop a healthy, robust community that lives right with God and enjoy its results only if you do the hard work of getting along with each other, treating each other with dignity and honor.

It is hard work. This takes sacrifice. It takes a sacrifice of personal ambition and a commitment to corporate success. In this small community we have the power to build something that the world will really envy.

It isn’t to make them jealous, but to give the world a safe place to love and to be loved, all in the name of Jesus.

That was Jesus’ intent.

How to Stop a Fire

Text: James 3:1-12

Focus: The tongue

Function: To get people to say nice things to each other all the time.

Form: Expository

Intro:

I gotta tell you, I am happy to be preaching this passage of scripture. In case you are visiting, I am going through the book of James, and this scripture comes up in the text today.

Sometimes, you can tell if a Church is having problems based on whether or not you hear a sermon on this text.

Look at this part of the text: (SHOW) A word out of your mouth may seem of no account, but it can accomplish nearly anything—or destroy it!

The tongue can certainly destroy about anything it sets its fire to.

On the other hand, the tongue can be one of most powerful forces for blessing and encouraging I have ever seen.

I am so happy that I don’t have to be preaching on this text because it seems to me that you are all living by these wonderful principles of being a blessing, instead of a problem, with your tongues.

I don’t have to preach this sermon because we are having problems. I am happy that I get the chance to remind you of what your parents tried to teach you.

I am happy that we can look at God’s word as a way to help us live better lives.

Last week we looked at the danger of showing favoritism to the rich.

Next week we will look at the danger of Jealousy. The week after that we will look at the danger of Riches, but today we are looking at the danger of the tongue.

We are going to learn about the tongue by studying three main areas from this scripture:

We will learn that (SHOW)

1. Controlling the tongue is a priority.

2. Complete control is impossible.

3. God gives us the power to control it.

(SHOW) Controlling the tongue is a priority.

•  (SHOW) ^5-6It only takes a spark, remember, to set off a forest fire. A careless or wrongly placed word out of your mouth can do that. By our speech we can ruin the world, turn harmony to chaos, throw mud on a reputation, send the whole world up in smoke and go up in smoke with it, smoke right from the pit of hell.
• The fact is: too many people are destroyed by the tongue
• In Romans 1, we read this list of damning sins that talk about how the world has gone wrong and chased after immorality.
• Homosexuality is mentioned in there and sometimes people say: “See, here is proof of how bad others are.”
• But in that same list, gossip is mentioned.
• And, I submit, it has been the bane of the Church
• I don’t understand the intolerance about other sins when gossips are tolerated.
• Why point out one and exclude the other?
• That doesn’t justify either sin, because sin is sin and sin is why Jesus died for us.
• So instead of talking about justifying one sin over the other, let us just let it “hang right there” that it is a serious offense against God.
• AMEN?
• With the tongue, we say the wrong thing at the wrong time. Out of the abundance of the heart, the Bible say, a person speaks.
• We say those things we wish we had never said when we are at a point of anger, or when we feel cornered.
• With the tongue, Joseph Goebbels created the Pollock Joke and the Germans didn’t feel so bad when they committed terrible sins against Poland during the Second World War.
• With the tongue, racism kept itself alive for generation after generation.
• With the tongue, good people have been falsely accused and wicked people have been praised.
• From the tongue, we heard the words: “Give me liberty or give me death!”
• From the tongue generals inspire men to fight and kill or die, rarely for good, mostly for evil.
• The pen truly is mightier than the sword.
• But more than anything, the problem with the tongue is gossip.
• So, what is gossip?
  • (SHOW) Gossip is any story, true or untrue that sensationalizes another person.
  • Gossip can be true, but it is still sinful.
  • I have had people tell me that if the gossip is true, that it isn’t gossip.
  • But gossip can be true, half-true or a downright lie.
  • Most of the time, it is half-true. The gossip is a perceived intent about an action. And the intent is construed as being evil, or scandalous.
  • People can be terrible hurt by misperceptions.
  • Did you hear about a man who joined a church in a small town and was doing work across the street from a notorious tavern?
  • A gossip from the church saw his truck parked at the tavern and rumored around that he was an alcoholic.
  • He confronted her and she justified herself by quoting the scripture “avoid the appearance of evil.” And she said: “it was an easy mistake to make.”
  • So, he parked his truck in front of her house overnight!
• Do you want to spot a gossip?
• (SHOW) Ask the person: “can I quote you?”
• If the answer is no, then they have just gossiped.
• Look at the first few verses from out text: (SHOW) ^1-2Don't be in any rush to become a teacher, my friends. Teaching is highly responsible work. Teachers are held to the strictest standards. And none of us is perfectly qualified. We get it wrong nearly every time we open our mouths. If you could find someone whose speech was perfectly true, you'd have a perfect person, in perfect control of life.
• There was only one perfect person.
• And He is in the room, but I can guarantee you that it isn’t you.
• Don’t raise your hands, but how many of you have been hurt by gossip?
• In Ecclesiastes 7, Solomon gave some wise advice about the pain of gossip when he said, (SHOW) “Don’t get to upset when you hear that someone has spoken badly about you, for you too have spoken badly about others.”
• You have been hurt by other people’s tongues You too have hurt other people with your tongue.
• Let us face it; a scandalous story has a sinful appeal to us. It seems harmless to repeat it since we are not the ones who were doing it.
• I submit that the temptation to repeat a scandal is an indication of our lust for sin.
• Gossip is almost a form of Vicarious sinning.
• Remember in one sense the theme of James is “Don’t be naughty. Be Nice!”
• Gossip appeals to that naughty side of us.
• Being nice means we don’t spread that gossip.

Verses 1 and 2 talk about how true it is that none of us have mastered the tongue.

That is the second point:

(SHOW) Complete Control of the tongue is impossible.

• There are a lot of things that I have said that I have regretted later.
• Once a word comes out of your mouth, it is out there forever.
• You can say: “I take it back” but the fact that it was said still creates the elephant in the room.
• Although there are many times I regret what I said, there are 5 times in my life that I would give about anything to be able to go back in time and reverse what I said.
• There may be more, a lot more, or there may be less, a lot less for you.
• Those are the moments where we have the biggest regrets.
• In one of those occasions, it wasn’t that I said anything bad; it was just that I didn’t say anything good when someone I loved dearly needed it.
• That person has forgiven me, but it is really hard for us to forgive ourselves.
• Forgive yourself
• (SHOW) Practice forgiveness for the words that are said.
• You will not achieve mastery in this.
• Don’t stop trying to control the tongue.
  • Kathy had a co-worker who just blurted out whatever she thought regardless of the consequences of her words.
  • One day Kathy took offense at her comment.
  • She looked at Kathy and justified herself: Didn’t anyone tell you that I am forward in my speech?”
  • Finally Kathy she said, “Well if we are going to be forward, it is too bad those same people who excused your behavior didn’t tell you that it isn’t forward, it is obnoxious. There is no excuse for rudeness.”
• You may think that Kathy should have controlled her tongue at that time.
• But she said the right thing to that woman.
• I point this out because the important thing to remember is that: (SHOW) Even though we will never master the tongue, that doesn’t give us an excuse to stop trying.

And finally, the text says that the tongue is like a forest fire. One small spark can cause a huge amount of damage. A small rudder can control a huge ship. A small bit in the mouth of a horse can control the direction of a huge warhorse.

I like that fire image because water can quench a wood fire.

And the Holy Spirit is likened to a fresh flowing stream of water.

The third thing to remember is this:

(SHOW) The Holy Spirit is there to help us!

• A true sign of Spiritual maturity:
• When you succeed in controlling the tongue, you are being spiritually mature.
• Here is the thing about gossip.
• Those who were the worst gossips were also considered the more spiritual person by others.
• I call that an upside-down understanding of holiness. (Remember, James is a book about holiness?)
• They could point out, in the most pious ways the faults of others so that they could look good in comparison.
• But in order to do it, they had to carry on in one of the worse sins. Gossip.
• (SHOW) Controlling the tongue is a sign of spiritual maturity.
• So, think about that fire:
• What fuel do you pour on it?
• He says that the fire started by the tongue is a fire straight from the pit of hell.
• It is Satanic.
• When we gossip, we are throwing gasoline on that fire and making it worse.
• How do you stop a fire? Well, unless it is chemical, you put water on it.
• You do not put another combustible on it to make it bigger.
• (SHOW) Gossip is the fuel of Hell
• When we sin with the tongue, including gossip, we partake in Satan’s kingdom.
• So, what option do we have?
• The fuel of Heaven
  • The water of the Holy Spirit
  • (SHOW) The Holy Spirit is the fuel from heaven.
• How does the Holy Spirit work?
• He tells us not to spread those words.
• Remember the first passage in James that we looked at: “Listen much, speak little and don’t become angry.”
• We can only accomplish that in the power of the Holy Spirit.
• I know this, when I am upset by someone’s actions and I am tempted to tell the story to others, if I find myself in prayer, fellowshipping with the Holy Spirit, then my heart always changes toward other people. My heart changes even toward those that I might think are my enemy.
  • A co-worker who criticizes you.
  • A school-mate you are in competition with.
  • An ex-spouse.
• God loves that person.

And the Holy Spirit is given to us when we enter into a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ.

We do that by faith. We do that by choice. We do that by deciding to make Him the God of our lives instead of ourselves.

When God is in control, they the love that God has for that person comes out of our mouth.

The Holy Spirit is sent to us to give us control.

The Royal Law

Text: James 2:1-13

Focus: Loving one another

Function: To help people see the connection between love and faith.

Form: Story telling.

Intro:

I have always wrestled with the irony of verses 11-12 when he points out an example that should convict his audience. He says: “if you think you are pure just because you don’t commit adultery you better watch out. Because even though you don’t commit adultery, you are likely a murderer and that is just as bad.”

Now, when I read this I think to myself, I am not sure anyone in this room is a murderer. Was murder so common in those days?

That certainly changes the fact that we are a much more just and loving society.

I mean: what kind of people were they back then?

Why, didn’t he say: “if you think you are pure because you haven’t committed adultery, but have lied at some time or another?”

If he said that, he would have nailed everybody because all of us were children at one time and back then, a lie seemed to be the easiest way out of trouble.

For years, I used to read this passage and wonder to myself if something got messed up in the translation!

Well, look at the context of those verses. He again speaks of “The Royal Law” which is “To love your neighbor as yourself.”

And in that context, he uses an example, the sin of showing partiality toward someone because they are rich.

In Peterson’s paraphrase The Message he says: (SHOW) 1-4 My dear friends, don't let public opinion influence how you live out our glorious, Christ-originated faith. If a man enters your church wearing an expensive suit, and a street person wearing rags comes in right after him, and you say to the man in the suit, "Sit here, sir; this is the best seat in the house!" and either ignore the street person or say, "Better sit here in the back row," haven't you segregated God's children and proved that you are judges who can't be trusted?

The Message takes it as far as showing the sin of dismissing someone because they are a homeless.

That is easy to do. They frighten us. They may be crazy. They may smell badly.

And his point is that we cannot justify ourselves by works because while we are obedient in one area, we ignore others.

We cannot justify ourselves by the law at all.

If we fail in any one of its points, then we have failed it all.

(SHOW) The only way we are going to stand before God is to fulfill the Royal law, “Love one another.”

I remember a fine Christian woman who was having a hard time forgiving someone else and I said to her, you are going to be awfully embarrassed when you get to heaven if you don’t forgive her.

She answered me, “I won’t even forgive her in heaven.”

I answered: “Then you won’t have a chance to meet her.”

So, I don’t know why James would use such an extreme example, the example of murder, unless we remember that to be angry without a cause, or to call someone a fool or to curse another places us in danger of hell fire.

But verses 12 and 13 make it clear: (SHOW) So speak and so act as those who are to be judged by the law of liberty. For judgment will be without mercy to anyone who has shown no mercy; mercy triumphs over judgment.

We will be judged by the law, but not the code that no-one could manage to perform. Our judgment will be by the law that was designed to set us free. (repeat set us free)

And the basis will be this, if we show mercy, we will be given mercy.

So, James is not a book about earning our salvation by our works, but about learning how to fulfill the Great Commandment that Jesus gave us: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

I remember a new convert to Christianity as God was working through his life and was weeding out the sins that were distracting him. He was getting free and was really enjoying the relationship with God because God was so real to him.

And this older Christian in the church started mentoring him. This older guy was kind of confused about the Jehovah Witnesses –which is a Christian sect that teaches that one has to earn their salvation after all- and he was mixing in the legalism that kept the Pharisees from believing in Jesus with his Christianity.

One day they were concerned and came to me and said: “But Pastor, you make it sound as if there is no law at all. The kind of faith you are preaching is too easy, all you have to do is love other people. You must be a liberal, because all the liberals want to talk about is: “Loving others” and “God is love” and “They are afraid to mention sin. You know, Pastor, we gotta be pure and holy.”

He was still living in fear and he didn’t understand that I was trying to show him how God sets us free.

I understood that young man’s passion to do everything he can to please God. He was so happy that God had forgiven him that he became very zealous for the Lord. But the problem is this: we can’t do it ourselves: (SHOW) This law of loving one another came to set us free, not to place us back into the bondage of shame again.

I heard a Christian minister speak on Tuesday night about how the Lord set her free. She spoke about her freedom from her weight problem. Her speech, titled: “Eat Freely” told us that when she focused on dieting, she focused on food and when she focused on food, it gained more control in her life. She realized that the Bible tells us that the law makes us more aware of our sin and keeps us focused on our sin instead of grace, Romans 7 tells us that in a very clear fashion.

The Lord set her free and food isn’t her god anymore.

So, this parishioner was focusing on the purity aspect of our Christian faith, but he didn’t understand how it is tied into the loving aspect. (Remember: Pure religion…?)

I am not a “sin light” kind of preacher. I am not that kind of classic liberal he was accusing me of being.

You hear people say: “I don’t like the terms `liberal’ or `conservative,’ they place us in categories whereby we judge each other and then we stop listening and loving each other.”

And I agree with that. But I do like the words, Liberal and Conservative. Bill Farrell reminded me of what the Bible says in Ecclesiastes (SHOW): There is a time and a season for everything… …There is a time to hold back and a time to give away.

The root word or mindset behind Liberal is “generous.” The root word or mindset behind Conservative, is “conserve.”

The BIBLE says there is a time and a season for both. Our Country is fighting about one side verses another, but we are called to both.

The whole book of James is summed up in that last verse in Chapter 1: “Pure religion…”

And the last verse of this passage is about mercy. When I think of mercy, I think of generosity. I know that sometimes the best kind of love we can show someone is “tough love.” It is important to be strong, especially when our generosity enables them to continue hurting themselves.

But Jesus continually preached about giving back the mercy we received from Him.

We obviously cannot give it back to Him because He paid a price that we can never pay, but we can pay it forward.

We do that first by forgiving without condition, just as we have been forgiving. But it is also going to play out in tangible areas. We cannot out give God. The Bible says, the one who lends to the poor, lends to the Lord.

I have heard good Christians quote Jesus, “The poor you will always have with you.”

And then, use that as an excuse to not help them. But the rest of that verse is this: “But whenever you wish, you can do them good.”

More than that, Jesus is quoting from Leviticus 25 and that verse says, “They are your responsibility.”

Listen, the bible says that the poor are the responsibility of the rich.

(SHOW) Pay forward the mercy that God gave you.

Now, am I getting into the danger of preaching that we earn our salvation by our works?

Nope.

James talks about faith verses works but we have to understand something about faith.

(SHOW) Faith is also a verb.

It isn’t just a noun. It is an action word. I place my faith in you. I do something with it.

Do a little exercise with me. Stand up for a second. Now, sit down. You just placed your faith in that pew. You didn’t stop before you sat down to see if someone moved it so that you would fall on the floor.

You didn’t get on your hands and knees and inspect that braces and supports to see if they were intact. You just sat down.

You exercised your faith in that chair.

Faith and works are like two sides to a coin. There can’t be a front without a back.

Brother Alex Stevenson said it this way: "Faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead." He says, "What good is faith without works?" Can faith by itself save you? Can faith alone feed the hungry or cloth the naked? Does your faith do any earthly good if you are so pious you can't sit with a sinner for an hour and share God's love? And specifically to the people to whom James was writing he said, "What good is it if you say you have faith but show prejudice against those with less income."(James 2:1-7)

Faith, you see, becomes something you act on.

If you don’t act on it, then you don’t have it.

The action we are called to do here is to be merciful.

God loves mercy and He loves merciful people.

Sometimes, we get so wrapped up in legalism that we forget about the importance of mercy.

Remember that young man who was all full of zeal? He eventually left the Church. He got all upset because we were having a Christmas pageant. He said that Christmas was a false holiday that is not commanded in the Bible, we really have no way of knowing what time of year Jesus was born and that it actually had pagan roots as the Church was merely trying to appease the pagans who celebrate the winter solstice and if we really loved Jesus we wouldn’t celebrate His birthday.

He moved on, and I eventually moved to another state to continue my ministry somewhere else.

Our church took a bus trip to Washington DC just to enjoy the museums. And there in front of the Holocaust museum was that man and his wife. They ran up to me and gave me a big hug.

After several years, mixed both with failure and success, they found that God’s grace was still being poured out on them; they finally understood that they weren’t yet perfect.

Because God kept on giving them mercy, they finally understood the importance of “paying it forward.”

We will be judged by the way we show mercy. We will be judged by our generosity.

We aren’t approved by the sins we don’t do, that is expected of us. The proof is in the good that we do.