Advent December 8, 2013

“IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE”: HOPE IN IT

“It’s a Wonderful Life” has been a holiday staple for as long as I can remember. It is consistently ranked in the top 100 movies of all time and is one of the most popular Christmas movies, even though it is not even about Christmas.

            If by chance you have never seen this movie I will give you a brief synopsis before playing you a clip:

            George Bailey, played by Jimmy Stewart, is a good man who through various circumstances is called upon to put the needs of others before his own needs. Bailey dreams of traveling the world and building things but when his father dies he reluctantly remains in Bedford Falls to run the family business, a building and loan company. Through a mishap, George’s Uncle Billy loses $8000 of company money just before the bank examiner arrives to audit the books. The competition, Henry Potter, is a wealthy and ruthless banker who takes advantage of this situation to have George thrown in jail and charged with fraud so he can close down the little business.

            George feels at this point that he has let everyone down and he decides that he is worth more to his family dead than alive and decides to commit suicide by jumping off a bridge. But all over town people are praying for George and God sends an angel to intervene.

            The theology concerning angels is not great but the story is a good one.

           

            <Play Clip: George at the Bridge>

After George utters those fateful words about never being born, the angel Clarence grants his wish. He goes on to show George how different his world would have been without him in it. George’s wife Mary would have become a lonely spinster; Bedford Falls becomes Pottersville; Mr. Gowler, the druggist accidently poisons a child because George wasn’t there to stop him, and so on. You get the idea.

            It’s a romantic and unrealistic feel-good movie with a bit of truth in it. Overall it begs the question, what would the world be like if a certain individual had never been born?

           

            What if Jesus Christ had never been born?

The prophet Isaiah spoke of the birth of Christ in rather humble details. He wrote, “A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse…” (11:1). What we ought to see in our mind’s eye is a once majestic tree with its mighty trunk soaring into the sky, its branches spreading like a canopy over the earth, and its leaves so plentiful and fruitful. Picture then that this tree caught a disease that rendered it sickly so that it withered and died. It had to be cut down to the root, to a mere stump.

            This was the royal tree of Israel from which kings emerged. But because of sin, spiritual adultery and idolatry, the kings of Israel were cut off and not allowed to rule anymore.

            Isaiah, however, held out hope and preached that One would come from humble circumstances, from the remains of the tree, from the stump. This One would rule with authority and with justice and with power. This One would be the perfect king.

In 1926, Dr. James Allan Francis wrote a piece of prose called One Solitary Life. In it he describes poignantly the impact of Jesus on our world.

One Solitary Life

Nearly two thousand years ago in an obscure village, a child was born of a peasant woman. He grew up in another village where He worked as a carpenter until He was thirty. Then for three years He became an itinerant preacher.

This man never went to college or seminary. He never wrote a book. He never held a public office. He never had a family nor owned a home. He never put His foot inside a big city nor traveled even 200 miles from His birthplace. And though He never did any of the things that usually accompany greatness, throngs of people followed Him. He had no credentials but Himself.

While He was still young, the tide of public opinion turned against Him. His followers ran away. He was turned over to His enemies and sentenced to death on a cross between two thieves. While He was dying, His executioners gambled for the only piece of property He had on earth – the simple coat He had worn. His body was laid in a borrowed grave provided by a compassionate friend.

But three days later this Man arose from the dead – living proof that He was, as He had claimed, the Savior whom God had sent, the Incarnate Son of God.

Nineteen centuries have come and gone and today the risen Lord Jesus Christ is the central figure of the human race. On our calendars His birth divides history into two eras. One day of every week is set aside in remembrance of Him. And our two most important holidays celebrate His birth and resurrection. On church steeples around the world, His cross has become the symbol of victory over sin and death.

This one Man’s life has furnished the theme for more songs, books, poems and paintings than any other person or event in history. Thousands of colleges, hospitals, orphanages and other institutions have been founded in honor of this One who gave His life for us.

All the armies that ever marched, all the navies that ever sailed, all the governments that ever sat, all the kings that ever reigned have not changed the course of history as much as this One Solitary Life.     

                Consider the impact of this one life on our world in its various aspects:

TIME – What year is it? 2013. Or as it was once officially titled, A.D. 2013. A.D. is short for the Latin, Anno Domini, or “the year of our Lord.” History is divided into two portions, B.C. or “Before Christ,” and A.D. Today’s historians have tried to de-spiritualize these designations, calling them B.C.E. (Before the Common Era) and C.E. (the Common Era). But what is the dividing point? The birth of Christ! His life is still pivotal even if historians and scientists don’t want to admit it.

LIFE -             The way we view life itself has changed dramatically because of Christ. From ancient times virtues like courage and wisdom were honored as worthy of our pursuit, but not humility. If you were on top you boasted about it and were proud to be a leader. Domination was the goal. Plutarch wrote a self-help book that might appeal to some today: How to Praise Yourself Inoffensively.

            Jesus turned all of this on its head and presented us with his foot-washing servanthood. He taught that kings will lord it over others, but not the followers of Christ – they are to be servants of all. One historian wrote that it was unlikely that any of us would aspire to humility were it not for the historical impact of the crucifixion.

            From this humility and servanthood came a desire to care for this sick. Because of Christ we have hospitals with Christian names: Grace, St. Boniface and so on.

PEOPLE – Jesus changed the way we view people. Children in the ancient world were routinely left to die of exposure if they were the wrong gender. There were 100 women to 140 men in the ancient world. Jesus loved children and called them to himself. A Norwegian scholar named Bakke wrote a study of this impact, simply titled: When Children Became People: The Birth of Childhood in Early Christianity.

            Jesus also saw women as people, not as objects to be worshiped or property to be owned. He restored dignity to women by raising them up to a place of personhood. The longest personal conversation we have on record of Jesus having is with a woman – the woman at the well (John 4).

Now if Jesus had never been born, TIME, LIFE, and PEOPLE would never have been impacted so positively. We don’t have time to explore the countless ways that a child born to a peasant woman in a backwater town changed the world. But he did! He was born of a virgin one special night and brought light to the world.

            George Bailey is a fictitious character whose story was glamorized with a Hollywood ending. Jesus is the Son of God and of course he is going to leave an impact on the world. But what about you? Would the world be any different if you had never been born? Do you impact anyone in a significant way that your absence would be missed?

            Many people wonder about this at Christmas time for some reason. Maybe that’s why George Bailey’s story is so attractive to us. But we know that our life is not a Hollywood story that ends up all well and good.

            What if you had never been born? I want to assure you this morning that you have no idea the impact you have in the life of others or in the chain of history. You are worth far more to others and to God than you know. Your life might not be “Hollywood” but it matters to God. He knows you and appointed you to be who you are, where you are, for reasons known only to God’s special purposes for his own glory.

            Consider the story of a young woman born to the “wrong” family and of the “wrong” race. She marries a man who dies tragically young. Being a conscientious woman she cares for her mother-in-law even though she doesn’t have any obligation to do so. She meets another man of the “right” family, pledges her love to him, and marries him. This woman never knew in her lifetime that she was to be the great-grandmother of King David. She never knew in her lifetime that one day her progeny, her descendent would be the Savior of the world. Ruth played a huge part in a drama and didn’t even know what impact her life and faithfulness would play.

            You have no idea what impact you will have on the present or the future. But in Christ it will be glorious, because in Christ we have hope that our lives are part of something much bigger than ourselves.

            No one remembers the name of the Sunday School teacher who led Dwight L. Moody to the Lord. Moody’s evangelism led Billy Sunday to the Lord; Sunday’s preaching led to Billy Graham’s conversion; Graham touched countless people including myself. What a legacy for that unknown teacher.

            The Apostle Paul quoted Isaiah 11:10 in his letter to the Romans, but it sounds a little different (must have been a newer translation). He wrote, “And again, Isaiah says, ‘The root of Jesse will spring up, one who will arise to rule over the nations; the Gentiles will hope in Him.’ May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit,” (Rom 15:12-13).

            We have hope because Christ was born, hope that our lives are not some meaningless waste of time and space in the spectrum of history. Hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? But we hope for what we do not yet have and we wait for it patiently. In this hope we were saved through Christ.

                                                AMEN

Show me your faith #9

WISDOM TO BUILD ON

When it comes to wisdom there is a phrase I like to quote: “Knowledge comes by taking things apart; but wisdom comes by putting things together.”[i]

            I can take anything apart with my 14 volt DeWalt drill and a few bits; a hammer helps too. I would learn a great deal about a refrigerator if I dismantled it. But without experience and an expertise in assembling appliances I cannot put it back together again so that it works.

            Knowledge comes by taking things apart…wisdom builds, puts together, reconciles scattered parts; wisdom uses knowledge to do something useful.

            As I pondered this quote I wondered where it came from and so I went to the fount of all knowledge: Google. I entered the phrase and checked the results. Taking the top result I found it embedded in a sermon. That’s cool, I thought. Then I checked to see who wrote the sermon. It was me.

            Oh how wise I am! Not. This illustrates two things about our world today. One is how ridiculously easy it is to attain knowledge with today’s technology. And two, how wise we all look when we are able to publish, post and share our ideas in a public forum for all to see. It used to be incredibly difficult to write and book and get it published. Now you can you just blog or facebook your ideas, no matter how inane they are.

            The average person can now communicate faster, with more people – without thinking – than ever before. Information has become disposable. We have more knowledge and information than we know what to do with.

            So what are we doing with this information, this knowledge? Is it doing us any good? Are we happier? Are we any wiser? Does our wisdom benefit anyone else? Do we even recognize what wisdom looks like?

            James “blogged” on this issue in the first century: True wisdom that comes from heaven alone is seen exclusively in how you live your life. If the knowledge of Jesus is in you, it will be seen in your behavior. And that is wisdom.

1. Let me see how wise you are

James challenged the churches in his care: “Who is wise and understanding among you?” (3:13a). That’s a good question. Obviously some thought themselves teachers, thus having something to impart to others. Others used their tongues indiscriminately, spouting “wisdom” and poison together.

            Who is really wise among you? The teachers? The preachers? The long-in-the-tooth, as they say?

            James says, “don’t tell me you are wise; show me.” This sounds like his earlier challenge, “Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do,” (2:18). And here again he demands evidence in action, “Let them show it by their good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom,” (3:13b).

            The term “good life” can be translated “lovely life” or “beautiful life.” However, as a persistent commercial tells us, the good life is a solid RRSP and regular trips to Mexican beaches. The good life that James speaks of is marked by humility though. Deeds done in humility are done not because we are the best people for the job, but because as servants of Jesus Christ we aim to serve others and be available.

            Here is the difference between knowledge and wisdom: Walter Lippman observed that “a boy can take you into the open at night and show you the stars; he might tell you no end of things about them, conceivably all that an astronomer could teach. But until and unless he feels the vast indifference of the universe to his own fate, and has placed himself in the perspective of cold and illimitable space, he has not looked maturely at the heavens. Until he has felt this, and unless he can endure this, he remains a child, and in his childishness, he will resent the heavens when they are not accommodating. He will demand sunshine when he wishes to play, and rain when the ground is dry, and he will look upon storms as anger directed at him, and the thunder as a personal threat.” He may know knowledge but he doesn’t have wisdom. Wisdom places us in our proper roles in relationship to everything else around us and in so doing helps us to develop emotional maturity.

            Wisdom requires humility. We must be teachable. We must realize that what we know is but a drop in a sea of knowledge.  “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding,” (Prov. 9:10).

2. “Wisdom” that tears down

James tells us that there are two kinds of wisdom. There is wisdom from below and wisdom from above. These two types of wisdom are contrasted in their origins, operations and outcomes.[ii] First, let’s look at the wisdom from below.

Origins – Jumping down to v. 15 we see James describing this kind of wisdom “does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, and of the devil (or demonic).” The Bible also calls this trio the world, the flesh and the devil.”

·         Earthly. This type of wisdom is measured in worldly terms. It is temporary, weak and imperfect. This wisdom will not be able to provide eternal solutions.

·         Unspiritual. In Greek this word refers to the base instinct of an animal to survive. Feelings are what guide this wisdom – doing what “feels right.”

·         Of the devil; demonic. This language is similar to what James said about the tongue, how it is set on fire by hell and destroys. Can you imagine anyone saying this of our world leaders? Harsh. Yet without Christ in them, our leaders are guided by this kind of wisdom.

Operations – What does this wisdom look like? Twice, James uses this phrase to describe the motivation of this wisdom, “bitter envy and selfish ambition,” (14, 16).

            Think of King Saul in the OT who grew increasingly bitter over David’s successes. The women of that day sang a song of celebration, “Saul has slain his thousands, and David his tens of thousands,” (1 Sam 18:7). It drove Saul crazy to think that this dirt-farmer outshone him.

            The drive to succeed or come out on top is driven by this kind of feeling. It is destructive to relationships and to oneself. Like Saul we can be destroyed by this attitude. Early on in my ministry I had a David who was being praised all the time in our church. My own desire to be the better man caused me a lot of grief. Humility is the only answer to this problem.

Outcomes – The result of this earthly wisdom is described as “disorder and every evil practice,” (16). The word “chaos” comes to mind. One of my favorite shows growing up was “Get Smart,” a kind of spoof on spy shows. The bad guys were called “Chaos” while the good guys’ organization was called “Control.” Good contrast, eh? When envy and selfish ambition are present everything is unsettled and agitated.

            The outcome of bitter envy is unpleasant. In 1930, the Chicago Examiner told a strange story about Harry Havens. Harry went to bed and stayed there for seven years, with a blindfold over his eyes, because he was angry at his wife. He had been helping out around the house, but his wife didn’t like the way he did the dishes. So he got angry and declared that he would go to bed for the rest of his life and never see her again. After seven years, he got up because the bed started to feel uncomfortable.

            You do not want to lie in a bed of bitterness. When we allow bitterness to grow it becomes antagonism that hurts those around us while destroying ourselves in the process. Actually, it is like swallowing poison and waiting for the other person to die.

3. Wisdom that builds up

James contrasts the wisdom of the world with heavenly wisdom in dramatic fashion. Let’s follow again the order of origins, operations and outcomes.

Origins – The contrast is obvious here, “But the wisdom that comes from heaven…” (17). You might remember what James said earlier, “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights…” (1:17).

            I like what Brian Bill said about the difference between wisdom from below and wisdom from above. Wisdom from below comes from reason. Wisdom from above comes from revelation.

            Reason and logic are good things in their place, but without revelation they are limited. Revelation is God revealing himself to us so that we may know his heart. Only through revelation can we understand the cross of Christ. “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God,” (1 Cor 1:18). (see 26ff).

Operations – The wisdom from heaven operates on a totally different level than the wisdom from below. “…the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure…” (17). All of wisdom’s attributes follow from and are related to purity. The root of this word speaks of ethical blamelessness or that one is free of the moral and spiritual defects that mark the double-minded. Remember, James said when we ask for wisdom we should believe and not doubt because the doubter is double-minded (1:6-8). Jesus said, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God,” (Mt 5:8).

            After purity, James says that the heavenly wise are:

·         Peace-loving. Wisdom that is peace loving seeks to get along with others.

·         Considerate. Are you gentle and reasonable with others?

·         Submissive. Are you compliant, approachable and willing to let others to have the spotlight or have their way?

·         Full of mercy and good fruit. Do you show compassion to those who are hurting, sick or broke? James told us that to wish a brother or sister well but not provide for their physical needs is inconsistent with our profession of faith (2:16-17).

·         Impartial. James also spoke about showing favoritism and how judging by appearances was an offense to the royal law of Scripture, to love your neighbor as yourself (2:8-9).

·         Sincere. Heavenly wisdom is consistent.

Outcomes – The result of heavenly wisdom is an attractive fruit. “Peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of righteousness,” (18). Wise people who love God will plant seeds of peace in other people. As God grows his purity and peace in us we can plant it in others.

            Ken Sande says there are three ways people deal with conflict. Some try to escape it (peace-faking); others go into attack mode (peace-breaking); while a few try to implement true reconciliation (peace-making). Since Jesus blesses the peacemakers we want to work towards peace in our relationships and approach conflict biblically. Jesus said, “Blessed are the peacemakers for they will be called sons of God,” (Mt 5:9).

Show me your faith

In this case, James might say, show me your wisdom.

Show your family what heavenly wisdom looks like in your behavior. Show your friends and co-workers what it means to be truly wise. Show the world your faith in Jesus by how you deal with conflict.

            A philosopher, by definition, is a lover of wisdom. We should all be philosophers. Jesus is the wisdom of God personified. We can talk about the beautiful truths of Jesus, but if we don’t put them into action, it is as if we don’t really know him. Ask yourself in light of this, what did I learn today? How would I do it differently? How do I transfer this lesson to my own life? Then, apply it. You then begin to live intelligently. To live with understanding. To live with meaning. To live with wisdom.

            You and I will be singing a different song than the world is familiar with if we sing Christ’s tune. The song of wisdom does not sing about “my” ambitions or “my” plans; the song of wisdom is bigger than one life, it encompasses all of life. Jesus did not die for you, he died for us. So this is our song. This is wisdom to build on.

                                                                        AMEN

           

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[i] John A. Morrison

[ii]Warren Wiersbe makes this observation about origins, operations and outcomes.

Show me your faith #8

TAMING THE TERRIBLE TONGUE

James has already addressed the trouble with our tongues in his letter, but given the chronic problem that is the tongue he returns to this theme to hammer it home. We have trouble learning this lesson. Though as believers we have been made new in Christ, the battle with the sinful nature is ongoing. The tongue is a huge part of this battle.

            This battle to hold the tongue in check is well-illustrated in a story I read this week:

            A kindergarten teacher was helping one of her students put on his cowboy boots. He asked for help and she could see why. Even with her pulling and him pushing, the little boots still didn’t want to go on. Finally, when the second boot was on, she had worked up a sweat. She almost cried when the little boy said, "Teacher, they’re on the wrong feet." She looked down and sure enough, they were.

            It wasn’t any easier pulling the boots off than it was putting them on. But she managed to keep her cool as together they worked to get the boots back on - this time on the right feet. And it was only then that he announced, "These aren’t my boots."

            She bit her tongue rather than scream, "Why didn’t you say so?" like she wanted to. And, once again she struggled to help him pull the ill-fitting boots off his little feet. No sooner had they got the boots off then he said, "They’re my brother’s boots. My Mom made me wear ’em today."

            Stifling a scream, she mustered up the grace and courage she had left to wrestle the ill-fitting boots on his feet again. Helping him into his coat, she asked, "Now, where are your mittens?"

            To which he replied, "I stuffed ’em in the toes of my boots."

            Taming the terrible tongue is a must for followers of Christ since we know that the tongue has the power to do good or great harm in spite of its small size. Pastor James is very insightful in his address of the tongue. He does not give us advice on how to control the tongue but paints vivid pictures for us to see how serious the problem of the tongue can be.

            To tame the tongue we need to recognize four things:

1. We will all be held to account for what we say

I am reminded of the U.S. Miranda rights read to a criminal at his arrest, “You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law…” We cannot remain silent all our lives but we should know, as James tells us, that what we say is being noted by God.

            James begins this warning by addressing those who would be teachers. For it seems that in his day as in ours to be a teacher in the church is to hold a position of respect and some authority. If you want to be noticed and make an impact, be a teacher. James, however, warns that to be a teacher means that our words will be judged more strictly. But by who?

            First, by our students. Jesus chastised the Teachers of the Law and the Pharisees because they like to be revered as experts in all things. But Jesus said, “…do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach,” (Mt 23:3).

            Katy has a regular habit of quoting something I have said but which I do not remember saying. I can tell it’s annoying for her because I can say things with authority and then she quotes me like Scripture. Between you and me I think she’s quoting someone else. It does remind me that I have to watch what I say and, more importantly, do what I say I will do.

            Second, we will be judged by God who is the author of what we teach. And remember, James has already exhorted us to not just be hearers of the Word but doers also. This coincides with what Jesus said earlier.

            But, you say, I’m not a teacher, so this does not apply to me. No, you may not be a teacher, but James quickly expands the scope of who he is addressing about the problem of the tongue. He began this section by saying, “Not many of you…” and then said, “We ALL stumble in many ways. ANYONE who is never at fault in what they say is perfect…” So his target is ALL believers since ALL of us have trouble with the tongue. And we ALL will be held to account for what we say.

2. We all have the power in our tongue to speak well

The power of the tongue is amazing. James uses two analogies to show us the positive power of the tongue.

            Beginning in v. 2 the Greek word for “bridle” is hidden in the English, but it comes out in v. 3 again. A little bit of steel, weighing what? A quarter of a pound? Together with leather reins controls a 1200 pound horse. One thing I have learned from riding a horse is that it lacks the power to read my mind. I have to control it with this tiny bit in its mouth to make it go where I want to go. At any moment this beast could decide to roll over on me or go its own way…fast.

            Secondly, James illustrates the power of a small rudder on a huge ship. The wind blows where it wants to and sailing ships are at the mercy of the wind and waves. Yet with a rudder you can control the direction of the ship.

            What James is showing is not so much the control of the tongue on the body but the size of it in comparison with the whole. A tiny bit – a large horse; a small rudder – a huge ship; a 6 ounce appendage – a 170 pound person. In proportion to its size the tongue has a powerful influence.

            James wraps up his analogies with a short observation: “Likewise, the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts,” (3:5a). Boasting is normally thought of as negative, but Paul told the Corinthians that he boasts all the time. Paul did not boast in himself but in what the Lord had done through his ministry. He even boasted in his weakness because then God could show his strength. So boasting in this sense is praise to God.

            Without the tongue how would we praise God? How could we worship him and testify to the power of God in our lives if not for the tongue?

            And the tongue can direct a life. By what we say we can encourage people to do great things. Just as the bit directs the horse, the rudder the ship, the tongue can direct the life – yours and the life of others. You can make someone’s day by saying something positive.

3. We all have the power in our tongue to speak ill

James uses two more analogies to show us the negative power of the tongue.

            The first is the power of the spark to set a whole forest on fire. If you think of the fires that raged in Southern California a few years ago you will remember how millions of dollars worth of homes and thousands of people were devastated by that fire. And someone set that fire on purpose. Fire in the right hands can be a useful tool, but in the wrong hands it is destructive. So goes the tongue.

            James wrote that, “The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course of one’s life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell,” (3:6). James' phrase "(the tongue) is set on fire by hell," is provocative. His word for hell is Gehenna, Jerusalem's garbage dump, a fitting metaphor for hell in those days, associated as it was with impurity, corruption, fumes and stench, a place ruled by Beelzebub, the Lord of the Flies-the source of the filth that so readily rolls off our tongues.

            The second analogy comes from the animal kingdom. James says that all kinds of creatures can be tamed and brought under our power. Killer whales at Sea World, elephants in a circus, even dogs in a home can be taught the rules of where to defecate. But the tongue? “…no human being can tame the tongue,” (3:8a). Every other living thing has been domesticated, or dominated by the human race, but the human tongue cannot be captured, caged or killed. It is a restless, vicious, incorrigible, feral thing that cannot be controlled-at least it cannot be controlled by "man."

            Note that…”by man.” What James does not say is very telling. What he infers is that humankind cannot control the tongue and therefore we need God’s help to control it. This tongue has the power to destroy a life. How many women have heard from their husbands how useless they are? How they wish they had never been born? Some women are abused physically and that’s horrible, but the verbal abuse can lead some to take their lives because they began to believe they were as bad as others said they were.

            In a less traumatic but equally disturbing sense, words are exchanged right here in the church that are from the pit of hell and have the power to destroy the spirit of a servant. Brothers and sisters, we should not talk to each other like that.

4. We must consider the source of our inconsistent use of the tongue

When someone consistently has negative things to say about a matter what is our collective response? Consider the source. That is not a label I would want affixed to my opinion.

            Why is our tongue such an inconsistent source of speech? James wrote, “With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness. Out of the mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be,” (3:9-10).

            To bless, where we praise God, is the highest, purest, most noble form of speech. The lowest, filthiest, most ignoble form of speech is cursing. A curse was seen in the ancient world as having great power. To curse someone is not swearing at them but actually desiring that they be cut off from God. Jesus told his disciples not to curse others but “to bless those who curse you.”   

             You know that hymn, “Rock of ages”? It’s a beautiful Biblical tribute to Christ and his finished work of redemption. Yet the man who wrote it, Augustus Toplady, when he was 30, cursed John Wesley, who was in his 70s, saying, “He is a lurking assassin, guilty of audacity and falsehood; a knave, guilty of mean, malicious impotence. He is an Ishmaelite, a bigot, a papist, a defamer, a reviler, a liar, without the honesty of a heathen, and impudent slanderer; with satanic guilt only exceeded by Satan himself, if even by him. He is an echo of Satan.” Isn’t that the most absurd thing you have ever heard?

            How can cursing and blessing come from the same mouth? James asks, “Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? …can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs?” (3:11-12). NO, NO, NO, is the answer that does not need to be said.

            Consider the source, we say. Where does this tongue of cursing in us come from? Well, from within us.

            Jesus was talking to the Pharisees when he explained the source of evil coming from their lips, but it could apply to us as well. He said, “You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.  A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him. But I tell you that everyone will have to give account on the Day of Judgment for every empty word they have spoken. For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned,” (Mt 12:34-37).

            The mouth speaks what the heart is full of…that is the source of our terrible tongue. If you want to tame the terrible tongue, the place to start is with your heart. If your thoughts were exposed so that everything you thought you also spoke, would you be embarrassed? Am I really glad to meet you? Does your long story really interest me?

            What is in your heart? You can hide it for a while but eventually comes bubbling out over your tongue.

Show me your faith

James does not give us details of how the tongue corrupts but he probably had a few passages from Proverbs in mind:

·         Thoughtless chattering (Prov 10:8; 12:18; 29:20)

·         Lying (12:19)

·         Arrogant boasting (18:12)

·         Gossiping (10:18)

Words have the power to heal or to hurt. Here’s a test: Could you go 24 hours without saying unkind words about, or to, anybody? Who here thinks they can do this?

            If you cannot answer ‘yes’ you may have a serious problem. If a person cannot go 24 hours without an alcoholic drink, you are addicted to alcohol. If a person cannot go 24 hours without smoking, you are addicted to nicotine. In the same way, if you cannot go 24 hours without saying unkind words about others, then you have lost control over your tongue.

            When Jesus confronted a crowd about to stone an adulterous woman, he said, “He who is without sin, cast the first stone.” One by one they walked away because they knew that they could not lift a finger against her.

            Just so, words are like stones that leave bruises on our hearts. Here are some rocks. I encourage you to take a stone and put it in your pocket. Anytime you feel like criticizing someone or berating them or talking behind their back, reach into your pocket and ask if you are without sin. Are you perfect? Do you want to be criticized?

            No man can tame the tongue. But with the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we can begin to bring it under the sovereign power of God to work for him.

                                                                                    AMEN

Message to all Readers

Greetings to all readers of this blog: if you are reading these blogs and receiving a blessing from the sermon material, drop me a line. I would love to hear from you, your name, where you are from and what I can pray for you.

Show me your faith #6

OF PRIDE AND PREJUDICE

If you had to choose between Coke and Pepsi, which would drink would you choose?

            If you had to choose between Ford and General Motors, which vehicle would you drive?

            These are the “great” debates of the modern era. Really, they are quite inconsequential and Coke drinkers will drink Pepsi if they have to, albeit secretly lest their Coke friends find out. Even hardened GM men (I say “men” because I don’t think women care that much) will drive a Ford if it means not walking.

            What this little contest about soda or vehicles proves is this: You have favorites. And having a favorite drink or a favorite brand of anything is certainly not a moral problem. I have a favorite daughter and a favorite son; ask me if I have a favorite child and we begin to have a problem.

            When we venture into the realm of “favorite people” the theme seems benign, but on further thought there comes a realization that having “favorites,” outside of family, is more problematic than we are aware.

            This week, thinking that this subject was not hitting my heart very hard, I prayed, “Lord, show me where I play favorites, because I feel quite innocent in this.” And as I was praying the Lord brought to mind several instances where I have prejudices and where my pride keeps me from engaging certain people. I was appalled at myself; I stopped praying since I didn’t like what I was seeing.

            The underlying message of James 2:1-13 can slip by us like a barely-felt breeze if we are not seeing ourselves in it. When you allow the message to sink in, however, it becomes a gale-force wind that will knock you down, because the truth is, there are people you do not like, for reasons you have conjured up, and you don’t like talking to them or being with them or even associating with them.

            And we will discover today in our study that James forbids this kind of thinking because according to the law of love that Jesus taught, Christians must not favor anyone for any reason since it is not consistent with that law of love.

1. Faith and Favoritism are incompatible

James bases his command on his second and last reference to Jesus Christ. “My brothers and sisters, believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ must not show favoritism,” (2:1).

            We might be tempted to think that only two mentions of Jesus in five chapters of a letter gives the impression that James renders Jesus insignificant. If he did, this would be just a bunch of moral teachings.

            However, a careful study of James shows that James very carefully bases what he writes on the teachings of Jesus. And here in this verse, James is equating Jesus with the shekinah glory of God, the localized presence of Yahweh. So when James writes “our glorious Lord Jesus Christ,” he is giving Jesus the highest title – he is saying Jesus is God.

            This is not a tangent but rather a basis for the command. Since Jesus is God and we believe in him, on that basis we are told not to show favoritism, because faith and favoritism are incompatible.

            Favoritism, in this text, literally means “to receive someone according to their face.” It describes the essence of judging a person based on their appearance. The word implies that someone looks at a certain person and shows them his face, but turns away from another. It is picking and choosing who will see one’s face.

            If we broaden the spectrum of what “appearances” entail, we could say that there are some people we will not “show our face to” based on their politics, where they work, or who their friends are. Something about certain people has prejudiced our view of them and we would rather avoid them.

2. Judge no person based on appearances

James chose a specific illustration that may have been an issue in the Early Church. He outlines a scenario where two men come into a meeting of Christians, presumably a worship service. One is obviously wealthy and has social status. He is described as wearing a gold ring, which seems to stand out and is the emblem of his aforementioned social status. We are also told in the Greek that his clothes are “shining.” Woven into the fabric are strands of silver and gold.

            The other man is clearly poor and wearing “filthy old clothes.” In another part of James (1:21) this same term is used to speak of moral uncleanness. This is no accident, since many of us, if we would see a person in filthy clothes in church, would judge him or her to be in a sinful way. But this man is simply poor and doesn’t have nice clothes.

            Of course, the rich man is seated in good spot, while the poor man is told to sit at someone’s feet, presumably so they can keep an eye on him. It is humiliating to sit at someone’s feet since it symbolizes subjection, or the simple judgment that the one is socially better than the other.

            James is quick to tell us that if we do this to people who come into our church, or treat them in any way that suggests that they are not worth our attention and love, then we are plainly wicked. We are placing ourselves in the place of judge, something that only God has the right to be.

            Appearances are lousy evidence to judge by. You will remember when God sent Samuel to anoint a new king when Saul had failed to be a decent king. Samuel was sent to Jesse’s sons who were tall, strong and handsome. But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart,” (1 Sam 16:7). Then God pointed Samuel to David, a young, insignificant teenager whose job was the lowest of low, shepherding.

            Ironically, the person you call “Savior” and “Lord” was prophesied to be of no physical consequence as far as looks go. Isaiah foretold, “He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him,” (Is 53:2b). Indeed, Jesus was the son of a poor carpenter and had no money to his name, he was a humble peasant from Nazareth (“can anything good come from there?” Nathanael asked). Yet he is the Lord of glory.

            Based on appearances, Jesus did not amount to much. David, his ancestor, did not look like he would amount to much. With these examples, how can we be so superficial and judge someone to be of no account and not worth our time?

3. Why Favoritism fouls the name of Christ

James has given us his illustration, perhaps a bit exaggerated, but for a good point. Now we will look at his reasons for rejecting favoritism. The first two are rational arguments for rejecting favoritism, while the third is biblical. Why is favoritism to be rejected?

a) It is inconsistent with God’s choice of the poor – This is a peculiar feature of the upside-down kingdom of God. God has chosen the poor. “Has not God 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?” (2:5).

            When we favor the rich we ignore that God has sided throughout history with the poor because it is the poor who are likely to be responsive to him and are therefore nearer to the kingdom. Some of the most vibrant churches today are found in Africa, South America and Asia – particularly among the poor regions of our world. Why? Jesus said that the deceit of wealth chokes out the Word of God and faith in people (Mt 13:22).

            So should we all be poor? Does God only choose poor people to be his children? With this logic we would never want to help the impoverished escape poverty, lest they lose their salvation. Scripture would not teach us to help the poor in that case. But it is not just that they are poor that leads to their salvation. They are poor AND they choose to love God (v. 5). However, we cannot ignore that the poor are more inclined to trust in Jesus than the rich.

b) It is inconsistent with the conduct of the rich – The second rational argument is that to favor the rich makes no sense since they are the ones who are apt to sue you. It is not clearly stated but the impression is that in this context the rich were oppressing the poor and trying to gain more land.

            James does not condemn the rich for being rich. That would be an unfair judgment again on our parts. James condemns the rich for what they do – that is, exploit the poor.

            There does seem to come with wealthy a pride that suggests independence and self-sufficiency. When that pride overwhelms the wealthy they tend to mock the place of faith in one’s life. James wrote, “Are they not the ones who are blaspheming the noble name of him to whom you belong?” (5:7). They may do this directly, or more likely, indirectly by how they live – without a care for what God cares about.

c) It is inconsistent with the law of love – James then lets his readers have it with the royal law. Why it is called the “royal law” is not explained in the text. We presume it is because the Lord Jesus declared that the greatest commandment was “To love the Lord your God” and “To love your neighbor as yourself.” If the King says this is the law that fulfills all law then it is a royal law and one to be obeyed above all others.

            Back in the OT God gave this law, “Do not pervert justice; do not show partiality to the poor or favoritism to the great, but judge your neighbor fairly,” (Lev 19:15). And then God said, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” (Lev 19:18), a few verses later. Love treats all people fairly. Love sees all people as God sees them. Love does not discriminate based on wealth, social status, or appearance.

            James uses this appeal to say that showing favoritism, loving some but not others, shunning those you don’t like, ignoring a brother or sister in the church, or whatever, is a conscious breaking of the royal law of Jesus. And if you break one law, he says, you break them all. If you show favoritism you are as bad as a murderer. Sound harsh? John wrote, “If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ yet hates his brother, he is a liar…Whoever loves God must also love his brother,” (1 Jn 4:20-21).

            Hate is a strong word. Yet if we choose to “show our face” or make eye contact, that is, give our selves to one and not another, we are despising them – hating them.

4. Show in your life that MERCY TRIUMPHS

The conclusion that James reaches is this: “Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom, because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment,” (2:12-13).

            This is an excellent example of where James reaches into the teaching of Jesus and makes a connection and an application. When does mercy triumph over judgment?

            Jesus tells the story of a king who wanted to settle accounts with his debtors. He finds a man who owes him millions of dollars. Surely the man should be judged and thrown in prison for incurring a debt he could never repay. But the king has mercy on him.

            However, this man, who is scot-free of any debt or judgment, turns around and finds a man who owes him a few hundred dollars. The man cannot pay and so the first man has him thrown into prison.

            The king hears about the unmerciful servant who treated his fellow servant so badly and revokes the mercy he had shown him. Jesus tells us what the king says, “Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?” The king then throws the man in jail till he pays back what he owes – which is likely forever.

            Then Jesus concludes, “This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart,” (Mt 18:35).

            Mercy triumphs over judgment. How? We all deserve what that unmerciful servant received but we have been forgiven a debt we could never repay. Our condemnation has been replaced with mercy. How did we appear to God? We were wearing filthy clothes and we looked poor. No one should have bothered with us in the state we were in. God ignored our appearance and saw hearts that would receive his mercy.

            So then, on what basis do we have the right to show favoritism to someone who comes into our fellowship and ignore others? What right do we have to be prejudicial based on petty differences, clothing, status, employment, or family lineage, when God has shown us mercy despite those things?

How can we show hospitality to some but not to others? Who is welcome in your home and who is not? Who is permitted into your conversations in the coffee shop and the tea house and who is not?

            You would say, as I did, I’m not prejudiced against anyone. I am not showing favoritism. But search your heart and pray that God would reveal it to you. THERE ARE people you do not associate with because your heart is wicked. I know this for a fact because my heart is wicked too.

            But mercy triumphs. God is merciful and he will judge us by the royal law if we show mercy to others and “love our neighbor as we love ourselves.”

Show me your faith

Pride and prejudice are a betrayal to Jesus.

            Who is God putting on your heart to love with mercy?

            Who are you avoiding because of a prejudice in your heart?

            How do we greet visitors to our church? How do we judge them? By the cut of their cloth or the look on their face?

            Are we afraid that mercy will demand that we care for new people when our lives are so busy already? Are we afraid of being overwhelmed by their burdens?

            Who do you need to love?

            Let’s take a moment to be quiet and ask the Lord to show us that person who needs our mercy.

                                                                        AMEN

Show me your faith #5

“GIVE ME THAT OLD-TIME RELIGION”

 

You have probably heard it said, “I don’t have a religion, I have a relationship with Jesus Christ.” I don’t know who started this saying but these things have a way of going beyond their intended meanings. This particular saying has become the standard mantra of the true believer: “I don’t have a religion; I have a relationship with Jesus Christ.”           

            A popular video on Youtube by Jefferson Bethke is entitled “Why I hate religion, but love Jesus.” In this video, Jefferson raps (yes, raps) about how religion is about being fake, about keeping appearances but having no heart for Jesus, about facades and rules and legalism. He declares that Jesus hated religion in his day and condemned those who made religion into a way of enslaving people.

            I personally find it quite presumptuous for Jefferson to say that Jesus hates religion. Yes, if religion is empty ritual and meaningless liturgy all for show, then Jesus probably hates it. If religion is about hair-splitting over theological disagreements, then Jesus probably hates religion. Jesus was certainly disgusted with the Pharisees who washed the outside of the cup but not the inside; he called them whitewashed tombs – nice on the outside but rotting corpses on the inside. Yes, that kind of religion is what turns people off.

            But when James wrote his pastoral letter and used the word “religion” he had a different meaning in mind. Religion, in James’ letter, is the external manifestation of inner spirituality. Or to put it another way, religion is outward expression of the inner heart-relationship we have with God. So when you say you don’t have a religion but a relationship with Jesus, you are saying that you have no way of expressing how you feel about Jesus.

            Earlier in the letter, James exhorted his readers not to merely listen to the word but to do what it says also. Doing what the word says is our religion. So doing what the word says includes caring for the helpless as well as living a pure life.

            Let’s see what James means by this religion thing.

 

1. Good Religion keeps a rein on your tongue

 

You will notice from our main text that religion has two effects: 1) practical compassion on the helpless, and 2) personal purity of life. What typically has happened in the history of the church is that we have tended to lean to one or the other, but not both at the same time. Either we have leaned toward social justice or emphasized personal holiness.

            As one writer illustrated, Christians are riding a horse and we are apt to fall off on one side or the other. We need to stay on the horse and marry social justice to personal holiness. We need to both care about sexual purity, financial integrity, a clean thought life AND have a heart for the poor and the helpless.

            Now we go back to a verse we have covered before to continue the point: “Those who consider themselves religious and yet do not keep a tight rein on their tongues deceive themselves and their religion is worthless,” (1:26).

            The reason we go back to this verse in connection with religion is that the critics of religion note one thing above all else in their hatred of religion – the Christian’s mouth. It is from the Christian’s mouth that trouble comes. As the Indians used to say in the Old Western movies, “White man speak with forked tongue.”

            We all have need of controlling our tongue better, don’t we? One woman said to another: "I can’t go into all the details, darling. I’ve already told you more than I heard myself."

            What proceeds from the mouth of the Christian, the religious critic claims, are so many rules for being a Christian that true relationship with God is swallowed up in legalism. And then we don’t always live up to the rules we have created.

            It was once said that if a person stopped swearing, drinking and hanging around the pool hall that he must have gotten religion. This image of a religious person has stuck so hard that if you hear a Christian use a foul word we, and the world, assumes that this person has slipped in their faith. Then the world says, “there’s your hypocrite,” because we don’t live up to the standard of our own rules of what a Christian is.

            Are they right or wrong? Yes. If we have made up rules for what a Christian is supposed to look like with our tongue and fail to live up to those rules they are right. However, that little appendage needs to be controlled for the sake of our testimony to what we truly believe: that a relationship with Jesus Christ changes us little by little through the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit each and every day to look and sound and be like Jesus. So in that way the critics are wrong – rules are not the essence of our religion, our heart-relationship with Jesus is.

            So we need to pray like the Psalmist, “I will watch my ways and keep my tongue from sin; I will put a muzzle on my mouth as long as the wicked are in my presence,” (Ps 39:1).

 

2. Good Religion cares for the helpless

 

If with our tongues we declare that Jesus is a caring and compassionate Lord, then the critics will want to see evidence of this in the Jesus people. Good religion cares for the helpless.

            James writes, “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress…” (1:27a). Some translations have the word “visit” instead of “look after.” The sense is that there will be a “continual and persistent ministry” with the helpless.

            God has a particular passion for the orphan and the widow. They were considered helpless in a world where if the man as the bread-winner died the wife became destitute. She might have to sell herself and her child into slavery to live.             God had special laws to assist the poor. In Deuteronomy we read that God “defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the alien, giving him food and clothing,” (10:18). And God commanded, “When you are harvesting in your field and you overlook a sheaf, do not go back to get it. Leave it for the alien, the fatherless and the widow, so that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hands,” (24:19). One of the sins that led to Israel’s destruction was their neglect of the helpless ones.

            God’s rebuke of Israel’s religious fasting revealed the difference between His heart and theirs (Isaiah 58:6-9).

a) Who are the orphans? Times have changed. Orphans and widows do not glean empty fields. We don’t have orphanages; we have a foster system. Single women can find work easily in our culture (easier). So who are the orphans?

            The helpless are typically those who cannot speak for themselves. God wants us to be concerned about orphans because they are helpless without mommy and daddy. If mommy and daddy are killed in a car accident leaving a three-year old toddler bruised but alive, and if she has no relatives to care for her, then God says the church should look after her.

            Abortion puts a child in a worse situation. The parents are not dead, but have turned on the child and choose to have the child dead. This is worse than being an orphan. To have mommy and daddy choose to have you dead is worse than mommy and daddy being dead. So if God wants us to care for the helpless, voiceless ones, it is pretty clear that the child whose life is in danger, even in the womb, is the critical concern of the person who says, “I love Jesus.” Because if you love Jesus you have his concerns at heart and He is the reason we believe that all life is precious because he created all life.

            This is one example.

b) When are widows helpless? Perhaps we should define who a widow is as well. Yes, a woman who has lost her husband is a widow, even today. If we think, however, of the definition of helplessness and voicelessness, we have to broaden our definition to include the divorced woman, the woman who had an abortion, and the woman who was forced by circumstance to sell herself, to name a few. When religion goes bad these are the women who are left feeling as outcasts in the church. Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is a religion that shows compassion and love on these women also.

            These women fall under the umbrella of good religion as the objects of our visits and care. Jesus leaves us with very little wiggle room when he talks about whom he accepts as his own in Matthew 25. There he talks about separating the sheep and the goats. Who are the sheep who get to go to heaven? Jesus said, “I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me,” (25:36). The sheep are those who treated every person as if they were Jesus himself, especially the poor and unwanted.

            Someone has said it like this: “We are never closer to the heart of God then when we care for orphans and widows.” Conversely, you can learn a lot about someone by the way they treat children and the elderly. James is saying you can tell if Jesus is first in someone’s life by whether or not they care for orphans and widows. If I say I value Christ, than I must value what He values. And Since Jesus values the most vulnerable, I must value the most vulnerable.

 

3. Good Religion is concerned about clean living

 

Religion seems to some people to be just a bunch of rules. Well guess what? There are rules for everything in life. Without rules there would be chaos. If religion is the outward expression of what’s in our hearts, then we will agree to some extent on what that looks like.

            I think sometimes what the world wants is for us to have our faith but look like the rest of the world, to not stand out too much, and maybe not make them feel guilty about their own lifestyles. Talking “religion” to these folks is like asking them to “give up” or “change” their lives, and they don’t want to change. That’s why a relationship is less restricting than a religion. Ironically, relationships need rules and require change also.

            What the world would like us to do is accept their values and live by their standards. James wrote that this exactly what we should not do in no uncertain terms. “…and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world,” (1:27b).

            We are to guard against being defiled or contaminated by world values. That is not to say that we are to remove ourselves from the world. Rather, we are in the world but not of the world.

            For our Amish and Old Order Mennonite brothers and sisters this has come to mean shunning the automobile and electricity. Yet sin has entered their cloisters time and time again in other forms. Child abuse and sexual assault are not uncommon among these secluded religious types.

            No, denying ourselves cars and electricity does not result in purity. James points us to our minds and hearts and tongues and hands. Remember, he said, “Do not merely listen to the word…Do what is says.” If you do not do what the Word of God says you are deceiving yourself that you are truly religious. And by religious I mean “devoted.” Reading and obeying the Word fills our minds and hearts with the knowledge of what it means to be devoted to God.

            In the forests of Northern Europe lives the ermine, a small animal known best for its snow-white fur. Instinctively this animal protects its glossy coat of fur with great care lest it become soiled.

            Hunters often capitalize on this trait. Instead of setting a mechanical trap to catch the ermine, they find its home in a cleft of a rock or a hollow tree and daub the entrance and the interior with tar. Then their dogs start the chase, and the frightened ermine flees toward its home. But finding it covered with filth, he spurns his place of safety. Rather than soil his white fur, he courageously faces the yelping dogs who hold him at bay until the hunters capture him. To the ermine, purity is dearer than life!

            To the Christian, purity ought to be dearer than life. The Word of God, not rules concocted by man, will teach us how to be morally pure in a depraved world.

 

Show me your faith

 

Doing good in the name of Jesus will bring few to Christ when others see no inward transformation in those reaching out to them. At the same time, the most pious, moral believers who refuse to help the needy of the world will find their attempts to convince others of Jesus’ love often falling on deaf ears.

            We need to stay in the saddle on this horse.

            The old spiritual “Give me that old-time religion,” written in the 1870s, doesn’t mention Jesus or the gospel that saves us, but it does have a redeeming verse: After a few rounds of “Give me that old-time religion,” it swings into “Makes me love everybody…it’s good enough for me.”

            If the outward expression of religion reflects a genuine relationship with Jesus Christ, that’s a good religion. If it “makes me love everybody,” then it sounds like Jesus has got a hold of your heart – “For God so loved the world…” And when that core value gets a grip on your heart you will change your world.

            Good and true religion must incarnate itself into life, not just generally but by specific acts in specific cases. Pure religion has little to do with ceremonies, temple rituals or special days. Pure religion means practicing God’s word and sharing it with others; through speech, service and personal purity.

            As Martin Luther said, “The world does not need a definition of religion but a demonstration of religion.”

            “Let us not love with words (alone) but with actions and in truth,” (1 Jn 3:18).

                                                                        AMEN