A Manifesto for Gospel Living (Pt 3)

Automated transcript of the sermon audio, generated with OpenAI Whisper (small.en). It has not been checked against the recording and may contain errors, especially in names and Scripture references.

Well, as we gather this morning, we have come as an assembly of individuals to worship God and with one heart and one voice. And in a little while, we’re going to consider the Apostle James teaching on the wrong use of our voices. But for now, we get to use our voices to acknowledge him as our sovereign Lord. And as we do that, we remember that our help is in the name of the Lord. Amen. Amen. The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge. There is no speech, nor are there words whose voice is not heard. Their voice goes out through all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world.

In them he has set a tent for the sun, which comes out like a bridegroom, leaving his chamber, and like a strong man runs its course with joy. Its rising is from the end of the heaven and its circuit to the end of them, and there is nothing hidden from its heat. And Lord, we add our voices to the tumult of voices throughout the creation that are declaring Your glory this morning. It would be utter foolishness on our part not to do so. Jesus told the Pharisees that even the rocks would cry out in praise if they tried to stop the people from praising Him. Your glory and the praise that results from it simply cannot be suppressed no matter how hard some may try.

Help us this morning to set aside all earthly distractions and devote our whole hearts into genuine praise and worship of you. We pray along with the psalmness that the words of our mouth and the meditations of our hearts would be pleasing to you, our rock and our Redeemer. Amen. It has never been said that someone unsaid. Some things can be left unsaid, but once you say it, you can’t unsay it. You can try and take back what you said. You can say, I didn’t mean it, or you can try the politician’s escape, I misspoke defense, but you can’t unring the bell once it’s been run. Even how many times we regret what we say, it’s surprising how often we keep saying things we regret.

We never seem to learn from the proverb that says, when words are many, transgression is not lacking, but whoever restrains his lips is prudent. Even a fool, when he keeps silent, is considered wise. Wars start with words. Proverbs tells us, the beginning of a strife is like letting out water.

quit before the quarrel breaks out. Getting ready for church this morning, our words helped make or break our readiness to worship. And I know that sentence is probably a little bit too personal. Our tongue is like a two edged sword. Again, Proverbs tells us death and life are in the power of the tongue and those who love it will eat its fruits. It would be nice if we could make excuses for our tongue as if it were some rogue member of our body that speaks without asking permission first, but we can’t. The Bible tells us it’s out of the heart the mouth speaks. A tongue problem is really a heart problem and only a heart that is repentant can lead to a tongue that is tame. Only a tongue controlled by the Holy Spirit can consistently speak words that bring life rather than death. So if you’ve been guilty of sinning with your tongue this week or if there’s any other sins that come to mind now is the time to confess those sins as is our custom you’re invited if you’re willing and able to go ahead and kneel at this time

and to spend a moment in quietness preparing your hearts as we proceed into worship let’s go ahead and do that now father we confess that we sin with our tongue far too often from the same mouth comes forth blessing and cursing your word rebukes us through the Apostle James when he wrote these things ought not be so. We forget how much we’ve been forgiven and we hold others to a standard even we can’t meet and when they inevitably fail we slash them with our tongues. We know this isn’t right but we are powerless without your spirit’s help to bridle our tongue. We want to be a people who use our words to bring life to others because we’re created in your image and you are the source of life.

Thank you that your spirit is ever-present, convicting us of sin and and righteousness and judgment to come. We confess our sins of the ton and all other sins and thank you for your forgiveness. May we not take that forgiveness for granted by not truly repenting. Continue to teach and correct us as needed so that we might better reflect in all areas of our lives the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in whom’s name we now pray, amen. You’re invited to stand.

Our assurance of forgiveness this morning found in Ephesians 1 5 through 8, in love he predestined us for adoption to himself his sons through Jesus Christ according to the purpose of his will to the praise of his glorious grace with which he has blessed us in the beloved in him we have redemption through his blood the forgiveness of our trespasses according to the riches of his grace which he lavished upon us in all wisdom and insight. Today’s scripture reading is Psalm 34 verses 8 through 13. Psalm 34 8 through 13. O taste and see the Lord is good. Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him. O fear the Lord you his saints for those who fear him have no lack. The young lions suffer want and hunger but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing. Come, old children, listen to me. I will teach you the fear of the Lord. What man is there who desires life and loves many days that he may see good?

Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking deceit. Let’s pray.

Father, we come to you this week after Easter, after remembering what your son did for us and what you did for us by giving us your son. And we are back into the grind again and help us understand that every day is your day. Help us to understand that you are Lord overall. We think of the leaders of our country and those over us. We ask that you would convict them and bring those that know you to positions of leadership and influence to influence our society and turn us around. We thank you for that. We pray for those men that serve us in our military Ben Hackbarth and Dan Wibemeyer. We think of them and others that know you that are around the world today in very difficult situations. Give them wisdom and strength through you. We pray for our families. We pray for those fathers, those mothers, the children in those families that they learn from a good example and that we model your love in our families. We think of our church leaders, the elders, the deacons, the other people that are constantly serving our

body help us to be that unity and show the world in our community of the power, the supernatural power you give us through our congregation. We think of those people in our congregation that are sick and having physical problems. We think of the Durden’s this morning as Ralph’s ongoing treatment and chemo for his cancer and then Steve Snyder, their nephew, who does have an operation date on April the 11th for his back surgery down at UW. That will help him with his pain but due to the diagnosis of ALS he probably will not be able to walk again. So we would ask that you would give strength to Lisa and Steve as they go through now a long time of struggle with ALS. And we thank you that Mary Kay is up and hacking at it and help her to be strong through these situations.

We thank you for Debbie Wold’s progress and we pray that you would continue to shrink those tumors and cure her of her cancer.

We think of Christina Barnes’ mom as hospice care and all the things involved in her care with her cancer battle would be smooth and be able to be worked out as the family would have it. We think of Brandon and Esther Ballester’s nephew Ethan Asheim and that at 15 he’s had this problem where he couldn’t breathe and all these complications. We ask that through prayer and so forth it seems like he’s getting better and the last news was he didn’t have to have the tracheotomy. He was able to breathe on his own but he’s going to have a long time of recovering from this situation. So we’d ask that they, you give that family strength and give him strength and we thank you for the testimony that his family has been through this. We pray for Gordy and Janine Saul. Gordy has an appointment on 4-12 about the problem with the water on his brain and we ask that they would be able to cure that and put him right in that situation.

And we do think of this brother of theirs that has a strained relation that that would be able to be cured also and that he would come to know you. We thank you for Bill Slice and his operation on his gallbladder and that he seems to be recovering fine from that and that he would get back to full health, and he’s anxious to do that, but help him not to jump too soon and to take care of himself, so that when he gets back at it, he’ll be back full of force. We also pray for Hunter Martin, the Gail and Jim’s grandson, and that the seizures that he’s had, that they would be able to correctly diagnose them and stop that.

He seems to be doing all right, but we do pray that they would find the cure and get everything balanced out with him. And we thank you that there was no damage. And lastly, but not least, this cold and kind of flu bug that just keeps going around our church and our school. It just keeps decimating us every week. One member gets well, and then the next member gets sick. And we just keep trading it around. So we’d ask that you’d finally give us strength to get through that and back on track. We thank you for the outreach that you’ve given us through our school, through the Children’s Law Center, and through the Good Shepherd’s Home.

And help us to remember that each one of us are that outreach to the community that we live in, the workers that we work with, and the people that we come in contact with. We may be the only light they see, so help us to understand that and reflect that properly this week. We do pray for all the churches that are preaching your gospel around the world today. It’s amazing how you have grown your family from those few 2,000 years ago and now the influence that we have worldwide in all kinds of places that we don’t even know about. So I ask for special strength for those people as they worship you, help them to understand that you live inside of them with your spirit.

Help us to understand that also. We thank you most of all, of course, for your son, for without him we couldn’t even pray to you. And it’s in his name, Jesus Christ, we pray, amen. Father, how true that refrain is that better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere.

And even as we went through our prayer requests this morning, it just reminds us again that this life is filled with frailty and trouble tribulation and trials. Lots of reasons to at times be discouraged and yet the hope that someday we will stand in your presence and you’ll wipe away all the tears and all the sorrows that we turn to joy and all of those problems the weakness of the flesh will be done away with. Help us to keep our hope fixed on that future filled with glory and to not let the nasty now and now be what drives and determines what goes on with our souls. Help us even now as we again study your word to apply ourselves to listen and that I may speak it truthfully and that would have its intended effect upon our hearts. We ask this now in your Son Jesus name. Amen. This morning we’re continuing in a series from the Book of James that I have been teaching on Sunday evenings. I was supposed to actually preach this particular message back in February, but if you remember, Snowmageddon 2018 forced us to cancel church on that particular Sunday. Nobody

showed up except for Philip and his family. Yay Philip, good job. So you really need to join Facebook, brother. For those who missed the first two messages, I’ve titled this series on James a Manifesto for Gospel Living. In In previous messages in the epistle of James, we’ve seen that its primary purpose is not to teach core doctrines of the Christian faith. In fact, there were some back during the days of canonizing of the scripture who argued that there really is nothing of doctrinal significance in James, and therefore, it shouldn’t be in the canon. But it actually made it into the collection, and so we’ll see for good reason.

So its primary purpose, as I said, is not to teach core doctrines of the Christian faith, but rather to give practical examples of Christian living or a type of manifesto, if you will, for living out the true gospel. For those who preach a works-based salvation, the Catholics would be an example, this is their go-to book. But wrongly so. I mean, they quickly jump to the verse, no faith without works is dead. And that seems like a killer verse to support the idea that works are necessary for salvation. but I believe they misinterpret that passage. Previously, I said that this epistle can be likened to taking a lab course in Christianity 101 as opposed to a lecture course.

And if you’ve done college and you went to your basic science class, you typically had a lecture class and you had a lab class, right? Well, just think of all the other epistles. That’s the lecture. That’s the doctrine. And then James is the lab for Christian living where he tells us, OK, we’ve been giving you all the doctrinal theory in the lectures. Now it’s lab time. We’re going to tell you what it looks like. In no way does this epistle contradict the doctrine of salvation by grace alone apart from works. However, it does support the teaching that we are saved by grace alone, but grace that saves is never alone, i.e.

without good works. This letter is best viewed as a series of examples of what a Christian out in the wild looks like. Each of us can hold up our own life to these examples then to see if it matches up. So if you want to know, how am I doing, give yourself a self-test as a Christian, read through James, and it’s a series of examples or tests, and you can say, does my life look like this? So far, we’ve looked at four examples of Christian living, of what a true Christian looks like. Chapter 1 gave us the first two. It said, those were, a true Christian has joy in trials and is a doer of the word. And then in chapter 2, we saw a true Christian is impartial towards others and lives a faith that has feet.

Joy in trials, we saw, has to do with how we respond when we inevitably encounter difficulties and hardship in life. We saw the proper response to trials is joy because they grow our faith. You can say the trials helps makes us anti-fragile, if you’re familiar with the book by that title. We aren’t just resilient when trials come. They actually make us better. James says that they make us perfect and complete. We also saw the trials bring with them inherently a temptation to sin. But that does not mean that God is the one who tempts us. James clearly says that God does not tempt anyone. Trials carry with them a temptation to sin because of our flesh.

In our flesh, we really don’t like the trials when they come. And so instead of embracing them as God-given opportunities for growth, we yield to the temptation to be angry, anxious, complaining, or any other number of sinful responses we might have from them. A mature Christian then resists the urge to sin when trials come. Doers of the Word speaks to the point that Christians don’t just get their sentences right in Bible studies. They live out what the Word tells them to do. They continually look into the mirror of the words so they can see who they are and then adjust their life accordingly so. As they do so, they’ll be transformed in a way that works itself out through their fingers and their toes.

James gave visiting orphans and widows in their distress and keeping oneself on stain by the world as some examples of what a doer of the word would look like. The third example we got out of chapter two was the example of gospel living, the example he gave was called impartiality towards others. Now, this does not mean loving and treating everyone equally. There are some more liberal leaning theologians who would jump on James admonition there did not be impartial and argue for some kind of inequality in all regards but that is not what James is asking for. For example, I buy my kids gifts for Christmas, not yours.

I love my wife in a way that is not the same as I love others. The impartiality that James is speaking against still allows for distinctions to be made. Some, such as members who identify with the LGBTQ community and also call themselves Christians, they’ll say that Paul abolished all such distinctions in Galatians 3, where he wrote, there is neither Jew nor Greek, neither slave nor free. There is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. I mean, I heard that again referred to, again, that verse pulled out of context in that community to make the point. This is a faulty interpretation that there’s no longer any distinction.

In context, Paul is saying that everyone is justified the same way, regardless of gender, ethnicity, or social status. He was not denying those distinctions, along with different roles, rights, benefits, and limitations that those distinctions bring. He was arguing that they no longer exist. Partiality is wrong when it uses human-based merit systems to determine a person’s value as one of God’s image bearers. James had given the example of the rich man that came into the church, and they gave fussed over him and gave him special attention. And the poor man, they were less kind to. Those would be examples of the wrong kind of partiality.

Wrong partiality holds others to a standard of acceptability that God himself does not use. And then the fourth example we saw out of chapter 2 was faith that has feet. This example is similar to the doers of the word. When I was a younger believer, I would sometimes hear this saying, and you may have heard it too. It typically was made when a pastor was really pounding the pulpit and preaching about, you all need to go do this or that. You need to get out of your pews and go do something. And the message seemed very strongly emphasized on doing works. And some self-called, the anti-legalist brigade, I call them, they would come up and they’d say, well, you got to remember, being precedes doing and emphasizing the importance of the heart, being in the right place.

And they would want to use that as sort of a cop-out and an excuse to say, well, I really don’t have to focus so much on doing because it’s really important to be right with God to have the right heart. And obviously, there is some truth to that. But again, they miss James Point. His fourth example puts a twist on the being, proceeds doing, and he adds to it. And he says, yes, but doing always proceeds from being. Simply put, faith is never alone. Real faith demands good works. But note, you can’t say good works proves real faith, which again, the people who love salvation by works would say, hey, my works are my proof.

And that doesn’t necessarily follow. All right, so that’s my way of review where we’ve been with the Book of James so far. This morning, then, we’re going to look at James chapter 3, where I will see two more examples, then, of what Christianity looks like when it’s lived out. And those two examples are first, a tamed tonne, and second, unworldly wisdom, a Christian will exhibit unworldly wisdom. So let’s start off with the example of a tamed tonne. Let me direct you to the text, James chapter 3, verse 1. I’m going to read through that section there, and then we’ll discuss it. Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with stricters, with greater strictness.

For we all stumble in many ways, and if anyone does not stumble in what he says, he’s a perfect man, able also to bridle his whole body. But if we put bits into the horses, miles of horses so that they obey us, we guide their whole bodies as well. Look at the ships also. Though they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs. So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things. How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire. And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell.

For every kind of beast and bird of reptile and sea creature creature can be tamed and has been tamed by mankind but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil full of deadly poison. With it we bless our Lord and Father and with it we curse the people who are made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so. Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and salt water? Can a fig tree, my brothers, where olives or a grapevine produce figs, neither can a salt pond yield fresh water.” He almost like here James has to like suck in a lot of air after that.

He just blurted that out. In this next example, James draws our attention to the difficulty of controlling the tongue. He refers to it as a restless evil. You probably have memories from your youth. If you can remember back, you’re on the schoolyard and the bully or somebody’s picking on you and they’re saying really mean words to you and it really hurts your feelings and perhaps you come home crying or come home complaining to your parents about the person saying those unkind words. And if your parents were like mine, they probably pulled out that sage old proverb and they said something like this, sticks and stones may break my bones, but words may never harm me.

Now there may be some truth to that saying and it is good for us to help our kids develop thicker skins, But is it true that words can never harm me? James, from what we just read, seems to challenge that notion. The ton, in fact, is so clever it can be used to harm others even when the words themselves are harmless. There’s an article that appeared in the 1970 edition of Mad Magazine, long before you guys were born, written by a man named Bill Garvin. The article was titled Guaranteed, Effective, All occasion, non slanderous political smear speech. In his article, Garvin showed how you could give a speech that smears your political opponent without actually slandering him.

Here’s some excerpts. My fellow citizen, it is an honor and a pleasure to be here today. My opponent has openly admitted he feels an affinity toward your city, but I happen to like this area. It might be a salubrious, health salubrious place to him, but to me it is one of the nation’s most delightful garden spots. If you’re wondering what salubrious meant, it meant favorable and healthful. He starts then by attacking his opponent’s family. His female relatives put on a constant pose of purity and innocence and claim they are inscrutable. Yet every one of them has taken part in hortatory activities, encouraging words.

His uncle was a flagrant heterosexual. His sister, who has always been obsessed by sex, once worked as a proselyte outside a church. And that’s S-E-C-T-S, in case you’re wondering what I said there. She worked as an evangelist. His nephew subscribes to a phonographic magazine. His wife was a thespian before their marriage and even performed the act in front of paying customers. She was an actress. And his mother, his own mother, had to resign from a woman’s organization in her later years because she was an admitted sexagenarian. She hit 60. Garvin then turns the attack to his opponent. He perambulated his infant son on the street.

Took him for a walk in a carriage. He attempted to interest a 13-year-old girl in philately stamp collecting. He has advocated social intercourse in mixed company and has taken part in such gatherings himself. Polite conversation. And last summer, he committed a piscatorial act on a boat that was flying the American flag. He caught a fish. Now, this humorous example reinforces the point James is making. The ton is a powerful and often vicious weapon. James begins this example then with a surprising statement. Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness.

The reason this statement is surprising is because many of us have heard, stated, or implied that teaching the word of God is the highest and most noble calling that a Christian could ever have. This faulty thinking that elevates being a Bible teacher to the most noble of callings stems from dualistic thinking, which suggests that spiritual stuff matters more in life than temporal stuff. The temporal stuff is just a necessary evil. You have to ask if teaching really is the highest calling in life, then why would James say not many of us should be teachers? He gives two reasons for not encouraging everyone to be a teacher.

First, teachers will incur a stricter judgment. Now, he doesn’t elaborate on exactly what that means. Perhaps he’s thinking of when Jesus said, judge not that you not be judged, for with the judgment you pronounce, you will be judged. And with the measure you use, it will be measured to you, in the Matthew 7. Bible teachers are invariably telling their listeners what they should or should not do. And if the teacher does not do what he says, then he’s guilty of being a hypocrite, and thus he will incur a stricter judgment from God. So standing up here teaching this morning, I put myself in a position of possibly incurring God’s greater judgment.

The second reason James gives for not many teachers is in verse 2. For we all stumble in many ways. And if anyone does not stumble in what he says, he’s a perfect man, able also to bridle his whole body. James reminds us that we all stumble or sin in lots of different ways. That should be pretty obvious to us. and Apostle John confirms that when he says, if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. Sin is inevitable, and apparently sinning with our tongue is near the top of that list. James warns against many teachers because the more words there are, the greater the odds are that sin is going to occur.

According to James, as goes the battle with our tongue, so goes the battle with the rest of our body. It’s like the ton is almost the leading indicator if there’s a sin issue in our life. He states that if we have mastered control over our ton, then we are perfect and are able to control all the other sinful impulses that come with our flesh. The word perfect, as used by James here now, does not imply that sinless perfection is obtainable. In this instance, perfect just means that we’ll be mature. The highest test of our spiritual maturity is what we do with our tongues. It’s the barometer of our spiritual condition.

If the eyes are the window to the soul, you’ve heard the saying, then I say that the mouth is the doorway to the heart. In Matthew chapter 15, the Pharisees were fussing at Jesus and his disciples because they did not follow the proper ceremonial cleansing of their hands before eating. They were concerned about defilement from external sources, But Jesus corrects their faulty understanding and explains that it’s what proceeds out of the mouth of man that defiles him. He said, but what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person. For out of the heart comes evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander.

These are what defile a person. But to eat with unwashed hands does not defile anyone. The reason James goes after the tongue so hard is because it is a direct revelation of our heart, of the heart of a man. The ton, if you will, is the dipstick that measures the maturity of our heart. James continues his discourse showing by way of example then how an out of control ton does harm. First, it ignites all manner of evil. Look at verse 3 through 6 again. If we put bits into the mouths of the horses so that they obey us, we guide their whole bodies as well. Look at the ships also. They are so large and are driven by strong winds, but are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs.

So also the ton is a small member, yet it boasts of great things. How great a force is set ablaze with such a small fire. And the ton is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The ton is set among our members, standing the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and is set on fire by hell. James uses some really strong hyperbole. The tongue is a world of unrighteousness. It is staining the whole body. He emphasizes the tongue’s power to influence relative to its size. It’s like a bit in a horse’s mouth, a rudder on a ship, and finally a tiny flame that starts a forest fire. You can really see that he’s trying to drive home an important point of just how powerful and dangerous the tongue is, what it can do.

Pick your favorite analogy. The point’s the same. The ton is a mighty tool for evil when it’s not under control. Whole economies shudder when opposing leaders engage in warmongering rhetoric. Children cringe and fear when parents engage in heated verbal arguments. Lawn-held friendships are destroyed because of a few ill-advised words. On and on we can go with examples of how words have set the whole world ablaze. Now out of curiosity, I really wanted to think about these illustrations that James gave. So I contemplated the one he gave about the rudder, the rudder analogy. So I looked into the rudder system on the aircraft carrier, the USS Theodore Roosevelt.

I thought, well, what would be a big ship today? And I think an aircraft carrier, you know, Grammy, is a pretty big boat. Can you call it an aircraft carrier boat? Is that wrong? No, it’s a ship. Okay, ship, all right. I’ve been told that before. The ship itself is enormous. This flight deck covers four and a half acres, and at its longest point, it’s 1,092 feet long, so more than three football fields long. At its highest point, it rises 20 stories above the waterline. 94 million pounds of structural steel went into its construction, along with about another million pounds of aluminum. And it takes two rudders to steer this behemoth.

Each rudder measures just 29 feet by 22 feet in dimension. So think of that. Over a thousand feet in length, 20 stories tall, weighing tens of thousands of tons, all steered by two rudders that are about 30 feet by 30 feet. Now granted those rudders are pretty stout themselves, a lot of steel in those as well, but you get the idea of a very small device steering such a large ship. Consider again James’ analogy of the forest fire. Last year, you may recall, there was a teenager just playing with some fireworks in the Eagle Creek area of Columbia River Gorge, and he set off a fire. That fire ultimately burned 49,000 acres.

That’s three and a half times the area of Marysville. Can you imagine? Just one kid, fireworks, and three Marysvilles went up in flame, that area. It caused the closure of hundreds of trails and campsites that won’t reopen until later this year and the hillsides having been denuded of all their vegetation are now are susceptible to a lot of mudslide activity. One small fire, one gigantic forest fire. Words cause splits in nations, splits in churches, and splits in families. We typically aren’t as sensitive as we should be to the power our town has to cause trouble.

These real life examples should make us stop and consider more carefully how and when we use our tongue. The second way that James says the tongue does harm is it poisons relationships. Take a look at verses 7 through 12. For every kind of beast and bird of reptile and sea creature can be tamed and has been tamed by mankind, but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil full of deadly poison. With it we bless our Lord and Father and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so. Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and salt water? Can a fig tree, my brothers, bear olives, or a grapevine produce figs? Neither can a salt pond yield fresh water.”

Again, James uses some strong rhetoric to emphasize the power of the tongue. He likens it to an untameable beast and says it’s full of deadly poison. Anybody here starting to think about cutting your tongue out. It means James doesn’t do it much justice. One way the tongue damages relationships is through its unpredictability. One minute, we’re blessing with it, and the next, we’re cursing. In many cases, those blessings and cursings are directed at the same person. More than one husband has foolishly wondered why his wife is not receptive to his sweet nothings when he’s also regularly lashed out at her with his tongue.

It’s really like wondering why she doesn’t want to pet the pretty snake. Is it going to bite me this time? The tongue reveals the hypocrisy in our heart, and it becomes hard for others to know who the real us is. Are you the person who gives blessing? Are you the person who gives cursing? What is it today? James emphasizes the problematic nature of a tongue that blesses and curses by pointing to four impossibilities, a sprain that alternates between fresh and saltwater, a fig tree that produces olives, a grapevine that produces figs and a salt pond that yields fresh water. Sadly, because of sin, it is not impossible for our tongue to bless and curse.

But it should be so foreign to the Christian as to be practically impossible. If we find ourselves frequently alternating between blessing and cursing, then that should serve then as a warning to re-examine our profession of faith. A mature Christian does not do that. have learned to control the tongue. Let’s switch gears now to the second example that James gives us there. And this is the example of a true Christian demonstrates unworldly wisdom. So starting in verse 13, we find the text there. Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct, let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom. But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, do not boast and be false to the truth.

This is not the wisdom that comes from down from above, but it’s earthly, unspiritual, demonic. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exists, there will be disorder in every vile practice. But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace. In the second example, James contrasts the wisdom of this world with the wisdom that’s from above, he starts with a simple question. Who is wise and understanding among you? And then he goes on to give us some definitions.

The wisdom, of course, he’s referring to when he says who is wise is the wisdom that’s from above. And it’s something that only a Christian can actually possess. By examining the kind of wisdom a person characteristically exhibits, we can get a pretty good then indicator of where that person’s spiritual condition is. Are they even saved or are they a very mature person? So as we go through these characteristics of worldly versus wisdom from above, you again can use that sort of as a test, say, okay, where am I at on the wisdom meter? The first thing we notice is that wisdom from above is demonstrable. This isn’t a spiritual guru sitting around thinking wise things, waiting to answer questions.

James says that the wise person demonstrates wisdom by good conduct and a gentle spirit. The Bible teaches that every believer is to be busy doing good deeds. And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap if we do not give up. So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are the household of faith, Galatians 6. For we are as workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. Ephesians 2, you can’t escape the fact that Christians, wise Christians, are busy doing things, good things. Wisdom that is from above is busy, and that busyness is for the sake of others.

Contrast this then with earthly wisdom. Its focus is on self. It’s characterized by jealousy and selfish ambition. Such motivation is wrong, and according to James, it is false to the truth. That’s a funny way to say it’s a lie to say that you’re practicing heavenly wisdom when your motivations are self-centered. In verse 15, James identifies then three levels to wisdom, not from above. And in these names that he gives, these levels, it implies an increasing level of evilness to each one. First, he describes the wisdom that is earthly, or earthly wisdom. This is a wisdom that is devoid of any spiritual consideration.

That person is just simply not even thinking spiritual things. They’re just simply doing life on their own, trying to figure it out. It’s limited to what man, apart from God, can deduce for himself. As such, it’s easily shaped by the most popular ideas surrounding it. It’s tuned into Fox News or CNN and picking up its wisdom accordingly. It is tossed around by every philosophical wind that blows through. It often follows the herd.

Again, it’s not particularly even having thoughts about is there something outside of myself that I should consider. It’s just what do I see and what do I, what’s my wise interpretation of the data. But the next James gives another description. He says wisdom that is unspiritual. This is a a step further away from the wisdom that’s from above. Some translations use the word natural instead of unspiritual there. This is the wisdom that one would expect of one who denies the existence of God. The person who practices this wisdom is described in 1 Corinthians 2.14 where it says, The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. So whereas in the first case that’s the person who is indifferent to spiritual considerations.

This person may be aware that there’s a wisdom from above. There’s a different way of approaching the situation. But it’s folly to them. They disregard it. They don’t want to follow it. So they do what they want to do. And then finally, there is a wisdom that is demonic. We see much of this kind of so-called wisdom today. Examples would be abortion being made acceptable and often being called the right thing to do in some cases. Homosexuality, of course, being viewed is natural and beautiful, people being called brave for refusing to identify with the traits that they were born with. Those would be examples of the demonic wisdom that we’ve reached.

First Timothy 2.4 warns of this kind of wisdom. Now, the Spirit expressly says that in later times, some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and the teaching of demons. Can you imagine that? A culture gets to the place where people are devoting themselves to the teaching of demons? Wow. When a culture starts calling good evil and evil good, you know it’s as far from heavenly wisdom as it can get. In verse 16, James gives us some more detailed ways to tell when earthly wisdom is in play. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exists, there will be disorder in every vile practice.

Interesting verse. You don’t have to look hard to find lots of disorder and vile behavior in our culture today. It’s everywhere. Our political system is in disorder and seriously fractured along partisan lines. Countless hashtag movements keep our society constantly agitated and at odds with each other. Our streaming devices are full of all sorts of indecent and vulgar content. The more we see earthly wisdom prevail, the more this type of, the more of this kind of cultural behavior we’re going to see, we can expect it to only increase. Listen to these interesting words from Daniel Webster. Daniel Webster was one of our earliest senators.

He wrote, If we and our posterity reject religious instruction and authority, violate the rules of eternal justice, trifle with the injunctions of morality, and recklessly destroy the political constitution which holds us together, no man can tell how sudden the catastrophe may overwhelm us that shall bury all of our glory in profound obscurity. Talk about a prophet, huh? Clearly, the wisdom we see on display regularly in our nation is not from above. As you would expect, the wisdom that is from above is quite the opposite. James gives us a good description of it in verse 17. He says, but the wisdom from above is first pure, impeasible, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere.

And so in that remaining time we have, I’m just going to go through each of those attributes so we can get a good handle on what wisdom from above looks like. That helps us actually then to have a definition, something that we can work with. In his commentary on James, John MacArthur notes that most of these attributes that James just listed actually parallel the attributes that Jesus gave in the Beatitudes in his Sermon on the Mount. I don’t know if James had that in mind when he wrote it. It is interesting how much it parallels it, but perhaps he was thinking about those when he came up with his list. So as I go through these attributes, I’ll also make reference to those particular beatitudes and see how they parallel. The first attribute, he says, wisdom from above is pure. It’s free of contamination. The word for pure is related here to the word holy. It is the direct opposite of vile. Wisdom that’s from above expresses thoughts and uses words that are pure. It never degrades itself to the level of earthly wisdom. Blessed

are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” Purity is a term that has lost any real meaning in our culture. We’ve lowered the bar so low concerning decent speech, for example, that you can rarely agree anymore on what constitute vulgar and impure talk. You ask people now, what’s unacceptable speech? And we’re so enamored with free speech that we’ve lowered the bar to where there is nothing unacceptable. It used to be that even when people would say, you know, use a bad word and they didn’t really care, but they use a bad word, they still would have sensitivity to the people around them. They say, well, pardon my French.

They showed some indication that they were aware that this actually had some vulgarity to it and it was not socially acceptable, but they don’t even make those kind of excuses anymore. People just use all sorts of words without any consideration if it’s appropriate. Earthly wisdom keeps widening the circle of what is acceptable, leaving the sphere of what is not acceptable almost negligible. Secondly, this wisdom is peaceable. Does the wisdom being practiced stir up or settle down? Does it throw gas on the fire or put it out? Does it cause a conflict to escalate? It does not cause nor increase disorder like earthly wisdom does.

does. Earthly wisdom leads towards division and anarchy even as it claims to be seeking justice. And again, I want you to be thinking about the contrast between worldly and earthly wisdom and wisdom that’s not from above. Again, take the hashtag movements and what’s going on out there. And while they claim to be fighting for social justice causes, What is the fruit of their effort? Is it peace? Is it reconciliation? Is it harmony? Is it unity? It seems to only stir up more anger and frustrations and breaking Starbucks windows and just not wisdom that’s from above, even if the cause may have some merit. These recent protests in our nation are just an exhibit of this false wisdom tendency.

The beatitude, blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. Third, wisdom that’s from above is gentle. Synonyms for this are moderate, forbearing, courteous, and considerate. It doesn’t get riled up. It has a calming effect on the situation. It turns away wrath with gentle answers. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Fourth, it’s open to reason. It is humble and not stubborn. It is not resistant to other godly input. It does not compromise the truth, but it considers that it may not have all the necessary information. It is approachable even when the topic is unpleasant or it does not agree with the other person.

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Fifth, it’s full of mercy. It is compassionate as it considers a matter. It is not punitive or retributive. It’s quick to forgive. It does not hold on to grudges. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. Sixth, wisdom that’s from above manifests good fruits or deeds. The deeds it does are beneficial and never harmful. It does not do things to get even with wrongdoers. It’s characterized as being helpful and charitable to others. How are you guys doing with the test so far? You passing? Seventh, it is impartial, which is one of the examples that James discussed earlier in the epistle.

It does not use human-based marriage system to decide who is of value and who isn’t. Eighth, it is sincere or without hypocrisy. Hypocrisy is routinely condemned in the Bible. Jesus warned his disciples, beware the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. It does not say one thing and then do another. And then finally, to cap off his discussion on wisdom, that is from above, James tells us what the results will be when godly wisdom is exercised. Verse 18, and a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace. When godly wisdom is in action, you will harvest righteousness. The best indicator we have that godly wisdom is being exercised is that righteousness will increase.

Where division and rancor exist, you know that godly wisdom is not being followed somewhere in the process. This is what’s so sad and tragic, that even among believers in churches, while they both are trying to pursue a righteous answer, the amount of rancor and anger and whatnot that can occur, even as they supposedly are trying to pursue righteousness, but they’ve gotten off the trail. They’re no longer on using godly wisdom, wisdom that’s from above. Notice that the harvest of righteousness comes from sowing the seeds of peace. You cannot use fleshly weapons of war to battle your way to righteousness. There are many examples of well-meaning Christians who let their emotions get in the way and end up resorting to earthly wisdom instead of godly wisdom to resolve the conflict.

The result is typically not in keeping with righteousness. Proverbs 3033 says, pressing milk produces curds, pressing the nose produces blood, and pressing anger produces strife. It can be difficult then to keep emotions in check when we see someone wrong, some wrong being perpetrated. All of us have that initial reaction we see in wrong and it just kind of provokes us and we feel sort of a righteous indignation rise up within us. But usually that righteous indignation translates into another word for anger. Responding to a wrong in this mode will not help increase righteousness even if it does help, even if it’s trying to make the wrong stop.

So there’s a wrong way to try to make a bad situation right. Well, you don’t have to read very many tweets or Facebook posts to verify that wisdom from above is not the wisdom of our age and that the ton is a restless evil. The disparity between godly wisdom and the wisdom of this age is growing larger by the day. It’s getting easier and easier to see the difference between the two. We who follow Christ need to guard ourselves from being deceived and conforming to the world in order to fit in. It’s tempting to fight fire with fire when we engage the world, but it only leads to more sin all around. We can initially expect hostility when we try to bring godly wisdom into the conversation, but we can take courage in the knowledge that to those being saved, our words will eventually be received with gladness.

It isn’t our job to win the battle. That’s the work of the Holy Spirit. We just need to be faithful to exercise wisdom that’s from above in what we do and what we say. I like the quote that Sean has referred to several times from a book. I can’t remember which book it was. But the quote was, the fire does not fear the smoke. We have a wisdom from above that crushes the wisdom of the sage and the power of the Holy Spirit that tames our tongue and uses it for his glory and honor. We don’t want to mess that up by using the wrong kind of wisdom. We are in a war, but the weapons we use are not like the weapons used by those who trust in earthly wisdom.

Paul wrote, 2 Corinthians chapter 10, for though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments in every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God. We don’t have a choice but to engage in a world full of sin, but through the power of the Holy Spirit, we can do it with tons that are under control and with wisdom that’s from above. And Father, as we’ve considered these two more traits of what a godly, mature Christian looks like, we must confess that perhaps of all the traits we’ve discussed so far, these rank up near the top two that we probably get the lowest letter grade on.

We would ask that your spirit would continue to quicken our hearts to make us sensitive to how we use our tongue, that we wouldn’t be hypocrites, both blessing and cursing with it, that we would be aware that when our fleshly wisdom is kicking into gear and then we would put that aside and we would use the wisdom that’s from above. We pray for that harvest of righteousness that comes when those who sow those seeds in peace love you and trust you. Father, we live in very, very weird times in our culture and we need your wisdom to help us navigate through it.

And so keep us from being conformed, but rather being transformed by the renewing of our mind through the teaching of your word. And as we now continue on in our worship time, may you be pleased with again the quality of how we worship you. We pray in Jesus name. Amen. I didn’t really think about the song selections that Jonathan had made for this morning, but that’s interesting with just saying that song because I’m actually gonna, in my communion, words going to take you again to Revelation chapter 5 where John is sharing a vision of the Lord seated on his throne. In chapter 5, John shares his vision. He wrote, Then I saw in the right hand of him who was seated on the throne a scroll written within and on the back, sealed with seven seals. And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming with a loud voice, Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals? Now at first in his vision there’s no one that appears to be qualified to open the scroll which causes John to start weeping. But then And then one of the elders in his vision comes over to him

and says, weep no more, behold the lion, the tribe of Judah, the root of David has conquered so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals. And then continuing on, if you allow me, reading that vision, we read, and between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders I saw a lamb standing as though it had been slain with seven horns and with seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. And he went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who is seated on the throne. And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the 24 elders fell down before the lamb, each holding a harp and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.

And they sang a new song saying, wordly are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain. And by your blood, you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nations. You have made them a kingdom and priest to our God, and they shall reign on earth. Then I looked and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders, the voice of many angels numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, worthy is the lamb who is slain to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing. And I heard every creature in heaven on earth and under the earth and in the sea and all that is in them saying to him who sits on the throne and to the lamb, be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever.

And the four living creatures said, Amen. And the elders fell down and worshipped.” What a vision. Can you just, I don’t know about you, I almost give you goosebumps to imagine what that would be like. Today, with all of the division and the rancor and even in a body of people like this, the currents of disunity that can occur and we’re not always on the same page, to imagine a day when we, along with the marriage and marriage of angels everybody else altogether, one voice all pointing in the same direction, saying the same thing, praising God. And then the challenge for us is to reflect on that and reflect again on what Jesus did to bring about our unity as brothers and sisters in Christ. And can we do a better job of training our tongues to speak with one voice that is with a wisdom from what’s above, that does use our tongues to bring glory and honor, that gives life and to stop using it in the ways that we so often do inappropriately.

In one of his hymns, Charles Wesley wishes for 1,000 tons to sing our great redeemer’s praise. Given what we’ve just learned about the ton today, 1,000 tons might be problematic. That doesn’t mean, though, that we can’t work to tame the one ton that we have to be a source of blessing rather than a cursing. Many of you are going to actually have a chance this afternoon to practice that as you go out to guess who’s coming to dinner. So I encourage you to enjoy that time and to use those tongues to let your speech bring life to all who hear it. And for our benediction, I’ve chosen Psalms 34. I will bless the Lord at all times. His praise shall continually be in my mouth.

My soul makes its post in the Lord. Let the humble hear and be glad. O magnify the Lord with me and let us exalt his name together. You’re dismissed.