God’s Iq Test (The Talking Dumb) - James 3:9-16 Series

James 3:9 With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God’s likeness. 10 Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be. 11 Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? 12 My brothers, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water. 13 Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show it by his good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom. 14 But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. 15 Such “wisdom” does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, of the devil. 16 For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice.

Introduction

I don’t have very many pet peeves, but I can tell you one of them. Questions like this – If you were a planet which one would you be? Questions like that are for people who think in a very different way than the way I think. The only answer I can think of to that question is, I would never be any planet. And if I were a planet, it wouldn’t matter to me which one I was (except maybe Pluto – that would be a bummer). But for those of you who like questions like that, maybe you can think of an answer. But whatever answer you gave, it wouldn’t tell me much about you – except for one answer. What if you asked someone, “Which planet are you?” and they said, “I’m no planet – I’m the sun”? You would say, “Oh, ok – egomaniac.”

That would be an over-the-top answer, and yet, isn’t it true that all of us tend to have a sun complex? Every one of us has a tendency to walk through life thinking, “It’s all about me. Life revolves around me. I’m the sun.”

I walk into the house after work, and my wife’s job is to come and attend to me: “Are you hungry? Here’s some dinner. The kids sitting quietly over there – they won’t bother you but they are available if you want to play with them for a few minutes. Is there a game you want to watch? Oh, you don’t feel like talking right now? That’s fine; I’ll just be standing here in the kitchen in case you need some potato chips or something.”

Maybe that’s a little exaggeration, but isn’t it true that there is some of that in us? I’m the sun. I am the point. If I am on the road, all the other cars on the road should get out of the way. Why don’t they just all just pull over – can’t they see me coming?

“Why is this line moving slow? Don’t these people know that I don’t want to stand in line a long time?”

“Why is it my husband is insensitive to my needs? Why are my kids behaving in ways that make my life harder? Why do they disobey and do things that make my day unpleasant? That is not the purpose of the universe. The purpose of the universe is for me to be comfortable. “

If someone asks me, “Darrell, do you think you’re the center of the solar system?” I would say, “Of course not,” but my emotions tell a different story. The kinds of things that upset me tell a different story. My reactions to things that happen to me have “I AM THE SUN” written all over them. It’s natural for us to think that we are the center of the solar system, because from our point of view, we are the center. The only eyes I ever see out of are mine. And so I only experience life from wherever I am standing - and that makes me feel like the center. And if I am the center, and I am the main point, then everything ought to work out according to my perfect plan. There is no room in that plan for suffering, no room for loss, no room for pain or disappointment. None of those are in my plan. And the biggest problems in life are these people who keep interfering with my amazing plan. In fact, not only do they refuse to be a planet in my solar system, but they think they are the sun and they want me to be a planet in their solar system. And the chaos that results comes out in our speech.

Review

Throughout this chapter James has been talking about sinful speech. And in today’s passage he is going to show us the source of our sinful speech. Why do we say sinful things to one another? Because of bad wisdom. There is good wisdom and there is bad wisdom, and the bad wisdom results in bad speech. James is going to show us that the wisdom that results in bad speech is not really wisdom at all. It is stupidity. You have heard of the phrase “Dead men walking”? James says these people are dumb men talking.