James 1:19-27, Your own face.
An elderly gent who got on a plane from Christchurch to Melbourne, this gent was off to visit his grandkids and was very excited as this was his first overseas trip he had not slept much the night before and he sat down he sat next to an immaculately dressed young man in an Armani suit wearing a Tag Hauer watch along with many other trappings of doing well. This man introduced himself to the older gent and quickly told him he was the youngest partner in a law firm and was a great success, as he had a real head for business and was extremely good at what he did. The elderly gent stated that that was nice and that he was very pleased for him. The businessman then said that as he was going to be sitting on the plane with this elderly man for three hours they should have a quiz and put a few dollars on it. The elderly man said he was very tired and mentioned he preferred to sleep. At which the younger man said “Well I tell you what I’m a real success so let’s make it worth your while, If I ask you a question and you can’t answer you pay me $5.00 and if can’t answer you, I pay you $500.00”, at which the older blokes ears pricked up and he said “Ok you’re on.” The younger bloke started with a question about New Zealand constitutional law reform in the 1950’s at which the elderly gent reached into his wallet and handed over $5.00. As he tried to nod off to sleep the young lawyer elbowed him in ribs and said “Well what are you going to ask me then?” The elderly man thought about it for a bit and asked, “What goes up a hill on three legs and comes down on four?” After pondering the question for a while the young guy struggled with this and got online, as his blackberry cell phone was in flight mode and searched the internet for the next two and a half hours to see if he could find an answer. As they were landing at Melbourne he woke the elderly gent and handed him $500.00 and asked “ I don’t have a clue, what does go up hill on three legs and down on four?” at which the Elderly gent handed him back $5.00 and said “I don’t know either, but I sure enjoyed my snooze.”
I’m going to ask a couple of questions today, because it’s been a while since I started a sermon with a question.
If I was to ask you to describe your own face could you do it? I was once asked what colour my eyes were and not being able to remember I just replied “I don’t know I can’t see them.”
The other question is this, Is it well with your soul, how are things with you?
Now this might be a twist on things a wee bit, but these questions have nothing to do with something going up a hill on three legs and down on four, they are questions that relate to a passage from the letter James wrote to the early church. I’ve spoken a little on James before and am a real fan of this small book, James as I have mentioned previously was Jesus brother and the leader of the Jerusalem church, he came to believe that Jesus was the messiah after encountering him after the resurrection. Until that time along with most of Jesus family he was concerned Jesus was a bit off beat.
James teaching is in my opinion very important for anyone on a journey of faith with God; it contains some really key teachings for how as individuals we are to act out our faith.
What is it he says, about what we look like in the mirror and how that reflects on what our soul will be like? Read James 1:19-27.
Good advice, everyone should be slow to become angry! Now I have been in places of anger in my life, in some situations where I’ve spouted forth un-thought through responses and I guess I’m the only one here who’s ever reacted that way. What is it James says just prior to this I don’t know if you missed it but I know I often do because I tend to focus on the bit I struggle with, what is it he says?
1)Be quick to listen, we have two ears and one mouth it could be an indication of proportionate use. I like the saying in PowerPoint one, (Be a good listener, your ears will never get you in trouble; Frank Tyger), yip, we often hear of people with foot in mouth, I’ve never heard of foot in ear. Listening to the word of God is key, getting into the word is key, understanding the word is vital to our living. Don’t just listen to it, do it! What next?
James says we should be slow to speak,
2) Slow to speak not slow speaking. Thinking about it before running off at the mouth seems to be the aim with this directive.
It’s thought that part of this directive was aimed at the early church meetings, where the word was debated and the occasional argument or fight took a hold in the congregation. In our lives again it is wise to think through a response and if necessary in some situations delay responding. I can remember as a sixteen year old my Father not speaking to me for three days, mind you I had crashed his near new Ford Cortina Ghia. I don’t think in that case it was about formulating the words it was more about a slow burn in what could have been an uncontrolled explosion.
I think perhaps my Dad was very wise not to speak. In the book of proverbs we read this “When words are many sin is not absent, but he who holds his tongue is wise.” (Proverbs 10:19) This leads me to.
3) Be slow to become angry, for man’s anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires. What God desires is that we live controlled lives is something that I gain from this, where we are in control of ourselves, where we are not fighting one another, but are being controlled and acting in ways that are thought through and not angry.
James then writes about being doers of the word not just listeners. He makes this comment about how those who don’t do what it says is like a bloke who looks at himself in the mirror and forgets what he looks like. But why would James give this description?
Why?
I believe that James genuinely wants for his readers to be blessed because this is what he states the doers of the word will be, just that blessed. As Christians we believe that the scriptures of the Old and New Testaments were given by the inspiration of God, therefore would it not be wise to know all there is of them to continue in gaining understanding of them and to live according to what they instruct us to live like? What is it James says; being a doer of the word results in blessing! (SBI)
We humans are reasonably predictable in that we have this tendency to know best; to be as informed as we need to be even in situations where we are not, you only have to watch in news to see ample examples of things that didn’t turn out the way it was expected or I’m sure if the Greek government thought they would not where they are now financially, would they have made decisions that put them there?
God being God, being all knowing, having all wisdom, establishes ways for us that make sense beyond our own understanding, earlier in this chapter of James, James says “If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.” (verse 5). Really why be like the young lawyer, who was tricked by the older man in the story I told before, when all wisdom is available and with that wisdom comes blessing ; being a doer of the word results in blessing! (SBI). (But there is nothing contained in scripture about something going up hill on three and down hill on four legs.)
That wisdom is contained in the scriptures. That wisdom comes through understanding the scriptures, by listening to the Spirit of God, and in remaining in fellowship with the others who make up the family of God – the church.
4) James then gives a message about being religious, now this word ‘religious’ is one that a lot of Christian people shy away from, in fact I’ve said it myself “I’m not religious, I’m a Christian!”
But this word religious is an important word, because it means the same as what the whole of a Christians life should be about, it means the same as what the music team do up here and what we do when we join in the singing, religious in this context is the same as worship, it’s about proclaiming our love and respect for God.
So if we look into what James is saying here we could read the last couple of verses this way. “If anyone considers himself a worshipper and does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his worship is worthless. The worship that God or Father accepts as pure and faultless is this; to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.”
The tongue is compared in scripture to a rudder that directs the ship, it’s dangerous when let loose, when a learned captain is not at the helm, the tongue can miss direct a life just as a rudder can miss direct a ship. The people of Tauranga know this all too well they will continue to deal with the fallout from the sinking of the Rena for some time, as will the wild life up and down the coast from Astrolabe Reef.
Anger, a tongue out of control, and the resulting fall out can be as devastating as a ship going aground, in our life and the lives of those around us.
But the doers of the word will be blest!
5) True worship also results in blessing for those look after those who need looking after! In James day it was widows and orphans, we also have plenty of opportunities, people in nations without what we have, there are people in ministry in many countries living on or below the poverty line who can do with our support, then there are those good people who live in the Horn of Africa who are facing starvation, child prostitutes in South East Asia, the child in your own community who goes to school without lunch because Dad put the money on the pokies, or Mum spent it all a weekend of revelry. The opportunities to be involved in this sort of worship are vast and will be endless during all of our lifetimes. This is doing what the word directs us to do – this is serving all people and showing our love for God – acting out our love for God!
6) Another aspect of this worship is this, “to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” Now I notice here a couple of things that James is pointing out, the world is full of pollution, that sin, those things that like the oil from the Rena can pollute the beaches of our lives our very souls. Now James doesn’t say “have a bunch of people around you who will clean up the mess for you”, he says ‘do all that worship stuff for those in need and keep oneself, aka yourself from being polluted by the world!’
In other words take responsibility for yourself, living the life of abundance that Christ died for you to live for that is true worship! This is doing the word, this is showing the love we have for God, we have been set free, why would you return to the mess that bound you up before, leave it behind, live victoriously in Christ!
I wonder here if the reference to mirrors was because the people who James was writing to were looking into the mirrors of their lives and forgetting that they were angry, out of line and that their tongues were causing strife. After doing so instead of acting as God would have them act they just continued down the same old road.
Many times we wander through our lives out of sorts, with the community we live in, with our spouses, our families, neighbours, lacking love for others, not serving others, lacking kindness and compassion, all of the above being things the word of God calls us to do, why because we are polluted, we are not interested, we are not willing to worship as God calls us to worship.
We have two choices; we carry on that way or we change! We know how to change, lip service stops, action starts, we be doers of the word!
With that action comes blessing for the doers and the receivers!
The question is do you want to be a blessing and as a result be blessed?
Benediction
Be quick to listen,
Slow to speak and slow to be angry,
Serving the needy,
May you be so in tune with the word of God,
That your lives are reflected in it,
As you bring glory to the one who inspired it!
In Jesus name, Amen
