This past week on ‘Larry King Live’ Larry King interviewed Jessica Hahn, the woman who was part of the Jim Bakker/PTL scandal of almost 20 years ago that affected the reputation of the Christian church as a whole and turned off many people to organized Christianity. As they went to a commercial break, they showed clips of law enforcement almost dragging a weeping Bakker from his residence and into an unmarked police car. You could hear on the sound track Bakker pleading in a tearful voice, “Oh, please don’t do this to me.”
During the investigation, numerous and troubling revelations of money misuse, immoral and inappropriate sexual behavior, and abuse of power came out and people who had invested large amounts of money in the ministry found that their money was used in ways that were the total opposite of what they thought it was being used for. What the PTL scandal revealed was a character problem that our main text for this morning forces us to confront head on in our own lives.
If it is our desire as followers of Jesus Christ to influence others to come to Christ and find eternal life and present hope in this life through Jesus, then we must ‘show them what we got,’ through our acts of character in everyday life.
James’ words are blunt on this subject. They are pointed, direct, and unavoidable. But they are exactly what we need to hear from time to time. I am going to be referring to other passages in James this morning and I encourage you to keep your Bibles open to James.
Our main text says some very important things right away that we need to ponder and address in our lives. They address the ‘everyday issues’ of living that challenge us to live well for the Lord and, quite frankly, are targets for Satan to tempt us into defeat. Let us listen to the Holy Spirit this morning as we walk through some things that James tells us to address in our daily lives as followers of Christ. (Overhead 1)
First on the list is the problem of anger.
We read in James 1:19, be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry…
There is an entire sermon in that verse. It is good advice, it is important advice, it is Biblical advice, and it is practical advice.
Looking back over your life, can you recall a time when you heeded that advice? It avoided a terrible conflict, didn’t it?
However, can you also recall a time when you did not heed this passage of scripture? Can you recall the results?
But James goes on to say that not only do we need to be ‘quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry we also need to ‘clean up our inner self’ as we read in 1:20 to “Get rid of all the filth and evil in your lives.”
Think about what you read, what you watch on TV, is it good stuff or does it drag you down?
What kinds of video games do you play? What kinds of movies do you watch? Are they appropriate ones?
What about jokes? What about stories swapped through e-mail? Are they God honoring ones?
How about the topics you address in the chat rooms you visit? If we saw your language on the screen this morning, how would you feel?
It is sometimes hard to avoid inappropriate material; some of the commercials for instance, during commercial breaks on TV are as bad as the shows they sponsor! They are on before we realize it.
But James makes it clear, ‘clean it out.’
“Get rid of all the filth and evil in your lives.”
The history of Israel is a Biblical illustration of what happens when we fail to clean out our souls and hearts. We read about it in the Old Testament history books of 1 and 2 Kings and 1 and 2 Chronicles as some kings of Israel, and later Israel and Judah, first clean out the pagan shrines to the pagan gods and then, when a new king comes along, start worshipping them again.
It was a major factor in the eventual downfall of ancient Israel that led to military invasion and triumph by other nations. They were spiritually polluted and did not clean house and worship God alone. They paid the price of their dirt.
‘But wait,’ says James, ‘there’s more.’ Probably the most quoted text of our main passage reveals both a challenge and a solution to how we can ‘walk the walk and not just talk the talk.’
This refers to the issue of, as Pastor Travis Moore calls it, letting your faith work.
In verse 22 and following we read: “And remember, it is a message to obey, not just to listen to. If you don’t obey, you are only fooling yourself. For if you just listen and don’t obey, it is like looking at your face in a mirror but doing nothing to improve your appearance. You see yourself, walk away, and forget what you look like. But if you keep looking steadily into God’s perfect law—the law that sets you free—and if you do what it says and don’t forget what you heard, then God will bless you for doing it.”
In my office is a towel that I ‘won’ (I say ‘won’ but I had to pay $5.00 for the chance to win it) which displays my beloved Cincinnati Bengals’ colors. (Yes, I admit to being a Bengals fans). I won it at one of those guess your age or weight booths at King’s Island. The young man who did the guessing was off by 6 years on my age. (6 years younger, by the way.)
I consider it a compliment to have people think that I look younger. A good appearance is important. A good appearance says that I care about myself and take care of myself. The TV show “Extreme Makeover” reminds us of the impact external changes have on our inner appearance and the effects of such changes on those who have undergone such a makeover as well as those whose lives have been touch by the makeover candidates.
But what about the appearance of our hearts? What kind of an appearance do we display there?
The challenge and the solution to be ‘spiritually attractive’ are found in verses 23 through 25. The image of a mirror is used in helping us to understand this important issue.
The mirror in this case is God’s word, for us today that is the Bible. The challenge is to have the courage to look at our selves through the reflection of scripture and do an honest and Spirit led assessment of what is going on inside of us that needs changing. The solution is to have the courage to look at our selves through the reflection of scripture and do an honest and Spirit led assessment of what is going on inside of us and then make the appropriate changes.
In the language of this particular passage, we need to hear God and then do what He tells us to do.
‘Spiritual attractiveness’ is also enhanced in other ways as well. (Here is a working definition of ‘spiritual attractiveness:’ the things we say and do to draw attention to God through our lives.’)Here are some more:
The use of our tongue. There are at least 13 verses in this New Testament book devoted to the subject of our words, our language. Of those 13 verses, three stand out to me as critical to this area of our lives.
The first verse is 1:26, “If you claim to be religious but don’t control your tongue, you are just fooling yourself, and your religion is worthless.”
The second and third verse is James 3:9 and 10: “Sometimes it [the tongue] praises our Lord and Father, and sometimes it breaks out into curses against those who have been made in the image of God. And so blessing and cursing come pouring out of the same mouth. Surely, my brothers and sisters, this is not right!”
As we read in the Gospels, an argument ensued about what made a person unclean. Some argued it was ‘not obeying the rules’ of doing the right kind of hand washing before eating. But, Jesus said it is what comes out of our mouths through our words that make us clean or unclean not the food. Words matter. What kind of effect are the words you speak doing in your world right now?
I recently had someone tell me a story about a visit to another church during which smoking and drinking were discouraged in the sermon only to have the preacher and a few others ‘light one up,’ after the service. A pointed question was asked, “Jim, do you think that is being hypocritical?”
Our language says much about whom we are inside. If we proclaim a salvation experience, if we say that we are Christian, then our speech must back it up. Repeatedly in the New Testament, the issue of clean and honorable language is raised as a sign of Christian commitment and maturity.
The treatment of others. Another area in which we need to ‘reflect’ on our daily example is how we treat others. James 2:1 through 13 reminds us of the issue of favoritism especially as it relates to rich and poor.
James sees favoritism as a serious problem in the church. And favoritism was something that Jesus had to deal with in His disciples.
We read in Matthew 21 about it when the mother of James and John (the other James) came to Jesus with a request that they sit at the ‘places of honor’ next to Jesus in heaven. This did not sit well (no pun intended) with the other ten and Jesus used it as an example to talk about serving others and not worrying about status.
Do you know that at one point ‘pew rental’ was a common custom in the church? It was one of the ways, if not the chief way, to raise money. It was like paying admission.
I did a short Internet search and found several articles on the subject including one about church in Australia that mentioned the practice as part of a history on the church building. And I quote, “Apart from farming the church glebe, [which I assume was the garden] [now] the current Clarendon racecourse, the only other form of income was the pew rentals.
Rental was charged for the pews, varying in 1837 from £1/10/- to £5 for a family pew or 6/- to 12/6 for a single sitting.” In today’s US dollars, if my calculations are correct based on current exchange rates and allowing for inflation, that is about $12,000 US dollars and $15,000 Australian dollars for the family plan for one year!
However, wait, there’s more! The article goes on to say, “In 1843 the offertory, a totally new concept in Australia, was introduced. This innovation was viewed with suspicion with some church members leaving when the plate was handed around, but it is feasible they simply could not afford to pay. In 1956 the pew rental system was abolished making St Matthews the last church in Australia to retain this ancient system.”
What this meant was that certain pews cost more to sit in than others did and only the rich could afford to sit in them. The poor sat either in the back, in the balcony or not at all. It created segregation or prejudice in the minds of many people.
We are aware of racial segregation in our history where blacks were told that certain sections on buses, certain drinking fountains, certain restrooms, and certain sections on passenger trains were off limits to them. I believe that it was Martin Luther King, Jr. who said that the 11 AM hour on Sunday morning was the most segregated hour in America.
All people matter to God. All people are loved by God. All people are redeemable by God. Jesus died for everyone. If we say we have faith then we need to treat others with dignity and respect even if we disagree with their lifestyles and choices, their political beliefs, and anything else.
Living like we believe. Finally, this morning, we need to consider our spiritual attractiveness in living out our faith in a credible and practical way. James 2:14 – 26 is the section in James that speaks of linking our actions with our faith.
This passage contains several important statements that we looked at a few weeks ago (which also served as bridge from the opening of the book to the rest of the book). However, the final verse, verse 26, says it best “Just as the body is dead without a spirit, so also faith is dead without good deeds.”
‘Good deeds’ are not nice deeds done to make a good impression. ‘Good deeds’ are deeds done in love in Jesus’ name. We do ‘good deeds’ from a ‘good heart’ that is a heart that has been changed by the saving grace of God.
Read verse 20, ‘When will you ever learn that faith that does not result in good deeds in useless?’ ‘Talk is cheap, show me,’ say the skeptics of faith. Today we live in a time in which ‘show me’ is a common attitude about matters of faith.
We know Missouri as the “Show me state.” According to the Missouri Secretary of State’s segment on the official state website, there are a couple of common stories regarding how the phrase came to be. Quoting the website, “The most widely known legend attributes the phrase to Missouri’s U.S. Congressman Willard Duncan Vandiver, who served in the United States House of Representatives from 1897 to 1903. While a member of the U.S. House Committee on Naval Affairs, Vandiver attended an 1899 naval banquet in Philadelphia. In a speech there, he declared, "I come from a state that raises corn and cotton and cockleburs and Democrats, and frothy eloquence neither convinces nor satisfies me. I am from Missouri. You have got to show me."
The second story, again quoting from the website, places “the slogan’s origin in the mining town of Leadville, Colorado. There, the phrase was first employed as a term of ridicule and reproach. A miner’s strike had been in progress for some time in the mid-1890s, and a number of miners from the lead districts of southwest Missouri had been imported to take the places of the strikers. The Joplin miners were unfamiliar with Colorado mining methods and required frequent instructions. Pit bosses began saying, "That man is from Missouri. You’ll have to show him."
People are skeptical about many things these days, including religion. Potential members closely examine pastors and churches for many things including their credibility. People are interested in spiritual things but do they see a difference in us? Is there a day-to-day difference in our conduct? Are we credible examples of Christianity at its best?
If it is our desire as followers of Jesus Christ to influence others to come to Christ and find eternal life and present hope in this life through Jesus, then we must ‘show them what we got,’ through our acts of character in everyday life.
We can be credible, not 100% perfect, but credible examples of Christianity at its best. If we are willing to be, we then need to ask for the Holy Spirit’s aid by continuously doing God’s will and asking for help to live the right way. For only by God’s power and help can we live consistently the best that our passages of scripture this morning have challenged us to live. What do you need ‘to do?’ Amen.
Sources:
History of St. Matthew’s Anglican Church, Winsdor,
at www.hawkesburyhistory.org.au/carol/
Source of Missouri state slogan www.sos.mo.gov/archives/history/slogan.asp
Moore quote
www.sermoncentral.com
