This morning we conclude the series of messages on the theme Life Lessons On Faith. Two weeks from today we ordain two new
elders and the message will center on the idea of calling. I will begin a new series, on June 25th,
tentatively called Music of the Heart. In that series I will offer four
messages that are based on songs.
I’ve been
thinking about that series for a long time. I spend a good deal of time in my car, driving to meetings,
hospitals, and other places, and as I do I listen to a lot of music on the
radio. I’ve long been interested
in the amount of spiritual affirmation and longing that is presented in so many
songs, of almost every genre.
Being the one who is writing the messages, I will take the liberty of
selecting songs that are not only favorites of mine, but ones that I believe
present important spiritual messages.
From there we will go to a series titled The Great Commands, such as Micah 6:8 – He has shown you, O mortal, what is good.
And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to
walk humbly with your God.
As we complete our present series,
we turn to the book of James, one of the most straightforwardly practical books
in the Bible. It is so practical, and so straightforward, that it can be
downright painful at times. James
uses plain, every day, blunt, language to make his points. While other writers – most notably Paul
– sometimes overwhelm us with deeply theological writing and concepts, James is
down to earth and plainspoken. His
brief, to the point letter, is one to which I often turn, in my own study and
often in my preaching, as James is always worth taking the time to study.
The title
of today’s message is Learning the Hard
Way. I don’t know about you,
but much of what I have learned in life has had to come to me by “the hard
way.” Sometimes, unfortunately, I
am a slow learner. Sometimes, I’m
kind of oblivious to certain lessons and truths and need something to get my
attention, a process that can be quite painful and difficult in its
attention-getting.
And perhaps nowhere is that more
true that in the things that we say, or, don’t say.
Listen as I read our text for
today, from James 3:3-13 –
3 When we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we can
turn the whole animal.
4 Or take ships as an example. Although they are so large and are driven
by strong winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot
wants to go.
5 Likewise, the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great
boasts. Consider what a great
forest is set on fire by a small spark.
6 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.
7 All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and sea creatures are being tamed
and have been tamed by mankind,
8 but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of
deadly poison.
9 With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse
human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness.
10 Out of the
same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not
be.
11 Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring?
12 My
brothers and sisters, 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 them show it by their good
life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom.
I want to say four things briefly
this morning – sometimes we say what we shouldn’t and sometimes we fail to say
what we should say. Sometimes we
do what we shouldn’t, and sometimes we fail to do what we should do.
I will say first of all, that every
one of us is guilty on these four points.
There might be variations of guilt, but we are all guilty, so that
should, first of all, remind us to not be judgmental about others when they
fail on this points.
1. Sometimes we say what we shouldn’t.
When I was in college, I was often
looking for the easy route, academically speaking. All students were required to take six hours of Humanities
for the first two years, and I registered for a specific professor because he
had no attendance requirements in his class. Several of my friends registered with professors who had very
rigorous attendance requirements I had a grand old time not going to class
while my friends were working hard in their Humanities classes. I reminded them often of how foolish
they were to miss out on my wise decision to take advantage of a no attendance
policy. And then came the first
exam (although we had different professors, we all took the same exams). Suddenly, I realized I had no notes or
any other helps to prepare me for the exam. I asked my friends if I could use their notes and if they
could help me to catch up on what I missed. Understandably, I did not get much sympathy, or help. And guess who’s fault it was when I did
badly on the exam? Surely not me –
it was the professor’s fault! After
the exam, on which I did very poorly, I was very loudly telling my roommate
about the professor and what a disservice he did to our class. We were standing just outside a
partially opened door and I was offering a blistering critique of the professor. I did not know that he was standing on
the other side of the door, and he obviously heard every word I said. When he walked through the door, and
right past me, he gave me a look that I will never forget. I wish I could say I learned my lesson
after that moment, but I didn’t.
It’s a lesson I’m still trying to learn!
James uses such strong language in
this passage – bit, rudder, spark, out of control, raging fire. We all say things we shouldn’t, and
then we are left with days, months, years, lifetimes of regret. James is telling us this for good
reason, and it makes me wonder, did James
have to learn this lesson the hard way? Had James said some things he wished he could take
back? Or, perhaps, he was thinking
of some others in mind when he wrote those words. Perhaps he was thinking of Peter, and his denials.
There is an old fable about a young
man who seeks out the wisdom of a much older, and wiser, man. The young man, it seems, had said some
harsh words; words he wished he could take back, as they were very
hurtful. He asked the older man
what he could to. The old man
replied, take a feather pillow and go
outside on a windy day. Cut the
pillow open and scatter the feathers to the wind. Let the wind blow the feathers far and wide. When the wind stops, go and gather up
all of the feathers. The young
man protested, but that’s
impossible! There is no way to
gather up all those feathers once they have scattered on the wind. The old man had made his point, but the
young man had not yet caught on, so the old man said, it’s the same way with our words.
Once they are spoken it is impossible to gather them up again. I wish I could tell you that you could
recapture your words, but you cannot.
Better to never speak them than to try and recapture them.
There is no one among us who has
not wished – multiple times – that we had not held our tongue. Who among us has not felt the sting of
regret for saying something we should not have said? Too often words come across our minds and out our mouths. Let them sit awhile. Let those words linger in our minds
before they are spoken.
2. Sometimes we fail to say what we should say.
While it is true that we often
think about the things we wish we had not said, how often do we think about the
things we have not said, but should have? The
tongue, James says, 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. Strong and truthful words, certainly,
but let us also remember that the tongue can be a powerful weapon in speaking
about issues and matters that need to be addressed. There is, no doubt, times
when we must hold our tongues, but there are times when we must use them as
well.
The prophets of the Old Testament
are powerful examples of this truth, as they often railed against the powers of
their day and their unjust and unfair treatment of people. I admire the Old Testament prophets for
several reasons, one being that they had the right word for the right
moment. The prophets were not
always railing against the injustices of society. Sometimes they were very pastoral and very comforting. But when the moment called for a
forceful word, they were ready with it.
Jesus, very often, spoke out
forcefully about issues that needed to be addressed. Jesus did not pull punches in much of what he had to say, as
he spoke powerfully and bluntly and that is why he had some enemies. You don’t call people a brood of vipers (Matthew 23:33), as he did
the Pharisees, and not get people upset.
You don’t tell people they are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside
but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean (Matthew 23:27) and not have
pushback. I’ll be honest and say,
when it comes to knowing the right word for the right time, knowing when to
speak prophetically and when to speak pastorally, knowing when to speak and
when not to speak, I’m certainly not Jesus or one of the prophets.
If you’ve ever thought to yourself
that preaching seems easy, let me assure you – it is certainly not. And one of the most difficult parts of
preaching is to know not what to say, but when to say it. Some people want to hear more about
particular issues and some want less.
Some want more preaching about politics, some less. The refrain we ministers sometimes hear
is say this, don’t say that, which
can make it more difficult to know not only what to say, but when to say it.
I often struggle with the question of how we,
as a congregation can or ought to speak to issues in our community and
world. In my preaching I often
wonder how specific to get. One of
the reasons why I agreed to write a column in the Sentinel-News is because you don’t have to read it if you don’t want
to hear it. But the larger
question remains – how do we, as very diverse people in our congregation, come
to any agreement about the issues to which we should speak? Is it possible to come to any
agreement? Should we be speaking
to particular issues that are taking place in our community and world?
They are important questions to consider,
especially in light of the truth that sometimes we do need to speak, and speak
very plainly and forcefully.
3. Sometimes we do what we shouldn’t do.
I did not include other passages
from James in our Scripture reading for this morning, but I would encourage you
to take a few minutes today or sometime this week and read through his
letter. It doesn’t take very long,
but do not mistake his brevity for a lack of punch in what he has to say.
In 2:1-7 James writes this –
1 My brothers and sisters, believers in
our glorious Lord Jesus Christ must not show favoritism.
2 Suppose a man comes into your meeting
wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in filthy old clothes also
comes in.
3 If you show special attention to the
man wearing fine clothes and say, “Here’s a good seat for you,” but say to the
poor man, “You stand there” or “Sit on the floor by my feet,”
4 have you not discriminated among
yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?
5 Listen, my dear brothers and sisters:
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?
6 But you have dishonored the poor. Is it not the rich who are exploiting
you? Are they not the ones who are dragging you into court?
7 Are they not the ones who are
blaspheming the noble name of him to whom you belong?
James sounds a lot like an Old
Testament prophet there, doesn’t he? Now that’s some preaching! James uses very simple, plain, down to earth language to say
there are some things we should not do, and one of those is to make distinctions
between people.
When I traveled with Tanya several
weeks ago to Boston we visited some of the old churches there, such as the Old
North Church, where Paul Revere placed the lanterns in the steeple as a warning
that the British were marching on the city. If you have visited some of the oldest churches in our
country – especially in the northeast – you have noticed that the pews are
often boxed in, and on the outside of the box there are names, signifying who
has the privilege of sitting in those boxes. This was a common practice early in our nation’s history, as
a person’s social status could be measured by which box they occupied in
church. Incidentally, those boxes
were secured for a price, and the boxes closest to the front were the most
expensive. The seats in the back
and the balcony were cheaper, so if you are sitting in the back, you are
sitting in what were, years ago, quite literally the cheap seats (not that I’m insinuating anything about those of
you on the back rows!).
I wonder what James would make of
such seating arrangements?
Clearly, social status and differences between people are brought into
church worship services, where they obviously should not exist. We too quickly and too easily buy into
the social standards of wealth and status as the basis for the value we place upon
people. Rich? You’re more valuable as a person than
someone who is poor. Have a high
social standing? You’re more
valuable as a person than someone who is on the bottom rungs of the social
ladder.
The distinctions that are too
easily made between people – even in church – are one of the reasons why we
need the corrective of the Scriptures and worship (even though we sometimes
hurt worship by bringing in social distinctions). We need a corporate reminder that sometimes we do what we
shouldn’t do, and worship is the place where we receive this reminder.
4. Sometimes we fail to do what we should do.
You are probably familiar with the
terms sins of omission and commission. We don’t talk about them much these
days, but sins of omission and commission remind us that sometimes we
deliberately fail to do what we should do, while at other times we do the wrong
thing or fail to do what we should simply as an oversight, without any intended
malice.
It is not the sins of commission
(the deliberate sins) that worry me as much as the sins of omission (the ones
we commit without realizing we have committed them). Sins of omission reveal the painful truth of our true
character, such as the fact that we might make a distinction between people
without realizing it because we feel entitled to our privilege. We might, for instance, look at our
society and react negatively to what goes on in some communities because we
don’t understand what it’s like to live in those communities. We can often – and do often – criticize
poor communities for what happens there, such as crime, because we don’t
understand what it is like to live in those communities. Poverty does, after all, give birth to
crime because of the desperation that comes with living in a poor community.
This is why it is important for us
not just to speak out against some
things, but why we should speak out
for some things. We shouldn’t
simply speak out against crime; we should speak up for solutions that seek to
rectify the root causes of that crime.
For churches, this means that we need to be seen and heard. We can’t just talk about the evils of
the world; we need to get out of our buildings and work to help those who are
oppressed by the evils of the world and who suffer because of those evils. We can’t just say we are to love our
enemies; we need to go out and love our enemies.
It is not easy to do what is
right. Sometimes we say the wrong
thing and sometimes we do the wrong things. At other times, we don’t say anything and don’t do anything. All of this is proof, I believe, of why
we need to be working together as brothers in sisters in faith, challenging and
encouraging one another. It sure
beats Learning the Hard Way.
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