So, You Wanna Be Wise?

Text:  James 3:13-4:10

In the name of Jesus.  Amen.

Phony faith in Christ typically leads to foolish and stupid sin.  An out-of-control mouth can also be traced back to a wicked heart.  This has been the themes of the last couple Sundays, as we have heard from James’ epistle.  Indeed, James has been hammering on phony and flippant tongues, which are sourced in a sham faith and a wicked heart.  He does not hold back, but calls it as it is.  This is not who the Christian is!     

Well, in today’s epistle reading we encounter the same kind of direct talk, as James directs our attention to the subject of wisdom.  Yes, wisdom.

When it comes to wisdom, we typically define wisdom as the ability to think and act by using knowledge, experience, common sense, and insights.  We classify wise people as those who have gone to a lot of school, lived a long life, and learned a bit about life through the school of hard knocks.  Furthermore, it seems that everyone wants this rich commodity of wisdom, but only a few have it.  For those who apparently have it, they will give it away for a price.  All one has to do is scan the New York Times Best Seller List or turn on the television to the day-time interview shows to see who the latest ‘wise’ and ‘learned’ person is.  To glean a bit of their valuable wisdom you can buy their latest book, subscribe to their newest gimmick, or purchase their most recent invention…. and shazam, you have added wisdom to your arsenal. 

So, with that said, I ask you this,

“Are you wise? Do you possess wisdom?  Who among you is truly wise?”

You see, James is addressing in our epistle reading some of the people in the ancient church who were setting themselves up as ‘wise’ and ‘learned.’  Up on a pedestal they sat with their so-called wisdom.  Now, let it be said that this is indeed needed in the church.  Older men and women should be temperate, serious, prudent, and sound in the faith, so that they may encourage younger Christians.  However, this is not James’ main concern.  He is not confronting the honoring of Godly wisdom, but is directing his concerns to those who were setting themselves up as wise, while simultaneously holding to a phony wisdom, a demonic wisdom—which is no wisdom at all.

Dear friends, it is good to talk about wisdom, it is good to look to wise people, and it is good to desire wisdom; however, if we do all of this and fail to recognize what the wisdom is sourced in or where it comes from, we are not wise but foolish at best.  This is the Apostle James’ concern.  Otherwise stated, James is showing us that there are two kinds of wisdom: there is wisdom from God and there is a wisdom that is earthly, unspiritual, and downright demonic.  The question at hand for us is this, what wisdom do we subscribe to and embrace?   

First let us consider the wisdom of God.  The wisdom of God is from above.  It is revealed to you and me from heaven, which means that it does not come from the human heart.  The Holy Spirit through the Word is the one that teaches and give you this wisdom.  This happens as you and I are faithing in Christ and His work on our behalf.  We are given this wisdom as we are shaped by the Word of God, as our sinful nature is killed and as we are daily resurrected in the Gospel.  This Godly wisdom is neither from the world nor from our personal experiences or classroom studies.  It does not come by your effort and it does it come by your age.  Rather this wisdom that James is referencing is from ‘above.’ 

More specifically, this wisdom of God is pure; there is nothing fishy added to it.  It seeks the welfare of others.  This wisdom is not concerned with the unholy trinity of ‘me, myself and I,’ but focuses on the need to serve one another.  For example: this wisdom teaches that we ‘give in’ for the sake of another person.  This wisdom teaches that when we are driving that we don’t have to cuss out the other driver when we are cut off.  This wisdom teaches that an employee can carry out his boss’ demands without sputtering under his breath or talking behind his back.  This wisdom teaches that student don’t have to put down a loner classmate in order to stay in the popular opinion of friends.  This wisdom teaches that siblings don’t have to argue about whose turn it is to pick up the living room or clear off the table.  This wisdom is real, not some abstract idea. 

I think it is safe to say that when we think about wisdom from God, we can all agree that this is the way that it simply should be.  There is a sense of peace which causes us to say,

“That wisdom is good.  Wouldn’t it be nice to have this?  It would be like heaven on earth.” 

So, why aren’t things peaceable?  Why do the world, the church, and families not live in this blissful state of wisdom that is selfless and all serving?  The reason being, we follow empty wisdom. 

Do not be deceived my friends, James is addressing the original readers and us by showing that we have been given wisdom from above—divine wisdom—but we then so easily become ensnared in empty wisdom.  Yes, you and I are easily seduced into this empty wisdom—that is to say, sham wisdom—that is of the world, of our sinful nature, and of the devil. 

Practically speaking though, how do we know when we are drinking the Kool-Aid of empty wisdom?  We can be assured that we following the ways of empty wisdom when the wisdom is Christless or Godless.  You see, empty wisdom is earthy; it points you and me to what is observable in the world, while giving no acknowledgement to the living awareness of God.  It is near-sided, only recognizing mankind and nothing more.   

This empty wisdom is also unspiritual.  It directs us to the unholy trinity of, “me, myself and I.”  It points us to ‘self.’  It promotes our wants, our desire, and our discernment over everything and anything.  It says, “It is all about you, have it your way, because you are worth it.”

This empty wisdom is also demonic.  It calls evil good and good evil.  It denies the Lord, hates the gospel, exalts sin, condemns goodness, and brings hell.    

This empty wisdom is the reason for the divisions, conflicts, and disputes in the world, the government, the community, the church, the home, and within you—and me too.  This empty wisdom goes the way of the sinful nature.  In other words, anytime that there are divisions in the church it is due empty wisdom wanting to have its way or empty wisdom colliding with Godly wisdom.  Anytime there are divisions and conflict in the family, in the government, in the work place, and in your life it is due to empty wisdom that spews forth lies and deceit. 

Tragically though, instead of pointing to empty wisdom as the culprit and our foolishness for following it, the temptation for all of us is to point to anything but ourselves for the reason why conflict and disputes exist.  We want to blame others.  We blame our spouses.  We blame the culture.  We blame our history.  We blame others.  We try to shift everything away from ourselves.  This is the way of empty wisdom.  Empty wisdom teaches us that the problem is outside of us and that the solution lies within us.  Whereas the scriptures show us that the problem is within and the solution is outside of us in Christ. 

Frankly, empty wisdom only yields a life full of bitterness, envy and selfish ambitions.  It is not heavenbound but earthbound.  This empty wisdom is not of God but it is of Satan.  It is not of the Spirit but it is unspiritual.  This empty wisdom springs forth not from faith, but from evil.  This empty wisdom brings about disorder, wickedness, disunity, and chaos. 

At this point in the sermon, I am sure that you are recognizing the malady of empty wisdom and the blessedness of Godly wisdom.  You might also be saying to yourself,

“I better reject empty wisdom and I better work harder at demonstrating Godly wisdom in my thoughts, words, and deeds!” 

Stop!

What has just happened here?  Without even knowing it, we just reverted back to empty wisdom!  We are looking to ourselves again!  Wisdom is not sourced in us!  No, may this never be my friends.  James says that God opposes the proud.  Believing that you can stop going the way of empty wisdom and go the way of God’s wisdom is spiritual pride!  You can’t do wisdom.  God opposes this arrogance. 

What needs to happen is that our sinful nature that curves us inward towards empty wisdom needs to be crucified.  Empty wisdom needs to be exposed and our sinful nature that clings to empty wisdom needs to die.  Our selfish desires, our self-centered ideas, the worldly ideology, and the satanic lies, need to be put to death.  That old sinful nature needs to die today, tomorrow, and every single day.  We need to be brought to repentance and humility confessing,

“Lord God have mercy on me a self-centered person who drinks the Kool-Aid and buys into the ideology of empty wisdom.” 

Yes, repent!

. . .

In the midst of the repentant rubble of empty wisdom that lay before you and me, hear the good news: God has mercy on you in Christ Jesus.  Surely, God opposes the proud, but you and I humbled by our mess of sin caused by empty wisdom are given forgiveness and grace and wisdom from above. 

Yes, hear!  God in His great wisdom forgives you and me of our empty wisdom. As His children there is an avalanche of undeserved grace and forgiveness. 

Furthermore, God wants you not bound in the deception of empty wisdom, but rather, as His children He binds you to Him and His Word, so that you can be constantly led by the Holy Spirit.  He gives to you Godly wisdom, because He Himself is wise.

It comes down to this, to know Christ and Him crucified is to know God’s wisdom.  You have Christ, thus you have Godly wisdom.    

Indeed, do not be fear; you have been given every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realm in Christ Jesus.  You are in Christ, which means you have everything!  You have forgiveness, life, salvation, ‘and’ wisdom.  You have Christ, and through the Savior you become truly wise, being gifted the very highest and the most blessed wisdom. 

This wisdom teaches you that you have been delivered from the condemnation of sin, death, and the devil. Do not fear!

This wisdom shows you that you have been ravished by the forgiveness of sin in Christ.  Pardoned!

This wisdom reveals to you that you are adopted as God’s sons and daughters.  You are accepted! 

This wisdom makes it know to you that the Lord God has done absolutely everything that is necessary for your salvation.  Received by faith!

This wisdom teaches you to freely and joyfully—with all of our heart and with an eager will—to serve your neighbor, because you have been served in Christ! 

This wisdom teaches you that you don’t have to worry whether a person is a friend or an enemy or worry if they are going to be thankful or not.  Rather you are allowed to spend yourself and all that you have without strings attached, because Christ spent His blood for you!

This wisdom tells you not to worry about whether you squander your love towards those that are ungrateful, for you have and are loved! 

This wisdom shares that God has taken care of your salvation for you, thus you can rest in His sure promises. 

This wisdom shows you that you are completely free of everything; that you are a servant of all, completely attentive to the needs of all… because of Christ! 

You my friends have been given Christ: wisdom from above.  All of this is yours.  All of this is gift. 

In the name of Jesus, who was made wisdom to us from God, Amen.

Stain Upon Your Lips, Forgiveness Laid Upon Your Tongue

Text:  James 3:1-12

In the name of Jesus.  Amen.

Just as a small rudder can direct an entire ship, the small human tongue can direct the entirety of a life as well.

Just as a small bit in a horse’s mouth can control the whole horse, the small human tongue can exert tremendous control over the body. 

There is no doubt about it that the tongue, though small, is incredibly powerful.  This small muscle of our human body—weighing only 2.2 ounces—is that part of our body that pronounces and speaks ‘words.’  These words that come from this small tongue are not just powerless puffs of air that accomplish nothing.  That is to say, contrary to the old nursery rhyme, sticks and stone do break bones and words will hurt you. 

You see, words that come from the tongue and lips are powerful; they communicate, control, coerce, express feelings, teach, lead, guide, and shape people.  These words that roll off the tongue have the power to hurt and heal.  Indeed, the Epistle of James tells us that the tongue can speak words that bless or it can speak forth words that curse. 

If not kept in check though, the tongue and its words can act like a spark, igniting fire and destroying the lives of people.  It only takes a spark to set a whole forest on fire; it only takes the small tongue to stain and poison a group of people as well.  Undeniably, the tongue and its words have started wars, divided families, split churches, separated communities, and caused divorces.  Destructive words go out from the tongue and travel through phones, social media, the town-talk, and the press.  These destructive words go forth and wound the conscience, get imbedded into the mind, and then haunt our memories for the years to come.  These painful words will not only stick in our minds, but will also be passed down from generation to generation wounding our children and our children’s children. 

The tongue and its words are indeed powerful.  These words can bless or they can curse.  In other words, there is nothing that does greater good and greater harm to our neighbor, before God and man, than the tongue. Even though the tongue is the smallest part of our bodies, it yields tremendous power.[1]   

With all that stated, even though the tongue is so small and is captive inside your mouth like a caged wild beast, no human being has been able to tame it.  Even though we can cage lions, tiger, and bears—and even tame them—mankind has yet to be able to tame the tongue.  If you think about it, it is rather simple to tame the tongue; all it would take to control the tongue would be to shut the mouth, locking the tongue within this cage.  However, as we all know from our own experiences and from what we can easily observe in history, the tongue is restless.  When the ears hear that little bit of gossip on the streets, the tongue squirms with joy and it bursts out of its cage—that is the mouth—so that it can spread the gossip into every corner of the community.  While the tongue destroys the character of our neighbor, it relishes, delighting in the chance to stir up someone else’s dirt like pigs that roll in manure.[2]

We have all said it, “they should just keep their mouths shut.”  We have all thought it, “why didn’t I just keep my mouth shut?”  Indeed, the tongue speaks sin, commits sin, and then after it has ignited the spark, it defends and justifies itself and the sinner.   

It’s a bad deal. 

It is not the way that it should be. 

The tongue—your tongue and mine—should not be used to harm a neighbor.  It should not be used to say anything evil of a neighbor to bring about their character assassination.  It should not be used to spew forth false doctrine.  It should not be used to blaspheme the Lord.  But rather, the tongue should speak only the best about our neighbor by cloaking and veiling our neighbor with our own honor.  The tongue should confess and bless the Lord as well.

This is where the problem lies though.  James is calling for consistency of the tongue.  In other words, James is pointing out in his epistle that a Christian has received the implanted Word of God, which means that there should be no slander, gossip, blaspheming, false doctrine, and the like coming from that very tongue. To prove his point, James asks these rhetorical questions: 

Does a spring of water put fresh and bitter water through the same opening?  Of course not!

Does a fig tree yield olives?  Of course not! 

In other words, should the Christian—that is you and me—who has received the implanted, perfect, whole, and good Word, speak forth slander, blaspheme, and false doctrine?  Of course not!

Think about this for a moment.  Think about your tongue.  If we claim to be a Christian but let our tongues go wild, we are fooling ourselves. In other words, do you think that tongues that slander, tongues that blaspheme, tongues that confess false doctrine, and tongues that spew forth poison belong to the Baptized?  Should our lips and tongues that have tasted the very body and blood of Christ, call down the powers of darkness, confess doctrinal lies, and curse our neighbor?   It ought not to be this way, for this is not who we are!

And yet, even though we confess that it should not be this way, it is this way.  We simultaneously bless the Lord and we also curse those who are made in the likeness of God.  As much as we try, as much as we fight against it, and as much as we attempt to keep the tongue in its cage, we must admit that from our mouths comes blessings and curses, each and every day of our lives.  Bluntly put, it is this way because we cannot—in this life—tame the tongue. 

It seems that we have now arrived at a predicament.  Our tongues ought to be pure, but they are not.   We ought to speak blessings, yet we slander.  The good that we want to do, we don’t do.  The very evil that we don’t want to do, we end up doing. 

Tragically, we are not completely renewed; our tongues are wicked for our hearts are wicked as well.   

There is no doubt about it that this morning we have been admonished by the Epistle of James.  Therefore, we must confess together that our tongues are not consistent with the implanted Word that we have been given.  We are people of unclean lips; we cannot tame this tongue.  

Oh, what wretched tongues and hearts that we have!  Who will save us from this? 

We mustn’t take this lightly or shrug it off, for this would be doing the exact opposite of what James is warning us about. 

Dear friends, I need to be forgiven; you need forgiveness.  We need it from outside, from above, and by another. We need our unclean tongues to be absolved, by the one who had complete control over His tongue.  We need our unclean hearts forgiven, by the one who has a pure heart.  We need Jesus Christ and His Word for us. 

With that stated and with your tongues caged in your mouth and your ears open, hear these words from a clean and righteous tongue, “It is finished; your sins are forgiven.” 

Though this may sound like seven simple words, keep in mind that these simple Words of Jesus do not merely turn a ship or steer a large horse, but deliver you from the condemnation of sin, the sting of death, and the power of the devil.  That is to say, even if a pack of demons filled the land threatening to devour you, do not tremble for they cannot over power you.  Even if the world’s tyrants rage against you, do not shake for they cannot over power you.  Even if the weight of sin seems to crush you, do not despair.  Why?  You have been given seven simple Words of Christ, little words that subdue, prevail, and conquer over sin, death, and the devil.  Seven words that are for you, “It is finished; your sins are forgiven.”

Furthermore, with your tongues caged in your mouth and your ears open, here this: behold, your lips and your tongue have been touched by the Gospel and will be touched by the Christ today.  In point of fact, with your lips and your tongues, you have received and will receive the body and blood of Christ for the very forgiveness of your sins.  Your lips and tongue have been touched; your guilt is taken away; your sin is atoned for. 

Baptized Saints, there is no condemning word against you and no condemning tongue of hell pronouncing you guilty, for you are in Christ. 

Baptized blood bought Christians take heart, Christ Jesus has delivered you from the condemning tongue of hell, the jaws of death, and your slavery of sin, unto Himself.  In Christ you have been purified and freed from the stain of sins on your lips and upon your heart.  Though you will daily sin; the Lord will daily forgive and restore you, for He is your ever present Savior. 

It gets better.  The Holy Spirit through the Gospel will daily purify and sanctify you so that your words may uplift, strengthen, and bring peace where there is strife.  Daily by the Word and Sacraments the Holy Spirit will grant you repentance of your erring tongue and daily will lead you by bringing sincerity where there is falsehood.  Daily being returned to your baptism, your faith will be strengthened.  Daily the Lord will use your forgiven lips and tongue to speak His glory, to tell of His wonderful deeds, and to proclaim salvation. 

 

May your prayer and my prayer, as His children, be, “Create in us a clean heart O God and renew a right spirit within us, while continually purifying our lips for your service.” 

In the name of Jesus, Amen.

---

[1] Ibid.

[2] Martin Luther, The Large Catechism: 8^th Commandment.

Sin's Partiality; Faith's Impartiality

Text:  James 2:1-10, 14-18

In the name of Jesus.  Amen.

As human beings, we naturally admire certain people more than others.  To a certain extent this is alright.  For example, it is o.k. to show favoritism and preference towards a spouse or a child or a close family member like a mom or dad.  There is nothing wrong with this because it is a part of your vocation as a parent, spouse, and/or child. There is also nothing wrong with having certain friends that are closer than others.  Logically, people with similar vocations in the workforce are going to tend to bond together more than others.  Farmers are going to connect with other farmers, white collar people are going to connect with white collar people.  Moms will connect with other moms, and so forth.  In your vocations—whether at church or downtown or at work—you will naturally rub shoulders with different individuals of similar callings.  However, where things go tragically wrong is when we purposefully exclude others, look down on them, rank them, categorize their worth, and show favoritism in our acts of love based on external appearances and manmade criteria.

This is what we hear about in today’s Epistle reading from the Apostle James.  The Apostle James is talking about a faith, which unlike God Himself, is partial.  He is talking about a so-called faith—which really is no faith at all—that makes social distinctions among people where there ought not to be.  As already stated, this kind of faith really does not exist, but the people that James is addressing apparently were calling it faith nonetheless.  Otherwise stated, James is calling attention to those who go on and on and on about faith, yet at the same time honor certain people while knifing others in the back on the basis of their manmade standards.  James is calling out the fact that faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and the partiality described in our Epistle reading are totally inconsistent.  They do not go together.  They are not complimentary. 

Tragically though, as human beings, we often do not recognize contradictions like this, for we spend countless hours of our lives trying to affirm our insecure egos, rather than living by faith.  As implied from our Epistle reading, one of the ways we do this is to form small ‘exclusive’ groups (i.e., cliques) that will give us kudos, affirmation, and support.  We are not talking about small support groups or family gatherings, but rather, unhealthy clusters that evolve into exclusivity.  The reason why these clusters become exclusive is because these groups usually fuel the ego, which to our sinful nature is worth protecting.  Furthermore, what makes these exclusive cliquey groups unhealthy is that individuals can become guarded because they do not want anyone to upset the balance and chemistry of the group. 

These cliques become a much more serious problem when they spill over and/or are conceived in the local church. The reason being, churches can become a private country club where individuals are excluded on the basis of appearance, money, and status. 

You see, the problem with all of this is that the idea of giving love to one another in the church can become contingent on a person’s possessions, gifts, abilities, personality, group identification, etc…  This though is not compatible with the Christian faith.  This kind of selectiveness is the mark of the unbeliever, not the baptized Christian; it is a mark of the sinful nature, not the new man in Christ. 

 

My friends, a person’s worth does not come from their possessions or lack of possessions; it does not come from their status in the community, their appearance, and their last name.  The reason being, in God’s eyes no one is inherently inferior compared to someone else, ‘everyone’ that has been born has been created in the image of God.  The old Christian apologist Francis Schaeffer once said that no matter how fallen or messed up a person is, we can never forget that they were created in the image of God.  In other words, James is confronting the sin of looking down upon any group or person based on appearance, status, or wealth. 

What this means is that there no such thing as inferior or non-inferior people in God’s eyes, because scripture categorizes everyone into the same category.  We all are created people, people who were knit together in our mother’s womb.  All having value: from the preborn to the old.  We are all created in the image of God.  And, yes, we have all fallen into sin and guilt; marred by sin.  It is true, just look around and consider this church.  All of us in this church stand and confess our sins together in the Confession of Sins and we all hear the same absolution of our sins in the Gospel.  We are the same: sinners forgiven in Christ. 

What does all of this mean though in light of the predicament that the Epistle of James is addressing? 

Very bluntly put, you and I sin when we believe that there is something inherently better about ourselves, that we have something in ourselves that makes us better before God or not as sinful in God’s eyes compared to other people.  To think of others as inferior to yourself is sinful because you are essentially basing their worth and your worth on worldly criteria and possibly your own measuring stick.  The end result is that you and I will try to justify ‘ourselves’ by snubbing others and then comparing ourselves to them, all while distancing ourselves from the Gospel.  This is not the Christian faith: it is not of the faith, from the faith, or for the faith.  This kind of mentality—these kind of actions and works—are worldly.  The Christian faith—real faith—does not yield this kind of evil. 

So, with all this said, is James calling for this idea of tolerance in the church?  Is He advocating for some equal protection clause?  Is James basically saying that we are not to call out sin and that we are to become saturated with love so that we are a bowel of moral mush?  No, of course not!  What James is confronting is the idea of you and me basing a person’s worth or non-worth upon ‘our’ criteria and convincing ourselves that this is morally o.k. or that this is a part of the Christian faith.  James is showing us that we sin when we exclude and withhold love on the basis of our so-called faith and favoritism.  In other words, you and I have no right to call something sin that God hasn’t called sin from His Word.  We have no right to withhold love based on our favoritism, for this violates the royal law of love. When we look down on someone in our heart and when we do not love them as ourselves, we sin; this perversion of love is not of the Christian faith. 

In a nutshell, James is showing us that when we convince ourselves that this sinful favoritism is righteous, it is because we have delusions about faith.  When you and I yield heartless, selective, superficial, and childish clique tactics with people, we are not yielding true good works, but sin.  This is not of the faith.  Jesus Christ is not the author of sin.  Grace is not a license to sin.  The faith that you are given does not smile on such garbage.  To indulge, welcome, support, and encourage acts of sin is not a byproduct of faith, but the result of a phoney faith, which is no faith at all, but basically the old Adam masquerading around. 

Repent dear friends of this favoritism, of this phoney faith. 

Hear the good news of the Gospel.  Hear the great news.  That great news is that the Lord did not look with partiality upon you and me.  Indeed, even though you and I were inferior in every way, full of sin, stained by sin, and even enemies of the Lord, it was the Lord’s desire to die for you.  Even though you and I are completely unworthy, it was the Lord’s yearning to make you worthy by His shed blood.  Even though you and I wrongly base people’s value on superficial things, God covered you with the image of His Son in Baptism because He values you. 

Truly, the Lord Jesus Christ was crowned with thorns to rule over redeemed sinner, dying with the weight of your sin upon Him so that you would not be crushed by that weight.  He filled you with His Holy Spirit.  Now Christ is not ashamed to call you His brothers and sisters.  For God creates objects worthy of His love and does so without sinful favoritism.

The reality of this my friends is that in Christ there is neither Jew, nor Greek, slave or free, there is neither male or female… for you are all one in Christ Jesus.  You are the church of God located here in Gwinner, North Dakota with one baptism into Christ.  Do not forget, there is one baptism, one Christ, one way of salvation, one Savior of all.  Each and every one of us is condemned by great sin, yet redeemed by a greater redeemer.  Therefore, there is no distinction.  Yes, there are different vocations, different tastes, different personalities, but at the core there is one and only one Gospel—for you and me.  This Gospel does not come to you in snippets or through factions or through installments. 

You all have the same faith because the same Lord forgave you all of you sins.  You all have the same baptism because you were baptized into the same name of God.  You all have the gift of good works because the Lord gave you these good works with His enlivening gifts.  Therefore, how on earth can we show partiality to one another?  God did not show partiality in saving us, which means that we are freed from this kind of mindset so that we can freely serve our neighbor without favoritism! 

Create in us a clean heart O God and renew a right spirit with us.  Amen.