Letting The Word Slip Through Your Ears?

Text: James 1:22-27

In the name of Jesus: Amen.

The Apostle James comes against hypocrites in today’s Epistle Reading.  He is confronting Christians who are hearers of the Word but not doers of the Word.  In other words, he is trying to expose that there are individuals that say that they are Christians and act like Christians, but in reality, they are not Christians.  Instead, they are hypocrites. 

Now, let me caution you right now.  As you consider today’s Epistle reading, your mind may drift to other people that you know who fit James’ description.  In other words, I caution you from letting your mind shift the Epistle Reading away from your ears towards someone else.  You see, it is easy to hear a sermon and then think,

“Wow, this is good, I hope Johnny and Susie are listening.” 

Yes, when you hear a sermon and begin thinking about someone else needing to hear it, you are then not hearing it for yourself, which means that you become the very thing that you are condemning. 

So, James is confronting individuals that say that they are Christian – those who are merely hearers of the Word and not doers of the Word.  These are individuals who range from individuals called CEO Christians (Christmas and Easter Only Christians) to individuals that attend every function of the church, give tithes, serve on boards and walk the straight and narrow, yet the Word has not been received by faith. 

Yes, James is confronting individuals who are just hearers of the Word and not doers of the Word, and they come in all shapes and sizes. Some are not very involved in the church, and others are very faithful attendees of the church.  Some think they are Christians, but deep down they know that they do not believe what is being taught from the Bible.  They roll their eyes at the Bible when it doesn’t agree with their opinions.  They even dismiss the teachings of the church as too dogmatic and old fashioned, yet they hide their disagreement and pretend to be one of the church family.  Yes, they are hearers only of the Word and not doers of the Word. 

There are also individuals who hear the Word and agree, for the most part, but the Word never goes any farther.  They listen, perhaps and even enjoy what they hear, they think it is true, but then 5 minutes after these individuals hear the Word they forget it, leave it, and forsake it.   Yes, they are hearers only of the Word and not a doer of the Word.

So, the disturbing question for you to ponder right now is, are you a hearer of the Word only and not a doer?

But what does James mean when he says that you and I are not to be just hearers of the Word but doers too? 

It is easy to jump to the conclusion that James is calling everyone not only to hear but to perform some good deed or some Christian action along with hearing. However, this is not what James is confronting in our Epistle reading.   What James is confronting are individuals who merely hear the Word, and then the Word does not take root.  James is talking about people who hear the Word but hear it without faith. 

So, what this means is that to be a doer of the Word means that the Lord has His way with you by the power of His Word.  It means that what the Word says will happen, actually does happen.  For example, to be a doer of the Word means that you will experience repentance of sins from God’s Word of Law and faith in Jesus from God’s Word of Gospel. 

Dear friends, the Word of God is not dead.  It is living and active.  The Holy Spirit through God’s Word of Law brings about repentance of sins.  The Holy Spirit through God’s Word of Gospel brings about Faith.  The Word does something to you.  To be a doer of the Word is to be one that not merely hears the Word and then nothing happens.  To be a doer of the Word is to hear the Word and have the Word invade you.  To be a doer of the Word is to be one who experiences conviction of sin and faith in the Gospel.  To be a doer of the Word is to possess living faith! 

Keep in mind that scripture says that to do the will of God is to believe the Gospel.  We also think of the Philippian Jailer who says, “What Must I Do To Be Saved?” And Paul and Silas respond by saying, “Believe on the Lord Jesus and you will be saved.”

So, dear friends, you are a doer of God’s Word, when you believe the Gospel.

Put another way, here is the main problem.  Can you imagine looking in the mirror, seeing who you are and then 10 minutes later forgetting who you are, what you are about, and what you do for a living?  Can you imagine taking a good look in the mirror and then 10 minutes later you forsake your whole history, your whole life story, your career, your vocation, and your memories.  That is crazy.  People who forget who they are after looking in a mirror are those that we would classify as having a severe case of Alzheimer’s.  People who forget who they are after looking in the mirror are individuals who may have amnesia, short-term memory loss, or are in need of medical help.  It doesn’t make sense.  However, this is what so often happens regarding Christians and the Word, and this is what James is confronting. 

Dear friends, too many times we will hear of our sin and God’s forgiveness towards us.  We will hear about the price that Christ paid on the cross for us. We hear that the blood-stained cross of Christ pays for every single sin that we have committed – that in Christ the wrath of God has been satisfied. And then, 10 minutes later after the Divine Service, the circumstances of life, our jobs, our projects, and the things of the world enter in, resulting in the message of God’s Word vanishing.  Puff!  Gone!  It is lost and forgotten.  The Word becomes disconnected.  It goes in one ear and falls out the other.  This is what it means to be a hearer of the Word only. This is the way of hypocrisy.   This is what is concerning to the Apostle James in our Epistle reading. 

You see, the original readers of the Epistle of James were like a husband who hears his wife when he is watching football, but nothing of what she says is absorbed, heard, or understood.  The readers of the Epistle of James were like children who hear mom yelling to come and eat but then are entirely sidetracked by beating level 8 on the video game Halo.  The readers of the Epistle of James were like wives who were pondering the words of their husband only to be distracted by a 30% off coupon to a fashion store.  To just hear the Word is like someone who looks in the mirror and then forgets how they look.  There is no lasting memory, nothing lasting about it.  It results in hypocrisy.  This is James’s concern.  So, James is, in essence, shaking things up calling us to take a good look in the mirror to not only hear but also to believe what the Word says about us.  The Word of God is not dead, which means that faith should not be dead.  And if there is no faith, well… that is not because of the Word but because of the person.    

So, dear friends, listen up today!  Do not let God’s Word slip through your ears on to the floor.  Repent of your apathy towards God’s Word. Repent of your hypocrisy.  Repent of your indifference, laziness, coldness, disinterest, and unresponsiveness towards God’s Word.  Repent and hear what God’s Word has to say about you.  Repent and hear God’s Word that is especially for you: 

The Lord has chosen not to leave you in your predicament of sin. 

You, who have ears, hear something profound: 

God was not content to let you slip into hell.  

Listen, dear Saints:

From eternity, God had a plan, and that plan was to send the God-Man, Jesus Christ to come, live, and die – for you.

Yes, hear:  

Jesus took the sin of the world upon Himself on that cross, which includes every single one of your sins.  And on that cross, Jesus absorbed the wrath of God on account of your sins.   

And so, you who once were spiritual orphans are now adopted as children of God.  You who were once dead in trespasses and sin have now been resurrected to life.  You who were guilty of sin are now justified and declared innocent of sin. 

Oh, dear Saints, may God the Spirit continually grant us ears to hear!  May He continually grant us faith to hear that our sins are forgiven and that we have life and salvation in Christ.    

May God the Spirit continually give us faith and assurance to know that Jesus has done everything necessary for our salvation, and in so doing, we will not be mere hearers of the Word, but doers. 

In the name of Jesus: Amen.

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Damn These Three Enemies; Let Us Pray

Text:  James 1:12-15; 1 Peter 5:6-11; Petitions 6-7 of The Lord's Prayer

In the name of Jesus: Amen.

In 1896, an infectious disease specialist named William Osler said,

“Humanity has but three great enemies: fever, famine, and war.”[1] 

What Mr. Osler was pointing out in this most sobering and realistic assessment was that disease, lack of food, and outbreaks of war have historically been and continue to be mankind’s three greatest threats for survival.  For example: things like the Bird Flu or Ebola have killed thousands upon thousands of people in a matter of months.  Droughts, lack of rain, and torrential rains can also destroy crops, leaving bellies empty, and causing death.  If sickness or the lack of food does not get us, then there is always war.  Who can forget the slaughter of people from the Nazis regime, the various mass murders of maniacal fanatics, and the heartless violence of ISIS?  War has claimed thousands – no – millions.  Indeed, these three enemies are vicious and ruthless, out to destroy and attack mankind.

Now, it would be easy to pin these three enemies up as public enemy number one, two, and three; however, tonight I would like to offer up three different enemies.  Like a rival gang, these enemies are just as ruthless and just as maniacal, wreaking havoc from shortly after the creation of the world until now.  This gang of three is: the sinful flesh, the world, and the devil. 

I do not share this to be a killjoy, but I share this because the sinful flesh, the world, and the devil are not to be underestimated or written off.  In other words, each and every one of us are constantly tempted by these three evils and constantly attacked by them.  While we can avoid the fever with modern medicine and while we can avoid famine by stockpiling food, and while we can avoid war by seeking peace, there is actually no escaping the flesh, the world, and the devil  The reason why?  These three ruthless enemies seek us out and attempt to have their way with us.   

Take the sinful nature, the sinful nature – also known as the old Adam – tempts us and attacks us.  We can’t outrun the old Adam or avoid him, for we live with this sinful old Adam around our necks until the day we die. This means that the old sinful nature goes to work on us daily and lures us daily into sexual immorality, laziness, gluttony, drunkenness, greed, deceit, fraud, and deception.  Why do we see so many acts of evil done by people in this world on the nightly news?  It is because the old sinful Adam – the sinful nature – it clings to humanity and we are incited by it to plunge into whatever makes us happy at the expense of hurting ourselves and others.  The sinful nature dangles a poison apple in front of our eyes and says, “One bite won’t kill you; you’re worth it; everybody is doing it.”[2]  Then after the bite, the poison devastates. 

If it isn’t the sinful nature, then it is the world.  Yes, each and every one of us are in the world, which means that we are constantly attacked by the ideologies and messages of the world.  The words and deeds of the world are enough to drive us to anger and impatience.  In short, there is nothing in the world but hatred, envy, violence, injustice, slander, arrogance, pride, fondness for luxury, honor, fame, and power.  In the world, no one is willing to be the least, but everyone wants to sit on top and be seen by all; therefore, the little guy always seems to be stepped on.[3]  The world is cruel; life is hard in the world.  “You live, then you die, then they throw dirt in your face.”[4]

If the sinful flesh and the world are not enough to depress and overwhelm you and me, then comes the devil.  This sly pathetic enemy baits and badgers us at every turn and at every angle.  His purpose is to make us bored or to despise God’s Word and the Sacraments.  His whole purpose is to tear us away from faith, hope, and love, and to draw us into unbelief, pretend security, and stubbornness.  He throws flaming darts of lies and accusations at each and every one of us and attempts to catch us in his snare – that is his web of false promises and enticements.[5] 

Now, I wish I could say that these three enemies are just for show; however, they are real.  So ‘real’ that they attack each and every one of you.  Maybe not all at the same time, but as long as we live this life in the veil of tears, you and I will be attacked, hunted, and harassed from all sides, from all three of these enemies.  They will not pull back and they will not compromise.  Those of you who are younger, you will often fight the flesh, the sinful nature.  Those of you who are older, you will be tempted and attacked by the world.  And those of you who have journeyed through life and are learning to rest in your baptisms before the shadow of death, well, the devil will generally be there to attack you.[6]

Because this is the way it is with us Christians, we do not foolishly pretend that these enemies do not exist.  We do not put our heads in the sand.  We are not naïve.  But rather, we wake up every morning knowing that temptation is before us and that evil is there to kill, steal, and destroy us…

…And because this is the way that it is, we pray the sixth and seventh petition of the Lord’s Prayer. 

“And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil.”

Yes, we Christians know the fight is before us.  We know it is daily; therefore, we pray against these enemies and their temptations.

As we pray though, we are not helped by our own thoughts or the strength of our meditating heart, but rather, we pray with boldness, as the Lord has taught us. 

You see, we pray knowing that the Lord hears our requests because He has promised to.  And as He hears our petitions, we know that He cares for us. 

And so, we continually pray.  We pray that the Lord would preserve and keep us, so that the devil, the world, and the flesh may not deceive us or misled us into false belief, despair and other great shame.[7] 

We pray so that we may seek and expect help from no one else, but the Lord. 

We pray that we would be continually reminded and centered in the reality that the Lord Jesus Christ has snatched us from the jaws of hell, won us, freed us, and restored us to the Father’s favor and grace.[8] 

We pray that the Lord would continually strengthen our faith, faith that knows that the Lord has given Himself completely to us, holding nothing back. 

We pray that the Lord would strengthen us and give us steadfast faith in the midst of this ongoing battle. 

We pray knowing that the Lord is good and that He will never leave His children alone. 

We pray that the victorious Christ would put these tyrannical enemies into their proper place and that He would be our righteousness, life, salvation, and hope – our ever present help.     

We pray that we would be delivered from evil, evil that would affect our body, soul, property, and reputation. 

My friends, do you see why we pray the Lord’s Prayer?  If we want the flesh, the world, and the devil to be at bay, we must pray that the Lord’s  name be hallowed, that His kingdom would come, and that His will be done in our midst.   The Lord is the only solution and answer to the sinful flesh, the world, and the Devil.

There is also another aspect to prayer.  In prayer we not only call upon the Lord in our time of need, but we also remember all of His promises to us. As we contemplate upon these promises, we shall not despair in the face of these three enemies, but rather, we shall remember that we do not belong to these three enemies.  Truly, you and I do not belong to our flesh, the world, or the devil, but we belong to the one who strangles the old Adam, overcomes the world, and crushes the Devil at the cross.  We belong to the Lord and He belongs to us.

Dear Baptized Saints, tonight, tomorrow, and in the weeks and years to come, let us pray.  May the voices of our faith confess and cry out before the Lord the following,

“Lord, continually teach us to pray.  Continue to strangle my old sinful flesh, overcome the tactics of the world, and crush the Devil’s plans, for I am yours.  Save me and preserve me.” 

In the name of Jesus:  Amen.

---

[1] Osler W. The study of the fevers of the South. JAMA 1896;26:999— 1004

[2] Martin Luther, The Large Catechism: The Lord’s Prayer, The Sixth Petition.

[3] Ibid.

[4] Partial quote from: David Gerrold. 

[5] Martin Luther, The Large Catechism: The Lord’s Prayer, Sixth Petition. 

[6] Ibid.

[7] Martin Luther, The Small Catechism: The Lord’s Prayer.

[8] Martin Luther, The Large Catechism, The Apostles Creed, Explanation of the Second Article.

Your Exalted Ego No Longer Lives, For You Have Been Crucified With The Humble Christ

Text: James 4:7-5:6

In the name of Jesus.  Amen.

What do we mean when we refer to a person’s ‘ego?’  Yes, the word ‘ego’: E-G-O – Ego.  The word ‘ego’ properly defined is a person’s sense of self-esteem or self-importance.  An ego is made up of what a person thinks and feels about himself or herself.  An ego is what distinguishes a person from others. 

Now, when a person defines himself or herself as separate from the outside world and then considers himself or herself as the center of the universe, they are considered to have a large ego.  For example, a big ego says, “I am better than you.”  An overly inflated ego compels one to be self-sufficient and it drives a person to make plans for ‘self.’  The magnified ego causes a person to fight for precious self, drives competition, and also leads to the destruction of others.  Technically, the word Ego in the language of Greek is, “I.”

In thinking about big egos—egomaniacs that is—it is easy for us to think of people like: Simon Cowell of American Idol, Donald Trump, Oprah, Barrack Obama, Kim Kardashian, Madonna, Paris Hilton, LeBron James, and so forth.  Just mentioning these names causes all of us to roll our eyes, for these celebrities and athletes definitely flaunt egocentric attitudes.  I’m sure we could add many more to this list.  However, though, to be totally fair each and every one of us is no different.  We also have an ego, even though it might be a bit tamer.  Some of us have larger egos than others, whereas others of us have quieter egos than other.  The reason why we all have an ego is that our egos are fueled by our sinful nature that continually bends ourselves inward.  That is right; our sinful nature calls out to us to live for ourselves, to do what we want, when we want to, and for whatever reason we want.  It cries out to us that we are super, special, and fantastic; that we are unlike everyone else, that the world, the region, the city, the work place, the school, the church, and the family should revolve around us. 

Now, it is to no surprise to us that when we read our verses from the epistle of James that it rubs against our egos.  The Epistle of James is tough on us that way.  It runs completely the opposite direction of where our inflated and self-centered egos point us.  More specifically, in James chapter 4 verse 7, we hear James calling you and me to submit ourselves to God.  You see, verse 7 sets the tone for this entire portion of scripture.  James is calling each and every one of us to voluntarily place ourselves under the authority of God.  James is calling us to place ourselves under the leadership, direction, and will of God’s Word. 

To submit is to be put in subjection to God.  To submit is to be in the control of God and to yield to God’s Law.  But doesn’t this go completely against our ego?  Seriously, doesn’t this mean that we are to give up our ego entirely? 

You see, what James is calling for is that you and I give up ourselves completely, totally and without hesitation or condition.  To submit to God means to deny yourself, to deny your ego, to deny ‘me, myself, and I.’  It means to take your will, desires, thoughts, words and actions, gifts, and abilities—your entire being—and place all of it at the disposal of Almighty God. 

Not only is James calling us to submit to God, he is also calling Christians, like you and me, to come near to God.  He is not demanding a partial coming near, but one that is complete and final.  He is calling that you and I to approach God in humility, acknowledging our total unworthiness, and helplessness. 

There are some implications to this submission though.  By placing ourselves underneath the authority and rule of God, this also means that you and I are to be a servant of all!  In submission to God we are to live in humility, humility that demands that we place ourselves in service to those around us.  In humility we are to serve our friends, fellow employees at work, our family, and stranger with all that we have.  This is especially true in how we speak of others.  We are called to put the best construction on others for when we speak evil of another person we are showing a lack of love and a lack of humility. 

So, my friends, with all of this said, how are you doing with this?  How are you doing at submitting to God, walking in humility, and denying yourself?  Are you 50% there? Maybe you are 60% there?  Also, how has your consistency been?  Keep in mind that James calls for complete submission.  He is not watering this submission idea down.  That is not how James rolls.  There is no room for mediocrity with James’ Epistle.  So how are you doing? 

The Epistle of James is definitely hard for us to swallow.  It sobers us up; it awakens us from our spiritual slumbering.  James sets forth some 51 commands for us to follow, eleven of which are in our text today.  James is calling us to submission, he is calling us to turn from evil, and he is calling us to humility, and service towards our neighbor.  For you and me we can agree that this is good; this is God’s will for you and me as Christians.  In other words, what James lays forth is good, there is no doubt about it that this is God’s perfect and holy will for you and me.  So, how is this going for you?  How are you doing at fulfilling this?  How are you doing at submitting?  How are you doing at being humble and serving others? 

It is pretty evident that anytime that God’s will is laid before us that we can agree with it and recognize that it is good.  We may also glean some great insights of what living the Christian life looks like, things that we have not understood before.  Furthermore, I would highly doubt that anyone here today would not agree with the idea of submitting to God and the idea of speaking honorably about our neighbor.  As a church we are blessed with the fact that we can with great unity confess that God’s will is right, good, and true.  The problem that still remains though is that in our congregation—that is in you and me—we desire to do what is good and true, but when the rubber meets the road we simply do not do what is right.  It is as if we end up doing the exact opposite of what is right.

My friends, the point of fact is this, our egos—our sinful natures—stand in direct opposition to submitting to God.  Our egos and our desire to be self-sufficient cannot stand the idea of being underneath someone else.  If you doubt this just try the following.  Next time you are in a group of people, announce to them that you are the most important person in the group and that you demand that they all follow your will and your desires.  Watch what happens!  You see, it is no different with God.  According to our sinful natures we want to be the master and commander not of our own ship but of our own lives.  We do not want to let go of the steering wheel.  We insist and demand that we are capable of being self-sufficient before God.  We fight being submissive to others and we fight to have people submissive to our will.  We do not want to be controlled but want to control others.

This is not a problem unique to just us.  God’s people of every generation have been unfaithful to God’s will.  Simply look to the Old Testament and we see thousands of illustrations of people’s ego and the resistance of following God’s will. 

Keep in mind though, that James is not calling us to turn to grab ahold of our bootstraps and our egos to do more works to be forgiven, but instead He calls us to return to the Lord in repentance.  I have said this before and I will say it again, our sinful nature does not need to be reformed.  The goal in the Christian life is not to get the sinful nature—our self-centered egos—to behave better or to be more submissive. The goal in the Christian life is not to get our ego to be more humble or to submit to God.   Our ego, that is our sinful nature, will not submit and cannot submit to God.  Our sinful nature does not believe the Gospel and will not.  Trying to get our ego to be humble and submit to God is like trying to put a square peg in a round hole.  It isn’t possible. 

Therefore, what needs to happen to us is that first and foremost we need forgiveness for not submitting to God.  Furthermore, we need our sinful nature along with all of its sin to be crucified.  Our ego needs to be put to death. 

. . .

My dear family of Zion Lutheran, hear the Gospel.  You and I who rebel and fail to submit to God have been forgiven by the Christ, who submitted perfectly to the Father’s will on your behalf.  You are forgiven completely, totally, and entirely by the Savior who submitted Himself to the penalty of your sin.  You are forgiven completely, totally, and entirely by the Savior that submitted Himself to death on a cross—your death.  You are forgiven by the Savior that submitted to the Father’s love for you. 

Blessed Baptized Saints, it is true!  You have been crucified with Christ.  It is no longer you—your ego—that lives, but it is Christ who lives in you.  And this life that you now live in the flesh, you live by faith in the Son of God, who loved you and gave Himself for you. 

Daily you and I are crucified in Christ. Our ego along with its desires of self-sufficiency, pride, self-importance and competition are daily put to death, as we are repented and gifted faith by the Holy Spirit through the Word. 

My friends, in the Gospel, we have confidence not based on our own performance on how well we submit, but we have confidence in the Savior that submitted for us. 

Because Jesus humbly went to the cross, we are humbled out of our pride. 

Because Jesus loved us on the cross, we are loved out of our apathy.

Because Jesus died, we are taken from death to life. 

Because Jesus was glad to die for you; you are esteemed out of our need to prove yourself.

Jesus, being completely obedient to the Father, has done everything for your salvation—you need not want, worry, or fear. 

May our prayer together as God’s beloved and redeemed be this: Lord God thank you for forgiving me.  Thank you Jesus for being obedient for me.  Thank you for submitting yourself to my sin, being made sin for me.  Please continually crucify my ego, causing me by your good grace to submit to you in all things. Continually crucify my ego so that I may serve my neighbor.  Create in me a clean heart and renew a right spirit within me! 

In the name of Jesus, who submitted Himself to the cross, Amen.

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.