Taming the tongue, James 3:1-12

I think that one of the greatest distinguishing features that separates man from the animal kingdom, besides having a soul, is man’s ability to speak, to communicate.  I’ve always been amazed at the inherent desire in people to talk.  I remember very well many years ago I used to work part time in the mornings as a lifeguard for the pool at the YMCA.  And they would have these exercise classes during certain times on certain days when all these old people would put on their floaties and then supposedly start exercising.  But the teacher was pretty lax.  She would just lead the class around in a big circle, bobbing around the pool.  And immediately the people in the class just started chattering away.  And  the sound of the chatter from all the people in the pool was almost deafening.  The pool tends to reflect the sound off the water and the walls anyway, but hearing the magnified sound of fifty old ladies bobbing around who were constantly chattering was enough to drive you crazy.  And I think that’s when I first realized just how much social interaction is essential to the human species.

The experts tell us that that the average person speaks about 16,000 words a day.  Some people have said that men speak 16,200 words a day and women speak 16,800 words a day. That’s statistically the same for women or men.  But the common perception of women being more talkative though comes more from timing, than from the total words spoken. The problem is that by the time the man comes home from work, he has already spoken his 16,000, but the woman hasn’t yet started on her 16,000.  She’s been waiting for that opportunity. But of course that’s a stereotypical statement that is probably not really true.

But what is true is that we need to speak, and to a large extent, our speech is one of the primary ways in which we are known and defined.  James is very concerned about our speech.  He has already brought it up in chapter one and talked about it there.  It’s apparent that James considers our speech to be a work, or an evidence of our faith.  And so he summarized that section about speech by saying in chapter 1 vs 26 that “If anyone thinks himself to be religious, and yet does not bridle his tongue but deceives his [own] heart, this man's religion is worthless.” Our words are one of the primary ways in which we practice our faith, and if our speech isn’t right, then it nullifies everything else.

So that naturally leads us to consider his next point, that teaching, which is the use of speech to convey truth, to convey faith, to practice our religion, is another aspect of speech that needs to be controlled.  So he actually gives a warning in relation to teaching,  saying in vs 1, “Let not many [of you] become teachers, my brethren, knowing that as such we will incur a stricter judgment.” 

Now that’s true on a couple of levels.  One is, when you teach, you open yourself up to criticism from those that hear you.  People are going to judge you on the basis of what you say, and how you said it.  I think one of the most common after church menu items is roast pastor. It’s pretty common for a lot of people after church service to have roast pastor for lunch.  And that pretty much comes with the territory.  That’s part of the job.  So you better think twice before you put yourself in that position. And to be even more explicit, you better make sure of your calling. Because if you’re teaching is designed to win approval from men then you will be a man pleaser and try to scratch the itching ears of your congregation.  But that’s  preaching something that does not find favor with God.

But I don’t think men’s judgement is the primary meaning of James in this statement.  I think he’s saying that as a teacher you will incur a stricter judgment from God.  God’s judgment is the judgment that we should be concerned about.  Because I have to tell you, when I preach, I preach not for the commendation of men, but for the commendation of God.  I don’t preach in a way that people will think what a wonderful sermon that was, or what a wonderful person I am, but I endeavor to speak in a way that is faithful to what God’s word says.  That’s what I need to be concerned about, not in pleasing men, but in pleasing God.  And I do that by being true to the word of God.

I also believe that the indication here in this verse is that James is speaking of the office of teaching, and not merely teaching as in sharing the gospel by the individuals in the church.  We are instructed to be teachers in regards to the gospel.  Paul says in Col. 3:16 “Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms [and] hymns [and] spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God.” So we are instructed to teach in regards to our faith on a personal level.

But it’s the office of a teacher that many people aspire to, and according to James, they do so to their own peril.  They will incur a stricter condemnation because they were not faithful to the truth, to the word of God.  I think James is thinking in particular of the Jewish rabbis who taught, who loved the seats of importance in the synagogue, who loved to make public prayers.  For instance, he is probably echoing Jesus rebuke to those who taught saying in Matt. 23:14 "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you devour widows' houses, and for a pretense you make long prayers; therefore you will receive greater condemnation.”   Notice the similarity there in James warning and Jesus’s rebuke in regards to the judgment of a stricter or greater condemnation.

These are people that practice their religion by means of the tongue, and yet their speech is not in accordance with the truth of the gospel.  I believe that there is an especially hot part of hell reserved for false teachers who put a stumbling block before others.  So James gives a serious warning about the office or position of a teacher.

Now to that point of being a stumbling block to others, James says in vs 2, “For we all stumble in many [ways.] If anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to bridle the whole body as well.”  To stumble is to sin, to err, to wander away from the faith, to miss the mark.  And James says we do that in many ways.  But in this verse James seems to be saying that if you focus on the tongue, the rest of your body will follow suit.  If you can control the tongue, then you are a perfect man.  That does not mean a sinless man, but it means a complete man, or even better, a mature man, spiritually mature and as a spiritually mature man you are able to bridle the rest of your body as well.  The key to controlling the body is controlling the tongue.

To illustrate that point, James gives us three examples; the tongue is like a bit in a horse’s mouth, or a rudder on a ship, or a spark that starts a forest fire.  He says in vs 3, “Now if we put the bits into the horses' mouths so that they will obey us, we direct their entire body as well. Look at the ships also, though they are so great and are driven by strong winds, are still directed by a very small rudder wherever the inclination of the pilot desires. So also the tongue is a small part of the body, and [yet] it boasts of great things. See how great a forest is set aflame by such a small fire!”

Now these three examples speak for themselves. But let’s just consider them briefly. His statement about bits in horses mouths illustrates verse two exceptionally well.  In vs 2 he said the mature man who was able to control his tongue was able to bridle the whole body as well. The point of this illustration being that a small metal bit is able to control a large animal. So by controlling the tongue we will be able to control our entire body.

And the same point is being made in the second example.  A rudder is very small in comparison to the overall size of a ship, and yet this small part is able to steer the entire ship in the desired direction. So he says, “So also the tongue is a small part of the body, and yet it boasts of great things.”  Such a small member makes such a great difference in the trajectory of one’s life. The emphasis there is this small member has the ability to say something that can set your whole life on a course that is not desirable.

And so the third illustration builds on that undesirable outcome. He says, “see how great a forest is set aflame by such a small fire!”  Again, this is not a desired outcome.  But the wrong word said, can set things into motion which can destroy a life.  You know, fire is a terrifying thing. I remember visiting my son when he lived in Santa Barbara a few years ago, and the forest fires were out of control there, burning hundreds of homes, and millions of acres of land from Ventura to Santa Barbara.  Once the fire gets going and conditions are right, it becomes something that is uncontrollable, and destroys everything in it’s path.  And to think it all starts with a spark.  I think they said that many of those fires started from an electrical spark from a power line, or a power box somewhere in the mountains.

James compares the potential devastation of a careless or angry word to that of a spark that sets on fire the course of a life.  There is tremendous power in a word.  There is power to comfort, or the power to destroy.  And unfortunately, it seems that far too often we use words to tear down, and not build up.

So James continues in vs 6 “And the tongue is a fire, the [very] world of iniquity; the tongue is set among our members as that which defiles the entire body, and sets on fire the course of [our] life, and is set on fire by hell.”  This is the application then which we should apply from the lessons learned by the illustrations.  The tongue is like a fire that is out of control, doing widespread damage to everything in it’s path.  Consequently, the tongue sets our life on fire, destroying ourselves and  destroying others that we come into contact with.  And furthermore, James says that destruction accomplishes the work of the devil. An uncontrolled tongue is used by the devil to put a stumbling block in front of others, to discourage others, to even destroy others.  And instead of our tongue being used to bring glory to God, it is used for the purposes of the enemy of God.

Furthermore, he says the tongue defies the entire body.  It’s interesting that James sees the tongue as the culprit.  And yet the Bible teaches in other places that the heart is the problem - the heart being the defiler of the body. Jesus said in Luke 6:45  “The good person out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth what is good; and the evil person out of the evil treasure brings forth what is evil; for his mouth speaks from that which fills his heart.” So it sounds like Jesus says the heart is the source of evil.  And of course, that’s true.

Then why doesn’t James identify the heart as the culprit? Why does he lay the blame on the tongue instead?  Because as Jesus said, what’s in the heart comes out of the mouth.  So the evidence of the heart is manifested by the mouth.  The heart may be the engine, but the mouth is the instrument by which evil comes.  So James focuses on the tongue because you can’t see the heart, but you can hear the tongue.  So the condition of the heart is made evident by the tongue.

Consider what Jesus said about that in Matthew 15:18 “But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person.  For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander.  These are what defile a person.”

So if the mouth is the instrument by which the devil destroys and deceives, then we must recognize the need to tame the tongue.  And James speaks to that need in vs 7, “For every species of beasts and birds, of reptiles and creatures of the sea, is tamed and has been tamed by the human race.” I spoke earlier of the difference between the human and the animal kingdom at the beginning of this message, and now we see those animals contrasted with man again.  

As part of the original design in creation, God gave man the charge to rule over the planet, which included the animals and birds and every living creature. Gen. 1:28 says, “God blessed them; and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”  And as James said,  man has been able to do that.  I read recently about how the Navy has trained dolphins to participate in naval warfare, even to the point of detecting underwater bombs. Their headquarters for that, by the way, is in Point Loma, CA where my daughter goes to school. It really is amazing that they are able to train dolphins and sea lions to do the things that they do.  And when you consider all the animals that man has been able to domesticate, and breed, and train, then you recognize the truth of James’s statement.

But though we have the ability to tame every animal that has been created, yet we are not able to tame the tongue.  James says, vs8 “But no one can tame the tongue; [it is] a restless evil [and] full of deadly poison.”  I think what James is talking about is how we can blurt out things without thinking. That’s why he said in chapter one we should be slow to speak.  And another way that happens is that we sometime say things that hurt people and we don’t even realize it.  We may be making a joke, and yet to the one on the receiving end it’s one that cuts too close to the bone. We don’t think twice about it, we may even laugh while saying it, and yet the other person thinks about it again and again.  

You know, I hate mosquitos.  I guess everyone does.  Mosquitos are so small in comparison to our bodies.  You would think there was nothing they could do to hurt us.  But when the mosquito bites it releases a tiny bit of toxic saliva into our skin.  Such a small bite, and so small an amount of saliva, you would think it’s not a big deal.  But a mosquito bite hurts worse later than it does when it first happens. It soon starts to itch, and so you scratch it, and it gets even worse.  Before it’s all over you have a big welt that really stings for quite a while. That’s what it’s like to get stung by a harsh word. It shouldn’t really bother you.  But it starts to itch, and the more you scratch it the worse it gets.  

James uses the analogy of a snake bite to illustrate this fact.  It’s the same idea, the poison is worse than the initial bite. It takes time to find it’s way into the bloodstream, but when it finally does, then it destroys the body and can even kill.  I’ve heard of snakebites that months later finally caused death after destroying the organs from the inside of a person that had been bitten.  That’s what James says an evil word can do.

As Christians, our tongues should be under the control of the Spirit and as such you would think that the analogy of the serpent’s bite would not apply.  But James says that is not always the case.  He speaks to the Christian’s use of the tongue in vs 9, “With it we bless [our] Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the likeness of God;  from the same mouth come [both] blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be this way.  Does a fountain send out from the same opening [both] fresh and bitter [water?]  Can a fig tree, my brethren, produce olives, or a vine produce figs? Nor [can] salt water produce fresh.”

As Christians, our mandate from Jesus is to love our neighbor as ourselves. But when we curse our neighbor, we do the opposite of that. If we loved our neighbor as we should, then we are in effect bringing praise to God.  But when we curse them, we are condemning them to damnation, we are destroying them, bringing spiritual harm to them. James reminds us that man was made in the image of God, in His likeness, and so when we curse men, we are indirectly cursing God who make them.

If we have truly been reborn, if we have a new spiritual nature, then why do we resort again to the carnal nature?  Even as a fountain cannot send out both fresh and salt water at the same time, nor a fig tree able to produce olives, so neither can a sanctified person both bless and curse others.  I don’t think that James is speaking particularly here about using curse words, or swear words.  However, I don’t think that is an appropriate pattern of speech for a Christian.  But I think he’s speaking of hateful speech towards other people, in which you curse them, when we should be speaking words which will bless them, which will build them up, and which will help them.

Proverbs says “as a man thinks in his heart, so is he.”  As our heart is made pure and righteous   before God, as we meditate on His word, our life is changed to reflect the Lord Jesus Christ. And as our heart is conformed to Him, then our speech will be evidence of that change, so that our speech might result in the praise of God, and the edification of our fellow man.  

The psalmist David realized that he could sin with his lips and he prayed that God would keep him from doing so.  Let us make his prayer, our prayer in closing today.  His prayer is found in Psalm 19:14 “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart Be acceptable in Your sight, O LORD, my rock and my Redeemer.”

The case for faith that works, James 2:14-26

The theme of chapter three is that of faith.  James began by speaking about being rich in faith, as opposed to being poor in faith.  Ironically, he says the poor man is rich in faith, and the rich are poor in faith.  But it was evident that James was speaking of a kind of faith that produces love.  Love being the evidence of faith.  And love that is partial to certain people or shows favoritism is not the love which we are to have as Christians.  But we are to love like Christ loved us, which means that our faith has changed our natural inclinations to become like Christ.

James then indicated that faith in Christ changes us so that we desire to keep the royal law, which is to love your neighbor as yourself. So we understand that when James speaks of faith, he is not speaking of just a theological principle, but he speaks of a practical outcome of our faith. Rich faith, which is true faith, is life changing, in that it produces a new nature that produces works that are like Christ - such as by showing mercy.

In this second half of this chapter, James goes on to further develop the principle of faith, by saying that real faith doesn’t stop at just an intellectual assent, but real faith is living, that is active, and working.  If faith doesn’t produce love, then James says that it is not living faith at all, but dead faith.  Perhaps it can be illustrated in the analogy of a tree, that faith is the root and the trunk of the tree, and love is the branches.  The life of the tree requires both root and branches, they cannot be separated.  For it to be living, fruitful,  it requires both.

So James begins this teaching by asking a question, using a style of teaching similar to Jesus which helps to engage the hearer in his reasoning.  He says in vs14, “What use is it, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but he has no works? Can that faith save him?” The way the question is posed gives us a clue to it’s answer.  The answer is no, faith without works is not saving faith, it’s not living faith, any more than a tree that doesn’t produce fruit is a good tree.

Notice something though in the way James frames this question.  He says the one who says, or claims to have faith.  James doesn’t say that he has faith but no works.  He says the man claims to have faith but no works.  That is a huge distinction. The man claims to have faith, but there is no evidence of it in his life. Now if a man actually had real faith, James indicates that he would have works.  Real faith, saving faith produces works as certainly as a good tree, a living tree, produces fruit.  

But notice what James is not saying. He is not saying that good works produce faith, but that real faith produces works. Again, there is a big difference.  James is indicating in his question that this man does not have saving faith, because there are no works to prove it.  So what good is his confession, or his intellectual assent? Can that type of faith which is only an intellectual assent to the truth, can that faith save him.  And the answer is no, he isn’t actually saved, even though he believes, or claims to believe.

To lay elaborate on that possibility, James gives a hypothetical situation, similar to what he began with in vs 1, a hypothetical situation which is set in the church, where we should be known for our Christian love.  He says in vs 15, “If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food,  and one of you says to them, "Go in peace, be warmed and be filled," and yet you do not give them what is necessary for [their] body, what use is that?”

The illustration is set in the context of the church.  Presumably the church is made up of those who are of the faith. In the previous illustration at the beginning of the chapter, we see the possibility in the church of showing favoritism and not true Christian love, depending on the social standing or wealth of someone.  Now in this illustration, we see the example of not necessarily favoritism, but rather neglect, or uncaring disregard for another brother or sister in the church.

The picture James presents is of a desperate person who is without proper clothing or food, basic necessities for life.  And the person who sees them offers them nothing but words, but does not provide anything of substance to supply their need.  Again, James asks the question, “what good is that?”  What use are empty words without providing any help? 

Perhaps in the response of the church member to the needy person there is a hint of the old adage, “God helps those who help themselves.”  Have you ever heard that expression? I think we often use such logic to get off the hook in feeling some obligation to help someone. But is that the way God responds to our needs? No, God doesn’t tell us we need to pull ourselves up by the bootstraps.   But rather, God is merciful, and helps those who cannot help themselves.  Paul says in Romans 5:6 “For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.”  God shows mercy on those who cannot help themselves, and as those who have received mercy, we should also show mercy on those in need. 

So the question is, what use is it to say you have faith, but ignore the need of a brother?  The answer James gives in vs 17, “Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, [being] by itself.”  Dead faith is no help at all.  And James says that faith without works is dead.  James contrasts living, working, active faith, with faith that is dead, lifeless, and fruitless.  Notice, he says if faith is by itself, it’s useless, it’s dead. Faith and action must go together. Even more to the point, faith that is void of works is not real faith at all.  It is dead. Our faith in Christ made that which was dead come to life, and life produces action, it produces works. 

James is really somewhat like a good lawyer, that has built his case, has asked various questions to illustrate his case, and now he calls someone as a witness for cross examination. Vs.18, “But someone may [well] say, "You have faith and I have works.” “Show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works.”

Now there is some interpretative confusion about this verse, because the translators can’t seem to figure out when the quotation begins or ends. There is no punctuation in the original Greek.  But I think the best interpretation is to see that this witness is claiming “You have faith and I have works.”  And then the response of James is “Show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works.”

The point is that both faith and works are necessary.  This imaginary witness wants to make an either or situation out of faith or works. Heb 11:1 says about faith, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” And  James says you cannot see faith but you can see the evidence of it.  We can’t “see” someone’s faith, but we can see their works. You can’t see faith without works, but  the evidence of their faith is visible in their works.

We hear in this teaching of James the echo of Christ’s statement concerning the fig tree that had no fruit. He said a tree that doesn’t bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. It is good for nothing. So those who claim to have faith but no works will hear Jesus say, “Depart from me I never knew you.”

James then adds an illustration of faith without works as an example of dead faith by pointing to the belief of the demons.  He says, “You believe that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder.”  When James refers to believing that God is one, it’s a reference to the “shema” the Jewish prayer based on Deut. 6:4 which says, "Hear, O Israel: the LORD is our God, the LORD is one.”  It would have been well known by all Jews, and was in a sense their profession of faith. 

But James shows that such a confession without transformation is useless, it’s dead.  And he shows that by the demon’s belief in God.  The demons believe in the reality of God, and at least they are fearful of Him.  And yet they are not saved by that belief.  Therefore, there must be more to faith than just an intellectual assent to the truth. A lot of people claim to believe in God, but they are unsaved. But to believe in faith means there will be a life changing response to the truth which is shown by one’s deeds.

And so James gives a stinging rebuke to the foolishness of that kind of false faith in vs 20 “But are you willing to recognize, you foolish fellow, that faith without works is useless?” If you think that you can believe in God but it doesn’t require a change in your heart, a change in your life, then you are a fool.  If demons are not saved by belief in God, then it should be evident that faith that is only intellectual is not saving faith either.

Now as James develops his case, he goes on to supply evidence for this principle. And the first evidence comes from the life of Abraham.  James says, “Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up Isaac his son on the altar? 22 You see that faith was working with his works, and as a result of the works, faith was perfected; 23 and the Scripture was fulfilled which says, "AND ABRAHAM BELIEVED GOD, AND IT WAS RECKONED TO HIM AS RIGHTEOUSNESS," and he was called the friend of God. 24 You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone.”

Abraham was considered the father of the Jews, and the father of faith.  The Jews claimed salvation on the basis of being a child of Abraham. But James doesn’t emphasize physical descent, but the concept of righteousness as the result of faith. Abraham was considered righteous in the sight of God because he trusted Him to the point of sacrificing Isaac, who was the son of promise.

But notice that James says Abraham’s faith was working with his works.  It was not one or the other with Abraham.  If he had faith in God, then he had to trust God enough to obey God, even when it seemed contrary to human reasoning.  This idea of trust is essential to faith.  Trust is believing in the truth, but then acting on that faith, putting your weight of action upon it.

I remember an illustration my Mom made years ago when I was a kid in Sunday School.  She showed us a chair, and said “Do you believe that this is a good chair, that it will support your weight if you sit on it?  And we said “yes, we believe it’s a good chair.”  Then she said, “Then sit on it, and let it support your weight.”  When you believe in the chair, that’s faith, when you sit on the chair, that’s trust.  That’s the elementary explanation of faith and trust.

The theological explanation is a bit more involved. There are three elements of faith in classical theology.  The first is the Latin term notitia:  which means believing in the information. It’s an intellectual awareness. The second aspect of faith is what they call assensus, or intellectual assent. I must be persuaded of the truthfulness of the content.The crucial, most vital element of saving faith is that of personal trust. That final term is fiducia, referring to a fiduciary commitment by which I entrust my life to Christ. Like when we put our money in a bank.  That’s a fiduciary institution.  That’s why a lot of banks are called So and So Bank and Trust.  They take care of your money, and put your money to work so that it makes interest.   

So trusting my life to Christ who will work in my life and give me new life is an essential component of faith.  But a lot of Christians stop at the intellectual part.  They never make it to the trusting part. They don’t put their life in Christ’s hands to use as He sees fit, and so consequently there is no life, no growth, no works. 

Abraham, however, not only  believed but he obeyed, he acted in accordance with God’s word. He trusted God’s promises.  And James says the evidence of Abraham’s faith is  you can see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone. Works are the evidence of faith.  Without evidence of faith, there is no faith.  Or another way of saying it, is faith works. Faith does not stand alone, but faith works.

But let’s make sure we understand an important distinction that may not be apparent in this translation.  And that is, that it is God who justifies.  Man does not justify himself on the basis of his works.  Man cannot justify himself.  Man cannot save himself by his own merit or his works of righteousness.  The Jews thought that if they could keep the law, particularly certain laws above others, then they could obtain righteousness.  

But Paul said in Ephesians 2:8 “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, [it is] the gift of God; 9 not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.”  At first glance Paul seems to go against  what James is saying.  But not so fast.  Read the next verse.  Paul adds, in vs 10 “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.”  So actually Paul says what James says, that faith and works go together.  Faith produces works, and so faith without works is not really faith at all.

The next evidence that James gives from scripture is that of Rahab the harlot.  What a contrast.  First he showed us Abraham the friend of God, the righteous father of the Jews, the father of the faithful.  Now he goes to the other end of the spectrum, to a Gentile, a woman who was a prostitute.  Vs.25 “In the same way, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way?”

Rahab demonstrated her trust in the God of Israel by hiding the spies and seeking salvation from their God.  You can read about it in Joshua 2:8-13. Her faith was shown to be living faith because it did something. Her belief in the God of Israel would not have saved her if she had not done something with that faith.  Simply believing in the God of Israel was not enough faith, but faith required action.  She acted on that belief which saved the spies, and saved herself.

The lesson from Abraham is clear: if we believe in God, we will do what He tells us to do. The lesson from Rahab is also clear: if we believe in God, we will help His people, even when it costs us something.

So then having questioned various witnesses, and presented his evidence, James then presents his logical conclusion in vs 26. “For just as the body without [the] spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.”  Just as you can have a body with no life ( which is what we call a corpse), so you can have a faith with no life.  And that kind of faith without works is a dead faith, unable to save.

With Christmas around the corner, I can’t help but remember Christmas’s past when I bought one of the kids a toy that was supposed to make some kind of noise, or you turn it on and it would go around in circles on the floor, or something like that.  And inevitably, the wrapping paper comes off and my son or daughter turned on the switch and set the toy on the floor and nothing happened.  And after a minute or two I would feel a tug on my sleeve and look down at this little face that was puckered up about to burst into tears, and hear them say, “Not working.”  The toy didn’t work.  It was not designed just to look at, it was designed to do something, and it didn’t do it.  So the question is, if it doesn’t work, then what use is it?

And that’s what James says here.  Faith without works is dead.  We were designed to work in response to our faith.  Remember what Paul said in Ephesians 2 which we read earlier? “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.”  We are Christ’s special work of art, that was designed for good works.  And we can only assume that when we don’t work, then we are not really Christ’s.  We haven’t really been remade into a new creation.

We need a faith that works.  A faith that transforms this dead natural man into a living spiritual man.  And that transformation begins when you recognize that you are dead in your trespasses and sins, and you ask for forgiveness and to have the Lord give you new life in Him.  But you have to really mean that; you must want to receive new life, recognizing your old way of life was the way of death.  And because of your faith in what Jesus did to procure your righteousness, God will credit His righteousness to your account, and that righteousness which God gives you results in a regeneration of your spirit, so that you are a new creation, with new desires, and a new capacity for righteousness through the power of the Holy Spirit working in you. That’s a faith that works.  It works out our salvation as we live in the power of the Spirit.  I pray that you have a faith that works. A living faith that will be evidenced by your works.

Loving your neighbor, James 2:1-13

James is a teacher who is concerned with practicality.  He doesn’t spend a lot of time dealing with lofty theological principles, though he does address them in his letter.  But he spends a great deal of effort to teach us how we are to apply such principles in every day situations.

As a result, James is rather blunt and to the point. If Paul is the general that deals with overall principles and strategies, James is the sergeant who brings them down to the level of the grunt soldier and gets them done. And he doesn’t waste a lot of words doing it either.

From James we learn that true religion is the practice of one’s faith. Faith is analogous to belief.  What we believe is the foundation of our faith.  But religion is how that faith is applied. One way we practice our religion is by going to church.  But of course, our religion is not limited to the church service.  Our religion is applied in daily life.  What we believe affects how we live.

As we finished up the last chapter, James said that our religion might be in vain if we did not practice certain things in regards to our speech.  Our speech then is another means by which we practice our faith.  He said if anyone doesn’t bridle his speech, then his religion is worthless. The idea of bridle there is illustrated by putting a bridle on the horse’s head, to control his movements.  If we don’t control our speech, then it nullifies our good intentions, and even our good deeds.

James then went on to speak about loving our neighbor as illustrated by orphans and widows. Providing relief to orphans and widows is another example of how we should practice our religion.  But as Jesus indicated, anyone who is in need is our neighbor.  

Now to elaborate on that law of loving your neighbor, we come to today’s passage.  In this passage, James tells us that we must guard against loving others with prejudice, loving those who might reciprocate towards us, or guard against loving those who we feel are attractive to us.  But that we should love like God loved us.  That love which Christ had towards us is described in Romans 5:8 which says, “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”

Christ loved us when we were unloveable. I think many Christians at least subconsciously think that God loves them because somehow they are a lovable person.  Talk to the average person for very long about their need for salvation, and they tend to end up saying that they really aren’t a bad person.  Oh, they may have messed up somehow, but deep down inside they are not really all that bad.

The fact is,  they are self deceived. That’s what James said was the case with the person who didn’t bridle his tongue.  He was self deceived. He wasn’t a good person.  His whole person was defiled by that little member, the tongue.  All kinds of wickedness comes out of the mouth, to the point that all your religion, all your “I’m not such a bad person” is absolutely worthless.  

We were saved when we were worthless, sinners, enemies of God,  We hated others, we lied,  we were jealous,  we were angry. Even when we thought we were not so bad and did something good, we actually had evil motives behind our good deeds.  But even though there was nothing good in us,  Christ loved us, and died for us.

Having bad motives, or wicked ulterior motives, is what James is addressing here in this passage.  He says in vs 1, “My brethren, do not hold your faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ with [an attitude of] personal favoritism.”  Notice that he addresses this to his brethren. In vs 5 he elaborates on that with “my beloved brethren.” That means he is speaking to fellow Christians, or at least, professing Christians.  In vs 2 he gives an illustration about attending church.  So we know that he is addressing people who claim to be believers. He is speaking to us who hold onto the faith.  But he says we must guard against holding onto our faith, or practicing our faith, or practicing our religion, with an attitude of personal favoritism. 

Now the principle, or the law, is that we are to love one another, especially those of the household of faith.  And what better place to manifest that love towards the brethren than at church?  But James is concerned that we are not loving the way God loves.  We are being discriminatory.  We choose to love those that we find attractive, those that we think are deserving, and more often than not, our motivation is that we want them to reciprocate in the same way towards us.

Jesus gave what is sometimes called the “golden rule.” It says, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” Or at least that’s the common translation of it.  Actually, what Jesus said spoke to this very issue, this selective love that shows favoritism.  Jesus said in Luke 6:31-36 "Treat others the same way you want them to treat you. If you love those who love you, what credit is [that] to you? For even sinners love those who love them. If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is [that] to you? For even sinners do the same. If you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is [that] to you? Even sinners lend to sinners in order to receive back the same [amount.]  But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for He Himself is kind to ungrateful and evil [men.] Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.”

Jesus said don’t do kindness because you expect a return, don’t limit your love only to those whom you find attractive to you.  Don’t show favoritism.  But love the way God loves, which is when we are undeserving. Now James is expounding on that principle in this passage.  And he likens it to the way we treat others in the church.  He gives an illustration of that kind of selective love that shows favoritism in vs2.

Vs2 “For if a man comes into your assembly with a gold ring and dressed in fine clothes, and there also comes in a poor man in dirty clothes, and you pay special attention to the one who is wearing the fine clothes, and say, "You sit here in a good place," and you say to the poor man, "You stand over there, or sit down by my footstool," have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil motives?”

By the way, the word translated assembly used there can actually mean a synagogue.  The synagogue was not the temple, nor did it serve the purpose of a temple, but it was a meeting place for Jews on the Sabbath and other religious holidays where they worshipped God and were taught the word, and for prayer.  James has ascribed the characteristics of the synagogue to the church meeting, or the assembly of believers.  That’s significant as a template for the church, but I am not going to take the time to expound on that right now, other than to point it out.

The illustration though is one with which most of us are probably familiar.  The church assembles.  People tend to sit in the same chairs, the same tables, week after week.  If someone sits in your spot, you probably wouldn’t say anything out loud, but inwardly you’re probably thinking, “hey, he’s in my seat!”  But in any case, it’s evident in most church services when someone new shows up.  For one, they don’t know where to sit.  Everyone recognizes that they haven’t been here regularly.  

James makes the distinction in his illustration that the person who shows up is rich.  He says you could tell by the gold ring and the fine clothes.  And the church people responded as if he was an honored guest and gave him the choice seat.  You know, in the synagogue, as well as in early churches in Europe and in America, there were specially made seats that were up front that were for the wealthy, or for the church elders, or for the nobles or town officials. Many times those people had paid for those special pews to be made.  Then the rest of the seating was in a sort of economic order as well, with the higher class people up front, and the commoners in the back.

We don’t have that sort of thing today, for the most part.  In fact, nowadays, it would seem that the preferred seating is in the back. But we can understand what James is saying.  He’s saying that the church gives preferential treatment to some people based on certain things, such as their attractiveness, or their financial status, or a host of other possible outward signs that they are like us, or that they are what we would like to be, or because we want them to think well of us. We judge by outward appearances, and we love accordingly.

But God doesn’t love like that.  Remember the story of how David was anointed to be king by the prophet Samuel.  Samuel looked at all David’s brothers, all big, handsome young men, each one capable of being king, at least in appearances.  But God said, Samuel, don’t look at the outward appearance, for God looks at the heart. 

And so consequently, God tends to call the poor and the weak, and the unattractive, and the unsuccessful to salvation.  So Paul says in 1Cor. 1:26-29 “For consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble;  but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, and the base things of the world and the despised God has chosen, the things that are not, so that He may nullify the things that are,  so that no man may boast before God.”

Jesus said in the sermon on the mount, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of God.” The principle that Jesus wants to emphasize is that true riches are spiritual riches, to be rich in faith has eternal reward.  But too often we look at the physical, instead of the spiritual. James speaks of this principle in vs 5, saying “Listen, my beloved brethren: did not God choose the poor of this world [to be] rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him?” 

When we surrender our lives to the Lord, we surrender our hold on the world.  Jesus said in Luke 16:13 "No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.”  So when we become disciples of Christ, we usually end up poor in the things of this world.  Because our purpose in this new life is not to accumulate treasures on earth, but treasures in heaven.  But in forsaking the riches of the world we gain riches in heaven, we are rich in faith, and because of our faith, we have an inheritance in the kingdom of God which is far above any riches this world could ever offer.  

I really don’t think that is the attitude of the average Christian today though.  I’m afraid that the average Christian has not really forsaken anything of this world.  Most so called Christians have just attempted to add some Christ to their  lives, but He is not the source of a completely new life. If anything, a lot of people expect that adding Christ to their lives will make them more prosperous, more successful, and more wealthy.  And there are many false prophets that encourage such a belief by preaching what we is called the prosperity gospel. But the Bible teaches the exact opposite. That we become poor in this world that we might be rich in heaven.

However, I don’t think that God necessarily wants us to take a vow of poverty anymore than I think in light of the earlier passage about holding the tongue, that God wants us to take a vow of silence. But I do think that if Christ is in first place in your life, then the pursuit of wealth or retaining wealth, or admiring wealth, is going to take a back seat.  Jesus said it is better to give than to receive. And so if you really believe that, then you spend less energy trying to hold onto money, and more energy trying to use money for the kingdom of God. At the very least, God controls your money, rather than your money controlling you.

But I get the feeling that James doesn’t like rich people very much.  He doesn’t admire riches.  He sees riches as a hindrance rather than a blessing.  The rich young ruler is a good example of that.  Jesus told him to sell everything he owned and give it to the poor and come and follow Him.  The young man went away sad because he had great riches.  We are so conditioned to think that riches are a blessing from God, aren’t we? But in reality, riches can be a hindrance to God.  Riches can be an obstacle which keeps us from truly surrendering to the Lord.

But James doesn’t have much pity for rich people.  Notice what he says about them in vs 6, “But you have dishonored the poor man. Is it not the rich who oppress you and personally drag you into court?  Do they not blaspheme the fair name by which you have been called?”  In honoring the rich man, simply because of his status on earth, they are in effect dishonoring the poor man.  But then James seems to generalize and say that the rich are the ones who oppress and take to court those who are saved. 

Now I don’t know if James knew of some particular event or incident that he was referring to.  But it’s quite possible that his predominately Jewish audience were being oppressed by the Pharisees and the Jewish rulers.  These priests and Jewish officials were notoriously rich, and they made their fortunes by taking advantage of the poor.  A good example of that is seen in the incident when Jesus went into the temple and drove out the money changers.  That was a direct attack by Jesus on the money making business of the high priests. They were taking advantage of the poor, charging them extra for currency exchange that only they could provide and that they required,  and then selling them officially clean animals after they told the poor person that his animal did not meet the criteria. They were taking advantage of the poor, and then in many cases, they were the source of persecution against the church.  James said they blasphemed the name of Jesus.  But yet because of the church’s admiration for riches, they were willing to overlook all that and treat the rich with preference.

But James said this wasn’t just a matter of a mild indiscretion, this was actually a sin, what he called “evil motives.”  And so to show that such attitude is a sin, and a grievous sin at that, he turns them to the law.  The law defines sin.  And the law James chooses to quote is the law of loving your neighbor.  He says in vs 8 “If, however, you are fulfilling the royal law according to the Scripture, "YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF," you are doing well.  But if you show partiality, you are committing sin [and] are convicted by the law as transgressors.” 

James refers to it as the royal law; the law of the King, we being His servants. We tend to think of the law as things which we are not supposed to do.  But the law James speaks of is a law of what we should do. When Jesus was asked what was the foremost law, He said,  ‘YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.  This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, ‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.’  On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.”

What Jesus indicated there is that if you are guilty of breaking the law of loving your neighbor, then you are guilty of all the law because all the law depends upon these two laws. So James says if you are keeping the second part which is to love your neighbor then you are doing well.  But if claim to love your neighbor, but you show favoritism, then you are actually sinning, and guilty of breaking the law.  You cannot love your neighbor and show favoritism to the rich, or towards anyone that you find attractive, or hope to find some reciprocation from.  If you do so, then you are sinning. 

Furthermore, we need to understand that this is the royal law, the King’s edict for the kingdom of God, and that if we are a citizen of that kingdom then we have an obligation to obey the King’s laws.  James calls it the law of liberty.  But the liberty we have is freedom from sin.  The Holy Spirit enables us to keep the law.  But still we may choose to do so or not.  We are not controlled by sin any longer,  and we are supposed to be controlled by the Spirit, but we still may choose to sin. But let there be no mistake, we are not to think lightly of the grace of God and trample underfoot the blood of Jesus so that we think we can sin without impunity, without any consequences.  The law was given to us to keep.  And when we choose not to keep it, we do so to our own peril. We lose our liberty.

So James is going to go on to teach us how we are to think about the law.  He says in vs10 “For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one [point,] he has become guilty of all.  For He who said, "DO NOT COMMIT ADULTERY," also said, "DO NOT COMMIT MURDER." Now if you do not commit adultery, but do commit murder, you have become a transgressor of the law.”

The Jews of James day made distinctions concerning the law, that some laws were more important than others.  They put the law of the Sabbath, for instance, above other laws as to importance.  The same is true of the Catholic Church today.  They call some sins moral, and some sins venial, as if there are some sins more serious than others.  But notice what James says, he puts the law of loving your neighbor on the same plane as murder and adultery.  And he says that if you break the law on one point, then you are guilty of the whole law. 

Within the boundaries of God’s perfect law of liberty, we have freedom. My son has several aquariums in our house that have all kinds of fresh and salt water fish.  For the fish the water is his natural habitat.  And as he stays within that boundary he has liberty and will thrive.  But if he leaves that water, then he will suffer.  One day my son could not find a particular fish in the aquarium.  Finally after a long time of looking, he found the fish on the floor.  The fish had jumped out of the aquarium and landed on the floor. The fish left his natural habitat in search of freedom, but found only death. That’s a picture of the law of liberty.  The Christian’s natural environment is within the law of God. We have life, we can thrive, we have liberty within the law of God, but if we chose to go outside of it, we lose that liberty.

James says that we are to “So speak and so act as those who are to be judged by [the] law of liberty.”  That’s not an accommodation to sin that James is giving there.  But notice that he says you will be judged according to the law of liberty.  And the law of liberty requires that we stay within it’s boundaries.

So he concludes with this summary about judgment.  He says in vs 13,  “For judgment [will be] merciless to one who has shown no mercy; mercy triumphs over judgment.”  Jesus gave a parable once in response to Peter’s question about forgiveness.  The parable told the story of a man whom the king forgave a great debt because he cried for mercy.  But then the man went out and choked another man who owed him a small sum of money.  When the king heard about it, he called the man to court and said, “ You wicked servant, I cancelled all the debt of yours because you begged for mercy.  Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had towards you? (Matt. 18:32)

The point being that God freely grants us mercy when we ask Him, even when we ask Him again and again and again.  So in the same way, God expects us to show mercy to others, again and again.  But when we refuse, or neglect to show mercy, then God will withhold mercy from us and instead will judge us according to how we have judged others. Jesus said in Matt. 7:2  "For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you.”  That’s pretty scary, when you really examine how you treat others.

But in closing, we are left with a safeguard against such judgment from God. And the safeguard is that mercy triumphs over judgment. If we show mercy then we will be shown mercy. Let us then show mercy towards one another, and love one another without prejudice, that we may be like our heavenly Father who showed mercy to us. 

Practical instructions for fruitful living, James 1:19-27

Last time we finished up with verse 18 in which James said we were brought forth by the word of truth that we might be the first fruits among His creatures.  He is speaking there in the phrase “brought forth” about our new birth, our spiritual birth.  We are saved by grace, through faith, given new life in Christ, a new heart, new desires, a new way of living.

Then he says that we might be the first fruits among His creatures.  That refers to our new life now that we are saved.  He uses the analogy of a plant, which springs up in life, and then bears fruit in kind. And as we are now sons and daughters of God, our lives are to bear fruit which is like God. If we are born of God, then we are to bear the likeness of God, we are to live godly lives.

Godly lives is the produce of our new life in Christ. That’s what theologians call sanctification.  We are conformed to the image of Jesus Christ. And as we walk by the Spirit, we produce the fruit of the Spirit.  And Galatians 5:22 tells us that the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.

Now that fruit of our spiritual life is what James now turns to.  He gives us several instructions for how we are to live and act, which are the fruit of a godly life.  He moves from principles to practices.  And I must say that sanctification is something that comes through practice.  Sanctification is another way of expressing spiritual maturity.  And Hebrew 5:14 tells us that maturity comes through practice.  It says, “But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil.”

So James begins these practical instructions for daily life with instructions concerning our speech.  He says in vs 19, “[This] you know, my beloved brethren. But everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak [and] slow to anger;  for the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God.”

There is some debate among Bible scholars as to whether that opening phrase belongs to the previous verse, or this verse.  I think it’s best translated this way, “My dear brothers, take note of this; everyone should be quick to listen…”   In other words, James wants to emphasize that this is something important.  Listen up, take note of this.

James thinks that the tongue, or our speech, is important.  He will go on to say in chapter 3:8-10 “But no one can tame the tongue; [it is] a restless evil [and] full of deadly poison. With it we bless [our] Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the likeness of God;  from the same mouth come [both] blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be this way.”

James says the tongue is full of poison. And we know that is true.  Who among us have not been severely wounded by something that was said.  You know, I still remember a few teachers from when I was in high school that said something that left a scar for decades afterwards. I remember in my junior year of high school, I was the junior class president.  This one teacher was one of two advisors for our class.  I worked with these teachers on class meetings and activities throughout the year.  But this one teacher was a piece of work.  She was just a mean woman, and she liked being mean.  She waited to the last day of the school year, when I came to get something signed by her, to tell me that I was the worst President that they had ever had.  She may have been right, I don’t know.  I didn’t do a whole lot other than make a few remarks once a month at our class meetings.  But why not tell me something when I could have made improvements?  She did it obviously to hurt me.  And 40 years later it still stings.

But all of you I’m sure can think of things that have been said in the past to hurt you. I’m sure if you’re like me, you remember three hurtful things for every one good thing that was said about you.  So I’m sure we can agree that the tongue is a restless evil and full of poison. But maybe what we haven’t thought of too much is that what we say is important to God.

Notice then what James says.  First he says, be quick to listen.  I think he actually is talking about listening to the word of God. That’s who we are to take our cues from.  I’m constantly being approached by people who want to teach.  Who want to speak.  But God is saying it’s more important to listen than it is to speak.

But also in practical social situations, we should be quick to listen.  Many of our conversations with other people end up being contests in oneupmanship.  As you are telling something that is on your heart, the one listening is nodding his head, but actually is thinking of what he wants to say in response.  And many times, they end up interrupting you to tell you something that is even more exciting, or amazing, or terrible or whatever, than what you were saying. 

If we really practice loving our neighbor, our brothers and sisters in the Lord, then we should be quick to hear, quick to listen, to lend a sympathetic ear.  More good can be accomplished in counseling by listening, than by speaking.  If you go see a good therapist or psychiatrist you will find that out.  They are trained to listen, to prompt their client to speak.  And in speaking, the client finds relief many times from his troubles.  In the church, the same might be true.  James says “confess your sins one to another that you might be healed.”  There is great comfort in confession.  But confession needs a listener.  God wants us to be listeners.

Secondly James says we should be slow to speak.  Slow to speak means that you hold your tongue.  You don’t respond quickly, but you think about it first.  Sometimes, it may mean it’s better not to speak at all.  I remember hearing as a kid that you should count to three before responding.  Then later I heard you should count to ten when you get angry.  I don’t know how long you should wait to speak, but I will say that the longer the better.

And by the way, speaking includes comments on facebook and instagram and other social media platforms.  There is a grave danger in those mediums in that what you have written ends up getting passed around to the wrong person.  Or some deeper meaning you intended is lost in translation.  Things you quickly respond to on social media have a tendency to blow up in your face later on. But what you have written you have written.  You can’t take it back.

The same is true of hurtful things you say. You may apologize for it later, and they may say “that’s ok,” but I can assure you that 99 times out of a hundred it’s not ok.  They will remember what you said for a long, long time.  Be slow to speak.  Let me also say this; if you don’t have much to say, people think you are smart.  Proverbs 17:28 says, “it is wise for learned men to be silent, and much more for fools.”  The quiet person in class always seemed to be the smartest person in class. Or at least we thought so. You seem smart when you’re silent, but when you open your mouth, you reveal your ignorance.

Third thing James says is be slow to anger.  Let’s be honest.  Anger feels good. We say we let some steam off.  That means we had this boiling over in us, and it feels good to let it out and burn someone’s hair off. But James says man’s anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires. 

God is often spoken of in terms like the wrath of God.  We sometimes hear about righteous anger. And maybe there is such a thing.  I said last week that we must learn to hate what God hates.  So there may be a place for righteous anger.  But when James speaks of man’s anger, he is saying it’s not righteous anger.  It’s anger that comes from impatience, or jealousy, or frustration, from hatred and other sinful desires.  Anger is the opposite of the fruit of the Spirit. Rather than our actions, our words being guided by the Holy Spirit, we find ourselves guided by anger, which ends up hurting others.  And people don’t respond well to anger.  Our goal as Christians is to edify, to share the gospel, to bear testimony of God’s mercies.  But if we share our anger instead, even if we think it is well deserved, it doesn’t achieve a good purpose in those people.  They are turned off.  Proverbs 15:1 says, “A gentle answer turns away wrath, But a harsh word stirs up anger.”

Therefore since anger does not achieve righteousness, James says, “putting aside all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness, in humility receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls.”   Now understand that James isn’t introducing a new command here, but he is building on the previous commands.  He is talking about speech, angry, abusive speech, filthy speech, ungodly speech, wicked speech.  Put it away.  Do away with it. 

I know that foul language is a pretty common problem among Christians.  I have often been shocked by what I thought were sound, mature Christians,, and yet under certain circumstances they cuss like a sailor. But James says, such things ought not to be.  Look again at chapter 3, vs.10, he says, “from the same mouth come [both] blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be this way.” Christians cannot speak cursing and blessing at the same time.  Even the unsaved people know that a Christian should not speak that way.  They may curse along with you, but inwardly they take note of it, and as such they have an excuse why they think that the Christian life is fake, or for show, or hypocritical.

I will promise you this.  If you sincerely pray and ask God to help you overcome that sort of speech, I believe the Lord will help you.  I believe a Christian can have victory over his speech.  And furthermore, God commands that we clean up our speech. And He will not command us to do something that He will not enable us to do.

Now I think as Christians we are to put away all kinds of filthiness, and wickedness, in all forms.  But I think specifically James is still talking about speech here.  Because he then gives the antidote, which is to receive God’s speech, God’s word, which He says is able to save your souls.  Notice though he prefaces that implanting by saying that it must be received with humility.  Humility is brokenness. The ground that is broken up is able to receive the word implanted.  

Jesus talked about the different kinds of soils in the parable of the sower.  He said the seed is the word of  God.  It’s cast by the preacher over the field, which is the world.  Some seed fell on rocky soil, some fell on the by way.  Some fell on thin soil and it sprung up but then the thorns choked the life from it so it did not bear fruit.  But some fell on good soil.  And it found root there, and grew up, and bore fruit.  I suggest that the good soil is the soil that was broken up, that had been tilled.  That is a picture of humility. Not a proud heart, that must be first, that must say what they think, that must stand up for their rights, that must be independent. But in humility, in brokenness, the word of God can find root, and then when it grows, it bears fruit.  

Now we are not saved by our works.  Eph. 2:8-9 says,  “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, [it is] the gift of God;  not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.” But how do we have faith?  Paul says in Romans 10:17 “So faith [comes] from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.” So the word of Christ is heard, is believed, is received, and it washes us, it transforms us, it saves us.  That’s yet another example of how hearing is better than speaking.  We need to hear the word of God.  We need to read it, we need to listen to it, and we need to heed it.

I heard about a couple that came to church and the woman had been in the nursery or something, and she asked her husband who was leaving the building, “‘What, is the sermon all done?’ ‘No,’ said the man, ‘it is all said, but it is not begun to be done yet.'”  It starts with hearing, then receiving, and then applying what you have heard.

To that point, about applying what you have heard, James says in vs 22 “But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves.”  James will go on to extrapolate from this principle that faith without works is dead.  Faith is not just an intellectual exercise.  Faith is trust, believing, to the point of doing.  Believing doesn’t mean just intellectual assent.  But it means acting on what you believe to be true. 

The Bible speaks of Abraham as the father of faith. Again and again the Bible says, “Abraham believed God, and He counted it to him as righteousness.” But Abraham didn’t just believe intellectually. He didn’t just give intellectual assent to the idea of God. But Hebrews 11 says that “By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed by going out to a place which he was to receive for an inheritance; and he went out, not knowing where he was going.”

If Abraham just gave intellectual assent to God but stayed in Ur of Chaldees, then he wouldn’t have had saving faith.  Abraham had faith because he obeyed, he went out of Ur, he packed up and moved out to the place God told him to go.  Faith is trusting God enough to act on His word.  God does’t just give us His word to inform us, but to transform us.

James then turns to an analogy to help explain this principle.  He says in vs 23-24 “For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror;  for [once] he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was.”

We’re all familiar with looking in the mirror, aren’t we? Some of us like looking in the mirror more than others.  I personally don’t like to look in the mirror very much.  And consequently, my kids are always pointing out that I missed a spot shaving, or I have hairs growing where hair shouldn’t be, or I am losing my hair.  I always think of that country music song by Waylon Jennings, where he said, “I look in the mirror with total surprise, at the hair on my shoulders, and the age in my eyes.”  I think he was talking about having long hair, but I tend to see the hair that’s fallen out and laying on my shoulders.  So anyway, we look in the mirror and we see our face, our body, and usually we try to improve it, to put makeup on, or pluck our nose hairs, or make an attempt to do a comb over to hide our bald spot.

But when James speaks of the mirror, he is likening the word of God to a mirror in which we see not our physical bodies, but we see our soul in the mirror of God’s word. And when we see the imperfections of our soul, when we see our shortcomings, our sinfulness, we should immediately deal with it.  But instead James says, too often we just turn and walk away, and forget what kind of person that we really are as revealed in the word. 

The antidote for that, James says, is to look intently at the law of liberty and abide by that law. Vs 25 “But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the [law] of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man will be blessed in what he does.” 

Don’t be confused by the phrase law of liberty, as if James is giving us the license to live as we please.  The law of liberty is simply a synonym for the word of God. In Psalm 19 David says, “The law of the Lord is perfect, restoring the soul. The statues of the Lord are trustworthy, making wise the simple. By them is your servant warned, in keeping them there is great reward.”

God’s law is perfect.  His word is perfect.  And God’s perfect law gives liberty from the bondage to sin. As we live within the boundaries of God’s law we are free, we enjoy the liberties which God provides in that environment.  But when we cross His boundaries, we find ourselves once again a slave to sin. The analogy could be made with the freedom we have in living in America.  We are a free people.  We celebrate our liberty.  But we live in an environment of laws.  If we go outside those laws, then we lose our liberty.  

James says that there is something even better for us though.  He says that when we abide in God’s law, not just hearing it but doing it, then we will be blessed in what we do.  God blesses those who obey Him.  There is a reward for those who keep the statues of the Lord, David said.  Sometimes that reward may come immediately as a consequence of doing right, other times it may be in the future, when God will reward those according to their deeds at the judgement. But God promises a reward for obedience.

Now in keeping the law of God, the perfect law of liberty, we can call that being religious. We are living godly, seeking to live for God, which is the definition of religion. But James says if you don’t control the tongue, control your speech, then your religion is worthless.  Vs. 26 “If anyone thinks himself to be religious, and yet does not bridle his tongue but deceives his [own] heart, this man's religion is worthless.” 

It’s a terrible thing to be deceived.  We talked about Eve’s deception last week.  But what’s worse than that is to be self deceived.  Because when you are self deceived, you don’t know that you are deceived.  James says if you don’t bridle your tongue, or control your tongue, you have deceived yourself in thinking you are religious through what you think are religious duties, like going to church, or singing songs, or any number of other things you do which you think will please God.  But according to God, if you don’t have control over your tongue, your temper, then everything else you do accomplishes nothing.

But James doesn’t want to end this section with a negative, so he concludes with the positive thing you can do, which is pure and undefiled religion.  We should be religious, but to practice pure religion, and not defiled, not corrupted by personal pride or personal agenda, then James says we must do the following.  Vs.27 “Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of [our] God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, [and] to keep oneself unstained by the world.”

So there are actually two things we must do to have pure and undefiled religion.  One is to visit orphans and widows in their distress.  James is addressing here the social circumstances and conditions of his day which were epitomized by orphans and widows.  These were people in that society that had no guardian or breadwinner in the family. They had no social services from the government that provided for them.  In many cases they were destitute, unable to work, unable to provide for themselves.  We don’t really have the same situation in our society, at least in America.  But we do have the poor.  Jesus said the poor you have always with you.  There are many people who are destitute in our society.  And there are even people in our church that have needs that they cannot meet, that are beyond their means.  We may have to look a little harder, but we can find people that are in need of a person who will help them.  It may not just be financial, it may be other ways.  

My sister is a widow.  She lost her husband about 5 years ago. They had been missionaries for about 30 years, and then he came down with a deadly respiratory disease.  About three years later after he died, she lost her son to ALS.  He was the son who lived closest to her.  Now she is not destitute by any means.  She has a job teaching piano. But there is a man in the church who has repeatedly given his service to her around her house to fix anything that she needs fixing. He does all the things a husband might have done. He takes her car to the shop when needed.  He hangs pictures, fixes the toilet, changes out the washing machine. He tries to serve as a substitute husband for her.  I don’t know that that is reproducible for everyone of us.  But maybe if we thought about it, we could find someone who could use our help in some way. But in general, I think this command to visit widows and orphans is simply a specific example of the command to love your neighbor as yourself.  Loving your neighbor is pure and undefiled religion.

The other part to pure and undefiled religion is to keep oneself unpolluted by the world. Our relationship with the Lord is likened in the Bible to a marriage.  But when we gravitate back to the things of the world, the lusts of the world, the wickedness of the world, it’s as if we are cheating on our Lord to whom we owe our complete devotion to.  When we are attracted by the world, and we give in to the lusts of the world, then we have in effect committed adultery against the Lord.  

I don’t have time to give you a laundry list of all the ways you can sin against God, and follow after the world.  I bet you could give me a pretty long list yourselves if you thought about it for a minute. But if I were to just pick the one area that James had in mind, I would bet you that he was thinking about our speech, talking like the world, speaking in anger, speaking rashly, speaking wickedness.  That type of speech is a stain on our souls and a blemish on our testimony.  And as James said at the beginning, we need to put that away from us, and practice slow speech, quick hearing, and be doers of the word, applying the perfect law of liberty to our lives in practical ways, every day.  Let us be doers of the word, that we might receive blessing from the Lord.