James 3 (vs 1-12)

Sermon preached at Gospel Light Christian Church, Singapore
by Pastor Dr Paul Choo
on 13 Mar 2005

Revision:

1. Sin is rebellion against God’s authority
2. God chastens His children
3. We are saved by faith (that works) not faith plus works.

1. Don’t think that you’re so smart (v.1):

Because of our pride, we love to criticize, advice and teach others (ie, be masters) but hate to be criticized, advised or taught. For this reason most people are poor learners – shutting their minds to any advice. While it is important to avoid “bad influence,” many people automatically shut their minds to all advice – even to advice from more experienced and wiser people. In fact, many Christians even shut their minds to God’s advice in the Bible.

Many people are quick to criticize others’ projects and feel very wise when they can expose weaknesses in the plan. School children criticize the way their schools are run, citizens the way their country is run, employees the way their company is run and church members the way their church is run.
While it is good to give feedback, it is also important to realize there are no perfect plans in our imperfect world – that the best plan has weaknesses. Therefore, the ability to highlight a weakness does not necessarily mean that we can come up with a better (overall) plan. Unlike a “right or wrong” answer, the best plans are just best options not perfect solutions. A person who thinks that there are “right or wrong” solutions in life will be terrified to venture into any project because of the weaknesses in them.

While we should be careful about imagining ourselves to be “masters” who have the right answers to all of life’s problems, we should not afraid to humbly give feedback to our leaders; neither should we refuse a church appointment to lead a ministry (realizing that it is a great privilege to serve God).

We should also realize that with greater honor, there is also greater responsibility to live by higher standards (ie, masters shall receive the greater condemnation). True respect is earned by our behavior and not conferred by an appointment.

2. Learning to live with offensive people (v.2):

God tells us that we are all offensive people because “in many things we offend all.” The root-cause of our offensive behavior is our pride and self-centeredness. Since we are offensive and are surrounded by offensive people, we should not over-react when we are offended by others’ behavior. A person who does not understand this, will be a very frustrated person who will be very disappointed with his spouse, parents, child, employer, employee, colleagues, church pastor and brethren and every one else! Even worse are those who are overfed with “romantic” ideas and expect a perfect spouse, job, family or church! I once heard this wise advice given to a wedding couple: “A perfect husband is one who does not expect a perfect wife.” A pastor gave this advice to a Christian who was looking for a perfect church to join: “If you ever find a perfect church, please don’t join it – because the moment you do, it will cease to be perfect!”

God commands us to aim for perfection in our lives (Matthew 5:48). So we can trust the indwelling Holy Spirit to help us (Galatians 2:20). However, many Christians apply this to others, expecting everyone around them (including unsaved sinners) to behave perfectly! While we strive for perfection let us learn not to over-react to every fault around us but rather to wait for an opportunity to give kind, constructive feedback to those who may have wronged us.

3. The universal sin (vs 2, 9-12):

The two main differences between man and animal are that the former has a soul and is able to communicate effectively. Our ability to communicate enables us to tell others about God and pass on other useful information. However, we prefer to use this ability to tell others about ourselves (v.5) and in the process “offend in word.” Some sins are found in certain categories of people (eg. gambling, addiction, violence) but “tongue sins” (eg. blasphemy, gossip, slander, lying, boasting, complaining, cursing, sarcasm, hurtful words) are common to all because pride and self-centeredness is common to all. Even people who are not talkative can be sarcastic and hurtful in the few words that they speak. Unless we have a clear objective to glorify God and share the Gospel, we need to heed the advice that “in the multitude of words there wanteth not sin” (Proverbs 10:19).

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• 4. Little BIG words (vs 3-6):
• One of the truths of life is that apparently insignificant events often cause significant results (eg. a chance meeting often leads to a life-long partnership). This is especially true of words spoken. For example, an unkind word can break up a friendship, an encouraging word can turn a loser into a conqueror, and a simple testimony about God’s goodness in our lives can stir up spiritual interests in an agnostic person. A word can “set on fire the course of nature,” ie, the course of our lives. Words wrongly spoken are described as “deadly poison” (v.8) because like poison it kills “silently.” If we are not aware of the power of little words, we will poison many people without realizing it! Though speech is so vital, few people make real efforts to learn to speak correctly. In Bob Jones University there are two compulsory subjects – Bible and speech. “A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver” (Proverbs 25:11).

5. The uncontrollable tongue (vs 6-8):

Though man is able to tame more and more of nature (eg. atomic power, hydroelectric power), he is unable to control his tongue. In spite of our God-given anatomical means to grit our teeth and shut our lips, “the tongue can no man tame: it is an unruly evil” that only God can tame. It is uncontrollable because of our pride and because Satan knows our weakness and attacks it (ie, it is set on fire of hell). The tongue is called “a fire” because like fire it is (1) a good servant but a bad master, (2) difficult to control once it is started, (3) causes terrible pain, and (4) has potential to cause destruction that is completely out of proportion to the size of the initial flame.

Conclusion: Let us strive to be the “perfect man” (v.2) who has the “tongue of the wise” (Proverbs 12:18).