SPEAKER_00: So this week we are continuing in our study of James.
SPEAKER_00: We're starting chapter three, which is about halfway through the letter.
SPEAKER_00: I'm going to sort of take a page out of Trevor's book and say, y'all give me some grace on this.
SPEAKER_00: This is it can be a James is a tough letter, and I don't want it, don't take this the way it could be taken as a reprimand, but just take it as a reminder.
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes it's worth taking a small step back to try to remember kind of where we're at and in context of the letter and the argument that's being put forth.
SPEAKER_00: So James started out in chapter one with an overview of themes that he's going to continue throughout the whole letter.
SPEAKER_00: And these really kind of center on this double-mindedness among a congregation.
SPEAKER_00: And it boils down really to one question: where does our loyalties really lie?
SPEAKER_00: Is it with God or at the world?
SPEAKER_00: And then kind of following up on that, the the the what James is trying to get us to understand with that is how does this affect, how does this double-mindedness affect the church community?
SPEAKER_00: He reminds us that we have a choice every day: trust in the promises of God or trust in the lie of sin.
SPEAKER_00: And then he starts showing us how this double-mindedness plays out through a series of contrasts, hearing instead of doing, religion without compassion, favoritism instead of love, and this faith that speaks but never acts.
SPEAKER_00: Just empty words, not capable of saving anyone.
SPEAKER_00: So you see, there's a lot happening in these churches that he's writing to.
SPEAKER_00: These communities are struggling.
SPEAKER_00: They're largely strangers who have fled from persecution in Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_00: Fear is pervasive, uncertainty is growing.
SPEAKER_00: They're looking to secure their own footing and maybe even get a step up in this new culture where they find themselves.
SPEAKER_00: And that's where we are today, as James is continuing to push back against this impulse.
SPEAKER_00: Reading through this, I was just struck.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, I know almost everybody in here is on social media in some form or fashion.
SPEAKER_00: You've seen people just clamoring to gain a following, to get views, to get clicks.
SPEAKER_00: And the more outrageous the statement they make, the better.
SPEAKER_00: The more controversial, the more clicks.
SPEAKER_00: Truth is irrelevant if we can increase traffic.
SPEAKER_00: If we can gain more followers, gain more influence, if we can make more money.
SPEAKER_00: Real-world implications do not matter.
SPEAKER_00: It's just the way things are done.
SPEAKER_00: This passage, I was not intending on preaching on this passage.
SPEAKER_00: Um as Steve mentioned, we um kind of filling in.
SPEAKER_00: Not Steve, I'm sorry, Trevor.
SPEAKER_00: Gosh.
SPEAKER_00: But James 3 is it's it's difficult.
SPEAKER_00: Um growing up and really into adulthood, uh, before Jesus saved me, I had a uh temper, and I had very little patience.
SPEAKER_00: Um I know Brandy will probably make an argument that I still uh struggle or don't have patience, but I'm better, I hope, uh better than I was.
SPEAKER_00: Um but I was very quick to speak, and while I was smart enough not to run my mouth when I could get into real trouble, I did get myself into situations that I shouldn't have been in.
SPEAKER_00: Um because my heart was never focused where it should have been focused.
SPEAKER_00: Uh I was the one that was driving the boat, and I wanted what I wanted.
SPEAKER_00: I had not met Jesus at that point.
SPEAKER_00: I wish I had.
SPEAKER_00: I wish I would have known James then, too.
SPEAKER_00: Um, because James has a lot to say about how destructive words can be.
SPEAKER_00: Um so if you will bear with me, I'm going to read a relatively long passage and we'll get started.
SPEAKER_00: Uh James chapter 3, we're looking at verses 1 through 12.
SPEAKER_00: Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness.
SPEAKER_00: For we all stumble in many ways, and if anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, also able to bridle his own his whole body.
SPEAKER_00: If we put bits into the mouths of horses so that they obey us, we guide their whole bodies as well.
SPEAKER_00: Look at the ships also, though they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot pilot directs.
SPEAKER_00: So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things.
SPEAKER_00: How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire! And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness.
SPEAKER_00: The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell.
SPEAKER_00: For every kind of beast and bird, or reptile and sea creature can be tamed and has been tamed by mankind, but no human being can tame the tongue.
SPEAKER_00: It is a restless evil full of the deadly poison.
SPEAKER_00: With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God.
SPEAKER_00: From the same mouth come blessing and cursing.
SPEAKER_00: My brothers, these things ought not be so.
SPEAKER_00: Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and salt water?
SPEAKER_00: Can a fig tree, my brothers, bear olives or a grape produce figs?
SPEAKER_00: Neither can a salt pond yield fresh water.
SPEAKER_00: Let's pray.
SPEAKER_00: Heavenly Father, thank you for the truth.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for the hard words that you give us.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for the opportunity and the grace and the strength in your spirit that you provide.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for saving us.
SPEAKER_00: While we were your enemies, while we were in open rebellion, you reached out in love.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you, Father, for the many blessings that we enjoy.
SPEAKER_00: I pray, Father, that we will be a people that honor you and glorify you.
SPEAKER_00: That we will be steadfast in your spirit through your strength and not our own.
SPEAKER_00: I pray, Father, that your spirit will fill this room, fill all of our hearts, that he will open our ears, and that he will move us and we will listen.
SPEAKER_00: I ask all of this in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Words have the power to influence the community around us, for good or evil.
SPEAKER_00: And the words we use reveal who is steering our hearts.
SPEAKER_00: Alright, so today we're going to look at the following three things.
SPEAKER_00: Point one, the accountability of influence, the power of influence, and the source of influence.
SPEAKER_00: So point one, accountability of influence.
SPEAKER_00: So James starts off with a warning about becoming a teacher.
SPEAKER_00: Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that he, we who teach will be judged with greater strictness.
SPEAKER_00: Now, I mean, it really, when you when you jump from chapter two into chapter three, this verse kind of seems out of place.
SPEAKER_00: It seems like it doesn't necessarily meet, uh fit with everything else, but it's actually kind of a solid transition when you kind of look at the overarching themes.
SPEAKER_00: Um he's warning that, hey, many people should not, many of y'all shouldn't be teachers.
SPEAKER_00: Um this implies that there's a lot of people in these congregations who are wanting to be teachers.
SPEAKER_00: They're wanting to be in leadership.
SPEAKER_00: They want to step into this leadership.
SPEAKER_00: Now, James has already shown through the first half of this letter that these churches are having problems actually living out the faith they claim they have.
SPEAKER_00: So he's warning them that teachers are going to be judged much more stringently because of the position they have, because of their authority.
SPEAKER_00: So, really, in a lot of ways, James is continuing the same argument he had in chapter three.
SPEAKER_00: Teachers must lead by example.
SPEAKER_00: Because, as Trevor discussed last week, what you believe is reflected in what you do.
SPEAKER_00: It is also reflected in what you say.
SPEAKER_00: And James is about to show the words we speak have an unusually strong power over other people.
SPEAKER_00: Now, we can stop here and we can just look at this verse and say, I am glad I'm not a teacher.
SPEAKER_00: I am not volunteering for that.
SPEAKER_00: So I'm good.
SPEAKER_00: Doesn't apply to me.
SPEAKER_00: Let's move on.
SPEAKER_00: But if we stop here, we're not doing this text and we're not doing the entirety of Scripture justice.
SPEAKER_00: For a couple of reasons.
SPEAKER_00: First, like Justin just mentioned a few minutes ago, if nothing else, it's important for us to remember they have a group of children across here.
SPEAKER_00: Gave them Bibles, said, this is what we expect.
SPEAKER_00: And we pointed out, you know, raising children, raising and discipling is a community effort in this church.
SPEAKER_00: We get that from the Shema in Deuteronomy 6.
SPEAKER_00: We also go to the Great Commission and look in Matthew 28.
SPEAKER_00: We're all called to disciple and teach others in the words of God.
SPEAKER_00: So, a second way that it's applicable to us, and I think this is where James is really, I think this is what he's got in mind, and where he's beginning to transition into the next verses.
SPEAKER_00: Why suddenly mention teachers?
SPEAKER_00: Because teachers exercise influence over a congregation through their words.
SPEAKER_00: He isn't changing subjects.
SPEAKER_00: In the context of this letter, it appears that another way believers are trying to get positions of influence is through a desire to become teachers.
SPEAKER_00: See, the early church held teachers in very high regard.
SPEAKER_00: Rabbis were well respected in Jewish communities.
SPEAKER_00: They held them up, they were esteemed.
SPEAKER_00: And this is carried over into the Christian paradigm.
SPEAKER_00: So naturally, people are being held in high esteem.
SPEAKER_00: If you've got people who are seeking after, trying to shore up their own security, they're trying to get status, they're naturally going to be drawn to this.
SPEAKER_00: Hey, maybe I could be a teacher.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe I could gain a little bit of respect in the community.
SPEAKER_00: So we can assume, based on James' wording here, that there are some people who are trying to get into leadership who should not be.
SPEAKER_00: They've taken a job for prestige and power that came along with it.
SPEAKER_00: And the same reason that someone on the outside, this is the same reason that someone on the outside world takes on a position of leadership.
SPEAKER_00: So they're still thinking in a worldly way, not in a kingdom way.
SPEAKER_00: The desire for power and influence is hinted at here, and it's going to continue more explicitly pointed out in verses 14, verse 14 next year, where he warned next week, where he warns against combining ambition and its incompatibility with the truth.
SPEAKER_00: So the idea that James may be speaking to a deeper motivation leaves us with a question for ourselves.
SPEAKER_00: Now, I may not be seeking to be a teacher in church, but am I seeking power and influence in ways that do not align with truth?
SPEAKER_00: What does that do to our communities and the community around us?
SPEAKER_00: All of us must be very careful in how we speak, even if we're speaking truth.
SPEAKER_00: This is throughout Scripture.
SPEAKER_00: Ephesians 4, 15.
SPEAKER_00: Speak the truth in love.
SPEAKER_00: Galatians 6.
SPEAKER_00: If someone is caught in sin, you who live by the Spirit should restore that person gently.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus speaking.
SPEAKER_00: I tell you, on that day of judgment, people will have to account for every careless word they speak.
SPEAKER_00: And that's why I think James takes this seemingly awkward jump from teaching into speaking.
SPEAKER_00: If we're obsessing over influence from wealthy friends or as teachers and leaders, then we're not going to be displaying the works of the Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: We're not in a place to properly lead anyone in anything because our priorities are still aligned with the world's, not the kingdoms.
SPEAKER_00: Rather than servant leadership, first will be last mentality, we're looking for ways to get ahead, to climb the ladder.
SPEAKER_00: And eventually that attitude bleeds over into the way we speak.
SPEAKER_00: And that reveals the truth.
SPEAKER_00: That's why James starts with teachers and a warning against any authority we might have.
SPEAKER_00: If we have that authority and we don't have the right attitude, our words are going to betray us.
SPEAKER_00: It's going to reveal our hearts.
SPEAKER_00: So point two the power of influence.
SPEAKER_00: Now, James concedes in verse 2, right off the bat, we all stumble.
SPEAKER_00: We all fall short of what God calls us to.
SPEAKER_00: If a man could truly, fully control his words, he'd be perfect.
SPEAKER_00: That is, spiritually mature.
SPEAKER_00: Because it's easier to control our actions than our words.
SPEAKER_00: You might remember Jesus saying, you know, it's not what goes into our mouths that corrupts us, it's what comes out.
SPEAKER_00: James has already told us that spiritual maturity is not measured just by hearing the word, but by doing it.
SPEAKER_00: And now he shows us one of the clearest tests of maturity.
SPEAKER_00: How are we speaking?
SPEAKER_00: What are we saying?
SPEAKER_00: Especially, there's a danger when we rush to speak, which is why he opens a letter telling us about being slow to speak and quick to listen.
SPEAKER_00: Especially for those who lack spiritual maturity.
SPEAKER_00: That is, those who are still seeking power and influence.
SPEAKER_00: When our goal is to build up, this tiny tongue has a great power over very large things.
SPEAKER_00: Some commentators point out there's a very interesting possibility here.
SPEAKER_00: See, James may be talking about more than just individual bodies.
SPEAKER_00: Throughout the letter, he's concerned with the health of the entirety of the church.
SPEAKER_00: So when he talks about body here, he could be referring to an individual body and also hinting at the church body.
SPEAKER_00: And if that's his intent, and our speech doesn't just steer our own lives, it can steer the direction of the entire congregation.
SPEAKER_00: And really, I mean, when you think about it, the things we say, the attitudes we bring in, they're going to influence what this congregation looks like.
SPEAKER_00: We are what we are because of the humbleness that we've brought into redemption.
SPEAKER_00: We love, you know, constantly, as people come in, visitors come in, they talk about how how welcoming and how loving we are.
SPEAKER_00: And that is entirely built upon our hearts and what we bring into it.
SPEAKER_00: And it can change.
SPEAKER_00: If our speech, if individuals in this room decide they want to break away from a vision of this church, it's very easy for words to catch fire.
SPEAKER_00: Words have major consequences.
SPEAKER_00: James gives us three metaphors: a horse's bit, a ship's rudder, and a tiny spark.
SPEAKER_00: In each illustration, something very small is controlling something very large.
SPEAKER_00: The first two are neutral, neither positive nor negative.
SPEAKER_00: It depends on how they're used.
SPEAKER_00: The small thing used wisely has a positive influence.
SPEAKER_00: The horse obeys, the boat goes where the pilot directs.
SPEAKER_00: The fire metaphor is very different.
SPEAKER_00: The forest fire is described as completely negative and destructive.
SPEAKER_00: James is not denying that words can heal.
SPEAKER_00: His point is that apart from God's wisdom, and he talks a lot about God's wisdom, apart from God's wisdom, our natural tendency is to not build up, but to burn down.
SPEAKER_00: His argument, Scripture's argument, is that human beings in our own strength cannot tame the tongue.
SPEAKER_00: The tongue is a world of unrighteousness, he says, that has the power to impact individuals and community.
SPEAKER_00: It corrupts and starts fires because it has been set on fire by hell.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, the tongue causes trouble everywhere because it is driven and controlled by sin.
SPEAKER_00: Look at the world around us right now.
SPEAKER_00: It's easy to see in a larger world how words, stories online, rumors that get started and spread, conspiracy theories against groups, divisions being drawn, one after another, have ignited firestorms.
SPEAKER_00: Lives destroyed, communities torn apart.
SPEAKER_00: Zoom in closer to city, to work, to school.
SPEAKER_00: What fires are we flaming when we speak careless words?
SPEAKER_00: And look, let's be, you know, let's get straight about this.
SPEAKER_00: Don't focus on the specific words being used.
SPEAKER_00: We have a tendency where we can look at specific words as the problem.
SPEAKER_00: We've got the wrong vocabulary or maybe an offensive phrase or two.
SPEAKER_00: Scripture is concerned with less about the specific word and more about what the words reveal or accomplish.
SPEAKER_00: What is the intent?
SPEAKER_00: What are we really trying to say?
SPEAKER_00: Because let's be honest, good words used with the wrong intent can be a spark.
SPEAKER_00: Bless your heart.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, we we all know that's not really a good statement.
SPEAKER_00: We know the heart behind that.
SPEAKER_00: We know.
SPEAKER_00: We can use words, gentle and innocuous words, to tear others down, to build ourselves up, to influence others in a way that gains us attention, that puts them down, that gains clicks, social standing, maybe gets us in with the right crowd.
SPEAKER_00: We sow seeds of discord and distrust.
SPEAKER_00: Did you see what Kevin was doing?
SPEAKER_00: Do you know what he's not doing?
SPEAKER_00: Let me tell you why there are 10, let me tell you why I think there's 10 different things that we should be doing differently around here.
SPEAKER_00: But they're not listening to me.
SPEAKER_00: Kevin, he doesn't care.
SPEAKER_00: He disagrees.
SPEAKER_00: He's terrible.
SPEAKER_00: I hate that guy.
SPEAKER_00: See, this is us acting and listening to the culture around us.
SPEAKER_00: We're reflecting that.
SPEAKER_00: We're starting little fires here and there.
SPEAKER_00: And they're going to blaze out of control.
SPEAKER_00: We use these little itty-bitty rudders to try to turn the ship where we want to go.
SPEAKER_00: Because these words have power.
SPEAKER_00: For all that, we have the ability to do.
SPEAKER_00: We master oceans, we domesticate animals, we send people to space.
SPEAKER_00: We can do nothing to control our tongues.
SPEAKER_00: We are powerless to control them because we are letting ourselves be controlled by sinful desires.
SPEAKER_00: Our words reveal who we're letting steer the ship.
SPEAKER_00: What is the source of that influence?
SPEAKER_00: Again, James, I'm just going to read this because it's, I'm going to let James speak for himself for a minute here.
SPEAKER_00: No human can tame the tongue.
SPEAKER_00: It is a restless evil full of deadly poison.
SPEAKER_00: With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God.
SPEAKER_00: From the same mouth comes blessing and cursing.
SPEAKER_00: My brothers, these things ought not be so.
SPEAKER_00: Does a spring pour forth from the same opening, both fresh and salt water?
SPEAKER_00: Can a fig tree, my brothers, bear olives, or a grapevine produce figs?
SPEAKER_00: Neither can a salt pond yield fresh water.
SPEAKER_00: James is painting a very solemn picture about what our worlds, or about what our words reveal about ourselves and our heart posture.
SPEAKER_00: He gives us an example of blessing and cursing.
SPEAKER_00: This is not some abstract example.
SPEAKER_00: He has seen this in the churches and among the people.
SPEAKER_00: Presumably, the leaders showing favoritism and those being discriminated against in chapter two, we're having words.
SPEAKER_00: They're returning insult for insult.
SPEAKER_00: Why is this an issue?
SPEAKER_00: Because unwholesome speech tears down.
SPEAKER_00: It demeans what God has created and said was good.
SPEAKER_00: Demeans what Jesus loves and died for.
SPEAKER_00: It leads people astray.
SPEAKER_00: Unrighteousness does not bring about the righteousness of God.
SPEAKER_00: Going back to the example that James gave above, these uncontrolled words are fires from hell.
SPEAKER_00: They're not the living water of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: They are not evidence of a life that has been reborn and renewed.
SPEAKER_00: James is not, let's be clear, James is not talking about slip-ups and stumbles.
SPEAKER_00: He's referencing an ongoing issue, a way of life that is characterized by harsh words and the judgment of others.
SPEAKER_00: James tells us very bluntly, you cannot have a double standard about the way we speak to God and the way you speak about your neighbor who is created in his image.
SPEAKER_00: It is pervasive.
SPEAKER_00: It lives on your social media feeds, it lives on your news broadcasts, it lives in our very lives.
SPEAKER_00: Double-mindedness feeds sin.
SPEAKER_00: And that's what this all boils down to.
SPEAKER_00: How do you view God?
SPEAKER_00: Do you see God in the person next to you?
SPEAKER_00: In the person in the hallway at school, in the office at work, in the convenience store, on the other side of the screen on social media.
SPEAKER_00: Because it's when we fail to recognize the image of God in others, it becomes very, very easy to other them, to see them as a hindrance to a goal or as a tool for reaching it, not as a person.
SPEAKER_00: That then gives us permission to use and abuse.
SPEAKER_00: C.S.
SPEAKER_00: Lewis captured this very well in The Weight of Glory, where he says, There are no ordinary people.
SPEAKER_00: You have never met a mere mortal.
SPEAKER_00: Everyone is created in the image of God, and everyone is bound for an eternal state.
SPEAKER_00: All day long, we are in some degree helping each other to one or the other of these destinations.
SPEAKER_00: And there are only two options.
SPEAKER_00: James gives us a big warning.
SPEAKER_00: If our lives are marked by that behavior, we are living out who we are deep down in our hearts.
SPEAKER_00: Behind the masks we like to wear in public, we can't actually hide who we are when we look closely.
SPEAKER_00: Salt water does not flow from a freshwater spring.
SPEAKER_00: This is an echo of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount.
SPEAKER_00: A good tree produces good fruit consistently.
SPEAKER_00: A lamp is not hidden under a basket.
SPEAKER_00: In the same way, God does not save us to leave us where we are.
SPEAKER_00: Flip over to Ephesians 2, starting in verse 8.
SPEAKER_00: For by grace you have been saved through faith.
SPEAKER_00: And this is not of your own doing.
SPEAKER_00: It is a gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
SPEAKER_00: For we are his workmanship.
SPEAKER_00: Very often we forget about verse 10, we leave it off.
SPEAKER_00: We are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
SPEAKER_00: We were saved to produce good fruit.
SPEAKER_00: If we are who we claim to be, if we are citizens saved by grace through faith, we are called to be something different.
SPEAKER_00: If we are citizens of God's kingdom, our lives should be producing that fruit.
SPEAKER_00: So in conclusion, in verse 8, James makes some very terrifying statements to me.
SPEAKER_00: Like I said, when I read these after becoming a Christian, I was like, oh man, if I'd only known.
SPEAKER_00: When you begin to understand the power that words have, he says, no human being can tame the tongue.
SPEAKER_00: So what are we supposed to do?
SPEAKER_00: How is it possible to control this spark and to use such a thing for good?
SPEAKER_00: Our speech is brought into conformity with the will of God when we walk with the Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: Our speech, our words, will either be used by the forces of hell to scorch the earth around us, or will be controlled and used by the Holy Spirit of God to build up.
SPEAKER_00: The problem, as James explains it, is that when we try on our own, under our own power to control our own tongue, all we get is a reflection of our heart.
SPEAKER_00: And we fail every time.
SPEAKER_00: We all know that.
SPEAKER_00: We all see that.
SPEAKER_00: It may go well for weeks, even months, but eventually we're going to find ourselves up to here with Kevin.
SPEAKER_00: We can no longer overlook or forgive his annoying behavior.
SPEAKER_00: He's in our way.
SPEAKER_00: And in that moment, the issue is no longer Kevin.
SPEAKER_00: The issue is that something in my heart has become more important to me than my neighbor.
SPEAKER_00: In comes sin, taking root.
SPEAKER_00: That seed that grows like kudzu will inevitably wrap around us.
SPEAKER_00: And we are powerless to stop it because it threatens one of our idols that our sinful desire has built.
SPEAKER_00: See, we're all worshiping something.
SPEAKER_00: We're all serving something as our master, either God or some other idol.
SPEAKER_00: In his book, Counterfeit Gods, Timothy Keller points out that when you respond with excuse worshiping, and yes, Christians can still struggle with these idols.
SPEAKER_00: I know this firsthand experience.
SPEAKER_00: It started before I came to faith, but continued for years after.
SPEAKER_00: For years I'd made a little idol out of this seemingly good thing of a perfect family, making sure our daughter, our firstborn, had every opportunity.
SPEAKER_00: But without God, that went very badly.
SPEAKER_00: Nothing was ever good enough.
SPEAKER_00: Anything less than perfect in school, in sports, or behavior was a statement on how I was how inadequate I was and how I wasn't doing enough to feed my idols.
SPEAKER_00: And that pressure was too much.
SPEAKER_00: It inevitably led to angry outbursts, to words that would tear down rather than build up.
SPEAKER_00: And it would go on.
SPEAKER_00: I would do better for a while and I would fail.
SPEAKER_00: Another outburst.
SPEAKER_00: I would do better and I would fail.
SPEAKER_00: Another outburst.
SPEAKER_00: Thankfully in Christ, there is forgiveness, and his spirit will continue to transform us.
SPEAKER_00: Even today, I feel that the Spirit tug at me.
SPEAKER_00: Was that really the right reaction?
SPEAKER_00: I mean, I'll even ask Brandy sometimes.
SPEAKER_00: Am I wrong?
SPEAKER_00: Am I just being a jerk about this?
SPEAKER_00: Um is this the right response?
SPEAKER_00: Help me.
SPEAKER_00: It's a blessing to have the Spirit convict you.
SPEAKER_00: For those who have not put their faith in Christ, they remain slaves to sin.
SPEAKER_00: They're tied to it.
SPEAKER_00: They may be able to control things for a time, but they cannot free themselves from sin's power.
SPEAKER_00: They have no choice.
SPEAKER_00: So, James says, they cannot tame the tongue.
SPEAKER_00: Eventually, the heart reveals itself.
SPEAKER_00: Words betray them.
SPEAKER_00: They follow the world's path, with the world on its path.
SPEAKER_00: Words are used and people abused.
SPEAKER_00: Chained to sin, we can only search after idols.
SPEAKER_00: We cannot reflect the character of God.
SPEAKER_00: And if that was the end of it, then this would be a very, very hopeless passage.
SPEAKER_00: How can we possibly stop chasing power and start chasing the character of God?
SPEAKER_00: Augustine thought that James was making a very subtle point here.
SPEAKER_00: James does not say that, quoting Augustine, James does not say that no one can tame the tongue, but no man.
SPEAKER_00: So that when it is tamed, we confess that it is brought about by the pity, the help, and the grace of God.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, we can only hope to reflect the character of God when we have been set free from the power of sin over us through Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Paul writes in 2 Corinthians, therefore, if anyone's in, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come.
SPEAKER_00: The old is gone and the new is here.
SPEAKER_00: In Romans, if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.
SPEAKER_00: We know that the old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we should no longer be enslaved to sin.
SPEAKER_00: See, when you are in Christ and a new creation, dead to sin, the Spirit will lead us.
SPEAKER_00: He will lead you in righteousness.
SPEAKER_00: Tamed by the Spirit, our words can be a salve for the vitriol and the hate that the world produces.
SPEAKER_00: We cannot fix our speech by trying harder because our words reveal our heart.
SPEAKER_00: What we need is not merely better speech, but a renewed spirit that comes through Christ and the work of the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: Let's pray.
SPEAKER_00: Heavenly Father, thank you for your mercy and your forgiveness.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for the gift of grace.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for reaching out to us and inviting us into your kingdom and inviting us to be your kingdom people.
SPEAKER_00: I pray, Father, that we take seriously the calling you've laid before us, and that we thank you daily, hour after hour, for the mercy and the grace and the power of your Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: Ask all this in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.