Taming The Tongue - part 2 - (p)rophet James to Pastor James sermon post

 


Part 2 of this sermon moves James from (p)rophet - little (p) because he is acting like a prophet with warnings to God's people about not acting like God's people to James the pastor as he helps his readers and us to navigate what comes from our tongues and our fingers.

James wants us to compare wisdom from here and wisdom from above like we compared God's way of walking through a trial and man's way found in chapter 1.  What is the difference between wisdom from here and wisdom from above?  What is different with its outcomes?  Here is a chart I used in the sermon.

      Bad Wisdom (from here)                                     Good Wisdom (from above)



The turning point for me in this sermon was verse 14.  

"But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, 
do not boast and be false to the truth."

If I find bitter jealousy, a zeal of bad of another, and selfish ambition, a king of the hill mentality, in my heart then as a Christian I need to make sure that doesn't come out of my mouth or through my fingers.  If it does then it will come about as a boast, a self lofting of yourself over others, and a speaking false to the truth because this is not God's way.  

My tongue, provided by God, is a warning light and red line of the gauge on my dashboard of life telling me something is wrong under the hood.  With a car, you see that light come on or the gauge rising and you stop! 🛑  You look under the hood.  You check the oil.  Do we do the same when our tongue or fingers are producing what they should not be?  Do we stop? ✋  Do we heed the warning and instead of letting it come out in a boast, we confess it before God?

Instead of contributing to our world of unrighteousness (v.6), we can participate in the harvest of righteousness (v.18). Those who are "in" peace with God, a right relationship with Him, can "make" peace by telling and showing others how to have true peace with God.  

A little break from James next week because of the end of the chapter but we will be looking at the state of the general church and what we need to do according to God's word. 

Adam

 

A simple man serving a great God and the local pastor of Stillwater Community Chapel (stillwater-chapel.org). We are in our 38th year of full time ministry. God directed us to this local body of believers on the Western Range of the Rockies to grow with them in mission and mindedness of Christ.

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