You Can Listen to the Full Sermon Here:-
http://www.nec.org.au/index.php/listen-to-a-sermon-series/practical-faith/
Message
James 3:1-18
“Showing Restraint”
I’ve been sitting in the food court of Chermside Shopping Centre when a child will throw themselves on the floor yelling and screaming and hitting the ground all the while ignoring the pleas of his mother to calm down and be quiet. And she is embarrassed. She knows her child is not showing restraint – and some people at the shop will make a judgement about her parenting skills as a result.
When I was younger I had a group of friends from work who always went drinking on the weekend. I didn’t like to drink so I was always the designated driver – which can be a lot of fun especially when you see how the excess use of alcohol lowers the inhibitions of people.
I had one mate who, the more he drank, the more attractive he thought he became.
After enough drinks he would approach the most gorgeous woman in the room and hit on them.
They always said “no” – but that didn’t restrain him.
In the end he would make a complete fool of himself.
We all knew it. All the women in the club knew it. It was a judgement which came because he could not restrain himself.
Showing Restraint is an important characteristic. In fact, showing restraint is a Godly characteristic.
James 3:1-18 teaches us these truths (read).
As we read this passage is quickly becomes obvious that the best way to show restraint is to take control of our tongue. As someone once observed:- The reason a dog has so many friends is that he wags his tail more than his tongue.
We can laugh – but it true. As a result of an unrestrained tongue …
… we have had our fair share of broken relationships, and hurtful misunderstandings.
… and there have been too many times when people have been put offside because of false accusations and rumours.
… there have also been break-downs in fellowship and the consumption of gossip.
Our tongue is one of the biggest troublemakers in our lives … and it is time to stop its impact. That is what James is going to help us do. And he starts by showing us that
The tongue has disproportionate power.
It is like a bit in a horse’s mouth.
A wild horse can be a ferocious animal. Think of the many rodeo riders who seek to ride these untamed beasts. The horse bucks and jumps and stamps and twists all in an effort to remove the rider. Yet, with the use of a very small bit, this same force and be controlled and used for more admirable purposes. At one time horses were the main form of transport, they were used for working farms, since the earliest times they have been used in war. Just through the use of a small bit the power of the horse could be harnessed.
It is like the rudder on a ship.
Compared to the rest of the ship the rudder is tiny – but only it can control the direction of the boat. Strong winds will try and blow a large ship off course and onto rocks; this small rudder fights against this force and brings the ship to safety. Without the rudder the ship would be lost. It has disproportionate power for its size.
The tongue has disproportionate power.
The drunk who caused the death of three others in a car accident boasted before he left, “I can hold my booze … it doesn’t affect me”. The boast of his tongue has caused death and destruction far beyond its strength. It’s a negative outcome.
April 20 1999 is the day of the Columbine High School massacre. At the funeral of Rachel Scott, a girl died because she would not renounce her faith in Jesus, a testimony of faith is given … and through the power of the tongue a 100 young people gave their lives to the Lord and were snatched from hell. It’s a positive outcome.
Our tongues have disproportionate power:-
… the power to break and the power to fix.
… the power to manipulate and the power to encourage.
… the power to tear-down and to build-up.
Either way the power is disproportionate. So the question becomes “Will I use this disproportionate power for God, or will I use it for myself?” James helps us answer the question by showing us
The destructive power of the tongue.
It has the destructive power of a fire.
We have had enough experience with fires to that one spark is all it takes and, before you know it, lives are destroyed, and whole streets of homes are lost.
The impact of the tongue is the same … a fact which was clearly understood by the girl who asked her Mum which was a worse sin gossip or stealing. Her mother told her that both were as bad as each other; but the girl insisted that gossip was worse.
“Why do you say that?” asked her mother.
The girl replied, “Well when you steal you can always give it back, when you gossip you can’t take it back”.
Once words go out they cannot be stopped. Once the lies are spoken they have effect. Once the gossip has begun it rushes from ear to ear. And in the meantime
… reputations are questioned.
… false judgements are made.
… assumptions are formed.
… and lies are treated as fact.
As one person rightly observed, “A gossip is one who can give you all the details without knowing any of the facts”. It is a destructive fire that continues to be fuelled by more tongues.
But that is not all.
It has the destructive power of Satan and hell
not only is the tongue like a fire.
and not only does it set our whole life on fire.
it is also set on fire by the fire of hell.
When we use the destructive power of our tongues basically we are saying to Satan, “Here is my tongue – let’s see how much damage we can cause. That puts a new perspective on issues like gossip, slander and lying doesn’t it?
Now, at this point, I would hope that you will be remembering some of the fires you have started and then also wondering how you can stop being an arsonist. And I have to tell you it isn’t easy.
The problem we face is that our tongues verbalise our inconsistent spirituality.
James makes the point this way With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men.
At this moment we sit nicely in church praising and worshipping God. But what will you say when on the way home as you are driving home? I doubt that it will be “Praise God you almost cut me off”. On Sunday we have great fellowship, we’re thanking God for one another, and we’re praising God for His goodness. On Monday our tongues are defaming and denigrating and criticising and making sly innuendoes.
That was a truth learnt by a Christian business man who had just finished tearing down and swearing at one of his workers – only to turn around and find a member of his church standing behind him.
Embarrassed the business men said, “I don’t know why I did that, it really isn’t in me”.
The other member wisely replied, “It had to be in you, or it couldn’t come out of you”.
We are so inconsistent and, in many ways, our tongues are an indicator of our spirituality.
So this is the challenge.
How do we deal with an inconsistent spirituality?
God created the tongue and, like the rest of creation, it was very good.
Sin came into this world and, like all parts of creation, the tongue turned against God.
God, being a merciful and loving God, sent His Son to pay the penalty of sin so that there was an opportunity for recreation.
In other words, like the rest of our body, the tongue was given a second chance. Those who hold onto Jesus Christ and the freedom which comes through His resurrection are those who know how to use their tongues properly. They have control over the "master-switch".
This is where the whole wisdom stuff comes in. Notice that the focus is on wisdom, not knowledge.
There is not always a direct connection between knowledge and wisdom.
Albert Einstein was one of the smartest people the modern world has known. But most of our children who are 5 or 6 and older are wiser than he was. You see Einstein could never find his way home. He had to carry his address in his pocket and ask people for directions to get there.
Elvis Presley was a smart man when it came to singing and music. In a very short space of time he became very famous and very wealthy. But Elvis became involved in drugs and, slowly but surely, they impacted his career and eventually took his life.
There is not always a direct connection between knowledge and wisdom. Those who learn to restrain their tongues are those who understand what real wisdom is. Real wisdom is the wisdom which comes from above ... real wisdom is allowing God to give us restraint. Real wisdom is heavenly wisdom.
And James uses 7 words to show us what it looks like.
Heavenly wisdom is “pure”.
We know the impact of things not being pure.
I suspect a wife would not be very happy if one night in every hundred her husband did impure things?
Or what if your accountant directed 1c out of every dollar or your money into his own account?
Both these people are 99% pure yet we wouldn’t accept what they were doing, would we. So why is it that we treat God differently at times? It is heavenly wisdom to do our best for the Lord and be pure – so we cannot have a near-enough-is-good-enough policy.
Heavenly wisdom is “peace loving”.
To be peace loving does not mean we need to be pushovers. But it means to go through life without the constant tension of being at odds with others.
After World War II the USA and Russia had, what was called, the Cold War. In that 40 year period there was not open warfare between the two countries, but there was always constant tension. In once sense there was peace … but these countries were not “peace loving”.
We, as the children of the Lord, need to love peace. Whenever there is tension it needs to be resolved.
Heavenly wisdom is “considerate”.
Before we talked about purity – which could lead us to the conclusion that we have to be perfect to be accepted. But that is not the case. As believers we need to be considerate of the situation of others.
That means we accept those who come from a different background to ours.
And we love those who are difficult to love.
A Christian knows how to make allowances for people especially those who don’t know any differently.
Heavenly wisdom is “submissive”.
The word was originally used of people in the army and it referred to the common soldier, who recognised the rights of the commander over him. When the orders were given he immediately submitted to him.
That does not mean that he was Private Spineless, lacking in any strength of conviction.
It means that he understood and respected his place in the chain of command.
To be submissive means to willingly receive instruction. It is an attitude which makes us teachable instead of stubborn.
Heavenly wisdom is “full of mercy and good fruit”.
I think it is fair to say that we can be very quick to make judgements – to define people in terms of a situation which is “probably their fault anyway”.
When a fire goes through some ones home and they lose everything it might be the correct thing to say, “You should have been insured”. But it isn’t merciful and it isn’t a sign of good fruit.
Heavenly wisdom calls us to help others despite the circumstances which transpired to bring them to the situation they are in.
Heavenly wisdom is “impartial”.
Listen to these words which are written on the door of an old church in England.
O God, may the door of this house be wide enough to include all who need divine love and human friendship; narrow enough to shut out all envy, pride and strife. May its threshold be smooth enough to be no stumbling block to children or to straying feet, yet rugged enough to turn back the tempter’s power.
That is what it means to be impartial. We are single-minded in the gospel but we don’t show favouritism.
Heavenly wisdom is “sincere”.
We can’t be people who wear masks, or put on a show, or live a hypocritical life.
During His ministry Jesus spoke about two people who came to the temple wearing a mask. One man thanked God that he was not like other men, because he prayed and fasted and so on. That was his mask. But the other man was sick and tired of his mask – and he knew he was only fooling himself. That day he threw his mask away and with total sincerity and complete vulnerability he prayed, God be merciful to me a sinner. And at that moment a new life began.
Heavenly wisdom says, “Take off your masks”.
So here is the take home question.
Do you want to be a person of restraint?
Show Heavenly wisdom which is pure, peace loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. Then watch and see what sort of judgements people make about you – I’m sure they will be judgements that are a delight to God.
Prayer
