James 3:13-18 [Pentecost 18—CWS B]
Pastor Ron Koehler
Grace—Tucson, AZ September 23, 2018
13
Who is wise and understanding among you? Let them show it by their good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom. 14 But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. 15 Such “wisdom” does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. 16 For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice. 17 But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. 18 Peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of righteousness.
In the name of our perfect Lord, our Savior Jesus Christ, dear friends, How about that gospel lesson for today?! Is it hard to imagine Jesus telling his disciples that he is going to be put to death and rise from death—that he is the promised Messiah who was going to do that for a world of sinners—and then hear that the discussion they had afterwards was about which of the twelve of them was the greatest? Jesus needed to redirect them and show them what God-pleasing, humble service to others was about. You and I also need to be steered onto the God-pleasing path of proper attitude and action toward others, specifically humility and service that imitates that of Jesus. The lesson from James helps us with that this morning. He speaks of godly wisdom and impresses upon every one of us that if we have faith in Jesus as our Savior, then we will show that faith in the way we live our lives. Yes, others will be able to tell about your faith and your feelings toward God and his Word by watching you and listening to you, because YOUR LIFE REVEALS YOUR SPIRITUAL CONDITION As we apply the Word of God to our lives today, we’re going to do it a little different than we normally do. We’re going to use the checklist on the cover of your worship folder—drawn up based on James’ words—and we’ll walk through the lesson. James says that if you are wise and understanding about God and what a Christian life is supposed to look like, you will demonstrate that wisdom in the way you live. We’re about to test that; it’s time for a self-evaluation of your faith. You can do this in your head as we go along or you can actually check off the appropriate boxes. I’ll warn you that if you’re like me, this matter of spiritual self-awareness may be difficult for you in spots as you see your weakness and sin. In other areas, we may feel very good about the Holy Spirit doing his work in our hearts and moving us to live our faith. If we are honest before our Lord—and we remember that he is our Savior—a review like this can encourage us to live for him and be a blessing to the people around us. So, take a look at the first thing on James’ list—envy. Are you envious? You are envious if you find yourself unhappy with your life when you see someone else’s success or when you wallow in dissatisfaction and find yourself wishing that their life could be yours. Why does God look at that as sin? Because it means that you feel God has not been gracious and fair to you and that you deserve something different, something better. Oh, you and I might not want to say it that way, but that is what is behind it. Envy can also lead to not taking the actions God would have you take in your life, but instead leave you sitting on the couch moping because you’ve got it so bad. Envy causes us to not consider that the lives of others are not always as they appear. You may not see the trouble, hardship, dissension and sin that is really present there. But God sees all things, shouldn’t we leave all things to his direction? You know that pleases God when we do! Ambition: desire for success, honor or power. Is it wrong to want to do well, to be liked, to be the one responsible for decisions? Well, it doesn’t have to be, but when we see those things as opportunities to bring attention to ourselves, to use them more for our own good than for others, then yes, it is wrong. An apple is a good thing, but if you bite into it and find you’ve bitten through a worm that was inside, you consider the apple unappetizing after that. That’s how God feels about us when we use the talents and abilities he has given us for control of others or only to make us look good. That’s unappetizing to the Savior who humbled himself and veiled his glory while on earth and didn’t make full use of his power so that he could serve sinners, paying for their sins with his perfect life. Christ is both our Savior and our example. Selfishness is out of bounds—Jesus expects us to use those gifts and take those important
positions in the family, the church and the rest of our lives in order to serve others and bring honor to God, not ourselves. A Christian does that by sharing success, by heaping praise on others, by even taking important positions just to be able to serve others. There is no selfish ambition when we look at it that way! Sinful boasting is kind of a weird one. It doesn’t seem like any of us would want to brag about our sins. Don’t we find our sins embarrassing? Wouldn’t we prefer that no one know? But if you’ve ever said something like, “I really got him back!”…or bragged about how you cheated the system and got away with it…or talked about your partying that went too far…you look like a sinful fool, not the wise person of God! You’re bragging about things God says are wrong. Elsewhere in this letter, James reminds us to watch our mouths—and we’re reminded of it here too. It doesn’t seem like we’re ungodly though, does it? I mean, we’re here today for church, right? Yes, but what happens when we leave here? Do we take the Words of God we hear and then change the sin in our lives and begin again to live in a way that says “Thank You!” to Jesus for saving us from sin and hell? Or do we go back to our drunkenness, our sexual sins, our gossiping, our anger, our being bratty to our moms or dads? Ungodly people do those things. The children of God make every effort to quit those sinful behaviors. Is it possible that some here are unspiritual? Oh, I assure you that it is possible. Some young people go to church because they still live under mom and dad’s roof—otherwise, they’d be out of here. Or maybe you’re kind of new to the whole church and God thing—and you have the feeling that maybe this isn’t so important or that you don’t really need it—that’s unspiritual. Maybe you’re a long-time Christian, but you feel that Bible classes and reading the Bible on your own is something you don’t really have time for. That too, is an unspiritual attitude. Not one of us can say that we have no unspiritual thoughts. Evil seems so strong a word—could we actually be evil? Well, James warns us that if these other sins are present, other evil deeds will follow. Anything not pleasing to the Lord is technically evil, so yes, I guess we have to admit that we do evil things. Now, I don’t know what the top part of your checklist looks like—whether you have many checkmarks in the “I AM” boxes or many in the “I AM NOT” boxes. Those top items are the bad things that the man or woman or child of God is to avoid. But now let’s look at the bottom of the list. God speaks of things done in humility. Are you like Moses, who we heard about in the first lesson? Is humility something you possess? Are you able to look at yourself and see your important role in the body of Christ, but not carve out too big a spot? Can you see how you fit AND value others at the same time? If you remember the humility of Jesus who, being God himself, came in humility to serve you and save you, then you can serve others and God in humility. Every now and then you’ll see the results of testing done on bottled water. Companies advertise their water as sparkling, clear and pure. But often it is found to be no better than tap water, which contains all kinds of impurities! Consumers get angry because they paid for pure water! Well imagine how Jesus feels when he looks at us. He paid with his life in order to have pure people, but we continually show the impurity of sin in our lives! We willingly add impure thoughts. We mix in impure behaviors. We take what was made pure by Christ and make it dirty. How thankful we can be that the love of Jesus keeps filtering out our impurities day after day, continually forgiving all our sins. That changes our hearts and minds so that we want to live pure and holy lives in thanks to him! Are you a peace-loving kind of person? Do you enjoy when things are smooth-sailing? Do you feel like you and the Triune God are on the same page when it comes to wanting there to be harmony with your friends, with strangers, within your family, here at Grace? I pray that you do, because James says that is a mark of wisdom that comes from God!
Are you considerate then? The word James uses there also means yielding and gentle. Is that you? You’re not harsh with others, are you? You don’t always have to be first in line, right? God wants you and me, his dearly loved children, to be like Jesus, to think about others before ourselves. Our sinful nature fights hard against that! You might have to put a check mark in the “I AM NOT” box if you have to admit that your needs, your desires, your feelings are more important than those of others. It takes a very self-aware person to look inward and see that today—and to see that it has less to do with politeness and more to do with our spiritual life. In Ephesians 5, The Apostle Paul instructs us to Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ (v. 21). We don’t like the sound of that in a “me first” world! And you don’t have to convince the sinful nature to question the wisdom of submitting to others! We don’t like the word! We think we know what it means even before hearing what God means by it! We hear that in the wedding vows and wonder how a woman could ever say she would submit to her husband. But we need to hear that when God says submit, he means to willingly place oneself under someone else. We need to hear that similar command to husbands that they are to give themselves up for their wives. The healthy marriage finds both husband and wife giving up for the other. And it is no different in the church. You and I have no business demanding anything from anyone else. Instead, we are to be totally willing to give things up for others in love for them and for the Lord who gave everything for us! Being submissive to others may seem scary and make us feel vulnerable, but once you understand it and live it, you find a joy and a partnership with others that many do not know. When you find other Christians who get what that means, you find a treasure and a comfort that you realize comes only by the blessing of God. We often speak of God being full of mercy or compassion. Just as God the Father’s sending of Jesus reflected his attitude of compassion for sinners who could not help themselves, our actions are to reflect that same attitude. If we are only self-involved, we will not even notice the needs of others. Stop to think of who needs your help. Take the time to look around, to know the people around you, to seek out opportunities to assist someone, whether in prayer, with money, with your time—who knows all the ways you might help. God’s not looking for people to do merciful things here and there; he wants people who are FULL of mercy! God also wants people whose lives are full of good fruit. This is a simple truth: if you have faith in God and a trust in Jesus as your Savior, it will be obvious in your words and actions. A grape vine will show itself not to be just any old vine, but a grape vine, when those plump, juicy grapes form. And so it is with a Christian. Can you even imagine a Christian with the love of Christ inside not showing that love on the outside? Good—because neither can Jesus! God didn’t show favorites when he promised the Messiah, did he? He was to come as the Savior of all people. When Christ was born, he came as the Savior of the nations. God was impartial when he sent Jesus to bring eternal life. And now the Father looks for impartiality on the part of his people—no favoritism, no prejudice. Everyone is a sinner and everyone is a sinner Jesus died and rose for. We are all on equal footing with God and we are to view each other as equals. Only you know if you are sincere or not when it comes to your faith in Jesus and how you interact with God’s people. Only you know if you’re going through the motions of faith and don’t feel a thing in your heart. Only you know if you tell people you will pray for them with no intention of doing so. Only you know if you are sincere. I take that back—God knows too. Only you and he know if there is repentance needed and work to be done on your heart. James already mentioned that God expects us to be peace-loving, but now he impresses upon us that God also wants us to be peace-makers. Stop to evaluate whether the words you speak and the things you do give others the impression that you are one who wants things to be peaceful or not. Do you take the first steps to smooth over a difficult situation? Think about how you discuss things. Are there outbursts of anger that disrupt the peace that should exist among the people of God? The sinful nature
blurts things out without thinking; the peacemaker thinks first, then acts and speaks in a way that builds peace. Where will your checkmark go here? It is a long list of things to consider today. I pray that you have done an honest self-evaluation of your spiritual side this morning. You may see that you have much to repent for, much to be forgiven for, and much to ask the Holy Spirit’s help with. Regardless of how many checkmarks are where, not one of us is perfect and that should mean hell for us—separation from the holy God. But we have a Savior who was all these good things for us and did none of the sinful things. His perfect checklist paid for our messy ones. Knowing that changes our hearts, doesn’t it? We are filled with love for our Savior because he forgives our sin and sends his Holy Spirit to help us fix what is broken in our spiritual lives. As God’s people, we marvel at his perfection, his love, and his assurance of heaven for all who trust in him. That is what motivates us to go away from church today as God’s wise and righteous people, intent to live in a way that honors our Savior and serves others. May the Holy Spirit grant it! Amen. Now the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.