Category: James

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James Sermon

Managing God’s wealth: James 5:1-6

Introduction

Good morning church, good to see all of you, hope all of you are doing well, Today we are gonna meditate a very interesting topic James 5, Remember we are going through a book series from James under the theme “Faith in action” and we have come to the last chapter.

Today we shall meditate James 5:1-6.

and I would like to entitle my sermon as “Managing God’s wealth”

What does it mean managing God’s wealth? well….

Life is a gift from God, our talent our skill, everything we got belong to God, our possession, your money, your wealth, your property, your job, your business, all belong to God. how we manage them matters to God.

Colossians 1:16

For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities all things were created through him and for him.

God want us to be a good manager of our own life, He want us to take good care of everything He has given us,

everything He has bless us, and we know

Someday we will give account to God for the life we have lived.

Today we shall meditate on just one part, that is “Managing God’s wealth” this is very important subject, you know out of 29 Jesus parable 13 parables are talking about money.

There are over 700 direct references to money in the Bible. Why is money such a popular subject in the Bible?

Because money is a window into the heart.

How we handle money exposes the values and priorities of our hearts.

Today many people wrongly believe that the Bible teaches that it’s wrong to be wealthy. They think that the Bible says: “Money is the root of all evil”.

But Bible does not teach this. What Bible says is: 1 Tim 6:10

For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.

God is not opposed to wealth. In fact, many people in the Bible were extremely wealthy.

Abraham was probably a millionaire if it was valued according to today’s standards.

David and Solomon were both wealthy men of their time. Job was also wealthy and the list could go on and on.

It is not wealth that is evil.

Look at First Timothy again, “The love of money”. You see that is where the real problem arises. It is the misuse of money, the love of money that causes all kinds of problems.

James lashes out at the wrong use of money by the wealthy.

He gives a rebuke probably one of the most negative passages in the Bible against the misuse of money.

He looks at 3 specific areas we need to be aware of when it comes to money. James gives his listeners a healthy warning of how they should handle their wealth. In other words – How to be Wise with Money.

Let’s look how God wants us to handle our money in three areas:

  1. Look here, you rich people: Weep and groan with anguish because of all the terrible troubles ahead of you.
  2. Your wealth is rotting away, and your fine clothes are moth-eaten rags.

3Your gold and silver are corroded. The very wealth you were counting on will eat away your flesh like fire. This corroded treasure you have hoarded will testify against you on the day of judgment.

  • For listen! Hear the cries of the field workers whom you have cheated of their pay. The cries of those who harvest your fields have reached the ears of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.
  • You have spent your years on earth in luxury, satisfying your every desire. You have fattened yourselves for the day of slaughter.
  • You have condemned and killed innocent people, who do not resist you.
  1. Don’t treasure greedily but manage wisely. (1-3)
  2. Look here, you rich people: Weep and groan with anguish because of all the terrible troubles ahead of you.
  3. Your wealth is rotting away, and your fine clothes are moth-eaten rags.

3Your gold and silver are corroded. The very wealth you were counting on will eat away your flesh like fire. This corroded treasure you have hoarded will testify against you on the day of judgment.

In the first century Middle Eastern culture, wealth was measured in three ways: grain, garments and gold.

The rich had so much food that it was rotting in their barns.

They had a lot of fancy clothing that was filled with holes caused by moths. And their gold and silver, the most durable forms of wealth, had lost its luster because it was hidden under piles of other stuff that they had too much of.

James tells the wealthy that they better get ready to weep and wail, not because they had money but because they hoarded (accumulate) it and took advantage of those who had less.

Wealth is not the problem; the misuse of it is.

Even in our present days many people save their wealth in many forms,

In other words, what you have stored away believing it to be good and something you can rely upon to save you at a future time.

All of that is useless and will leave you helpless.

He was telling these rich people that they could NOT rely upon their wealth for sustenance or for shelter clothing.

They could not take shelter from this world or from their sin in their wealth. It would fail them in the end.

James’s attention is on the day of God’s judgment against these wealthy oppressors. The misuse of their gold and silver will testify against them.

Instead of using their stockpiles of precious metals to help the poor, they just hoarded the money until it began to waste away.

When God rules against them, their own flesh will be eaten away by fire in the same way the corrosion has eaten away their gold and silver.

Without doubt, this is a harsh and cutting pronouncement. James offers no grace from God for these unrepentant unbelievers.

They will be condemned for their greed and selfishness. They are guilty of laying up earthly treasure for themselves in the last days instead of spending it to help those in need.

James echoes Jesus’ own teaching:

“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.

For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:19-21).

In Luke 12:13-21,

Jesus narrates the Parable of the Rich Fool

  1. Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.”
  2. Jesus replied, “Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you?”
  3. Then he said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.”
  1. And he told them this parable: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest.
  2. He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’
  3. “Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus grain.
  4. And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.”’
  5. “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’
  6. “This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God.

Everyone around the world is so busy with their life, running for money, when we see Mumbai city, it is always busy, people rush to office, business place, working so hard to earn money for living,

But money should not become our heart idol,

Lets us always remember that we are here in this world for temporary, we will take nothing out of this world, rather

We should focus on what God want us to do with our life and with our wealth and money.

1 Tim 6:17-19.

17 Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. 18 Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. 19 In this way they

will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.

How do I Manage my wealth wisely

He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what He cannot lose. Jim Elliot (missionary to AUCA) @ 28 he was killed by Auca tribe in south America.

Giving up everything it can be money, time, life, family for God’s great work, for His glory.

I think what Jim elliot says is the “wise management”

If we are misusing our wealth we should come to Jesus like Zeccchaius, the tax collector, if i have taken which i am not suppose I will pay back double. because of his sincere repentance Jesus forgive him.

Application:

Church how are you managing your money or wealth God has given you? Are you investing your wealth on earth or

Investing your treasures in Heaven? We should be wise church.

We should not be like heathens who invest possessions in this world.

Colossians 3:1-3 says.

Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.

  • Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.
  • For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.

2.       Don’t cheat anyone, but manage with integrity. (4)

  • For listen! Hear the cries of the field workers whom you have cheated of their pay. The cries of those who harvest your fields have reached the ears of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.

Here, James charges these abusive rich men not just with neglect and selfishness, but with outright fraud. These wealthy businessmen cheated their own employees out of the wages they had earned working in the fields.

In the Old Testament Law, employers were commanded to pay their laborers at the end of the work day, because the workers needed the money and they might cry out to the Lord if cheated by their employer (Deuteronomy 24:15).

James describes the unpaid money itself as crying out against the oppressive landowners, along with the voices of the workers.

The landowners should be sure of this: Those voices have reached the Lord of Hosts. That name, “Lord of Hosts”, is one often used throughout Scripture in association with God’s judgment.

The Lord commands powerful armies, and He is coming for you, James is saying.

Church lets be careful if we cheat people we will be without excuse, God is looking down He sees, knows all things.

How people cheat each other this days. (my first job was cheating job)

It was a scam company, I work there for more than a year, I was innocent at first but at the end I came to know that it was scam company.

Everyday I have to dial around 400 people every night, I usually talk to 200 people. We sale a product which does not exist.

At the end of the work i feel guilty of cheating and lying many people, charging their credit card with the products that will never reach them.

at last i was so guilty and depressed i give up and repent of my sins. This scam things are going on all over the world.

We also see fraud in many private and public sectors.

Demanding money for job,

My wife Phila was asked 7 lakh for nurse job in Manipur, we denied coz we don’t believe in fraud.

Cheating can be in many ways

Betraying someone, not keeping promises, false promises, unfaithful to spouse. unfaithful to friends and family, unfaithful at work, unfaithful to God.

Illustration:

Judas was cashier among the twelve, he cheat and work without integrity at the end he felt in sin and end up his life is misery.

As Christians, we know that the Bible has many warnings against the dangers of pursuing wealth. In 1 Timothy 6:9-10, the apostle Paul warns,

But those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a snare and many foolish and harmful desires which plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.

“Doom to him who builds palaces but bullies people, who makes a fine house but destroys lives, Who cheats his workers and won’t pay them for their work.” Jeremiah 22:13 (MSG)

When we look the live of Joseph in OT ….

Illustration: Joseph was an excellent manger with integrity.

Doing the right things even when no one is watching that is integrity.

He was the incharge of potiphar house he manage with integrity, he did the right things even no one was watching, His faith and integrity was tested many times, but His faith and his integrity didn’t change as a result God raise him higher and higher in his position at the end he was next to his king Pharaoh in Egypt.

Application: Remember church

Colossians 3:9-10 Do not lie to one another, for you have stripped off the old nature with its practices and have clothed yourselves with the new nature, which is being renewed in full knowledge, consistent with the image of the one who created it.

Proverbs 10:9 People with integrity walk safely, but those who follow crooked paths will slip and fall.

3.        Don’t live selfishly but share generously. (5-6)

  • You have spent your years on earth in luxury, satisfying your every desire. You have fattened yourselves for the day of slaughter.
  • You have condemned and killed innocent people, who do not resist you.

The way we spend our money is very important. James tells his readers that they are spending their money in a wrong way.

“You have lived on the earth in pleasure and luxury; you have fattened your hearts as in a day of slaughter.” James 5:5

We are not to waste our wealth. We are not to be overly self indulgent.

The more money you make the easier it is to waste it. We tend to say, “I deserve it. I’m worth it       I might as well enjoy myself.”

Just because you can afford something does not mean you should buy it. The Bible tells us not to waste our money.

There are millions of ways to spend and squander your money on yourself. But we should always ask, Is that pleasing to God?

The Bible tells us that we are to spend our money wisely. We are to plan how we spend our money. Look at what it says in Proverbs:

“The plans of the diligent lead surely to plenty, But those of everyone who is hasty, surely to poverty.” Proverbs 21:5

The Bible clearly teaches that God is concerned with how we get our money, How we save our money and how we spend our money.

God is concerned with every aspect of our lives and that includes our finances. Are you using them in a way that is pleasing to God?

Are you including God in your financial planning?

He wants to be the center of your life and that includes how you handle your money.

Place God at the center of your life. Make Him Lord of your life. Ask Him to be the center of all that you do to include your finances.

Sharing generously-

Illustration: one of the example is first century believers.

They have deep love for one another, they share whatever they have, they take care of one another, Some even sale their property and use it for God’s ministry.

We need to remember the faith of first century believers and follow their exemplary life, they know all their belongings are from God, and they use it for God glory, we have to learn their generosity and glorify God with our resources God has bless us.

Conclusion: Remember church

We are created in God beautiful image, we are created to worship Him, to serve Him, to live this life for him.

We know because of our sins we were living without hope, we were dead in our sins, we were slave to sin.

But because of God great mercy and great loves, He send His only son to die for our sin, to redeem us from slavery of sins, as we repent our sins and accept Jesus as our Lord and saviour,

He purchased us from eternal condemnation, from slavery of sins and gave us new life.

2 Cor. 5:17 says.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!

We are new creation in christ.

1 Cor 6:19-20.

  1. Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own;
  2. you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.

1 Cor 10:31.

So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.

Church our life, our wealth, our possession, our everything belongs to Christ. We are here to serve Him, to live for His glory.

Lets use our finance, our wealth wisely for His glory.

  1. let us not treasure greedily but manage wisely. (1-3)
  2. Let not cheat anyone, but manage everything with integrity. (4)
  3. Lets not live selfishly but share generously to all people. (5-6)

May God grant heavenly wisdom to all of you, may God’s name be glorify in your financial life.

May you be the light and salt to the people around you.

May God bless you and keep you and make His face shine on you and give you peace. Amen

Categories
James Sermon

Addressing the Pride Problem: James 4:11-17

A biblical perspective on one of the most “tolerated” sins

Good morning church! I’m thankful to God for the opportunity to share God’s Word with you this morning. Over the last few months, as a church we’ve been studying through the book of James. And I believe God has been dealing not just with our outward behaviours and actions but also with our hearts. 

One after the other we’ve been convicted with challenging passages. But the purpose in all of this is not to beat us down in discouragement but rather to show us how deeply our loving heavenly Father cares about the genuineness of our faith. 

He doesn’t want us to remain enslaved by hidden and comfortable sins but wants to address them head on. Today we deal with a very common tolerated sin: the Pride Problem in v11-17. Would you read it once more with me?

11 Do not speak evil against one another, brothers.[a] The one who speaks against a brother or judges his brother, speaks evil against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge. 12 There is only one lawgiver and judge, he who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor?

13 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— 14 yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. 15 Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” 16 As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. 17 So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.

It’s IPL season and I’ve been following the IPL like some of you. This year something interesting was noticed in these teams. At the start of the tournament the top teams in the league seemed like they were running away with the trophy. The difference between the top teams and the other teams were visibly apparent. But as the tournament reached the last leg, many blind spots were beginning to show in the game of these top teams. The problem was that they relied so heavily on a couple of star players at the start of the tournament, that they overlooked the performance of the remaining players. They just assumed that everyone was playing well and there was no issue with their game. But as it got closer to the playoffs when all teams got more competitive, these star players didn’t shine on the day and it left the remaining team exposed causing a serious blow to their chances of gaining the much-awaited title. They just couldn’t see their blind spots! And similarly I think in church, we focus heavily on and address many other sins like alcoholism and lust & end up overlooking and sometimes even tolerating sins like “Pride” which can cause serious issues in our own personal spiritual life and also in the lives of the people we do life with (our community of faith).  What God’s trying to tell us through this passage is that – it’s not something that we need to be comfortable with. It can cause serious damage and it needs to be addressed. But you may ask, what’s the big deal about “Pride”? Are we making a mountain out of a mole hill? James gives us a few reasons:

1. Pride blinds us

Many of us may have played the blindfold game growing up where we were blindfolded, turned around a few times and then left to catch others. And without our sense of sight, it becomes extremely difficult to know where we are at or even find someone else. And similarly Pride blinds our view of ourselves, of others and of God. Let’s look at each in detail:

  • Blinds our view of ourselves (v11)

11 Do not speak evil against one another, brothers.[a] The one who speaks against a brother or judges his brother, speaks evil against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge.

I’m sure one question that many of us might be thinking of is: what does James mean by speaking evil against one another? He’s using a broad term to describe anything that could damage the reputation of someone else. Looking at the context it directly refers to being critical and judging people around you (where you’re more concerned about the sin in the other person’s life than the sin in your own life).  It can take many forms – where we are consumed by pointing out faults in the other person, where we label people as such and such…call people names and come to the conclusion that they will never ever change. [This person is like that only – hopeless, useless]. And so what James is saying that when we do that we become the judge and jury.

James was actually not introducing a brand new subject on pride and judging others. He was in fact building on Jesus’ teaching in Matt 7:1-5.

“Judge not, that you be not judged. 2 For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. 3 Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? 4 Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? 5 You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.”

What Jesus is telling us that judging others sadly also affects our hearts in a deeper way – we won’t see ourselves as sinful. We won’t recognize our need to repent because we will think that we aren’t as bad as the other person. And that is why pride is blinding!

But not only does pride blind our view of ourselves but pride    

  • Blinds our view of God (v12) 

12 There is only one lawgiver and judge, he who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor?

At this point when James wrote the letter, they were all under the rule of the Roman emperor Caesar. Who was the final decisive judge in all matters? It was Caesar. Which means no one could even dare to challenge his decisions. Now imagine if someone decided to setup his own little court to pass his own judgments, what would that mean? Undermining the authority & power of Caesar. Big deal! It’s in that context that James is telling us that God is the ultimate lawgiver and judge. He is the One who has the full authority and power to execute His judgments as He pleases. When we judge someone and label someone, we undermine God’s authority and His judgment regarding that person:

Once I heard a pastor share his experience of when he just got out of seminary and was appointed as a pastor in his first church. Filled with all that theological knowledge and the pride in his heart, he grew to become extremely critical of the members in his church. At one time one of the members in the church confronted him and told him “Brother, even though God is all-wise (he knows everything and He knows everything about me), yet He is not as critical as you are”. When we judge others, we we fail to see God’s purpose in creating them in His image. When we judge others, we fail to see God’s mercy in forgiving them through His Son’s sacrifice. When we judge others, we fail to see God’s power in changing them. God’s character becomes a very blurry picture to us when we attempt to take that position of judge which we truly in no way are capable of fulfilling.

Pride is truly blinding but it also

2. Pride puffs us up

The irony of pride is that it may puff out our chest but leaves us with empty hearts. Let’s see how James explains this to us in the following verses:

  • Relies on our own plans and dreams (v13)

 13 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”

Now James is not saying we shouldn’t plan or dream. But he is talking about what gives us security and pleasure each day? When you think about the future, what thoughts calm you down? Is it your trust in your robust plans for your life? Is it your trust in your physical capability or mental faculty or financial stability or social skills or street-smart attitude that gives you assurance? And if we were to probe further- what is the end goal to your plans and dreams of your life? Is it personal happiness and pleasure? Or is it something else? More often than not if we are absolutely honest, we would acknowledge self as the source for security (plans and dreams) and self as the goal of attaining these plans and dreams. And it’s deeply flawed because it

  • Ignores the uncertainties of life (v14)

14 yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.

I’m sure at the end of 2019, many people would’ve expected 2020 to be a year of opportunity. Many countries would’ve seen it as a year tremendous growth. Many churches would’ve expected it to be a year of blessing but instead we find ourselves at the end of 2020 not knowing the best way to describe how the year went by. “Yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring”. One of the biggest humbling lessons of 2020 for us as believers should be – we don’t have full control of our lives and we don’t have full knowledge of what will happen next. 

  • Fails to see God’s will as most decisive (v15)

15 Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.”

As I was thinking about this verse, I just was reminded that if I truly believed that God’s will is final and decisive for me, my prayer life would look very different. Very often we assume that just because we’ve prayed about a plan of ours, that it’s God’s YES for us. No, I think if we believed God’s will is final, then it requires us to surrender our plan and humbly acknowledge – “God, even if you chose and take another route for me, I will still continue to love, serve and trust You”. That’s what this verse means. It’s not just a cliché “God willing” phrase it involves surrendering our plans and dreams and willing to submit to God’s detours.

  • Steals glory from God (v16) 

16 As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.

When we think about someone who boasts, most of the time we assume it’s someone else. If you’re like me you’re imagining a person who is wealthy and famous who can’t stop boasting about himself/herself. But think about it, if we relied on our plans and dreams, if we are ignorant of life’s certainties, if we don’t see God’s will as most decisive in our lives, what’s going to happen? Eventually we will begin to find ways to steal the glory that was meant for God. We are all glory thiefs. “I did it, my great plans and dreams made it possible and now I deserve to enjoy the fruit of it”. Pride is a huge problem – it blinds us and puffs us up. So what’s the answer?

3. Grace is the solution to pride

One of the verses we read last week powerfully spoke to me. 6 But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” Think about it, if I’m blinded by pride & puffed up by pride, how can I change? The only way is when God does something in my heart which I couldn’t do for myself. 

I’ve always been moved by the story of the calling of Peter in Luke 5. A huge crowd gathered to listen to Jesus preach near the lake & what was Jesus’ choice of a pulpit? It was Peter’s boat. After Jesus finished speaking, Jesus tells Simon “Take the boat deep into the lake and let down your nets for a catch”.

Peter with a weary and discouraged voice tells Jesus “Master, we toiled all night and caught nothing. But at your word I will let down the nets”. They go into the lake and let down the nets and to their shock and joy – they somehow were able to catch such a large number of fish that their nets began to break.

They called the other boats to come and help them & these boats began to sink with the weight of the wish. It’s an absolutely astonishing miracle. But I find it interesting that Peter’s response to this whole miracle was falling at Jesus’ feet & humbly confession of sin. “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord”.

He realized he was in the presence of God & that’s what made him aware of his own sinfulness. At the moment, he’s not thinking what’s wrong in the lives of other people, no he realizes how sinful he himself is. And Jesus’ response to this knowing everything about Peter’s life is “Don’t be afraid”.

Think what those words would’ve meant to Peter at that time.  “I’m not here to judge and condemn you, I’m not here to embarrass you, I’ve come here to make you my own & I’m going to lay down my life to pay for your sins”. And Jesus also adds one more thing when he says “from now on you will be catching men”. For a person filled with the awareness of his sin, this would loudly to his ears telling him “God’s not done with me yet. He can change me. He can also use me”.

In a very personal way that day, Jesus showed Peter a picture of his grace to a fisherman. And guess what – God does that to us when we read and study God’s Word – where we go back thinking “That message was for me. I need to hear this. I need to repent because of His grace”. Maybe that’s what God is telling our hearts today.

Would you turn to Him and repent of the pride in your heart? Knowing that inspite of God knowing everything about us, He still showed us grace which we didn’t deserve and He continues to love us and work in us for His glory. V17 I believe is a reminder to repent in the light of all that we’ve read and studied.

17 So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.

Categories
James Sermon

Dangers of Worldly Wisdom : James 4:1-4

Good morning church, so good to see all of you again, hope all of you are doing well. Last Sunday we have meditated on a topic: “Wisdom from above” from pastor Jinson,  Today we shall continue our book study from James 4:1-4. 

I would like to entitle my sermon as “Dangers of worldly wisdom”  

I would like to start with a story from the Old Testament bible,  

There was a king named Solomon, God greatly bless him with abundant wisdom,  He ruled his kingdom with the wisdom given by God, as a result, there were peace, prosperity and justice in his kingdom, He wrote famous books that are in the bible, i.e. proverb, ecclesiastic and Song of Solomon. He was the wisest man in human history but during his later age he was controlled by worldly wisdom and by the end of his life he was miserable. His kingdom was divided into two part. He ends up worshipping his wife’s idols.  

Had he stuck with the wisdom given from above his life would have ended well.  But his life ended up in a disastrous way.  

His life shows us that worldly wisdom is dangerous and can destroy our family, our life and reputation and break God’s heart.  

Keeping this story in mind lets turn to our text.  

James 4:1-4.  

1 What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you?  

2 You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God.  

3 When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.  

4 You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity  against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. 

I would like to give 3 vital points from the above verses. 

1) Worldly wisdom leads to fighting, quarrelling and killing. (1-2)  1 What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires  that battle within you?  

2 You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want,  so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God.

You know church,  

There were fights and quarrels and even killing in James days because of worldly desires that battle within their heart. These worldly desires are from our heart idols. 

Worldly wisdom or worldly idols leads to all kind of life problem, such as fighting, quarrelling and killing. 

I will like to bring a story of King David from Old testament to understand our point better.

David was the second king of Israel,  we know most of Psalm in the bible was written by him, he was a musician, song composer, poet,  Shepherd, He was a giant slayer, God said, He is the man after God’s own heart, King David have weakness too.  

I wanna bring the dark story of David so that we will learn a lesson from him. 

The story is in 2 Samuel 11. “The story of David and Bathsheba” 

The story of David and Bathsheba reminds us of how great men who are called by God are still humans and struggle with sin.  

The events begin with King David choosing to stay home in Jerusalem while he sent the rest of the Israelite army to fight other nations and kings. David is relaxing and walking on the palace roof when he sees a beautiful woman bathing on her roof. David was immediately drawn to her and sent messengers to find out who she was. The messengers returned and told David that her name was Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah.  Despite David knowing that she was married, he sent for her and slept with her.  Bathsheba later sends word to David that she was pregnant.  

David was nervous that his sin of adultery would now be found out. The King called for  Uriah to come home so that he could spend a night with his wife, Bathsheba, and cover up the sin that Bathsheba was pregnant with David’s child.  

However, Uriah refused to sleep with his wife while his fellow men were off fighting.  David was filled with anger that his plan did not work.  

When Uriah went back to war, King David sent a note to the army commander with instructions to have Uriah put at the frontline and to withdraw so that he would die.   Bathsheba mourned her husband’s death and was then brought to King David to be his wife.  The prophet Nathan visited King David and told him of the Lord’s disapproval and displeasure with David. Even though David repented of his sin, Nathan told David that the son Bathsheba was expecting would die.  

Let us see David heart idols that bring quarrelling and fighting and even killing.

1) Laziness

When the nation is at risk fighting battle with the enemy, when many people are risking their life, sacrificing life to protect their family, their people and their nation, he was enjoying and relaxing at home.

He was neglecting his duty as a leader of the nation. Example, What would you think if China attacks India and our prime minister simply stay home,  sleeping and relaxing and enjoying life at home.  

Do you think opposition party will leave him, do you think citizen of India will keep silent, not at all right. David was neglecting his duty and responsibility. 

2) He commits adultery by sleeping with Uriah wife

3) Not only committing adultery with Bathsheba he killed her husband Uriah.

The result of David sins bring great chaos in his family and the nation Israel, there was fighting among David household, his son Absolom fight back his father David to take the throne. as a result, Absolom was killed. Bathsheba son died. 

This a sad story from the life of King David.

We know David was driven by worldly wisdom, driven by his heart idols which bring pain and misery in his life. 

In the same way, if we are not driven by wisdom from above we will end up our life in pain and misery because outside God we cant find peace and joy and satisfaction. 

Last Sunday sermon reminds us that we should focus on wisdom from above, wisdom from God. 

We know we have our own heart idols, it can be laziness, lust, comfort, covetousness, pride, good things, money, fame, dream, career, family, job, fashion, sports, social media. If these things are controlling your heart and driving your life, we will end up our life in a miserable way.

The bible clearly says in the first commandment that is, You shall have no other God before me. 

What are your heart idols? What are the things that are pulling you down? 

Church lets identify our heart idols like those of King David. What I really like about David is, He literally cries out  to God for forgiveness, He repents his sins to God. 

Let’s see how David repent his sins in Psalm 51. 

1.Have mercy on me, O God,  

 according to your unfailing love;  

according to your great compassion  

 blot out my transgressions.  

2.Wash away all my iniquity  

 and cleanse me from my sin.  

3. For I know my transgressions,  

 and my sin is always before me.  

4. Against you, you only, have I sinned  

 and done what is evil in your sight;  

10. Create in me a pure heart, O God,  

 and renew a steadfast spirit within me.  

11. Do not cast me from your presence  

 or take your Holy Spirit from me.  

12. Restore to me the joy of your salvation  

 and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.  

14. Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God,  

 you who are God my Savior,  

 and my tongue will sing of your righteousness. 

Application:  

Church let us come before God and surrender all our heart idols before God and receive God’s forgiveness and grace like David. 

So that we will live a life that pleases God, a life that glorifies God.

2) Worldly wisdom approaches God with the wrong motives.

(3) “When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures. 

James find out their root problem that is, they didn’t even ask God for their needs,  Here in this verse, James reveals that when they did ask God for what they wanted,  They were simply trying to manipulate Him.  

Many a time we all approach God with wrong motives, just to satisfy our heart desires.  Many prayers were not really requests, we just make an effort to make God serve our selfish desires.  

Many people approach with wrong motives in prayer. (How)  

Not only wrong motives many people are prayerless and many people don’t know what they are praying in the middle of their prayer,  Some people pray like reciting a poem, some people pray without believing.  

What does it mean to pray with wrong motives? What is a wrong prayer? Scripture tells us,  because of these reasons our prayers are so often not answered,  

Because we ask for things so that we gratify our lust and pleasure.  

We ask for the wrong reasons, with the wrong motives. For instance, we ask for:  Good health and long life so we can be more comfortable in life. 

We ask Money just to serve our desires and not Gods purpose. 

We ask Success so that we can be recognized,

We ask Position so we can be in authority and power.

We ask for blessed family, so we can enjoy their presence.  

At first, glance, asking for these things doesn’t seem to be wrong, but when we ask for these things simply to gratify our own desires then we are asking with the wrong motive.  

What is the right motive for prayer?  

How can we pray and know that God will give the desires of our heart? 

Our heart motive should be, asking for blessings so that we glorify God.  When a person wants something from God, he must want it so that he can glorify God.

1. If we want good health, long blessed life, it must be, so that we can glorify God. 

2. If we want to bear fruit in our lives and in our work, or in our church and in our community, it must be, so that we can glorify God.  

3. If we want the basic necessities of life food, clothing, shelter, or a purpose in life, or meaning in life, and significance, or assurance, and confidence and security or if we want a  position of authority or money, it must be, so that we can glorify God in our lives and with our testimony.  

Paul said, “don’t worry about everything, but pray about everything.” 

If you lack anything, church, pray!

If you have difficulties in your life, pray! 

If you are overwhelmed, pray! If you are confused pray!  

If you are hopeless pray, If you are stuck in between pray!  

If you are happy, pray!

If you are blessed, pray!

Bible says

“Pray without ceasing.”  

How is your prayer life?

Church are you really living a prayerful life? 

James 4:2 says You didn’t receive because you didn’t ask.  

James 4:3 says You didn’t receive because you ask with wrong motives.  

Application:  

Church God is ready to bless us, He wants all of us to ask,  

But we have to ask with the right motives in order to receive His blessings.  

Romans 8:31 says.  

32 He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also,  along with him, graciously give us all things? 

John 14:14 says.  

“If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it. 

With that lets come to our last point.  

3) Worldly wisdom leads to friendship with the world.
(4) Friendship with the world is dangerous, 

4 You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. 

James uses strong language. He calls them adulterous people 

1. Being adulterous means that a person is guilty of spiritual adultery.  The relationship between a believer and Christ is like that of a marriage.  That is why the church is called the bride of Christ.  

Our bond with Christ is so close that when we turn away from Him to the world,  It is like committing spiritual adultery.  

Spiritual adultery means that we turn away from God to the world that we break our commitment to God and turn to other things of this world. 

The picture of spiritual adultery shows us just how meaningful God counts our  relationship with Christ:  

It’s a relationship of love, a bond of love that can be the closest bond in all the world.  If we turn away from Christ to the world, it breaks his heart with the deepest pain. 

We should never forget that our Lord gave His life and died for us.  He has done everything He can to save us and to create a relationship with us.  So, we shouldn’t hurt Him anymore. We must not crucify Christ anymore.  We shouldn’t forsake Him for the world.  

We shouldn’t commit spiritual adultery against Him by turning to the world. 

What comprises spiritual adultery?  

– Spiritual adultery is not obeying the commandment of the Lord – It’s unclean deeds and sinful behaviour.  

– Spiritual adultery is giving oneself to sinful things and vile things, 

– It’s continually slapping God in the face by committing the same sin over and over again because the world says it’s OK. 

– It’s forgetting God and turning one’s back on Him. 

– It’s refusing to return to God and not acknowledging the Lord.  

– It’s forsaking God, disbelieving in Christ, being ashamed of Jesus and His Words.

Church we should never commit spiritual adultery.  

The question asked in verse 4 last part: “Don’t you know that friendship with the world is  hated toward God?” What does this mean? It means the person who is a friend of the world is the enemy of God.  

Everything in this world passes away. This world is physical and material so it has the seed of corruption and seed of sin in it.

Because of this, it stands against God. It’s not eternal nor holy and righteous like God. So, any person who is a friend of this world stands against God. 

Application:  

1 John 2:15-17.  

15 Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them.  

16 For everything in the world-the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life come not from the Father but from the world.  

17 The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever.

Church lets obey God’s command and be a true obedient Child of Our Father.  

Conclusion.  

Church, together we have to meditate on 3 vital points under the topic  

“Danger of worldly wisdom”  

1.Worldly wisdom leads to fighting, quarrelling and killing. (1-2)  

2.Worldly wisdom approach God with wrong motive.(3)  

3.Worldly wisdom leads to friendship with the world. (4)  

Don’t let worldly wisdom and idols of this world drive you, it is dangerous, it is deadly,  believers don’t have time for all these worldly things, we have learnt enough lessons from the life of King David.

Let the wisdom of God drive your life, let the will of God drive your life.  

Let the good news of God drive you,  

so that wherever you go you will be the light and salt of this world.  

Secondly, let us always approach God with right motives, let us keep asking God and receive all the amazing blessings from God and glorify God with all the good things we receive from Him.  

Thirdly, Let us not be a friend of this world but let us be a truly loyal friend of Christ.

Let us Pray.

Categories
James Sermon

Wisdom from above – James 3:13-18

Good morning church! Hope everyone is doing okay.

As a Church we’ve been going through a preaching series called “Faith in Action” from the letter of James.

It’s personally been such an enriching and challenging series for my heart personally. It feels like each week that I’ve been shaken up from the comforts of my Christian walk & challenged to evaluate the current status of my faith.

I’m sure similarly this series has been a blessing to you all as well. Right now we find ourselves in the middle of James chapter 3 & “spoiler alert” – this is another challenging passage for us this morning – but as believers, that’s a wonderful thing because we know that these challenging passages turn our hearts back to the gospel.

Let’s dive into it and read the passage once more:

13 Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom. 14 But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. 15 This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. 16 For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice. 17 But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. 18 And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.

“I thought there was nothing worse that could happen in 2020 and then came the power outage!”

Those were the words of a Mumbaikar that was put out on social media referring to the power grid failure on Monday morning.

And those words I’m sure resonated with many people because it has been a roller coaster of a year for all of us.

Everyone is searching for wisdom on how to make sense of this COVID world.  So you’ll find many people from young to old who have turned into philosophers giving their two cents on what they think life is.

In other words, people are using the filter of their own experience to make sense of our world. But how reliable and helpful is this worldly wisdom?

Can I really bank my life’s decisions on quotes that I read on social media or pep talk from my close relatives and friends? 

Or

Is there a True Real wisdom available from God to help me deal with the twists and turns of life?

Today’s passage from James 3 will help us recognize True Wisdom. Three things about True Wisdom.

1. True Wisdom is not just about knowledge

Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom. (v13)

Some of us might be surprised by this verse. What does good conduct and meekness have to do with wisdom?

And that’s because the world defines wisdom as just having a good amount of knowledge in a certain subject or field.

So if someone has done his Phd. in Physics & authored many books, by the standards of the world he is considered a wise man.

Similarly in churches, who is typically considered as a wise person?

Someone who has a lot of biblical knowledge. The way the world views wisdom is amoral (unrelated to morality) & in contrast, this passage tells us that a wise person is not someone who just has biblical knowledge but is also living it out in humility!

And when we read through the letter of James, it does seem like the churches he was writing to was going through some kind of tension where there were people who wanted prominence, viewed themselves as superior compared to others and saw the opportunity of being a leader and teacher in a church as a means to get these things.

And through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, James is telling the whole church….Do you want to know and identify someone who is wise?

It’s not just by their words but by their lifestyle. Humility will be the hallmark of someone who is wise and understanding among you.

I still remember meeting a 77-year old uncle called MC John in Kerala. It was a time in my journey when I was seeking God’s will in ministry and life. It wasn’t a planned meeting.

We probably spent maybe 30 minutes but those 30 minutes changed my life. In those 30 minutes, I realized that this was a man who spent many good years of his life knowing and living for Jesus and even at 77 he was passionately talking about Jesus.

He was like a Bible dictionary quoting verses from all through the Bible but the most remarkable thing that struck me was his humility. His biblical wisdom actually led him to worship.

And that shouldn’t surprise us – right throughout the Bible whenever we see men and women come to terms with the knowledge of God, it leaves them with an acute understanding of their own sin.

True wisdom of God produces humility.

Let’s take a minute to just pause and reflect – some of us either spent few or some of other many years in church circles listening to many sermons, being part of many bible studies,

what do you think all that knowledge is producing in your heart?

Is it producing greater humility in your marriages?

Is it producing greater humility in your relationships at work or with your parents?

Is it producing greater humility in relationships with other believers?

Let’s allow those questions to sink in because it’s important to identify the problem before we look to the solution.

But not only is True Wisdom is not about knowledge

2. True Wisdom is not worldly wisdom

By worldly wisdom I mean wisdom that is shaped by our experiences of the natural world.

14 But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. 15 This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. 16 For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice.

I find it interesting that James directly addresses the Root, Source and Fruit of worldly wisdom in these 3 verses.

First, let’s look at the root – it’s selfishness and bitter jealousy.

When we look at the absolute heart of worldly wisdom, it’s rooted in selfishness. It’s putting yourself forward at the expense of someone else.

Now let’s take a look at the source to see how this worldly wisdom actually plays out from v15:

  • Earthly – How our main concern tends to be mostly about our life in this materialistic world – we are only thinking about “my school, my college, my job, my promotion, my marriage, my kids, my retirement” – that’s all that our lives are consumed by.
  • Unspiritual – Some other versions actually use the word sensual. Which means that this wisdom is controlled by impulses and the sinful desires of my heart. It’s also telling us that our decision making is heavily influenced by how we feel at that moment. I think it can also include the baggage that we carry from our past experiences in this world. Our past baggage – feelings about people and circumstances shapes our worldview.
  • Demonic – I think that’s where some of us might think “Time Out bro James. I know you’re telling me all this is worldly wisdom, but to call it demonic?? That’s taking it a little too far” When James is saying demonic he is not trying to say that we are performing some kind of voodoo or strange ritual, but rather I think whenever NT writers talk about demonic influence in the church, it’s a reference to deception which results in abandoning the faith (1 Tim 4:1). In other words, in my selfishness, I can be so blind that I won’t even know that I’m being deceived by this worldly wisdom. I won’t even know that my heart is being hardened. And so the reason I think James is telling in such real graphic details is to warn us from falling into deception thinking that “okay I have some form of godly wisdom so nothing else matters” – no your heart matters, your lifestyle matters & so all these things are mentioned to warn us and also to call us to repentance.

In v16 – he talks about the FRUIT of selfishness and jealousy. Chaos and every kind of wicked deed is fruit!

When we put ourselves in the throne seat of our hearts and think that the world revolves around us, it can cause serious damage. Sometimes in the form of boasting but also sometimes when we play the victim.

A few weeks back I was having a rough week at work. Long hours, demanding work pressure and plus errors were being pointed out in my work by my managers.

As a result of my insecurity and selfishness in my heart, my interpretation of my team members and managers were as “they don’t understand me, they don’t care about me and how I’m doing & they are just out to get me”.

I remember feeling miserable through that week as I was playing the victim. And God had to remind me once again that the problem is more deep-rooted from within – it’s my own selfishness that is causing me to not believe the best about others.

For me that was another clear example to show how my life cannot be shaped by my experiences or worldly wisdom. Because my experiences are flawed and tainted with selfishness.

Let’s take a minute now to reflect on what kind of wisdom is shaping our hearts and lives?

What’s in the root of the wisdom that you have?

Do you see selfishness and bitter jealousy?

In fact on the basis of this passage, we can conclude that I might be even saying some right things from Scripture but if it’s motivated by selfishness, then that wisdom comes from the world and not from God!

I know this is a weighty subject because it’s dealing with our hearts, but it’s also pointing us to Jesus.

Not only is True Wisdom not about knowledge, and not only is True Wisdom not worldly wisdom but

3. True wisdom is God’s grace

17 But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. 18 And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.

When we look at v17, what stands out to us is the phrase – wisdom from above is “First pure”.

In other words, purity of heart is what produces peace, gentleness etc.

Now, who among us can say they are pure by themselves? No one.

In fact, the previous verses spoke about how our hearts and lifestyles are motivated by selfishness and jealousy. So obviously purity cannot be produced from within.

And that’s why the phrase “wisdom from above” is a phrase that screams of God’s grace. Because it tells us about God giving us something precious that we cannot produce ourselves.

Guess what the Bible calls Jesus Christ as the “wisdom of God” – God revealed His wisdom to us not just by telling us about His Son but more than that sending His Son Jesus (pure Lamb of God) to live the pure life we could never live, and then He willingly gave up His life on the cross to pay the punishment meant for our impure lives. He rose again on the Third Day so that our hearts and lives can be purified for Him which He has promised to fully complete when He returns back a second time.

So what does this mean for us today?

Firstly it humbles our hearts that feels superior in comparison to others as a result of our “wisdom” & it melts our selfish hearts craving for prominence among others. How does it do that?

By telling us that our condition was so bad that it required the payment of God’s own Son through His death. Imagine going to court and having your sins listed down one by one.

How do we know the seriousness of the crime? By the punishment that is given – how worse is your condition that it could only be paid through the death and sacrifice of Jesus. Like Paul we should humbly acknowledge “I am the chief of sinners”.

But also Grace tells you that God loves you so much that He sent His Only Son to die for you and me.

He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? (Rom 8:32)

That’s amazing, great love! You are loved by God and He sent His Son to show that. So that creates in us this humble purity which now bears fruit in our relationships at home, in church and also where we work or go to school to. (Share examples)

That’s why we need these reminders daily – that True Wisdom is not knowledge, True Wisdom is not worldly wisdom but True Wisdom is God’s grace – revealed through the Person and relationship with Jesus Christ. Only His Work and His promise can produce genuine purity which produces fruits of righteousness!

Categories
James Sermon

The Power of Tongue: James 3:1-12

James 3:1-12. 

1 Not many of you should become teachers, my fellow believers, because you know  that we who teach will be judged more strictly. 

2 We all stumble in many ways. Anyone who is never at fault in what they say is  perfect, able to keep their whole body in check.  

3 When we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we can turn the  whole animal.  

4 Or take ships as an example. Although they are so large and are driven by strong  winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot wants to go.  5 Likewise, the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider  what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. 

6 The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the  whole body, sets the whole course of one’s life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.  7 All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and sea creatures are being tamed and have  been tamed by mankind, 

8 but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.  9 With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings,  who have been made in God’s likeness. 

10 Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this  should not be.  

11 Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring?  12 My brothers and sisters, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs?  Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water.  

Introduction:  

Good morning church hope all of you are doing well, today we have an interesting  topic to meditate together.  

Before I enter my sermon I wanna start with a beautiful story, i hope you all love  story, Once in a small village lion used to attacked villages and eat them, you know  there was one naughty boy, Who like to fool people all the time, one day, he shout  with a loud voice and said, lion is coming to eat all of us, All people were afraid and  they close the door and hide themselves. some big boys came running with gun to  help him but he laugh out and tell them that he was joking. they were all angry of the  little naughty boy. The following week a real blood thirsty lion was coming toward  the small village he shout aloud like last time “Lion is coming, people thought that he  was playing fool again, nobody came to rescue him so he became lion breakfast that  day.  

Moral lesson:  

1. Playing with tongue is dangerous. 

Hope you like the story, today we shall meditate together from James 3:1-12.  i would like to entitle my sermon as “ The power of tongue”  

I will like to give 8 very vital points. 

1.Teachers of word has huge tongue responsibility. (1)  

1 Not many of you should become teachers, my fellow believers, because you know  that we who teach will be judged more strictly. 

James does not mean that nobody should become a teacher. It is a much needed role in the  church, and God empowers specific individuals with teaching gift (1 Corinthians 12:28;  Romans 12:7; Ephesians 4:11). In the church, teachers of words are meant to help people  make the Word of God easier to understand and follow.  

James makes clear, scripture”teacher” is not a role which should be taken lightly. Teachers  will face a stricter judgment. They will be held accountable to live by the truth they teach, as  well as being responsible not to lead people away from God’s Word with their own words.  The more a person claims the authority to teach, the more accountable they will be for how  they lead or mislead other people.  

2.Be mature in using your tongue. (2) 

2 We all stumble in many ways. Anyone who is never at fault in what they say is  perfect (Mature), able to keep their whole body in check. 

This verse makes it clear that James is not requiring perfection at all. Chapter 2 remind us  that genuine Christians will participate in genuine good works in obedience to God. And  yet, James is fully aware that fallible human beings will never do so without stumbling.  James includes himself in this statement: says “we all stumble in many ways”  However, James reveals that our goal is to stop stumbling, but to be in full control of  ourselves at all times. The sign of a believer who has arrived at full-faith maturation is one  who never stumbles in what they say or how they say it. Such a mature believer will never  say anything unkind, hurtful, selfish, proud, rude, or manipulative words. They will only  and ever say words motivated by faith in God and love for each other. Once we learn to  perfectly control our words, we will be in perfect control of every part of ourselves. 

Application: Church lets be mature in our every conversation.  

Colossians 4:6  

Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know  how to answer everyone.  

Ephesian 4:29.  

Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as  fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. 

1 Timothy 4:12. 

Let no one look down on your youthfulness, but rather in speech, conduct, love, faith and  purity, show yourself an example of those who believe. 

3. We should control our tongue. (3)  

3 When we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we can turn the  whole animal. 

Here in verse 3, James points to horses as a natural example. Horses are large, powerful  animals. And yet, they can be controlled with a small piece of metal and a few leather  straps. This is called a bit or bridle: a bar which is placed behind the horse’s teeth, This  gives the rider the ability to create pressure on the animal, and even pain, if used roughly.  With a bit in a horse’s mouth, a rider is able to control the whole animal, to make it obey, to  steer it wherever the rider wants to go.  

In the same way we should control our tongue like how we control horse with bridle.  Control tongue will keep you from falling into sinful trap.  

Control tongue will not let you regret in life.  

Controlling tongue will keep you in peace and harmony with people around.  Controlling tongue will prove that you are wise and mature believer.  

My story: My uncontrol tongue to baby catharine.  

1 Peter 3:10  

For, “Whoever would love life and see good days must keep their tongue from evil and their  lips from deceitful speech. 

Proverb 21:23  

Those who guard their mouths and their tongues keep themselves from calamity. Psalm 141:3.  

3 Set a guard over my mouth, LORD; keep watch over the door of my lips. 

4.Tongue can direct our life. (4)  

Or take ships as an example. Although they are so large and are driven by strong  winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot wants to go. 

Here in verse 4, James points to huge ships at sea. The power behind those ships in James’s  era was the mighty wind, but nobody can control the wind. Wooden sailing ships full of  cargo could weigh thousands of kgs and yet, a pilot could alter the movement of the most  massive boat using just a relatively small piece of wood: A rudder is the paddle-like plank  used to steer a ship.  

If we learn to control our tongues meaning the words we say,  

we could control what we do with our entire bodies. The one who controls a bit controls the  entire horse. The one who controls the rudder steers control the entire ship. The man who  learns to control his tongue is one who has gained control over his entire self.  

Using our tongue in a right way will determine the direction of your life, a life that pleases  God, a life that glorifying God. 

5.Tongue can destroy our life. (5-6).  

5 Likewise, the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider  what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. 

6 The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the  whole body, sets the whole course of one’s life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.  

The tongue is a very small organ in the body that boasts of great things.  Our tiny tongues have the capacity to effect massive results.  

The fact that the tongue is powerful doesn’t mean everything it does is positive. To  understand better, James uses a dramatic example. A tiny spark of fire can set a whole forest  ablaze. In this analogy, the fire is not something used to bring control. Instead, it’s a small  thing which impacts others around it. This leads to great chaos and destruction.  

Like the story I narrate earlier, because of his lie he was eaten by lion, likewise if we are not  careful how we use our tongue, our tongue can destroy our life our reputation like fire  destroy the forest.  

James says you have this little muscle that has a huge impact on our lives, this tongue.  # It can make you or break you.  

# It can open doors for you into the future. It can close doors for you.  # It can help other people. It can hurt other people.  

# It will determine the direction of your life. 

6.Remember tongue cannot be tame. (7-8).  

7 All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and sea creatures are being tamed and have  been tamed by mankind, 

8 but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. 

James pointed to an amazing human achievement: We can and have tamed every kind of  creature. But we can’t tame the tongue. More specifically, James writes that no human being  can tame his or her own tongue. We can’t control the words that come out of our mouths. It’s  not an ability that human beings possess in our own power. Our tongues are more powerful  than we are. They control us just as a bit guides a horse or a rudder steers a massive ship.  

According to James, the tongue our words and how we use them is not just untamable. It is  a restless evil. The Greek word James uses for “restless” means “unstable,” and is the same  root word used for the “unstable” man in James 1:8. Our tongues, the instrument of our  powerful words, striking without focus or clear intent. And when they strike, they are full of  deadly poison.  

Set your heart right so that graceful, loving words will come out of your heart.  Application: Let us be very careful how we use our tongue. 

7.Use your tongue for the right purpose. (9-10)  

9 With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings,  who have been made in God’s likeness. 

10 Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this  should not be. 

First, we can use our words to bless or praise our Lord and Father. After James’s description  of evil, untamable, unstable tongues up to this point, it’s shocking to imagine such a person  use their words to bless God. 

James continues to make the case that our tongues the words we use which reveal our fallen  hearts are evil and uncontrollable. He wrote that we human beings use our tongues both to  praise God, the Creator, and to curse other people who are created in God’s likeness. It  shouldn’t be that way. Blessing and cursing shouldn’t originate from the same mouth.  

Application:  

Are we using our tongue for the right purpose?  

Psalm 63:3, Because Your lovingkindness is better than life, My lips will praise You. We are created to praise God, we are created for His glory.  

Let use our tongue to praise God that is the right purpose of tongue, lets use our tongue our  words for His glory.  

8. Our tongue will show who we are. (11-12).  

11 Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring?  12 My brothers and sisters, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs?  Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water.  

James continues making his case that human beings including Christians are not naturally in  control of our tongues. If we were, how would it be possible for us to use our words both to  praise God and to curse people created in His image? James stated what seems obvious to us  now: It shouldn’t be that way.  

It’s not just that we “shouldn’t” use our words for both blessing and evil. It’s that it is  contradictory. It’s a conflict with the nature we’re supposed to be relying on as saved, born again believers. James illustrates this with the example of a spring. Nowhere in nature will  you find bubbling up from the ground a mixture of salt and fresh water. It just doesn’t  happen. Salt water and fresh water come from two completely different sources—just as  words of blessing and words of cursing come from two completely different natures.  

Application question:  

What kind of words are flowing out of your mouth?  

Your choice of words, will show who you are,  

if your hear is full of evil, evil words will come out of your mouth,  

if your heart is unkind, you will speak unkind words.  

Church let kind and blessings words flows out of your mouth which bring joy and healing. 

Conclusion:  

Church we have seen 8 points under the topic “The power of tongue”  1.Teachers of word have huge responsibility. (1)  

2.Be mature in using your tongue. (2)  

3. We should control our tongue. (3)  

4.Tongue can direct our life. (4)  

5.Tongue can destroy our life. (5-6)  

6.Remember tongue cannot be tame. (7-8)  

7.Use your tongue for the right purpose. (9-10)  

8.Our tongue will show who we are. (11-12)  

In our final conclusion i wanna remind with the words of Jesus  

Matthew 15:11,18-19. 

“That which enters into the mouth doesn’t defile the man; but that which proceeds out of the  mouth, this defiles the man, The things which proceed out of the mouth come out of the  heart, and they defile the man. For out of the heart come forth evil thoughts, murders,  adulteries, sexual sins, thefts, false testimony, and blasphemies” 

Here Jesus address the heart issue.  

How is your heart this morning?  

The most important question to ask when examining the heart is  

What is functionally ruling your heart?  

We know our hearts are always being ruled by someone or something,  and whatever controls our heart will control my responses to people and situations around.  

Would you please check what is controlling or ruling your heart?  

If our heart is not fill with the Spirit of God, If our heart is not control by the Spirit of God.  Nothing good will come out of your mouth, all kind of filthy, bad, dirty words will control  you, evil thoughts, adulteries, sexual sins, false testimony and blasphemies will come out  our mouth, these sins will destroy our life and our reputation.  

Therefore my dear brothers and sisters lets check our heart this morning and Repent and  surrender all our heart idol to God.  

As we have Sang the song  

Change my heart O God, make it ever true, change my heart O God, may I be like you,  You are the potter, I am the clay, mould me and make me this is what I pray. 

Remember who you are in Christ. we are forgiven, Redeemed, adopted, we are the child of  the most high God.  

Romans 6: 12-14.  

12 Do not let sin control the way you live; do not give in to sinful desires. 13 Do not let any  part of your body become an instrument of evil to serve sin. Instead, give yourselves  completely to God, for you were dead, but now you have new life. So use your whole body  as an instrument to do what is right for the glory of God. 14 Sin is no longer your master, for  you no longer live under the requirements of the law. Instead, you live under the freedom of  God’s grace. 

1 Cor 6:19-20.  

19 Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom  you have received from God? You are not your own; 20 you were bought at a price.  Therefore honor God with your bodies. 

Romans 12:1-2.  

Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a  living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. 2 Do not  conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then  you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. 

God Bless all of us 

Amen

Categories
James Sermon

Believers’ Daily Lifestyle: James 2:8-13

Introduction:

Good morning church, It’s a blessing to see all of you.

As we all know we are going through the book of James under the theme “Faith in action”

Last Sunday we have meditate together James 2:1-7, on Favouritism or Partiality.

Today we shall continue our study from James 2:8-13,

Before we enter to our text, let me remind you the purpose of writing this letter.

James wrote this letter to a believers in exile. They have been forced to leave their homes and settle among strangers. As followers of Jesus, they do not find their lives to be easy. Instead, they find themselves facing a variety of trials and these tempt them to doubt God’s faithfulness and ability to continue to bless them.

James wrote this letter to remind them of who God is and how He can enable them to rejoice when they encounter these trials because they test their trust in Him. And a trust that has been tested or purified leads in the end to one being “perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.(1:2-4)”

In chapter 2 James has been dealing with behaviour towards our fellow men. He is condemning attitudes and behaviour based on worldly standards. In the first part of chapter 2 James tackles favouritism. Now he examines this behaviour in direct relationship to God’s law.

James 2:8-13.

  • Yes indeed, it is good when you obey the royal law as found in the Scriptures: “Love your neighbour as yourself.”
  • But if you favour some people over others, you are committing a sin. You are guilty of breaking the law.
  1. For the person who keeps all of the laws except one is as guilty as a person who has broken all of God’s laws.
  2. For the same God who said, “You must not commit adultery,” also said, “You must not murder.” So if you murder someone but do not commit adultery, you have still broken the law.
  3. So whatever you say or whatever you do, remember that you will be judged by the law that sets you free.
  4. There will be no mercy for those who have not shown mercy to others. But if you have been merciful, God will be merciful when he judges you.

I would like to entitle my sermon as “Believers daily lifestyle”  Under these topic I would like to give 4 vital Believers daily lifestyle to all of you.

I know many of us are conscious with our health, If you want to stay healthy and fit, you need to eat right kind of diet and exercise daily. In the same way James is offering us this morning four daily lifestyle which will help us to live out our purpose for God’s glory.

First lifestyle

1.  Love your neighbour as you love yourself (8-9)

  • Yes indeed, it is good when you obey the royal law as found in the Scriptures: “Love your neighbour as yourself.”
  • But if you favour some people over others, you are committing a sin. You are guilty of breaking the law.

James is saying obeying royal law, i.e. loving your neighbour as yourself is good,

We know this is second greatest commandment given by Christ. “Love your neighbour as you love yourself”

Verse 9 reminds us, our last Sunday sermon that is, if we show favouritism or partiality it is sin and breaking the law.

Every one of us should be very careful with sin of favouritism, James reminds us that instead we should love our neighbour as ourselves.

Who are our neighbours?

Our neighbours are people who are around us, it can be family members, friends, coworkers, house neighbours, people whom you encounter in daily basis.

All people whom you meet in your life is your neighbour.

Loving our neighbour can be in many different ways, I will like to give few ways.

Loving your neighbour means.

  1. Loving them as Christ love us. (love one another as i have love you) 1.Showing grace as christ shown His grace to us.
  2. Acting with compassion
  3. Looking out for wellbeing, Philippians 2:4 it says, “Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.” 4.Serving the people around you. 5.Speaking kindly to your neighbour 6.Sharing in joys and sorrow. (Romans 12:15). “rejoice with those who rejoice, mourn with those who mourn”

7.Means forgiving them, 8.Showing no partiality,

  • Most importantly pointing them to our Redeemer, introducing to our Lord Jesus, and giving them a living hope.
  • Sharing your life story, sharing your identity in Christ, Hope in Christ
  • Inviting friends and neighbour to the church, the list can still go on and on…

Illustration:

It was in my 8 standard one of my neighbour invite me for a bible study which was conducted by evangelical union, My life was completely change as I start journeying with these beautiful godly friends. I was just one time invitation that change my life.

Within no time we form a small group in our own school, and start inviting students for prayer meeting and bible study.

Our number grew bigger and bigger, many young students join us, many received Christ as their Lord and saviour.

I believe this is the true example of loving our neighbour.

Just because of one friend invitation, my life was change, in the same manner we keep inviting friends over and over again, we continue doing this great work through out our high school days.

Church the greatest gift you can ever give to someone is leading your family or friends, neighbours, coworkers to Christ.

Showing them life meaning, life purpose and life destiny.

Application:

Are we loving our neighbours? How are we loving our neighbours? When was the last time you loved your neighbour?

Church lets make use of every moment to love our neighbour.

We know, practically loving our neighbour is not an easy steps,

But lets ask Holy Spirit to help us, so that God will change our heart and We can practically apply in our daily life.

Second lifestyle

2.      Repenting our sins daily (10-11),

  1. For the person who keeps all of the laws except one is as guilty as a person who has broken all of God’s laws.
  2. For the same God who said, “You must not commit adultery,” also said, “You must not murder.” So if you murder someone but do not commit adultery, you have still broken the law.

If we have committed sin, small sin or big sin, it is Sin before God. This two verse remind me of mankind wickedness and sinful heart and our continual needs of repentance for our daily sins.

Church in some way or the other way we all have committed sins, we have broken the law.

We have deceive ourselves, we have sin against God, we have broke God’s heart.

All of us are equally guilty of sin, none are perfect. All of us are fully depending on God’s grace and mercy.

Romans 3:23.“All have sin and fall short of the glory of God”

Jeremiah 17:9.

The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?

Genesis 6:5.

Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

Seeing our heart conditioned we should repent our sins to God daily.

we have broken the law of God, -We have committed sin We desperately need God’s forgiveness all the time.

As one of the pastor of this church, I am not only telling you to repent but all pastors and leaders of this church should be the chief repenters.

A.W Pink says

“The christian who has stopped repenting has stooped growing”

Illustration: Church

We dispose Kitchen trash on a daily basis, right, What, if, we don’t throw the trash for a week or a month, someone like to try that, the whole room will stink and the stinking smell will make all of us sick right,

In the same way, we should repent our sin on daily basis,

Remember church Sin is like a cancer, it can destroy us and make our life miserable.

Let us repent our sins and wash with the blood of Christ daily.

1 John 1:9

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

James 5:16

Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.

Application:

Are you repenting your sin on daily basis?

Isaac watts a hymn writer and Church minister says

“There is no repentance in the grave” Third lifestyle

3.      Be careful how you live, U will give your life account someday. (12).

12 So whatever you SAY or whatever you DO, remember that you will be judged by the law that sets you free.

Be careful with your words you will give account someday. Proverbs 18:21

Life and death are in the power of the tongue. (let us use wisely)

Matthew 12:36

But I tell you that men will give an account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken.

Colossians 4:6.

Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.

Be careful of whatever you DO you will give account someday. 1 Cor. 15:58.

Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.

Remember that you will be judged by the law that sets you free.

You will be judge by law of liberty, which is the law of Christ.

John MacArthur

“The gospel is the law of liberty because it frees those who place their faith in Jesus Christ from bondage, judgement, and punishment of sin and brings them ultimately to eternal freedom and glory”

In Romans 6:6-11, Apostle Paul clearly remind, How God will judge all of us.

  • God “will repay each person according to what they have done.”
  • To those who by persistence in doing good, seek glory, honour and immortality,

he will give eternal life.

  • But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger.
  • There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile;
  • but glory, honour and peace for everyone who does good: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile.

Illustration:

Apostle Paul after serving God his entire life just before he was beheaded by Romans soldier, he said to his spiritual son Timothy in 2 Tim.4:7-8.

  • I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.
  • Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.

Application:

Church Our life is short on this earth, we are closer to death everyday. Are you ready to meet our Lord Jesus?

If you happen to die today, and if you are going to stand before our living God to give your life account, How will your story look like?

What have you done for the Lord so far? 2x Finally here is our fourth lifestyle-

4.      Be Merciful to all people. (13).

13 There will be no mercy for those who have not shown mercy to others. But if you have been merciful, God will be merciful when he judges you.

Church being merciful to all people should be our character.

In the Beatitudes, Jesus proclaims, “Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy” (Matt.5:7).

The good news for every child of God in Christ is that God’s mercy toward us will triumph over His judgment of us (Romans 8:1). Our sins may argue against us, but Christ is our loving Advocate who argues for us and prevents us from receiving the judgment we deserve. We, in turn, should display God’s type of mercy toward others.

Ephesian 2

1And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience. 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.

  • But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved.

We are saved because of God’s mercy

Titus 3:5

  • He saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit.

1Peter 1:3

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,

Application:

Church lets be merciful to all people around us as our heavenly Father has shown mercy unto you.

Conclusion:

Church we have meditate together 4 very vital points under the topic

“Believers daily lifestyle” the first lifestyle is

  1. Love your neighbour as you love yourself.

Remember God love us with His unconditional love and send His only Son Jesus to die for our sin, and bible says if we confess our sin and place our faith in Christ Jesus, He will forgive all our sins and give us eternal life.

Church we have received Christ love in our heart,

This is the best time for us to share Christ love to our neighbour. Love your neighbours.

2.        Repenting our sins daily.

Remember church Sin is like a cancer, it can destroy us and make our life miserable.

Let us repent our sins and wash with the blood of Christ daily.

3.        Be careful how you live, you will give your life account someday.

Our life is very short, we are closer to death each day, let us make use of every opportunity to serve our living God,

One day He will reward us for all the good works we have done.

4.        Be merciful to all people around you.

Finally, let us be merciful to all people around us, God has shown abundant mercy in our life, its time for us to show God mercy to all people around us.

Let us be a channel of blessing to all people.

Final prayer.

Thank you everyone for your kind attention. God Bless You

Categories
James Sermon

Beware of Favouritism James 2:1-7

Introduction:

Good morning brothers and sisters, so good to see all of you. Hope all of you are doing well and bless.

Today we shall study from James 2:1-7. under the topic “Beware of Favouritism or Beware of Partiality.

Lets see what is favoritism

Personal favoritism: This word denotes partiality or biased judgment based on external circumstances, such as race, wealth, social rank, etc. It ignores the value of the individual as a person.

When we look back history

Indian society has a history of favouritism which is so evil. The caste system divides Hindus into four main categories – Brahmins, priest family, Kshatrias warrior, Vaishyas traders and the Shudras lowest workers we see high class people, low class people, schedule tribe, OBC the backward class. we see the impact even this days, how low class people are mistreated,

How Dalits are mistreated? How minority are mistreated? Just because they are from low class society. Even people from Northeast India, we are mistreated many many, time because of our looks.

Last year before we move to Mira road, i contacted one society for a rented house, I talk to the house owner she said, you don’t look like Indian, i say I am indian, a north east indian, she said, our society didn’t allow north east people. this is favouritism.

Once I was helping out my friend sister who was searching for college admission, the college has to refuse her because she was scheduled tribal community.

Few months ago some Northeast friends were not even allowed to purchase groceries because of their looks.

When we see around the world for instance.

American history, we see the story of how blacks and Indians are mistreated by white America.

We know 6 million Jew were killed by Nazis because of hatred. We see the story of Nepotism in Bollywood,

TYPES OF FAVORITISM

Nepotism: In business, hiring family members regardless of qualifications. Cryonism: In business, hiring friends regardless of qualifications.

Gender Bias: Believing that one gender is better than the other; treating the other gender poorly.

Age-ism: Treating someone different because of their age… usually the very young or the very old.

Racism: Treating one race different than others; usually preferring one’s own race to others.

Even in James days there was favouritism in the church. My question for all of us is,

What are believers role and responsibility on this subject Favouritism?

Okay, let’s see what James will teach us this morning on Favouritism, Open your bible with me to James 2:1-7.

James 2:1-7.

My brothers and sisters, believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ must not show favoritism.
2 Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in filthy old clothes also comes in.
3 If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say, “Here’s a good seat for you,” but say to the poor man, “You stand there” or “Sit on the floor by my feet,”
4 have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?
5 Listen, my dear brothers and sisters: Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him?
6 But you have dishonored the poor. Is it not the rich who are exploiting you? Are they not the ones who are dragging you into court?
7 Are they not the ones who are blaspheming the noble name of him to whom you belong?

I would like to entitle my sermon as

“BEWARE OF FAVOURITISM”

I have two points to meditate together, lets come to our first point.

1.Showing favouritism is SIN.(1-4)

James 2:1 says,

“My brothers and sisters, believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ must not show favouritism.

9 But if you show favouritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers.

James says as believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ, Remember your identity in Christ, you are redeem, adopted, beloved child of God, Holy spirit is living in your heart. He means as a believers and as a child of God We should not show favouritism to anyone.

If Christ does not condemn you, if God does not show you partiality, if God does not judge you, who are we to show partiality, who are we to condemn.

Thats why James we should not show partiality.

James uses the word “favoritism.” The word means “respecter of persons” or to “show partiality.” James is talking about the fault of giving judgment to the outward circumstances of man or woman and thinking them more worthy than others.

It is a fault or a sin to treat someone as more worthy because they are rich, a certain skin color, have political power, or are famous.

Its a fault or a sin to treat someone as less because they are poor, a certain skin color, have no political power, have a disability, or are in our estimation a ‘nobody.’ That is favoritism. That is sin. James identifies it specifically in verse 4 as “evil thoughts.

When we show favouritism #We break God’s command.

1. #We don’t follow His character.

2. #Showing partiality reveals evil thoughts. v.4

3. #Showing partiality discriminates against the poor and humble. v.5.

4. #Showing partiality shows a disgraceful attitude.v6

5. #Showing partiality shows foolish behaviour.v7.

That is why James is pointing out that showing partiality is sin.

Romans 2:11.

For God does not show favouritism.

Galatians 3:26-28.

26 For you are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus. 27 And all who have been united with Christ in baptism have put on Christ, like putting on new clothes. 28 There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male and female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus.

Deuteronomy 10:17

For the Lord your God is the God of gods and the Lord of lords, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God who does not show partiality nor take a bribe.

Acts 10:34 says

So Peter opened his mouth and said: “Truly I understand that God shows no partiality.

James 2:2-4

2 Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in filthy old clothes also comes in. 3 If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say, “Here’s a good seat for you,” but say to the poor man, “You stand there” or “Sit on the floor by my feet,” 4 have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?

When Mahatma Gandhi was a student, he considered becoming a Christian. He read the Gospels and was moved by them. It seemed to him that Christianity offered a solution to the caste system that plagued the people of India.

One Sunday, he went to a local church. He had decided to see the pastor and ask for instruction on the way of salvation. But when he entered the church, which consisted of white people, the ushers refused to give him a seat. They told him to go and worship with his own people.

He left and never went back “If Christians have caste differences also,” he said, “I might as well remain a Hindu” (from “Our Daily Bread,” [Feb., 1979]).

That tragic story illustrates the sin that James writes against in the text. His focus is on the sin of showing favoritism to the rich and despising the poor, but his words apply to all types of prejudice, whether it is based on economic status, race, or anything else.

To favor some people and to disregard others based on outward factors is a terrible sin that plagued the early church in James’ day. It has plagued the church in every generation, because it stems from pride, which is endemic to our fallen hearts.

James tells us that favoritism has no place in the Church and therefore no place in the heart of a believer in Christ.

How can God’s church navigate these challenges and bring hope to a world who has lost her way?

Application:

Church let us always remember showing favouritism in any way is sin.

Galatians 3:26-29.

26 For you are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus. 27 And all who have been united with Christ in baptism have put on Christ, like putting on new clothes. 28 There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male and female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus.

Jesus came and died for all of us on the cross of Calvary, He didn’t show favouritism to anyone, He died for all of us. He offered eternal life to all people who believe in him.

Let us all follow the example of our saviour, He show no partiality to the poor, needy, sick, blind, prostitute, tax collector. He loves everyone.

With that lets come to our second point.

2.Believers should treat everyone equally. (5-7).

5 Listen, my dear brothers and sisters: Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him?
6 But you have dishonored the poor. Is it not the rich who are exploiting you? Are they not the ones who are dragging you into court?
7 Are they not the ones who are blaspheming the noble name of him to whom you belong?

In this passage we see.

1      God has chosen the poor (2:5,6b).

3      The rich oppress the believers (2:6b,7).

God has sovereignly chosen (elected) the poor. This does not mean every poor person will be saved or that every rich person will be lost. But generally speaking, it is the poor who respond to the salvation that is in Christ (cf. 1 Cor. 1:26-29).

Generally poor people are crazy about God.

God is everything to them, They have nothing in this world but they are happy people, because what they got is God and God’s favour is upon the poor.

Remember the story of Rich man and Lazarus. (Luke 15:19-31)

In the Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus, the rich man does nothing while alive to help Lazarus, a poor beggar, and when he dies the rich man goes to Hell whereas Lazarus goes to Heaven………… This parable sends the message that worldly and earthly possessions are of no benefit in the afterlife.

This parable sits in the context of Jesus criticizing the Pharisees, whom Luke accuses of being “lovers of money” (16:14). But the parable speaks not only about them; it extends to Luke’s readers, warning them about the blinding, dangerous capacities of wealth.

The rich man and Lazarus lead two totally opposite forms of existence. Rich man was covered with wealth and riches; the poor man was covered in sores and hunger.

Rich man feasts daily with best foods; poor man looks for scraps to curb his hunger. Rich man lives inside a gated beautiful home; the poor man lies at the gate.

Rich man receives the dignity of burial according to custom; the poor man is carried off to be with Abraham. They live close to one another, perhaps even visible to one another through the gate. After death, their conditions are totally reversed.

Jesus never explicitly states why the rich man receives his torment, but the story makes some clear suggestions.

The man has disregarded the poor, even poor Lazarus who lived so nearby. This was done not out of ignorance but out of willful neglect. (It appears from v. 24, where the rich man knows Lazarus’s name, that they are not strangers to each other.) The man also is presumptuous, perhaps assuming that he deserves good things in life because of his wealth or status.

The ridiculous things were that even in torment of hell rich man is still trying to manipulate poor man Lazarus.

The rich man asked to let Lazarus come down from heaven and serve him to cool his tongue with a drop of water to reduce his “agony in this fire.”

The rich man additionally requested Abraham to send Lazarus back to earth as a warning to his brothers to atone for their sins, however, both requests were refused.

Application:

How are you treating people who are homeless and begging for food on the roadside, how did you react to them,

Are we committing the sin of favouritism?

We should never ever look down the poor and needy and weak people around us.

We should not look down another human base on their economic status, the colour of their skin, by their culture, by their educational qualification.

We should treat everyone equally.

Remember God is watching. God is watching.

Lets us see how God is telling us to live our life without showing favouritism to anyone.

Matthew 5:43-48.

43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbour and hate your enemy.’
44 But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,
45 that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.
46 If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? 47 And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that?
48 Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

As a church our love should be put into action.

Romans 12:9 to following says.

9 Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. 10 Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves. 11 Never be lazy, but work hard and serve the Lord enthusiastically 12 Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. 13 Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.

14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. 16 Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position.Do not be conceited.

17 Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. 18 If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. 19 Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord. 20 On the contrary: “If your enemy is hungry, feed him;if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.”21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Conclusion:

Church we have seen two points under the topic “Beware of Favouritism

  1. Favouritism is sin. (we should stop the sin of favouritism)

The church should be the change in this world where there is favouritism everywhere. The change has to start from you and me, from your family, and bring change in our society, in our workplace.

2. Believers should treat all people equally.

Let us treat all people as Christ has treat us, as Christ has love us. Let the beauty of Jesus be seen in you. Let your light so shine that people may see your good works and glorify our Father in heaven.

Let us pray.

Heavenly Father, we thank you so much for this blessed hour, we thank you for your words. We pray that if we have sin against you and against people coz of showing partiality to others, please forgive us. And help us not to repeat the same sin again,

Help us to treat all people equally like you treat to us, help us to love all the people like you love us. Bless all our brothers and sisters.

In Jesus name, we pray
Amen.

Categories
James Sermon

True vs False Religion – James 1:26-27

This sermon is part of a series called Faith in Action as we are going through the Letter of James.

James wrote this letter to the exiled Jews who are scattered. James is writing out of concern for their spiritual well-being, and the letter is a set of practical instruction on how to live out their faith amid trial, sufferings and uncertainties.

Last sermon we saw James giving instructions on how not to deceive themselves by becoming only hearers and not doers. In today’s passage, he is helping them understand the difference between true and false religion.

In verse 26 he writes “If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person’s religion is worthless.”

You may ask why James is talking about the speech as he is referring to the tongue. To know this, we have to understand the context in which James has been brought up and is living.

James lived in a religious culture, predominantly a Jewish culture which was primarily headed by the Pharisees and the Sadducees. And even though some of them may have been genuine, they were mostly known to be as cold, legalistic, prideful, arrogant and talkative.

They were just like our politicians, who make big promises before the elections but after the election fail to keep the promises. Politicians generally are also known as people who are good at talking, but when it came to acting upon real issues that people go through, they shut themselves up.

Therefore when Jesus was on earth, he was very hard on these people and even called out their sin in public. You can imagine the influence of these people when you hear how they treated Jesus and put him to death by badly influencing the Roman government at that time.

Here, in our passage, James writing to a group of people who seem to have been influenced by such a religious culture and therefore now acting like them. Basically all TALKS and no ACTION.

And, therefore, in verse 26, he is writing to them that if you think by talking only that you become religious and that God is ok with that, then you are mistaken. He says, this kind of religion is worthless.

Brothers & sisters, at this point it’s easy for us to think about this group and condemn them for their attitude and action, and completely ignore that fact that we too behave in a similar manner, and sometimes even worse.

We too behave cold, legalistic, prideful – performing Godly activities as a sense of duty to show ourselves good externally – showing people how good of a Christian we are using words only, minus the action.

James goes on to explain what true religion should look like. He says in verse 27, true religion is that which shows genuine care and concern for the people and a life that is not stained by the cultures of the world.

In James’s times, the orphan and the widows were the most needy ones and therefore he is mentioning them to make a point. It doesnt mean that we now make add charity towards orphan and widows by donating some money and doing some Christian activities around them to make ourselves feel better and more religious.

We must catch the heart of what James is telling us. The needy in our context could be different. In fact, in the city of Mumbai, we can find all kinds of needy people with various types of need. And apart for just the necessities, what they also need the most is the Gospel.

Therefore tur religion is more than just giving big talks about what is right and wrong, holy and unholy,  right and wrong. True religion is that which even compels us to do something about it in actual action.

And true religion is one that is unstained by the worldly patters and traditions and way of life. Its the one that truly seeks God and His Kingdom.

Brothers & sisters, here’s the truth. In our natural being, we can never live out such a perfect life on own, our natural tendencies will always yield us to become people who talk and do nothing. Why? Because we have a problem.

The day we were created by our heavenly Father, he didn’t mean for us to become like this. He wanted us to look perfect in all ways, holy just as He is Holy, but in the Garden of Eden we messed it up.

We used our gift of free will, and instead of walking in obedience to God, we rebelled and sinned, and the result was separation from God. And because of that separation, we all are broken inside. The reason we all behave in selfish ways is that Sin has corrupted us, and even though our hearts desire to live to please God in all manners, our flesh pulls us away from seeking a Godly life.

And the only way to fix this problem is to repent of sins and trust on the Son of God who is the only one who didn’t just talk and make big promises in the air but fulfilled each of His promises to save us from our wretchedness and restore that broken relationship with God the Father.

Christ left His heavenly Glory to reach out to needy people like us, people who needed hope, peace, joy – which only a restored relationship with the Father can grant us.

Jesus lived the perfect life, exercised true religion, one that was acceptable to God and earned His righteousness for our sake and then exchanged it with our unrighteous and sinful lives, taking the penalty of our sin upon himself and in giving us total freedom from Sin and captivating our hearts with His Love and compelling us to know to live a godly life by the help and power of His Spirit in us.

Therefore, our response today towards this passage is primarily to look to Jesus and His saving grace – captivated by His Love, affections and forgiveness He grants us. And we do that; His love will compel us to people who are not just talkers but doers of His words, living a Godly life that is truly acceptable to God.

As a child of God, the question we need to ask daily is not how good a Christian I be, but how good a Jesus lover I am. Because loving Jesus day-by-day will automatically produce the fruits of true religion in us. We won’t have to strive to look like a good Christian, Christ’s Love will automatically compel us to show genuine care for the needy and will also protect our hearts from becoming stained by the world.

Categories
James Sermon

Doers and Hearers: James 1:22-25

Good morning church it’s blessing to see all of you in our online church service, we are going through the book of James under the theme “Faith in action”

I wanna start with a short story, In the month of April and May we see beautiful Gulmohar tree blooming all over our city, last year, I collect lots of seeds, so that someday I will plant the seeds somewhere, the seeds are still with me.

If I didn’t plant that seed I will never see beautiful Gulmohar flower. What I want to convey through this story is, God’s word is like a seed, we come to church hear great sermons and if we never apply those God’s word in our life, it’s like my story, you store those seeds and never plant we won’t harvest anything in our life.

This morning James is saying the same thing James 1:22-25, we shall meditate this text. l will like to read for all of us.

22 But prove yourselves doers of the word and not merely hearers who deceive themselves.
23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror;
24 for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was.
25 But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man will be blessed in what he does.

Church, today we shall meditate together 4 very vital points under the topic DOERS and HEARERS. there are two kinds of people in every church, Doers – They heard the word and applied in their daily life.

Mere hearers – They heard the word but never applied in their life. We shall see both Doers and hearers character one after another. With that lets come to our first point.

1. BE DOERS OF THE WORD

22 But prove yourselves doers of the word. James wants all of us to be the doers of the word, The sentence Doers of the word is in imperative so, it is a command to every believer.

Every believer should be doers of the word. Why we be doers of the Word? because The Word of God calls us to action: Putting God’s word into action will change lives, Remember how God changes our lives, we believe the word of God and we allow God to process the word in our life and it brings life transformation.

Putting God’s word into action will change minds, As we process God’s word in our life, as we put the word of God into action, God’s word renew our mind daily and we are more and more like Jesus every day.

Putting God’s word into action will change hearts. As we put God’s word into action/practice, it makes our heart purer and closer before God. When we obey the word of God and when we put the word of God into practice, the word of God sanctify us and make us more like Him.

After preaching a sermon on the mount, Jesus said, we should be doers of the word. If we are not a doer of the word, we are building up our life in the wrong foundation, the wrong foundation that brings misery and destruction in our life.

Matthew 7:24-27 Jesus said,
24 “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.
25 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock.
26 But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand.
27 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”

Anything we will build up apart from Christ will not last and will face great destruction. If you are a doer of the word that will prove that you love Christ. John 14:23. “Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him.”

Application

Are you doers of the word?

In Israel there is a sea called Dead sea, you know river water flows in the dead sea and never flows out, as a result, Its salt concentration is 8.6 times saltier than ocean water.

There are no plants, fish, or any other visible life in the sea. Many people are like Dead sea, they heard and received all they need from word of God but they didn’t put into practice, nothing grows in their heart, Don’t be like the dead sea, those people are physically alive but spiritual dead, Church Let’s be doers of the word and grow in the Lord daily. With that lets come to our second point.

2. MERE HEARERS ARE DECEIVERS

22 But prove yourselves doers of the word and not merely hearers who deceive themselves. James is saying that we are to be “doers” of God’s word, “and not hearers only, hearers only deceive selves” (v. 22b).

People who only “hear” God’s word but who do not “do” what it says, are fooling and deceiving themselves.

They think that they are receiving a benefit from ‘hearing’, when in fact they are robbing themselves of the blessing of God. What exactly does this deception look like?

When we say we believe one thing but don’t act upon it, It is really like we don’t believe it at all. This is similar to the double-minded living that James speaks of in verse 8.

Remember, in verse 8 James says the double-minded person is the one who professes belief but doubts. Here, James says we are deceived if we say we believe but don’t act on the Word. Jer.17:19 Our own hearts are deceitful so much so that we easily fool ourselves.

I have deceived many myself times in my life, I was born in pastor family, heard thousands and thousands of sermon in my life, I can clearly remember how I have deceived myself and God many times knowingly and unknowingly.

This was my idol for so long, I was lazy, I was forgetful, never take the word of God seriously, my life was like a dead sea, nothing growing in my heart, I was living unproductive life.

Slowly God shows my heart idol when I come to know I was deceiving myself, and breaking God’s heart by my sinful behaviour I repent my sin and receive His grace.

Illustration:

Judas Iscariot had the best pastor, the best leader, the best advisor, the best counsellor he saw all wonders and miracles, yet he deceives himself, the problem is not the leadership of the church you go to.

If your attitude or character doesn’t change or your heart doesn’t transform, you will always be the same.

Application: How many times have you deceive yourself and God?

If you have deceived like me, let us repent our sins and received God’s forgiveness and grace. May we all be doers of the word in our everyday life.

3. MERE HEARER ARE NEGLECTORS. (23-24)

23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror;
24 for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was.

Mere hearers are neglecters of the word, James uses an analogy of a man looking into a mirror, once he looks at himself and gone away and he immediately forgot what kind of person he is.

That person is like hearing a sermon or read God’s Word and think, “I must do something about that.”

But then when he gets home and life just gets busy. He has got things to do, people to see, places to go. And just forget. Gods word is like a mirror, and the purpose of a mirror is self-examination;

you can see the flaws and hopefully fix them. We should use God’s word as our mirror. As a mirror, allow it to reflect an image of who you truly are. When it shows you your gifts, use them.

When it shows you what you are doing is sin, repent and change it. When it shows how you can live in the power of Christ, live in it. The word should be a tool for you to use to examine your life, but it must be done truthfully.

Let your time of daily devotion be an opportunity to examine yourselves in the mirror of God’s Word. James brings this up because there are many who sit beneath the preaching and are forgetful and neglect hearers.

Forgetful in this sense: they hear the preaching and even agree with it, but the moment Sunday is over, they forget the Word. They do not carry it with them into their lives. Church let’s not walk away from the mirror of God’s Word.

Application:

Our life priority should be God, if you are neglecting His word and His instruction, If you are not giving priority to His word. You are inviting all life troubles, idols in your heart will control your heart.

Consequences of neglecting God’s word is huge.

1.You will go wrong direction in life coz you are not guided by God’s words

2. Your life will be confused.

3. Nervous, Anxiety and fearful will control your life.

4. You will be easily deceive

5. You wont know the will of God.

6. You will make wrong choices in life.

All these above consequences will face by those people who neglect the word of God. 2 Tim.3:16-17,

16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,

17 that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work

4.DOERS WILL BE BLESSED (25)

25 But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man will be blessed in what he does.

James says if you do the Word; if you don’t neglect it; but if you look intently or look fully and deeply into the Word of God to see what it says for our lives.

Which he also calls the perfect law of freedom, you will be blessed. James lays out four steps that we can take to be blessed: Step One: “Look intently.” Gaze into the Word of God and keep looking until you find something. Step Two: “abides by it.”

Once you find something, keep looking. Find more. Step Three: “Not forgetting.” Don’t forget what you discover. Step Four: “But doing.” Do what you’ve learned. Let it change your life.

Just like in the mirror illustration: when we know what we’re supposed to look like, or what we want to look like, we look into the mirror to see if what we see matches how we want to look.

If it doesn’t, we adjust ourselves accordingly. So, also, we must look into the Word of God, see how our lives are supposed to look, and adjust our lives accordingly. We are to look into the “perfect law.”

This is the law that is found in Christ. This is the law of Christ; the law that gives freedom. The law in the Old Testament created burdens and expectations which we could not meet.

The law in the New Testament is fulfilled in Jesus and offers us freedom through Christ. Often we don’t think of a law as freedom. However, the law of Christ certainly does bring us freedom!

We are set free from the bondage of sin and death. We are set free to live for Jesus and live the lives that we were created to live. Jesus said in John chapter 8, “If you continue in my word, you really are my disciples. You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free,” (John 8:31b-32). Psalm 1:1-3.

1. How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, Nor stand in the path of sinners, Nor sit in the seat of scoffers!

2. But his delight is in the law of the Lord, And in His law he meditates day and night.

3. He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, Which yields its fruit in its season, And its leaf does not wither; And in whatever he does, he prospers.

Application: Are you living a blessed life? If you are not living a blessed life?

What is stopping you to receive all the blessings from God. If there is anything to repent?

If there is any idol that is controlling you or stopping you to received God’s blessing, Surrender you heart to God and Let Him bless you so that you will live a blessed and fruitful life.

Conclusion.

Church we have meditate together 4 vital points together under the topic “DOERS AND MERE HEARERS” My final conclusion words will be.

1. Be Doers of the word, when God gave you this life make use of every opportunity and serve Him with all your heart and soul and life because this is the things that matters most.

2. Secondly, don’t deceived yourself like Judas Iscariot. Don’t be like dead sea.

3. Thirdly, don’t neglect God’s word, When God gave you this moment, use it wisely for His glory and fame.

4. Fourthly, You are a blessed child if you are doers of the word. You are like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, Which yields its fruit in its season, And its leaf does not wither; And in whatever you do, you will prosper.

Categories
James Sermon

Anger Management – James 1:19-21

Greetings!

Back to sermon series on ‘Faith in Action’ – The Epistle of James to the Jews scattered because of persecution.

Context – Going through Suffering – James says to consider it joy when you go through trials – Ask for wisdom from God.

From 19 onwards James is addressing some practical issues – and in our three verses today he is addressing the issue of Anger. Firstly, I wonder why he started with anger and not any other practical issues.

I guess maybe because the people who are now scattered for their faith in Jesus may have started developing the feeling of anger towards God for their current situation and it is now showing up in their relationship with one another.

As I was thinking about their situation I realized that in some ways we all go through these moments in life, especially as Christians. Yes, there is this eternal joy & peace that captures our heart when we repent of our sins and trust in Christ for sustenance and guidance, but in doing so there is also a huge transformation that happens in our mind, our perspective towards this earthly life starts changing, the worldly principles and lifestyle that we once walked on begins to look meaningless and waste.

And we take on a very different journey which is unlike the ways of the world. Kingdom values and kingdom perspective take a strong position in our life.

It’s like all this while we were running with the waves and all of a sudden we now running against the waves, the harder we try, the painful the experience, because the waves become stronger and stronger trying to push us back. And because of the pain & tiredness we experience, instead of finding joy in life’s moments, we tend to become angry, angry with God and angry on people.

And I suppose that is the reason why James felt it important to deal with the issue of Anger before talking about anything else. When we are angry we shut ourselves down, we don’t listen, and even when we listen we don’t pay attention. In anger, Our heart starts beating like a fast running horse, instead of being calm like a Dove.

And trust me, everyone has anger issues in life. They show up in different ways.

Therefore, what we will explore today is What does God’s word teach us about ‘Anger Management’. Unless we have the right perspective about Anger and learn how to deal with it we will never be able to enjoy our Christian life.

Perspective #1 – Human Anger does not produce the righteousness of God.

v20 –  for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God.

Isn’t that an interesting statement to read? I never paid attention to that passage in the bible before until someone pointed it out to me in relation to an incident that came up where this Christian brother expressed sorrow for acting in anger with his parents for some reason.

Human anger does not produce the righteousness of God because it is rooted in Self. And anything that is rooted in self is against God. When God created the world, he created man and women and put them in this beautiful garden, by design everything, every living creature, every aspect of creation was supposed to worship God.

And while every aspect of creation still continues to obey God and follow the orders given by the Almighty, Humans, who were created in God’s likeness and image, when given the authority and power to worship God by choice, we decided to choose Self. We believed the devil when he said we can be like God, and instead of walking in obedience to our creator, we disobeyed him by eating the forbidden fruit and decided to choose our own path. And God couldn’t tolerate that behaviour anymore and threw us out of His presence.

Why do we get angry?

The main reason we get angry is …

Because of unmet Needs resulting in hurt,  unmet Expectations resulting in frustration & because of Insecurities we develop because of an unbalanced and unstable life.

Because our forefathers sinned, we too were born sinful, it’s like a spider web, where we continue to experience the pain and misery because of the consequences and actions of our parents, and their parents … eventually traced back to Adam & Eve where it all began.

Therefore, in the natural, since the time we are born, we are sinful human beings, And in our sinfulness, all that matters to us is whether my Self needs are been met. If you want to more insight on human behaviour especially in children, the best people to talk to right now is Jinson and Angela.

Ask them How often does Baby Hannah before crying and demanding for food checks whether her mother is ready to feed, or check on the Father whether he is busy with work or not. She’s like I don’t care how my mother is feeling or what my Father is doing, I want food, I want attention, and I want love, right now right here.

Brothers & sisters, whether we are small babies or big boys and girls, we all behave in such manners when it is about our needs, and the way we express it is by showing anger.

And BTW, it’s not just the people who scream and yell are angry people, we show our anger in many ways. There are two broad categories of angry people – The Open Aggressive ones and the Passive-aggressive ones.

The Open Aggressive ones are those people who have a tendency to lash out in anger and rage, becoming physically or verbally aggressive and can often time hurt themselves or others.

This comes out in fighting, bullying, blackmailing, accusing, shouting, bickering, sarcasm and criticism. Open aggression comes from a need to be in control. I would identify myself as an Open aggressive person when I get angry.

The Passive-aggressive people are those who may not admit that they are angry because they don’t like confrontation. This comes out in things like becoming silent when you are angry, sulking, procrastinating (putting stuff off you need to do), and pretending “everything is fine”.

Passive aggression too comes from a need to be in control. My wife Jane I believe is mostly a passive-aggressive person, but she has changed a lot. I could never stand her going silent on me.

Brothers & sisters, sin has tainted our desires so badly that from birth itself, our needs have always been the focus of our life. Everything we are taught, day in & day out is pushing us towards seeking our own needs, with our own strength.

Therefore, we expect everyone to meet our needs, we expect our parents to love us, provide for us & bring us up in a certain manner, and when that need is not met we get angry at them.

We expect our family & friends to have behaved in a certain manner, and because that need is not met, instead of been loved and cared for we get angry. Some of us instead of being loved have gone through abuse, trauma, torture, disrespect etc, and we have become angry.

But then, there comes Jesus, the son of God, the creator of the universe, giving us a heavenly perspective, unlike what the world has been teaching us. In Matthew 6:25-33 he says ….

25 “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?[a] 28 And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, 29 yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31 Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

In John 15:18 he said

18 “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. 19 If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.

Brothers & sisters, our sinful action in the Garden of Eden has birthed hatred in all our heart towards God and as long as people reject and hate the true and living God their behaviour & responses to one another will always be hurtful.

Therefore, we need to understand that our true NEEDS will never be met by another sinful person or a thing, we should completely stop having that expectation, instead, we should all turn to God who meets our real needs, the needs of our heart, and we will feel angry no more on our circumstances or other people. 

Jesus said “Come to me and I will give you rest”, “Whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

Perspective #2 – Anger is a God given emotion, for a purpose

You see, not all anger is bad. In fact, it is an emotion given by God for a purpose.

Yes, we have to be angry, but we have to angry towards our sin, towards injustice, towards everything that God is angry with. James would suggest in our passage to use our holy anger towards putting away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. (verse 21)

Yes, there is redemption for us, there is a safe place which we can create for ourselves, in a world that is broken and filthy. But that redemption comes only from Christ and His saving grace.

Certainly, God was angry with us when we sinned and rebelled against Him but instead of killing us he found another way, he sent His only beloved son Jesus to take our place. Instead of punishing us, he took out all his wrath and anger on himself on the cross of Calvary. Brothers & sisters, this is the greatest proof that he loves, loves us dearly.

Psalms 145:8-9

The Lord is gracious and merciful,
    slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
9 The Lord is good to all,
    and his mercy is over all that he has made.

Psalms 103:12

as far as the east is from the west,
    so far does he remove our transgressions from us.

We did not deserve His Love and yet He poured it out in abundance and continues to do so even today.

Therefore, we don’t have any right to get angry on God or on others. Instead, as children of this loving God, we ought to be torchbearers of this loving God to this dying world by having the right perspective towards one another and by not reacting in anger when we see and experience brokenness in others, whether it’s our unbelieving family or friends, or whether it’s our believing family or friends who are been sanctified just like us.

But how do we practically deal with Anger?

James gives us three advice which we can apply to our lives.

Advice #1 – Be quick to Hear

When we feel anger, instead of expressing a reactionary response let’s become receptive listeners (again). The angry moments are the best moments to dig deep into our hearts and pull out all the selfish unmet needs, expectations and insecurities and evaluate them against the word of Truth, but to do so we have to train ourselves to be good listeners – listen to God, listen to people.

I can’t explain how better our marriage life has become, just by abiding by this rule. Most of our disagreements and fights have resolved well when we’ve deliberately taken time out to time to search our sinful heart and apply the word of God. And at the end we’ve always found ourselves feeling miserable and end up arguing and saying I’ve been the worst person, please forgive me.

Here’s an advice from the wisest man on earth that will help, Mr Solomon the King.

Proverbs 28:9 – If one turns away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer is an abomination

In John 10:27-28, Jesus said “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.

Brothers & sisters, from my own experience, I would say this is really good advice if you want to manage your anger.

Advice #2 – Slow to Speak

Slow to speak doesn’t mean speaking slowing, because some people can speak slow and yet spit venom, the best example is Kaa the Snake in the movie Mowgli. But what James is meaning is to begin speaking slowly, not to be in a hurry to speak, especially when you are angry.

Here’s what Mr Solomon the King has to say

Proverbs 10:19 – When words are many, sin is not absent, but he who holds his tongue is wise.

Proverbs 13:3

3 Whoever guards his mouth preserves his life;
    he who opens wide his lips comes to ruin.

Proverbs 29:20

20 Do you see a man who is hasty in his words?
    There is more hope for a fool than for him.

The famous president of the United States, Thomas Jefferson said “When angry count to ten before you speak. If very angry, count to one hundred.”

Brothers & sister, even this one is great advice and you consider practising it as often as you can. Personally, this advice has saved me from many troubles.

Advice #3 – Slow to anger

And finally, be slow to anger.

As we discussed earlier, God has been slow to anger towards us all this while, apart from being merciful and gracious. When we are slow to anger towards others we are displaying a godly characteristic that they need to see so that they can see for themselves the transforming power of the Gospel in your life.

Even when the other person has done the worst of things to you, think of your own position before God, we have in fact done the worst of worst against God. Seek to be humble in such moments and allow the Spirit of God to give you the strength to forgive and instead show love.

Finally, remember, in going through all such experiences in our Christian life, allowing God to break you, mould you & make you, he is saving the world through you, the Gospel work he is doing in your heart is for a purpose, for a glories purpose.

Let us pray.