Inside Out Living

This past Sunday I preached on James 3:13-18 about the wisdom that comes down from above.

NIV James 3:13 Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show it by his good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom. 14 But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. 15 Such "wisdom" does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, of the devil. 16 For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice. 17 But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. 18 Peacemakers who sow in peace raise a harvest of righteousness.

In the message I put an emphasis on how we are to give evidence of our wisdom through the deeds that are done in humility. Now in talking about humility I put an emphasis on how we do not promote ourselves and the acts of service that we do. The reason for this emphasis is that the "selfish ambition" James speaks of in verse 14 refers to some who promotes themselves like a politician with an agenda.

So the question was asked by someone after church, a good question no less, that how can we give evidence of our wisdom if we are not to promote what we are doing. To him these two thoughts seemed to conflict, and in a way he was right.

So then how do we 'show' our heavenly wisdom by deeds done in humility without being guilty of promoting ourselves and trying to gain recognition. I think the answer lies in how it is found out what you are doing.

The point that James is making is that if you truly are wise and understanding then there should be some evidence in your life of deeds done in humility. And we know that humility comes from wisdom. He isn't telling us to promote or proclaim the good deeds that we have done, but rather if you are doing what you should be doing then more than likely someone will stand up and take notice.

Yes some deeds we do will not be recognized, which is more than ok because our Father who sees what we do in secret will reward us accordingly. However, more often than not someone will notice your acts of service and will see the humility present within your attitude and that will reflect the godly wisdom that you are indeed exercising.

So then it is possible to give evidence of wisdom through deeds done in humility without shamelessly calling attention to our service.

Last week I preached a message titled tongue depressor on James 3:1-12.

It was a challenging passage for all of us to look at because as James says, no one is able to control their tongue perfectly. We all sin and we all stumble.

After the message I received the following question from one of our regular attenders.

Your sermon last week dealt with the tongue. You made the statement that none of us can control our tongues perfectly and yet James 1:26 says the following.

If anyone thinks himself to be religious, and yet does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this man's religion is worthless.

I don't doubt that you are correct in your assessment; I just don't know what to do with this pesky little verse.

It is not entirely impossible to harmonize these two different passages.

In James 1:19-27 the point that James is making is that our beliefs should influence our actions. He says that we should be doers of the Word, not merely hearers of it. So in verse 26 his point is that if you think yourself religious and yet your religion does not impact your life, specifically here influence the words you say, then your religion is not accomplishing anything, it is worthless.

This would be the individual who maybe attends church religiously or even reads their Bible religiously but never allows God to change their life. They continue to live their life according to their rules and have merely added a religious life on top of what they are already doing. Religion that works, is that which actually changes us from the inside out so that we are changed not just in what we do, but what we say and think as well.

Now in the section I preached on in James 3:1-12, the main point that James is trying to make is that even though no one can ever live without making a mistake with their words, for those who claim to be children of God we should not be both cursing people and praising God. To say that you aren't always perfect in what you say is not the same as the 'uncontrolled' or 'unbridled' tongue that James speaks of in 1:26.

“Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.” – James 4:10

In 1973, Senator John C. Stennis was mugged and shot outside his home. When Senator Mark Hatfield received word of the incident he drove straight to the hospital. Upon arriving, he observed that the hospital staff was overwhelmed with the high volume of incoming calls. Spying an empty switchboard, Hatfield sat down and helped field calls through the night and into the next morning.

It was genuine humility that led Senator Hatfield to assist the hospital staff that night. He was unwilling to view himself as too important to do the mundane task of answering the phone.

Authenticity leads to humility, because when we are willing to see ourselves as we truly are, we learn that we have no greater intrinsic value than the next person. Understanding this lesson allows us to fulfill the command to consider others as more important than ourselves (Phil. 2:3).

Jesus modeled transparency to us in how He lived His life. Jesus opened himself up to His disciples and allowed them to know certain things about Him and His purpose. I do think that it is important to note that He was more transparent with some of his disciples (Peter, James, and John) than He was with the rest.

Part of living an authentic Christian life is the practice of transparency with a trusted brother or sister in Christ. Like Jesus, we need not be as transparent with all as we are with some. Transparency involves giving someone else a window into our soul where our deepest thoughts and emotions lie. Transparency leads to authenticity because, when we allow others to know us fully, we can no longer fool them with our external behavior. They know when we’re faking it because they know the real us.

Like an overhead transparency that is revealed when the light is switched on, may your life become transparent when you encounter the light of Christ.

“The tongue is mightier than the blade” – Euripides, Greek poet ca. 5th century B.C.

The power of the spoken word is often underappreciated. The tongue, or our speech, can do much damage, oftentimes without our planning it or even our awareness of it at the time. James compares the potential for damage by the tongue to a small spark in a forest (James 3:5). We are all familiar with cases where someone’s reputation is damaged or their career is ruined because they said the wrong thing. There is a tremendous power in the spoken word. This is also true of God, who spoke creation into existence (Psalm 104:7). We also see this in Jesus, who was able to speak healing directly into people’s lives (Luke 7:1-10).

So why do we struggle so mightily with taming our tongues? Why do we so often hurt people with our words? It is because speech is permanent and conversation is often spontaneous. Unlike the written word which can be edited, the spoken word is raw and cannot be taken back.

May your speech be filled with grace (Colossians 4:6)

“As for me, God forbid that I should boast about anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because of that cross, my interest in this world died long ago, and the world’s interest in me is also long dead.” – Galatians 6:14

In making the above statement, the Apostle Paul sets the standard regarding boasting quite high. This stands in stark contrast to the words of the psalmist in Psalm 10:3 about how the wicked people brag about their evil desires.

What is it about boasting or bragging that creates a problem in our lives? Could it be that it isn’t so much the boasting itself, but rather that boasting is a symptom of a deeper issue, pride? When you look at the surrounding verses in Psalm 10, you will notice that the psalmist indeed connects boasting and pride. Paul also connects these two traits in two separate lists of vices or sinful tendencies of mankind (Rom. 1:30; 2 Tim. 3:2).

Are you struggling with boasting? Let me first encourage you to examine your heart for pride. Second, allow me to remind you that every good and perfect thing in your life is from God so, really, your boasting is pointless (James 1:17).

“My dear brothers and sisters, be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry.” (James 1:19)

A while back, I watched a TV program about how children learn the grammatical structures of language by listening to the people speaking around them. This got me thinking because, before we can ever learn to speak, we can already listen. In fact, we can listen and distinguish voices while still in the womb.

So, if listening is such a natural and easy thing to do, except for the hearing impaired, why is it that once we start speaking we listen so poorly? Why else would James feel led to write the verse above if in actuality we didn’t practice the opposite? So many times I find myself rushing to judgments or giving my input or trying to offer solutions when all I really need to do is just listen.

Is it out of pure laziness that we don’t listen, or is it a deeper spiritual reason that we don’t listen, like pride or rebelliousness? The reasons for not listening may be as many as the times that we fail to do so.

Have you ever had a chance to sit on the beach and enjoy the sunset? Another sight that I really enjoy is to watch the sunrise over the alfalfa fields of the high desert in the fall with the cool air of a frosty morning surrounding me. Of course these sights pale in comparison to that of my three-year-old daughter’s smile.

In writing Ecclesiastes, Solomon makes it clear that enjoying the simple things in life is okay, and I think it even brings pleasure to God. In the second half of this book we read that we can enjoy prosperity (7:14), eating (8:15), drinking (8:15), life (8:15) and marriage (9:9).

Life is something that is meant to be enjoyed. It is a gift from God and it is a desire of God to see His children enjoying His gift. We are still living in God’s creation and He is still that author and sustainer of life even though the world has been tainted by sin. Remember, “Whatever is good and perfect comes to us from God above, who created all Heaven’s lights…” (James 1:17).

As a Father of two (soon to be three) children, I think often about the legacy that I am building within my own family. Proverbs 4 provides us with some good lessons on how to build and leave a meaningful legacy. This proverb demonstrates that wisdom is so interconnected with legacy building that, without it, we are in danger of leaving a negative or destructive legacy that will cause pain in the generations to come.

So if wisdom is so important, where does it come from? Scripture reveals a number of sources of wisdom and today I want to encourage you to consider five of them:

1) Wisdom comes from the Lord (Pro. 2:6; James 1:5).
2) Wisdom comes from seeking other’s counsel (Pro. 13:10).
3) Wisdom comes from receiving the Lord’s discipline (Pro. 19:20).
4) Wisdom comes from obeying the Lord (Pro. 4:4-5).
5) Wisdom comes from observing God’s creation (Pro. 6:6).

If you want to leave a legacy that is a blessing to your family, then acquire wisdom.

Deuteronomy 4:26-31 foreshadows the future collapse of Israel and subsequent captivity in Babylon. God’s covenant faithfulness toward Israel is so great that He does not abandon them even when they are in violation of the covenant. What a comfort it is to know that God does not abandon those whom He loves. And yet even though He does not abandon, He does discipline those whom He loves. So what does discipline from the Lord look like?

I recently realized that I have allowed my body to get out of shape. So in response, I have begun to again discipline myself to train my body through exercise at the gym. This is what James speaks of when he says that “When our faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be strong in character and ready for anything” (James 1:3-4). God’s discipline of us is through various trials in order to build up our spiritual endurance or our faith and trust in Him. Will you submit to God’s discipline and allow it to accomplish a beautiful work in your life?