James 3:1-2 The Cost of Influence

Why no one should be a teacher, ever

Influence magnifies sin and stupid.

Lying my tail off

Apparently as a pre-schooler, I was already a preacher. I have no memory of this, but my Mom tells me I would bring my Bible to my preschool and deliver some mishmash of the Sabbath school lesson from that week.

I don't know what my motivations were then, but I do have some pretty clear memories from Kindergarten. Not of preaching Bible stories but of making up lies. A lot. Lying my tail off. I distinctly remember telling all of the Kindergarten kids that the old well and shack we could see through the fence of the playground belonged to the witch who lived next door. I remember wanting them all to believe me and know that I was the guy who knew stuff, maybe who knew everything. If I didn't know an answer, just make one up. The important thing to me was that they would listen to me.

Respect and trust take too long to earn, I wanted a shortcut. I see Logan doing it too, and we try to jump on that. I was an influence junkie, a wannabe teacher.

Shouting from the rooftops

We live in a loud and noisy society, we all know that. We live in a country that respects “Freedom of Speech” which is our “God-given” right to express our thoughts and ideas, our opinions and our reflections.

Just because we have a protected right does not mean it is always wise to exercise that right. Just because there are more ways of expressing our ideas (facebook, twitter, Google+??? Blogosphere, etc…) does not mean we have something worthwhile to add. But we have a platform, we have platforms, we have people listening to our words.

In the noise we just shout louder.

Here’s the cool thing. If we shout loud enough, or creatively enough, or long enough… some people will hear us. If people listen to and consider our ideas, we say that we have influence. We can say things, people listen, they learn, and they adjust their life in different ways. We can even become people who seek out influence, who seek to increase the number of people listening to us, either because it is thrilling and exciting, or even just because we have great things to say that people need to hear.

Have we considered, do we consider, the incredible cost of our influence? This is a room full of people with influence, perhaps… we should be a little worried about that.

James 3:1-2

3 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.

James is beginning on a new rant, on the power of the tongue. He has been talking all about faith and what real faith really looks like, and now we have a bit of a transition. Words have profound power, and they are profoundly revealing about our hearts. All of that is to come in following verses, but James starts by focusing in on a particular group of people.

Teachers. One title for this sermon is: why no one should become a teacher ever. More about that later. “Not many of you should become teachers…”

What does he mean by Teacher?

We immediately picture Mrs. Rodermel, of course. That was my 3rd grade teacher. Maybe Mrs. Phillips? When we think of teachers we probably think of the kind of teachers we had, teaching a classroom of kids in mostly formal education.

When James was writing, of course, Mountain Range high school wasn’t around. They didn’t have public school or much of any analogue to our teachers. Not even anything like our colleges, seminaries or universities.

Teachers were educated and insightful who took a few disciples and taught them over the course of many years. Sound familiar? What was it everyone called Jesus?

Rabbi. This is probably the best way for us to think about teachers in the Ancient world. The “teachers” of the broader Roman world worked in the same ways, private tutors for very few nobles, but mostly people who were so respected and admired that people would commit years to following them around as disciples.

On the one hand, Jesus was called a rabbi as a term of great respect. On the other hand, Jesus had some tough things to say about rabbis.

Jesus on teachers – Matthew 23

The teachers of the law and the Pharisees… do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach. 4 They tie up heavy, cumbersome loads and put them on other people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.

5 “Everything they do is done for people to see... 6 they love the place of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues; 7 they love to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces and to be called ‘Rabbi’ by others.

8 “But you are not to be called ‘Rabbi,’ for you have one Teacher, and you are all brothers.

Giving the best benefit of the doubt, rabbis could spread their own foggy or distorted views of Scripture to those around them, confusing regions and generations as to the will and purposes of God. In the worst view, a "teacher" could twist the Scriptures to rationalize and justify their own lives and lifestyles, turning the incredible story of God's love and Great Rescue into a road to power and dominion over others.

James is addressing would-be teachers in the Church community, so they are people desiring to be teachers of God-stuff, not algebra, just like rabbis. The New Testament isn’t around, so people are remembering and passing around stories of what Jesus said and did, seeing the Old Testament with new eyes, and coming to new insights.

Teacher as Influencer

When it comes to teaching the things of God, what is a teacher but someone who words have great influence over your thoughts and actions.

Teachers are people of influence, people who seek to influence and inform the way others view God and live with God. People who are seeking to become teachers are looking to have exactly that kind of influence over others. “Listen to me.” Maybe for the same reasons I did in the Kindergarten playground, just like the rabbis Jesus calls out, desiring the admiration and respect. Maybe for the best of reasons, to help others grow and mature and learn what you have learned. But no one becomes a teacher hoping that no one will listen to what they teach.

Teachers are influencers. Great Teachers are people of great influence.

In fact, we might read the passage this way:

Not many of you should become <people of great influence>, my fellow believers, because you know that we <with great influence> will be judged more strictly

The danger of influence

The respect and the influence could be intoxicating. Thrilling. But, James warns us, we need to consider the incredible cost of that influence.

You know that we, James includes himself, will be judged more strictly.

What is the problem here? We all sin, James says that, and we all sin or stumble especially often in the things that we say. We all stumble, but what happens when you stumble in the content or manner of your teaching. What if you are a person of great influence, a whole host of people listening careful to what you say, putting your words into action?

Many stumble right after you.

In this way influence multiplies sin. Influence multiplies sin.

If I were driving a car by myself, and I slide out on the road, I injure myself. If I am driving a van full of youth kids at the time, I risk injuring all of them too.

Influence multiplies stupid. Mistakes. Slips of the tongue, slips of theology. I thought it was this way, but... oops.

Church history is full of this, the pages of Scripture are full of this. People get some idea about God in their head and start building influence, teaching it all over the place. Many of the books of Scripture we have are the apostles doing damage control after would be teachers come through trying to drag others to stumble with them.

Give them the benefit of the doubt and assume they are just wrong, no evil intentions. Influence multiplies sin. Influence multiplies stupid. Mistakes, stumbles, all of it, are multiplied by the number of people who take what you say to heart.

If we could keep from sinning or “stumbling” or being “at fault” (wrong in any way) we would indeed be perfect. But we cannot, so to the extent we have influence, we are judged more harshly for what we say and do with that influence.

Example: What if someone had a watery form of faith that was nothing but mental acknowledgement. What if someone started teaching that in a church? What if the teaching spread? What if you ended up with a modern church that relegates faith to private opinions that should not affect your daily life and should never affect the lives of people around you?

I think this is why James jumps to this topic, straight out of all this faith without works stuff.

Faith without works is dead.

Influence without wisdom is deadly.

Put them together at your peril, at the church’s peril.

Unfortunately, the Church has so often suffered Influence without Wisdom.

Imagine a "Christian" for whom faith is merely an intellectual exercise that has no bearing on life and action. Imagine that Christian takes on the role of "teacher," thus spreading this definition of faith and powerless "Christian" life. A life that periodically reflects on the life of Christ but never reflects the life of Christ.

Does that sound sadly familiar? That is much of the church today, perhaps.

Should no one teach ever?

Now this can be terrifying. This is terrifying, in fact. Maybe sobering is a better word.

I have brought this up before, but this is what makes preaching incredibly scary. The weight of responsibility. Back when I did speeches or debates in school, no problem, no hesitation, because who cares? Up in front of thousands in the theatre... easy. Not much riding on that that matters. Not really much influence, and certainly not on real issues of the human and divine spirit.

But now speak on the things of God. To the extent I am a teacher, that I have influence in that moment, in this moment here, anything I say, anything wrong about what I say, is multiplied. And I am held accountable to that. This is the most humbling thing I have experienced, and it continues to be that each week.

I suspect my influence already outweighs my wisdom

I couldn’t preach or teach if I did not believe God transforms and redeems. That God informs the study, inspires me in prayer and reflection, informs and inspires me as I write, and is now inspiring and working in and through me. That God can change the very words as they leave my mouth before they enter your ears. I believe that God redeems my unworthy offering to do things to His glory.

That is not false modesty. That is knowing, for a certainty, that I will stumble. Not just sin, but mistakes, forgetfulness, misspeaking, speaking when I shouldn't, all of these.

I suspect my influence already outweighs my wisdom

Influence multiplies my sin and stupid. I have plenty of it to start with. And by virtue of standing up here, I am a teacher, I am standing in position of influence.

You are People of Influence

But you are all good. You are all fine.

You may say, I am not a teacher! You don't have that title, perhaps. Or you don't have that title in the church. Or you only pinch hit for the Junior class occasionally, doesn't count.

But what you are, what you is, you are a person of influence. You are a person of influence. You have influence in your families, in your school, in your workplace, as well as in this church. You have opportunities to teach what Christ and Christ-discipleship looks like to all those around you. You have influence and constant opportunity for influence.

And, just great, Dusty, now I have a crippling fear of saying anything to people because it's all going to be multiplied and my sin and stupid will just be piling up and it's all bad.

Should no one teach ever? No. Clearly God has called and gifted some to be teachers, it's a gift of the Holy Spirit. What is more, God has commanded all of us to be teachers of a sort, teaching, proclaiming and living out the good news, the gospel, that God so loved the world that He saved us.

Quiet Wisdom

What do we do with this? In light of the incredible power of our words (more about that in the coming weeks), multiplied by the influence I have to the people I have, what do I do?

I have two humble suggestions. Mostly: shut up. And when you're called to speak, cry desperately for wisdom.

Mostly… be quiet. That’s a big part of the message of this whole section, most of this chapter of James. Shut up. Do not underestimate the incredible power of the tongue. Do not underestimate your influence.

I have learned. I have been learning, especially when the conversation gets real, that I don't need to say half of what I think I need to say. Am I saying this just to say something? Shut up. Am I saying this to show off how much I know? Shut up. Am I saying this to garner admiration or raise myself up? Shut up. Am I saying this to defend myself? Shut up. This is good marriage advice to by the way.

Shut up, and ask: am I called to speak now. Is this a teaching moment, am I called in this moment to be a teacher. I'm not jumping on the platform, God is inviting me up on to the stage, God is calling me to speak. I am being given influence.

And then... you're still not excused from this weight of responsibility. Your influence is still going to be multiplied by your sin and stupid. This is when you fall on your knees and beg for wisdom from God.

And fortunately, going all the way back to James 1: "if any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you." Holy moly, thank God!

The weight of that responsibility should not shut us up in those moments we are called to speak but drive us to our knees, often literally, asking for the wisdom to somehow speak true and rightly and wisely. When the wisdom of God is multiplied, it is life and salvation to those who hear it. And far from a judgment, it is wealth beyond measure for those blessed with speaking it.

You have influence. Even if you aren’t called a teacher, you have influence to various degrees in the lives of people around you. Especially you because you are a group of leaders, intelligent people, people who earn respect. You have influence.

Influence multiplies sin and stupid.

But God gives wisdom and grace beyond measure to those who are called and to those who ask.