Sermon Tone Analysis
Overall tone of the sermon
This automated analysis scores the text on the likely presence of emotional, language, and social tones. There are no right or wrong scores; this is just an indication of tones readers or listeners may pick up from the text.
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Good Morning!
It is good to be back and we are praying for those that are sick today.
As most of you know, my family was out sick last week and we had a pretty small crowd here.
lol
Conveniently or perhaps providentially, we were scheduled to start a new section in James.
We know this is a new section because anytime James says “My dear brothers” he is beginning a new teaching or thought.
That is where we find ourselves today and we will cover James 1:19-21.
As a reminder, our goal in this study is to develop True Faith, because True faith never stops growing.
Before we dive in today, I want to set the stage for what James is addressing.
It is always incredible to me how issues don’t change.
Here’s what I mean by that, the subject may change, but the underlying problem is still there.
We see this often when we study scripture.
We will open up the bible and it seems as if the author is addressing something that is happening right now, in real-time.
Maybe in our personal lives, or perhaps something that is happening culturally.
The same is certainly true in the passage we are reading today and as we dive in, I want you to be aware that I’m not speaking to any particular subjects but to the underlying issue.
In fact, I’m not even going to name one of many subjects that we find ourselves divided over.
One or two may pop into your head as we move forward and that is fine.
Let the Holy Spirit guide your thoughts this morning.
As we all know, division is unfortunately not new in churches.
In the early church, the services were informal; and often the listeners would debate with the speaker.
There were even fightings and wars among the brethren James was writing to (James 4:1).
You may be like me and be somewhat astounded by that, but then I think of my short history in the church and how much division and fighting I have seen or at times participated in.
We have all seen and experienced this.
When I say “we” when talking about division, I’m not speaking specifically of TGP West, although, that could be the case as well.
I’m speaking of the Church, globally.
In the world today and in the church, there is no shortage of things that get people fired up.
Often we find in ourselves a desire to be right, or to be heard, or to at least be acknowledged.
While there is nothing inherently wrong with wanting to be right, heard, or acknowledged, we must be careful.
If we place our desire for those things above God and His work, then they are wrong.
This week I heard a clip of Francis Chan's sermon from the Passion Conference this year.
If you are unaware, Passion is a conference for people 18-25 years old.
He said this...
“I think one of the most destructive practices of your generation is that you value your own thoughts way too much.
When God says ‘My thoughts aren’t the same as yours.’
And you want to look inside and you wanna tell everyone else what you’ve been thinking and what you’ve been feeling rather than opening up the word of God and saying ‘These truths are way beyond mine.’”
-Francis Chan, Passion 2022
Chan is referencing Is 55.8-9
When I heard this clip and I thought of this passage in James, the Holy Spirit made the link for me.
We have so many these days that are “taking a stand” for what they believe and as you are about to see, this isn’t new.
Also, I don’t think this is true of only one generation.
I think it is something that all of us have, will, or do struggle with.
After all, we want to make a difference in the world.
Right?!?
When I was a kid, my dad took me hiking several times and he taught me some of the philosophies that he learned when he was in boy scouts.
One in particular was that you always leave your camp site better than you found it.
I think this is what many of us and many in the world are trying to do.
We want to make the world a better place.
The problem is that we are talking way more than we are listening.
Look at what James is telling the church.
Talk Less, Listen More
It may or may not be obvious to you, but this is a play on one of the themes of Hamilton, the broadway hit.
Throughout the musical, Aaron Burr repeatedly tells Alexander Hamilton to “talk less, smile more.
Don’t let them know what you are against or what you’re for.”
Burr’s advice is for Hamilton to keep his thoughts to himself in order to hide from the world what his agenda really was.
While I intend this to be a clever way for you to remember the point of this message, talking less and smiling more is not what James is saying.
James is saying to talk less and listen more.
James’ goal was not for people to hide their thoughts from the world, but rather to dig into what God was saying and share that with the world.
Think about what it must have been like for the early church.
All their lives, they thought they understood what it meant to “fear God” or to be in right relation to him.
Now that Jesus has lived, died, and rose from the dead, in front of many of them, all that they thought that they knew of God had changed.
They are now trying to reconcile their old ways and beliefs, with the revelation of Jesus and the presence of the Holy Spirit.
I don’t think it is too far a jump to think that these angry rants, or what he goes on to call “wars” in chapter four, were people passionately sharing what they thought was the “right” way to live in a relationship to God.
But look at those first two verses again.
Human anger that James is saying can also be translated as man’s wrath.
Men meaning a person and the wrath is usually something on the “epic” scale.
As I mentioned a few moments ago, James later refers to these fights as “wars”.
Obviously, James is talking about something severe.
I wish I could say that those types of things didn’t happen today, but it does.
Let me say it this way.
If someone misrepresents God by portraying any emotion that God has not, that person has crossed a line.
We have to be so careful and that is why James is telling the church to be quick to listen and slow to speak and slow to anger.
James knows firsthand the results of someone acting quickly and not listening for God’s direction.
We will look at some examples in a moment, but let’s bring this back personal for a moment.
As we just agreed, all of us want to leave a lasting mark on the world.
That may not be true of every person that is alive, but as I look around this room, as I thought about our church members this week, I know that to be true about you.
You may not want to see your name in lights, but you do want to make a significant impact ionn the people’s lives around you.
When you leave this world you want the people around you to know that they were deeply loved and cared for.
The underlying issue that James is addressing, that Francis Chan is addressing, that God is addressing with you and me, here, today, is our inclination to speak first and think later.
This is not a new trend, that belongs to any particular generation.
We see so many throughout scripture who fall into the same trap.
Consider King David when the prophet Nathan confronts him about killing, Uriah, Bathsheba’s husband.
David spoke quickly, with anger, before taking time to consider what Nathan was really telling him.
God had a message for David, but David didn’t pause long enough to realize that he was the man he was angry about.
David was not a dull guy, but he let his emotions speak before his brain caught up.
Or what about Peter in the garden?
Remember I told you James had personal experience?
James saw Peter act without direction from God.
This was not the first time that Peter acted this way either.
There are many more examples of this in scripture, but I think the point that James is making is quite clear.
We need to listen, think, and pray before we speak or act.
Do you remember us discussing that James would have grown up studying Proverbs?
Look at some of the passages that are linked to this section in James.
This is not a new problem.
It is an underlying issue that all humans struggle with.
This may raise the question, should I say anything at all?
Am I saying that you shouldn’t speak up when you feel something is off in the world?
No!
There are absolutely times that we as individuals or we the church should speak out.
I would ask and I believe that James is asking that we take the time to consider what God is saying before we speak or act.
I’ll give you another example.
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