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Series: Shaping Church Culture
Theme: Looking after our words
Sermon date: October 27th
Icebreaker
How hard do you find it to watch what you are saying and how you are saying it?
Study
Please read James 1 verses 19-27
These words were an encouragement to early Christians to persevere in their faith despite facing persecution. This practical advice is still very relevant to us today. Our willingness and ability to live faithful Christian lives is most evident in the way we live and behave day by day. These are challenging verses – be prepared to be tested!
HEARING (19b, 20)
Q.1 what makes a good listener? Remember we have been given two ears and only one tongue!
Eye contact; positive body language; not too much talking; really hearing what is being said.
Proverbs 10.19; 13.3
It is possible to read the Bible every day without fail, but to have achieved no more than moving the bookmark forward.
Q.2 how can we become genuine “hearers of the Word”?
JESUS IS LOOKING FOR DISCIPLES AND NOT JUST HEARERS
Q.3 what are some of the negative effects of anger?
Loss of credibility; dishonoring to the Lord; too much focus on self; broken relationships
Q.4 how should we deal with anger?
Apologise; confess; pray. Proverbs 29.22
Q.5 s it ever right to be angry? If so, in what situations?
Ephesians 4.26-27
It may be appropriate at this point to stop and have a period of silence while people reflect on the way anger has affected their own lives.
RECEIVING (21)
“Every day should provide us with some fresh evidence that new powers are at work within us, and that the Lord is progressively ‘making us whole’ ”. Do you agree with this statement?
Q.6 what do you think gets in the way of receiving God’s Word?
Pride (“I know best”); self-justification (“I’m not that bad – look at the way others behave”); excuses (“I simply do not have the time”); fear (not wanting to be changed or challenged about the way I live my life)
Q. 7 it has been said that it is difficult today to distinguish the values and practices of Christians from those of the secular world – do you agree with this statement? If it is true, then is this be something we should be concerned about? And if so, what needs to be done?
Matthew 5.16
“Get rid of …” = remove everything that taints or devalues our lives. This is far from easy in a world which constantly bombards our eyes, ears, thoughts and imaginations, which clamours for our time, money and energy.
OBEYING (22-25)
Person with a mirror Believer with the Word
Observes (23-24) Looks into (25)
Goes away (24) Perseveres (25)
Forgets (24) Acts (25)
Each is equally serious in his gaze. It is not that the person with the mirror gives a hasty gaze, whereas the believer gives a sustained gaze. It is what happens AFTER the gaze that matters. It is very easy to deceive ourselves: “I spend 30 minutes a day reading the Bible.” Well done! BUT do you obey what you have read?
Q.8 has reading the Word made any difference in your life?
Law v Liberty
Q.9 how can rules and regulations possibly lead to liberty/freedom?
At Mount Sinai, the Lord was speaking to those who had escaped from Egypt (Ex 20). The people have been redeemed (Ex 6.6) by the blood of the lamb (Ex 12.13). The law was given NOT as a means of salvation, but as a life-style for those who had already been saved. The law reveals the way the Lord wants his people to live. “We are truly free when we live the life appropriate to those who are created in the image of God.” This is the blessing James speaks of (25) – the blessing of a full life, lived through obedience.
TRUE RELIGION (26-27)
RELIGION in this context is a comprehensive word for the specific ways in which a heart-relationship with God is expressed in our lives. James gives three examples of what it means to act in a way that is pleasing to God:
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Controlled tongue
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Caring for the needy
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Personal holiness
Widows and orphans = those who are not able to repay anyone’s generosity.
Q.10 who are the widows and orphans:
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In our local community
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In our nation
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In the wider world
Q.11 what is our responsibility, as Christians, towards them?
There is no middle ground for a moderate Christian faith. James calls for a holiness which is lived out in the world and yet marks us from it. Our faith to be real must show itself firstly in the quality of our fellowship in our local church, part of the family of God. When visitors come to our services, is there any evidence of this?
PRAYER
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That our church may truly be a place of genuine fellowship; newcomers are welcomed; we get to know as many people as possible rather than spending all our time after a Service with our “friends”.
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That we may allow the Holy Spirit to work in our lives so that others may indeed see the “Christian difference” in our lives.
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That we may discern, perhaps as a group, one way in which we can reach out to the “widows and orphans”.
If time permits, you might like to have a brief look at Matthew 15 verses 1-11. The Pharisees were accusing Jesus of letting his disciples go soft on traditional purity codes, notably handwashing before meals. This may seem a rather trivial matter, but by now Jesus was saying and doing new things and was attracting large crowds.
Rather than answering the accusation, Jesus launched a counter-attack. Pharisees claimed that their traditions embodied the outworking of Scripture, but Jesus pointed out that the very opposite was true. The commandment “Honour your parents” implied looking after them in old age. However, one of the traditions of the Pharisees allowed someone to make a gift to the Temple of an equivalent amount to what might have been spent on parents – and to do so meant they had no further obligation to their parents. This, said Jesus, undermined the whole point of the Law. The Pharisees had elevated human customs to the status of divine commands.
The real issue was not about keeping traditions, but what God wants his people to be like, and how this desire can be fulfilled.
The riddle (11) is about WORDS – words reveal what is really going on inside our thoughts and imaginations.
Malcolm Raby
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Malcolm Raby, 30/09/2019
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