PROPER 21 YEAR B

James 5:13-20 (New International Version)

The Prayer of Faith13Is any one of you in trouble? He should pray. Is anyone happy? Let him sing songs of praise. 14Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. 15And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven. 16Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.
17Elijah was a man just like us. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. 18Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops. 19My brothers, if one of you should wander from the truth and someone should bring him back, 20remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of his way will save him from death and cover over a multitude of sins.

Barclay says a wonderful thing in his comments on this passage. I love it! And it reminds me so much of our beloved Africa. He says, "The early Church was a singing Church. It was characteristic of the early Church that they were always ready to burst into song." It is the characteristic of the first Christians that they speak to each other in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord in their hearts. (Ephesians 5:19)

They are so grateful that they are compelled to sing! The word of Christ lives in them and there was a joy in the hearts of the early believers which came from their lips in songs of praise because God had been so merciful and gracious. The pagan world was sad and frightened and tired. And in contrast to that weary mood the Christian response was singing joy. Barclay remembers that that was what impressed John Bunyan when he heard the four poor old women talking, as they sat at the door in the sun: "Methought they spake as if joy did make them speak." Again, when Bilney the martyr grasped the wonder of God's redeeming grace, he said, "It was as if dawn suddenly broke on a dark night."

Always the church has been a singing church. When Pliny, the governor of Bithynia wrote to Trajan, the Roman Emperor, in AD 111, to tell him of this new sect of Christians, he said that his information was, "that they were in the habit of meeting on a certain fixed day before it was light, when they sang in alternate verses a hymn to Christ as God."

What a beautiful reminder of what we Christians have inherited!

The next verses from the fifth chapter of James' letter describe a healing church.

14Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. 15And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven.

Here the Church inherited it's tradition from Judaism. When a Jew was ill s/he went to the rabbi, not the doctor. And the rabbi anointed him or her with oil - which (as Barclay points out) Gatlen the Greek doctor called "the best of all medicines" - and prayed over the person. The early Church was absolutely devoted to the healing of her members. Justin Martyr writes that numberless demoniacs are healed by the Christians, when all other exorcists have been powerless to cure them. Irenaeus, writing far down the second century, tells us that the sick were still healed by having hands laid on them. Then, Tertullian, writing in the 3rd century, says that no less a person than the Roman Emperor, Alexander Severus, was healed by anointing at the hands of a Christian called Torpacion, and that in his gratitude he kept Torpacion as a guest in his palace until the day of his death.

This may seem dry and boring to some, but one of the earliest books about Church Administration is the Canons of Hippolytus, which go back to the end of the 2nd century or beginning of the 3rd century. It is laid down there that men who have the gift of healing are to be ordained as presbyters, when investigation has been made to ensure that they really do possess the gift, and that it comes from God. That same book gives the wonderful prayer used at the consecration of a local bishop, "Grant unto him, O Lord...the power to break all the chains of the evil power of the demons, to cure all the sick, and speedily to subdue Satan beneath his feet."

A very early Church code lays it down that each congregation must appoint at least one widow to care for women who are sick. For many centuries the Church consistently used anointing as a means of healing the sick. In fact, the sacrament of unction, or anointing was, in the early centuries always used as a means of cure, and not as a preparation for death, as it now is. It was not until AD 852 that the sacrament of unction became the Sacrament of Extreme Unction, administered to prepare for death.

So, brother, the Church has always cared for the sick; and the gift of healing has always been present in the Church. The social gospel is not an appendix to our Faith; it is the very essence of Christian faith and life!

Now verses 16-18. Thoughts on a praying church.

These verses of James chapter 5 spell out three basic ideas of Jewish religion.

16Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective. 17Elijah was a man just like us. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. 18Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops.

1) There is the idea that all sickness is due to sin. The rabbis said, "there is no death without guilt and so suffering without sin." Therefore, before a person could be healed of sickness his sins must be forgiven by God. That must be why Jesus began his healing of the paralysed man with the words, "Son, your sins are forgiven."(Mark 2:5) . Today we would say that no-one can know full health of either soul, mind or body until s/he is right with God.

2) There is the Jewish idea that, to be effective, confession of sin has to be made to other people (especially the person who has been wronged) as well as to God. And we all know full well that, in a very real sense, it is easier to confess sins to God than to other people. But when we sin there are two barriers set up - the barrier between us and God and the barrier between us and other people. And if these barriers are to be removed then confession is to be made to both groups of people. You will know, brother, that in Wesley's earliest Methodist classes they used to meet 2 or 3 times a week to "confess their faults to one another and to pray for one another that they might be healed."

3) Above all, this passage helps us to see that the Jews set no limits to the power of prayer. They had a saying, according to Barclay, that he who prays surrounds his house with a wall that is stronger than iron. They said, "Penitence can do something; but prayer can do everything." To them, prayer was nothing less than contacting the power of God; prayer is the channel through which the strength and grace of God are brought to bear on the troubles of life. It is just the same for Christians.

Tennyson wrote (in his poem on the passing of King Arthur):

More things are wrought by prayer than this world dreams of. Wherefore, let thy voice rise like a fountain for me night and day. For what are men better than sheep or goats that nourish a blind life within the brain, if, knowing God, they lift not hands of prayer both for themselves and those who call them friend? For so the whole round earth is every way bound by gold chains about the feet of God.

Mark

Sermon on the Gospel for 30 September

Mark 9:38-end (NRSV)

Another Exorcist

38 John said to him, ‘Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he was not following us.’³⁹But Jesus said, ‘Do not stop him; for no one who does a deed of power in my name will be able soon afterwards to speak evil of me.⁴⁰Whoever is not against us is for us. ⁴¹For truly I tell you, whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you bear the name of Christ will by no means lose the reward.

Temptations to Sin

42 ‘If any of you put a stumbling-block before one of these little ones who believe in me, it would be better for you if a great millstone were hung around your neck and you were thrown into the sea. ⁴³If your hand causes you to stumble cut it off; it is better for you to enter life maimed than to have two hands and to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire. ⁴⁵And if your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life lame than to have two feet and to be thrown into hell. ⁴⁷And if your eye causes you to stumble, tear it out; it is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and to be thrown into hell, ⁴⁸where their worm never dies, and the fire is never quenched. ⁴⁹ ‘For everyone will be salted with fire. ⁵⁰Salt is good; but if salt has lost its saltiness, how can you season it? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another.’

In this reading we encounter the experience of the disciples (and from other documents the experience of the early Christians) of an exorcist who successfully used the name of Jesus for the purposes of exorcism – but without becoming a Christian. Here, the disciples are troubled by this – and by our Lord’s own solution to the problem – as Nineham suggests: “… an exceedingly tolerant solution, indeed so tolerant as to arouse some doubt of its genuiness …” Nineham is of the view that “… if the first Christians had from the beginning such explicit directives to tolerance, it is hard to account for the very intolerant attitude they seem often to have adopted in such cases …’

I do not have the same difficulty! It would appear to be quite logical that such occasions arose in Jesus’ own time and it is well in line with our Lord’s demeanour to welcome the outsider. As Jesus relies: ‘Do not stop him; for no one who does a deed of power in my name will be able soon afterwards to speak evil of me.⁴⁰Whoever is not against us is for us.’

Tolerance, especially of those whose lives and good and pure, is vital for us as Christians. For those who exhort the name of Jesus and never speak evil of him are indeed ‘… on our side …’ I find this every day as some of the loveliest boys I teach are of other faiths. They revere our Lord – but just do not take the final step of accepting him as we do – as God incarnate. But they see him as being of such great importance that they would never speak evil of him.

Indeed, you might recall, when there have been blasphemous plays about Jesus, it has often been the Muslim community that have protested most vehemently and even challenged us Christians for being too weak to stand up for our Lord.

I also love the way Jesus ends this first section; he focuses on the ordinary, because we humans, often prefer to focus on the spectacular. It is often in the simplest things where the presence of Christ becomes most manifest – giving a thirsty person a drink of water.

Who belongs to God is God’s business. I firmly believe that Jesus is who the New Testament claims him to be because this is my experience and I will never deny it. But the same New Testament claims that when a person loves another in an unselfish way, God is present and they dwell in him and he in them (1 John).

It is too easy to try to argue this passage away as some later addition. I believe our Lord wants us to focus on what matters: living the life of tolerance and acceptance for others, especially those who deeply revere his name, even if they do not go as far as we do and we would with them to do.

I know only too well, that sometimes radical surgery is needed in order to save the health of a body; for as you know I don’t have a duodenum, a gallbladder, most of my pancreas and part of my stomach. Here, Jesus tells us that the same is true for our spiritual lives. It seems pretty obvious that Jesus is speaking symbolically and that he is saying – using typically eastern imagery  - that there is a goal in life which is worth  any sacrifice necessary to attain it; and this is referred to by Jesus, as ’life’ or interchangeably the ‘kingdom of God’.

Barclay suggests that the Jewish style of parallelism is used by Jesus to explain what he meant by the ‘Kingdom of God’. Barclay explains:

“In parallelism two phrases are set side by side, the one of which either restates the other, or amplifies, explains and develops it.”

This means that one petition is an explanation and amplification of the other. In the Lord’s prayer we therefore have an explanation of what is meant by ‘kingdom of heaven’ and that is ‘… a society upon earth in which God’s will is as perfectly done in earth as it is in Heaven.” To apply this to our passage  it means that it is worth any sacrifice and any discipline or self-denial to do the will of God and that it is only in doing the will of God that ‘… there is real life and ultimate and completely satisfying peace.’

And this can mean drastic surgery!

This passage therefore needs to be taken not literally or purely symbolically, but mostly ‘personally’! It means that it may be necessary to get rid of some habit, to cut out something that might even have become very dear to us, to abandon some pleasure, to be rid of some friendship even in order to become obedient to the will of God. No one can decide this for us; it is something we need to come to terms with ourselves. Barclay explains:

“… if there is anything in our lives which is coming between us and a perfect obedience to the will of God, however dear that thing or person is to us, however much the habit and custom may have made it part of our lives, it must be rooted out.”

This will probably sometimes be painful and drastic, but if we are to know real ‘life’, happiness and fulfilment – it must happen – and we will enter the kingdom of heaven here on earth.

C F D Moule, the famous New Testament scholar (and teacher of the Archbishop of Canterbury) does not comment at length – as Barclay does - but herewith a few of his thoughts on the Gospel passage for this week.

In verse 42, Jesus refers to the ‘little ones’ and on the surface we think it is a warning against leading children astray – and indeed, I believe, we as teachers need to beware that we do not do this, but Moule puts it a little differently and suggests “Jesus, or God Himself, comes to us in a small child – that is greatness …” Teachers seems to think that they have ‘arrived’ when they teach predominantly in the 6^th Form; university lecturers and professors are valued more highly by society than other teachers, but Moule makes the important point that Jesus comes to us in all people – but especially in children.

But I believe we must beware that we do not consider some people more important than others; rather that ALL people matter. As Moule comments: “Jesus was one of the first ever to see how essentially precious any person is, particularly a young child …” It is true that, in their vulnerability we need to be particularly careful in our treatment of small children, but all people matter and when we see them as the way God comes to us, it revolutionises the way we treat them and our overall experience of them.

Mark 9:30-37 (New International Version)

30They left that place and passed through Galilee. Jesus did not want anyone to know where they were, 31because he was teaching his disciples. He said to them, "The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of men. They will kill him, and after three days he will rise." 32But they did not understand what he meant and were afraid to ask him about it.
Who is Greatest? 33They came to Capernaum. When he was in the house, he asked them, "What were you arguing about on the road?" 34But they kept quiet because on the way they had argued about who was the greatest.
35Sitting down, Jesus called the Twelve and said, "If anyone wants to be first, he must be the very last, and the servant of all."
36He took a little child and had him stand among them. Taking him in his arms, he said to them, 37"Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me does not welcome me but the one who sent me."

33They came to Capernaum. When he was in the house, he asked them, "What were you arguing about on the road?" 34But they kept quiet because on the way they had argued about who was the greatest.35Sitting down, Jesus called the Twelve and said, "If anyone wants to be first, he must be the very last, and the servant of all."

The first two verses mark a milestone. Jesus has now left the north country where he was safe, and he was taking the first steps towards Jerusalem and to the cross which waited for him there. Now he did not want the crowds around him. Jesus knew that unless he could write his message on the hearts of his chosen apostles, he had failed. Any teacher can leave behind a series of ideas but Jesus knew that he had to leave behind, a band of people in whom those ideas had taken root.

If we compare this passage to the previous passage where Jesus predicts his death, we see that one phrase is added, "The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of men." There was a traitor in his little band and Jesus knew it. He could see the way in which the mind of Judas was working. Barclay suggests that perhaps Jesus could see it better than Judas could himself. And when Jesus said that the Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of men, he was not only announcing a fact and giving a warning, he was also making a last appeal to the man whose heart was forming a plan to betray Jesus.

Yet, the disciples did not understand - especially the bit about rising again. They already knew that some tragedy was pending but that is where their tolerance ended. We are all sometimes amazed that the disciples did not grasp what was spoken so clearly. But then we remember that the human mind has an amazing capacity for rejecting things we do not wish to see. You and I are the same. How often have we heard the gospel message. We know the wonder of accepting it and the tragedy of rejecting it but then we decide to react half-heartedly to it or not to react at all.

This incident shows in no uncertain terms how far the disciples were from understanding the real meaning of Jesus' life and mission. Over and over again he had told them what was waiting for him in Jerusalem but they still thought of Jesus' Kingdom in terms of an earthly kingdom, and of themselves as his ministers of State. It is heat-breaking to think of Jesus heading for the pain and suffering of the cross and his disciples arguing about who would be greatest.

But in their hearts they knew they were wrong because when Jesus asks them what they had been arguing about they have nothing to say. The silence of shame. It is strange how Jesus has a way of putting things we believe, without really thinking, in their proper context. As long as they thought Jesus was not listening and that he had not seen, they were happy to bicker about who should be greatest. But when they had to explain their thinking in the presence of Jesus, it all became a little embarrassing. Brother, I suppose that if we took everything and exposed it to the sight of Jesus it would make all the difference in the world to the way we live our lives.

Or if in everything we did, we asked, "Could I go on doing this if Jesus was watching me?" ; or if everything we said, we asked, "Could I go on talking like this if Jesus was listening to me?" there would me many things which we would be saved from doing and saying.

Well, Jesus dealt with this very seriously. We are told that he sat down and called the twelve to him. When a Rabbi was wanting to really make a pronouncement, he always sat down, so Jesus does just that. And then he told them that if they wanted greatness in his Kingdom, they must find that greatness, not by being first but by being last, not by being masters, but by being servants of all. Barclay points out that by doing this Jesus did not abolish ambition as something evil, he sublimated it. For the ambition to rule he substituted the ambition to serve. For the ambition to have things done for us he substituted the ambition to do things for others.

So, far from being an impossibly idealistic view, this is a view of the soundest common sense. The really great people, who are remembered as having made a real contribution to life, are those who said to themselves, not "How can I use the State and Society to further my own personal ambitions?" but, "How can I use my own personal gifts and talents to serve the State?"

And now for a quick quiz!

Name the five wealthiest people in the world.

Name the last five US Open winners.

Name the last five winners of the Miss Universe contest.

Name ten people who have won the Nobel prize.

Name the last half dozen Academy Award winners for best actor and actress.

Name the last decade's worth of FA Cup winners.

How did you do?

The point is, none of us remember the headliners of yesterday. These achievements are forgotten. Accolades and certificates are buried with their owners.

Here's another quiz. See how you do on this one:

List a few teachers who aided your journey through school.

Name three friends who have helped you through a difficult time.

Name five people who have taught you something worthwhile.

Think of a few people who have made you feel appreciated and special.

Think of five people you enjoy spending time with.

Name half a dozen authors whose life stories have inspired you.

Easier? The people who make a difference in our lives are not the ones with the most power, the most money, or the most awards. They are the ones that care, ones that share, ones that love and ones that serve.

Jesus' notion of greatness is not pie in the sky and it's not impossibly idealistic and unreasonable - it actually makes a lot of sense if you stop to think about it. The really great men and women, the ones who have made a really great contribution to life, are those who have said to themselves, not 'How can I use the state and society to further my own personal ambitions?' but rather those who have said 'How can I use my personal gifts and talents to serve the state?'

William Barclay, in his commentary on this passage quotes Stanley Baldwin, who once made a rather noble tribute to Lord Curzon when he died. In it he said, 'I want, before I sit down, to say one or two things that no one but I can say. A Prime Minister sees human nature bared to the bone, and it was my chance to see him twice when he suffered great disappointment - the time when I was preferred to him as Prime Minister, and the time when I had to tell him that he could render greater service to the country as chairman of the Committee of Imperial Defence than in the Foreign Office. Each of these occasions was a profound and bitter disappointment to him, but never for one moment did he show by word, look, or innuendo, or by any reference to the subject afterwards, that he was dissatisfied. He bore no grudge, and he pursued no other course than the one I expected of him, of doing his duty where it was decided he could best render service.'

The Greeks had a story of a Spartan called Paedaretos. 300 men were to be chosen to govern Sparta and Paedaretos was a candidate. When the list of the successful was announced, his name was not on it. 'I'm sorry,' said one of his friends, 'that you were not elected. The people ought to have known what a wise officer of state you would have made.' 'I am glad,' said Paedaretos, 'that in Sparta there are 300 men better than I am. ' Here was a man who became a legend because he was prepared to give others the first place and to bear no one ill will. It's rather mind-blowing to think what could be achieved by people living not for what they can get out of life, but for what they can contribute to life.

Somehow we still seem to be seduced by the idea of self-advancement and accumulation of wealth and possessions. I have battled this as much as others have. What a difference it would make if the ambition of politicians and those in positions of leadership was to serve others and not their own private agendas and ambitions. The same of course is also true of those who hold office within the Church, sad to say. Is this too idealistic? Jesus didn't think so. He was so concerned that his disciples fully understood, that he sat them down and taught them the fundamentals of life in the Kingdom. Is it unrealistic in today's world? Are we saying that the truth that is in the bible is no longer relevant? I think not. It's not unrealistic because it could start with us. We have the advantage of knowing about the Kingdom of God. We might be as hazy as the disciples about the full implications of the Kingdom in our lives, but Jesus can still sit us down and teach us.

Could people really expect to go to work and tell their bosses that all those books about management science have got it all wrong. That here in the pages of the bible is the perfect management course, summed up in just 17 words. Think how much could be saved in expenses and time lost through attending management courses. But what we can do is take the principles that we hear from God's word and apply them in our own personal circumstances. If before everything we did, we asked 'Could I go on doing this if Jesus was watching me?'; or if before everything we said, we asked, 'Could I go on talking like this if Jesus was listening to me?' If our ambition was not to rule but to serve, not to take but to give would people notice? I think they might very well notice. And you never know, it might just catch on.

'Be imitators of God' Paul told the Ephesians, who seemed to be losing the plot rather, picking up the bad habits of the world and drifting away from God. Look at what's happening to you as a church, once you start living like those who have no faith. There's division, bitterness, hatred and all those traits which are the exact opposite of the life in the Kingdom. To quote, or misquote maybe, the Stereophonics 'It only takes one match, to burn a thousand trees' The Kingdom of God is not only in eternity, it starts here and now, in each one of us who call ourselves Christians. Membership, as we know brother, is not based on wealth, power and ambition, but rather on humility and love. Quite a challenge! Not possible without the help of the Holy Spirit.

Mark

James 3.13-4.3, 7-8a

Two Kinds of Wisdom

13 Who is wise and understanding among you? Show by your good life that your works are done with gentleness born of wisdom. ¹⁴But if you have bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not be boastful and false to the truth. ¹⁵Such wisdom does not come down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, devilish. ¹⁶For where there is envy and selfish ambition, there will also be disorder and wickedness of every kind. ¹⁷But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without a trace of partiality or hypocrisy. ¹⁸And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace for those who make peace.

Friendship with the World

4Those conflicts and disputes among you, where do they come from? Do they not come from your cravings that are at war within you?2You want something and do not have it; so you commit murder. And you covet something and cannot obtain it; so you engage in disputes and conflicts. You do not have, because you do not ask. 3You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, in order to spend what you get on your pleasures.

7Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

It is interesting to see how wisdom and understanding are linked to lifestyle. This is the strongest testimony. I am where I am, theologically, mostly because of the testimony of the lives of those who have ministered to me. Rowan Williams mentioned how he was once very conservative in his views on human sexuality and women priests; but then he looked around and saw the company he was keeping, and he decided to review his ideas. Earthly wisdom seems to vaunt itself and sometimes even pride itself in lavish and selfish lifestyles. People like Bertrand Russell claimed to be such a profound philosopher and indeed was a celebrity of his day; but his personal life was so horrid, that I cannot take him seriously. His ‘opponent’ – on the other hand, F C Coplestone, was such a saint, that even though he is less well known, he is becoming more noted.

God thinks differently – as the Gospel passage of last week reminded us – and so ought we.

We read in this passage a hearkening back to the warning that not many should become teachers. Barclay points out that the scholar and teacher is always under temptation, and in the first instance to arrogance. It was arrogance that was the besting sin of the Rabbis. The greatest of the Jewish teachers were well aware of this. In ‘The sayings of the Fathers’ we read: “He that is arrogant in decision is foolish, wicked, puffed up in spirit …’ Teachers and especially preachers are therefore in constant danger: they are used to being listened to and having their words accepted; they are used to telling people rather than listening to them. It is difficult to be a preacher and teacher and remain humble.

We are also under temptation to bitterness. Quite often we are men of peace, but our tongues can be as sharp as a razor. It is difficult to argue without passion and to retort without wounding. Barclay writes: “To be utterly convinced of one’s own beliefs without at the same time being bitter to those of others is no easy thing, and yet it is a first necessity of the Christian teacher and scholar.” As we debate things within the Church – it is good to remember this!

Barclay ends with four characteristics of the WRONG kind of teaching:

1.      It is wrong if it is fanatical;

2.      It is wrong if it leads to bitterness;

3.      It is wrong if it is wrongfully ambitious;

4.      It is wrong if it is arrogant.

Real wisdom is of inestimable value, but it is not easy to recognise in today’s world where there are values that are so markedly different to the standards of Christ. James gives us a good reminder of what worldly wisdom is all about, firstly what it is in itself and then he describes it in its effects. Barclay suggests that in itself it is three things:

Firstly, it is earthly – it measures success in worldly terms and its aims are worldly;

Secondly, it is ‘unspiritual’ - it is characteristic of the natural man. The ancients divided human experience into three parts – body, soul and spirit. At first, we would agree, but they meant something different then. They believed that humans and animals shared both bodies and souls – it was the latter that distinguished both human and animals from other living things; the soul referred to physical life. Today we refer to the ‘soul’ in the same sense as the ancients referred to the ‘spirit’ – that which makes us distinctly human. What James is then saying is that this wrong kind of wisdom is more than an animal kind of thing, or as Barclay suggests: “The wrong kind of wisdom is the wisdom which a man shares with the animals and which is part of his lower nature.”

Lastly, it is devilish – its source is not from God, but the devil. It produces, not the kind of people which God delights in, but the kind of situation in which the devil delights.

James then describes how this arrogant and bitter wisdom has an impact on people and communities. Most notably it results in disorder. Instead of bringing people together, it drives them apart; instead of producing peace, it produces strife; instead of producing fellowship it produces disruption in personal relationships. Barclay writes:

“There is a kind of person who is undoubtedly clever; he has an acute brain and a skilful tongue; but his effect in any committee, in any Church, in any group, is to cause trouble, to drive people apart, to forment strife, to make trouble, to disturb personal relationships. It is a sobering thing to remember that the wisdom that than man possesses is devilish rather than divine, and that such a man is engaged in Satan’s work and not God’s work.”

I end with James’ description of the nature of true wisdom – as explained in verses 17-18. He uses a number of words to describe it:

1.      Pure

2.      Peaceable

3.      Gentle

4.      Willing to yield

5.      Full of mercy and good fruits

6.      Without a trace of hypocrisy

Wisdom is ‘pure’ - pure enough to approach God because it is cleansed from all ulterior motives, cleansed of the self and so has become pure enough to see God. Barclay comments: “The true wisdom is able to bear the very scrutiny of God.”

Wisdom is peaceable: This is the wisdom that produces right relationships. Clever and arrogant wisdom separates people from each other and takes delight in putting others down. True wisdom brings people closer to each other and so closer to God.

Wisdom is gentle – it knows when it is actually wrong to apply the strict letter of the Law, it knows how to forgive when strict justice gives him the perfect right to condemn. He knows how to make allowances when not to stand up for his rights who knows how to temper justice with mercy that there are greater things in the world than rules and regulations.

Wisdom is ready to yield – not in the sense of being pliable and weak, but in the sense of not being stubborn and of being willing to listen to reason and to appeal. It is not rigid and austere beyond all appeal.

Of course, true wisdom produces the fruits of the Spirit – love, joy peace, patience, gentleness, kindness and self-control and is without hypocrisy.

Barclay is fantastic in his unpacking of the meanings of words and I am once again humbled by his incredible insight and wisdom in this passage.

James describes a world I want to live in – but don’t; he describes the Kingdom of God and that which we, as Christians, ought to be seeking to establish. But sadly, these standards do not often even apply in the Church – and it is these standards that should establish orthodoxy above all else.

Let’s strive to live in the Wisdom of God.

The Tongue

James 3
Taming the Tongue

1Not many of you should presume to be teachers, my brothers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly. 2We all stumble in many ways. If anyone is never at fault in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to keep his whole body in check.
3When we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we can turn the whole animal. 4Or 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. 5Likewise 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. 6The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.
7All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and creatures of the sea are being tamed and have been tamed by man, 8but no man can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.
9With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God's likeness. 10Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be. 11Can both fresh water and salt[a] water flow from the same spring? 12My brothers, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water.

In the early Church the teachers were vitally important. Whenever they are mentioned it is with honour. The Apostles and Prophets were always on the move. They did not stay long in any one congregation. But the teachers worked within the congregation and it was to them that the converts to Christianity were handed over for instruction in the facts of Christian teaching and Christian living. What an awesome responsibility for ordinary sinful, fallible human beings! 

In the New Testament we see glimpses of teachers who failed in their responsibility and who became false teachers. There were teachers who tried to turn Christianity into another kind of Judaism by introducing circumcision and others keeping of the law (Acts 15:24). There were teachers who taught others buy lived out nothing of what they taught. Their lives were a contradiction of their own teaching and it brought nothing but dishonour on the faith they represented.

Then there were some who tried to teach before they themselves knew anything (1 Timothy 1:6,7). But James is saying here that teaching is a dangerous occupation for any person. The instrument is the tongue and the tongue is a dangerous organ.

Here James lays down two ideas which were quite common in Jewish thought and literature. First, the idea that there is no-one in the world who does not sin in something. The word which James uses is to "slip up". Barclay quotes Lord Fisher, the great sailor, who said, "Life is strewn with orange peel". Sometimes, as we both know,sin is not deliberate but the result of a slip up when we are off guard.

The tongue is so powerful. We even speak of a "slip of the tongue". Which reminds me of this joke.

Three vicars are at a ministers’ fraternal. They decide they need to be more open and vulnerable with each other, so they decide to share their weaknesses.

The first one says,

'Well, I have a problem with drink. I often slip and drink a whole bottle of port".

The second one says,

'Well, I have a problem with pornography. I often spend hours looking at it on the Internet".

One of the others asks the third one,

'Well, what is something that you have a problem with?'

The third preacher replies,

'Gossip, and I can't wait to tell everyone about you guys!'

The tongue can cause all sorts of problems! We all stumble in many ways. If anyone is never at fault in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to keep his whole body in check. James’s emphasis on being mature – this time mature in what we say. We are what we eat, if a certain TV doctor is to be believed – but biblically we are what we say. Our words reveal who we are. It is from our heart that our words come – (Matthew 15:18)

James then goes on to give two illustrations:

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.

Why horses? Why ships? Remember, James is speaking to Christians dispersed around the Empire, many of them would have travelled by horse and by boat, so they were examples they were familiar with. What do bits and rudders have in common? Small, direction, who is controlling it directs the horse or the ship. 5 Likewise the tongue is a small part of the body, but it boasts about great things.

The effects of our words can be devastating – life and death are in the power of the tongue. Do we want to spread life or death?All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and creatures of the sea are being tamed and have been tamed by man, 8 but no man can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.

How can we control, develop and transform culture if we can’t control our tongue? With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people, who have been made in God's likeness. It looks like James had been reading Genesis 1 just before writing this bit. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be, says James. James is emphasising that this situation shouldn’t occur – our hearts should have been changed.

Why then do we use double-speak? James then uses two more illustration in verse 11.

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

Of course it doesn’t happen – then why speak with a forked tongue? Let’s resolve, with God's help, not to. Lets’ speak about life and not death. The book of James also gives us some positive advice about how we should use words: How can we bring life rather than death? James gives lots of suggestions.

To ask God for wisdom (1:5).

To be quick to listen and slow to speak (1:19).

To speak without discriminating between rich and poor (2:1-4).

To speak as those going to be judged (2:12).

To speak as one whose words are as good as their deeds (2:16).

To speak without boasting (3:14).

To speak without quarrelling and fighting (4:1).

To speak without slandering anyone or speaking against anyone (4:11).

To speak without presumption (4:13).

To speak without grumbling (5:9).

To speak as though you mean what you say (5:12).

To speak to God in prayer and praise whatever the circumstances (5:13).

To ask for prayer when sick (5:14).

To confess sins to one another (5:15).

Mark