Sermon for Pentecost 16 13 September 2015 Rev. Lorne Manweiler James 3:1-12 A man was listening to the sermon in the service, and while he was listening he was convicted of his sin and he resolved that he was going to do better from then on. I confess that I have sinned against You in thought, word, and deed, he said Sunday after Sunday; but this particular Sunday, he felt that those words were especially true. He knew that his evil thoughts caught him off guard more often than not, and that those evil thoughts might be hard to change. He realized that his evil actions were often a product of his evil thoughts and words, so he decided that he would first focus on his words his words were more likely something he could change. If he could catch himself before he said something he d regret, he would also have more control over the things he did and, in time, maybe he d have more control over the things he thought. That fellow did well for a while! He took time to think before he put his mouth and his typing fingers and texting thumbs in gear. He didn t speak without considering what he would say. He wasn t perfect, but, after all, nobody s perfect. But as time went on, he found, seemingly without noticing, that he had drifted back to his old habits. He hurt people with what he said. I ll try even harder, he thought, and he pushed himself to be more diligent. But the harder he tried, the more he failed, or so it seemed. And, finally, he gave up. You and I each share a similar story. The only question of you and me is this one: What does it means when you and I simply give up and stop trying to do better? Are you and I just defeated? Or is there a kind of giving up that really is a movement forward? Like last Sunday, today s Epistle from St. James confront Christians of every time and place and you and me, too with the inconsistency of our faith and our actions. The warning that you and I hear this morning is crystal clear, and what s even more clear is that no one is immune to the issue! How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire! And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell (vv 5b-6). Last Sunday, St. James addressed the issue of favouritism, but many of us might dismiss his accusations of preferential treatment of certain types of people. But now, St. James s charges run very deep and should cut deeply into the heart of anyone who hears this word from the Lord. Your tongue is an agent of harm. It s on fire with the fire of hell itself. For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by mankind, but no human being can tame the tongue (vv 7-8a).
No human being, man, woman, or child, is innocent not you, not me, no one. And to drive home the point St. James reminds you and me of what we are all to capable of doing: you and I can sit here in this Sunday service, praising our God with our mouths, receiving His Son s Body and Blood in those same mouths, and then leave here cursing His most precious creation you and I curse and run down other people. You and I confess our sins at one moment, and then in the next moment that very same tongue, the one in our very mouths, can speak such filth about others and even to others. We even make stuff up because we like to hear ourselves sound big and important and so we have something to prattle on about. Can you believe what so-and-so is doing or isn t doing?! Look at them! Imagine what God thinks about her! How can he do such a thing? Oh, Lord, I thank You that I m just not like him, not like her! St. Paul wrote, For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). St. James would agree wholeheartedly. The proof is in the tongue. The proof is your and my tongue. Our tongues cannot be tamed. For sure, you and I try. You and I try and try and try. And just like the man we talked about earlier, you and I put our minds to fixing the problem, or at least we bridle ourselves a little in certain company. After all, we need at least to look and sound like we re children of God at least some of the time. Having a fiery tongue doesn t fit with being a baptized child of God. God wants you and me to tame our tongue so it speak only words that glorify Him all of the time and in every place with everyone. But it seems like the harder you and I try to get it together, the worse you and I do. If anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man. Neither my tongue nor my body is bridled. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? (Romans 7:24). Are you and I doomed to live our lives in a never-ending battle against a tongue that would just as soon destroy you and me instead of honouring and glorifying God? Is there nothing we can do to speak well of our neighbour, not telling lies, betraying him or her, slandering others, or hurting others reputations? Remember what the Catechism teaches about these things? That we should fear and love God that we would defend others, speak well of them, and explain everything in the kindest way? Can t we do better? In a way, yes, we can; and in a way, no, we can t. The battle will rage on for all of us. But the very same word of God through St. James points you and me to the victory that is ours. The battle might rage on, but the war is already over. Listen again to the Epistle: If anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to bridle his whole body (v 2b). And here is the good news of God s grace for imperfect men and women like you and me: For he grew up before Him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at Him, and no beauty that
we should desire Him. He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces He was despised, and we esteemed Him not. Surely He was borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon Him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his striped we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and He was afflicted, yet He opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before His shearers is silent, so He opened not His mouth (Isaiah 53:2-7). And like a sheep that before its hearers is silent He opened not His mouth. If anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle his whole body (v 2b). There is no man who is perfect except for one Man. There is no one who bridled his tongue and bridled his whole body, except for one Man. There is one Man who lived the perfect, sinless life that you and I cannot live. There is one Man who deserved no of what He received at the hands of those men who mocked Him with their tongues, but He suffered and suffered and paid the horrible cost Himself as He took the entire burden of your and my sinful tongues. The Perfect One, your Saviour, Jesus, lived and died and rose for you exactly because our tongues are a fire, a world of unrighteousness (v 6). Jesus bridled His tongue even in the face of death so that you might receive His righteousness as He now lives in you. You don t need to give up not in the sense of what s the point in despair or guilt or shame. Instead, as you live as a child of your heavenly Father, you live as one who has been given the inheritance of the only Son of God your Saviour who was silent on your behalf. You live not by giving up, but by giving in by dying to yourself and giving in to Christ. In the waters of your Baptism, the fire that burns from your tongue was extinguished. The Word of God that you hear fills your mind and your heart with God s pure truth and graciousness. That Word of God displaces and replaces all of the other words and gives your tongue something righteous to speak. As you receive your Lord s Body and Blood under that bread and wine, the wounds inflicted upon you by the things you say are healed. God s grace is a saving flood that not even the fires of hell can burn against. And what you are helpless against and tempted to give-up-on on your own those things are conquered in you in Jesus Christ. No one is perfect but Jesus is. You will try to bridle your tongue and your body and mind, but they will fail you. And though you and I will never stop trying, our trying must be in Christ giving up on yourself and giving in to Him. In Jesus alone do you receive that forgiveness of sins that goes far, far beyond just giving up. All things are possible for one who believes (Mark 9:23b). In the forgiveness
of your sin, God makes you perfect and that means that He also renews and reshapes you, strengthens you, and guides you according to His good will. The story doesn t end for the man I told you about at the beginning of the sermon. The story doesn t end for you, either it doesn t end in despair and uncertainty. In Jesus Christ, your story ends in victory. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! Amen.