Sermon – Time to Get Real
Proverbs 10:11-13, 18-21; James 1:17-27
Farmville Presbyterian Church
9/1/24
Once a word is loosed from our mouths, are we responsible for what it does? Would we ever want to be accountable for what we say, for what we express? You may have picked up that this idea might have something to do with the lessons from Scripture today.
On the one hand, it might seem to be an obvious answer. We should be responsible for what we say. Our justice system seems to think so. When we say things that are particularly hurtful or wrong in certain ways, we can be arrested or face serious fines. People are not allowed to just say ANYTHING that they want about ANYBODY. Defamation, slander, hate speech, harassment, false witness, and perjury are all just some of the ways our speech can get us into trouble. On the one hand, it seems clear that people should be accountable for what they say. If someone walks up to you and unloads all kinds of unwarranted ugliness toward you, you would certainly wish that the offender would face some consequences. That’s just human nature.
On the other hand, we might not be so happy to be accountable for OUR words. There is a little part in the back of our minds that might admit that we want everyone else to be accountable for what they say but not really us. When the internet first introduced some version of social media and people were able to express pretty much anything and others were allowed to respond in organized ways, the people who created it made sure that everyone had to use their real names or at least that their real names were easily accessible. This was bedrock important and was the safeguard for people to behave within certain accepted social bounds. Bullies are no fun in real life or online. Seriously, NO ONE likes a bully. It did not take people too long to get around that, however, and people now feel freer to say things online to people that they would NEVER say to someone’s face. The need for using our words in good ways is nothing new.
This is also something tremendously important. How we speak to others reveals a great deal about our hearts and souls. Welcome to James. The Book of James was written to Jewish Christians struggling to follow Jesus out in the larger world. These were outcasts, people who were forced from their homeland for whatever reason. These Jews were struggling out there in the largely Roman world to be honest and authentic witnesses for God’s love and righteousness. How can we live in a way that is true to our ideals, our commitments, and our faith? For James, it is never enough to just say we are a Christian or to say that we have faith. Speaking faith will never be good enough for life in God.
I hope you noticed what just happened. So much of modern Christianity is rooted in admitting faith, confessing faith, saying we trust Jesus as Lord and Savior. Just pray the Believer’s Prayer. Just call Jesus our Lord. Just say the words that reflect our desire to be part of God’s family. The words are supposed to reflect the inner reality of God working in our heart. They are the sign that we are, in fact, a saved soul. So many Christian entities out there just want to hear us say it.
The only problem is that words are fairly empty and meaningless if they are not backed up by actions. This is the lightning rod between Paul and James, by the way. James makes it sound like we must actually demonstrate our faith in actions for it to be real. Paul would say that no works are required for our saving faith. It is entirely the gift of God’s grace. The moment we have to do ANYTHING to have actual faith, it is no longer grace. More about that later.
For now, this is tough. I expect that we really want the truth to be both hands. We don’t want to start putting requirements on salvation: how much should you give; how much should you pray; how often should you go to worship; how many nice things should you do for your faith to be real. We also don’t want to leave our faith with nice feelings, momentary feelings. There is a sizeable crusade style event coming to Farmville in the next few weeks. As a naturally cynical person, I can imagine right many people getting swept into some religious frenzy and genuinely believing that they are changed person only to go right back to where they were after a week.
This is hard. James has always been hard. Martin Luther hated James. It was not on everyone’s wish list for the New Testament when they were putting the books together. It is not easy to reconcile the need for action with our dependence on God’s grace. As a big believer in grace, I really, really don’t like any notion of works saving us, but it makes complete sense that anyone in faith should be acting like it. We might not be able to recognize someone’s particular faith works, but their lives should be different because of following Jesus.
The most simple, most obvious, and one of the most important ways this happens is in our words. Thankfully, James is brilliant on this point. He has seen and heard people using all kinds of inappropriate speech, combative speech, abusive speech, speech that should never be expressed from a believers’ mouth but was. This is part of our base humanity. Ever since we developed the capacity for speech, we have used it without engaging the brain. We open the mouth or hit send without taking into account what the other person feels. When we get riled up, we unleash without considering how what we say may be misunderstood, even if we are “right.”
I ran into a camper I had at Camp Hanover when I was a counselor in my college days. It was years and years later, but he admitted some joke I made that poked fun at him and had stuck with him the rest of his life. That is not the way I would ever want to contribute to someone’s life, especially a young person. I never meant to hurt him but I did, and I can never take it back.
We need wisdom, wisdom, wisdom.
James makes it especially clear and easy to understand. This could have been a TED Talk and maybe has been. You must understand this, my beloved brothers and sisters: let everyone be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger,… Clearly, he is concerned with people getting upset and firing off any kind of response without taking a pause.
Have I heard all that I need to hear? Have I considered other perspectives? Have I gotten the entire message from the person sharing?
If the answer is “yes,” then have I taken time to consider what I might say or how I might respond? What is the kind of answer Jesus might want me to give? If that is a struggle, what kind of answer would make my parents proud? Time gives space for tempers to cool and for better answers to come forth.
Human anger is never going to make the world more holy. James goes on to say this very thing in the rest of that verse. We might feel like we need to lash out or set someone straight, but once a word flies, it can never come back. You have heard, “sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.” Yet, that is the dumbest thing we have ever taught ourselves. Words can be far more hurtful than any physical harm. Just consider the child who is verbally belittled until they become a school shooter.
Truly, James could be speaking directly to us today. So much of our media and social media is actually designed to make us angry. Outrage is the name of the game that brings viewership and dollars. People keep watching and listening and sharing when they are mad. Big profits are up for grabs in a world that seems angrier and angrier.
There must be a godly response in a world where words are flying every which way. As someone who makes a living in expressing words, I know I miss the mark far more often than I would like. Listening itself is one of the most important things we can do. I would go so far as to say listening is the most important of those three. When we listen, we enter the world of the other person and show them they matter. At the deepest, most human level, we all just want to be heard.
So you can imagine how hurtful it is to reject hearing and instead impose our thoughts over others’ thoughts. Without realizing it, we are saying to the other that they do not matter. That is looking into the mirror and turning away. We forget who we are supposed to be unless we live it out.
Thankfully, this is another day to remember, to return to the mirror and know ourselves. Thankfully, we have the grace and love from God to make our life in faith more practical and more usable. Thankfully, in the Spirit of God, we may get real in Christ. To God be the glory. Amen.