Sermon 10-28-18
Pastor Edward Brouwer 10-28-18 James 3 “Wisdom’s Speech”
Wisdom’s Words James 3
James has been talking to us that “talk is cheap” and that we should show our faith by our actions. But he is not discounting the importance of words and in chapter three talks to us about their importance. If you call yourself a Christian then your speech should reflect Christ.
James delves into the Source of Human speech, the Solution to human speech and the Sanctification of Human speech.
James tells us several things about human speech—that it is earthly, natural and even demonic! How can James say that the tongue is set on fire by hell itself? Because our tongue reflects the rebellion of humanity against God in the Garden. It reflects that we have believed the Deceiver, Satan and that we are in fact in bondage to him. Our speech reflects the speech of our earthly Master Satan. In James 3:8, we read, that humanly speaking we are unable to control our tongue. Why? Because it is tethered to the reality that until we have come to know Christ, we are chained to the father of lies. The only solution to that is Christ.
Christ is the Solution. Jesus rescued us and gave us new life. He is the Wisdom From on High, that James is speaking about. Christ is the Wisdom of God. When we have become a new creation in Christ our hearts are changed forever. Out of the abundance of the heart, so speaks the mouth. If we have new life in Christ then and really only then, do we have a hope of controlling our tongue. Romans 7:23-25 talks about the fact that even when we have become a new creation we still struggle with saying and doing things that reflect our old sinful nature. So the day we become Christians isn’t the day that our tongue is healed and we control our thought and speech 100%. Because it’s really a process.
Sanctification is the life long process of becoming more like Jesus in thoughts and words. Stay connected to the source, pray always. Ask the Lord, every new day to fill you with his thoughts and words and consciously seek to reflect Jesus in all the places he brings you this week.