Bible Study May 20, 2020 - James 3

We did put last week's recording on the Orlando site. I mentioned that at services this past week. If you ever want to go back and listen to it or someone's missed it, they'll be inside the members section. We're not going to post it on the front page, so you'll have to be a member of the Orlando community in order to get in and see that. Talking to Dave Permar this afternoon, he's going to post it in the Jacksonville web page as well. So we'll have it in both places if you're interested in ever going back and listening to him or if someone has missed them. In order to join, you just go there and it'll ask you to just give your name and number. It's just a matter of joining so that you can gain access into the members section. We may start using those local websites for a little bit more. If we have more people participate in them, we can put some prayer updates in there and some other things as well. We really haven't used them very much in the years that they've been up. So anyway, just ask for your information. As we begin tonight, if there's any questions, if there's any comments, any observations from last week, or anything that anyone wants to talk about, feel free. This is a good time to... half of us are together anyway, and we can talk about whatever you'd like to talk about as we begin here tonight. Now remember on this, you know, you don't have to raise your hand. You can just speak up.

If you raise your hand, I don't see that signal on my screen here. I've got to look someplace else, and it becomes too burdensome to look someplace else for a race to have. So just speak up whenever you want to. You just have to hit your microphone button down there in the lower left-hand corner.

Well then, let me let me go ahead and just kind of bring us up to speed on where we are in James. I know we have some people who are with us here tonight who haven't been with us before, and let me give a brief recap of where we've been so that we get when we get into chapter three, we will... everyone will be up to speed. If I can pull up a screen here, I'm going to do that, and just kind of walk through James a little bit and refresh our memories of where we are, because as James, you know, was inspired and put together his letter, his epistle, to really the people then and us now, it's very well constructed, and he spends some time talking about one thing that comes back to us later and helps us to understand, you know, what it is that we need to be all working toward if we're going to be spiritually mature, and, you know, as the Bible would say, perfect in God's eyes.

Perfect, of course, is a poor translation, because none of us will be perfect in this physical life that we live in, but that is what we're attaining to. But, you know, if we recall, you know, James, you know, was written by the brother of Jesus Christ, half-brother of Jesus Christ. Many scholars believe that it was one of the earlier epistles that was written, probably Galatians was the one that was written before that, they say, if there was one.

But as James wrote, you know, he addressed his epistle to the scattered tribes of Israel. And, you know, whether they knew where those tribes were back then, you know, that book was written certainly for the people back then who read it, but we know that it was written for us today, because as we look at the words in there, it's a 21st century book, you know, just like the Bible is a 21st century book. But all through the ages, as James wrote, as he wrote to the true Christians of the world who are striving to live the way God wants us to live, we see where we are in the book of James, and we get a clearer picture of where we are going and where we need to go, you know, in order to please God.

So as he begins in chapter one, he lays out kind of an outline of the book, if you will. He begins with something that all of us have experienced, the trials of life. He reminds us that we should, when we are entering into trials, you know, we may, they may be very difficult. We learn some trials are very pleasant physically because we have periods of very good health, maybe periods of prosperity, but those times of trial are, teach us just as much as the times when we're in maybe poor health, poor financial stress, or whatever we're going through. Whatever time we're in is a time for us to learn and remember, you know, to see God and keep our eyes on Him.

So he opens his book by saying, you know, count it all joy that you had these trials because we know that God is working with us and God is preparing for us and we're preparing us for the kingdom and where He wants us to be. So as we, you know, as we, as we go through life, we remember those things and bear in mind that, you know, God isn't willing that in ancient parrots that everyone should come to repentance.

He wants all people to be in His kingdom and He certainly, those of us who is called in this day and age, He works with us and shows us mercy and patience and kindness and all the things of life and gives us His Holy Spirit so that we can, so that we can, you know, reach what He wants us, what He wants us to reach.

You know, He goes on and talks about the character that we need to develop, the patient endurance, the hoopomony that we've talked about, the Greek word that is the character. He talks about wisdom, you know, in chapter three. We're going to talk a little bit about wisdom, but James introduced it in chapter one and we remember, you know, what here I am, I'm just talking and I've been paying power to Maya, my PowerPoint here, but, you know, it tells us to ask for the wisdom of God.

If we don't have that wisdom, ask for it, but it reminds us when we ask for things from God to don't be double-minded. Ask it, believing that He will provide it with a singleness of heart because we want to trust Him and rely on Him and rely on Him only. You know, as we, he, in the middle of chapter one there, he talks about the extreme trials of life. Someone who all their life has had it very good, you know, no health problems, everything they needed physically is there, and then one day they might find themselves everything washed away, kind of like Job.

And those things come not because God's punishing us, maybe sometimes they are, but the trials can come because God wants to see how do we respond. Do we lose faith in Him? Do we still continue to follow Him and look to Him and trust in Him even in the bad times as well as in the good? You know, Job passed that test. He never did curse God, he never did give up on God. The same may happen to us. You have the reverse as well, someone who has been, you know, struggled through life in any way, shape, or form, whether it's, whether it's materially, physically, or health-wise, or any otherwise, and then all of a sudden, you know, they have a windfall happen to them and they're on the other side of life.

Do they forget God, or in their times of prosperity, or health, or the good times, do they remember God? So, James talks about those extremes, those extremes that we can have in life. Again, God gives those to us because He wants us to be in His kingdom. We talked about temptations and trials. You know, God gives us trials because He wants us to succeed. He wants us to become stronger.

Satan sends temptation because he wants us to fall, and they come from the same Greek word, but it's the, what's the end desired end result of those who send them our way that we know the difference between them. We talked about first fruits there in James 1, and one thing that we'll see again today in chapter 3 is that word perfect that really should be translated spiritual maturity. You know, as God is growing us, is when we were baptized, we were infants in His eyes, and we grow just like our children grow. We learn to walk, we learn to talk, we learn to run, we learn things, we become responsible, you know, mature, productive adults, and that's what God wants in us. We continue growing through the rest of our life to that spiritual maturity ever moving toward that state of perfection that we won't achieve in this lifetime, but you know, at the resurrection we will. And something we'll talk about again today to just bear in mind is swift to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger. You know, that should become kind of our motto in life, and when we're finding ourselves, you know, tense or stressed or wanting to lash out at someone or wanting to make a judgment, you know, we need to be swift. Swift to hear, listen, slow to speak, and slow to wrath. And then finally, it concludes chapter one with the definition of pure and undefiled religion. The agape that is concerned with other people, that's watching out for orphans and the fatherless and the widows, you know, their times of affliction and their times of trial.

And then also getting unspotted from the world, leaving the religion of the world and the false things that we've learned in our life and learning and adapting and putting into our minds, you know, the purity of religion that comes from the Bible. Last week, you remember, in chapter two, there were two primary things that we talked about, and that was impartiality, you know, that God doesn't play favorites. You know, if you remember, you know, James, as he looks at us, and in chapter verse 26, I'm going to go back to verse 26 as we begin of chapter one, as we begin chapter three tonight, he says, if any of you think you are religious, you know, basically consider these things. And in James two, he poses a question to us, are we truly impartial? Maybe we think that we are very strong physical or spiritually in a number of areas, but are we truly impartial? Are we as impartial as Jesus Christ was and is, and as God is? You know, after the Bible studies afternoon, you know, someone called me and they were talking about impartiality, and I think they're on, but I'll speak for them, and they said it would be okay if I brought this up. You know, they said the ultimate in impartiality is how God worked with Jesus Christ. There his son was, you know, suffering and facing an enormous trial at the end of his life, the torture that he was going to endure, a death by crucifixion, which was pure agony. And yet he came, he came to God, you know, the Father in that night after Passover and asked, could this cup pass from me? Can it be done some other way? And if God was going to play favorites with anyone, Jesus Christ would have been the one he would say, yes, I'll lighten below and I'll ease the burden. We'll find a way to do it that isn't going to be as bad, but the plan was set and Jesus Christ was here to bear our sins and to pay the penalty for us, for all those sins. And God didn't even play favorites with him. You know, he was impartial to him, and this is the mission that you have, and this is what you are going to do. So, you know, last week we talked about impartiality and judging, and we all have those things in our minds, you know, some preset ideas that we have when we meet someone. Of course, when James talks about someone coming into our fellowship, what do we think the first time we see them? How do we respond to them? Do we respond to them, you know, with joy that they're there, welcoming them, even if they there's something about them, whether it's look, whether it's dress, whether it's age, whether it's, you know, whatever it might be, you know, disability, whatever, do we treat them as we are so happy to have them there that God called them and they're part of who we are. And that's something we have to work out, work on, because we all have those, you know, those judgments in our mind that we need to clear out and love everyone, you know, the way to God and be impartial everyone, the way to God the Father and Jesus Christ is. And then, of course, the last part, you know, of chapter two, we talked about faith. And the misconception in the world, of course, is that if you have faith, it's enough, it's enough that you just believe. But James, you know, makes it very clear that if we don't have faith, if we don't have works to go along with our faith, then our faith is lifeless.

And so, we know that as we believe, God expects us to bear fruit and God expects us to do things. And Ephesians 2.10, you know, tells us that we are created in Christ Jesus for good works. So as we end in chapter two, you know, that's where James has us. He has us looking at ourselves.

He has us looking at our lives and looking, you know, where do we go? Where do we go from here? If we think, if we think we're matured, look what more we have to do as we ask our honest questions, ask ourselves these honest questions about where we can be when we measure ourselves against Jesus Christ and not against each other or what we used to be. So let me pause there. Let me pause there for a moment. And, you know, if there's any observations, comments, anything that missed that you found in chapter two that you would like to bring up, we could take a minute or two here to discuss that. And again, whenever through the Bible study, if you have a thought come to mind, feel free to just chime in. So anything? Okay. Yeah, Frank Donovan. Yes, Frank. Hello. Hi. Sorry, we had trouble getting in, but I just wanted to pass the question about how we had the difference between loving somebody, showing outgoing concern, and liking them. Liking a person, hitting off a relationship versus showing outgoing concern to a person that you're not hitting it off with. It seems to be a distinction. Okay. You know, God tells us to love a brethren, so that to me is my understanding is to show outgoing concern by to like the person in the sense of, you know, hitting it off with somebody with personalities and temperaments.

Mm-hmm. You know, you're right. He does say love everyone, even our enemies, right? He says, pray for our enemies, even. That's someone we're not hitting it off with for sure. You know, our job is to have agape with everyone. I know what you're talking about, though. There's some people we just have kind of a natural affinity with and others, you know, there may be... I would hate to think there's differences of opinion because the Spirit binds us, and as we mature, we get...

we're closer together as family. But, you know, I know even among family members, you know, there's you know, there's, you know, cousins that you like better than other cousins because you just kind of mesh and have the same interest in everything like that. But we have to show... we have to show concern for everyone, right? I mean, not just those we like. It's the good Samaritan, you know, tells us that. It's like not even the people we don't know. If we need someone... if someone needs to help, our job is to... our job is to help them. So certainly, Matthew 25 speaks to that as well. How Christ shepherds... separates the sheep from the goats. It's not just the people we like, but anyone. Even, you know, he says, I was in prison and you visited me. I was naked and you clothed me. I was hungry and you fed me. I was thirsty and you gave me water. That's not just the people we like. That's the attitude we have for whenever we see a need. Okay, good. Okay.

Any other follow-up on that? Or anyone? Okay, well then let's look at chapter... well, let's go to James 1.26. I want to preface chapter 3 with 1.26 because, you know, James, as he constructs the letter, and it was inspired by God, of course, you know, he hits on things and then later comes back and talks about him in more detail.

And then after he does that, he comes back and he revisits something that he's talked about before. So he kind of keeps it in mind for us what he's talked about, what he's instructing us in, and then a kind of a reminder a little bit later of what we've talked about as we tie the whole letter together.

Because remember when he wrote this epistle, they weren't getting it one chapter at a time and they weren't studying it one chapter at a time. They sat down and they read it all. And, you know, we're going to take it one chapter at a time because he hits good points here. But in chapter one in verse 26, it says, if anyone among you thinks he is religious, I know. So it's a matter of what do we think about ourselves? Do we really think we're strong in the faith?

If we look at ourselves and there's a time we could look at ourselves and say, you know, I had grown. Those things that used to do those things that used to throw me off, of course, don't bother me anymore. I'm not tempted. I'm not enticed by those anymore. Maybe I have a better control of my anger than I did five years ago. And it's good that we see the progress in that. That's God's Holy Spirit working. We don't want to get too boastful or think, you know, that we're untouchable because we learn that if that's the case, we certainly, you know, will fall.

But he says, if anyone among you thinks he's religious and doesn't bridle his tongue, he deceives his own heart, but deceives his own heart. This one's religion is useless. So he makes quite a statement there because he goes, you know what? You might have been displaying some self-control in a number of areas. You might have overcome a lot of the sins that do so easily beset, as it says in Hebrews 12.1. But boy, if you don't have control over your tongue, then your religion is useless.

So no matter how many things we've overcome, you know, there's this issue of what we say and how we say it and how we present to people. That's an issue that you and I are going to wrestle with for the rest of our lives. It is an unruly little organ there in our in our mouths. That's a window into window into our attitude, a window into our hearts, if you will, as Jesus Christ says.

So as we go to James 3, bearing that in mind, you know, if anyone thinks he's religious and if he doesn't bridle his own tongue, you know, we got a problem. So let's look at chapter 3 and verse 1 then. We know where he's going because there's two major things in chapter 3 that James is going to talk about. The tongue is one, and then the difference between earthly wisdom and godly wisdom is the last six verses of it.

But in verse 1 he says, "'My brethren, let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment.'" And as he transitions from faith into the concept of what we do, what we say, and how we're going to be monitored or measured by the words that we speak, he opens it up by saying, "'Don't let many of you be teachers.'" And that's, you know, that's something that I know everyone that has ever spoken in church. I think parents should certainly be taking that, you know, responsibly if we teach Sabbath school, if we teach teens at church.

Do we, you know, are we taking, are we taking being a teacher seriously? You know, certainly I do, and I know God is talking, you know, talking about what we preach, and I know I, you know, I often tell him and ask him, I would rather die than ever preach anything that is misleading or wrong.

And I ask him that because that my job here is to just help people understand the Bible. You know, not my ideas, not my interpretation of it, but his interpretation. But he says, don't let many of you become teachers, because there is an accountability, there's a responsibility that goes along with it.

And, you know, we can look at, we can look at, you know, the teachers, certainly, you know, you can mark on, if you're taking notes, you know, in Ezekiel 34, I'm not going to turn to Ezekiel 34, but, you know, God, God takes the task, the shepherds of the world and how they've led his people astray, and how they haven't fed them the good food, that they haven't led them by still waters. And the sheep are scattered all over the place.

And Jesus Christ, the good shepherd, when he comes back, is going to have to gather them all together and comfort them and bring them back as one again, because the people that were supposed to be doing that didn't do it right. Let's go back to Matthew 23. Let's just talk about teachers for a moment, because, of course, in Christ's days, they had teachers. We know teachers, you know, we have teachers, but he takes the teachers of his day to task, you know, the Pharisees, if you will, and the people who were the religious leaders of that day.

Now, if we're over here in Matthew 23, and in verse 13, you know, here's, you know, Christ is speaking very, very directly to the Pharisees at this point. He's just not holding anything back. He's kind of telling them the truth and who, you know, who they are and what they do. In verse 13, he says, Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men, for you neither go in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in. So see what he says.

So then he goes, listen, do you know what you're doing? You're shutting these people out of the kingdom of God. You're not teaching the truth to them. You're not, you're not leading them to God. You're not helping them to become who they need to become and teaching them the truth of God so that they can enter into the kingdom. You're not doing that at all.

In fact, he says, the way you behave and the way you're doing things, you're shutting up the way to them. If they're following you and listening to you, they're not going to be in the kingdom of God. And he says, and he says, and furthermore, you're not going to go in. You're not going to go in and you're preventing those who were wanting to go in, those who were following Jesus Christ at that point who were coming to understand and listen to his words.

They were against him. They wanted to put, they wanted to silence them. They wanted Christ dead. They would have liked to have had all his disciples dead. So he has some pretty harsh words for those people, the teachers of that day, that we need to, you know, we need to take to heart as well.

We don't want to be ones that God ever says, you know, you didn't show them. You didn't lead them by the still waters. You didn't lead them to green pasture. You didn't help them along on the road to the kingdom of God. You were supposed to be leading them to me, leading them as I lead you to where their ultimate goal was. And by the way, you know, by the way, if our attitudes get like the Pharisees, then we're not going to be there either. And those that come in that God is called, we're shutting up the way for them as well.

So, you know, he gives us some pretty strong warning here about the teachers of that day. Let me, I won't pause, let's go back to verse 10, you know, because, you know, James says, don't let not many of you be called teachers. Here in verse 10, Christ specifically says, don't be called teachers, for one is your teacher, the Christ.

Don't be called teachers, for one is your teacher, the Christ.

Now, I'm going to turn to 1 Timothy 3.1, I'll quote it for you. You know, it says, it's Timothy Hall and his instructions to Timothy, a young minister said, if anyone desires, desires to be the office of a bishop, he desires a good work.

And we might just know, how do those things reconcile? How could Christ say, don't be called teachers, let none of you be called teachers. And yet, yet Paul says, hey, if anyone desires the work of a bishop, he desires a good work. Anyone have any thoughts on that? Why would we have that contrast and this attention on teachers and what we do? Okay, well, does someone make any comment? Okay, well, you know, let's go back and let's read the context here as Jesus Christ says. Let's go back to verse five and see what he says and what the teachers of that day were doing, because there's a danger, you know, to all of us, because we all have to look at ourselves as teachers. You know, it may not be the words that we speak. We may not all get up in front of the congregation and lead in prayer or sermonettes or sermons or teach a Bible study, a teen Bible study or a Sabbath school class, but, you know, we have kids at home and we're teaching them. And we have, you know, we teach by our example, too, because we've got to walk the walk and talk the talk. If they're not in concert, then we're discrediting, you know, the Word of God. In verse 5 of Matthew 23, and Christ says, He says, all there, speaking of the Pharisees, you know, the people that He was following teaches, then all their works they do to be seen by men. They make their phylacteries broad and enlarge the borders of their garments. They love the best places at feasts, the best seats in the synagogues, greetings in the marketplaces, and to be called by men, rabbi, rabbi.

So what was the motivating force, if you will, that was among those Pharisees that Christ is talking about? Did they have a tremendous desire to lead the people to God? Was that their motivating force? Is that why they were there as so-called teachers of that day? Or was there something else that was driving them?

There is a verse where Christ says of them, and anyone who would put that attitude, that that is their glory, being seen by men. I can't remember exactly where it is right now. I didn't look for it either, but just paraphrase it. Yep. And that's what they were designed to do.

Right. It was pride that was driving them, right? They saw those positions as power positions. I get to tell you what to do. And hey, look at me. I'm the one who is preeminent among you. I'm a select one and whatever. And Christ said, that's what drives them. So they're called rabbi. They love those titles. They love all those things that goes on with it. But he goes on, and he says, you know, as he says, you know, don't be called.

Don't be called rabbi, because they had a picture of what a rabbi was. That's what a rabbi was to them. These people who love the chief seats and everyone bowing down to them and being able to tell everyone, you do this, you do that, you do that, and all the things that they bound on people. You don't be called rabbi, for one is your teacher, and you are a brethren.

Don't call anyone on earth your father. One is your father who's in heaven. And don't be called teachers, he says. One is your teacher. And verse 11, he shows the difference. But he who is greatest among you shall be your servant.

So, you know, in Christ, he was the greatest teacher of all. And yet, look what he did. He came to serve mankind in the ultimate way possible by giving his life for them. And he says to those, you know, understand the calling. It's not for the greetings in the marketplace. It's not for this. It's not for that. It's not for the glory that you're going to feel that you have to yourself.

It's not so you can puff yourself up and say, wow, aren't I great? It's to serve. That's what it is that you need to be when you are in that role. And so, James says, you know, the way of the world is different than the way of God. And there's a responsibility that goes along with it. And it's our jobs to follow the way Christ did. He was the greatest teacher of all, and yet he was the greatest servant of all. And so, you know, we need to understand God's way.

We absolutely need to be following God's lead with the Holy Spirit and asking Him for the words and the understanding to teach what He wants taught. But to have that humility that must come with being a teacher. You know, let's do go over to 1 Timothy and see, you know, what Paul, you know, as he's preaching or as he's teaching Timothy about the office of the bishop, you know, what he says, because we'll see that he comes down to the same conclusion as well.

In 1 Timothy 3 and verse 1, it says, this is a faithful saying, if a man desires the position of the bishop, an overseer, if you will, a shepherd, desires a good work. Now, he knows he says a good work. There's work that's associated with it, not a position, not something to be upheld as well.

He desires a good work. And then he goes through and he says, you know, you got to be living, you got to be living God's way. A bishop must be blameless, the husband of one wife. He must be temperate. He must be sober minded.

He must be a good behavior. He must be hospitable. He must be able to teach. He must not be given to wine. Don't be violent. Must not be greedy for money. Must be gentle, not quarrelsome, not covetous. One who rules his own house well, having his children in submission with all reverence. So what he says is, okay, well, here's the qualifications.

You've got to be, you've got to only not only be talking the talk, you got to be walking the walk. Your life has to demonstrate the way of God, you know, you have to be when we look at you and we look around, think, you know what, you are an example of God's way of life. Again, none of us are perfect. Not every single one of us are going to do all these things perfectly. But certainly, when you look at someone's life and the life of a true Christian, there's progress being made.

And then he comes down to verse 6 and he says, you know, when you're, when he says, Ari, don't let it be a novice. Don't let it be someone new, right? Because there's times we know that we grow through life. You know, we are infants as we are baptized and we begin to walk with Christ. We mature just like our children do. You know, they crawl, they walk, they talk, they go to school, they learn things, they become eventually mature, responsible, you know, adults.

And it's the same process with us spiritually. He says, not another novice, lest being puffed up with pride, he fall into the same condemnation as the devil. So he says, you know, before anyone qualifies that, be on the lookout for that because the pride is what marked those Pharisees.

That was kind of their motivating or their driving force in their role as teacher. And he says, you know, kind of watch someone because as we mature, you know, the humility should be there. You know, the the others' orientation, the agape orientation, you know, should be there in some of us as a teacher.

So probably with all those things in mind, right, or certainly some of those things in mind, James begins a chapter or a part of this letter where he's going to be talking about the tongue, you know, and I guess probably the thing the teachers are most known for are their teaching. You know, we go to school, our teachers taught, you know, they talked, they talked about it. We go to church and the teachers, you know, they're giving sermonists and sermons, they're talking at us. So as he begins the topic on talking, he says, you know, don't let, you know, hey, their teachers have many words, but, you know, not many of you do there because there's an accountability with those words, whether they're giving up and, you know, at a pulpit or whether they're given, you know, whether they're given in casual conversation as well. So let's let me pause there and ask if there's any comments, questions or whatever, and then we'll go back to and continue on with James 3. Okay, go ahead. Go ahead. Um, John 41 verse 34, um, the description of Leviathan and how, um, you know, in the same verses earlier, it said, um, God resists the proud. It says that Leviathan are alike to, on just the adversary, is the king of the children of pride. So when you, when you mentioned that, um, in verse six, it goes right back to that verse also. There we go. Come together. Yep. Pride, pride is a, is something throughout the Bible. Of course, that's pride defines Satan and that's his thing, and that's what we're constantly battling against. Okay, let's go to verse two of chapter three, James. So he says, now let many of you be teachers, for we all stumble in many things, you know, and he includes himself in that. None of us are perfect. You know, we do, we make mistakes along the way. You know, we sin along the way. You know, our children, when they're learning to walk, they stumble along the way, but they get up and they walk again, right? They keep trying, and then eventually they get it, and we do the same thing. We repent, we go on, and we learn to walk with God. We all stumble in many things. If anyone doesn't stumble in word, in word, he's a perfect man. And there's that word perfect. He's a mature man. If anyone never stumbles in words, right? I mean, I don't know if we even go through one day without stumbling in words. I, you know, I wonder, I wonder. But he says, if anyone doesn't stumble in word, and he's a perfect man, able also to bridle the whole body. And kind of what he's saying there is, you know, you can have your whole body under subjection. You may have conquered every lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, I guess, pride of life type issue, anything that has to do with the body.

And he's asking, you know, but what about your words? What about your speech? What do you, what do you say? Is every word perfect? I mean, there's only been one man on earth who's, every word has been perfect. And that's Jesus Christ, you know, we know none of us have, have, have, you know, ushered, uttered every word perfectly, and probably even, probably even today, right? So, you know, I commented this afternoon that, you know, it would be interesting, it'd be interesting if we could play back or if God would play back to us at the end of the day, every word, you know, we, we said. So, kind of we could see, see the context of it, how we responded. Someone this afternoon mentioned, you know, our body language, our tone of voice plays into this as well. How do we come across? And I remember when I was in college, and it was before the days of computers and, you know, Zoom and everything we had today. And I remember in our speech class, you know, one time the professor brought in a camera and he was going to videotape everyone giving the speech because he made the comment, you know, we will be our best evaluators, but you can't evaluate yourself until you see yourself. And he was absolutely right. It was kind of mortifying, you know, when you're not used to seeing yourself and then you're, you give a speech and then it's played back. He didn't have to have anyone else tell you. You kind of saw mannerisms that he didn't like. You saw where he stumbled in words and, and, and thought, nope, next time, you know, I can't do this. I can't do um, um, all those things. And if God, if we had the opportunity to replay every word we say to each other, to our spouse and to our kids during the day, I wonder how much we would learn about how our words are and how much we have to grow, you know, in this area that James is about to talk on, talk about here. So in verses three and four, you know, he gives some examples. James is very good, as Christ was, about giving us just pictures of what this tongue in our body and our language and the way we talk and the words we say, you know, uh, the way they are. He says in verse three, indeed, we put bits in horses' mouths that they may obey us, and we turn their whole body. And I would guess probably everyone here, or most everyone has probably ridden the horse at some time, or at least you've seen movies of them, and here's this majestic horse. It can run so fast and, and it could, you know, it could be wild. And we know in the wild, you know, they eventually get tamed, and when they're domesticated, they're marvelous creatures.

Just this little thing in their mouth, you know, when you're riding a horse, you just, it'll go right, it'll go left, it'll stop. Just by doing this little thing in its mouth, and this, this huge, you know, this huge animal will just obey and do what this little thing in his mouth, he's been trained to do. Then he talks about ships, you know, look at ships. Although they're so large and are driven by fierce winds, they're turned by a very small rudder wherever the pilot desires. You know, the largest ships that are out there on the ocean, it's just a little rudder. I mean, it's not this magnitude, huge thing that turns those cruise liners that are out there on the ocean. It's just this very small thing, and the captain turns it, the boat goes right, the boat goes left, it goes straight ahead. It just does what he says, just a very small member, and yet the direction is set. The direction is set by the captain and the one who's driving those things. And so as he gives us these two examples, he says, even so the tongue is a little number, and it boasts great things. It's a little number. It's just there, a little thing in our mouth. I mean, you know, not big at all, and yet it boasts great things. And he finishes, or what we have in that verse, see how great a forest a little fire kindles. And you know, we can pause because we've all been in the situations where maybe someone else, and certainly in our lifetimes, we've been able to set the world on fire, or the world around us and the people around us, by the words that we say, you know, the tone that we use, the things that may come out of our mouth in a time of stress, in a time of frustration, in a time of anger, you know, or a time, a time when we don't like what we're being told, and we respond rather than thinking about it and taking the heart and seeing, you know, could this be so? And we know that we've set the world on fire, you know, maybe with our kids, maybe with our spouse, maybe with our friends, family members, at some time in our life, just that little tongue, the little things that come out of our mouths, you know, at such and such a time, can be such a thing that just sets the world on fire. And so, you know, so James sets the tone here for what he's going to talk about, and to highlight for us just how important it is in our spiritual maturity, that we may have a lot of other things. We may show the greatest self-control in resisting whatever temptation that used to mess us up, in whatever addiction that we might have had before, that we have overcome. But that self-control often, or has not yet, you know, gotten to the point where we've been able to control our words. So let me pause there, and let me ask if there's any questions. Then I want to go to a few verses in Proverbs here, because Proverbs, the book of Proverbs, has an awfully lot to say about, you know, our tongues, what we say, and how we say it, and the difference between those who speak with wisdom and those who speak without wisdom. So let me pause here for a moment and see if there's anything that anyone wants to say. Okay, well, let's go back to the book of Proverbs here for a second.

I don't have any more than a second, but let's start off in Proverbs 26.

I'm not going to, by any means, talk about every verse in the book of Proverbs that talks about words, you know, that we speak. There you could do a whole catalog of those verses in Proverbs.

Let's look at chapter 26 and verse 18. It says, Well, we just read about, you know, the tongue setting on fire, you know, someone. And sometimes, that fire, as you say here, you know, someone may, you know, all of us have had practical jokes played on us. All of us have prayed practical jokes. Sometimes, you know, those practical jokes go too far. And we really think it's something that is really happening or something that's simply designed to tempt us and to lead us into frustration or an outburst of some kind.

And then that's, you know, we need to learn to control ourselves. But here he's saying, like a man-man who throws firebrands. Here's someone who's setting the person that he's doing this to on fire, like a man-man who throws firebrands, arrows, and death is the man who deceives his neighbor and says, I was only joking. Got the rise out of him that he wanted, right? And then, after he sees him all upset and flustered and saying things that he can only regret later on and never would have said if he had known it was a joke, you know, I was only joking. And that's a tough thing. That's a tough thing if we've ever had that happen to us. It's embarrassing and shame on us, you know. We should never do that. We should never be people who would take someone and set them on fire to kind of lure them into having, you know, a barrage of words and feelings come out of their mouth. Okay, let's back up to Proverbs 10. Proverbs 10 and verse 19. You know, it says, in the multitude of words, sin is not lacking. And isn't that true? You know, sometimes we talk and we talk and we talk and we talk and we talk and we just keep talking. In the multitude of words, sin is not lacking. And sometimes when we just keep talking, you know, eventually we're going to say something that we regret later. You know, divulging some secret that we shouldn't have done, maybe exaggerating some accomplishment or something that we've done, you know, maybe misleading or giving our idea or opinion about something that's going on or a person or whatever. In the multitude of words, sin is not lacking. But he who restrains his lips is wise. He who has the self-control to think, I've said enough, I've said enough, it's time to just stop talking. You know, I can't go any further. And that's hard to do. That's hard to do, isn't it, sometimes? Sometimes we're on a roll and, you know, we can talk and we can talk and we talk and it's like it's hard to make ourselves just stop. We just keep going. And we remember what we talked about back in chapter one about what, you know, what the wisdom of God is. And, you know, we'll talk about that here a little bit in chapter three later. But he who has the self-control to restrain his lips is wise. The tongue of the righteous is choice silver. It's profitable to those who are listening. It builds them up. They feel good. They feel good in the right sense of the word. I mean, not every, not everything we're going to say to someone is going to be, you know, the flowery pad on the back, you're doing a great job. There's, there's certainly times for that and everything, but there's times also for correction that we all, all face as well. But the tongue of the righteous is choice silver. It's profitable for that person, just like the trials that God sends us, sends our way are profitable to us. The tongue of the righteous is choice silver. The heart of the wicked is worth little. I remember Christ said, the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. So sometimes when we're talking to someone, we hear the words, we say, we think, well, I can't really, I can't, I can't gather. I can't really glean anything from those words. They're not based in, in what, you know, they need to be based in. The tongue of the righteous is choice silver, but the heart of the wicked is worth little.

The lips of the righteous feed many, but fools die for lack of wisdom. And remember, remember, you know, we talk about wisdom, there's knowledge, but the proper application of the knowledge that we, we gain from the Bible is, is that comes from God. You know, how we take, how we take, you know, the first book written in the first century AD, like the book of James, and apply it into the 21st century that we live in. You know, that takes the wisdom of God, that, that his spirit that helps us to see what the words James is talking about back then to a people that lived in a different time and different needs than you and I do, it still applies to us. So we can look at the Old Testament, and even though they were thousands of years ago, you know, we still learn those lessons, even though we live in a different time and a different economy and a different government than they did, all those lessons still apply, and that's where the wisdom is. And then, of course, what James tells us in verse one or chapter one is that we have to understand how it applies, but then we have to have the character to do those things and to apply that into our lives specifically. Okay, a couple chapters forward in Proverbs 12. Proverbs 12, verse 25.

You know, anxiety. Anxiety in the heart of a man causes depression. And you know, there are people that are anxious, you know, and some are disposed to that. You know, they just may be more anxious, they may have more concerns than others, and certainly we live in a time, you know, with this coronavirus going around that no one really knows what the truth is. It's somewhere out there, but it's mixed in with all the various ideas, opinions that people have, and all the videos that we look at, and that's just sent around that probably have some, there's a little bit of truth in all of them, but where the truth lies, you know, we don't know, but it can make some anxious is what it is. And we should be cautious, but anxiety in the heart of a man causes depression. You know, God wants us to learn not to worry, but have faith in Him, but a good word makes it glad. You know, there's a way that when we're dealing with someone who's anxious, that God can give us the words, and we need to learn how to comfort, you know, those who are in that state, to be able to make them glad. And that, the knowledge of how to do that, the words, you know, come from God, and from practice, and practicing, you know, control of our tongue during our lives as well. Okay, Proverbs 16.

Proverbs 16.

Verse 24, pleasant words are like a honeycomb. You know, when we say good things, and people say good things about us, and we say good things about, you know, each other to each other, yeah, it's good, it's nice to hear, you know, we're nice people. We want to say pleasant words. They're like honeycomb. They're sweet to the soul. They're health to the bones. It's good to have that. It's good for husbands and wives to complement each other and to think about the good things, right? Because sometimes, you know, we can be in stressful situations, and all we can think about is, you didn't do that right, you didn't do that right, and you know, this didn't go right, and whatever. But, you know, we have to be cautious about those things. And remember, they're all good qualities. And, you know, we have to edify each other. We have to edify each other through the words that we say. You know, as you read through collagions and Ephesians, it says, let correct communication flee from your mouth, but let everything be done to edify your brother. Well, that, you know, that includes the way that we speak as well. And finally, you know, I'll come back to a few more Proverbs later, but let's look at Proverbs 18 and verse 21.

You know, death and life, death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit. Death and life are in the power of the tongue.

You know, I read that. And, you know, later on in the chapter, James will talk about how there's poison that comes out of our mouths. And that brings death. And, you know, I guess going back to, you know, the first part of James two, when we were talking about, you know, someone new coming in as an example to our fellowship, into the congregation. What do we say to them? How do we approach them? You know, is it the welcoming, the from the heart welcoming and glad they're there, regardless of what we think about whatever it is that they present with that we may have a predisposed notion on that we control that and just are happy that God called that person into the fellowship and we welcome him as a brother and as someone, you know, a fellow person who is called, you know, or our words. If we say something to that person that he takes the wrong way, if it's judgmental or if he senses the judgmentalism in some way, is that the death of him? Does he never come back again? Have we sent him away because of the things that we said? There's power in the words, right? We don't even know, even taking it to a personal level, how many friendships have been destroyed because words got out of control. People accusing each other of this or that are just always bringing up something that's always irritating and our words can kill friendships. Death and life are in the power of the tongue and if we have, you know, so many people in the world get divorced. Man, what is it? How many? It's the words so often, right? It's the words that separate us, you know? When friends, you know, part company and they're no longer friends anymore, it's often it's the words. It's the words that have been spoken and they haven't been those settings of... how does it go? Those settings of those apples of gold and settings of silver, you know, as Paul says. So, you know, some have compared the book of James to Proverbs, that there's the New Testament wisdom that James is talking about that we need to pay attention to.

And, you know, certainly as you get to the tongue, it's backed up by a number of Proverbs. We'll come back to a few... Let me pause there, let me pause there and again ask if there's thoughts or anything that anyone like to say. Okay. Well, I'd like to just add to the thinking that there is a time for tough love, though. Sometimes words have got to be spoken that are true, even though they're not necessarily pleasant. You are absolutely right. That's where I was going to go next. Because there are, I mean, we can't be people who just say, hey, everything you're doing is great, da-da-da-da, right? I mean, part of our calling is... and part of all our lives, right? Whether it's from bosses that we work from in the world or whether it's in the church or whether it's from our spouse or family members, we all have to take correction. And none of us are perfect, and we are going to have words spoken to us that are going to... that are going to smart, right? No one wants to hear, well, you blew that, you're not handling that right, so you shouldn't be doing this instead. And there's a responsibility on the part of the one who's bringing that to us to be tactful, to be diplomatic, to be not doing it from a position of a, you know, pride and authority, but to bring something that will edify us and to build us up. Now, we have the responsibility. We have the responsibility if we see someone that's not progressing in the way, or we see something that they're not doing that they should be, to bring that to their attention. You know, we don't want to have someone, you know, fall away and then think, oh, maybe I should have said something. Maybe I should have gotten with them. There is, of course, the principle of the Bible that we have to, you know, help each other. And then James later on, you know, in fact, I think the concluding verse, if I remember right, yeah, the concluding verse of the book of James is, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone turns him back, let him know that he who turns the center from the era of his way will save a soul from death and cover a multitude of sins. There is that point in time where we're going to have to give words, you know, and we have to ask God, let them be done tactfully. Let your Holy Spirit be there, and they have to be received. And there's going to be times that we receive those words, too. So it's not always just pat on the back, doing a great job, right? It's everything. But all the words we speak, just like the words Christ spoke that were very, you know, very forthright and very direct to the Pharisees, they weren't there just because he was mad. They were there because they were there to edify and let the Pharisees know what you're doing, what you're doing is not right. And so when we receive correction, or when we give correction, or bring something to someone's attention, the words are there, you know, for the purpose of building us up and improving us and setting us on the way, you know, to the way that God would have us be. So yeah, Frank, good point. Good point. It's a variety of words, not just pleasant, but always edifying.

Okay, anyone else? Let's, okay, then let's go on. Let's go on in, um, where were we here?

Um, yeah, Mr. Shabey. Yes, go ahead. Yeah, I was just gonna add, when you think about Matthew 18, when we're told to go to our brother, it kind of puts in context the balance. If you're gonna do that, you gotta show love for your brother because of the whole purpose you're going, but it's a tough thing. So it shouldn't be something that's easy to where you're, you're just lashing out, putting someone down, being corrective for the sake of correction, but because you're trying to appeal to your brother. And I think that puts it all in a context. Yet they're tough words, but what's the spirit and the attitude behind it? Yep, very good. Excellent. Excellent. Excellent by Matthew 18, 15. And the end result of that is that brother becomes, we become brothers again, right? If both receive and do in the Holy Spirit, the end result is a oneness again. So, very good.

Okay, well, let's look at verse 6 then. You know, we talked about this little fire that we can kindle with our words, and it says that the tongue, now the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. The tongue is so said among our members that it defiles the whole body, and it sets on fire the course of nature, and it is set on fire by hell. I mean, again, you can't read those words any other way than the way James wrote them. Our words are powerful, and the carnal nature is ready at all times to just lash out and let, let someone have it. If we don't like what they're doing, if we don't like what they've said, if we don't like something about it, or if we're just mad that something didn't go the way we wanted, right, we can set that world on fire and say things that if we had played back later on in our life, we would just, we would understand just how, just how, I'm going to use the word, I can't tell how damning they are, you know, and how condemning of us they are, that we would use those words. And maybe sometimes we need to, you know, at the end of the day, play back some of those words that we say in our mind to think that I, did I handle that right? Did I come across well? And, you know, I'm talking about some of the interactions that come out of nowhere, not, not planned conversations, but the things in everyday life. But, you know, he talks about this and he taught, you know, this little, this little organ in our body, it can create a world of heart. And, you know, we've talked about some of those, those things. You know, I couldn't help as I was, you know, looking at verses five and six there.

You know, we're just a week away from Pentecost and, you know, all of us will be reading Acts 2, and we know when they were all in one place in one accord, the day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit came. You know, they heard the sound of a rushing, mighty wind. And then they had these, these tongues of fire on their head. It appeared on their heads. And I had to think about James here and what he's talking about. Our little tongues could set the world on fire. And the very same Greek word that's used here in James 3 verses 5 and 6's tongue is the very same word that Luke uses in Acts 2 when he's defining and describing those tongues of fire that were sitting on the, you know, the 120 that were assembled their heads. But look at the contrast. You know, our words from our carnal nature, you know, which all of us still mess up, right? We still, we still do it. And look at the fire and the devastation of the fires that we set. And what our intent is with some of the words that we say is to destroy and to just level people and to, and to decimate them like a raging, like a raging fire that might go through, you know, like the wildfires that we hear about on TV. Yet the fire, the fire of Acts 2, you know, it was going to ignite fires as well in those people, but those fires are going to be fires of zeal and excitement and determination and commitment to God that would all work toward good. You know, later on in Acts, it says that those disciples and the apostles, they set the world up, they turned the world upside down. So even, even in the tongues and fire, when it's our carnal nature, they can destroy, but when they're of God and the symbolism that he gave there in Acts 2 and what happened on that day that was recorded for us, they set the world on fire. And of course we know in, you know, in Acts 2 the languages that were spoken during that time. So I don't know, I just thought that was something interesting to think about as we look at verses 5 and 6. So, let's go, let's go on again. Anytime someone's got something to say, feel free. Verse 7, it says, For every kind of beast and bird of reptile and creature of the sea is tamed and has been tamed by mankind. And every one of them, I think we've just kind of marveled at people who have the patience to tame lions and, you know, tame tigers and, you know, we see how they've tamed the dolphins and tamed the whales and whatever. God says everything, everything, every beast can be tamed. And, but he, to finish, James makes kind of a pretty black and white comment here as he puts that picture in our mind. In verse 8 he says, But no man can tame the tongue.

And all those wild beasts, those lions, tigers, you know, even snakes, right? I don't know if anyone's ever tamed a snake, I suppose they have, but all those things can be tamed. But no man, no man, well really only one man, right? Only one man ever tamed the tongue. That was Jesus Christ, but no man can tame the tongue. That means it's impossible for you and you and I to tame the tongue. The only way we can do it is with God's Holy Spirit, the only way that we can do it. And that's something we're going to have to work on and deal with the rest of our lives. We're all going to stumble, as James says, and we're going to have to pick ourselves up. We're going to have to learn what we did. We're going to have to learn what those trigger points are in our lives and say, okay, I responded to that trigger point in the incorrect way. The next time that trigger comes, it's going to have to be a different response. Maybe I'm a little slower to speech the next time around. Maybe I'm a little slower to wrath and I'm a little swifter to hear and contemplate on what's being said to me and what's just happened, rather than just come out with an automatic, you know, retort of some kind. You know, James is giving us some life principles here, and the things that we have to do as we work with things. So, you know, just as I'm thinking here, I don't see... Back before the coronavirus thing, there was a sermonette given in Jackson, though I thought it was a really good sermonette, and the person was talking about how we react, you know, to words, you know, and how we react to correction.

And God learns a lot about us by the way we respond to, you know, a Matthew 15, 1815 type incident when someone brings something to our attention. And it's done for the right reasons and is as into edifiers. And we reveal a lot about ourselves, you know, where we are in our spiritual maturity by the way we respond to those situations. Again, I don't think any of us, you know, don't feel the hair on the back of our our next rise a little bit when someone wants to challenge us on something or say that, you know, you haven't done this right. But where's our maturity level? Because for someone to bring something to our attention, there's something there we need to respond to. You know, the sermonette was very good and it talked about how, you know, God learns a lot about us in those times. And so we are going to face, you know, we're going to face those times, all of us, where we are corrected in some way. How do we respond?

And of course, the stature that we emulate is Jesus Christ. He was there as they were accusing Him falsely of everything under the sun, right, as He was there before the Sanhedrin after the Passover, falsely accusing Him of everything. And any one of us in that situation, you know, we would have been the natural thing would be to say, you're lying, I never did that, let me explain what really happened, this is my side of the story, da-da-da-da-da. But even Pilate marveled, because what did Christ do? He said nothing. He said nothing. Of course, that was the will, that was the plan of God that these things were going to happen. But He had such control of His mind that He said nothing. And sometimes we just have to learn to say nothing, right? We have to learn to say nothing and just contemplate what's being said. Because if we retort back, boy, we can, you know, if we retort back, we might show, we might show who we are, we might show where in our spiritual maturity we lie. And we certainly are showing the others that may be hearing it and the person who's there with they, we're kind of showing, we're kind of showing them what we're about. Hopefully later we go back and we repent and say, wow, that wasn't the thing at all. Because sometimes our retorts and our replies and our our justifications are all about pride, all about justifying self. And when we, what this, what this, what this, it's, you know, it's, it's, it's, it's a different, it's a different thing. Let's um...

Let's go to a couple proverbs here. And again, while we're turning to proverbs, if anyone has anything to say, they're more than welcome. Let's look at a couple proverbs in this regard. Proverbs 17. Proverbs 17.

Proverbs 17 verse 10. Rebuke. Again, there's a word none of us want to hear. Rebuke is more effective for a wise man than a hundred blows on a fool. Again, we recall what is a wise man? Who is a wise man? What is the wisdom of God? We'll talk about it a little bit. Rebuke is more effective for a wise man. He will learn from that. He will take it into account. He will, he will adjust his ways to what he sees in the Bible. Rebuke is more effective for a wise man than a hundred blows on a fool. Verse 27. Verse 27. He who has knowledge, this is going off in a different, well, not really. He who has knowledge spares his words. He knows a lot, but he's not going to sit there and he's not going to just talk and talk and talk and be motivated by the time to speak, of course. But he who has knowledge spares his words. He's not there just to make a show of himself of how much he knows and everything like that. He who has knowledge spares his words, and a man of understanding is of a calm spirit. Again, notable of Jesus Christ, he was calm. Through all the things that he went through in the trials he went through, he was calm. And God gives us a calmness, and the spirit in him is going to be calm. We're slow to wrath. We're slow to words.

We're swift to hear because we're here to learn and become who he wants us to become.

Verse 28. Even a fool is counted wise when he holds his peace. Well, it shows I can keep my mouth shut. And when someone doesn't retort back, when they don't unleash a barrage of words in a tough situation, we think, oh, okay, there is something there. They're getting it. They must be processing. Even a fool is counted wise when he holds his peace. When he shuts his lips, he's considered perceptive. So sometimes we need to look at that. And in a situation that may not always be pleasant, how do we handle that? What do we do? Not, not fakely, because not as a hypocrite, but learning how to just these things come. And they become us as we grow and as we stumble and as we pick ourselves up and as we walk again and learn from our mistakes to become more and more in word and deed and attitude like Jesus Christ. Proverbs 18. Proverbs 18 and verse 2.

A fool has no delight in understanding. You know, sometimes I, you know, and I, I, you know, when I've had to deal with people, you know, at work and whatever, I think they don't really want to understand. They just want to, they just want to tell me how good they are. They just want to tell me how they did everything right and everything else I've heard is wrong. A fool has no delight in understanding. They don't want to see where it comes from, but in expressing his own heart. All they want to say is, you know what, I'm, I'm a okay. I want to hear about it. Don't need any of the things. You got it all wrong. I'm, I'm, you know, I'm, I'm a good guy and whatever, and I don't have to listen to do this. A fool has no delight in understanding, and that sometimes comes from a non-, you know, what we might consider an unpleasant situation, but he is interested in expressing his own heart. He just wants to convince you that he's right, that he doesn't have to listen to what you have to say. That's not, that's not the attitude of a wise man, you know, as James would define, as we'll talk about here in a little bit. And down in verse 6, you know, verses 6-8, among many more that we could talk about, but I'll not do any more in, in, in Proverbs here. 18-6, a fool's lips enter into contention. And sometimes in words, when words come out, all of a sudden you've got a contest. All of a sudden you've got conflict, you know. We've said one thing, but whoa, that isn't the words that we expected, and all of a sudden we're battling each other. You know, that's, that's not the way of God. Matthew 18, 15 pictures, uh, when both have the same spirit, when both are headed toward the right direction, brothers, there's oneness. But a fool's lips enter into contention. There's strife, there's division, there's separation, there's all these things that are not of God, but there are these things of, of, of Satan. A fool's lips enter into contention, and his mouth calls for blows. I'm gonna, I'm here to fight, man. I'm not here to, I'm not here to bond. I'm not here to admit. I'm not here to learn. I'm here, I'm here to battle. A fool's lips enter into contention, and his mouth calls for blows. A fool's mouth is his instruction. Man, it's a, it's a window into our heart. A fool's mouth is his instruction. We've got to learn to control that, but we also have to have our heart working in the right direction as well, and not be teachers and people like those Pharisees were, but the humble people and teachable people that God calls us to be. A fool's mouth is his destruction, and his lips are the snare of his soul. His lips are the snare of his soul. Death and life are in the power of the tongue, James says. And I'll pause there for a moment as we turn back to James 3.

As we turn back to James 3, I'm making sure what our time is here. Let me get back to James.

Okay, James 3. Okay, we finished verse 8. James makes this, this, this black and white statement, No man can tame the tongue. It is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. Full of deadly poison. And then he gives us in verses 9 to 12 just the contrast, you know, what our tongues are. They're good and evil. I mean, exactly what the, you know, the tree of knowledge of evil, good and evil. With it in verse 9, we bless our God and Father. That's good. And with it we curse men who have been made in the similitude of God. And that's the evil. Out of the same mouth, proceed blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be so. Well, we have to grow. If anyone thinks he's religious, if anyone thinks he's worshiping God, he says, Think on these things. Pay attention to this. We still have a lot to learn. Out of the same mouth, verse 11, does a spring send forth fresh water and bitter from the same opening? Can a fig tree, my brethren, bear olives or a grapevine bear figs? This, thus no spring, yields both salt water and fresh. None of them do. And yet the tongue does that. It is our bastion of good and evil. And it's our job, you know, as God leads us and as his Holy Spirit is in us, to be working on all those things that we need to overcome, but learning the power of the tongue and learning the destructive power of it and weeding that out of our lives. So when we read it, Ephesians, let no corrupt communication come out of your mouth.

Maybe just not, that's not the words that we might use, the filthy language and, you know, the ones that take God's name in vain, but no corrupt communication come out of our mouth. But let everything be done with edification. It's a goal for all of us and none of us. None of us are there, and I include myself in that because, you know, I go to sleep at night sometimes and I think of things that I may have said and it's like, nope, you know what? I need to apologize for this and I need to maybe make a phone call if I said something in error and, you know, correct those words. And it's good for us to rehearse, you know, what we say. Not only the word is known as well. Ask God if you're with me.

Yeah. Someone want to comment?

Yeah. Uh, Christine was stating the verse, I think. I don't know if it's in where Matthew, but it was where Christ said, under the heart, these things proceed and defile on us. So we have to, with God's work on our heart, our mind, with the washing of God's Word. Exactly. Exactly.

Yeah. When those things happen, we know that maybe God's laws and His mind are not in us as firmly implanted as we thought they were. We learn we still have more of ourselves that has to be weeded out. Yeah. Yeah. Matthew 15, APM. Yeah. Yep. I'll, you know, I have written down here in my notes too, Matthew 12, 35 to 37. You know, I talked about it last week, but when Christ says, you know, every idle word that we speak, we're going to be held accountable for. And if we kept that in our minds, you know, maybe thought of that before some words came out of our mind, we might, we might, we might think twice before some of the words that we would say. So, so.

Okay. So, you know, we've, we've, we finished what he's going to talk about, about, you know, what we say in the tongue, but he's told us an awfully loud in those first 12 verses as, as he's speaking to us. And then he transitions over to wisdom, which is a natural transition from the tongue, because what we say, as we've seen in Proverbs is, you know, the wise man will say this, the fool who isn't so wise is going to say these things, the wise will, will grow toward oneness where the not so wise will cause separation, division, etc., etc., etc. So he asks in verse 13, a transition question, who's wise and understanding among you? You know, given all this, and, you know, as people would read this, and as we read it, we think, well, you know, maybe I'm not as wise and understanding as I thought, why I got a lot to go. James has humbled us a little bit. Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show by good conduct that his works are done in the meekness of wisdom, that his works are done in the meekness of wisdom. You know, James says a lot in that verse. You know, the words in that verse may not be the way that we phrased it, and sometimes we've got to stop in the verse and tear it apart and contemplate it for a while to see what he's saying. But we have to, you know, like where he talks about the meekness of wisdom. You don't have to remember meekness, the world will say meekness is weakness, right? That we take anything, but meekness is not that. It's the Greek word pratous, you know, it's pratutase. It means really control under the power of the master, or power under the control of the master. You know, earlier we talked about horses, and when the Greeks would use pratous or pratutase and meekness, it would be like you have these wild horses, they're magnificent creatures, they have all this power. But when they're domesticated, when they're controlled, look what beneficial controllers, look what beneficial creatures they are. And yet, a man riding that horse, as powerful as that horse is, it just takes a little tug on what's in his mouth, the bit in his mouth, in order to get him to turn right and turn, you know, left and or stop. And so, you know, that's pratutase. And when God is our master, and we, you know, we have power from his Holy Spirit, but we're controlled by him, you know, we ask him to order our steps, order our, you know, guide our steps, order our day, you know, direct our words, you know, guide our words, and protect us from saying words that would be harmful or misleading. That his works are done in the meekness of wisdom, and then remembering that wisdom, you know, wisdom is that true knowledge of God that comes from the Bible, but then how to apply that into our lives. You know, let, you know, who's that wise and understanding person? Let him show by his good conduct how he conducts himself in all situations in life, the very pleasant and easy ones or the ones that are more stressful by his good conduct. His works are done in the meekness of wisdom. He's being guided by God, he's being guided by the Word of God, the Holy Spirit is there, and he is consciously, you know, throughout the day, you're asking God to guide him and lead him and direct everything that he does.

I mentioned this afternoon, and I'll mention it to you briefly, you know, my margin there mentions Galatians 6 verse 4 as a corollary verse to verse 13 there, and you might want to go back, you know, on your leisure time there and look at Galatians 6 verse 4. It's another one of those verses that when you read it, you're not going to know exactly what it means, right? But you might want to go into some of the commentaries and a variety of them and listen and see what like barns and Adam Clark and Matthew Henry and what some of those men say about that person tear it apart and see what he's saying in there. And, you know, there's a good message in Galatians 6, 4 as well, you know, that pertains to what we've talked about here in chapter 3 as well. But in verse 14, I'm doing a lot of talking, but, you know, I'm also looking at the time here and I want to get through chapter 3 here, so please feel free to break in any time you want. In verse 14, he gives us what the opposite of the meekness of wisdom is, right? He says, you know, let your works be done in the meekness of wisdom. And he says, but, but if you have better, bitter injury and self-seeking in your hearts, don't buy, boast, and lie against the truth. Well, you know, a bitter envy is in your heart. If you're, if you're, you know, the 10th commandment is there, if you're coveting this, if you're jealous of what this person has, if you're jealous of, you know, his, his job or his talent or his position or whatever it is you might envy, you know, if you've got bitter envy in your, your heart, then it's causing separation, you know, by you, and it's causing hard feelings between you and him, you know, don't let that be. Don't boast against your own heart. Don't lie and say, hey, I'm okay. Look into it deeply and see what it is, because that's not the meekness of wisdom. That's, that's the opposite of it. If you have bitter envy and self-seeking, and sometimes our responses, we got to look at them and say, man, is there pride? Is there pride in there? You know, one of the things that we've talked about, and that when you read books on pride from psychologists in the Bible alone, pride is not one thing we see. Often it has to be brought to our attention. Now, God will bring it to our attention, too, and as we examine ourselves, we can see where, you know, and all of us have that in us. You know, is it pride? Did I do that because of pride? Was I looking to justify self and put myself above other people? If you have bitter envy and self-seeking in your hearts, don't boast and lie against the truth. Don't minimize it. Don't cut it out and say, that's false. I don't have to hear that. That's crazy. Listen, listen, be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath, and be wise. Be wise. Verse 15, this wisdom, bitter envy, self-seeking, does not descend from above. It's not from God. It's earthly. It's sensual. It's demonic. It's carnal. It's the Romans, age seven. You know, the heart is deceitful above all things.

Or is that Jeremiah 17, 9? The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know what that is, Jeremiah 17 verse 9? So, you know, that's coming from our hearts, and that's the part of us that has to be, you know, rooted out. So, this wisdom doesn't come from God. This is earthly wisdom. This is carnal wisdom. This is the way humans respond. And when we do it, or when we hear it done, if we're part of the situation, we say that's not the wisdom of God.

That's the wisdom from the earth and from flesh. Or where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there. That's a pretty straightforward verse, too. And I read verse 16.

I read verse 16, and I think about the world we live in today, right? I mean, I listen to the news, and I marvel about all the different opinions that I could hear. You know, this one wants this, this one wants once. So, though this is the right way, no, that's the right way. No, my opinion is that, no, that's not right. This is the right way. I want to be what you have. You want to, I want you to have what I do. I want this, I want that. And you know what? It's all about envy. It's all about self-seeking. I'm better than you. I have to have my way. And look at the mess that we're in in this country. Just look at the mess we're in when we take the blangers off and look at it for what it is. Where envy and self-seeking exist, and that is the world we live in today. When we watch the news, and we listen to everything from every single side that we can listen to it from, that's what's there. And there's the confusion, and every, every, every evil thing are there. That's what the way of the world, that's what the wisdom of the world is, and that's what it leads to. The same thing that Satan is. Every evil thing is there. The confusion, and the self-seeking, and not the order, and the peace that God, that the wisdom of God would come to.

Okay? Verse 17. But, you know, that, that's one. He kind of defines for us in verse 15 and 16. If this is what's there, this is what you're being led by. But here's the wisdom that's from God. Here's what defines it. The wisdom that is from above is first pure. First pure.

And, and there's a reason, I think, that James, you know, he could have just said the wisdom that is from above is pure, peaceable, willing to yield, and all these things. But the word first is there in front of the word pure. And I think God inspired that for a reason. You know, when we think of the wisdom that's from above, as God begins to call us, and as we, our minds are open to the truth of God, you know, we might think, well, the very first thing that comes into our mind is knowledge, right?

We learn about, you know, wow, we've been taught, you know, Sunday isn't the Sabbath day, the Sabbath is the Sabbath day, and the Sabbath day is the Sabbath day. Wow, I was taught this, but no, and now I see that what God's will is that we do this and not that. But James writes, the wisdom that is from above is first pure. Let me, now, let me, let me give you what strong definition of the word pure is.

It comes from number 53, Greek 53. It's innocent, modest, there's that word perfect again, but it's not the same perfect as mature. Innocent, modest, chaste, clean, and pure. The wisdom that's from above is first pure. And let's, you know, let's, you know, one book later here in 1 Peter, we, you know, let's, let's look at that word pure and how it's translated here, or how it's used in some other places where the very same Greek word is.

Here in 1 Peter 3, you know, we have Peter talking to wives, right? And so, you know, husbands could say, oh, that's for wives, but, you know, we have to bear in mind when we read about wives, we're all, you know, our, our destiny and what our, what we're working toward is, you know, that we would be the firstfruits, the bride of Christ, that we all, we all, you know, will be a wife. So when we read these things about wives, they define us and what we have to be thinking about as well. And we help our wives who are in those situations today to develop those, those traits, because that's kind of what they do.

Wives, verse 1, he says, likewise, be submissive to your husbands, that even if some don't obey the word, they without a word may be won by the conduct of their wives. That, you know, what? They may not believe, they may not want to hear anything that you have to say about, about church, but they look at the way you live your life. I mean, you're, you're pure. You're, you're doing the things the Bible says. You're living your life the way that God said for a wife to live, and they look at that, and they marvel.

There's not the contention. There's not the constant arguing. There's not the constant bickering that goes on in a marriage that's not marked, you know, by the Holy Spirit. He says they may be won by the conduct of their wives because they think, wow, if, if she can be that way, you know, then I need to be that way too.

There's something to it. There's something going on with her, you know. Verse 2, when they observe your chaste conduct, accompanied by fear. There in verse 2, the same word translated pure in James 3 is chaste there in verse 2. When they observe your chaste conduct, accompanied by fear. Let's just look at it. I won't exhaustively, you know, go, but I mean, if there's any comments on any of these things, that's fine.

Let's look at 2 Corinthians, you know, another place that that same word is used. As you're turning to 2 Corinthians 7, you know, we read, we read these verses almost every, you know, Unleavened Bread season and, and probably other times during the year as well. Of course, 1 Corinthians, or 2 Corinthians 7, 11, refers back to 1 Corinthians 5, where we have the man we had to be put out of the church during the days of other, or at the time of the days of Unleavened Bread, and then he repented.

He repented, and he came back, and he was a man who was on fire, apparently. The people of the church did what, what Paul recommended for him to do, and it turned out exactly the way it should. You know, in verse 10 of 2 Corinthians says, he talks, and he talks about godly sorrow, producing repentance, leading to salvation. And in verse 11, he says, for observe the spirit thing, that you sorrow it in a godly manner. What diligence it produced in you, what clearing of yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what vehement desire and zeal, what zeal and what vindication.

The word that's the same as pure in James 3, you know, verse 17, I guess it is, or 15 in that area is, is clearing. What clearing of yourselves, you know what? You've learned and you've been purified, you know, as we, as we repent and as we're baptized.

We're cleansed. We're cleansed. God forgives our sins when we come up out of the waters of baptism. We're a clean person. So, James says, you know, in God's eyes, all those sins are forgiven, all those sins are forgotten, and we're pure. We're pure in his eyes.

And James says, the wisdom from above is first pure. Chapter 11, 2 Corinthians, verse 2. I'm jealous. I'm jealous for you with godly jealousy. Paul says, for I have betrothed you to one husband that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. This is what I've done. I've been working with you. I love you, and my job has been to bring you and to be able to present you in the day that Jesus Christ returns that that you are a chaste virgin. You are pure. You are pure. As it talks about the the the first fruits in Revelation 14, as it says in 1 John 3 verse 3, where the same word pure is used. And anyone who has this hope of being there with Jesus Christ purifies himself.

And so, you know, we can talk about Philippians 4-8, you know, where it's where Paul admonishes, you know, when we're thinking about things, think about things that are are noble. Think, talk about things that are good. Think about it. Think about things that are pure. You know, when you're daydreaming and our daydreams aren't so pure, arrest yourself. Arrest yourself and let your meditation, your daydreaming be on pure things. So when James, you know, writes to the scattered 12 tribes then and the scattered 12 tribes and the true Christians of today and his epistle, you know, he says the wisdom that's from above, the wisdom that's from above is first pure. It's going to cleanse us. We're washed by the water of the Word, right? The wisdom from above is first pure and then it's peaceable. You can kind of see the fruits of the Holy Spirit as someone is led by by God's Spirit. You know, we talked about agape in James 1-27 and the love that's there. Talk about the joy that's set before us and the joy that comes knowing from knowing that God works with us and the joy that's set before us as it was Jesus Christ. And then there's peace. It's first pure, then peaceable. It's gentle. It's willing to yield. There's that humility again. You know, we don't ever yield to someone who's asking us to do something contrary to God's commands, but we're willing to yield to one another and to submit to one another. And, you know, if that isn't fair, if that isn't fair, then that's not the wisdom from above. Willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits. You know, we can recall John 15. God is pleased when we produce many fruits. And then he takes us back to the first part of chapter two, without partiality, without favoritism, has worked on that and has gone to the point where he can love all mankind, just like Jesus Christ did without partiality and without hypocrisy. He's learned to so speak and so do, to talk the talk and walk the walk. They're one and the same with him. What you see is what you get. As Christ said about Nathaniel when he saw him, here's a man with no guile. And that's one of the things that Christ wants to say about us. Here are people with no guile. What you see is what you get. They are not hypocrites. Verse 18, I'll finish up and then we'll let them, then whatever discussion. The fruit of righteousness, right? We know what righteousness is, those who do God's will. The fruit, what is produced from living a righteous life is sown in peace by those who make peace. And we know that God wants us to be peacemakers. You know, Jesus Christ, you know, he's the Prince of Peace. When he comes to earth, he will bring peace to the earth. You know, this evil world and the world we live in, his words aren't going to be preached peace to us today because we're going to be met with contention on all those words that get said in an environment that isn't God's world, that isn't his, you know, society.

And things get on fire, literally. You know, sometimes when these things happen, as they will in the future, as they do when Christ was there. But the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace, by those who make peace. And let me just close without further comment. You know, one book back in Hebrews. Hebrews 12. You know, in verse 14, it's a verse, you know, several, you know, wouldn't be bad to have a list of where, you know, Christ and the those who inspired to write the books of the Bible for us that, you know, when he says, without which these people, you know, you're not going to be in the kingdom. In verse 14, he says, pursue peace. Pursue peace with all people, not just your friends, not just your family, not just your church members. Pursue peace with all people and holiness without which no one will see the Lord, without which no one will see the Lord. And again, the author of Hebrews kind of lays it out for us, kind of one of the things that we need to be working on and saying there needs to be peace. What God wants is peace among his people. He wants us at one. He wants us working with each other and exhorting each other and helping each other, you know, as we go forward and as it says in Hebrews 10, 24, 25, even more so as the day approaches. So let me close there. That'll give you some things to think about in James 3, the two primary things that we talked about here tonight, and I'll open it up. I'll open it up for any conversations that you want to have among yourselves, any questions, comments, or anything else. So.

Rick, I'd like to thank you for your prayers for Susan.

Oh, okay. Is she doing better? Yeah, she's a lot better. Okay, good, good.

She hasn't had that problem since just before dad died. Okay. Oh, okay. Wow.

Well, it has been a time of stress, but I'm glad she's doing better. Thank you. Okay. Anyone else?

Anything? Okay. Well, you're here. Can you hear me? I can hear you. Yes. This is Jody. Oh, hey. I just want to thank you for doing this, you know, twice a day and then every week. Me and Tom just found out about it not too long ago through your Sabbath services, but we're really glad to be a part of this and glad you're doing it. Thank you. Okay, well, thank you for joining in. And then feel free. I know Tom's got a lot of experience, too. Feel free to chime in on anything, anytime. Okay.

Okay. Brother Shuri. Yes. That same verse where it says, first pure. Yes. The word purity can also mean free from hypocrisy. So it goes back to no respect to a person, but at the same time, it's peace. So it's not going to come and just...

Yeah, so it's very good. Yeah.

That's what God leads us to is to is security, you know, and that's what it does. So...

Okay, well, there's no, you know, I mean, feel free to talk with each other if you want to for a while or I can end this. I will, you know, we will have Sabbath services again at 11 30 on Sabbath on YouTube. We'll be back here next week with chapter four of James on Wednesday, you know, in the afternoon for those who prefer the afternoon, the evening for those who prefer the evening.

You know, I'll leave it there. But I know sometimes there are thoughts and everything that come to mind after these things. Always feel free to send those on or next week, open up with any questions, anything that might have been, you know, not clear or anything like that. So...

Okay, good night. Thank you. Okay, well, good night, everyone. Have a very good rest of the week and we'll kind of see you on Sabbath, I guess. Thank you, Mr. Shaby. Okay, Veronica, how you doing?

Good to see you. I know your parents are there. I saw Bob and then Ed's name, so hi to Bob and then Ed too. Oh, yeah. And also, I'm looking at names here, Elsie and Robert. Yeah, very good. Brian, Brian, good to have you on with us. Very good. Okay, okay, everyone have a have a good night. We'll see you later. Good night. Okay, bye.