Easter

Sunrise Service at Clevedon Bandstand, 23 Apr 2008

Life and death, death follows life, this is the one certainty for us, this and paying taxes. You may be crossing a road and bam; you’re hit by a car. Or you get some incurable disease, the dreaded C and you’re numbers up. All our memories, all our hopes and everything that we’ve worked for, they’re all gone. I mean we all know that when you’re dead you’re dead, right?

Is this not what the apostle John and Peter thought on Friday? Jesus, that great, great man of God, Holy, loving, a brilliant teacher and prophet, and their closest friend was brutally put to death with such finality that could there be any hope? When you’re dead you’re dead, right?

But then that “crazy” woman Mary came and said the tomb was empty! Right, like that’s going to be true. But even so, Peter and John thought we better check this out. As they were running to the tomb, all kind of thoughts were going through their minds; fear, guilt and sorrow. Could it be possible that someone could rise from the dead? No that just crazy talk, isn’t it? John gets there first, but its Peter who goes in to see the empty tomb, you can almost taste the shock, where’s the body? Where’s the body of our friend? Who’s taken it? What cruel twist of fate is this? They couldn’t even leave his body alone to rest in peace. Then John steps into the tomb. He see the same evidence but believes, he believes that Jesus has actual risen from the dead, without seeing the risen Lord he believes. He remembers that Jesus said he would do this, He lets go of all doubt and worry and sorrow, he trusts God and believes. For some believing in the resurrection from the dead is harder that for others. I mean when you’re dead you’re dead, right? No, wrong.

Let me tell to you a wonderful secret. We will not all die, but we will all be transformed! It will happen in a moment, in the blink of an eye, when the last trumpet is blown. For when the trumpet sounds, those who have died will be raised to live forever. Then our dying bodies will be transformed into bodies that will never die, We will say “Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting? ”, Christ was raised as the first; then all who belong to Christ will be raised when he comes back. Hallelujah, Christ has died, Christ is Risen, Christ will come again.

The things we say

Preached at Clevedon Baptist church, April 8,2008

James 3:1-10

This evening, our text is from the chapter 3 of the letter of James. It is all about the tongue. i.e. our words and speech. James reminds us it is vitally important that our words are the right ones, truthful and honest ones, Godly ones.

Verse 1 talks about those who seek to teach the word of God. How those who teach will be judged more strictly. I had to smile when I realised that this verse was in today’s passage; because I have been looking into becoming a lay-preacher, I have been talking to Pastor Phil about this. So I thought that Phil had chosen this passage just for me to reflect on. Phil assures me that this was not the case; it was just a co-incidence or perhaps a God-incidence.

So we will be considering our words and speech. Words can be very powerful things. If there’s one thing that separates us from the rest of the creation it is our use of words, our languages, the way we expresses ideas, emotions and thoughts in our words. When we use words, very simple words, they can generate all kinds of emotions and responses in the hearer. With some words you can get a smile, you can generate happiness, but with others you can stir up all kinds of trouble. Listen to a few proverbs

pleasant words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones [Prov 16:21]
the tongue that brings healing is a tree of life, but a deceitful tongue crushes the spirit[Prov 15:4]

There are many more proverbs like this is scripture. The term “the tongue” is used widely in the OT for speech and the apostle James takes up this theme. In our text today, the James goes even further he says,

8 but no one can tame the tongue. It is restless and evil, full of deadly poison. [Jas 3:8]

and

It can set your whole life on fire, for it is set on fire by hell itself. [Jas 3:6]

The tongue is a “restless and evil, full of deadly poison” and “it is set on fire by hell itself”. Wow, this is pretty strong stuff from James the Just, the leader of the church in Jerusalem. I can just imagine one James’s friends saying “James are you sure you wouldn’t like to rephrase that part, erm.. to make it, how can a put it, a bit more tactful!”
The first thing I thought when I read this passage afresh was, “sure words can be bad but can they be that bad, I mean evil and fired by hell fire?”. But God’s thoughts are not our thoughts; God’s ways are not our ways.

We must reflect on the seriousness of James’s message from God. In and of ourselves we may not see or understand why it is so serious. So let us go to God, and ask Him, why? Why is what we say so important?

Let me ask you another question, a related question. How is someone saved? How do they come to believe in Jesus? How has Christianity been spread?

• Through the power of the cross and resurrection, yes and Amen
• Through love and good works, yes; there is no doubt about this.
• Through miracles, yes, I believe in miracles;
• Through the witness of sacrificed lives given God, yes.
• But also through words, through preaching, through talking to a neighbour about what Jesus means to you.

I remember hearing a story about a Christian who decided he was going to demonstrate the love of God solely by what he was doing, by actions without any words, after all the words are the embarrassing bits for non-Christians, aren’t they. So he wasn’t going to mention the bible or church or Jesus or anything like that. So at work he was honest, hard working and fair, he didn’t gossip, he didn’t put people down. After a while one of his colleagues was chatting with him, “I noticed that there is something different about you. You’re not one of those …, you know …, vegetarians?” Holy living is vital for spreading the gospel but there comes a time when words are required.

Doesn’t the apostle Paul remind us that faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God and in another place he states In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; and to reinforce this further our Lord has stated succinctly He who is of God hears God’s words. Thus, hearing the word of God is a necessary part of the process of being saved; and in its most plain sense hearing requires someone to speak. Having said this, please remember that hearing with spiritual ears is also an integral part of being saved. That is to say being born of the Spirit is fundamentally a spiritual matter, requiring hearing in ones heart. Nevertheless, it seems to me that the normative process of salvation in scripture involved someone preaching or someone giving a personal testimony with the spoken word; and it involves someone hearing the proclamation of these spoken words.

Now, can we fathom God’s plans and purposes a little more by asking the impertinent question why has God chosen this means? Why is it necessary to employ spoken words? Why is there not some other means? Why not just the written word or perhaps even without any words at all? Let us consider the following text;

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. 3 Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good.

The creation of light and all subsequent parts of creation was by the spoken word. God chose to use the spoken word, a word of command, to create light. So the spoken word, literally from the mouth of God, was used to create light and separate it from the darkness. Consequently, what do we discern from this?

God Himself uses the spoken word to divide between light and dark, to divide between good and evil. Is not the spoken word then part of His nature? It seems to me that God uses the spoken word to get things done! Later in Genesis, Adam was created in God’s image, a spiritual being, and communication between God and Adam is through spoken words. This is repeated age after age throughout scripture, God speaking to His people, God speaking to His Prophets and God speaking to His disciples.

The scriptures are recorded for us as written words but the texts often state that they were given as spoken words from God. And it is not just that God uses words so that we will understand what He is saying. Scripture says that spoken words from God have power to shape the fabric of this universe. The power of God in action was accompanied with the word of God. God’s power and God’s word appear together. Words of God are power. Listen, when God said “let there be Light” there was light and our Lord Jesus rebuked the wind and sea with “Peace, be still!” and He raised the dead with “Lazarus, come forth!” God’s words have power to help a soul step from spiritual darkness to light, they have power to transform lives, to heal hurts, and they have power to reconcile us to our loving Father God.

Our faith, our Christianity, is a faith in the living God. It is wonderful, it is a blessing, it is the truth, of that there can be no doubt. It is spread by the power of God, through the words of God, spoken by frail human lips, our lips, our mouths. And we are a people of unclean lips as Isaiah put it; even so, God has given us this great commission to preach the Gospel to every creature.

If we speak falsely, if we are dishonest in our speech, if we show ourselves to be untrustworthy, can people believe us when we say “Come to Jesus, He will heal your hurts, He will give you Joy and peace in your heart”? Will people believe us when we say “I love God” when we do not love our fellow man created in God’s image? As James puts it Does a spring send forth fresh water and bitter from the same opening? My Brothers, this should not be so. And if this is so, will we not hinder the Gospel of Jesus Christ? Are we hindering or helping the Gospel by our words?

We should all strive to be more like Jesus, speaking Godly words; words of hope, words of faith, words of grace and life. And just in case you are unsure what these words are, let me characterise them as well as I know how, for I am no expert here, as James puts it “we all make many mistakes. For if we could control our tongues, we would be perfect and could also control ourselves in every other way”

Godly words are honestly spoken; they come from the heart, without deception, without seeking to present a false image. We should seek to do what we say. When we say yes to someone let us try to let our yes remain yes; and when we say no let our no remain no. To be like Jesus in the words we speak is to be honest; expressing how we honestly feel. But honesty is not enough; for there is a problem with to much frankness. It is clear that we can if we are not careful offend and upset people. We can call a spade a spade but if we have no love what do we accomplish? We are a harsh honest person; how good is that?

So, Godly words are honest words spoken out of a loving heart, without deception, looking for what is best for those who listen, not point scoring, not pointing out the speck of sin in our brother’s eye when, our own is half blinded by our own sin. Godly words come out of a heart of compassion, out of a heart of forgiveness and reconciliation. However, even honest and kind words may not be enough unless they are also true words. For I do not believe we are called to have sugar coated speech, to just say what people want to hear.
The difficulty with “the truth” is that often, in my experience, it tends to be a nice way of expressing your own personal bias. So it often causes more arguments than anything. This is certainly the case with my children, “you did that” , “no I didn’t”, “oh yes you did” etc… And it kind of argument doesn’t stop with children, I am sorry to say.

As a young person I have been greatly troubled by difficulty of balancing honest, truth and love. For many honest people honestly see things differently, who has the truth? Well the truth I am talking about is God’s will, Gods plans, Gods purposes, and we find it here [pointing to scripture]. Godly truth is resting in the presence of the almighty God, speaking from that presence.
Thus, Godly words are honest words spoken out of a loving heart, words that are spoken from closeness to God. And where the words of God and the presence of God are, there is the power of God also.

So James has warned us of the negatives in this passage. Ungodly speech can be fired by hell fire, and it can guide your life in a disastrous direction; just like a rudder guides a ship. Likewise Godly talk will guide our lives to a great and glorious end. For Godly talk spoken from Godly faith with Godly love can help guide our lives into the great purposes of God, His great commission. And this will lead us into a much greater understanding of worshiping Him in spirit and in truth.

Amen