7.7 - James 3, Seeing God

Join us in James 3 as we consider what this chapter reveals about God.

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Paul and Noah both preach and teach with the Cedar Park church of Christ in Cedar Park, TX. You can visit our site at: https://www.cedarparkchurchofchrist.org/

Transcript

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Well, welcome back to those who are joining us in our journey through James. We are in James chapter three, and we want to start with a fresh look, Noah, in James chapter three, but we want to look at, we want to see God in James three before we see ourselves. And I must tell you, when I was reading over this and thinking through this the challenge now. Obviously God is all over James three, but he's only mentioned like a couple of times in James three. So for those who are listening and joining us today, we're just going to, I'm just going to tell you upfront that what we're going to have to do is look kind of beneath the surface to find where God is. He's all over James 3, but Noah, that's what we've been doing in our journey through James is we want to start out by seeing God. So we're in James 3. Yes. So we've, we've got this rhythm going and this is our first episode in James 3. We're going to be focusing on seeing God. And I think that you're correct in saying looking under the surface, because there's so much in James that has practical instruction for us. And we'll get to some of that in the next two episodes here for James chapter 3. But I think one thing that's been really helpful for me as I work through this is these practical instructions, they come from somewhere. And really, ultimately, they're reflections of God and His character, and they can help us learn more about who He is. One example, this is, this is kind of a small example, but maybe it's a good place to start because it's in verse 1. When James says that not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness. Well, there's two things that, that jump out to me there in that moment. So first of all, there's the obvious, like there's, there's a judgment to be had, which means there has to be a judge. God is the one who's going to judge teachers by what they teach. Right. But I think it's also worth noting. That he's not just a judge in the sense that he's not just sitting there going, well, I'm an outside observer. And I just don't think you did a very good job. You know, like he, you know, you do teaching and it's like the Olympics or whatever, you can, he holds up one, you know that's what you got was a one. He is the master teacher. So he's not just coming from, from some outside perspective going, ah, I just, I just don't think, I don't think that was the right way to put it. No, teachers are supposed to be reflecting his word. They're supposed to be imitating his teaching. He's the master teacher. So one thing that we can see there in verse one is he is both the judge and the master teacher, the standard by which we are judged as teachers. And I think that that's an important reflection to have when we get into What that means for us, you know, practical application as we move into the next couple episodes. Yeah, that's a good point. I hadn't I hadn't thought about that, which which is is it's beneath the surface. It's an application to how we as teachers should take seriously our role. And what we're doing, and that may come up into the standpoint or the sections later on in this podcast, when we deal with ourselves and some practicalities, we, we need to look at, look at that responsibility seriously. You know, he, he uses the back and, or skipping ahead to verse nine, talking about the tongue, which is the big subject in James chapter three. With it we bless our God and our Father, with it we curse men, this is the New King James Version, who have been made in the similitude of God. You know, God our Father, God our Creator. Why does James reference God being made in the similitude of God? With our tongue we bless God our Father, with it we curse men who have been made in the similitude of God. You know, he, he's referenced or he's, he's referred to God as our Father several times in the book. And I think, I think, I don't think that's, that's, unintentional. How, how we see God, how we view God does influence a lot of our actions in this life. And so if you're, if you're talking about the tongue and the blessing and cursing that comes from the tongue, how we see people you know, that, I think that's a big thing that's going on here in James chapter three. Yeah. When he says that we're blessing our Lord and father with. Our tongue, but we're cursing those who he says create, who, you know, are made in his image or in his likeness. There's the implication there that we're blessing the father, but we're cursing his children. And, and James goes on to say, that's not how this is supposed to work. That's, that's not how it ought to be, but it is, it's a reminder that God is the, he is the creator. He is the source of, of all of his creation. In fact, it's interesting. When he says that we bear the likeness of God or in other places in scripture, we see, you know, the idea of being image bearers were created in his image and there's different discussions, right? About what exactly it means that we were created in God's image. And I think there are different layers to that answer. You know, sometimes the answer that people give is about free will. Sometimes it's about The creative power of God and how we have a creative side that we get to share in taking care of creation, you know, there's all of those kinds of answers. But one of them is also our words. God created the world by saying, let there be light, let there be this. And when he created us in his image, he gave us language. Something that the rest of creation doesn't have in the same way that we do. And so it's interesting to see that he points out here. We're talking about all of his all of these people that are created in god's image and we're talking about the tongue in other words. We are all created. With this ability to speak and we all have the responsibility therefore for how we speak You In many ways, we were created with one of the most powerful tools that we could have. And James 3 talks about the power of the tongue. God created us with that power already in us. And that's reflective of Him and His image and His power. We'll get into when we connect our good con good conduct to the right use of the tongue. He's going to contrast wisdom that is from above, verse 17, with the wisdom that, that is earthly sensual demonic. So look at this wisdom that is from above before you ever unpack what that wisdom is, the location or the source, I would say. from above, the source. And when you look at that, I think James, again, he, he's trying to call us back to the right compass. He's, he's trying to direct our, the use of our tongue, direct the, the use of, of what kind of heart we have by reminding us about God the wisdom that's from above. I mean, if you look at all of this pure and peaceable and gentle, willing to yield full of mercy with, and good fruits without partiality, without hypocrisy all of those things that, that almost in all of those, we could make a reference to the perfection. Mm-hmm Of God. So wisdom that is from above. I, I, I don't think anyone ever intentionally pursues that kind wisdom, who is not in pursuit of God. Yeah. So again, I, I told you for me in James chapter three, it's not an easy thing to see God in there, but if you're going to reference something and say it's from above, then, then in my mind, he's trying to tell us something about God. This wisdom is sourced in God. Exactly. It's God's wisdom. It's God value, God's values. And it's interesting when you compare the outcome, right? This is, this also gives us insight into who God is. Because the contrast in that in that section, there's the there's the bitter jealousy and the disorders and the vile practice and all of those things. That is, is explicitly said, is not wisdom from above. That's, that is earthly spirit earthly, unspiritual and demonic wisdom. And the way, it's one of those things where you can identify it by its fruits, right? Here's the wisdom of the world, and here's what it produces. It produces selfishness and disorder and vile practices and all of those things. The wisdom that is from above produces peace and righteousness. And, And what that tells us is it tells us something about that source. If, if the wisdom that is from above produces these things, then that is a reflection of the source of that wisdom. That's a reflection of God. God is a God of peace, a God of righteousness, a God of love. a God of justice, not a God of vile practices or disorder. No, if you look at the character of God, look at the perfection of God, again, we need to be in pursuit to be like God imitate God. But if you're talking about absolute perfection, God is light. And in him is no darkness at all, to quote John, then James, again, just for me, I had missed this for a long, long time. If my compass is God, then yes, this can be an overwhelming context when you talk about the tongue and he said, Oh, by the way, you're never going to tame it. Yeah. Well, thank you, James. You know, I feel real encouraged by that, you know, deal with your tongue and yet you're never going to tame the tongue. But when he talks about, I think again, like it's set on fire of course it sets on fire the course of nature and is set on fire by hell, that Gahenna hell. I don't know that I understand everything about that. But I don't want to have anything to do with that. But who do I want? Where is my compass? Where, who is the controller of my tongue? Who is it? That's going to help me to manage me. I've got to mature my faith and maturing my faith means maturing me. Oh, who is that? Oh, I have a father. It is God. I've been created in his image to bear his likeness. So what does right conduct look like as I'm trying to control my tongue? Where do I get my direction from? And so I think that's why James, and it's hard. You think he's changing topics on you. He's really not, but he's wanting to remind us there is a wisdom that is purely set apart from what is demonic, what comes from the pits of hell, what mirrors what our accuser is trying to do. You need to be sourced in that. You need to be looking at that. That's that's perfection. Absolutely. You know, it reminds me this, you, you talked about how God is our father and therefore he's, he's setting the example. He's, he's, He's paving the way, he's showing the route that we should be going just as, as a father would. It reminds me back in James chapter one, verse 16, James writes, do not be deceived. My beloved brothers, every good and every perfect gift is from above coming down from the father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. Of his own will, he brought us forth by the word of truth that we should be a kind of first fruits of his creatures. So we, we see in the, in those verses, you know, the goodness of God and we see the consistency of God that he, it's not just that he's good, it's that he's consistently good. He's always good. And then we bring that into chapter three, back in verse 10, James says he says, from the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so well, why not? Because we were created as image bearers of God. He just talked about that in chapter three, we were a special kind of first fruits of his creation, chapter one. And when we look at our father, what do we see? We see a father who is consistently good. And he's, and he's good at being consistent. And so when we start this double talk, when we start producing, if we're one tree, but we're producing good fruit and bad fruit, if we're praising God and cursing our brothers, then we are showing two faced behavior that ought not be so because it's not reflective of our father. And so again, like you said, can that be a little overwhelming? Well, here's, here's this power that God has given you. He has given you the tongue and you know what? No one's tamed it yet. Well, yeah, that can feel a little overwhelming, but we can't forget that God who is perfectly good and consistently good gave it to us for a reason. I like that. Well, I mean, there's so much more that is going to be here in chapter three when we get to seeing ourselves. But again, I've always contended and you and I talked about this when we decided to journey through James. I don't think we see ourselves the way scripture intends for us to see ourselves until we see God. The way scripture intends for us to see God and God is all over James. And he's certainly here in James chapter three. So we'll get into a lot more of this in depth when we get into seeing ourselves and looking at the tongue. But I love the way you get back to where, so maybe this, let's end where you began. You began right at the start of chapter three, when he says, let not many of you become teachers. Yeah. I can tell you as a teacher, if, if, if I was reading that and thinking, Ooh, James is trying to talk me out of being a teacher. Like, are you really sure you want to do this? Let not many of you, is the New King James Version, become teachers. It almost appears like you're reading that and James is trying to talk a whole bunch of them out of becoming teachers rather than encouraging them in their teaching. And so again, God will encourage us in our teaching, but it will be encouragement to those who take God seriously. Yeah. And in taking God seriously, then they take the responsibilities as representatives of God. I mean, we're speaking for God. Where is his mouthpiece? I mean, we're fallible. Right. We're not inspired. But at the same time, if I, if I open my mouth and use my tongue as a teacher, and I poorly represent or reflect God and what he's revealed, then James would say to me, Hey, Paul, you need to back up a little bit here. And think about who you're supposed to make the focus of all of your teaching. And that is God. How do you see God? Yeah. And how we see God influences how we use his word and how we represent him as teachers. Yes. And that's, I think a really good place to end because that's going to transition very well into talking about, okay, now we have to see ourselves in this chapter. And that's going to be next, next week's episode, because. Verse one, coming out the gate's going to make it real clear, what we say is important because what we say reflects what we think about God. That's one of the reasons what we say is so important. And so we have, like you said, we have to make sure we have the right framework, that we have the right mindset about who God is and what he expects of us before we start speaking. Well, thank you to those of us. To those of you who have been listening today from James chapter three join us next week, Lord willing, we're staying in James chapter three. So we look at ourselves in James chapter three, and as you know, look at our tongues, but until then, may the Lord bless you and everything that you do help us just together to try to get into this word. Be a true reflection of God is together. We seek to stand strong.