Komstad Evangelical Covenant
Church |
|
Jump ahead to: bible study , something extra , paraphrase
, story .
Scripture: So, then, my beloved
brothers, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, and slow to
anger; for
the anger of man doesn’t produce the righteousness of God. Therefore,
putting
away all filthiness and overflowing of wickedness, receive with
humility the
implanted word, which is able to save your souls . But be doers of the
word,
and not only hearers, deluding your own selves. For if anyone is a
hearer of
the word and not a doer, he is like a man looking at his natural face
in a
mirror; for he sees himself, and goes away, and immediately forgets
what kind
of man he was. But he who looks into the perfect law of freedom, and
continues,
not being a hearer who forgets, but a doer of the work, this man will
be
blessed in what he does. If anyone among you thinks
himself to be religious while he doesn’t bridle his tongue, but
deceives his
heart, this man’s religion is worthless. Pure religion and undefiled
before our
God and Father is this: to visit the fatherless and widows in their
affliction,
and to keep oneself unstained by the world. James 1:19-27
(World English Bible) [.]
Bible Study: It sounds a little like
proverbs, this letter from James. He writes like a father or a
grandfather,
full of advice or wise counsel in the ordinary things of life. And he
begins
this section with: be quick to listen. This is a letter, so this
thought flows freely from the verses that come before it, and it will
lead very
smoothly into the verses that follow. Just to review the last verse
before
these, we have been born into a new life through the word of truth, so
that our
life might be an offering or a gift of praise to God. Now we have this little
phrase, which makes a wonderful summary of the next section. Be quick to listen. And let’s get it as
one entire thought: be quick to listen,
be slow to speak, and be very, very slow to anger. Let’s deal with anger
first. The Bible doesn’t say that anger is always wrong. But it does
say that
anger is always dangerous. The warning here is very severe. Anger does not do the work
of God. Period. So much for righteous
indignation. The rule of thumb is that anger can motivate you to do
good. But
anger can not do good. According to James, anger can not bring about a
righteous life. You can ask why. And maybe
the first answer is that it is simply not God’s plan for you to be
angry. There
is something else that he wants. Some other picture of a mature
Christian. The easiest example would
be love. Jesus told us to love one another. Love is the fulfillment of
the law.
And then along with love, the list of character qualities in Galatians
includes
joy, peace, patience, self-control, and others. Joy is the opposite of anger,
as far as your feelings go. And patience or self-control are the
opposite of
anger, as far as your actions and words are concerned. Anger is
basically being
out of control. Patience is in
control. So anger is a counterfeit
of what God is really trying to do and a poor caricature of what we are
supposed to look like as followers of God. Anger might feel good, but
part of the attraction comes from a misunderstanding of patience and
joy and
self-control. People excuse their anger because it drives them to get
things
done, but that assumes that patience never does anything. It assumes that joy is a
placid ignorance of how bad things are. It assumes that self-control is
simply
the absence of gumption to change the things around you. It would be better to define
self-control as the ability to do things the right way. Joy is the
understanding that God has a plan and a purpose and a reward, even on
the worst
days. Patience is the ability to keep going when the journey is long. Anger is merely the
temptation to take control of our circumstances when that
responsibility
clearly belongs to God. Anger cuts corners, sacrifices our friends for
some
cause that is not the least bit as important. So James would tell you to
avoid anger, as enticing as it may seem. The key is to listen, and
specifically to listen to the Word of God. That would include the
Bible,
primarily. But it also includes the people who teach the Bible. You can make time for
reading your Bible by yourself, or you can get with a few friends to
read your
Bibles together, or you can find a good Sunday School class or a
conference or
a small group or a good program on the radio or on TV. The important thing is to
listen to the word. And get the junk out of your life. Apparently that
junk
gets in the way and makes it more difficult to get the word in. We
don’t need
that junk anyway. Notice one benefit of
reading—or listening to—the word. It can save you. The message of
scripture is
life-changing and life-saving. James is talking about an eternal
salvation
here. The Bible tells us about a heaven that is forever, and it tells
us about
the gift of life that God offers us in Jesus. And at the same time, there
is a practical day-to-day benefit. Scripture is like a mirror, and
mirrors are
good for showing us the lint on our clothes and the smudge on our face.
You use a mirror to change
your appearance so you look better. You can use the Word of God
to make you a better person. It shows the flaws in our character,
illustrates
the ways that we can be more caring, more careful, more wise. But the trick is to do what
the mirror tells you. If you have a stain on your clothing, you take
care of
the stain. If you have a stain on your conscience, or your character,
how much
more important is it to take care of that stain? Be quick to listen, and be
quick to do the right thing, as scripture shows it to you. And speaking of the right
thing, let’s be straight on what real faith is. If you are serious
about
following Jesus, you will watch your words. You don’t need to brag
about how
spiritual you are. In fact, if you are bragging, you probably have
absolutely
nothing to brag about. Real faith does the right
thing, quietly. Notice the examples. Real faith will protect the weak
among
you. Real faith provides for the children who have no one to care for
them, for
the widows who find themselves with no way to make a living, no
emotional
support, no family, no friends. That’s real faith. You don’t need to talk.
Just do right. Keep away from the junk of this world and take care of
the
people around you. Listen to the Word of God,
because it will shape you to be that kind of a person. Let it be your
mirror,
showing you what to clean and what to change and what to keep. So then … we need a summary
of this passage, and we can’t do better than the first few words that
James
provides us. Be quick to hear. Pay
attention when God is speaking, and he is—apparently—always speaking. [.]
Something Extra: by Mark
Johnson: Anger. I don’t know anyone
that hasn’t felt anger. I probably don’t know many people that haven’t
felt
just a little anger this last week. I think anger is something most of
us learn
to deal with. Of course there are various
shades of anger in our daily lives, like the fridge being out of your
favorite
soft drink, or being cut off on the interstate by another driver, or
disappointment from being passed over at work. The list could go on and
on, and
the examples could be much more severe. But if we can control the
little things that make us angry, that will help us control the big
things and
help lead us down a better path. It was just this morning when I was
corralling
my four-year old to put on his snow pants when cooler heads needed to
prevail.
He was throwing a tantrum about wearing the snow pants, and I was going
to put
them on. You would have thought that
it was the end of the world to him, but I knew it was just a speed-bump
in my
morning routine. But I will admit I was just a little angry. When it comes to our
ability to control anger, to me, James is pointing out that we need to
be just
as concerned about the little speed bumps as the larger matters. We
can’t do
anything about a terrorist nation with nuclear powers until we learn to
get red
in the face, bite our tongues, and go cool off with those that are
close to us.
Not doing so can result in the headlines of “Shaken Babies” or
“Murdered Loved
Ones” that all too commonly frequent the news. There was a little green
Muppet in the Star Wars swamps of Degoba named Yoda, whose creators I
think
were applying some Christian principles from James in one of his famous
Quotes
on anger: “Fear is the
path to the
Dark-side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to
suffering.” Well said, Yoda. Well said. [.]
Paraphrase: Pay attention, brothers and
sisters, because this is important. Listen, and wait before you speak,
and wait
a really long time before you let yourself get angry. It might feel good to get angry, but it doesn’t do
good. God wants you to live a
righteous life, and anger just won’t let you do that.
While you are getting rid
of your anger, throw out all the other junk that is so common in this
world,
and listen carefully to the word that God has planted in you, which can
save
your life. And don’t just listen. When
God tells you something, do it. If you don’t, you are fooling yourself.
The
Bible is like a mirror, telling you when you have spinach stuck between
your
teeth. So pay attention to the perfect word that gives you freedom, and
then do
what it tells you. If you do, you won’t get caught with a green smile,
and God
will make all kinds of other good stuff happen in your life as well. Real faith isn’t talk. It’s
a lifestyle, filled with the kind of actions that no one sees. If you
really
love God, you will take care of the weakest among you, like children
without
parents or widows without families, and you will keep your life clean
in this
polluted world. James 1:19-27
(paraphrased) [.]
Story: The Election by Bob Freye Warren Weeger sank deeper
into his chair and scowled at images on the screen. They were killing
him. It
was the night before the election, and every story was like another
blow from a
sledgehammer. Wham! He was a
cultural elitist,
totally out of touch with his
constituency. Wham! He had no
compassion, even for
his friends and family. They were absolutely
demolishing his chances for reelection. Warren sulked as every
reporter seemed to ask, “Would you trust this guy?” According to the polls, the
overwhelming majority of the people in his state would not. “What went wrong?” he
muttered. “We had everything—the money, the organization, the media
outlets. So
what went wrong?” Byron Tuttle wandered over
with a doughnut in his mouth. He stood next to the chair and watched
the
screen, chewing diligently and studying a video of Warren at the local
homeless
shelter. He pointed with the half-eaten doughnut as Warren readied a
ladle of
some sort of soup. “There,” he mumbled with
his mouth full of raspberry fried cake. “Right there.” The soup poured over the
tray, missing the bowl completely and splashing instead against the
man’s
raggedy coat. As the camera zoomed in, Warren could be seen protesting
the
man’s incompetence and resisting a suggestion that he pour another bowl
of
soup. “It’s like you never
handled a kitchen utensil before in your life,” Byron scolded, his
mouth empty
for the moment. Not many people could say
such a thing to Warren Weeger, but Byron had orchestrated Warren’s
first
election, and the second. He was a good campaign manager, though Warren
wondered if Byron had lost his touch. The screen showed the
homeless man walking away from the food line, shouting unpleasant
things at
Warren, who for his part might have jumped over the counter to settle
the
dispute right then and there if the high school student serving next to
him
hadn’t held him back. She was pretty strong,
Warren remembered, for a girl. “I told you to buy him a
new coat,” Byron reminded his candidate. “It was his fault,” Warren
complained, and he sank even deeper in the chair. Byron pointed to the screen
again. “His fault? Right now, the state would rather elect him than
you, and
the only reason they won’t is that they can’t find him, because he
doesn’t even
have an address!” Warren wanted to suggest that
they could simply look for a guy with soup on his coat, but he realized
that
wouldn’t really help his argument. So he just grumbled, “It
was his fault.” The screen filled with a
close up shot of Martha Wakkenfelstershook, who in spite of her
incomprehensible
name and total lack of political experience was now leading the polls
by at
least 30 per cent over her clumsy opponent. She was feeding the
reporter a bunch of drivel about being an elementary school teacher and
how she
loved the kids and blah, blah, blah. “She doesn’t know what
she’s doing,” Warren groused. Byron agreed, but he kept
the thought to himself. With a good campaign manager, she would have
gotten
just about every vote. “She was late for the
debate.” Warren’s thoughts were scattered and wandering, the first
effects of
an approaching clinical depression. “That’s right,” Byron said.
“She was late, because she stayed over at that orphanage, because she
was
spending so much time playing with the kids and talking with the
staff.” He still marveled at the
outpouring of support from that one campaign stop. Not just for Martha,
but for
the kids. The number of foster homes would probably double in the next
year,
and the groundswell of financial support for children’s services was
still growing. “Why didn’t you tell me to cry?” When Martha talked about
the kids at the orphanage, or the elderly, or her family, tears would
often
come to her eyes. No one had ever questioned whether they were real. “Where’d she come from
anyway?” Warren wondered. “You never heard of her before this. What was
she
doing?” “Teaching,” Byron
explained. He stuffed another chunk of doughnut into his mouth, just to
keep
himself from saying anything more. He had a lot on his mind at the
moment. “You’re no help.” Byron chewed and swallowed
and counted to ten. “I told you not to spill
the soup,” he reminded Warren. “And where did that get us?” The candidate scowled. “Nowhere.” [.]
|
Psalm 119:18
 Beresford,
South Dakota
|