Last week I had intended to end the session with this video,
but we were having such a great discussion, we never got to it, so I thought it
would be good to show tonight.
Christianity is tough.
It is easy to accept God’s forgiveness and leave it at that, but it is
hard to live out the works that James demands of us.
I was approached by a man a few months before I moved
here. He said he was out of work and he
needed money so he could buy his daughter some food to eat. I very rarely carry cash, so I told him that
he could come by the church I was serving, Chapel by the Sea. I told him we would give him and his family
free breakfast, and a bag lunch. I told
him we had volunteers there who could help him get food stamps and other assistance.
He wasn’t interested in that – just in the money.
Which tells me he was not interested in getting food for his
daughter, and I don’t even know if he had a daughter.
In my first pastorate a woman came by the office. She looked about 16 or so years old. She had a baby and she drove up to the office
just as I was leaving. She said she had
been kicked out of her parents home when they found out she was pregnant. Now that she had given birth to this baby,
the parents were now willing to take her back in. All she had to do was to get back to Virginia. She just needed a little cash to get back
home.
Well, it was late on a Friday afternoon, I didn’t have
access to the church funds, and then the baby started crying, so I took what
money I had in my pocket and gave it to her.
A few days later I was at the Salvation Army and the
minister there was showing me around their new building. And I saw that same girl.
I asked “What’s the story about this lady?”
“Oh let me tell you about her,” the Salvation Army Captain
told me. “She has quite a scam. She baby sits all over town – lots of
customers – and she will take that baby with her and go from church to church. She’ll wait in her car until the pastor is
leaving the office and she’ll drive up and give the pastor a sob story about
needing money. If the minister doesn’t
hand over some cash pretty quickly, she’ll pinch the baby’s bottom so it will
start crying.”
It’s hard, sometimes, to know who to help and who not to.
I was with a Baptist minister years ago. He and I were friends and we were just
visiting each other, when he said he had to go make some rounds in visiting
people. The way he put it was to say, “I
have to go visit the lame, the lost and the lazy.”
That’s the way Baptist ministers talk. Everything comes in threes and they all start
with the same letter.
When I work with the poor or the homeless, I sometimes think
about that phrase, the lame, the lost and the lazy.
You cannot deny that some people asking for help are
lazy. What they need is not a handout,
but motivation to get up and get to work.
People are out there taking advantage of those who have money and who
have compassion.
But that is not all of the poor. Not all the homeless are lazy.
Some are lame. I knew
a man named Terry – he had a head injury a week before he was supposed to get
married. He fell off the ladder and he
was never the same man after that. He
didn’t get married. He couldn’t
work. But he did a little light
volunteer work here and there. He could
carry a short conversation. But he lived
with his father and his Dad had invested money and made plans for Terry. Terry had family. He had friends. People would always look out for Terry.
Then there was Ron.
Ron was a lawyer with no family.
He was in a car wreck and had a head injury. He was a lot like Terry, but without family,
he became homeless.
Ron’s not lazy – he’s just lame and without family
support. So he depends on churches and
charities.
Then there are the lost.
I often run into people like this video shows. They are hard working people who for whatever
reason lose a job and eventually a home.
They run out of resources. They
are bright, but they are alone. The last
thing they let go of is the car – because that is not only transportation but
also a home; and a cell phone – because without a cell phone they can’t get a
job. They need a way for prospective
employers to call them in for work.
But knowing whom to help, and not to help – that is not
easy.
As a pastor, I have access to a fair amount of money that is
given specifically to help those in need.
It’s not my money, so I feel a burden of responsibility. People don’t give it to the church so I can
waste it on the lazy or the scam artist.
They give it to me so people who need help get it.
Christianity is not easy.
One of the challenges about Christianity comes up in James,
chapter 3.
James chapter 3
1My friends, we should not all try to become teachers. In
fact, teachers will be judged more strictly than others. 2All of us do many
wrong things. But if you can control your tongue, you are mature and able to
control your whole body. 3By putting a bit into the mouth of
a horse, we can turn the horse in different directions. 4It takes strong winds
to move a large sailing ship, but the captain uses only a small rudder to make
it go in any direction. 5Our tongues are small too, and yet they brag about big
things.
It takes only a spark to start a forest
fire! 6The tongue is like a spark. It is an evil power that dirties the rest of
the body and sets a person's entire life on fire with flames that come from
hell itself. 7All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles, and sea creatures can be
tamed and have been tamed. 8But our tongues get out of control. They are
restless and evil, and always spreading deadly poison.
9-10My dear friends, with our tongues we
speak both praises and curses. We praise our Lord and Father, and we curse
people who were created to be like God, and this isn't right. 11Can clean water
and dirty water both flow from the same spring? 12Can a fig tree produce olives
or a grapevine produce figs? Does fresh water come from a well full of salt
water?
13Are any of you wise or sensible? Then show it by
living right and by being humble and wise in everything you do. 14But if your
heart is full of bitter jealousy and selfishness, don't brag or lie to cover up
the truth. 15That kind of wisdom doesn't come from above. It is earthly and
selfish and comes from the devil himself. 16Whenever people are jealous or
selfish, they cause trouble and do all sorts of cruel things. 17But the wisdom
that comes from above leads us to be pure, friendly, gentle, sensible, kind,
helpful, genuine, and sincere. 18When peacemakers plant seeds of peace, they
will harvest justice.
Our subject is not new to James; he spoke of the tongue in chapter
1:
My dear friends, you should be quick to listen and
slow to speak or to get angry. If you are angry, you cannot do any of the good
things that God wants done. . . .
If you think you are being religious, but can't control your
tongue, you are fooling yourself, and everything you do is useless.
(James 1:19-20, 26)
In chapter 2, James once again deals with the tongue:
Speak and act like people who will be judged by the law that
sets us free.
(James 2:12)
And now, in chapter 3, it comes up again…
James 3:2
All of us do many wrong things. But if you can control
your tongue, you are mature …
James chapter 3:8-10
Our tongues get out of control. They are restless and
evil, and always spreading deadly poison.
My dear friends, with our tongues we
speak both praises and curses. We praise our Lord and Father, and we curse
people who were created to be like God, and this isn't right.
With this verse in chapter 3, James returns to a theme that
he has mentioned earlier, and this time he dwells on it for a while. He uses one image after another in describing
how the tongue is small, but has a powerful effect – the bit in a horse’s mouth
leads the large animal, the small rudder can influence the direction of the
ship, the small spark can start a fire.
We all know this phrase.
We were taught it as children.
Someone said something mean to us, and we would say back to
them, “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.”
That has never been true.
Words have power, and they hurt terribly.
After Karen Carpenter died of heart failure at the age of 32
brought on by years of fighting an eating disorder, it came out that her fatal
obsession with her weight was triggered by a single reviewer’s comment. When
referring to Karen, this man called her “Richard’s chubby sister.” While I’m
sure there were other factors attributing to Karen Carpenter’s struggles, this
one comment unleashed a flurry of self-doubt, which led to her eventual disease
and death.
This is Megan Meier’s mother holding up photos of her
daughter. Anyone remember Megan? Megan was a typical 16 year old in Missouri. She became friends online with someone who
identified himself as a 16 year old named Josh.
After lots of cyber communication, Josh suddenly turned on Megan and
said things like, "I don't know if I want to be friends with you anymore
because I've heard that you are not very nice to your friends". Later a message was sent from Josh to Megan
saying, "Everybody in (town) knows how you are. You are a bad person and
everybody hates you… The world would be a better place without you." So a
few hours later, Megan killed herself.
There are so many negative words and phrases…
We need to speak positive words.
That is not to say that we do not need to hear criticism
sometimes. I value some of the comments
that I hear that are criticism spoken in love – they make me a better pastor,
or preacher or teacher, or person.
Dale Carnegie said, "Praise in public, criticize in private."
My title is Senior Pastor and it is also Head of Staff. As the Head of Staff I have to evaluate
church staff members every year. Usually
that means meeting with the personnel committee and each staff person. I always have the staff fill out a form to
evaluate themselves and to give us feedback on their concerns. Then I give them an evaluation.
As I write these evaluations, I always try to keep three
things in mind;
Is it true?
Is it helpful?
Is it acceptable?
Let's close with this video...
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