A Jet Tour Through James (Part 2)

To quote someone this morning that I've never quoted before publicly, John Wayne. Every man's got to have a code. Everybody has to have something to live by, John Wayne said. I mean, after all, the samurai, they have Bushido.

Knights have chivalry. Stoics have virtue. Every man's got a code to live by, things that guide, things that direct, things that help. Your family probably has a code as well. For the Ebendroths, we have a code.

And I'll just give you a few of the things that we would have for us when the kids were growing up. Every family's got a code, including the Ebendroths. Part of that code was Luke. He was the only boy, so he had to work outside for an hour a day to be busy.

The girls would help mom. Every family's got a code. The Ebendroths were not allowed to crinkle water bottles in the car while dad was driving. Every family has a code. If you would fight with your siblings, that you had to go up to them, nose to nose, and say, I'm sorry, I love you, please forgive me, you're the best.

We forced that many times. The Ebendroths had a code, and that code was you do what you have to do so you can do what you want to do. The Ebendroth family code was you never go to a restaurant and order by saying, can I get?

You say, may I please? Some of you I know say, can I get, because I've been out with you. But it's the Ebendroth family code. The Ebendroth family code was Luke always goes last in everything except on his birthday, because every family has a code.

Do you know the Christian has a code? Do you know you have a code? Not to get into the family of God, but since you're in the family of God, you have a code to live by. You have laws to live by, commandments from God to make sure things go well for you, to go well with others, and to honor God.

And so every Christian has a code of ethics, code of morality. And that section that we'll look at today that undergirds that all is from the book of James. Please take your Bibles and turn to the epistle of James.

James as a Family Code for Christian Living

And really, this is a family code. How do Christians live, especially in light of troubled times? Persecution, difficulties, how do Christians live? This is a Christian code. Some people think that James is a bunch of tests to see if you can get in the family.

Are you in the family or not? But no, over and over and over in the book of James, my brothers, my brothers, brothers, how does a family act? How does a family relate? There could have probably been 500 things that James could have written.

But he especially focuses in on how do people live with one another when difficult circumstances surround them? And if I had to summarize the entire book of James, it would be simply this. James is the half brother of Jesus, probably the second oldest in the family.

So Jesus, the oldest, then James. And James could simply say this to you, dear Christian, and to the scattered tribes that are dispersed. He could say simply this. The way my brother lived on Earth, that's how you should live.

The way Jesus, the perfect man, lived, that's how you should live. Of course, not to try to live up to God's standard to get into heaven, but Jesus, how did he, the true man, really live as he suffered on the way to Calvary?

So you're going to see in the book of James all kinds of things that make you think that's Jesus. That's how he would act as we look at the family code. Now, we've been in the gospel of Jesus according to Luke, as you know.

But since the last eight Sundays have been snow Sundays,.

We have deviated a little bit.

And so I thought it would be good to be in the book of James because it does talk about how do we live as Christians. Of course, Luke spotlights on Jesus. And when you look at Jesus for long enough, the Spirit of God transforms you into one likeness of glory to the next.

You become what you worship. You become like them, like him, rather. But I think it's good to also, once in a while, go to passages that have imperatives, laws, commands, that help us realize how do we live in light of Jesus's work in our life.

And so that's really what the book of James is, living in light of the resurrection, living in light of the ascension of Jesus. Knowing that Jesus is an advocate in heaven now, praying for you, he lives to make intercession for you.

How do you live?

Knowing that Jesus perfectly obeyed the law and died on the cross for all of our sins, how do I live? How do I live my life of gratitude? How do I adorn the gospel? How do I help other people? How do I silence the mouths of critics by living in light of the gospel?

So Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, the events recorded in those books have happened. Jesus died at, let's say, 33 AD. And now James writes around 44, 45 AD. So about 10 years after Jesus is raised from the dead, James writes this book.

And it says in chapter 1, verse 1 of James, James, a servant of God and the Lord Jesus Christ, broadcasting loudly that Jesus is God. We would never put God and someone else on the same level because there's only one God.

But we believe the triune God, one God, three persons. And here's two of those persons of God, that is the Father and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the 12 tribes in the dispersion, probably Jewish people, but with a Gentile greeting.

So we've got Jews and Gentiles addressed, greetings. And now James will go on to give us 54 family laws, code, the code of the Christian, in 108 verses. How do Christians live? What's our guide? What's our compass?

What's the norming norm to live? That's found in the book of James. And so last week, excuse me, two weeks ago, I loved it, by the way, what Charlie said, I didn't know what day it was for days. Monday didn't seem like Monday.

Sunday didn't seem like Sunday. Did anybody here show up last week and couldn't get in the parking lot? Okay. All right. So we're working through James. And while homiletically you're not supposed to have 14 points for something, if you look at the book of James, you could summarize those 52 imperatives into 14 main sections.

And so last week, we looked at a few of those. This week, we'll have a review of a few. We'll look at a few more and save some probably for next week. So how do you live, dear Christian, knowing that Jesus is really God, paid for your real sins out of grace and grace alone?

How do you live in light of Jesus is actually in heaven and he's coming back to judge the living and the dead? How do we live knowing he's our advocate, our mediator, our prophet, our priest, our king, our savior, someone who loved you and gave his life for you?

The answer is found in the book of James. And so the first family code, our family law we found was in verse two of chapter one. Remember, you count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet various trials or meet trials of various kinds.

And so the first thing that you work through as a Christian, according to James, is when you used to be in a trial, you didn't count it joy. You didn't even really think about it. You just tried to extract yourself from the situation.

And now James says, I want you to use your mind and count it joy.

Be deliberate.

There are people in this congregation that work for math companies and they teach math. Using your mind is a mandatory thing when you teach math. You've got to use your mind. And so here with math language, he says, I want you to begin to calculate, deliberate, consider, mull over, chew over what's going on.

How can I be in this trial and count it joy? I'm hating this trial. I'm not enjoying it. It doesn't feel good. But how can I know mentally this could be something that can produce joy? And he goes on to say, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.

So God is working in you because of the resurrection of Jesus. He is working all things together for our good. The worst thing that's going to happen to us is glorification. In the meantime, he's conforming us and shaping us.

And of course, you remember days when it rains. You don't remember sunny days. And sometimes it's hard to remember when good things happen. But when those trials happen, you look back and you think, I was hurting.

It was difficult. But God is, in fact, faithful. And so the code for the Christian is to count it all joy when some trial bulldozes you and your family. James would watch his older brother. Do you think Jesus counted it all joy when he was in a trial?

I mean, his whole life was a trial. And remember Hebrews, for the joy set before him. For the joy set before him, Jesus endured the cross, despised the shame. Secondly, we saw what happens when it comes to temptations.

And again, today is just 35 ,000 foot view of James. He says when it comes to temptation, don't blame God. Verse 13 of chapter one, let no one say when he was tempted, when he's tempted, I'm being tempted by God.

For God cannot be tempted with evil. And he himself, while he tries people, he tests them, he doesn't sinfully tempt anyone. Who gets the blame when we're tempted? Verse 14, but each person is tempted when he's lured and enticed.

Think about bait on a hook by his own desire. You want to know why God doesn't tempt you in a negative, sinful, evil way? Because every single gift comes from God is good and perfect. He says that, does he not?

In verse 17, you see it? Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the father of lights, holiness, not sinfully tempting, with whom there's no variation or shadow due to change.

You want to know how good God is to you, dear Christian? Of his own will, he brought us forth by the word of truth. God made you born again of his will, not your will. Your will responded in his saving work, but your will didn't cause anything.

God is so good, he makes you born again. So we never want to blame God or blame sovereign circumstances when there's a temptation and we fall into that. That's the family code of being a Christian. Well, James goes on.

James goes on. Lest I forget, when Jesus was being tempted in the garden, did he blame God? Jesus was tempted as in all things as we are, yet without sin, Hebrews chapter 4. Well, how does a Christian live in light of the cross?

What's the guide?

Number three, we saw the word is important, we're important and it's meant to be obeyed. Chapter 1, verse 22, you know the passage. Be doers of the word and not hearers only. Auditing, that's what that means.

You just audit it, you don't have to do it. Deceiving yourselves. And so James is writing and saying, when you have the Bible, you ought to obey it. This is not a suggestion. We want to be a doer of God's word and it doesn't take us very long to realize that perfectly sums up Jesus.

He always did the will of his father. He said in John, I always do what's pleasing to him. Jesus perfectly obeyed. It's mandatory for Christians to obey. We also saw number four, that we're to love people.

In chapter 2, verses 1 through 13. The way to honor the Lord Jesus with your life now that you're saved is to love other people. Love God, love people. And here in chapter 2, there's this sin of partiality.

Sin of judging people internally based on their externals. Verse one, my brothers, there's that family code again. Show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory.

How could I judge somebody else when the Shekinah of fulgent, bright, brighter than the sun glory is there? How could I say, well, you know what? Compared to these other people, I'm good. Compared to these other people, I'm better.

When Jesus, the Lord of glory, eclipses both of us. Man looks on the outward appearance, but God looks on the what?

Heart.

So how could we judge people externally? That's not what we do. And you can just imagine, right? In this cauldron of trials with all kinds of issues, Jews and Gentiles having to deal with each other. They're on the run.

It's hard enough to just live your life, let alone getting persecuted. And you're dispersed. And now all of a sudden there's differences between people. I know that would never happen at Bethlehem Bible Church, where there'd be differences between people and we might not get along.

I know. But this for the other church down the street, I'm talking about. First Corinthians 2, Paul says they crucify the Lord of glory. And so we don't look at people's skin color, background or anything else.

We see them as image bearers and we see them as either saved or not saved. And if they're not saved, we pray for them. If they're saved, we think, you know what? The ground is level at the cross. Jesus is the radiance of God's glory, Hebrews chapter 1.

And certainly Jesus didn't care what you looked like externally. Matter of fact, the guy that would probably be the weirdest looking person externally, Jesus said was the greatest man who ever was born.

And his name was John the Baptist. Remember James goes on in chapter 2 to talk about, if a rich person comes in, you say, sit up here by Bill Kant. Okay, if Tom Brady walked in today, what would the ushers do?

I don't know, but I'd like to watch them. They'd be asking for autographs. They'd say, you want to sit up by Pastor Mike at his right hand side? Or would you say to Brady, you know what? We've got an overflow room up there.

I think you might like it. So we're not to judge externally. We don't have the capability to do that. Look down in verse 8, why? Chapter 2, if you really fulfill the royal law, according to the scripture, you shall love your neighbors yourself.

You're doing well. That's what we do. We love. How would you like to be loved? That's how you love other people. This is the code for the Christian. This is the family code. Seeking the welfare of the object.

That's what love is. And that's exactly what the Lord Jesus did. Seeking our best. That's what agape love is. Fifthly, and finally for review, we saw in verses 14 through 26 of chapter 2, that faith works.

Faith works. That is to say, you're saved by faith alone, trusting in the Lord Jesus and His finished work. And then that's in the category of justification, declared righteous. But now moving into progressive sanctification category, holy living category, that if the spirit of God dwells in you, there's going to be a change in your life.

It might not be a perfection, we would say. We would say it'd be more of what? Altogether, direction. Not perfection, but direction. You want to obey. And when you disobey, you feel bad and you repent and you confess.

And so you say, you know what? There's evidence of the spirits of God's work in my life. And so James asked the question,.

Verse 14,.

In light of false prophets in the Bible, false Christs in the Bible, false gospels in the Bible, false brethren in the Bible, false teachers in the Bible, false apostles in the Bible, there are false converts as well.

What good is it, my brothers?

Family code.

If someone says he has faith, but he does not have works. And literally it would be phrased this way in the original, that faith, that false faith, that temporary faith can't save him. And we know faith without works is dead.

And James goes on and says, I know you can't see people's hearts, but you could see externals. And you could see Abraham was a born again man, a justified man, not because you could see his heart, but you could see his evidences and how he took Isaac up on the mountain to slay him as God told.

Rahab, you can't see the internal change of her heart, but you could see that she obeyed God. If you want to see, you see externals because only God knows the heart. And of course, when I think of the Lord Jesus, he had a faith that worked, obviously.

Now we come to chapter three. Number six, in terms of those 14 ways to honor Christ with your life, the family code, number six, the tongue. Guard your tongue. By the way, this is very, very convicting for the Christian, for all of us, as family members, what we do with our mouths is very, very important.

And by the way, almost every sin that you could ever commit involves this. So we should all take heed because we want to honor the Lord. I read that if someone's tongue is black, they could have liver disease.

If their tongue is blue, they could have heart disease or asthma. If it's brown, they could have Addison's disease. If they had a pale tongue, they could have anemia. If they had a red tongue, it could be typhoid fever.

And if they had a strawberry tongue, it could be scarlet fever. It's like you look at the tongue and you could diagnose a person. And the same thing James is going to say, if you listen to the tongue of people, you know what's in the heart because out of the heart, the mouth, I don't know, the other way around, out of the mouth, the heart proceeds, right?

The mouth speaks. Did you know you are going to have 13 years of continual talking if you live to be about 70 years old? One fifth of your life talking. And so since it's easy to sin with the tongue, the family code for Christians is be very, very careful.

Especially if you're a teacher, verse one, not many of you should become teachers, my brothers. There's the family code. For you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness. And it's obviously important because you're going to influence other people.

For we all stumble in many ways, including teachers, including pastors. If anyone does not stumble in what he says, he's a perfect man able to bridle his whole body. And then he gives some illustrations.

And these are the illustrations. Something tiny controls. Something little has an effect. Something that's about two ounces of a slab of mucous membrane can affect a lot. And so you can put a bit in a horse's mouth and it can take a horse and control it.

You can have a rudder in a ship and it can control it. But can the tongue be controlled? Verse three, if we put bits in the mouths of horses so that they obey us, we guide their whole bodies as well. Look at the ships also.

They're so large, driven by strong winds, yet they're guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs. I mean, you can take a horse, 600 pound slab of muscle, the nostrils flaring.

Some trust in horses, some trust in chariots, the power of a horse. And if they've got the bit, you can control it. Now, James could have said, just don't talk. The Trappist monks, just not supposed to talk.

But we're supposed to talk. But we need to have control because we need to realize if we can control this, lots can be controlled. Can we control it? I mean, can you imagine an aircraft carrier? The rudder's still pretty small, comparatively speaking.

How does this apply to my tongue? Good question, verse five. So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things. Control the tongue, control everything. Here's what James wants to do.

Your tongue, my tongue, is an indicator of my maturity spiritually. Lots of times we want to say, am I growing in Christ? Am I learning? Am I maturing? Where's my spiritual growing being on the side of the wall, in the closet, kids, am I growing?

Do you want to know if you're growing or not? It has to do with this, controlling the tongue. And we need to do it, too, because look at verse five at the end, how great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire.

The tongue is a fire, the world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life and set on fire by hell, the bit, the rudder and the tongue.

They're small, but they affect so much. I'm saying about the fires in California and Malibu, it only takes a spark, right? Tiny little spark, and now you can't contain it. When I was a kid, I was told in Nebraska, among other things, I'm public school educated, so I learned a lot of things I probably shouldn't have.

I was told that black belts in karate had to register their hands, because they were deadly weapons. I was also told that if you touched a Hell's Angels motorcycle, it was like razor blades all over, unless you're Hell's Angel.

But the tongue should probably be registered, because it destroys marriages, families, churches, work. It is so devastating. I found this week that out of the most dangerous animals, mosquitoes kill the most people every year, followed by snakes, dogs, tsetse flies, assassin bugs, freshwater snails, scorpions, roundworms, tapeworms, and finally crocodiles.

But the deadliest thing in all the world is the tongue. It's a murder. It's set on fire by hell. It stains everything. You can imagine James, the half brother of Jesus, who would just watch Jesus preach, listen to Jesus preach, hanging on every word of his sermons, never sinning with his speech.

Jesus never said a sinful thing. Always teaching the right thing as a great prophet. And you can just hear James appealing to the family. The family of God, and then families within the family. You have to be careful what you say.

You have to be careful. Listen to Proverbs 16. The scoundrel plots evil, and his speech is like a scorching fire. A perverse man stirs up dissension, and gossip separates close friends. I mean, sometimes you got a best friend, a close friend, and you're like, there's nothing that could ever separate us.

But the tongue can. Proverbs 26. Without wood, a fire goes out. Without gossip, a quarrel dies down. As charcoal to embers and as wood to fire, so is a quarrelsome man for kindling strife. The words of a gossip are like choice morsels.

They go down to man's inward most parts. And so dear parents, dear church members, we're to recognize, he doesn't give us a solution right now, but we're to recognize what I say matters. The tongue is a sharp sword, Psalm 57.

Very convicting. I mean, think about what the world of iniquity this author's talking about. How can you sin with your tongue? Complaining, suspicion, obscenity, blasphemy, perjury, contentions. I don't want that.

I know you don't want that either. There's a code for the family and it's not this. One writer said, how appalling the thought should be to the careless talker, the man of unchastened lips, that his words are really Satan's for which he himself is responsible.

Set on fire by hell. And you know what? Okay, this is not going to sound like good news initially. There's nothing we can do about it. Okay, that's it.

Let's pray.

We start off with baptisms and now we end with that. Well, hear me out.

Verse seven.

For every kind of beast and bird of reptile sea creature can be tamed and has been tamed by mankind. We know how to subdue animals, tame them. But no human being can tame the tongue. It's a restless evil full of deadly poison.

It's wild.

It's savage.

It reminds me of the man with the demons, legion of demons cutting himself and running around naked and living in the tombs. Just can't control the guy. Now, my mother tended to be the disciplinarian at home and I was glad because my dad was 6 '4", 240.

My dad tend to pull hair. And I've told you before, we always said I call the seat behind dad driving in the car because it's hard to pull hair like this. But my mom, she would discipline us. And I have to tell you, two, maybe three times, I've tasted what ivory soap tastes like.

I used to love ivory soap because it floats. I don't know if you knew that. Some soap doesn't float, but ivory floats and it also tastes horrible. Open your mouth, little mister, I can hear my mom say.

Does that really work? Of course, James is going to realize and of course, Paul tells us elsewhere, the fruit of the spirit besides love, joy and peace is what? Self-control. You're going to have to have the spirit of God to control your tongue.

But he helps us here by saying, you know what? Think logically. Verse nine, with it we bless our Lord and Father and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. That's weird. That's crazy.

From the same mouth, my mouth and your mouth has come blessing and cursing. Family code, my brothers, these things ought not to be so. Does a spring pour forth from the same opening, both fresh and salt water?

Of course not. Can a fig tree, my brothers, bear olives or a grapevine produce figs? Of course not. Neither can a salt pond yield fresh water. And you know, the problem is we seem to be doing so well.

Praise God from whom all blessings flow. Oh, the precious blood that flowed from Calvary's side. And then we get in the car and then we lose it. For negative and for positive. Think about the power of the tongue positively.

He's talking about praising God. Think about even encouraging words. What are some of the most encouraging words you've ever heard in your life? What are some of the words that have hurt you to the core more than anything in your life?

On the positive side, I think of Dave Jeffries. He was a pastor here and an elder. And he's in Texas now. I was preaching through the book of Ephesians. And in the old days, I used to think to myself, I can't believe the sound team lost that cassette tape of my sermon because I spent 30 hours on that sermon.

And that needs to be up on the internet because that was really a great sermon. Now I think to myself, I'm glad some of those were lost.

Hammering people.

I preached a sermon one time. It really wasn't that good. And Dave knew my relationship with my dad was never that close. Dad died when I was 29. Dave Jeffries, I remember to this day standing right over there where Peter Anastasios is standing.

I'll give you a dollar later. Dave Jeffries said to me, I poured my heart out. We had a pulpit supply meeting this morning with several men who were doing pulpit supply. They know how hard it is to preach.

And Dave Jeffries said, you know what, Mike? Thanks for being faithful to the text. If I were your dad, I'd be proud of you. I've heard millions of words. How can I remember those words right there? Because it's the power of the tongue to either tear down.

Or to lift up.

And I think about my own parenting. I hope you young parents realize the power to encourage, the power of comforting, the power of edifying, the power of trying to train up your children. And the power of the negative side as well.

No wonder the psalmist prays things like this. Psalm 141, would you pray it as I say it? Set a guard, O Lord, over my mouth. Keep watch over the door of my lips. Psalm 19, let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.

I mean, Peter, one minute he said, if I have to die with you, I'll never deny you. And the next thing you know, there's a girl over there in the courtyard. And Peter said, I don't know what you're talking about.

I don't know the man. I don't want that. I know you don't want that. Spurgeon said, there's a pity there's not a tax on words. Someone else said, talk is cheap because supply always exceeds the demand.

Silence is golden, but not many people can be arrested for hoarding. Plato said, wise men talk because they have something to say. Fools, because they have to say something. And one man said, what is it regarding a baby taking two years to learn how to talk, but 50 years to keep his mouth shut?

So for me this week, I've tried to do this. I've tried to think through what do I say and how does it affect people, my own family, you. And remember how holy living works theologically. If you want to stop doing something, put it off.

You want to start doing something else and you put it on, right? Ephesians chapter four, put off, put on. Don't steal, work. Don't lie, tell the truth. Don't be bitter, be forgiving. One of the best things you can do is instead of just dropping the clutch of your mouth and putting it engaged and just say something is I've been trying to think to myself, what could I say positively to counteract some of the negative things I might say?

And for me, it's not blasphemy that I'm saying. For me, it's things like complaining, mumbling, whispering. So let me just give you a few. The first one is to say things about God that have you give him thanks, to be thankful.

Hebrews chapter 13, the fruit of lips that give thanks to his name. Let us continually offer up a thanks sacrifice to God. How about this? When you find yourself, I'm ready to start using my mouth to destroy.

I'm going to start singing. There's never enough singing in life. I had a class in seminary. I think Steve had it too. We were to pray one hour a day and it couldn't be five minutes at a time times 12.

It had to be half an hour, then a half an hour or one hour. And after a while, I would just pray in the car. Of course, it's difficult to close your eyes and pray in the car, but people read novels when they're driving.

I saw somebody the other day driving down the street, reading a book and it wasn't in some self-drive Tesla or anything like that. Did I just say Tesla? I think I did. It has nothing to do with Tesla.

It has to do with an A at the end of a name. You get the idea. And so what I do is I just begin to sing. I know some of you parents do this very thing. You get in the car and you just put praise songs on.

Kids praise songs. You're just singing and praising. How about edifying people? When's the last time? I'm asking myself the question, when's the last time you tried to encourage somebody and edify them?

Warren Wiersbe had 12 words, he said, that can transform your life. And I think it can transform the church, marriages, parenting, 12 words to transform the life.

These are the 12 words.

Please.

Thank you.

That's two.

Forgive me.

I love you.

And then the last one. I want to do this more, don't you? I'm praying for you. I'm praying for you. When's the last time you encouraged someone, built them up? Duke of Wellington, he defeated Napoleon at Waterloo.

They asked him at the end of his life, even though he was a demanding leader. What would you change differently in your life? And the Duke of Wellington said, I'd give more praise. I'd give more praise.

When I think of the Lord Jesus and how he talked, doesn't Proverbs 25 summarize it? A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in a setting of silver. First Peter chapter two, Jesus, it says, who committed no sin or has any deceit found in his mouth.

So when it comes to the family code, how do we live? It should affect the way we speak. Should affect the way how we act. You're wondering what I'm doing now. I'm letting us settle in and just think through what I say means a lot.

What I hear means a lot. There's the power to destroy. There's the power to lift up. You know, maybe this would be a good place to close. Why is it so wonderful to be a grandfather, a grandparent? Well, for some of those who are just moms and dads, you don't know.

I mean, you have grandparents or have had them. Why is it so fun to be a grandma?

Well, I don't know.

But for a grandpa, you know, watch my wife.

What is it?

And people are like, well, you know, I don't have to change their diapers and I just watch them all day and hand them back. And they have to, it has nothing to do with that. I'm happy with diapers, happy with watching them all day.

But it's taken me a long time to learn that my words are so moving, as it were, not in a word faith way. I don't mean that. But what an encouraging word does to motivate a young person, to motivate any person.

And by the way, how does God motivate us? He talks about the encouraging words of Christ in the cross and the resurrection. We're motivated by grace, not by hard work, not by laws only. The laws just guide.