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Sermon About Taming the Tounge: A Small Piece of Tongue
Introduction
We are done discussing about faith accompanied by action. Today, it is still related to it but today, we will be focusing on the most powerful muscle of the body, the tongue. We will be learning today that even how small it is, it can be both helpful and destructive.
Our passage today was started by these words:
“Not many of you should presume to be teachers, my brothers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly. We all stumble in many ways. If anyone who is never at fault in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to keep his whole body in check.” (v. 1-2)
This part puzzled me a little bit since these words are not very encouraging to hear. While we almost encourage everybody to become teachers, here is a passage that tells us or discourage us in becoming teachers. But to fully understand the passage, we have to take a closer look in its context so that we may comprehend what is being said by James.
The Bible always teaches us that we have to become mature and complete, not lacking anything (James 1). And as we become mature and complete, it encourages us to become teachers of God’s word by telling others about Jesus. However, obviously there were Christians who seems to know lots of things, but when it comes to application to their own lives, living righteously has become so difficult to do.
The Evidence of Faith
“What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him?”
This seems to be a little controversial because some people quoted this passage as one proof that works indeed can save and or at least essential to salvation. However, in order to see things in this passage clearly, we need to disect it one by one, point by point.
First, we need to see the first part of the argument. James used the word “if” which again signifies a condition. “If a man claims to have faith…” Which means that when a man says that he has faith “but has no deeds” then it is completely useless. This is the reason why James asked the second question, “Can such faith save him?”
Favoritism A Sin
Introduction
The last thing that we have discussed about two weeks ago is all about becoming doers of the word and not just being hearers. Today we will start talking about living with a working faith.
Understanding the Case of Favoritism
What is favoritism? Probably some of us are still struggling with the meaning of favoritism. One of the definition in the dictionary concerning favoritism is the “unfair treatment of a person or group on the basis of prenjudice. I personally picked this definition, because it does fit to our passage today.