Today’s sermon audio can be found on Castbox at 151 “Not Many of You”, James 3;1-12.

Our primary text for February 8 is James 3:1-12. For our first reading we read Matthew 15:1-20. The thesis of our texts that I want to focus on is:

All believers sin in what they say, write, and think.

This passage should be applied to audible speech, written words, and private thoughts. It should also be applied to memes, photographs, cartoons, drawings, etc. We should be very careful about what we post on social media, for instance.

The letter from James is a Law-oriented letter. We always need to keep the Law/Gospel distinction in mind. James is telling us what to do and what not to do. The Law tells believers the beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors that will show our gratitude to God for saving us. The Law does not tell us how to be saved or how to stay saved but rather how to respond to being saved (with gratitude).

The text today (James 3:1-12) tells us that it is very easy to sin with words and that it is very hard to avoid sinning with words. James is helping us see the problem here in this unit of thought. In the next paragraph (3:13-18) James will tell us to seek heavenly wisdom. Then in James 4 he will tell us how to receive grace from God for all of our sin problems. We shouldn’t necessarily expect one paragraph to cover both the problem and the solution. Of course, we should seek the full counsel of God on these matters in any case. Here is the high-level flow of the letter for the next few paragraphs:

  • 3:1-12 the problem is our sinful words
  • 3:13-18 part of the solution is heavenly wisdom
  • 4:1-10 another aspect of the solution is grace from God Himself

"Not Many of You" James 3:1-12

  1. Introduction: For We All Stumble (3:1-2)
  2. Words Set Our Lives on Fire (3:3-6)
  3. No One Can Tame the Tongue (3:7-8)
  4. Conclusion: Blessing and Cursing (3:9-12)

Scripture References: Matthew 15:1-20; James 3:1-12; Genesis 1:26; James 1:8; Psalms 140:3;