Eureka Presbyterian Church | 9-27-2015
Good morning,
It is great to be back here at the Eureka Presbyterian church on this beautiful day in September.
Let’s start off with a question …… can anyone guess the most popular Babyboy name at the moment??? According to a web survey conducted by the Babycenter.com, the most popular name given to boys in America in 2015 is the name Liam, followed by Noah, Ethan and Mason.
65 years ago in 1950 the most common name was James. The social security administration lists on its website that from 1950 to 1959, over a 10 year time span, 843,000 boys in America were given the name James, more than any other name at the time.
1900 years earlier in the land of Israel, James must have been a popular name as well. No web surveys or records from the social security in those days, but we do have a reliable source in the books of the bible.
A quick search reveals that James is mentioned 41 times, the name of choice in the days of Jesus. James is only mentioned in the New Testament but that is not surprising because James is the Greek version of Hebrew name for Jacob.
Since the Old Testament was written in Hebrew and the New Testament in Greek it makes sense we only find James in the New Testament.
The gospels describe four people named James. In Luke 6:15, we read about James the father of Judas, and also 2 apostles called James, one the son of Alphaes, we don’t read much about him, the other apostle James is the brother of John the Baptist.
Together with Peter and John this particular James was very close to Jesus and witnessed his transfiguration on Mt tabor. But he was the first apostle to be martyred by King Herod as described in Acts 12.
And then there is a fourth James, the main character in today’s message, the half-brother of Jesus, and brother of Jude, but not a follower of Jesus during his 3.5 years of ministry.
In john 7:5 we read: even his own brothers did not believe in him. So here is the brother of Jesus and he did not believe his sibling was the Messiah. Jesus said in Luke 4:24: no prophet is accepted in his own home town.
So James clearly was not a disciple until after his brother died on the cross was buried and rose on the third day.
James witnessed the resurrected body, and it is at this point he became a believer, and an apostle of Jesus Christ in the likes of Paul and de facto leader of the Jerusalem church. The apostle Paul called James one of the pillars of the early church.
After the Holy Ghost came to dwell onto the gentiles described in Acts 10 44-48, James gave a speech at the Jerusalem council affirming to take the Gospel of Jesus to the non-Jewish believers.
James’s letter must have been written before all this took place, because his letter only addresses the twelve tribes of Jewish Christian believers. Many scholars assert that James’s letter was the first New Testament book written.
Why is the letter of James so important?
The letter of James was written to Jewish believers that were scattered throughout the Middle East. It addresses folks that are in great need of help. It is full of wisdom and has a flavor of some of the old books in the Old Testament like Proverbs but is written in a style that connected with the people at that time.
It still resonates with us today, as this book is often quoted, because many of the issues we face in 2015, at the core are no different than they were when James wrote this letter.
Let me give an example: once every 4 weeks at Sun Valley we hold companywide meetings in Arcata, Oxnard and St Catherine’s. After a company provided meal the entire team comes together and we share production numbers, we report on safety, productivity, and introduce both team and team member of the period.
The meeting concludes with a closing thought, usually a quote from a President, Coach or athlete or words from scripture. Sometimes we may even sing, like the National Anthem.
But no matter what happens, we always start by collectively pronouncing one of Sun Valley’s 10 guiding principles.
These principles include: treating neighbors the way you want to be treated, to foster a team culture, to always remain humble and gracious, to inspire others and always keep learning, or to be the best that you can be.
The farm meeting also includes a short message to reflect on any one of the guiding principles.
A few years ago while preparing a narrative for guiding principle #4; treating team members with respect, I came across this letter from James, and in particular the passage relating to the power of the tongue.
This is a very relevant in a place where hundreds of people work together every day, people from different cultures, with different interests, with different back grounds.
Walking around the farm daily, you can hear some pretty interesting words rolling of the tongues of some folks.
Now let’s take a moment and read the third chapter of the letter of James verses 1-12 this can be found in your pew bible on page ……….
3Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers and sisters, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness.2For all of us make many mistakes. Anyone who makes no mistakes in speaking is perfect, able to keep the whole body in check with a bridle.3If we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we guide their whole bodies.4Or look at ships: though they are so large that it takes strong winds to drive them, yet they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs.
5So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great exploits. How great a forest is set ablaze by a small fire! 6And the tongue is a fire. The tongue is placed among our members as a world of iniquity; it stains the whole body, sets on fire the cycle of nature, and is itself set on fire by hell.7For every species of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by the human species,8but no one can tame the tongue—a restless evil, full of deadly poison.9With it we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse those who are made in the likeness of God.10From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this ought not to be so.11Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and brackish water?12Can a fig tree, my brothers and sisters, yield olives, or a grapevine figs? No more can salt water yield fresh.
Folks, this scripture reading makes one sit up and pay attention.
James describes how the little things like the bitts in the mouth of a horse or the rudder on a ship or something as small as the tongue can make a huge difference, good or bad. And the real danger lays in being two-sided, as he vividly warns against duplicity.
The analogy of the strength of the tongue as a fire and the ability to set off huge forests fires is very powerful.
Speaking of wild fires…Our hearts go out to the folks in Middle town where a huge wild fire destroyed over 1000 homes 2 weeks ago. According to National fire information center as of yesterday September 26, more than 9 million acres have burned so far this year in the USA and 2015 is on track to become a record breaking year. And how did it start?
Most of these fires started as single sparks from thunderstorms, just like words rolling off our tongues have the ability to set off fire storms of reciprocating words causing wild fires in our own lives.
Words from our tongues come in many forms, but foul language aggravates the situation. And with that guiding principle narrative for the farm meeting a few years ago, I tried to emphasize, to refrain from using profanities where ever we can.
That is not easy in today’s world. Undoubtedly profane language has been around for ages, but in today’s society it seems like foul language is everywhere. The use is so abundant and pervasive that our hearts are hardened and our ears are numbed by it frequent use.
Movies are one place where use of profanity has become common place. I found a listing where movies are actually ranked by use of the F word, here are a few examples:
Lone Survivor, 161 times, Born on the Fourth of July, 196 times.
The movie Casino, 422 times, and the Wolf of Wall Street, 569 times,
Also standards to allow F words on PG13 rated movies have loosened as well.
Then there is the movie “Sideways”, where one line in the movie with one adjective describing Merlot has affected its demand ever since.
But this is just an example how words can affect things and how common use of profanity creeps into our culture, as James said: it is like deadly poison.
In his letter James asks: can from the same mouth come a blessing and a curse. Or can a spring give fresh and brackish water. It is like a few sick plants can spoil things for all the healthy good plants around it.
At the Oxnard farm we grow a crop called Matsomoto Aster. It grows well in the sandy soils of the Oxnard plane.
A few years ago heading into Valentine’s Day we had a great crop but we noticed a few plants on the end of the rows that didn’t look too happy.
We learned that Asters can be infected by a disease called tomato spotted wilt virus. This name says it all, once infected by the virus, a plant wilts and dies. By mid-January hot Santa Anna winds gusting up to 50 mph came from the east and with it a wave of thrip.
This is a small insect that drills little holes in every plant that they come across and with every hole it spread this lethal virus like a wild fire through the entire crop.
In a matter of days this beautiful crop wilted away and died. It started with a handful of plants just like a few nasty words coming from the tongue but it took out the crop, like words causing a stir with dire consequences.
Since this incident we now inject garlic extract every time we irrigate the crop. The plants breathe this garlic smell and the thrip are not very eager to settle on our crop.
It is like resisting certain words taking control of our lives, prevent them from becoming part of our vocabulary.
The past example is what could happen when words are used that hurt or pierce, but the opposite it true as well, we have a choice which words we use, offensive words can create nasty reactions but words of love and grace do wonders in terms of healing and helping others.
For a moment let’s go to the well of Solomon’s wisdom in Proverbs:
Proverbs 10:19: “Sin is not ended by multiplying words, but the prudent hold their tongues.”
Proverbs 12:18: “The words of the reckless pierce like swords, but the tongue of the wise brings healing.”
Proverbs 16:24: “Gracious words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones.”
Proverbs 17:27: “The one who has knowledge uses words with restraint, and whoever has understanding is even-tempered.”
So in other words, little things we say or do can have huge consequences and turn something small into a being good or bad.
See this little seed that floats through the air blowing around in the wind, this is the seed of a thistle, they are everywhere right now.
See how small the seed is, just tiny as can be, but after the rains start these little seeds will settle on the ground and with enough moisture start germinating and turn into the huge weed by next summer.
Then we have a small bulb of a Lily called Zambezi and see what this little bulbs turns into after 12 weeks in rich soil? Look at this beautiful stems with huge white flowers.
In other words we have a choice to make. Do we plant and grow weeds like this thistle by spitting poison, hurting others by the things we say or do. Sometimes it may be as innocent as spreading gossip, but unknowingly it can hurt like thorns on this thistle.
Or we plant the lily bulbs and cultivate them and foster them by helping others and by being silent at the right moment and speak with words of grace, words of love and compassion, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones.
Nobody is perfect. We can all do better, but Jesus gives us profound instruction when it comes to speaking about his love and his compassion. He instructs us not to be bashful to proclaim his word and share the good news of Jesus Christ our rock and our redeemer.
In Mark 8:38 Jesus said:
38Those who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”
The opening hymn this morning was “Praise my Soul the king of Heaven”, we just sang Seek ye first the kingdom of God and we close today with “Crown him with many crowns”
What these three songs all have in common is the glorious Kingdom of God.
What a magnificent thing to look forward to, the Kingdom of God.
Jesus loves us and his arms are opened to take us in.
Ask and it will be given to you, seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you
He said don’t be ashamed to talk about me.
It seems like in today’s world talking about Jesus in public can be more problematic than spouting off foul language.
It seems like a world upside down doesn’t it.
But don’t be misguided by the World, by political correctness, and don’t be ashamed to use the word of God and spread the good news of Jesus Christ.
Let our springs produce fresh water and not brackish
Let the fields by filled with lilies and not weeds.
Let the words from our mouth be pleasing to God.
Let our faith in the Lord be steadfast
Let our hearts be softened.
Let our souls be cleansed and repent from our sins.
Let the words of Jesus Christ ring forward into eternity
And with great joy we can look forward to the glorious Kingdom of God.
Amen.
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