15th Sunay after Pentecost sermon 3 of 5 New Every Morning
15th Sunday after Pentecost.
09/25/11
Text: James 3:8
Title: What would happen if we all spoke in love toward each other?
This morning we are going to continue on our journey of spiritual growth. The sermon series and Bible study that we are using is titled “New Every Morning”. It is based on Lamentations 3:22–24 which reads, “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness. “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, therefore I will hope in Him.”
Not too long ago I spoke to you about the will of God, as it is shown to us in God’s Word. In those sermons You learned that God’s original will, which is still his will and always will be is that you are to walk in fellowship with him; that is have a close relationship with him, just as Adam and Eve did before they sinned. You also learned that you are to do good to others; that is, as God’s Word teaches, you are to love others as you love yourself. And finally you learned that you are to live in harmony with the rest of God’s creation; that is be good caretakers of all that God has made and given to you. That my dear brothers and sisters in Christ is God’s will for you.
And since each one of you here is the recipient of the greatest gift ever given; the forgiveness of your sins, it is really your duty to walk with the Lord in your daily life, for since God’s mercies are new to us every morning, as God’s Word tells us, then our response to that great love and mercy of our God needs to be renewed every morning as well.
Since we are all sinners, not really wanting to do God’s will, we need to, as Martin Luther tells us in his catechism, “Daily drown the old man.” This is our sinful self. The way we do that is by reading God’s Word and earnestly praying to God every morning before we start our day with all of its trials and tribulations. If you are reading God’s word and spending time in prayer at any other time of the day keep on doing what you are doing. I am just saying that we should read his Word and pray every morning, for his mercies are new every morning. The Word of God and prayer prepare us for the day.
The last couple of weeks I have been asking a series of questions. The first week I asked those in attendance if they thought that starting the day reading the Word of God would make any difference in their life, their family’s life and the congregation’s life to raise their hand. Only about a third of those in attendance that day thought that reading God’s Word first thing in the morning would make any difference in their lives, the lives of their family, or the life of the congregation. In other words quite a few people don’t see the importance of knowing God’s Word for their daily life.
Last week I asked those in attendance if they thought that spending time in earnest prayer first thing in the morning would make any difference in their life, the life of their family, or the life of the congregation. I did not ask for a show of hands that Sunday, for the results would been about the same, as the Sunday before, because spending time reading God’s Word and earnestly praying go hand in hand. You simply can’t do one without doing the other.
Today’s question is, “What if every member of our congregation agreed to speak positively in every situation?” I am not talking about just here at the church, but everywhere. Do you believe that it would make a difference in your life, the life of your family, or the life of the congregation, if you spoke positively in every situation?
I am sure that every one of you would believe that speaking positively in every situation would make a difference. It sounds easy doesn’t it? But when you stop to think about it, much of what makes up our normal conversations during the day could probably be best described as negative. We can find ourselves gossiping, slandering, lying, belittling, or complaining about any number of things throughout almost any conversation we have.
This is clearly against God’s will for us and contrary to how He desires us to speak. Simply put, making these types of statements is nothing more than us not loving those that God loves, for God loves those he created in his own image; all people.
A lot of you have been going to church for many years. In all of that time have you ever witnessed two people duke it out in the sanctuary? Probably not, for most Christians generally don’t fight like that. Christians don’t fight with the fists; instead, they fight with the tongue which can be even more damaging than fists. Listen to James as he tells us in James 3:8, “No human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so.”
While it is true that some have more of a problem taming their tongue than others, every single one of us is guilty of failing to tame our tongue. We gather here on a Sunday morning to praise and thank God for His love, grace, and forgiveness. And then what do we do? When we leave this place, sometimes even before we are out of the building we start to tear down, to criticize, and harm our neighbor using the same tongue that just a few moments ago was praising God.
You need to understand that hurtful words are simply an overflow of what is in a person’s heart. That is why God tells us that our words will acquit or condemn us, for it is not the words themselves that acquit or condemn us, but it is the condition of the heart from which they are formed that will either acquit or condemn us.
Does that bother you? I hope so. Do you want to join me in changing? You can you know; if you let God feed you through his Word and spend time earnestly praying to him. I found a great illustration that might help you to better understand why you should be reading the Word of God and earnestly praying every morning if you want to improve your life.
Imagine that you have in your backyard two dogs. One dog is full of anger, hatred, and desires of vengeance. It loves snapping at people. The other dog is good and kind. It is full of love, peace, and forgiveness. You feed both dogs every day, but the mean dog eats all the food leaving none for the good dog. What eventually happens is that the good dog gets so weak that the mean dog eventually kills it. On the other hand if you make sure the good dog is fed it grows stronger until it can defend itself against the mean dog and the mean dog will start to leave it alone. You see the one that is fed is the one that gets stronger.
Those two dogs represent our sinful nature and redeemed nature. Our sinful nature lusts for revenge, gets angry toward others, does not want to forgive or forget, is quite often bitter toward others, and in a perverse way enjoys leaving spiritual and emotional destruction in its wake.
On the other hand our redeemed nature reflects the glory of God and understands that as a recipient of God’s grace and forgiveness that it has become a giver of God’s grace and forgiveness. It follows the God’s inspired words as Saint Peter writes them in 1 Peter 3:8–12. “Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind. Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing. For “Whoever desires to love life and see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit; let him turn away from evil and do good; let him seek peace and pursue it. For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayer.”
Struggling with your tongue? Want to do better? Don’t feed your sinful nature. Feed your redeemed nature by starting your day reading and meditating on the Word. First thing in the morning spend time in earnest prayer with your Savior, asking him to bend you to his will, so that you will change. Make a commitment to change. You will. It might be slow going at times, especially if you have gotten in the habit of speaking harshly toward or about others. You will change for that is God’s holy will.
It is not going to be easy, for anyone, because our sinful nature will continue to rise up and drag you down. Even the most sincere intentions will not keep you from falling every so often into the sins of the tongue. It will happen.
But remember that because Christ gave His life for you when He died upon the cross to grant you forgiveness of your sins, he won your heart. Your heart, really your whole body, now belongs to him. Feed it, so that it stays healthy by reading and meditating on his word and earnestly praying every morning, for God’s mercies are new every morning. Amen
09/25/11
Text: James 3:8
Title: What would happen if we all spoke in love toward each other?
This morning we are going to continue on our journey of spiritual growth. The sermon series and Bible study that we are using is titled “New Every Morning”. It is based on Lamentations 3:22–24 which reads, “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness. “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, therefore I will hope in Him.”
Not too long ago I spoke to you about the will of God, as it is shown to us in God’s Word. In those sermons You learned that God’s original will, which is still his will and always will be is that you are to walk in fellowship with him; that is have a close relationship with him, just as Adam and Eve did before they sinned. You also learned that you are to do good to others; that is, as God’s Word teaches, you are to love others as you love yourself. And finally you learned that you are to live in harmony with the rest of God’s creation; that is be good caretakers of all that God has made and given to you. That my dear brothers and sisters in Christ is God’s will for you.
And since each one of you here is the recipient of the greatest gift ever given; the forgiveness of your sins, it is really your duty to walk with the Lord in your daily life, for since God’s mercies are new to us every morning, as God’s Word tells us, then our response to that great love and mercy of our God needs to be renewed every morning as well.
Since we are all sinners, not really wanting to do God’s will, we need to, as Martin Luther tells us in his catechism, “Daily drown the old man.” This is our sinful self. The way we do that is by reading God’s Word and earnestly praying to God every morning before we start our day with all of its trials and tribulations. If you are reading God’s word and spending time in prayer at any other time of the day keep on doing what you are doing. I am just saying that we should read his Word and pray every morning, for his mercies are new every morning. The Word of God and prayer prepare us for the day.
The last couple of weeks I have been asking a series of questions. The first week I asked those in attendance if they thought that starting the day reading the Word of God would make any difference in their life, their family’s life and the congregation’s life to raise their hand. Only about a third of those in attendance that day thought that reading God’s Word first thing in the morning would make any difference in their lives, the lives of their family, or the life of the congregation. In other words quite a few people don’t see the importance of knowing God’s Word for their daily life.
Last week I asked those in attendance if they thought that spending time in earnest prayer first thing in the morning would make any difference in their life, the life of their family, or the life of the congregation. I did not ask for a show of hands that Sunday, for the results would been about the same, as the Sunday before, because spending time reading God’s Word and earnestly praying go hand in hand. You simply can’t do one without doing the other.
Today’s question is, “What if every member of our congregation agreed to speak positively in every situation?” I am not talking about just here at the church, but everywhere. Do you believe that it would make a difference in your life, the life of your family, or the life of the congregation, if you spoke positively in every situation?
I am sure that every one of you would believe that speaking positively in every situation would make a difference. It sounds easy doesn’t it? But when you stop to think about it, much of what makes up our normal conversations during the day could probably be best described as negative. We can find ourselves gossiping, slandering, lying, belittling, or complaining about any number of things throughout almost any conversation we have.
This is clearly against God’s will for us and contrary to how He desires us to speak. Simply put, making these types of statements is nothing more than us not loving those that God loves, for God loves those he created in his own image; all people.
A lot of you have been going to church for many years. In all of that time have you ever witnessed two people duke it out in the sanctuary? Probably not, for most Christians generally don’t fight like that. Christians don’t fight with the fists; instead, they fight with the tongue which can be even more damaging than fists. Listen to James as he tells us in James 3:8, “No human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so.”
While it is true that some have more of a problem taming their tongue than others, every single one of us is guilty of failing to tame our tongue. We gather here on a Sunday morning to praise and thank God for His love, grace, and forgiveness. And then what do we do? When we leave this place, sometimes even before we are out of the building we start to tear down, to criticize, and harm our neighbor using the same tongue that just a few moments ago was praising God.
You need to understand that hurtful words are simply an overflow of what is in a person’s heart. That is why God tells us that our words will acquit or condemn us, for it is not the words themselves that acquit or condemn us, but it is the condition of the heart from which they are formed that will either acquit or condemn us.
Does that bother you? I hope so. Do you want to join me in changing? You can you know; if you let God feed you through his Word and spend time earnestly praying to him. I found a great illustration that might help you to better understand why you should be reading the Word of God and earnestly praying every morning if you want to improve your life.
Imagine that you have in your backyard two dogs. One dog is full of anger, hatred, and desires of vengeance. It loves snapping at people. The other dog is good and kind. It is full of love, peace, and forgiveness. You feed both dogs every day, but the mean dog eats all the food leaving none for the good dog. What eventually happens is that the good dog gets so weak that the mean dog eventually kills it. On the other hand if you make sure the good dog is fed it grows stronger until it can defend itself against the mean dog and the mean dog will start to leave it alone. You see the one that is fed is the one that gets stronger.
Those two dogs represent our sinful nature and redeemed nature. Our sinful nature lusts for revenge, gets angry toward others, does not want to forgive or forget, is quite often bitter toward others, and in a perverse way enjoys leaving spiritual and emotional destruction in its wake.
On the other hand our redeemed nature reflects the glory of God and understands that as a recipient of God’s grace and forgiveness that it has become a giver of God’s grace and forgiveness. It follows the God’s inspired words as Saint Peter writes them in 1 Peter 3:8–12. “Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind. Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing. For “Whoever desires to love life and see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit; let him turn away from evil and do good; let him seek peace and pursue it. For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayer.”
Struggling with your tongue? Want to do better? Don’t feed your sinful nature. Feed your redeemed nature by starting your day reading and meditating on the Word. First thing in the morning spend time in earnest prayer with your Savior, asking him to bend you to his will, so that you will change. Make a commitment to change. You will. It might be slow going at times, especially if you have gotten in the habit of speaking harshly toward or about others. You will change for that is God’s holy will.
It is not going to be easy, for anyone, because our sinful nature will continue to rise up and drag you down. Even the most sincere intentions will not keep you from falling every so often into the sins of the tongue. It will happen.
But remember that because Christ gave His life for you when He died upon the cross to grant you forgiveness of your sins, he won your heart. Your heart, really your whole body, now belongs to him. Feed it, so that it stays healthy by reading and meditating on his word and earnestly praying every morning, for God’s mercies are new every morning. Amen
posted by Pastor Rhoads | 5:10 PM
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