As most of you know, we practice verse by verse preaching at this church, rather than trying to approach the scripture from a topical perspective. There are times when I think I would like to preach topically, and perhaps today is one of those days. But for the most part, I feel that the verse by verse, chapter by chapter approach is better for me, because it keeps me in line with God’s priorities, rather than my own, which may vacillate from week to week depending on the circumstances.

We have been studying the first letter to Timothy for the last few weeks, and so we are at this particular passage today by the providence of God. The purpose of writing this letter, as Paul states in vs 15 of this chapter, is “so that you will know how one ought to conduct himself in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and support of the truth.”

Now I suppose I could say that this subject is one that we could well postpone, or skip over, or save for a Wednesday night Bible study and not do any great harm. But as we come to church today, as we worship the Lord, it is important that we do so according to God’s design for the church. It is His church, and as Jesus said, they that worship God must worship Him in Spirit and in truth.

That being said, the Christian community today has been playing fast and loose with the template for the church for quite a number of years now. First of all, they have played with the authority and inerrancy of God’s word. While most churches feign obeisance to the Bible, in reality they don’t believe it is inerrant. They don’t believe it is absolute truth. They don’t believe it is authoritative.

And so they have thought that the ordinances of the church and the gospel of the church, and the leadership structure of the church are something that they can change according to what seems good to them, and relevant to the modern culture that we live in. So perhaps it is more pertinent than ever before to remind ourselves of God’s template for the church, and particularly God’s instructions in regards to church leadership. Because if we don’t get the pastor/teacher position right, then it’s doubtful that we will get our doctrine right either, and the church will continue it’s downward spiral into apostasy and irrelevancy that it has already succumbed to, to a large degree.

Now last week as we looked at chapter 2, Paul laid out the doctrinal reasons that women were not to take the place of authority in the church. He gave reasons from scripture, going all the way back to creation, in support of this instruction that women were not to teach, nor exercise authority over the men in the church. I said last week, and I will say it again for the benefit of those who weren’t here last week, that this is not a cultural issue, as some would try to dismiss it. But it is the prerogative of Christ, whose church it is. And the Lord could have just laid down the law and that would be it, but He supports it with two arguments that come from creation. So He is showing that this is His plan from the start. It’s not something that we can dismiss by saying that was the culture of Paul’s day. This predates that culture.

And by the way, let me add something to that discussion which I failed to say last week. Paul was the apostle to the Gentiles. The Gentiles in Ephesus and the surrounding region were pagans by nature. Before they were saved they worshipped the popular pagan deities of that day. And a number of those deities were female, such as Artemis, Diana, and Aphrodite. Those religions had no problem with women as priestesses of their cults. In fact, women were often held in high esteem in those cults. And furthermore, those religions encouraged engaging in immoral acts in those temples. Now I say that, not to be scandalous, but to show that women were not a problem in the Gentile religions. So when Paul advocates that only men were to be in church leadership, he is not saying something that is in keeping with the culture, but was counter to the culture. And so that’s just one more reason that we cannot dismiss this as a culture issue.

But now in chapter 3, Paul is going to focus on the leadership of the church, and lay out the requirements for such positions. He starts with what he calls here an overseer. This is the translation of the Greek word episkopē. It could also be translated as bishop in other versions. In the book of Titus, we see that position rendered as elder, and then elder is used synonymously with overseer, or bishop. The same can be said with shepherd, or pastor, which are synonyms for overseer. For our purposes, I think we can best interpret it a pastor. Pastor is related to the word for shepherd. And so pastor, or elder, or overseer, all refer to the same position.

Notice he says in vs 1, “It is a trustworthy statement: if any man aspires to the office of overseer, it is a fine work he desires [to do.]”. I think the KJV says it is a noble work that he desires. I like that translation better. Noble has in mind a sacrificial task. One that is performed for the benefit of others, rather than for one’s own benefit.

But some confusion has been brought about by this phrase; “aspires to the office of overseer.’ Some think that it encourages men to seek after such a position. And they think that is self serving and vain. Personally, I think that if a man is called by God to preach, or to be a pastor, then that calling will manifest itself in a desire to preach.

Paul said of his own call to preach in 1Cor. 9:16-17 “For if I preach the gospel, I have nothing to boast of, for I am under compulsion; for woe is me if I do not preach the gospel. For if I do this voluntarily, I have a reward; but if against my will, I have a stewardship entrusted to me.” So I think the idea that Paul has there is if a man is called to preach, he will have a desire to preach. But the main point to what he is saying is that the office is not one to be denigrated or looked down upon. But though it is a position of service, it is nevertheless a noble office. It is service for a greater good, for a greater purpose.

I think most of the problems with church leadership today is that many of those who claim the office are not called by God to the office. I’m not sure why people would choose this position. I don’t see reaping any great rewards on this earth for spending your life as a pastor. Unless you are a mega church pastor, or a television evangelist, I don’t think there is any real money to be made. Though there are certainly some multimillionaire television evangelists out there. But they are so far out of the norm that it’s unfair to pastors to include them in the same genre.

So why someone would be attracted to the ministry I do not know. I know I wasn’t. I grew up as a preacher’s kid, and I was told constantly growing up that my dad had prayed for two preacher boys before my brother and I were born. And so after we were born, that meant that we were destined to be preachers when we grew up. Well, though we pretended to go along with that prophecy as children, by the time we were teenagers we both were doing everything we could to prove them liars. But the strangest thing happened when we reached our middle age. We have both since become preachers. But neither of us ever sought it, in fact, we resisted that call for many years.

The bottom line though I think is that we need to recognize that a pastor is called. And I don’t mean called by a pastor search committee. I don’t have a lot of faith in those contraptions. And you don’t find any basis for them in the scripture. Paul told Titus that he was to appoint elders in every city. Titus was to make sure that the men he chose fulfilled the requirements that Paul laid out, which by the way are almost exactly the same in 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1. But for those who are called, it is a noble work to which he is called, and he should have a desire to fulfill that office.

I want to say something else about this word overseer. As I said, in Titus 1 Paul instructs Titus to appoint elders in every city. In Acts 14:23 we read that Paul and Barnabas did the same on their missionary journey. Acts14:23 “When they had appointed elders for them in every church, having prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord in whom they had believed.”

Now some have derived from these texts that the scriptures teach the necessity for a plurality of elders. So in a church, there must be at least more than one elder or pastor. And so we have today a very popular church doctrine that says there must be multiple elders, and yet usually only one person is the pastor. I think that is a misunderstanding of the text. It’s widely understood that the churches in those days were house churches. There was no mega churches, because there were no houses that could even hold a hundred people at one time. We have Bible study at my house, and I can tell you that it’s almost impossible to get more than 25 people in there. I don’t have a big house, but I’m sure it’s bigger than most of the houses of the common people in those days.

So the common sense understanding is that Paul is talking about multiple house churches in a city or region. If you used the template of a Jewish synagogue, then 10 men were required for creating a new synagogue. And so these were small, neighborhood type of assemblies in people’s homes. And so that begs the question, how many shepherds are needed to take care of two dozen sheep? This idea of having multiple elders just to satisfy someones fear of monopolistic leadership in a church, is not founded in scripture.

I like a quote I read recently from Charles Haddon Spurgeon, the great, late 19th century English preacher. Every pastor loves to quote Spurgeon, but I have yet to hear any quote this saying concerning one man ministry. He said, “Every now and then we hear some simpleton or other talking about a one man ministry, when it has been a one man ministry from the commencement of the world to present day, and whenever you try to have any other form of ministry, except that of each individual saint discharging his own ministry, and doing it thoroughly and heartily and independently and bravely in the sight of God, you very soon run upon quicksands.” So it would seem Spurgeon did not support a multiplicity of elders.

But nevertheless, people are rightly concerned about the qualifications of a pastor, and to offset such concerns, Paul lays out some stringent requirements for that office. And the primary requirement is that they are to be men whose character is above reproach. I think that as you read vs 2, you should imagine that there is a colon there after the word reproach, and then everything that follows describes how being above reproach looks.

So we read starting in vs 2, “An overseer, then, must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, temperate, prudent, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not addicted to wine or pugnacious, but gentle, peaceable, free from the love of money. 4 [He must be] one who manages his own household well, keeping his children under control with all dignity 5 (but if a man does not know how to manage his own household, how will he take care of the church of God?), 6 [and] not a new convert, so that he will not become conceited and fall into the condemnation incurred by the devil. 7 And he must have a good reputation with those outside [the church,] so that he will not fall into reproach and the snare of the devil.”

So we see that according to this list, the pastor must have a favorable testimony from two groups of people, those inside the church, and those outside. Now reproach can mean criticism, and if we were to apply that literally, then no pastor would pass the first qualification. In fact, I would suggest that criticism is part of the due process of being a pastor. But the idea of being above reproach is not speaking of criticism, which we get aplenty, but of having some moral or character failing which attracts criticism. Paul received much criticism in his ministry, but it was ill founded and he was able to appeal to those who knew his character as being above reproach.

Now there are 14 or so areas in which a pastor is to be above reproach as stated in the first 7 verses. I am not going to spend a lot of time explaining each one, or we would be here all day. I think most are pretty explanatory. But notice that the word perfect is missing from this list. Thank God for that. We need to remember that pastors are not perfect, though they should be striving for perfection.

The first qualification is one that is contentious today: “the husband of one wife.” That’s impossible to do if you are a woman pastor. But then again, it’s easy to dismiss this as another example of Paul’s male chauvinism. But aside from the discussion of male and female roles which we had last week, it means that the pastor is to be a one woman man. His wife is to be held in honor. He is not a womanizer. I think you can make the argument that he is not to have remarried in the case of divorce. The exception to that would be if his previous wife died. Paul said in 1Cor. 7:39 “A wife is bound as long as her husband lives; but if her husband is dead, she is free to be married to whom she wishes, only in the Lord.” And I think it’s obvious that the same would be true of a man whose wife had died, as long as he marries a Christian.

Another misunderstanding that has arisen from this is that a pastor must be married. He must have one wife. I think that is a wrong interpretation of this text. Paul himself was not married and he served as a pastor. We have no record that Timothy was married. Jesus wasn’t married. And He is the head Shepherd of the church. So I don’t think that means that a pastor must be married. However, I will say that being married is a safeguard against temptation. And so a single pastor must take extra precautions to make sure he is above reproach.

The pastor is to be temperate. We live in a temperate climate. That means mild. Not too hot and not too cold. So we understand what Paul is saying; the pastor is not to be a hot head. It doesn’t mean he’s supposed to be so meek and mild that he can’t blow his nose. But not a hot head. Level headed.

Prudent is related to that. It means wise, but not so much like wise in the typical way we think of it, like having a high IQ, but judicious, able to make good, sound decisions. Having common sense.

The next characteristic is respectable, which means of good repute, honest, trustworthy. After that we read, hospitable. Many years ago I used to be a part of the hospitality business. That was a term used by the hotel and restaurant business. So to be hospitable is someone who is welcoming, who is congenial, helpful in regards to the needs of others.

The last one in vs 2, is one that we probably usually think of first; able to teach. That qualification is not usually applied to those churches who believe in a multiplicity of elders. Most elders in those churches are not qualified to teach, and not able to teach, at least beyond a rudimentary level. But having the ability or gift to teach is essential for a pastor/teacher. And I believe it is a gift, though a gift that can be improved upon and practiced to become better at it. But irregardless, notice that it’s not at the top of the list, but somewhere in the middle. It’s important, but it’s not the most important thing.

In vs 3 we find the next group of qualifications. Vs 3 “not addicted to wine or pugnacious, but gentle, peaceable, free from the love of money.” Not addicted to wine is also the same qualification that is listed in Titus for overseers. I would go so far as to say that wine or alcohol should be off limits for a pastor. And I say that as someone who used to drink every day. For me it wasn’t wine, it was Coors Lite. But the Holy Spirit says not addicted to wine. That gives you enough freedom to hang yourself. Because I can tell you that if the pastor is a wine drinker, or likes his beer, he is going to have a real disadvantage when it comes to being above reproach in his conduct. Solomon said in Prov. 20:1 “Wine is a mocker, strong drink a brawler, And whoever is intoxicated by it is not wise.”

Then the next qualification is probably deliberately added after to addicted to wine; not pugnacious. That means a brawler, the same thing that Solomon said about strong drink. Pugnacious means looking for a fight. Some men don’t need alcohol to look for a fight. But either way, only a fool looks for a fight. I made that mistake a few times when I was younger, and I finally met someone who was willing to give me one, and it almost cost me my life. God doesn’t need us to fight with physical means. We are to fight with spiritual means. Eph 6:12 says, “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual [forces] of wickedness in the heavenly [places.]”

And not being pugnacious is followed by peaceable. Rather than being someone who is looking for a fight, he is to be the one who is peaceable. He is a peacemaker. Jesus said in Matt. 5:9 “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.” We should be men who tell others how to make peace with God and with their fellow man.

The last one of vs 3, is free from the love of money. Paul said in 1Tim. 6:10 “For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.” Notice that it does not say that it is wrong for the pastor to have money, or even to appreciate money. In fact, he goes on to say later in this passage that he is to govern his household well. That indicates he uses his money wisely. But it is a love for money and a longing for money that causes ruin. And I will admit that is a hard adage to accept. Because everyone has a natural tendency to want money. The more you have the more you want, and the less you have the more you want. But a desire for money that supersedes what you know is right and proper, a desire that says whatever it takes I will do it, that attitude is what causes a person to wander away from the faith, and causes grief in their life. We all have to be on guard against that desire. Jesus said “you cannot serve God and money.”

In vs 4 and 5 we see that principle of managing his household that I spoke of earlier. “He must be one who manages his own household well, keeping his children under control with all dignity (but if a man does not know how to manage his own household, how will he take care of the church of God?),” I think as we consider the entire context of both verses, this is not simply speaking of the pastor’s role in raising his children, but is speaking of the complete task of managing his house. As the father of the house, he is a loyal and loving husband to his wife, a father who disciplines his children with dignity, not overbearing, but firm and with love for his family, and as a provider and a manager of his household affairs.

The church is not a little like a family, and though the pastor’s primary job is preaching and teaching, yet he is also a manager of the house of God. And so the way he manages his home is a good indication of how he will manage the church. Not even the pastor can make someone come to faith in Christ, even if they are his own children. When they come of age, they will be responsible for their faith or lack of it. But he should be able to keep his children under control and in submission to his rule. The key there is not ruling with an iron fist that provokes a child to rebel.

As a general rule to all fathers, Paul says in Eph. 6:4 “Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.” To do both well is to be able to balance love and discipline in the same way that is illustrated by God the Father towards us. And the pastor is to be a good example of that balance.

The last of the “insider” qualifications is found in vs 6, “[and] not a new convert, so that he will not become conceited and fall into the condemnation incurred by the devil.” Understand that a new convert does not indicate the physical age of the pastor. However, it does indicate his spiritual age. Paul says to Timothy later in chapter 5 vs 22 “Do not lay hands upon anyone [too] hastily and thereby share [responsibility for] the sins of others; keep yourself free from sin.” The idea is that a new convert must have a time of testing, of proving, which brings about maturity and a deeper faith.

A position of leadership can sometimes work against a person by their pride. And we know that pride goes before a fall. James said in James 3:1 “Let not many [of you] become teachers, my brethren, knowing that as such we will incur a stricter judgment.” With that greater responsibility comes a great need for spiritual maturity. And perhaps spiritual maturity is tied to some degree to physical maturity. Age is not a prerequisite, but perhaps it is a help.

Finally, we come to the last qualification, which is regarding those outside the church. He says in vs 7, “And he must have a good reputation with those outside [the church,] so that he will not fall into reproach and the snare of the devil.” Perhaps this is one of the most difficult qualifications of the pastor. Those outside of the church are the world, and the world is at enmity with God. So to be above reproach and to have a good reputation with the world is difficult at best. Jesus said if they hated me, they will hate you.

So I think the answer must be that we are above reproach “in the sight of God.” I know I have to conduct myself in such a way as to please God, and in so doing, I know that I am doing right in regards to man. I have to love my neighbor, though my neighbor may not love me, nor be deserving of my favor. I have to love my enemies, though they seek my hurt. I cannot treat my neighbor in such a way as to make a contradiction of my faith.

Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount, [Mat 5:43-48 “You have heard that it was said, ‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR and hate your enemy.’ “But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on [the] evil and [the] good, and sends rain on [the] righteous and [the] unrighteous. “For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? “If you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing [than others?] Do not even the Gentiles do the same? “Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

Well, I started off by saying that the requirements that Paul laid out for the pastor did not include being perfect. And now I end up with the requirement of Jesus that we are to be perfect. But I can’t help but point out that admonition of Christ is not to pastors, but to all who are the children of God. The pastor, however, is to be an example to the church. We are to treat others like we would like to be treated. And pastors even more so are beholden to that rule. On that note, I would say in closing, pray for your pastors. It’s easy to criticize. They are on a stage and say a lot of words, and it’s possible to pick apart any pastor and find fault with him. But pray for him, and realize that he is called to this task that is greater than his ability. And I would add, if you are visiting today, and you recognize that your pastor of your home church is in flagrant disregard of these qualifications, then I would suggest you leave that church and find another which is in line with these qualifications. Don’t try to change the pastor, rather change your church. Let God take care of the pastor. He will receive a stricter judgment from the Lord.

Paul gives the purpose of this letter in chapter 3 vs 15, “I write so that you will know how one ought to conduct himself in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and support of the truth.” And so to that purpose, Paul has written so far about the establishment of the church, specifically, that the apostles were given to be the foundation of the church and to establish the church. Then he wrote about the ministry of the church, and we said there were many different types of ministers, or servants of the church. Not all have the same title, nor the same responsibilities, but all of us have a ministry, all of us are to serve the Lord.

Now as we begin chapter 2, Paul makes the point that one ministry that all of the church are given, the service that we are all tasked with, is the ministry of prayer. And we should notice that this exhortation to pray is given as an addendum to his charge to Timothy at the end of chapter one, vs 18, to fight the good fight. We see that prayer is one of the ways that we are to engage in spiritual battle.

In the famous section in Ephesians 6 on spiritual warfare and the spiritual armor that we are to wear, Paul lists all the pieces of armor, which are defensive, and then he says take up an offensive weapon, the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And then he adds another weapon in vs18 “With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints, and [pray] on my behalf, that utterance may be given to me in the opening of my mouth, to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel.”

Now Paul doesn’t use a metaphor of a weapon to describe prayer, but nonetheless it’s clear that it is the second of only two weapons at our disposal. And both are empowered by the Spirit. That’s very interesting the way Paul says that; pray at all times in the Spirit. We need to think about how one prays in the Spirit. I can tell you what it is not; it is not some reference to praying in tongues. But rather it is a reference to spiritual communication in conjunction with the Holy Spirit. In agreement with the Holy Spirit. And the way you do that is by praying in conjunction and agreement with the Sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. That’s how we pray in the Spirit.

Now there is much more that could be said about that, but I want to follow the text, and hopefully in so doing Paul will address all the essential elements of prayer in the process. So to start with, what Paul indicates in vs 1 is the priority of prayer. Notice he says, “First of all, then, I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men.” What he is saying is that this is a priority, of first importance. Prayer is not the last resort, prayer is our first resort. It’s the priority of the church. It’s first in ministry.

When the apostles were forming the first church in Jerusalem, they realized they needed to add the office of deacons to aid in the service of the church. But they said for their part, they wanted to devote themselves to prayer and the ministry of the word. They recognized that prayer was of utmost importance and deserved first place in their ministry. Consider even Jesus Himself who many times spent the night in prayer to His Father. Jesus was a man of prayer, though from our perspective, He was one who needed it the least. But He obviously considered it an essential part of His ministry. He needed consistent communion with His Father.

And that prompts the question – what is prayer? We are called to pray, to pray at all times, to pray without ceasing, but do we understand what prayer really is? Prayer is simply communication with God. It is spiritual communication, spiritual conversation. Now I say spiritual conversation because you are talking to a Spirit, and the Spirit does not respond verbally to you. So that is what makes it spiritual conversation. The Lord hears us whether we speak loudly or softly. The Bible says the Father knows what we are going to ask before we even say it. Whatever part of the world you happen to be in, it doesn’t matter, the Lord hears you. That’s spiritual conversation. If you are a Christian, the Holy Spirit indwells you, and He hears you and prays with you, and for you, according to the will of God.

Rom 8:26-27 says, “In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for [us] with groanings too deep for words; and He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to [the will of] God.” So that is another aspect of praying in the Spirit – the Spirit intercedes for us. But bottom line, prayer is spiritual conversation with God.

Now Paul breaks down our spiritual conversation into four categories. This is not a formula. We all would love to find a formula for prayer that assures us that we will get what we want when we pray. But this is not a formula. A lot of people want to say that in order to pray correctly you have to incorporate all four categories in your prayer. I don’t see that expressed in this verse. But rather Paul is just breaking down prayer into different types of conversation.

So I don’t think we need to make a mountain out of a mole hill here, but nevertheless, let’s consider the four types of conversation we might have. The first type is in the NASB translated entreaties. Other versions says supplications, or petitions. In the Greek it is deēsis, which means needs, or entreating, asking. Most of us are pretty good at that type of prayer. But I don’t want to diminish that type of prayer as juvenile and say we need to get beyond such things. I think Jesus taught us to ask for what we need, what we want, with the confidence that our Heavenly Father wants to give us good things. So as a child of God, entreaties are appropriate prayer, to ask for needs, to come to the Father and lay out petitions.

I also want to say that our manner of conversation does not need to be stilted and so formal that it is not natural. I don’t think that God relates to our prayers better when we say thee and thou rather than you. We don’t need to speak in stilted, formal language in order to pray effectively. Imagine if your child or grandchild came in to your living room and said, “O blessed Father, who sitteth upon the couch, please grant the requests I make to thee.” If your son or daughter said that, you would think he was setting you up for something big. He wants to take your vintage sports car out on a date or something. God doesn’t need us to speak in Elizabethan English in order to be sympathetic to our prayers.

Jesus said in Mat 6:5-8 “When you pray, you are not to be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners so that they may be seen by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. But you, when you pray, go into your inner room, close your door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees [what is done] in secret will reward you. And when you are praying, do not use meaningless repetition as the Gentiles do, for they suppose that they will be heard for their many words. So do not be like them; for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him.”

All right then, entreaties, supplications or petitions. That’s one type. The second type is prayer. That’s a little redundant, isn’t it Paul? Well, I confess I don’t know exactly why Paul uses this here, except perhaps that it is a more general, broader entreaty or supplication than the previous type. All of these words are meant to describe prayer. So there is a sense in which they are all expanding on the previous type. Entreaties may be specific needs, prayers may be general needs.

I find it interesting that the first time the word pray is used in the Bible, it is in Genesis 20, and it is used by God. He says to Abimelech, who had taken Abraham’s wife thinking she was his sister, and God said to Abimelech in a dream, “Now therefore, restore the man’s wife, for he is a prophet, and he will pray for you and you will live. But if you do not restore her, know that you shall surely die, you and all who are yours.” So in that case, prayer was for someone else’s good. Abraham was praying for someone else’s needs, not his own.

But that reference in Genesis also speaks to the next type of prayer Paul lists, which is intercessions or petitions. And intercessions is perhaps the best translation, which has the idea of speaking to God about someone else’s need. Pleading on behalf of others. That’s what Abraham did for Abimalech. Praying that he would not die. And what’s really interesting in that example is that Abimalech is a king, and Paul says in vs 2 that we are to pray for kings. It’s interesting that the first recorded example of prayer is a prayer of intercession for a non believing king.

So obviously there is some overlap in these types of prayer. As I said, I don’t think it is so much meant to be separate categories as it is to be an expansive description of prayer. The last type of prayer Paul gives is thanksgivings. Now in the original Greek I am told that there were no punctuation marks. The NASB has a comma after thanksgiving, followed by the phrase, “be made on behalf of all men.” And I think that is correct, in that “be made for all men” applies to all the categories or types of prayer. Some translations have no comma there, so that thanksgiving for all men is the meaning. I don’t think Paul is saying we should give thanks for all men. That doesn’t make sense. While Paul may say pray for kings and those in authority, he does not say give thanks for Nero who was killing Christians on a massive scale. That just doesn’t make sense. Where you place a comma makes a big difference. It’s like the texted the a group text at Thanksgiving that said, “let’s eat Grandma” and forgot to put a comma between eat and Grandma. Grandma got a little concerned. So we can’t be dogmatic about the comma, but I think it makes more sense that the phrase “be made on behalf of all men” applies to all categories, and not just thanksgiving.

Thanksgivings are to be made to God for what God has done. Thanksgivings are an important aspect of our prayer. They are not some part of a secret formula by which you can get God to do what you want. Some people seem to teach this narcissistic view of God that just wants to hear us praise Him and thank Him all the time. He doesn’t care too much about anything else as long as we praise Him. I don’t think that is a true characterization of God at all. But we should be cognizant of all that God has done for us, and continues to do for us on a daily basis and we should express our thanks to Him. In other words, our conversation with God should not be just one sided, as in what we want God to do for us. If we have a mature relationship with Him, then it should be evident in our conversation with Him.

Now as I said, I believe Paul says we should pray on behalf of all men. That is our service to God and to one another. We are given the ministry of prayer for all men. We pray for all men, all people, all that we come into contact with. We are to pray for our church, pray for our families, pray for our neighbors, and even pray for our enemies. We pray according to the will of God, according to the word of God, in conjunction with the Spirit of God, in agreement with the Spirit of God. God wants to work with us, and our service of prayer is the means by which He does that. We are to pray for all men, for what they need, for God to work in their hearts and to save them.

Then more specifically, Paul says pray for kings and for those in authority. And perhaps that is the extension of praying for your enemies. Look at Vs 2, “for kings and all who are in authority, so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity.” Now as I said earlier, I don’t think Paul was saying that he should give thanks for Nero. Nero was a blood thirsty, insane tyrant. He was an enemy of the church. He had a young man about 14 years old castrated and he married him in a public ceremony. He tarred and burned Christians upon stakes to light up his garden. He set fire to Jerusalem and then blamed it on the Christians so as to justify persecuting the church. I don’t think Paul was saying we should give thanks for a demonic tyrant.

But I do think he is saying pray for tyrants, pray for those in authority whether they be good or evil, that they would leave us alone so that we might live a tranquil and quite life of dignity that we may live godly without persecution and have the freedom to proclaim the gospel. That is an appropriate type of prayer for those particular type of people. There was no recourse in Paul’s day to go to the polls and vote and hopefully get a new emperor in four years. You were saddled with a king for life in most cases. So the only recourse you had was to pray for them, that God would somehow prevail over the inherent evil that these tyrants brought to bear upon the church.

Romans 13 tells us that we are not to overthrow the government. We are to submit to the government as long as they are not forcing us to do something contrary to the command of God. So the only other recourse for us as Christians is to pray for the governing authorities. God is able to change the king’s mind as in the case of Abimelech.. God is able to make it possible for even an evil king to find other things to occupy his mind and leave the church alone.

So we should pray for all men, even our enemies, and the enemies of God, because Paul says in vs 3, “This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” So we pray because that is the means by which we partner with God, we collaborate with God to bring about salvation for all men. Now of course, he is not indicating that all men will be saved. Peter said, God is not willing for any to perish, but for all to come to repentance. But the Bible tells us that not all will be saved. The scripture makes that very clear. Jesus made that very clear saying the way is narrow that leads to life, and few there be that find it. Not everyone finds it. But we are to pray for all to find it.

Now that’s an interesting dilemma isn’t it? That God’s will is that no one perishes, yet they perish. That reveals to me that God’s will is not intractable. But God has a perfect will, and a passive will. And man has a part to play in the execution of God’s will. Jesus when he taught the disciples to pray said, “Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” Our prayers facilitate the will of God on earth. But if God’s will was completely foreordained and intractable, then why are we told to pray for His will to be done?

Now the scriptures say that salvation is of the Lord, but we are tasked with participating in bringing salvation to men. I don’t pretend to know how all of this works. But I know that God works through prayer. God desires our prayer. And God wants all men to be saved. And so God sends us to proclaim the gospel to all men, everywhere. And He wants us to pray for all men to that end. So at the very least, we know that our ministry which we are given to perform is to pray for the salvation of all men. That is the service we are to give to men and to God.

I can tell you this. From what I have read in biographies of great preachers, and stories about great revivals, the success of both were preceded by a period of extensive prayer. Prayer is the essential sharpening of the axe before the first swing is ever laid against the tree. Abraham Lincoln was supposed to have said, “if you have 8 hours to cut wood, spend 7 of them sharpening your axe.” I think that can be applied to prayer in regards to evangelism as well. That is why we do the Jericho March before we enter every summer season on the beach. That season of prayer is necessary if we are to have a successful season on the beach.

The next part of prayer that Paul addresses here is the principle of through whom we pray. We are very much accustomed to end our prayers by saying “in Jesus name we pray, Amen.” We do that without thinking, for the most part. But what does it mean to pray in Jesus name? Why does that matter? Well for one, Jesus told us to pray in His name. In John 14:13-14 Jesus said, “Whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do [it.]”

And Paul addresses that same principle here in vs 5 “For there is one God, [and] one mediator also between God and men, [the] man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a ransom for all, the testimony [given] at the proper time. For this I was appointed a preacher and an apostle (I am telling the truth, I am not lying) as a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth.”

The One to whom we pray is God the Father, but we pray through the Mediator, the man Christ Jesus. The scriptures teach that Jesus is both fully God and fully Man. In theological terms it is called the hypostatic union. But in layman’s terms it means that He is God in the flesh. And He was our Mediator in salvation by becoming our substitute, taking the wrath of God upon Himself that we might be given life and sonship in the family of God. But now, having risen from the dead and ascended to the Father’s right hand, He lives forever to make intercession for us. Rom 8:34 says “Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us.”

Now He intercedes for us according to the Father’s will. He intercedes for us by application of His blood for our sins so that we might be counted as righteous as sons of God. But He also intercedes for us as we pray in His name. God seeing His righteousness applied to our account hears our prayers as being sanctified by Jesus Christ.

Heb 10:19-23 says, “Therefore, brethren, since we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He inaugurated for us through the veil, that is, His flesh, and since [we have] a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled [clean] from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.” We come into the holy place to speak to God by the blood of Jesus Christ which cleanses us from all sin.

So what Paul says here to Timothy is that there is One Mediator between God and man, and only One Mediator is needed. We pray in the name of Jesus Christ, through the sanctifying power of His sacrifice, so that we may have full acceptance at the throne of God. There is no need for any other mediator. In fact, I would go so far as to say that if you attempt to go through another mediator, you are in effect blaspheming Christ. If you attempt to go to God through Mary, then you are taking the honor and glory that belong only to Christ and giving it to a person, and a person who is dead at that. If you pray to a so called saint, you are praying to a person, and taking away from what is Christ’s alone. Christ, who alone was holy and righteous, died and shed His blood so that He might be our Mediator, and we dare not take away that which He shed His blood to procure. You do not need to go to God through a priest, or Mary, or a saint, but you can only go through Jesus Christ. In Him alone we have the right to enter into the throne of God.

Paul began this passage about the ministry of prayer by urging prayers to be made for every man. And he bookends this section with a similar statement in vs 8, “Therefore I want the men in every place to pray, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and dissension.” And I think he is being in this case, deliberately redundant. He is emphasizing the importance and need for prayer by saying it twice.

Now some think that this reference to “every place” is a reference to the church. And so Paul is saying we should pray in the church. To that, I would agree without argument, that we should pray in the church. Jesus said “My house is to be a house of prayer.” Prayer, we have already said, is to be a priority in the church, and especially in corporate assemblies. Corporate prayer is powerful prayer. Remember how the church prayed for Peter to be delivered from prison and God sent an angel to release him.

But I think what Paul is saying is not limited to the church assembly. He wants men to pray in every place. You go back to Eph 6:18 and read that again, “With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints.” You can’t pray at all times and not pray in all places. Just be in a constant state of prayer. If we are walking in the Spirit, and living by the Spirit, then we must have constant spiritual communication irregardless of where we are or what we are doing. That doesn’t mean we have to fall on our knees at the bank and at the grocery store and at work, but it does mean we are in constant communication with God at all times, in all places, in all circumstances.

And as a reference back to the idea of praying for our enemies, or our persecutors, we pray without wrath and dissension. We don’t take our own revenge. We leave room for God to avenge us. James 1:20 says “the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God.”

Our goal in prayer is to see others saved. If we give way to our anger we are not going to achieve that. We want to work with God, not against God. So let’s pray, lifting up holy hands. That is not speaking of a posture of prayer. Some people seem to think that holding up your hands has something intrinsically holy about it. Most of the time in the Bible when you see someone come in the presence of God they are flat on their face. They aren’t holding up their hands and dancing around. Holy hands is a reference to consecrated hands. Hands refers to the work of our hands, to our deeds. As we are holy in our deeds, consecrated to live righteous, godly lives for Christ, then we can win the lost to Christ by our example and not give cause for the gospel to be slandered.

Our prayer life is affected by our sin or the lack of sin. David said if I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me. So we make sure that we have repented of any sin, that we are living godly lives, and we pray in every place at all times, joining with God in accomplishing His will on earth. That is our service of prayer, our ministry of prayer which we render unto God and men.

God’s will is that none should perish, but that all should come to repentance. He desires all men to be saved. I trust that if you have not accepted His free gift of salvation, then today would be the day that you surrender to Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior and receive new life in Him.

We are all probably very familiar with the word ministry. It’s often used as a synonym for the church. It’s derived from the root word minister, which often is used as a title or job description for a pastor. But ministry is really just another word for service. Depending upon the translation you use, you will see either ministry or service used in vs twelve.

Vs12 “I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has strengthened me, because He considered me faithful, putting me into service, or ministry.” I think I prefer the translation as service. Because ministry is a word that has connotations of something pious, perhaps a little lofty, sort of out of the realm of mundane day to day things, and indicating something religious and spiritual. And of course, ministry should be religious and spiritual, but that can sometimes lead us to think of it as detached from the realm of day to day life.

But when you say service, that has an altogether different connotation. That is something that borders on the mundane, the practical, even, God forbid, duty. We sometimes speak of our men and women in uniform that they are in the service. And we know what we mean by that, don’t we? It means they are in one of the armed services of our country. They are in the service of our country. They are under the authority of the Commander in Chief.

But that word service can have an even lowlier connotation. It is very much associated with the word servant. To be a servant is to be someone who is in service to someone else. He is at their command. Sometimes in old houses, you would see a sign around the back indicating “service entrance.” That could mean the servants entrance, or it could mean those that serviced the house for whatever mechanical needs there might be.

So in the original language, the word translated ministry does not indicate some high, pious position, but it simply refers to working for and serving someone. And to that extent, we are all called to serve Christ. In this new life, we have been given a ministry, we have been called to be servants to the kingdom of God. Not all have the same position in service, but all are called to serve, even as soldiers in spiritual warfare. Not all soldiers are given the same rank, the same responsibility, yet they all serve the same King.

Paul said he was grateful for this ministry which he had been given. I would say that gratefulness was his primary motivation in ministry. And that was because God had saved him from a person dedicated to destroying the church, and by God’s grace and mercy had made him someone who would establish the church.

So how are we put into the service of Christ? The answer is, the same way as Paul was entered into service. Now what follows in vs 12-15, is a sort of resume by Paul. And as is typical of most resumes, the job title you are presently in is listed first, and the order that follows goes backwards in your career. So most resumes usually read from the greatest to the least. You list that at present you are working as a graphic designer for some big design firm, and then the job you had before that, and so forth until way down at the bottom of the page, the first job you had, which was a French fry cook at McDonald’s.

Paul’s resume sort of follows that pattern. But I would like to look at it in reverse. Let’s start with vs15, because this is where we all start as well. This is one area that we all have in common. Paul says in vs 15, “It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost [of all.]”.

This is all of our condition prior to salvation. There is none righteous, no not one. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. All of us were enemies of God. All of our righteousness was as filthy rags before God. None of us were any better than any one else, or more deserving of heaven than anyone else. Paul said he was the chief of sinners. I said last week, that was until I came along. But the fact is, there really isn’t any difference between you and me or Paul, for that matter when it comes to the matter of sin. We all were enemies of God under the condemnation of death.

Paul said he was a former blasphemer and persecutor and violent aggressor of the church. In Acts 26:9 Paul said of himself and these activities against Christ and against His church, “So then, I thought to myself that I had to do many things hostile to the name of Jesus of Nazareth. And this is just what I did in Jerusalem; not only did I lock up many of the saints in prisons, having received authority from the chief priests, but also when they were being put to death I cast my vote against them. And as I punished them often in all the synagogues, I tried to force them to blaspheme; and being furiously enraged at them, I kept pursuing them even to foreign cities.”

So Paul was indeed the chief of sinners, in that he not only persecuted the church, but he tried to get them to blaspheme Christ and deny Christ. But as great as his sin was, God’s grace was greater. He says, “Yet I was shown mercy because I acted ignorantly in unbelief; and the grace of our Lord was more than abundant, with the faith and love which are found in Christ Jesus.” That phrase ‘more than abundant” is the idea of super abundant. As Romans 5:20 says, “Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.”

But what I like about Paul’s confession here is that he says he was “formally a blasphemer and so forth.” When Paul was converted on the road to Damascus, he was changed, converted. What he was formerly, he was no longer practicing. What he was ignorant of, he now knew. What was done in unbelief, now he by faith believed the truth. The point is salvation is conversion. It’s like the line in Amazing Grace, “I once was lost but now am found, was blind, but now I see.” A change in belief results in a change of behavior.

When I was a kid growing up in church, we used to have an evangelist named Billy Kelly who would come do a series of nightly meetings every couple of years or so. Billy Kelly probably weighed 400 pounds, and was a freckled face red haired giant of a man from the hills of West Virginia. And as a preacher’s kid I had to sit through many a long night of preaching as I was growing up, but when Billy Kelly came to our church he was one preacher I looked forward to hearing. He played the piano as well, and he was known for singing one song in particular, which is called “Thanks to Calvary.” He always sang it after giving his personal testimony of being the town drunk and how some men dragged him to a revival meeting one night after sobering him up with coffee and he was saved after listening to the message. He used to sing that song with tears rolling down his face, which told the story of his little boy hiding behind the door when he would come home drunk, but now that he was saved, he said, “Son, have no fear, you’ve got a brand new daddy now. Thanks to Calvary I’m not the man I used to be. Thanks to Calvary things are different than before.” After he got done singing that song, he had the whole church in tears.

But the truth is that when God saves you, he changes you. And in Paul’s case, he who was the foremost persecutor of the church, was made the foremost establisher of the church, as a testimony to the super abundant grace of God. And so Paul explains in vs 16, “Yet for this reason I found mercy, so that in me as the foremost, Jesus Christ might demonstrate His perfect patience as an example for those who would believe in Him for eternal life.”

What we can learn from Paul’s salvation, is that no matter how great your sin, God’s mercy is greater. There is no degree of sin that you can sink to that God cannot save you from. There is no depravity that God cannot redeem you from. As much as you have descended into depravity, God is able to raise you up to greater heights than you can imagine. He is able to make the lost, found. The blind to see. The lame to walk. The dead to live. There is no sin that is beyond His ability to save you from.

But there is just one caveat to His mercy and grace. And that is, you must recognize and repent of your sin. When Paul was confronted with the truth, when he saw his sin, he repented of it and was forgiven of it. He didn’t try to excuse it, or to cover it up, or to say that it wasn’t really sin. No, he said my sin is worse than anyone else’s. I am the worst of sinners! And that is the key. There is no sin which is confessed and repented of, that cannot be forgiven. Christ came to save sinners. That is a trustworthy statement. You can bet your life on that statement. But you better recognize you are a sinner if you want Christ to save you. Because He came to save sinners, not the self righteous.

That realization brings Paul to express a confession of faith in Christ and praise Him for His mercy towards sinners. He says in vs 17, “Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, [be] honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.” Paul said in Romans 10:9, “that if you confess with your mouth Jesus [as] Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.”

That confession is what Paul states in vs 17, “the King” is Jesus Christ the King, the Lord, our Sovereign. To confess Jesus as Lord is to confess Him as your King, as the One to whom we owe our lives, to whom we honor and serve and obey. We lay down our lives in service to our Lord and King. And this King is eternal, immortal, He was raised from the dead and now stands at the Father’s right hand. To Him deserves all honor, all glory, as we give our lives in service to Him forever.

That comprehension on Paul’s part was the impetus for his ministry, his service. And God would use him and enable him and strengthen him and equip him to do what he called him to do. So that all the praise and glory go to God, and not Paul. But Paul’s gratitude for what God had done for him, was the motivation for his service to the church.

Now there were other ministers in the church. Paul’s office as a minister was an apostle. These were other offices or positions. As I said, in the service not everyone has the same office or position or area of duty. The next one mentioned in Paul’s letter is Timothy. Timothy is a minister, a servant of the gospel. I suppose we might call him the pastor of the church in Ephesus. I think he was perhaps more like a regional pastor, but we can’t be dogmatic about such things. But my understanding is that there were more than one church in Ephesus. They were house churches, each with their pastors/teachers. And Timothy was acting as an agent of the apostle Paul, as overseeing the churches in Ephesus. I can’t say that for sure, but that’s what I pick up from reading between the lines.

But nevertheless, we do know that Timothy was in service to the church at Ephesus, and he had a position like a senior pastor over the church or churches there. So Paul says to him in vs 18 “This command I entrust to you, Timothy, [my] son, in accordance with the prophecies previously made concerning you, that by them you fight the good fight, keeping faith and a good conscience, which some have rejected and suffered shipwreck in regard to their faith.”

So what is this command, or this charge to Timothy that Paul refers to? It is the charge given in vs 3-11 of this chapter, the command to stay on at Ephesus, and to instruct certain men not to teach strange doctrines, nor to pay attention to myths or endless genealogies that give rise to speculation rather than faith, to instruct them not to teach a twisted version of the law, about which they make confident assertions, but which they don’t know what they are talking about. So in short, Timothy’s ministry to the church is to teach the teachers, to correct them, to rebuke them.

Paul gives a similar command or charge to Timothy at a later date in 2 Timothy 4:1-5 “I solemnly charge [you] in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season [and] out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but [wanting] to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths. But you, be sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.”

Now one more thing to note about this command to ministry that Paul gives to Timothy, is he says it’s in accordance with the prophecies previously made concerning you. What exactly Paul is talking about we’re not sure, but he speaks of it again in chapter 4 vs 14 “Do not neglect the spiritual gift within you, which was bestowed on you through prophetic utterance with the laying on of hands by the presbytery.” He goes on to say, persevere in your teaching, pay attention to it, take pains with it, for as you do this you will ensure salvation both for yourself and for those who hear you.” So we can surmise that preaching and teaching is the spiritual gift that was given to Timothy by the Lord, and was confirmed by the laying on of hands by the elders, presumably the elders of the church in Jerusalem, which is a reference to the apostles. He was commissioned as an evangelist, a preacher of the gospel, by the Lord and confirmed by the apostles. So that was Timothy’s ministry.

But there is one more category of ministry that is alluded to in vs 19, and then the perpetrators named in vs 20. Let’s pick it up again in vs 19, “keeping faith and a good conscience, which some have rejected and suffered shipwreck in regard to their faith. Among these are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan, so that they will be taught not to blaspheme.”

These are ministers that have suffered shipwreck in regards to their faith. That’s a pretty scary thing to say about teachers in the church. I don’t know if you’ve ever seen a shipwreck, or been involved in one. From the little I know about boats, things can go wrong pretty quickly on a boat and yet at the same time seem like they are happening in slow motion. One problem is that the boat is in motion due to the wind or current or even from the motor, and there are no brakes on a boat. So once something is in motion it keeps on going even though it is destroying itself. If you want to have some fun, search for ships hitting the dock on YouTube and you will see what I’m talking about. They can’t stop, and they just destroy more and more until they sink or are absolutely ruined.

Paul had been on a few shipwrecks in his life, real ones. There is a really frightening description of one in particular in Acts where they end up having to grab a plank of wood and try to swim ashore in the middle of a fierce storm while the ship is stuck on a shoal being torn apart by the waves. So Paul knew what a shipwreck looked like and the damage that can happen from losing your bearings.

These men, Hymaneus and Alexander, have suffered shipwreck in regard to their faith. That means that they had abandoned or abused the truth in favor of another gospel, a more speculative gospel, a more dramatic gospel that was not founded on the truth. And the thing that Paul is very concerned about was they were teaching that false doctrine to the church and leading others astray.

Isn’t that what he said about these men in 2Tim. 4:3-4 “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but [wanting] to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths.”

There was another element to their false teaching which was it had become blasphemy. Blasphemy is speaking evil of Christ. I would think that somehow their doctrine had deviated from the truth to the point that they attributed some sin to Jesus. There are people today that teach that Jesus had a wife, usually saying it’s Mary Magdalene. That’s the sort of speculation that these teachers seemed to be guilty of, contriving myths and speculation from some vague reference in scripture. The point of such blasphemy though would be to excuse their own sin.

And so Paul says he is handing these men over to Satan so they will be taught not to blaspheme. I think a lot of people don’t like to consider the reality of what Paul is saying there. But he speaks of the same sort of thing in 1 Cor. 5, about a man who was committing immorality with his father’s wife, and was blatantly unrepentant about it. And so Paul says there in vs “5 [I have decided] to deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of his flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.”

What that means is for the person that continues in sin, there may be a time when God releases you from His protective care as a child of God, to suffer the consequences of sin. And the devil is free to destroy your flesh through that sin. Because that is what the devil does. He is the destroyer. He goes about as a roaring lion seeking someone to devour. The sin that so easily besets us will eventually destroy us.

Paul indicates these men are saved, but they have returned to their sin like a pig that has been washed returns to the mire. And the key is that they are unrepentant. They claim that God doesn’t care about this little peccadillo. What I’m doing isn’t really bad. God made me this way( there is where the blasphemy comes in) or God made this and so it really can’t be wrong. And so God allows Satan to destroy the flesh, though the spirit is saved in the day of judgment. That’s why in the verses that talk about the sanctify of taking the Lord’s Supper, Paul says many of you are sick and a number sleep. Sleep there refers to the death of the believer.

Listen, if you became a servant of the King through conversion, then you have been set free from the captivity of sin and cleansed from sin. But when you return to it, you trample underfoot the blood of Jesus Christ, you regard it as worthless. And God will discipline those who are His. If you’re not His, then you are already condemned to death, and under the captivity of Satan who will destroy you. But if you are a child of God, and you choose to go back into sin, and are unrepentant of it, then you are given over to the control of Satan by your own free will, and God gives Satan permission to sift you like wheat, with the goal of destroying you. God’s purpose in allowing that is not to destroy you, though if you persist that may happen. But God’s purpose is to restore you, to use suffering in the flesh to bring you to repentance.

We that are saved have been given a ministry, we are servants of the King. Our life is not our own, we are bought with a price. Therefore, we cannot return to our prior captivity without suffering the consequences of that dominion of darkness. But as Paul has pointed out so clearly in this passage, God is merciful and gracious and desires to restore us and make us the polar opposite of what we were by nature, if we will just repent and surrender to the Lord, confessing Him as Lord of our lives.

Let us make this Psalm of David our prayer this morning as we examine our heart before God. David wrote in Psalm 139:23-24 “Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: And see if [there be any] wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”

As a general, overarching theme in this epistle, James has been contrasting the wisdom which is from the world, with the wisdom which is from above.  He has shown that contrast in a variety of ways.  For instance, James spent a great deal of time talking about the use of the  tongue, or our speech, as the evidence of which wisdom you follow – whether it’s the wisdom of the world or the wisdom from above.  You can tell by one’s speech.

But he really begins this epistle by talking about wisdom. And in those opening verses, we get some clues that I believe will help us properly understand the passage before us today in chapter five.  Notice in chapter one he talks about having faith through the trials of life, and the wisdom to do so which he says comes from God.  But then he contrasts that wisdom with the one who doubts.  The one who has faith has the wisdom from God, the one who doubts doesn’t really believe the wisdom of God and is instead following the world’s wisdom.

He then continues that contrast saying in vs 9, speaking of the brother of humble circumstances  and he contrasts him to the rich man.  Once again, we can assume that the humble follow the wisdom from God, the rich man follows the wisdom of the world.  And I think in that passage James sets the rich man as an example or illustration of one who lives by the wisdom of this world.

And again and again as we read this epistle, we see James characterize those who live by the wisdom of the world as being the rich.  In chapter 2, for instance, James contrasts the rich man with those whom he says are the poor of this world.  And again we see the parallel;  those who are poor in this world he says are actually rich in the faith, whereas the rich man oppresses the poor.  So in a broad sense, I think James is using the rich man as a metaphor for those who follow the wisdom of the world and treasure the things of this world, and he uses the poor as a metaphor for those who are rich in faith but poor in the riches of this world.

There are other examples of that as well, but I think I will let you study that out for yourselves and we will work on chapter five from that perspective; that the rich are illustrative of those who  follow the wisdom of this world, that live for the pleasure and the things they can get from this world.  That’s the default wisdom of this world, that if you work hard, if you do this, or do that according to the wisdom of this world, then you can enjoy all that this world has to offer – you can be content, satisfied, and live a comfortable, happy life. You can be rich in the things of this world.

And so we follow the wisdom of the world and we tell our kids to get good grades, send them off to a good college, to get a degree in a field with high paying jobs, and to pursue the American dream and promise them fulfillment and happiness.  Now, just to be clear,  the “American” part of that dream is not necessarily a bad thing.  It’s the same dream in Europe or Asia.  They just call it by another name.  However, in America we seem to have a better chance of accomplishing it.  We are told that we can accomplish anything we put our minds to.  And here we have enough freedom to be able to come closer to making that a reality than they might have in other countries.

So as we delve into chapter five and James rails against the rich, we need to understand that he is not necessarily pronouncing some horrible judgment on those who happen to end up with a lot of money at some point in their life.  But he is proclaiming judgment on those who live by the wisdom of the world, who have set their sights on acquiring material things as a means of finding happiness and fulfillment in life. 

Now one more difficulty this passage has is we can’t know for sure specifically who James is speaking to.  He doesn’t address the rich as brothers, or brethren, so some commentators see this as only applying to the unbeliever. But I’m not so sure that Christians can opt out of this criticism so easily.  Because I believe number one, that we have a default mechanism in our behavior even though we may be believers, which is to rely on the wisdom of the world more often than we realize.  And number two, I think all of us qualify as being rich by the metric that most of the world goes by.  Even those who live below the poverty level in America would be considered rich in many other places in the world.  But it’s not so much the amount of money or possessions that James is talking about, but the perspective of the world that believes in and follows the wisdom of the world, a wisdom that has materialism as it’s goal.

So James is condemning the world’s wisdom, the world system, while at the same time rebuking the same tendencies within the heart of the believer. He is exposing the materialistic perspective of the world, but he also knows it’s possible for believers to be just as materialistic and self-centered and indulgent and guilty of the same sins. 

So he begins with a scathing rebuke to anyone who has adopted the world’s wisdom saying in vs 1, “Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries which are coming upon you.”  On the one hand, he is calling for repentance from those who hold to that false wisdom, and on the other hand, he is warning of impending judgement upon those who hold to such a world view. James says, you may think you are rich, that you have obtained happiness and fulfillment in life by living according to the world’s wisdom,  but you should be mourning for what you have lost, and crying out for the misery that God’s judgment will bring upon you.

It’s the same sort of rebuke that James offered in chapter four when he called out those who sought friendship with the world, but ended up becoming the enemy of God. To be rich is to be a friend of the world, to live in agreement with the world system which is engineered by the devil and produces every kind of evil.  

James speaks of a coming time when God will judge the world. He says in vs 3, it is in the last days that you have stored up treasure for yourself.  He goes on to speak in vs 7 and 8 saying that the coming of the Lord is at near.  So the misery that is coming upon the rich is the judgment of the Lord at His second coming.  The first coming of the Lord He came bearing mercy, the second coming He comes in judgment.  And James says that the day is near.

So James goes on to speak of four sins of this materialistic, worldly wisdom in this passage that will bring about the judgment of God. The first sin is what might be called the sin of hoarding.  Wealth was held in those days in three primary forms, and he says that in all three areas, they were guilty of hoarding it. 

One form of riches was corn and grain.  We find that example in the parable which Jesus gave concerning the rich man who built more barns to store, or hoard his crops.  There’s nothing wrong with storing corn or grain— the problem James points out is the fact that because they stored more than they could ever eat— James writes, “your riches have rotted” . . . literally, they’ve spoiled.  You didn’t use it for good, for the glory of God, and so it has become foul and putrid before the Lord.

Another form of wealth was clothing. There are many examples of clothing in the Bible being used as money.  For instance, Samson gave changes of clothing as payment for whoever solved his riddle.  James is talking here about people who had so many garments they could never use them all, and so they stored them away. They can only store them away in bigger boxes; bigger garages; bigger attics; bigger rental units; bigger barns.  It’s amazing to me to see how they keep building more and more storage units.  People have huge houses, sometimes two houses,  big garages, and yet they need to rent a storage facility to hold their excess.

Notice what James says next in verse 2. Your garments have become moth-eaten.  Again, the point made is that in storing it away and not using it, the moths ruined it and destroyed it.  I remember once years ago when I was an antique dealer.  I was at these people’s house trying to buy some things, and they told me that they also had some Navajo rugs.  We went back into a bedroom and under the bed the pulled out some boxes in which they had stored these Navajo rugs which today would be worth a good bit of money.  But when we pulled them out and unfolded them, it became obvious that moths had gotten into the rugs and laid their larvae which then ate the wool.  There were large gaping holes all throughout the blankets.  They were completely ruined because they had not been stored correctly.

That’s what James is saying here, the garments that the rich had accumulated and stored away, had no value anymore because they had been ruined by moths. Jesus said that if you had two coats, you were to give one to him who had none.  Garments that are used for the Lord’s purposes do not get moth eaten. But these selfish rich people who stored up their wealth in garments found they were worthless in the day of judgment.

The third way of storing wealth was gold and silver. He writes in verse 3, “Your gold and your silver have rusted, and their rust will be a witness against you and will consume your flesh like fire. It is in the last days that you have stored up your treasure!”  One of the things that makes gold and silver valuable is that they don’t rust. What James is probably referring to, since the judgment is the context here, notice the last phrase of verse 3 where James says that they have stored up their treasure in the last days – what he is referring to is that it will be as if their gold and silver have turned to rust.  In the judgment, the world’s gold and silver will be as worthless as rusted iron.  When iron rusts, it becomes like the moth eaten garments – it just denigrates in your hand.

The point James is making is that the currency of the world is worthless in heaven.The things that are valued in the world’s wisdom have no value in the kingdom of God.  At the judgment, those things that you hoarded, you valued, which you sold your soul for will have no value whatsoever, and in fact James says they will be a witness against you and will fuel the fires of hell.  It’s an echo of what Jesus taught in Matt. 6:19-21 saying “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal;  for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

I don’t know if you remember a few years ago some mortuary company had these billboards that promised you could be buried with your motorcycle or car or whatever it was that you treasured or which defined you while you were living.  I don’t know how that worked out for that funeral home.  I haven’t seen any of their billboards lately.  But I read a story not long ago about a man who had a similar ambition. His chief purpose in life was to get as much money as he could. He not only loved money and everything it could buy, he hoarded it all for himself.

In fact, this guy wouldn’t let his wife spend any of it. He made her promise that when he died, he wanted her to have all of his money buried with him in the ground. It was his and he wanted to keep it all for himself. And unbelievably, his wife promised him she would do what he asked. When he died he was enormously wealthy. At his funeral, attended by his wife and just a couple of her friends, just before the casket was lowered, the wife put a large box on top of the casket before it was lowered into the ground. The wife’s close friend said to her, ―”You’re not foolish enough to keep your promise to him, are you?” She said, ”But, I promised him I would.” Her friend protested all the more, ”You mean to tell me that you kept that selfish demand of his —you actually put all that money in the casket with him?” The widow said, “I sure did … I wrote him a check.”  

So following hoarding comes the second sin of materialism, which is defrauding.  James says in vs 4,  “Behold, the pay of the laborers who mowed your fields, [and] which has been withheld by you, cries out [against you;] and the outcry of those who did the harvesting has reached the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth.”

In this case, James is describing those who in the wisdom of the world to use people, to take advantage of people, in order to climb and claw their way to the top.  The end justifies the means, and if that means I have to step on others then so be it.  That’s the wisdom of the world  that says “go for all the gusto you can get.”  “You can have it all if you’re willing to sacrifice everything.” 

James uses the example here of a day laborer, who was according to Jewish law supposed to be paid at the end of the day, instead, he says the rich man held back his pay, and he was in danger of never getting paid at all.  I once worked for someone many years ago like that who used me to paint a house in Greenwood.  I was in a pretty desperate place at the time and really needed the money. It took me several trips back and forth to finally finish the job, but the company who hired me kept finding fault in what I had done.  So I went back and redid a large portion of it. That happened again, until I finally realized that they were just putting me off not wanting to pay me.  Then when I finally confronted them and they gave me a check, I went to their bank to cash it and was told there was insufficient funds in the account.  Turns out, that was the modus operandi of this company, to hire people to do a job and never intend on paying them.

Now that’s an extreme example of what James is talking about.  Most people aren’t that crass and obvious about it.  But there is a wisdom of the world that values making a buck over treating people fairly. And that is what it means to defraud someone.  James says the Lord of Sabaoth hears the cries of those that were taken advantage of.  That title is also translated in some versions as the Lord of Hosts.  It means the Lord of armies.  God’s might is able to rectify and repay those that do injustice to others.

The third example of the materialistic worldly wisdom is self indulgence. That’s found in vs 5, “You have lived luxuriously on the earth and led a life of wanton pleasure; you have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter.”  

James speaks of a life lived in luxury and wanton pleasure.  That’s the goal of the wisdom of the rich man.  These people are using their wealth to gratify their love of luxury and to satisfy their lusts for sexual gratification.

Back in James day, the Romans were notorious for gluttonous feasts and sexual orgies.  They actually had these latrines built into the temples where they indulged in these festivals so that when they had gorged themselves on food, they could throw up in the latrine and then eat some more.  In contrast to that, the Christians were displaced from their homeland, they had often lost their occupations in the process, and were probably wondering where they would get their next meal. 

From a human perspective, it looked like the rich, worldly wise people were living the best life possible, enjoying every pleasure in abundance, but James says that they are actually fattening themselves for the day of slaughter.  He likens it to the farm animal that eats and eats but doesn’t realize that it is only so that they might be slaughtered later.  He is speaking metaphorically about the judgment that will be greater because of their self indulgence. It’s interesting to think about how so much that we consider essential, that we work and spend our money on, is actually a luxury that would be inconceivable to people living a hundred years ago.  And we try to justify our lifestyle in the name of providing for our families, when really we have to have all these luxury items that we think are essential.

Just compare the average house of the generation that lived in the 50’s and 60’s in comparison with the average house today. You can’t even find a builder today that will build a house like that.  It’s not marketable unless it has a top of the line kitchen, walk in closets, a two car garage, and all the modern conveniences.  I’m not saying we have to live in a hut to be spiritual, but I am saying we have bought into the world’s wisdom for what is an acceptable standard of living.

There is a final characteristic James speaks of concerning the worldly wise rich man, and that is ruthlessness. He speaks of it ruthlessness in vs 6, “You have condemned and put to death the righteous [man;] he does not resist you.”  

More than likely James is speaking metaphorically here about putting someone to death.  But in Jewish legal terms, taking away the livelihood of someone was the equivalent of murder.  One rabbi a couple of centuries before Christ said it this way, “As one that slays his neighbor is he that takes away his living.” 

Having even a little experience in our legal system, it’s not hard to see that the rich are able to take advantage of the courts, whereas the poor are not able to afford to defend themselves.  I think using the legal system to their advantage is  what James is speaking of.  Remember back in chapter 2 vs 6 James said, “But you have dishonored the poor man. Is it not the rich who oppress you and personally drag you into court?”

What he is talking about is that the innocent man is personally abused, beaten down and ruined by a court, that instead of dispensing justice, is able to be controlled by the rich. And according to the wisdom of the world, all is fair in love and war and business, even if it means taking everything from the innocent to stuff the pockets of the rich. Those that follow the world’s wisdom are ruthless, taking advantage by every means possible to keep themselves rich and add to their riches.

Notice at the last part of verse 6, James says that the righteous man does not resist you.

This can mean one of two things: one,  that the righteous man doesn’t have the

ability to show up in court. He doesn’t have the  money to hire a fancy lawyer; he doesn’t even have the ability to photocopy the paper to file his complaint.  There is a man that I have befriended in prison that I’ve seen this happen to again and again.  He has lost so many court battles simply because he didn’t have access to a phone, or to a lawyer, or even able to get things photo copied.  The prison charges him money to make copies, and he has no money, so he can’t make the copies and loses the appeal.

The other possible option is that the righteous man doesn’t even try to fight back legally, and chooses instead to be ruined and leave his vindication up to God.  We can’t be sure, but that latter interpretation is very likely the one James had in mind, given the use of the word righteous as a description of this innocent person.  

In that case where I painted a house in Greenwood and the business that hired me gave me a bad check, I remember I called them and asked for them to pay me what they owed me.  The guy on the telephone became so vile, so filthy mouthed, he cursed me up one side and down the other.  It was actually unnerving to hear the hatred in his voice.  I was very upset and considered all the ways I could try to legally get my money.  Then later that night I began to pray about it and asked the Lord to show me what to do.  The next morning, I wrote this guy a letter.  I said I knew that they owed me the money but I had decided I was going to forgive them for defrauding me, and I wasn’t going to take any legal action against them. I said I had also owed a debt that I had not been able to pay, and the Lord had forgiven me, and by His example, I had decided to forgive them. I tried to use it as a means of witnessing to them their need of salvation.  I never heard from them again, and I don’t doubt but that they laughed over the idea that they thought  they got away with it.  But I know that the Lord will vindicate me, that he saw what I did, and I believe over the years He has restored so much more than I lost in that deal.

Listen, the wisdom of this world says that the end justifies the means, and the goal in life is he who dies with the most toys wins. The wisdom of this world says that there is no God, or that God doesn’t care, or even that if there is a God, He just wants us to be successful in the things of this world, and so we are justified in cutting corners, or we’re justified in being ruthless or stepping on people in our pursuit of the goal.  Of course, nothing can be further from the truth. God sees, and God will judge the world for every deed, and even every careless word that they have done.

Rather than trusting in the wisdom of the world, Paul told Timothy in 1Tim. 6:17-19 “Instruct those who are rich in this present world not to be conceited or to fix their hope on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy. [Instruct them] to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is life indeed.” 

Jesus told us how we are to gain that life in Matt. 16:24-27 and it is the opposite of the world’s wisdom.  He said,  “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.  For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? For the Son of Man is going to come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and WILL THEN REPAY EVERY MAN ACCORDING TO HIS DEEDS.” 

I pray that if you are following the wisdom of this world today, if you are rich in this world, then you will repent, weep and howl, and ask God for forgiveness, for Him to transform your heart, so that you might escape that judgment which is coming on all the world.  Renounce the riches of this world, renounce the wisdom of this world, and in exchange the Lord will give you the next world, and the wisdom which comes down from heaven, that you might have life and have it more abundantly.  That you might obtain  an inheritance [which is] imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you.

I think that one of the greatest distinguishing features that separates man from the animal kingdom, besides having a soul, is man’s ability to speak, to communicate.  I’ve always been amazed at the inherent desire in people to talk.  I remember very well many years ago I used to work part time in the mornings as a lifeguard for the pool at the YMCA.  And they would have these exercise classes during certain times on certain days when all these old people would put on their floaties and then supposedly start exercising.  But the teacher was pretty lax.  She would just lead the class around in a big circle, bobbing around the pool.  And immediately the people in the class just started chattering away.  And  the sound of the chatter from all the people in the pool was almost deafening.  The pool tends to reflect the sound off the water and the walls anyway, but hearing the magnified sound of fifty old ladies bobbing around who were constantly chattering was enough to drive you crazy.  And I think that’s when I first realized just how much social interaction is essential to the human species.

The experts tell us that that the average person speaks about 16,000 words a day.  Some people have said that men speak 16,200 words a day and women speak 16,800 words a day. That’s statistically the same for women or men.  But the common perception of women being more talkative though comes more from timing, than from the total words spoken. The problem is that by the time the man comes home from work, he has already spoken his 16,000, but the woman hasn’t yet started on her 16,000.  She’s been waiting for that opportunity. But of course that’s a stereotypical statement that is probably not really true.

But what is true is that we need to speak, and to a large extent, our speech is one of the primary ways in which we are known and defined.  James is very concerned about our speech.  He has already brought it up in chapter one and talked about it there.  It’s apparent that James considers our speech to be a work, or an evidence of our faith.  And so he summarized that section about speech by saying in chapter 1 vs 26 that “If anyone thinks himself to be religious, and yet does not bridle his tongue but deceives his [own] heart, this man’s religion is worthless.” Our words are one of the primary ways in which we practice our faith, and if our speech isn’t right, then it nullifies everything else.

So that naturally leads us to consider his next point, that teaching, which is the use of speech to convey truth, to convey faith, to practice our religion, is another aspect of speech that needs to be controlled.  So he actually gives a warning in relation to teaching,  saying in vs 1, “Let not many [of you] become teachers, my brethren, knowing that as such we will incur a stricter judgment.” 

Now that’s true on a couple of levels.  One is, when you teach, you open yourself up to criticism from those that hear you.  People are going to judge you on the basis of what you say, and how you said it.  I think one of the most common after church menu items is roast pastor. It’s pretty common for a lot of people after church service to have roast pastor for lunch.  And that pretty much comes with the territory.  That’s part of the job.  So you better think twice before you put yourself in that position. And to be even more explicit, you better make sure of your calling. Because if you’re teaching is designed to win approval from men then you will be a man pleaser and try to scratch the itching ears of your congregation.  But that’s  preaching something that does not find favor with God.

But I don’t think men’s judgement is the primary meaning of James in this statement.  I think he’s saying that as a teacher you will incur a stricter judgment from God.  God’s judgment is the judgment that we should be concerned about.  Because I have to tell you, when I preach, I preach not for the commendation of men, but for the commendation of God.  I don’t preach in a way that people will think what a wonderful sermon that was, or what a wonderful person I am, but I endeavor to speak in a way that is faithful to what God’s word says.  That’s what I need to be concerned about, not in pleasing men, but in pleasing God.  And I do that by being true to the word of God.

I also believe that the indication here in this verse is that James is speaking of the office of teaching, and not merely teaching as in sharing the gospel by the individuals in the church.  We are instructed to be teachers in regards to the gospel.  Paul says in Col. 3:16 “Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms [and] hymns [and] spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God.” So we are instructed to teach in regards to our faith on a personal level.

But it’s the office of a teacher that many people aspire to, and according to James, they do so to their own peril.  They will incur a stricter condemnation because they were not faithful to the truth, to the word of God.  I think James is thinking in particular of the Jewish rabbis who taught, who loved the seats of importance in the synagogue, who loved to make public prayers.  For instance, he is probably echoing Jesus rebuke to those who taught saying in Matt. 23:14 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you devour widows’ houses, and for a pretense you make long prayers; therefore you will receive greater condemnation.”   Notice the similarity there in James warning and Jesus’s rebuke in regards to the judgment of a stricter or greater condemnation.

These are people that practice their religion by means of the tongue, and yet their speech is not in accordance with the truth of the gospel.  I believe that there is an especially hot part of hell reserved for false teachers who put a stumbling block before others.  So James gives a serious warning about the office or position of a teacher.

Now to that point of being a stumbling block to others, James says in vs 2, “For we all stumble in many [ways.] If anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to bridle the whole body as well.”  To stumble is to sin, to err, to wander away from the faith, to miss the mark.  And James says we do that in many ways.  But in this verse James seems to be saying that if you focus on the tongue, the rest of your body will follow suit.  If you can control the tongue, then you are a perfect man.  That does not mean a sinless man, but it means a complete man, or even better, a mature man, spiritually mature and as a spiritually mature man you are able to bridle the rest of your body as well.  The key to controlling the body is controlling the tongue.

To illustrate that point, James gives us three examples; the tongue is like a bit in a horse’s mouth, or a rudder on a ship, or a spark that starts a forest fire.  He says in vs 3, “Now if we put the bits into the horses’ mouths so that they will obey us, we direct their entire body as well. Look at the ships also, though they are so great and are driven by strong winds, are still directed by a very small rudder wherever the inclination of the pilot desires. So also the tongue is a small part of the body, and [yet] it boasts of great things. See how great a forest is set aflame by such a small fire!”

Now these three examples speak for themselves. But let’s just consider them briefly. His statement about bits in horses mouths illustrates verse two exceptionally well.  In vs 2 he said the mature man who was able to control his tongue was able to bridle the whole body as well. The point of this illustration being that a small metal bit is able to control a large animal. So by controlling the tongue we will be able to control our entire body.

And the same point is being made in the second example.  A rudder is very small in comparison to the overall size of a ship, and yet this small part is able to steer the entire ship in the desired direction. So he says, “So also the tongue is a small part of the body, and yet it boasts of great things.”  Such a small member makes such a great difference in the trajectory of one’s life. The emphasis there is this small member has the ability to say something that can set your whole life on a course that is not desirable.

And so the third illustration builds on that undesirable outcome. He says, “see how great a forest is set aflame by such a small fire!”  Again, this is not a desired outcome.  But the wrong word said, can set things into motion which can destroy a life.  You know, fire is a terrifying thing. I remember visiting my son when he lived in Santa Barbara a few years ago, and the forest fires were out of control there, burning hundreds of homes, and millions of acres of land from Ventura to Santa Barbara.  Once the fire gets going and conditions are right, it becomes something that is uncontrollable, and destroys everything in it’s path.  And to think it all starts with a spark.  I think they said that many of those fires started from an electrical spark from a power line, or a power box somewhere in the mountains.

James compares the potential devastation of a careless or angry word to that of a spark that sets on fire the course of a life.  There is tremendous power in a word.  There is power to comfort, or the power to destroy.  And unfortunately, it seems that far too often we use words to tear down, and not build up.

So James continues in vs 6 “And the tongue is a fire, the [very] world of iniquity; the tongue is set among our members as that which defiles the entire body, and sets on fire the course of [our] life, and is set on fire by hell.”  This is the application then which we should apply from the lessons learned by the illustrations.  The tongue is like a fire that is out of control, doing widespread damage to everything in it’s path.  Consequently, the tongue sets our life on fire, destroying ourselves and  destroying others that we come into contact with.  And furthermore, James says that destruction accomplishes the work of the devil. An uncontrolled tongue is used by the devil to put a stumbling block in front of others, to discourage others, to even destroy others.  And instead of our tongue being used to bring glory to God, it is used for the purposes of the enemy of God.

Furthermore, he says the tongue defies the entire body.  It’s interesting that James sees the tongue as the culprit.  And yet the Bible teaches in other places that the heart is the problem – the heart being the defiler of the body. Jesus said in Luke 6:45  “The good person out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth what is good; and the evil person out of the evil treasure brings forth what is evil; for his mouth speaks from that which fills his heart.” So it sounds like Jesus says the heart is the source of evil.  And of course, that’s true.

Then why doesn’t James identify the heart as the culprit? Why does he lay the blame on the tongue instead?  Because as Jesus said, what’s in the heart comes out of the mouth.  So the evidence of the heart is manifested by the mouth.  The heart may be the engine, but the mouth is the instrument by which evil comes.  So James focuses on the tongue because you can’t see the heart, but you can hear the tongue.  So the condition of the heart is made evident by the tongue.

Consider what Jesus said about that in Matthew 15:18 “But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person.  For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander.  These are what defile a person.”

So if the mouth is the instrument by which the devil destroys and deceives, then we must recognize the need to tame the tongue.  And James speaks to that need in vs 7, “For every species of beasts and birds, of reptiles and creatures of the sea, is tamed and has been tamed by the human race.” I spoke earlier of the difference between the human and the animal kingdom at the beginning of this message, and now we see those animals contrasted with man again.  

As part of the original design in creation, God gave man the charge to rule over the planet, which included the animals and birds and every living creature. Gen. 1:28 says, “God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”  And as James said,  man has been able to do that.  I read recently about how the Navy has trained dolphins to participate in naval warfare, even to the point of detecting underwater bombs. Their headquarters for that, by the way, is in Point Loma, CA where my daughter goes to school. It really is amazing that they are able to train dolphins and sea lions to do the things that they do.  And when you consider all the animals that man has been able to domesticate, and breed, and train, then you recognize the truth of James’s statement.

But though we have the ability to tame every animal that has been created, yet we are not able to tame the tongue.  James says, vs8 “But no one can tame the tongue; [it is] a restless evil [and] full of deadly poison.”  I think what James is talking about is how we can blurt out things without thinking. That’s why he said in chapter one we should be slow to speak.  And another way that happens is that we sometime say things that hurt people and we don’t even realize it.  We may be making a joke, and yet to the one on the receiving end it’s one that cuts too close to the bone. We don’t think twice about it, we may even laugh while saying it, and yet the other person thinks about it again and again.  

You know, I hate mosquitos.  I guess everyone does.  Mosquitos are so small in comparison to our bodies.  You would think there was nothing they could do to hurt us.  But when the mosquito bites it releases a tiny bit of toxic saliva into our skin.  Such a small bite, and so small an amount of saliva, you would think it’s not a big deal.  But a mosquito bite hurts worse later than it does when it first happens. It soon starts to itch, and so you scratch it, and it gets even worse.  Before it’s all over you have a big welt that really stings for quite a while. That’s what it’s like to get stung by a harsh word. It shouldn’t really bother you.  But it starts to itch, and the more you scratch it the worse it gets.  

James uses the analogy of a snake bite to illustrate this fact.  It’s the same idea, the poison is worse than the initial bite. It takes time to find it’s way into the bloodstream, but when it finally does, then it destroys the body and can even kill.  I’ve heard of snakebites that months later finally caused death after destroying the organs from the inside of a person that had been bitten.  That’s what James says an evil word can do.

As Christians, our tongues should be under the control of the Spirit and as such you would think that the analogy of the serpent’s bite would not apply.  But James says that is not always the case.  He speaks to the Christian’s use of the tongue in vs 9, “With it we bless [our] Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the likeness of God;  from the same mouth come [both] blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be this way.  Does a fountain send out from the same opening [both] fresh and bitter [water?]  Can a fig tree, my brethren, produce olives, or a vine produce figs? Nor [can] salt water produce fresh.”

As Christians, our mandate from Jesus is to love our neighbor as ourselves. But when we curse our neighbor, we do the opposite of that. If we loved our neighbor as we should, then we are in effect bringing praise to God.  But when we curse them, we are condemning them to damnation, we are destroying them, bringing spiritual harm to them. James reminds us that man was made in the image of God, in His likeness, and so when we curse men, we are indirectly cursing God who make them.

If we have truly been reborn, if we have a new spiritual nature, then why do we resort again to the carnal nature?  Even as a fountain cannot send out both fresh and salt water at the same time, nor a fig tree able to produce olives, so neither can a sanctified person both bless and curse others.  I don’t think that James is speaking particularly here about using curse words, or swear words.  However, I don’t think that is an appropriate pattern of speech for a Christian.  But I think he’s speaking of hateful speech towards other people, in which you curse them, when we should be speaking words which will bless them, which will build them up, and which will help them.

Proverbs says “as a man thinks in his heart, so is he.”  As our heart is made pure and righteous   before God, as we meditate on His word, our life is changed to reflect the Lord Jesus Christ. And as our heart is conformed to Him, then our speech will be evidence of that change, so that our speech might result in the praise of God, and the edification of our fellow man.  

The psalmist David realized that he could sin with his lips and he prayed that God would keep him from doing so.  Let us make his prayer, our prayer in closing today.  His prayer is found in Psalm 19:14 “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart Be acceptable in Your sight, O LORD, my rock and my Redeemer.”

James is a teacher who is concerned with practicality.  He doesn’t spend a lot of time dealing with lofty theological principles, though he does address them in his letter.  But he spends a great deal of effort to teach us how we are to apply such principles in every day situations.

As a result, James is rather blunt and to the point. If Paul is the general that deals with overall principles and strategies, James is the sergeant who brings them down to the level of the grunt soldier and gets them done. And he doesn’t waste a lot of words doing it either.

From James we learn that true religion is the practice of one’s faith. Faith is analogous to belief.  What we believe is the foundation of our faith.  But religion is how that faith is applied. One way we practice our religion is by going to church.  But of course, our religion is not limited to the church service.  Our religion is applied in daily life.  What we believe affects how we live.

As we finished up the last chapter, James said that our religion might be in vain if we did not practice certain things in regards to our speech.  Our speech then is another means by which we practice our faith.  He said if anyone doesn’t bridle his speech, then his religion is worthless. The idea of bridle there is illustrated by putting a bridle on the horse’s head, to control his movements.  If we don’t control our speech, then it nullifies our good intentions, and even our good deeds.

James then went on to speak about loving our neighbor as illustrated by orphans and widows. Providing relief to orphans and widows is another example of how we should practice our religion.  But as Jesus indicated, anyone who is in need is our neighbor.  

Now to elaborate on that law of loving your neighbor, we come to today’s passage.  In this passage, James tells us that we must guard against loving others with prejudice, loving those who might reciprocate towards us, or guard against loving those who we feel are attractive to us.  But that we should love like God loved us.  That love which Christ had towards us is described in Romans 5:8 which says, “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”

Christ loved us when we were unloveable. I think many Christians at least subconsciously think that God loves them because somehow they are a lovable person.  Talk to the average person for very long about their need for salvation, and they tend to end up saying that they really aren’t a bad person.  Oh, they may have messed up somehow, but deep down inside they are not really all that bad.

The fact is,  they are self deceived. That’s what James said was the case with the person who didn’t bridle his tongue.  He was self deceived. He wasn’t a good person.  His whole person was defiled by that little member, the tongue.  All kinds of wickedness comes out of the mouth, to the point that all your religion, all your “I’m not such a bad person” is absolutely worthless.  

We were saved when we were worthless, sinners, enemies of God,  We hated others, we lied,  we were jealous,  we were angry. Even when we thought we were not so bad and did something good, we actually had evil motives behind our good deeds.  But even though there was nothing good in us,  Christ loved us, and died for us.

Having bad motives, or wicked ulterior motives, is what James is addressing here in this passage.  He says in vs 1, “My brethren, do not hold your faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ with [an attitude of] personal favoritism.”  Notice that he addresses this to his brethren. In vs 5 he elaborates on that with “my beloved brethren.” That means he is speaking to fellow Christians, or at least, professing Christians.  In vs 2 he gives an illustration about attending church.  So we know that he is addressing people who claim to be believers. He is speaking to us who hold onto the faith.  But he says we must guard against holding onto our faith, or practicing our faith, or practicing our religion, with an attitude of personal favoritism. 

Now the principle, or the law, is that we are to love one another, especially those of the household of faith.  And what better place to manifest that love towards the brethren than at church?  But James is concerned that we are not loving the way God loves.  We are being discriminatory.  We choose to love those that we find attractive, those that we think are deserving, and more often than not, our motivation is that we want them to reciprocate in the same way towards us.

Jesus gave what is sometimes called the “golden rule.” It says, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” Or at least that’s the common translation of it.  Actually, what Jesus said spoke to this very issue, this selective love that shows favoritism.  Jesus said in Luke 6:31-36 “Treat others the same way you want them to treat you. If you love those who love you, what credit is [that] to you? For even sinners love those who love them. If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is [that] to you? For even sinners do the same. If you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is [that] to you? Even sinners lend to sinners in order to receive back the same [amount.]  But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for He Himself is kind to ungrateful and evil [men.] Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.”

Jesus said don’t do kindness because you expect a return, don’t limit your love only to those whom you find attractive to you.  Don’t show favoritism.  But love the way God loves, which is when we are undeserving. Now James is expounding on that principle in this passage.  And he likens it to the way we treat others in the church.  He gives an illustration of that kind of selective love that shows favoritism in vs2.

Vs2 “For if a man comes into your assembly with a gold ring and dressed in fine clothes, and there also comes in a poor man in dirty clothes, and you pay special attention to the one who is wearing the fine clothes, and say, “You sit here in a good place,” and you say to the poor man, “You stand over there, or sit down by my footstool,” have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil motives?”

By the way, the word translated assembly used there can actually mean a synagogue.  The synagogue was not the temple, nor did it serve the purpose of a temple, but it was a meeting place for Jews on the Sabbath and other religious holidays where they worshipped God and were taught the word, and for prayer.  James has ascribed the characteristics of the synagogue to the church meeting, or the assembly of believers.  That’s significant as a template for the church, but I am not going to take the time to expound on that right now, other than to point it out.

The illustration though is one with which most of us are probably familiar.  The church assembles.  People tend to sit in the same chairs, the same tables, week after week.  If someone sits in your spot, you probably wouldn’t say anything out loud, but inwardly you’re probably thinking, “hey, he’s in my seat!”  But in any case, it’s evident in most church services when someone new shows up.  For one, they don’t know where to sit.  Everyone recognizes that they haven’t been here regularly.  

James makes the distinction in his illustration that the person who shows up is rich.  He says you could tell by the gold ring and the fine clothes.  And the church people responded as if he was an honored guest and gave him the choice seat.  You know, in the synagogue, as well as in early churches in Europe and in America, there were specially made seats that were up front that were for the wealthy, or for the church elders, or for the nobles or town officials. Many times those people had paid for those special pews to be made.  Then the rest of the seating was in a sort of economic order as well, with the higher class people up front, and the commoners in the back.

We don’t have that sort of thing today, for the most part.  In fact, nowadays, it would seem that the preferred seating is in the back. But we can understand what James is saying.  He’s saying that the church gives preferential treatment to some people based on certain things, such as their attractiveness, or their financial status, or a host of other possible outward signs that they are like us, or that they are what we would like to be, or because we want them to think well of us. We judge by outward appearances, and we love accordingly.

But God doesn’t love like that.  Remember the story of how David was anointed to be king by the prophet Samuel.  Samuel looked at all David’s brothers, all big, handsome young men, each one capable of being king, at least in appearances.  But God said, Samuel, don’t look at the outward appearance, for God looks at the heart. 

And so consequently, God tends to call the poor and the weak, and the unattractive, and the unsuccessful to salvation.  So Paul says in 1Cor. 1:26-29 “For consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble;  but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, and the base things of the world and the despised God has chosen, the things that are not, so that He may nullify the things that are,  so that no man may boast before God.”

Jesus said in the sermon on the mount, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of God.” The principle that Jesus wants to emphasize is that true riches are spiritual riches, to be rich in faith has eternal reward.  But too often we look at the physical, instead of the spiritual. James speaks of this principle in vs 5, saying “Listen, my beloved brethren: did not God choose the poor of this world [to be] rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him?” 

When we surrender our lives to the Lord, we surrender our hold on the world.  Jesus said in Luke 16:13 “No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.”  So when we become disciples of Christ, we usually end up poor in the things of this world.  Because our purpose in this new life is not to accumulate treasures on earth, but treasures in heaven.  But in forsaking the riches of the world we gain riches in heaven, we are rich in faith, and because of our faith, we have an inheritance in the kingdom of God which is far above any riches this world could ever offer.  

I really don’t think that is the attitude of the average Christian today though.  I’m afraid that the average Christian has not really forsaken anything of this world.  Most so called Christians have just attempted to add some Christ to their  lives, but He is not the source of a completely new life. If anything, a lot of people expect that adding Christ to their lives will make them more prosperous, more successful, and more wealthy.  And there are many false prophets that encourage such a belief by preaching what we is called the prosperity gospel. But the Bible teaches the exact opposite. That we become poor in this world that we might be rich in heaven.

However, I don’t think that God necessarily wants us to take a vow of poverty anymore than I think in light of the earlier passage about holding the tongue, that God wants us to take a vow of silence. But I do think that if Christ is in first place in your life, then the pursuit of wealth or retaining wealth, or admiring wealth, is going to take a back seat.  Jesus said it is better to give than to receive. And so if you really believe that, then you spend less energy trying to hold onto money, and more energy trying to use money for the kingdom of God. At the very least, God controls your money, rather than your money controlling you.

But I get the feeling that James doesn’t like rich people very much.  He doesn’t admire riches.  He sees riches as a hindrance rather than a blessing.  The rich young ruler is a good example of that.  Jesus told him to sell everything he owned and give it to the poor and come and follow Him.  The young man went away sad because he had great riches.  We are so conditioned to think that riches are a blessing from God, aren’t we? But in reality, riches can be a hindrance to God.  Riches can be an obstacle which keeps us from truly surrendering to the Lord.

But James doesn’t have much pity for rich people.  Notice what he says about them in vs 6, “But you have dishonored the poor man. Is it not the rich who oppress you and personally drag you into court?  Do they not blaspheme the fair name by which you have been called?”  In honoring the rich man, simply because of his status on earth, they are in effect dishonoring the poor man.  But then James seems to generalize and say that the rich are the ones who oppress and take to court those who are saved. 

Now I don’t know if James knew of some particular event or incident that he was referring to.  But it’s quite possible that his predominately Jewish audience were being oppressed by the Pharisees and the Jewish rulers.  These priests and Jewish officials were notoriously rich, and they made their fortunes by taking advantage of the poor.  A good example of that is seen in the incident when Jesus went into the temple and drove out the money changers.  That was a direct attack by Jesus on the money making business of the high priests. They were taking advantage of the poor, charging them extra for currency exchange that only they could provide and that they required,  and then selling them officially clean animals after they told the poor person that his animal did not meet the criteria. They were taking advantage of the poor, and then in many cases, they were the source of persecution against the church.  James said they blasphemed the name of Jesus.  But yet because of the church’s admiration for riches, they were willing to overlook all that and treat the rich with preference.

But James said this wasn’t just a matter of a mild indiscretion, this was actually a sin, what he called “evil motives.”  And so to show that such attitude is a sin, and a grievous sin at that, he turns them to the law.  The law defines sin.  And the law James chooses to quote is the law of loving your neighbor.  He says in vs 8 “If, however, you are fulfilling the royal law according to the Scripture, “YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF,” you are doing well.  But if you show partiality, you are committing sin [and] are convicted by the law as transgressors.” 

James refers to it as the royal law; the law of the King, we being His servants. We tend to think of the law as things which we are not supposed to do.  But the law James speaks of is a law of what we should do. When Jesus was asked what was the foremost law, He said,  ‘YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.  This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, ‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.’  On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.”

What Jesus indicated there is that if you are guilty of breaking the law of loving your neighbor, then you are guilty of all the law because all the law depends upon these two laws. So James says if you are keeping the second part which is to love your neighbor then you are doing well.  But if claim to love your neighbor, but you show favoritism, then you are actually sinning, and guilty of breaking the law.  You cannot love your neighbor and show favoritism to the rich, or towards anyone that you find attractive, or hope to find some reciprocation from.  If you do so, then you are sinning. 

Furthermore, we need to understand that this is the royal law, the King’s edict for the kingdom of God, and that if we are a citizen of that kingdom then we have an obligation to obey the King’s laws.  James calls it the law of liberty.  But the liberty we have is freedom from sin.  The Holy Spirit enables us to keep the law.  But still we may choose to do so or not.  We are not controlled by sin any longer,  and we are supposed to be controlled by the Spirit, but we still may choose to sin. But let there be no mistake, we are not to think lightly of the grace of God and trample underfoot the blood of Jesus so that we think we can sin without impunity, without any consequences.  The law was given to us to keep.  And when we choose not to keep it, we do so to our own peril. We lose our liberty.

So James is going to go on to teach us how we are to think about the law.  He says in vs10 “For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one [point,] he has become guilty of all.  For He who said, “DO NOT COMMIT ADULTERY,” also said, “DO NOT COMMIT MURDER.” Now if you do not commit adultery, but do commit murder, you have become a transgressor of the law.”

The Jews of James day made distinctions concerning the law, that some laws were more important than others.  They put the law of the Sabbath, for instance, above other laws as to importance.  The same is true of the Catholic Church today.  They call some sins moral, and some sins venial, as if there are some sins more serious than others.  But notice what James says, he puts the law of loving your neighbor on the same plane as murder and adultery.  And he says that if you break the law on one point, then you are guilty of the whole law. 

Within the boundaries of God’s perfect law of liberty, we have freedom. My son has several aquariums in our house that have all kinds of fresh and salt water fish.  For the fish the water is his natural habitat.  And as he stays within that boundary he has liberty and will thrive.  But if he leaves that water, then he will suffer.  One day my son could not find a particular fish in the aquarium.  Finally after a long time of looking, he found the fish on the floor.  The fish had jumped out of the aquarium and landed on the floor. The fish left his natural habitat in search of freedom, but found only death. That’s a picture of the law of liberty.  The Christian’s natural environment is within the law of God. We have life, we can thrive, we have liberty within the law of God, but if we chose to go outside of it, we lose that liberty.

James says that we are to “So speak and so act as those who are to be judged by [the] law of liberty.”  That’s not an accommodation to sin that James is giving there.  But notice that he says you will be judged according to the law of liberty.  And the law of liberty requires that we stay within it’s boundaries.

So he concludes with this summary about judgment.  He says in vs 13,  “For judgment [will be] merciless to one who has shown no mercy; mercy triumphs over judgment.”  Jesus gave a parable once in response to Peter’s question about forgiveness.  The parable told the story of a man whom the king forgave a great debt because he cried for mercy.  But then the man went out and choked another man who owed him a small sum of money.  When the king heard about it, he called the man to court and said, “ You wicked servant, I cancelled all the debt of yours because you begged for mercy.  Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had towards you? (Matt. 18:32)

The point being that God freely grants us mercy when we ask Him, even when we ask Him again and again and again.  So in the same way, God expects us to show mercy to others, again and again.  But when we refuse, or neglect to show mercy, then God will withhold mercy from us and instead will judge us according to how we have judged others. Jesus said in Matt. 7:2  “For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you.”  That’s pretty scary, when you really examine how you treat others.

But in closing, we are left with a safeguard against such judgment from God. And the safeguard is that mercy triumphs over judgment. If we show mercy then we will be shown mercy. Let us then show mercy towards one another, and love one another without prejudice, that we may be like our heavenly Father who showed mercy to us.