Our Beliefs : Sermons : Sermon Archive - 2006 : September 24, 2006

Theme: Faith Has Two Ears and a Mouth

Church year occasion: Pentecost 16

Sometimes things just have to change. That's what Larry Walters was thinking back in 1982. Larry Walters was a 33-year-old truck driver living in San Pedro, California, and he decided to see his neighborhood from an entirely new perspective. So he went down to a balloon store one morning and bought 45 used weather balloons. That afternoon he and his friends filled those balloons with helium and tied them to a lawn chair. Then Larry strapped himself onto that lawn chair. Apparently, it seemed like a good idea at the time. He wanted to float up to about 100 feet off the ground for a while, just for a change of scenery. But he had thought this through long and hard. He was no dummy. He knew what he needed: a six-pack of beer in case he got thirsty, a peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwich in case he got hungry, and a BB gun, figuring he could shoot the balloons one at a time when he was ready to land.

Well, let's just say that things didn't go quite according to plan. "Lawnchair Larry," as he would later be called, was very surprised when the chair didn't stop at 100 feet. It was more like 16,000 feet -- over 3 miles -- that Lawnchair Larry soared into the sky -- smack into the middle of the air traffic pattern at Long Beach Municipal Airport. Too frightened to shoot any of the balloons, he stayed airborne for more than two hours. Finally, Lawnchair Larry did shoot some of the balloons which allowed him to come back to terra firma.

But the police were waiting with a hefty fine when he landed, as well as some reporters, who had obviously never seen someone take off in a lawnchair before -- at least not in San Pedro. They asked him a few questions:

"Were you scared?"

"Yes," Lawnchair Larry replied.

"Would you do it again?"

"No."

"Why did you do it?"

His response: "Because you can't just sit there."

Larry needed to see some change in his life. Thankfully, it didn't cost him his life. And, hopefully I don't need to say this, but for any kids, or adults -- don't try this at home.

Change is what Lawnchair Larry wanted. Change is what James wanted to see also. James, most likely the half-brother of Jesus who wrote the letter we're looking at in our sermon this morning, didn't like how some people at his time were acting even though they claimed to be Christians. His point is this: If you are saying you're a follower of Jesus, you need to walk the talk. In other words, you can't just say you're a Christian and believe in Jesus, but then not have it show in your life.

Just yesterday as we were canvassing in a neighborhood near here, the first person I talked to said she didn't go to church and didn't really want to. I asked her why, and she said because the church is filled with hypocrites. Now, I've heard that plenty of times before from those who don't attend church. Frankly, it's a nice excuse for not doing what they need to do, which is hear God's Word on a regular basis so they stay connected to Jesus and grow in faith. But it's always easier to blame someone else instead of looking at one's own failings.

But even as I was thinking this, I also realized that she had a good point. I wondered how many times she or anyone else could have viewed my behavior outside of church and thought, "Wow, that person says he's a Christian? Could have fooled me." We have to know that people are watching us. And we don't want them to be fooled about who we are and for whom we live. We want to make sure they see us for the Christians we are.

So how can we do that? James tells us how this morning. But it's not some complicated thing. In fact, it's simple. You have to do two things: Close your mouth and open your ears. There is a reason why God gave you two ears and only one mouth. God wants us to listen, and then speak from what God has told us and also to the needs of others. So today we explore the fact that Faith Has Two Ears and a Mouth.

I mentioned that the James who wrote this letter is most likely the half brother of Jesus. In other words, he was one of Mary and Joseph's children who at first had a really tough time looking up to their older half-brother Jesus as their Savior from sin and as the Almighty God himself. Any of us who have grown up with siblings can understand where James would have been coming from. We know how difficult it can be to get along with our siblings. But now think of James' situation. Think of how many times he heard this: "James, I just wish you were more like your brother Jesus. He always does what he's supposed to do." When Joseph in the Old Testament was treated better than his brothers, his brothers were so jealous and angry that they sold him into slavery in Egypt and faked his death. Now, we don't know that Joseph and Mary said that their other children should be more like Jesus, but at the very least his brothers and sisters would have seen that he never did anything wrong, so it would have been natural for them to be jealous and angry with him.

But then you have to take it a step further. Not only was Jesus perfect; he also said that he was the promised Savior and that only by believing in him could anyone have eternal life. Do you think that sat well with James and Jesus' other brothers and sisters? No way! In fact, although we don't know much about Jesus' relationship with his siblings, we do know from Scripture that before Jesus' death they did not see him as their Savior or their God. James and his siblings even joined in mocking Jesus, saying he should be doing more miracles that he was already doing, if he claimed to be the Messiah. He used his words to mock Jesus. But after Jesus' resurrection, James believed that Jesus his brother was also his Savior and his God. Perhaps it was that incident of speaking against Jesus earlier that caused James to be vehemently opposed to a Christian using his words to sin in any way. That is one of James' main points in his letter -- use your mouth for God-pleasing things, not for sinning.

So he says this: "My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, for man's anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires. Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you." We can think of plenty of ways we've used our tongues to bring shame on the name of Jesus and show others that we can at times be hypocrites -- not living the Christian life we profess. How often have we ridiculed others? How often have we said an unclean joke just to get a laugh? How many times have we failed to listen to others and just spout off our own thoughts, without a care for what they have to say? James here even says that kind of speaking can lead to our hearts becoming angry with others, which should not characterize the life of a Christian.

Instead of using our mouths in those ways, we need to open our two ears and shut our mouths so God can speak to us. That's when we hear, "Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created." In spite of our sins, God still sends us blessing after blessing. When we follow his will, we will receive even more blessings. But when we don't follow his will, we deserve the consequence of sin which is eternal punishment. That should get us to think. Any time we've said something bad about someone -- even if it's true -- for that sin we deserve God's wrath for eternity. Every time we've talked without listening to others, we deserve God's wrath for eternity. That shouldn't just get us to think; that should get us to fall on our knees before the almighty God and ask for his forgiveness. Then we see what the greatest of God's gifts to us is -- the gift of his own Son. He came into this world filled with sinners who constantly use their mouths for ungodly things and who have closed their ears to his Word and his will. But he climbed a hill outside of Jerusalem and was put to death to take each and every sin away. He paid the price of our punishment. He satisfied God's anger and wrath. And James tells us that he doesn't change. Lawnchair Larry wanted to see something change in his life. Isn't it good to know that in spite of your many sins that you commit every day, God and his love for you and his forgiveness won for you by Jesus will never change? What a gift we have received from God!

For such a great and eternal gift, God has every reason to expect that we open our ears and listen to what he has to tell us in his Word. But James tells us that merely listening to God's Word with our ears is not enough.

Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it -- he will be blessed in what he does.

God tells us to listen to God's Word. You've done that by listening to God's Word in this sermon. But we dare not think that then we're all set and there won't be a change in our lives once we leave God's house. There should be a dramatic change. People shouldn't be able to say that they don't go to church because they see how Christians are hypocrites by not practicing what they preach. That would be like a person looking at his reflection in a mirror and then forgetting what he looks like.

I remember a friend of mine in high school who was in Cross Country with me who had a problem with that. Every time we'd run past a shop with a window, he would look at his reflection in the glass. We would always rip on him and tell him that he looked the same as he did two minutes earlier. In the same way, James says, it is foolish if we listen to God's Word but then don't remember to do what it says. Instead, when we see God's love poured out in the form of blood coming from Jesus as he died for us, and when we see the forgiveness of our sins on full display on that cross, and when we see all the other thousands of gifts God gives us every day, we will find it only natural to want to live up to God's expectation of us as Christians.

James gives some concrete examples of how we can do that. "If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless. Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world." Use your ears to hear God's Word on a regular basis. Then let that Word loose in your life; let it change your life. Watch what you say. In fact, use your words to encourage and help others, and to share with them the message of a crucified and risen Savior. Who can you think of this week who needs to hear about Jesus? You have so many blessings from God; think of helping others who don't have as many gifts, like widows and orphans for whom the gift of family is especially important. They are in need, and we can use our ears to listen to them and our mouths to encourage them. That's how faith is shown to have two ears and a mouth. Amen.