We, as people, have a tendency to idealize days gone by, to wax all nostalgic about the “good ol’ days. As followers of Jesus we hear talk about how we need to go back to the Early Church and seek to emulate their ways. As we’ve been studying the letter of James to the earliest members of the Early Church, we’ve become more and more familiar with those to whom James wrote. If you’ve been here each week then I’m sure you’ve recognized that those early followers of Jesus were not that much unlike us. They dealt with many of the same problems that you and I deal with in our walk with the Lord. They were showing preferential treatment to those in their community who had deep pockets over those who didn’t have much of anything. They were even doing this in their worship services as they ushered the rich into the best seats while they seated the poor and downcast in out-of-the-way places where they wouldn’t bother anyone. Read more →

In our Scripture for today James asks the question, “What causes fights and quarrels among you?” James was writing to brothers and sisters in Christ, to men and women who were followers of Jesus, and yet he asks, “What causes fights and quarrels among you?” Nothing has changed from the day James sat down to pen his letter, almost 2000 years ago, to this day has it? We should still be asking the same question today, “What causes fights and quarrels among you?” Let’s read our Scripture for this morning and then we’ll see if we can find the answer. Read more →

We are living in the information age. Knowledge about what seems to be an unlimited set of topics is available at our fingertips. We no longer have to travel to a library to learn about what interests us, we can simply Google it. Google can take us around the world to learn about other countries, cultures, and ancient civilizations. Google can lead us down the halls of philosophy, history, biology, the great classics of English literature, mathematics, and biblical studies. Because of Google we can even keep up with Kim Kardashian! Read more →

Words. They are so very interesting aren’t they? They’re made up of any combination of one or more of the twenty-six letters of the alphabet, but their weight, power, and intensity far outweigh the sum total of their number. There are monosyllabic and multisyllabic words at our disposal for forming sentences, offering opinions, and making statements. You can study a language, including vocabulary, grammar, the sound of language, and how words evolve over time and that will make you a linguist. You can narrow your studies, focus solely on the topic of grammar, and master the knowledge of the structure of sentences, knowing where to place nouns, verbs, adjectives, etc. You can possess an extensive vocabulary, master the study of grammar, and have at your command oratorical skills like Winston Churchill or Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., but you will never tame the tongue. Let’s turn to James 3:1-12 and read together. Read more →

There seems to be a deep-seated longing in the human heart for everyone to get along, for division to be conquered, hatred to be halted, preferential treatment and prejudice to be known only in history books, and harmony among all of humanity to usher in a new day which will never end. When breakdowns take place in the social fabric of society and civility is replaced by violence and division, there comes the reminders from our leaders that we are better than “this.” They raise their voices and set out the clarion call for reconciliation, peace, and unity. We’ve heard this repeated theme here at home over and over again, but it’s not an American cultural theme, it’s repeated around the world. Read more →