“TONGUE LASHING” — James 3:1-12, 9-14-2015

 

September 13, 2015 – Christian Education Text: James 3:1-12

Dear Friends in Christ,

On a windswept hill in an English country churchyard stands a drab, gray slate tombstone. The quaint stone bears an epitaph not easily seen unless you stoop over and look closely. The faint etchings read as follows: “Beneath this stone, a lump of clay, lies Arebella Young, Who on the twenty-fourth of May, began to hold her tongue.”
James writes in our text “no human being can tame the tongue.” (v. 8) Oh how we know that to be true! James through the Holy Spirit is about to put us in our place but we know that there is always good news on the other side. We are about to receive a . . .
“TONGUE LASHING”
When we hear the words “tongue lashing” we don’t anticipate with joy getting one of those from our teacher, or parent, or coach, or boss, or spouse. If you have ever received one you have probably walked away feeling pretty bad. That is what sin and the law can do to us. We are all guilty of abusing the tongue.
The Epistle confronts Christians of every age – and so also each one of us – with the inconsistencies between faith and actions. “How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire! And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell.” (vs. 5b-6) Not one human being is innocent. We all know what we are capable of.
In our world it might be better to say our fingers do the talking. Look at all the texts, and the tweets, and the Facebook postings that people need to retract. How can we miss, young or old, that there are consequences to what you send over social media? Recently, a man hired to be the public address announcer for Nebraska football was fired for an inappropriate tweet. College students are losing scholarships. Politicians are being embarrassed for letting their words cause controversy. Stories like this come out each and every day. What happens is that we become self-righteous and we say that we don’t do that. C’mon now you don’t believe that, do you?
I grew up in a small town. I know that a little bit of gossip can set a whole village on fire. Vicious propaganda can fan international hatred into wars. Popular religious and doctrinal errors and teaching can rage like a Wild West wildfire and leave countless victims in their wake. The whole round of existence is set aflame by the evil tongue. Ouch – a tongue-lashing.
A recent “Dustin” comic strip shows the mother and daughter sitting on the couch and the daughter says, “My friends use snapchat so our texts disappear right away.” The mother responds, “In case you send messages and photos that are really embarrassing?” Daughter, “exactly.” The mother then goes on, “Actually, there’s a low-tech application that works even better for that.” The daughter excitedly says, “Really?” The mom then replies, “Yes, sweetheart, it’s called judgment.”
We could use a whole pile of judgment in our society. We always miss the end game when we let our tongues loose. So, is there nothing we can do? Are we doomed to live this life in a never-ending battle against a tongue that would just as soon destroy us, as it would honor the God of our salvation? In a way, yes, and in another, no. The battle rages on, but the war is already over. There is one who held his tongue and took our tongue lashing because only He could live the perfect life that we cannot.
That perfect one is our Savior Jesus Christ. He lived and died and rose again because our tongues are out of control. He bridled his tongue even in the face of death so that we might receive his righteousness and He now lives in us. Christians possess the grace of God, which is a divine power that is able to control the tongue.
In Baptism, that fire that burned from your tongue was extinguished. The Word of God that you hear in worship, in Adult Bible Study, in Sunday School, in Small Group Bible Study fills your mind and your heart with the pure truth from God. That Word replaces all of the “other words” and gives your tongue something righteous to speak. As you receive the body and blood of Christ under the bread and the wine, the wounds inflicted on you by the things you say are healed.
Yes, our Savior took quite a tongue lashing for you and I. The vile things thrown his way as He journeyed to the cross. Imagine social media if it was around during the time of Jesus. Do we really need to imagine? The hatred for Christ and His Word are all around us. Christians here and around the world take a tongue lashing or worse for their beliefs. But never forget the lashes that tore at the skin of Jesus. The words of the soldiers as He died on the cross. The language spoken that His death was it.
Except, He could not be kept silent. He had a resurrection promise that his followers shouted to the world, “He Has Risen! He Has Risen Indeed?” Jesus spoke his victory over Satan, and hell, and death. Oh, the tongue lashing the devil took that day. Oh, the tongue-lashing he will take on the Last Day when Jesus returns with the beautiful sound of triumph.
Christ sets us free from bondage to the devil and sin so that we have something new to say: “O Lord, open my lips and my mouth will declare your praise.” (Ps. 51:15)
Amen.

Bulletin Announcements – September 13, 2015

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September 13, 2015

THE ADULT BIBLE CLASS, led by Pastor Lueck and meeting in the church basement at 9:15 a.m. is studying “Lutheran Doctrine and Practice Today”.

TODAY IN SUNDAY SCHOOL:  The account of “Joseph’s Troubles” continues the study of Joseph’s life in the Sunday School lesson for today. God was with Joseph; and in Christ, God is with us in all the situations of life, providing, protecting, and forgiving us. As a family, you might discuss, “How do we usually react when we are falsely accused of wrongdoing? How can we learn to trust Jesus to work out all things for our good?”

TODAY, September 13th, will be our first door Offering for our new adopted Seminary student. He is Bradley Ferch who is in his last year of studies at Concordia Theological Seminary in Ft. Wayne, IN. Bradley was born in Iowa and his home church is Trinity Lutheran Church in Litchfield Park, AZ. He is married to Carole and has two daughters, Madison and Lillian. Before studying for the ministry he was a Dental Laboratory Supervisor. We look forward to getting to know his family better throughout this academic year.

LADIES MORNING BIBLE STUDY: We will resume our Ladies Morning Bible Study on the Book “Women of the New Testament” starting this coming Tuesday, September 15th at 9:30 a.m. in the Conference Room at the church. We are on Chapter 5: “The Canaanite Women”, and will begin our Study with a light breakfast. All the Ladies from the congregation are welcome to join the Study and if you would like to know more about it, please contact Jeannette Ross at (309) 662-4622.

NEXT SUNDAY is the deadline for items to be submitted for the OCTOBER NEWSLETTER. Mandy Kluender is our Editor for the church newsletter and any announcements you want to be published in the Newsletter should be submitted to her at mgkluender@hotmail.com or you may call her at (309) 838-9868.

GOOD SHEPHERD’S BLOOD DRIVE is on Tuesday, September 22nd, from 2-6:00 p.m. Sign-up sheets are available in the narthex but if you would prefer signing up online please go to: redcrossblood.org. Enter in our zip code, 61704, find our Blood Drive and let the blood flow. Pastor Lueck will once again kick off our Drive by reaching out his right arm and turning his head. Please join us in fun and church fellowship as we help those in need with this gift of life.

PRAYER SHAWL MINISTRY:   Attention all crocheters and knitters! A new Prayer Shawl Ministry is being formed by Ann Hammond and Laura Kessler so that we may reach out to the needs of others who wish to know or better know Jesus as their Savior! “Threads of Grace” will begin this fall and an initial meeting will be arranged at Laura’s home (due to her mobility issues, she asks that we hold any meetings at her home, but tasty treats will be served!) Don’t know how to crochet or knit and wish to learn? Lessons will be offered! As well, donations of knitting and crochet yarn will be very welcome. Please watch the bulletin for further details. If you have any questions please feel free to call Laura at (309) 310-5607 or email her at dogdiva2@comcast.net. Thank you!

THANK YOU: We would like to thank all who helped make our School Kit Project for the LWML a success.

FELLOWSHIP HOSTS: The sign-up for help with coffee/doughnuts is posted on the wall by the north stairwell. We need an individual/family to sign-up each week to pick up the donuts and make the coffee. If no one is signed up by Friday of each week, the order will be cancelled. We thank everybody who continues to help with this part of our church fellowship.

THE LUTHERAN HOUR: “Tradition, Tradition, Tradition” is the topic for next Sunday. The sermon text will be from Mark 7:1-13. What role do traditions in our relationships to God and each other? The speaker will be Reverend Gregory Seltz. Hear this Sunday’s message on the Lutheran Hour on WGN (720) at 6:00 a.m.; WJWR (104.7 FM) and WJWR (90.3 FM) both on Sunday at 3:00 p.m. Also, if you can receive Lincoln, IL radio station WLLM (1370 AM) the program is broadcast two times on Sunday at 7:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m. Tune in! You can also listen to The Lutheran Hour on your personal computer at RealAudio, www.lhm.org.

 PRAYER CHAIN: If you have a prayer request please submit them by email to Mary Anne Kirchner at makirchner@yahoo.com or you may phone a Prayer Request to Mary Anne; her home # is (309) 661-6522; her cell phone# is (309) 532-2582. The Prayer Request box is on the table in the narthex for any written requests.

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September Stewardship Corner

What is most striking about the rich man and Lazarus is not their differences but their similarities (Luke 16:19–31). Both men die because both men are sinners, and the wages of sin is death. Both men are beggars, for all men are beggars. But, here is where the most striking difference between them takes shape. Lazarus knows it and lives it. The rich man, however, does not.

Lazarus was a beggar in thought, word, and deed. But, he was God’s beggar. He relied upon God for all that he had and all that he was. He looked to God for all things, in good times and in bad. He went to God in all trouble, sought Him for all help, and trusted in His Word and promises to provide for all that he needed for this life and the next. This is, after all, what his name means: God is my help.

The rich man, too, was a beggar. But he didn’t realize it. His status, his wealth, his clothing and his food all came from God’s gracious hand. But the rich man didn’t recognize it. He thought he had earned it, and that he deserved it. And thus, his trust is not in God, who by His Word and promise gives it, but rather in himself, in what he has done, and in what he has.

And so it is that when death comes to Lazarus and the rich man—as it does for all of us because we have all sinned, and death is no respecter of persons—Lazarus is carried by the holy angels to Abraham’s side; while the rich man is in torment in hell. The rich man forgot God. He despised being a beggar, and thus, despised Lazarus. He despised God and His Word, and refused to have mercy on those whom God placed at his doorstep.

Now, the tables were turned. What the rich man didn’t realize or recognize on earth, he now lived out in torment in hell. He knew what it was to beg. But he still didn’t see himself as a beggar of God. He still didn’t look to His Father in heaven for all good and help in every time of need. He instead appealed to His status as a descendant of Abraham, calling out Father Abraham and not “Abba, Father” (Gal 4:6; Rom 8:15).

We are all beggars. We brought nothing into this world and we will take nothing out of it (1 Tim 6:7). Everything we have and everything we are comes from God’s fatherly divine goodness and mercy, without any merit or worthiness in us, for He gives everything to us by grace. Thus, we are to love one another and be generous to one another in thought, word, and deed. For you cannot love God and hate your brother. And hating your brother means not to forgive as you’ve been forgiven, to give as you’ve been given to, to love as you’ve been loved.

 We are all beggars. This is true. But we, like Lazarus, are God’s beggars. He not only gives us what we need for this body and life—food and clothes, house and home, husband, wife, and children—but He also blesses us with His Word and Spirit, so that we will enter into paradise in the life to come. He claims us as His own by water and the Word in Holy Baptism. In this washing, rich in grace, He gives to us what His Son, Jesus Christ, won for us on His cross: forgiveness of sins. And where there is the forgiveness of sins, there is also life and salvation. He puts His own name on us, thereby giving to us the right of children, the right to call Him Father and the right to His inheritance as His beloved sons. He gives us a seat at His table, in His house, in His kingdom, which has no end.

Yes, indeed, we are beggars. This is true. But we are beggars of the God who loves us, the God who created us from His love, the God who redeemed us by His love in the sending of His Son to die so that we would live and have life to the full. This is His promise. It’s what Moses and the prophets longed to see and of what they spoke. They see it now, not in a mirror dimly, but face to face, just as you shall on the last day.

And as God’s beggars, we have mercy on those who would be beggars of us, who rely upon our giving, even as we rely upon the gracious giving of God. We give to our family, our society, our church. He gives; we receive. Thanks be to God. We give; they receive. Thanks be to God. We count it all a joy to give as He has given to us.