Two Kinds of Wisdom

17th Sunday of Pentecost
Scripture: James 3:12-4:3

We see in our scripture today 2 kinds of wisdom.
  1. A wisdom that guides us in our human nature
  2. The wisdom of God that guides us by his Holy Spirit
The problem is that these 2 kinds of wisdom of personal action are divided by a narrow gap. Human wisdom is one that bears little true evidence of the love of God for one another. While an individual might be a great scholar and think about the great peace he has in his heart, his actions shows a different picture of his reflection in a mirror. His words may be as sharp as any razor blade and louder than a great clap of thunder with much fury within them. His heart is full of bitterness that destroys his actions and responses to the needs of others. He is arrogant and full of self-pride. His actions are 3-fold. His standards are earthly standards. He moves by the characteristics of mortal men's impulses. His heart and actions are those of persons who live in the darkness of reality; his drive for wisdom is completely different from those God desires that we maintain.

On the other hand, true wisdom is a special gift that is given us from God. This wisdom is described as a breath of true wisdom from God that influences our thoughts and actions. In Solomon 7:25 we discover these words: "Give me the wisdom from the glory of the almighty."

True wisdom is pure. Pure evidence that the individual has gone through the right ritual relationship with the Lord.

While their hands are pure, their hearts are not.
True and pure wisdom is the wisdom that produces a right relationship with mankind and with God. It is a relationship that separates mankind from mankind, making a man look for a personal relationship with the almighty. True relationship is full of mercy and produces good fruits for the kingdom of God.

When we see someone in great need we might say:
  • “It’s their own fault.” 
  • “They made the wrong choices that produced this situation.”
  • “ It’s their problem, not mine.”
As Christians we should see the situation but place no judgment on the individual or his needs.

There is a saying: “Only by the grace of God, I might be in that same situation.” As true Christians, we cannot and should not refuse to help that person in need, for Christian wisdom comes to us from God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Christians should not pause and say “it’s his fault” and refuse to lift a hand or fingers for the one in need; rather, we should praise God who has blessed us and enables us to respond to the needs of others.

Regardless of who is the fault of the situation, God has reached down and out to help us in times like these. Wherein, we need to reach out and help others in need. The ultimate choices in life are between pleasing ourselves and pleasing others of God's children.

Our battleground can not be just to please us. That is a savage battle that destroys God's image within us. The Lord asks us not to battle for self-needs, but for the needs of others. To see and to feel the pain of others we need to move swiftly to reach out and touch that situation as God has reached down in our lives to intercede in our pain and our need.

True wisdom is having the ability to alleviate the suffering of others. Remember that even a cool glass of water offered to someone who thirsts will be seen and God will bless that simple show of love and it will not go unrewarded.

What is really needed in our world today is less of the wisdom we are taught through modern education and more of the blessings we receive through God's wisdom guiding our lives.

Let us Pray.

Taming the Tongue

Sixteen Sunday of Pentecost
Scripture: James 3:1-12

Each one of us has the most dangerous earthly weapon. It has the capability of destroying our character and the ability to be fruitful in our Christian witness.

It is our tongue. The church should be a place where words do not hurt others but build them up as a child of God.

Our tongue should be an instrument of peace, joy, and reconciliation, not a tool of disaster or discourse.

There is no one in the world that has not sinned because of the slip of their tongue. James echoes those words when he shares with us that the tongue can become a deadly weapon. We do not slip up intentionally, but the scriptures are full of situations about this deadly sin. Paul says, “There is none righteous for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of the heavenly father.  If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.” In Ecclesiastics 7:20 we see these words: “There is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not.”

There is no sin into which easier to slip into that does not have grave consequences when we slip up with our tongues. James 3:7-8 includes these words: “For every kind of beasts, and of birds, and of serpents, and of things in the sea, is tamed, and hath been tamed of mankind: 8But the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.”

The psalmist penned these words:
“Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet: All sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field; the fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas. O Lord our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth!”

Man’s ingenuity has tamed every wild beast, but the tongue alone is beyond taming. To tame means to control, and to render useful and beautiful our exchanges with one another. We all know too well that there is a cleavage in our human nature:

  • something of the ape and something of the angel
  • something of the hero and something of the villain
  • something of the saint and something of the sinner

James is sure this villain is a man’s tongue, for we can change our temperament in a split second when we open our mouth before we bridle the tongue. The weakest person can bridle a large horse, but it takes a giant of a person to bridle their tongue. While our tongues are free to speak praises and adorations, one can destroy their character in the split second if they don't bridle their tongue.

Once it is uttered, one can not take it back, and one must live with the results of that slip of the tongue. Even when we seek to make amends for our actions, we can not forget that action and it is here that the devil takes a molehill and blows it into a mountain.

I heard a preacher on TV say that when the Lord called him to preach, he had not sinned since that day. His tongue proved otherwise!

Lord God, help us not to slip into sin because of a slip of a tongue. All of us have sinned through this small mouthful of tissue when we lose control of our emotions and feelings.  Help us Lord to bridle our tongues. In Jesus' name we make this request. Amen!

Rich People

18th Sunday of Pentecost
Scripture: Mark 10:25/James 5:3

Why do some rich people think they are going to heaven? Do you think that Jesus was badmouthing them?

Some rich women bankrolled Jesus and his disciples. Thus it seems like it is an unfair guess that Jesus thought kindly of them. One sugar momma was Mary Magdalene, who would be among the first to see the resurrected Lord, along with Susanna, and Joanna.

Joanna’s husband was King Herod’s administrator. We see and read in Luke 8:3, “These women and other women, provided support for Jesus and his disciples.”

Not all-rich people are selfish and spiritually bankrupt, even though there’s a heap of verses that seem to  trash the rich because of these reasons.

They wrote laws favoring themselves. They bought off politicians and judge, while today the poor would get public defenders. Rich people underpaid their workers, cheated their customers, and many ignored the poor.

When Jesus said “it is harder for a rich man to get into the kingdom of heaven than a camel to get through the eye of a needle,” he was referring to the camels’ gate into the city. This gate was much lower in height and narrower in width than any other gate in the city. Traders use this gate because it was closest to the market place. If the camel was heavy laden with a high load, they either had to unload the camel or possibly help him crawl through on his knees.

Jesus here was using an extravagant illustration to drive home his point: Wherever your heart is, is where your treasure is. Is your treasure earthly and heavenly? Both Jesus and James both made this point.

Jesus stated, “Why do you see the sawdust in someone else’s eye and cannot see the wooden beam in your own eye?” Not all-rich people are shut out of the kingdom of God. One such person who entered was Joseph of Armethea. He donated his own tomb for Jesus’ burial. This is a wonderful example of a rich guy with a compassionate heart. Joseph had been a secret follower of Jesus’ earthly ministry, yet he was a wealthy member of a top Jewish council and a member of the Supreme Court that orchestrated Jesus execution!

He came out of the closet when he asked Pilate for Jesus’ body. He wrapped Jesus’ body in clean white linen and laid him in his own tomb. Joseph apparently respected Jesus more than he coveted his relationship with his own colleagues. He put Jesus first and he likely paid a terrible price, diminishing many earthly returns in his earthly kingdom. Joseph lost the respect of his co-hearts, lost his seat on the council, and got a cold shoulder from his Jewish business associates. All his earthly means and assets took a nosedive.

While his was concerned about this, he was more concerned about his relationship with the Lord. It’s wonderful that we seek earthly treasures, but they will not get us into the kingdom of God! There is only one treasure that we need not only for this life but also for the heavenly life. That treasure is a personal relationship with our Lord.

What earthly treasures are you willing to give up or sacrifice for your real treasure, Jesus the Christ?

Let us pray!

Listening and Doing

14th Sunday in Pentecost
Scripture: James 17-27

James is much like our Lord in that he calls it as he sees it.

Jesus often loses patience with the scribes and Pharisees, primarily when they are not living the law that they want to preserve, but He spoke with good reason.

There are few individuals who have not been unimpressed by the dangers of being too quick to speak and too slow to listen. A scholar’s work includes these words: “quick to hear and quick to forget” and “slow to hear and slow to forget”

Be ye swift to hear the words that you may be correct to understand them. Remember, if we are slow to anger one might not stick their foot in their mouth.

While one might be tempted to be angry with a slow learner, a backwards person, and especially a lazy person, we might accomplish more of our desire if we encourage these persons and do not expect them to measure up to our standards. Our response to them always shows our true character.

Here James presents us with a vivid picture. Paul speaks of a man who goes to the church service, listens to the message, and leaves thinking that his listening has made him a Christian. He deceives himself thinking that attendance in public worship, hearing the word preached, is enough that he has faithfully served the Lord that day. It is not ok that he has shut his eyes, plugged up his ears, and closed his mind and heart to what has just happened in the worship service to and for him.

James is seeking to remind us that what we hear in the service must be lived out daily in our lives as we interact with one another.

I was appointed to a local church with much pride that they had 5 weekly services of Bible study and prayer meetings. About 50 people were involved in these special services. They were extreamly proud of this track record. Then a newcomer was asked to join in one or two of them. He said, “You must be quite knowledgeable about the scriptures and your love of the Lord is wonderful, but what are you doing with all that knowledge and love in making new disciples for the Lord, spending 5 nights in a week in these 2 events? When do you go out to the streets of your community and tell of his love?”

That went over like a bucket of ice water being poured over their heads!

Don’t you know that the worship service is to equip you to share your love and knowledge of the lord.

The Sunday morning worship, Sunday school classes, prayer meetings, and bible studies are all wonderful, but they were meant to prepare us to tell His story in making new disciples.

Do you recall the words of that great hymn “Jesus Calls Us?”

Jesus calls us o’re the tumult
Of our lives wild, restless sea
Day by day His sweet voice soundeth
Saying Christian follow me!”

Are we faithful to His calling?

The problem today is the church today has become a spectator sport. We come to the church to be with others like ourselves who love the Lord. We take in great spiritual insights that make us feel good, thinking we have met our spiritual duties for the week. Then we go home and return next week once again to have that warm fuzzy feeling. But God has blessed us with relatively little blessings because we did not labor in His vineyard.

Jesus calls us.  Yes Jesus calls us even you and me.  What are we doing about that calling?

Let us pray...

The Armor of God

13th Sunday of Pentecost
Scripture: Ephesians 6:10-20

As Paul takes leave of his people, he is sees a giant struggle that lies ahead of him: house arrest with a Roman guard chained to his wrist. 24/7.

Now, life in the ancient world was different from our lives today. They widely believed in demons, devils and evil spirits. The air was full of these elements just waiting to pounce upon us as God’s people, seeking to derail us from our walk with our true God.

Looking at his guard and the armor he wore, Paul makes a great spiritual comparison to how the guards’ armor reflects our armor in the battle against evil forces.

  1. The belt around his waist is the belt of truth. As Christians we can move freely and quickly because in any of our life’s situation He knows the truth. Our God walks daily in all our lives’ actions and situations.
  2. The breastplate of righteousness covers the chest. Words are no defense against accusations that are hurled against us, but a good life displays a true person.
  3. There were the sandals of preparation. One’s sandals are a sign that one is equipped and ready to go out and spread the good news. This means all persons, male or female, lay or clergy have a few sermons just itching to be shared.
  4. There is the shield of faith. Paul is not thinking about a small round shield, but a full body shield to protect one as the fiery darts of evil are thrown at us. The dart is a long stick, a point dipped in oil, lit with fire that seeks to destroy the words of God.
  5. There is the helmet of salvation. We must always remember that it is not something that looks back to our sins, but something that means God’s forgiveness of our past and strength for the present and the future.
  6. There is the sword of the Holy Spirit, “which is the word of God.” The sword is not a 2-edge sharp weapon that may cause death, but the presence and words of God that can pierce the darkest sin and evil that seeks to destroy us as Christians.
  7. Paul’s final weapon is prayer. Paul states 3 types of prayer:


  • Constant Prayer
  • Intense Prayer
  • Concentration Prayer

As they say, “a limp prayer never got us anywhere.”

The Jews had this saying. “Let a man unite himself with the community in his prayers. Always pray for others before praying for oneself.”

Finally, Paul, after praying for others, prays for himself. He does not ask for comfort, or for peace. He allows God to move in his life as God sees fit, not as he desires. We would do well to remember that.

No Christian leader and no Christian pastor can go on unless their people are ever upholding them in prayer. Thank you all for your support, and please keep the prayer for the ministry here. Amen!

His Body and His Blood

12th Sunday of Pentecost
Scripture: St. John 6:51-59

We may take it in a quite general sense that Jesus spoke about eating His flesh and drinking His blood. The flesh of Jesus was His full humanity. If Jesus had come only in His flesh and not of God, where would we be today? Certainly not attending a worship service in His heavenly house.

The spirit that denies that Jesus came only in the flesh is the antichrist. Jesus insists that we must cluster, grasp, and never let go of the full humanity of Christ.

“Jesus was bone of our bones and flesh of our flesh.” What does that mean? Jesus, as we have encountered Him, was – is – the Mind of God, who fully became human. In other words, God was in the flesh, living among us here on earth.

He took all the failures of our human life. He endured all our human situations, struggled with our human problems, and endured our human temptations, working out our human relation with Him

It is as if Jesus said, “Feed your heart, mind, and grace out of my manhood.” Jesus took all the pitfalls of our human life upon Himself. Suddenly, life and flesh are shod with the glory of God where they had been touched with God’s living presence.

It was and is the great belief of the Greek Orthodox Christology that Jesus defined our flesh by taking it on Himself. To eat Jesus Christ’s body is to feed on the thought of Jesus Christ’s manhood until our manhood is strengthened and cleaned and purified by Him. But John meant more than what he was thinking at the Lord’s Supper. He was saying:

“If you want life, you must come and eat at the table and drink of the cup of wine, which somehow is the grace of God, bringing you into a redeemed, loved, relationship with Christ Jesus, the Son of the Living God.”

We cannot draw on the fullest of the Christian life in words unless we sit at the table of love. It is here that the sacrament is a special appointment with our God. He felt in His heart that at every meal in the humblest home or the greatest mansion beneath the canopy of the sky with only the grass we celebrate the Lord’s sacrament. John refused to limit the presence of God to an ecclesiastical environment and a collective liturgy. He believed that we can find Christ anywhere in a Christ-filled world.

Lord, God, help us as we have slipped away way too far in our society. Take from us all activities that stand in the way of a redeeming fellowship with You. Amen!

Be Ye Angry and Sin Not

11th Sunday of Pentecost
Scripture: Ephesians 4:25 – 5:2

John Wesley echoed Ephesians 4:26 in cautioning us to take heed to not sin when we are angry.

Anger is not evil, but we should feel only pity for the sinner. If we are angry with a person, don’t permit or allow it to turn into a sin by your action against that person. It is difficult to not allow our anger to turn into sin. We must not permit our anger to produce falsehoods, and we must be mindful there is more than one type of anger.

One such anger is said deliberately and almost unconsciously, causing great hurt and wronging to someone. It can and often does show flaw in one’s character. That will be difficult to make right if even possible.

In our Christian life, we must have the RIGHT kind of anger. There are flaws in our thought process which at sometime causes all of us to lose our cool when selfish anger blows up.  

Crossness and bad temper are without defense!
There is an anger that without it would make a worse place to live and the world would lose much without that type of anger. Case in point:

The slave trade caused much anger between people. It caused a civil war and allowed people to be free people. Slavery divided the nation. It was used as an excuse for free labor, and it tore what family life the slaves might have had.

Case in point:

When someone has been in prisoned, having served his time, they may have vowed to change his lifestyle often employment is hard to find.  And if they find employment, it seems like most co-workers know their history, and many make it extremely hard for them to make the adjustment to being a law-abiding citizen.

Case in point:

The anger between my father and my twin brother completely tore up our family life at my age 16. It was over my father’s lady friend and harsh and terrible words were uttered by my brother. He was ordered out of the house, not to be there when my father returned from work. Then my father looked at me and said “either me or him. You can’t have us both.” My father and brother never spoke to one another again. My father and the lady married several years later and she would not permit a good relationship between my father and me. That continued for over 20 years.  We were reunited when one of my sons took his marriage invitation to his grandpa. Edith came in, sat next to our daughter in law to be as if nothing had ever happened, and the past 20+ years evaporated in emotions and feelings instantly.

I know personally of how words spoken before putting one’s thought pattern in the right mode can take years before it can be buried in history in one’s life. These 3 cases mentioned, have changed the lives of countless people. When people act in anger for the right purpose in God’s will. With what’s going on in the world today, the pains of our history and lives could cause us to deal with the same type of deadly anger. 

I pray that we as a nation and the world would never have to endure another Holocast. But with some of the factions in the world today, if good God fearing people fail to get angry at what’s going on in the world and do not band together in unity and prayer asking God to help us, who knows where we are headed!

Be mindful that not all anger is evil!

Let us pray…

Grace to Grace

Tenth Sunday of Pentecost
Scripture: Ephesians 4:1-16

The purpose of the church is to make new disciples for the kingdom of God on earth, to build up the living, active body of Christ until all of us have a unity of faith, acknowledging Jesus as the Son of the Living God.

Christ knows us and calls us.  He knows the potential within our lives and believes we can aid in transforming the world that God has created. With ordinary people like each of us, we can lead others in making this world a more caring, loving world than it is today.

Today this world operates on discourse, disharmony and disunity.

  • In many family units
  • In the communities we live in
  • The world as a whole 
  • And even within the church

We are called and equipped to create a sacred oneness as agents of Jesus Christ. The church is the one source that has the ability, but for the church to create that unity we need to dispel all discourse and our personal agendas. We need to take those differences to the Lord asking him to enable us to transcend our differences. We must love one another as He loves us.

The grace to ask ourselves is at our fingertips; it is within our grasp. That is one of the basic factors of the Christian church. Love one another as the Lord loves us!

Christ knows that we have an instant struggle, a daily battle loving one another as he loves us. It is possible for us to love one another by seeing that we are not perfect persons. We are only God’s children in process. We need when we have wronged one another wrongly

  • to stop that action instantly!
  • to see deep down the goodness that is in each one of us and see what the Lord sees in us.
That is a goal that we must seek to attain. When we hold on to our ill feelings about one another, we are hurting not only ourselves but the image of the Lord who lives within us. Likewise we limit the fullness of God’s grace and we are one missing the goal of unity with one another and our Lord.

It’s wonderful that our Lord has the ability not only to forgive us, but He forgets our sin and it will never be brought up against us again. It would have been wonderful and a blessing if we had the ability to forgive and forget our transgressions against one another.

It is here that Satan attacks us full force to destroy the love of God within our hearts! When we yield to our human frailties we sacrifice the grace of God within us.

Lord God, help us for we all are guilty of this sin causing us to lose faith and Your divine grace. Help us forgive the way You have forgiven us. Amen.

Father God

9th Sunday of Pentecost
Scripture: Ephesians  3:14-21

When I say "father," what image do you feel and see in your heart and mind?                                        
Paul is making a huge step of faith when he speaks of the Holy God as Father. Fatherhood comes with a large responsibility. While a man can be a sperm donor, he may never care for the child as a father. In the Old Testament, God was not spoken in terms of as a Father.  In the Old Testament, God was seen as an impossible entity to approach. To see God face to face meant instant death. It was only on the Day of Atonement that the High Priest could go into the Holy of Holies, where the Ark of the Covenant was, to offer prayer for the sins of the people.

Recall when Moses came down from Mt. Sinai. His face shown like the sun and the people believed that he had been with God.

It’s only in the New Testament, that the writers speak of God as a Father. Recall when Jesus was baptized by John in the Jordan river.  When He came up out of the water, the voice of God was heard saying “This is my beloved Son."

Paul said in Ephesians 3, where he talked about sharing with the Ephesians, that God is our Heavenly Father.  He also said that He transcends all aspects of our earthly father.

It is through Jesus Christ’s blood we can approach God personally, yet today every church family has members who question the basic fact that our faith response makes God approachable. That is simply not the case.

Do not be swayed from the truth by the last person you have spoken to. Stand firm in the faith and in scripture. Paul speaks of a clever trickery and many that offer their opinion.

Like James Jones' followers in Guyana, they were deceived. These people are excellent actors.
In seducing and causing many to fall from grace. There are some that follow the preacher and not the Lord he preaches about.

Who was the first one to call God The Father? It was Jesus!

God the Father is not an entity out in outer space, nor just in Heaven.
He is right here, right now in this sanctuary.
He hears each word that is spoken.
He senses each thought in our hearts and minds.
He sees each of our reactions to what is going on.
He knows us better than we know ourselves.

Paul is making us aware that if we water down our understanding of a loving, caring Heavenly Father, we are shortchanging ourselves to the fullness of the Father Grace. Paul makes aware that it is ever so easy to abandon our faith by often following mortal man and not the Father in Heaven.

If we don’t hold onto the Faith, it causes spiritual stagnation and narrow mindedness. That leads to limited understanding of the fullness of God's presence.

Praise God the Father who loves us and knows us. In spite of ourselves His love is so great that He sacrificed His only Son as a ransom for our sins.

Let us pray… Thank you Heavenly Father. We can comprehend your love for us for forgiving our sins through the blood of Your Son Jesus Christ. Amen!

A Holy Seal

Seventh Sunday of Pentecost
Scripture: Ephesians 1:3-14

We are all sealed with a holy seal when we confess our faith. God placed that Holy Seal upon us by the sacrificed blood of Jesus Christ, his only begotten Son.

Paul begins the letter of Ephesians claiming 2 things:
1.) He is an apostle of Christ.
2.) His approval came only through the will of God.

Paul’s apostleship means that his action is through his commissioning as a gift from God. He likewise is amazed that God could use him, with such a dark and sinful background. As Christians, we must never be filled with pride. We must only be filled with wonderment and amazement that the Lord sees our worth in spreading the Gospel.

When we confess our faith and love for Jesus in our hearts, we are sealed with the Holy Spirit for the tasks that lay ahead of us. That seal is for God’s grace and peace.

The grace and peace from God is always a precious gift. It is impossible for us to obtain by our own efforts. We can never earn it. It is always a gift from the Loving Lord. God’s peace is something that is independent of our own outward circumstances.

One might live a life of ease and luxury in the world. One might have the finest things in life...

  • a huge fine mansion
  • a large bank account
  • a host of friends

…while having no real sense of peace within their heart and life.

Take some of the 3rd world nations. They might make a couple dollars for a whole day’s work, yet they can have a smile on their face and a real sense of peace in their heart.

The explanation of that peace can be seen in the one set of footprints in the sand, the awareness that God is carrying them through this ordeal.

I sense that Paul thought a person who has the love of God in his heart and nothing more could have the peace of God. He reminds us that many of the choices we make can rob us of God’s peace. For we were created to be God’s chosen ones, but by our own default we reject the will of God!

The choices we make in our own lives may draw us away from God’s love or draw us closer to His love because he created us with free will.

There is a story of a rich man and beggar (the 16th chapter of Luke). The rich man never saw the beggar at his doorstep, but the beggar asked the rich man to send Lazerus to warn his 5 brothers that they should not follow in his footsteps.

19 “There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day.
20 At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores
21 and longing to eat what fell from the rich man’s table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores.
22 “The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried.

23 In Hades, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side.
24 So he called to him, ‘Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.’

25 “But Abraham replied, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony.
26 And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been set in place,
so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.’

27 “He answered, ‘Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my family,
28 for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.’”

The choices we make now, may seem inconsequential and yet if the rich man would have given the beggar a drink of water, the Lord would have seen it and blessed him.

We always have 2 choices in life.

  1. We can go the way of the world
  2. We can go above and beyond the world… 

laying treasures in heaven, laying great treasures in Heaven.

Who are we going to follow? The way of the world or the way of God?

Rejoice in His holy seal that God seeks to put upon our lives. Amen!