Sermon of 12 September 2010 No 9 False Witness or Faithful Witness? James 3.1-12

James 3.1-12

Lord, as we look at your Commandments
take from us any thought about how bad other people are, breaking your laws
and we congratulate ourselves that we are not as bad as them.
Rather may our prayer be that you will have mercy on me a sinner.
Teach us where we are going wrong and how to get back to you.

She must have thought she would never be caught.
There she was stroking this cat sitting on top of a wheelie bin
and the street was empty.
So on an impulse she popped the poor animal inside.
Fortunately for the cat, the bin had been emptied
and its owners heard its cries hours later.
Unfortunately for the woman involved they had a tv camera installed
and with the help of Facebook or Youtube her crime went round the world
and she was soon caught.

Much as I love cats
there is something about the reaction to this story that disturbs me.
Yes, the evidence was conclusive, there was nothing false about it
but isn’t there something false in the reaction?
Something vindictive, something out of proportion to the wrong?
Did you notice how the clip was played and replayed on the news
while the real news should have been about the floods in Pakistan or billions of bank debt?

If the point of ‘You shall not bear false witness’
was only that we should tell the truth and not lie
this would be a short though worthwhile sermon
but what this command highlights
is the danger of what we say about other people
and the danger of how we say what we say
even if the what should happen to be true.
There’s something disturbing in the reaction the cat in the bin story
in how it has been reported and how it has been received.

The 10th commandment which we looked at last week
deals with our inner desire to have more and more and how we lose our peace
but the 9th commandment targets what we say
and we may extend its scope beyond the very important area of giving true evidence in a court
and not doing someone down by lying about him and falsely accusing him.

Something very serious has gone wrong in a society
where the legal process is undermined by lying
but something is also deeply wrong where there is a culture in general
of loose talk and gossip and character assassination.

People sometimes say words don’t matter but they do, deeply.
On 9/11 those poor people on the doomed planes
used their mobile phones to talk to their loved ones to tell them ‘I love you’.
Don’t those words matter?
Or the promises made in a marriage, or any promise,
or the verdict pronounced in a law case ‘Guilty or Not guilty’?
Those words matter so much.

Even Christian people can cause great damage with our words
as James makes clear in 3.1-12
He warns to be careful if you want to be a teacher in church
‘because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly‘.
He says that Christians all stumble in many ways.
‘If anyone is never at fault in what he says, he is a perfect man,
able to keep his whole body in check.’
Then he says that the tongue is a small part of the body
but it can do great good or great harm.
It’s like the small bit in a horse’s mouth
where a huge animal can be turned in any direction
or a big ship can be steered by a small rudder.
The he uses the picture of a big forest fire caused by one small spark
and goes on to state that on-one can tame the tongue.
‘It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.’

Here James is describing that struggle which we all have in this life
that even though we are forgiven and accepted by God
there are bits of us which still need to be converted
bits of us deep down which cause us to think and say stupid things -
things which often we bitterly regret for the harm they do.
So we are people who can use our tongues at one moment to sing God’s praise
and in the next moment actually to curse other people.

James is clear that this should not happen.
It is a contradiction of who we are in Christ.
Every time we see this contradiction in ourselves we must never be happy about it
We may seek and find forgiveness for it
but we must learn to regret deeply and renounce those parts of us
that still react in disobedience and produce such bitter fruit.

Are we aware of how one little word can be like a spark in a dry forest
and start something that gets out of control?
We need to be aware of a downward spiral
where innocent chat can suddenly change into something poisonous or devastating.

Lets think about the different levels of our conversations.

At level 1 it is simply everyday chat about everyday things
the weather, people’s health, the economy, sport.
No problem.

In level 2 we dip with talk that is true but unhelpful.
How positive and constructive are these remarks?
"He never comes to church." "Her father is a drunk."
"Those people never change.”
Do you see how we can say something true
and yet become negative and destructive, condemnatory?

Level 3 is when truth is abandoned as we exaggerate
or hear someone else say something that gets it wrong and we don’t correct.
One distortion leads to another. "I saw her at the doctor's."
"Perhaps she’s pregnant." "Maybe it's twins'" "She's going to have twins."
And then (months later) "I wonder what happened ... "

A film company advertised with this quote from a review
saying that the lead actor was ‘fierce, magnetic, irresistible even…”
What the advert. did not say was that the review went on
‘But even this actor can only do so much.’

Do you see how it is so easy to twist and distort and quote out of context
and uncritically repeat what others have said without checking it out
or asking: ‘Is this what a follower of Jesus should say?’

And then it’s not a long drop to Level 4
where we deliberately lie for our own advantage.
I hope you see that this 9th commandment refers also to
Level 2 - talk which is negative and unhelpful
and to Level 3 - talk which selects and distorts.

How then may we bear faithful witness instead of false witness?

J John in his book ‘Ten’ about the Commandments
recommends this THINK test.

T is it True?
H is it Helpful?
I is it Inspiring?
N is it Necessary?
K is it Kind?

Obviously, if something is not true, we should not say it.
But we need to think also that some things could be true but unhelpful.
It may be true that someone’s father is a drunk
but it could be so cruel and unnecessary to say that.
We need instead to think of things to say
that are inspiring and positive, constructive and encouraging.
We need to ‘talk in the light'.

That’s not say we can never tell somebody off for doing something wrong.
While we need to encourage
we should not lock into some kind of sickly sweet mutual admiration group
where we live in la la land and never get real about things that need sorting.
Paul in Colossians 3 says
we should 'teach and admonish each other with all wisdom'
that is, we should have a relationship with each other
where we can tell someone off and they can correct us too
when it is done in a wise and controlled and humble way
when we prayerfully discern when it is the time to say something
and when it is not the time.

So, do we ‘talk in the light’?

Is what we say about people when they are not there
the same as we would say when they are there?
Is it both true and helpful and inspiring and necessary and kind?

And do we also talk of the light?

Are we willing to replace gossip with gospel?

Are we ready not simply to have speech
that is true and helpful and inspiring and necessary and kind
but also that speaks of Jesus?

Please don’t panic when I mention this.
I am not saying that we all have to preach in the open air
or give out leaflets or talk to complete strangers about our faith
though God does call and equip some people to that gift of evangelism
but it is clear that every Christian is called to be a faithful witness.
We are not to deny Jesus.
If we are asked we should say something.
It’s not that we have to give knock down answers to Stephen Hawking or Richard Dawkins
but that we can simply share what we believe in our deepest heart.
Even if our testimony goes not much further than saying
something like: ‘I can’t answer your difficulties about suffering or science
but I do know this, that I love Jesus and more important Jesus loves me.’

As Peter wrote in his first letter c 3.
‘Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you
to give the reason for the hope that you have.
But do this with gentleness and respect.’

Do people near us know not only
that that we are truthful and reliable and kind and positive people -
we ‘talk in the light’
but also that the reason for this is that we follow Jesus -
we ‘talk of the light’

False witness or faithful witness?
Pastor Jones in Florida is in danger of being a false witness.
Where is any gentleness and respect and wisdom
in his proposal to have a public burning of Korans?
That’s easy to see
but if we keep quiet about our faith all the time, isn’t that false too?
Or if our everyday talk is not in the light?

One last thing, which I will repeat each week with each commandment.
The law of God shows us what God wants in our lives
but does not show us how to be reconciled with God.
The commandments are instead a map showing us ways in which
to please and serve the God who has first loved us and rescued us.

We must always remember how the commandments start
with God telling his people who he is and what he has done for them
and therefore this is how they are to live.

The preface to the ten commandments is in these words,
I am the Lord thy God,
who have brought you out of the land of Egypt,
out of the house of bondage.
The preface to the ten commandments teaches us
that because God is the Lord, and our God, and redeemer,

therefore we are bound to keep all his commandments.

We must never think:
if I can just control my speech, conquer my tendency to exaggerate and gossip
then God will love me and I‘ll be a good Christian.
Rather, we should be thinking
because God loves me and I am secure in him
then I can guard my tongue,
I don’t need to let it run away and cause damage
and I can start being truthful and helpful, inspiring, wise and kind
as my words and my deeds reflect his light in me.

Set a watch O God on my lips
May every word be a reason for people to praise you.
May the Holy Spirit make us in every way faithful witnesses.
Helping us to speak the truth with grace, truth in love
truth to build up and restore not to knock and condemn
Help us to speak graciously, sensitively and wisely
knowing when to speak and when to be silent.