James 1:19-27 - Stop Talking, Texting and Tweeting
James 1:19-27 - Stop Talking, Texting and Tweeting
We live in a day and age where everyone is a publisher and writer. Think about it for a moment, if you are my age or older you remember a day before the Internet and Social Media if you wanted to get your message out you had to write a book, or get your message in a newspaper or have something media worthy to get on TV. But today, everything is different; we are all able to publisher our thoughts, content and distribute our message to the world, instantly.
This culture and society we live in today is amazing. The rise of the Internet and Social media has transformed our world. The amount of information we have at our fingertips; the ability to learn and become aware of events globally within seconds is fantastic. Think about it for a second, and I could travel to China from my seat here in Oklahoma City right now with Google Earth, Wikipedia, Netflix, and Twitter. I could have experience in Beijing and get a feel for the culture, life, and surroundings immediately.
The learning side and consuming side of the Internet is powerful, but what about the sharing, speaking, and publishing side? Again, some amazing things happen on the Internet, the ability to say something online and the messaging instantaneously ripple out and be accessible anywhere and everywhere. It’s like standing on a stage in a massive arena with an open microphone. Here in the book of James, we come to a section that feels so relevant today in our culture and what we are facing. Our society today is speaking a lot, standing at the open mic and sharing all, and putting it all out to anyone and everyone to hear our message. Here in America, and any democracy, the idea of freedom of speech is a fundamental and baseline understanding. Let’s dive in and process this:
“My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry because human anger does not produce the righteousness 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.” - James 1:19-21 NIV
We all stand before an open mic in front of an arena full of people with live TV cameras and streaming cameras, and what are we going to do? James encourages us to take note, take a pause, put the mic down, walk off the stage, and be quick to listen, and slow to speak. Let’s camp out on that thought for a moment. How true does this ring in your life? When your friend is telling you a story, are you on the edge of your seat listening and engaging actively absorbing the story? Or, are you on edge and interrupting the story to get a word in, and entering the story yourself? Maybe you resisted the temptation actually to interrupt, but your mind is consumed with speaking and sharing your thoughts before your friend is even finished with their story. I am guilty of this more often than I would like to admit.
This verse also talks about the importance of being slow to becoming angry. Social media feels like a place to me where emotions flow, and anger stands ready to pounce. James here unpacks a vital reality, human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires. Emotion is essential, but we need to realize that oftentimes our emotions get the best of us, and they do not produce a desirable result in God’s eyes. James hits this hard with v21, get rid of the moral filth and evil that is prevalent in us. When faced with that situation, that moment we want to tweet, text, comment, or post what is the motive driving us, where is that emotion coming from, and can we align that thought and the feelings with God’s word that is planted inside of us?
When I think about this, I am reminded of a powerful statement that my pastor said in a sermon, “Everything you say needs to be true, but everything true doesn’t need to be said.” Whoa! Pastor Craig Groeschel hit the nail on the head with this thought. We need to listen more, empathize more, connect more, and seek to understand before we press to be understood.
“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 someone who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do.” - James 1:22-25 NIV
So James hammers us and tells us to shut up, close our Apps, and stop trying to comment and speak on every topic...we need to listen quickly and first. Then he shifts to the religious types and drives home a point that James is going to hammer on all through this book. DO NOT JUST LISTEN TO THE WORD, be DOERS OF THE WORD. Do you remember Jesus' words, Matthew?
“Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?” - Matthew 7:3 NIV
Now do not get me wrong; there are some beautiful things that social media brings. I am so thankful that many horrific crimes and hate acts have been exposed, and the information spreads quickly. This is great and helps inform people of situations, but let us be aware of our response and our quickness to chime in and speak before we listen. And when we do speak, let us be reminded of the plank in our eye and the grace that has been afforded to us for all the mistakes and sins we step into daily. With the open we stand before, let’s remember pointing out all the specks in other's eyes is not Jesus' idea of living a righteous life.
This section of James's writing is referred to as The Torah of Freedom. Jesus ultimately summarized the entire Torah with the Great Commandment in Matthew 22:34-40. Love God and Love Others. All the Law of the Prophets hang on these two commandments.
This writing is getting long, so I need to wrap it up. Let me end with this...I am living in a massive tension right now with the power we have with social media and the Internet. These tools offer so much good, have marvelously helped our society, there are countless situations I could name, and you could name that have come true because of the awareness social media has brought. But at the same time, I am constantly disgusted by things I read online from Christians, how some are handling themselves, things being said, and humans being verbally treated like filth. James drives home how critical it is to be quick to listen and slow to anger. He also reminds us not just to read God’s word, but to live it out. Finally, James twists the plot a bit and says maybe you should not “call out” someone on social media, perhaps you should get a bit dirty and go help someone out.
“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.” - James 1:27 NIV
Lord give us the wisdom and discernment we need to navigate our day. Help us be quick to listen and slow to anger. Remind us of our sin and our own need for your grace, so we are not continually pointing out the speck in other's eyes and miss the log in our own. Lord, draw us closer to you so we can love others and make a difference in the world for you. Amen.