Welcome to week 2 of our sermon series on James! We hope that as we continue to explore this mosaic of wisdom that this book offers, you are able to glean something that is helpful for your walk with Jesus.
Pastor Mario kicked things off last week with an encouraging word about enduring through our trials and a reminder that God is always good. And God gives good gifts. As Wesleyans, we do not believe that God causes bad things to happen, but we do believe that God is working through everything and that He can redeem all things. Pastor Mario challenged us to see, even the small things, as gifts from God and thank Him for them. It will change our perspective.
This week's passage comes from James 1:19-27 and reads as follows:
19 My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, 20 because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires. 21 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.
22 Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. 23 Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror 24 and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. 25 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.
26 Those who consider themselves religious and yet do not keep a tight rein on their tongues deceive themselves, and their religion is worthless. 27 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.
Have you ever said something you later (or instantly) regretted?
If your answer is no, congratulations on being a perfect human being! All jokes aside, though, we all have said something that we have wished we could take back.
Sometimes our words can even do harm when we mean them for good, like when people tell grieving family members that "everything happens for a reason" and "God wouldn't have taken them if He didn't want them." Such statements might sound kind or helpful in the moment but in reality are making God seem small and selfish to people who need to know that He is in control and loves them.
Tragedies are often where people see God most or cry out to Him most - and when Christians portray a small God or an incorrect God in these moments, it hurts the Church and our witness. We must be careful, church, to be slow to speak in these moments.
This passage also highlights the dangers of our mouths when we are angry. Let's be clear, anger is not a sin. Being angry can be a positive thing. Our anger can propel us into action.
However, anger that keeps us from righteousness is what can ruin our witness as believers, and our representation of the church, which is the bride of Christ. If your anger is the dominating emotion in a situation, that anger is probably not representing love.
Another important point to make here is that our bodies and brains were not created to live in a state of anger or to be constantly carrying around pain and anger. There is a huge physical toll that anger and resentment take on our bodies - science can prove what this passage is calling God’s people to.
How, then, do we combat the tendency to unproductive and unrighteous anger? We can actually utilize our mirror neurons in order to counteract our internalized reactions to others and to situations that might normally make us angry.
Mirror neurons are a type of brain cell that respond equally when we perform an action and when we witness someone else perform the same action.
This means that when someone we're talking to starts to speak negatively, our default is to pick up on that cue and head in the same direction. Mirror neurons collect data and send signals to the brain, which in turn releases molecules into the body that impact our emotions at a cellular level, possibly even before we have a conscious thought.
For example, when hate begins to be spewed on social media, we may disagree with it, but do we engage and match them with hate just on the opposite side of the spectrum?
How about a difficult work conversation - maybe you become defensive after being called up. Does your boss also become defensive?
Or on the flip side, if you are having a bad day and walk into a room full of your loved ones, you might start to feel better being around them because their joy and love is infectious.
We can actually tap into the power of these mirror neurons in challenging situations by intentionally engaging with them when you know they are being activated. By whispering "I love you" under your breath in moments of anger or when you are feeling frustration with a person, we can counteract that anger's development and, essentially, nip it in the bud. So instead of mirroring the negativity that is around us, we can choose to focus on loving the person in front of us.
This works surprisingly well, and the reason why is obvious: You cannot love someone and spew hate at the same time.
A whispered "I love you" in moments of tension helps us to see the image Dei, the image of God, in the other person rather than focusing on our anger or letting the conversation turn to unproductive negativity.
It allows our brain to pause and recognize where God is at work in the moment, and to focus on that rather than the other person's attitude. We become what we behold, and we have to learn how to behold Jesus in moments where that is difficult.
When we focus on love, we see God, and we become more like him. Because God is love. Because what our mirror neurons show others when we love them is Jesus.
Saying I love you positively impacts our mirror neurons to combat the easy entrance down a negative path, a less than righteous outcome.
Jesus, on the cross, said Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing - I imagine Jesus whispering I love you to those nailing him to the cross. After all, He did it all for Love.
Original sermon by Pastor Makenzie Flores
Blog adaptation by Allison Freytes
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