The Epistle of James, Part 4
This week we’re having a look at James chapter 3 together. Let’s remember what we’ve been learning and be doers of the word and not just “hearers”! This passage may at first seem all about the hell-fire that the tongue can ignite, and it some ways it is, but the real goal of the passage is revealed in verses 13-18 when we see the contrast to a harvest of “hell fire” from a careless tongue is a harvest of "righteousness” that is sown in peace by those who make peace.
A Wildfire near Fawnskin, California
Anchor Texts:
Questions to Ponder:
1. Why do you think teachers are warned specifically at the beginning of James 3:1-18? Does it apply only to teachers? Why or why not?
2. James uses a lot of metaphors in this passage, which speaks the most clearly to you? Why?
3. Should we interpret this passage as an exhortation to “try harder” to use our tongues carefully? How do grace and God’s Holy Spirit work as we try to obey what we read here?
4. What are steps we can take to change the way we use our tongues and sow seeds of righteousness instead of kindling hell-fires?
The Theme in Art:
Pieter Bruehghel - The Harvest
Art can communicate things words can’t. Have a look at this painting. What memories or feelings does it conjure up in you? Notice the sharing of labour and the sharing of food. What makes a season like Thanksgiving so satisfying? Isn’t it both the shared labours, as well as the shared enjoyment of the harvest that add to the joy? God built this into us. We are called to “work and tend” the garden in the beginning of the Bible, and we still experience God’s blessing when we care for and tend the things God has given us in our lives today.
The Theme in Song:
We need a “Harvest of Righteousness” (James 3:18) and we know that will be something to thank God for! It took a little while this week to find a good song with a good video on the theme of Thanksgiving, but thankfully I found Matt Boswell and Matt Papa’s song “O Give Thanks.” Let this modern hymn play in your home this week and let the words help you express your own thanks to God!