Dan Berry (ArtistOfWords) Offline

Being Responsible For Our Actions

Lately we've been taking some long and often difficult looks at our own life as it relates to following Jesus. For some of us, that means that we see a need for improvement and this is good. It is evidence of the Holy Spirit working to mold us into what we should become.

This is so important because we are all on this great adventure, this path, of following Jesus together. Though we may all be at different levels of understanding; we are all together and united in our faith in and love of God the Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

At some point, many of us will feel a tug upon our spirit that directs us to begin guiding others who are also on the same path as we are. It's a wonderful and awesome thing when God begins to work on us in this way.

I am confident that most of us undertake this with the greatest of intentions. Unfortunately, it can become easy for us to be misled as we pursue that great goal. This can happen accidentally when we speak about things that we do not have an understanding of.

It can happen when we mislead others with purpose. The Bible confirms this when it speaks of angels masquerading as angels of light and those who serve them whether knowingly or unknowingly.

2 Corinthians 11:13 For such people are false apostles, deceitful workers, masquerading as apostles of Christ. 14 And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light.

15 It is not surprising, then, if his servants also masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will be what their actions deserve.

We can even mislead others and hinder or even hurt the ministry when we try to do right and double check ourselves but allow our sinful natures to influence our efforts. It's clearly an issue of responsibility when we share the gospel with another.

James 3:1 Not many of you should become teachers, my fellow believers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly.

This includes pastors, church leaders, missionaries, evangelists, Christian teachers or anyone who gives instruction in God's Word or ministers to a church congregation.

These leaders must understand that no one has a more serious responsibility than those who teach God's Word. Because of their position of influence, they will be held to the highest level of personal accountability and judged more strictly in the future judgement.

From the study notes, those are some very profound statements. You mean to tell me that what I do carries a responsibility? I thought everyone was supposed to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ?

While we are all commanded to spread the gospel of Jesus via the Great Commission, we also must become responsible for the things that we say and do. We all start on the path and we grow and mature over time. The words we use today may seem silly to us a year later as our wisdom in God increases.

Now sometimes this point is strongly debated and some will say that they have been made perfect upon accepting Jesus into their lives as their Lord and Savior. This is only partially correct though.

Upon accepting Jesus, we have truly only begun. Let's keep looking at verse and see how this is biblically true. By all means, do not take my word for it but rather read it in The Word.

2 We all stumble in many ways. Anyone who is never at fault in what they say is perfect, able to keep their whole body in check.

How many of us can say we never stumble? That is the same as having sin in your life. That is the meaning here. How many of you are never at fault? How many of you are perfect in all that you say?

It's all about responsibility. We will be judged by the measure we judge others. We will be condemned if we condemn others. We are assured a life of peace when we show peace. Need I go on?

We all make mistakes and we all may repent of those sinful mistakes as soon as we realize that they have occurred. What James is speaking about specifically here though is the tongue and the power of our words.

3 When we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we can turn the whole animal. 4 Or take ships as an example. Although they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot wants to go.

5 Likewise, the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark.

We can do a world of good and bless others with the power of the tongue, but just as easily we can let this small part of our body pull us along and guide our every aspect of our being. Think about the risks we run when we teach another then if we are not careful and responsible.

6 The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course of one’s life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.

James focuses now on how easily we sin with our speech. Sinful speech includes harsh and unkind words, lying, exaggeration, false teaching, slander, gossiping, hateful comments, dirty jokes, and selfish boasting.

I don't know about any of you but that sure sounds like ways to stumble to me and only a few of them. If any still say they are perfect then realize that even this small list will not pertain to you at all.

Mature Christians keep their tongues under control by relying on the help and guidance of the Holy Spirit and by taking "every thought captive to obey Christ" (2 Cor. 10:5).

Because of the ease at which we sin with our tongue, James challenges every person to "be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger" (James 1:19).

James even tells us that our tongue is a world of evil among our body parts. It affects every other part of our body and sets it on fire too. James finishes by saying it is set on fire by hell itself.

What we are seeing here is that the things that come as a result of our tongue or us speaking in an irresponsible or non Christ-like manner are from the influence of sin in our own life. It damages not only us but everyone around us.

7 All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and sea creatures are being tamed and have been tamed by mankind, 8 but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.

Nobody can tame the tongue. It will betray us all every time. If you don't believe me then think of this the next time you are upset in traffic or the next time your significant other or child does something insane in your eyes. It's just waiting to unload on someone.

9 With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness. 10 Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be.

What people say typically reveals what is in their hearts (Matt. 12:34) and can certainly expose a hypocritical (i.e., insincere, pretentious, two-faced) lifestyle.

As believers, we must not only be careful about what we say, but also to whom we say it. Since people have been created in God's likeness (Gen. 1:26-27), to curse another person is like cursing God. (Gen. 9:6).

Matthew 12:34 You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.

Genesis 1:26 Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”

27 So God created mankind in his own image,
in the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them.

Genesis 9:6 “Whoever sheds human blood,
by humans shall their blood be shed;
for in the image of God
has God made mankind.

11 Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? 12 My brothers and sisters, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water.

From the same mouth that we worship God with we also slander, spew hatred and lies, and gossip. James is telling us here that we can't have it both ways. We can't get salt water and fresh from the same spring.

A fig tree won't give you olives and a grapevine ill not grow figs. What we are seeing here is plain and simple a lesson about responsibility. We must take every thought captive and we must daily give our life to Christ and repent while being careful to not stumble along the way.

Once before when presenting this material I said this in a unique way and it bears repeating. We all need water to live and that's a fact. The choice we have in life is where we get that water from though.

You can drink a bottled water or you can sip from a puddle. We can drink from a life giving water where no man will thirst as Jesus said or we can choose to get that water from the toilet where all manner of filth can be found.

That choice is entirely up to each one of us. Not many should teach because not all are ready to accept that responsibility. We all make mistakes but we must acknowledge those mistakes and move forward rather than repeating them and hoping for a new result.

As Paul said in 1 Corinthians 13:11 "When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways."

Are you ready today to give up your own childish ways? Are you ready today to do the work you have been commissioned to do by our Lord Jesus Christ? Are you ready today to be responsible for your own actions?