De-Scent the Skunk | Adam Weber

Some of us have had words that were spoken over us in middle school years ago. Yeah, we're still carrying them with us all these years later. Maybe for you as a classmate of yours or a neighbor of yours that told you one time, you're so stupid. No one likes you. No one likes you. I'll just be honest myself, fifth, sixth grade, often called loser, four I's and whatever else. And it impacted me big time. For years, I'd be lying if I didn't say, even still today, there's a part of me that's convinced that someone really, really, really got to know me. It realized what a loser I really am. What is up, embrace. It is so good to see you. I hope you're doing well. Hope it's been a great weekend so far. My name is Adam. I'm one of the pastors here. We are honored, overjoyed that you decided to come and worship with us here today. Friends, today, we are continuing on in our series, going through the book of James. And as we share, the book of James is actually a letter written by a guy named James who is best known as the brother of Jesus. And James's words are filled with so much practical wisdom

and insight for everyday life. These words are so straightforward. And yet, as we're gonna find out once again today, they are so challenging to hear. And even more so, they are challenging to live out and to put into practice in our everyday lives. At the start of this series, we gave out thousands of copies of James. And I truly have been praying that all of us have been going through this book. If you haven't so far, there's no judgment. It's also not too late to jump in. James is only five chapters long. So today, just read chapter one, and tomorrow, read chapter two. You see, our greatest hope with this series is that by the end of it, every single one of us, whether we've been following Jesus for years or we're still not even sure where we're at with Jesus, our hope by the end of this series is that everyone would have the courage to start opening up the Bible on our own. Speaking of the Bible, today across campuses, it is Bible Party Sunday. And today, more than 125 third graders, a few fourth graders and fifth graders as well, but 125 students are getting their own copy of the Action Bible. Can we put it up and celebrate these kids in this step?

We're so grateful. Every year, my favorite part is seeing these kids being cheered on by the church. They're often cheered on for sports and music. Hopefully, they're cheered on on a regular basis in their own homes. But I just think it's awesome. Like, when was the last time you thought about the church cheering you on? And I pray that that would be true for these students. Many of them, you'll see today and even throughout the week, we often get tagged in people's Instagrams of them reading it in their car or reading it in their bedroom. And so we just give thanks for each of these kids and just being given a copy of God's word. At this time, though, if you have your copy of James, I wanna invite you to open it up to James 3, verse one. If you have your copy, open it up. Honestly, everyone hearing my voice right now, whether you have a physical copy or the Bible on your phone, download the Bible app. If you don't have it on your phone, I just wanna encourage you to really open it up. Open it up. If you have one of these copies, it's on page 18. But again, starting in verse one, James, he goes on to say this. He says, not many of you should become teachers. Because you know, those who teach,

those who teach will be judged more strictly. Okay, so I just wanna pause here for a second. James, he starts his words in chapter three with a word of warning. And he says, very few of us, very few of you should teach others about Jesus because those who teach others about Jesus will be judged more strictly. And what James is basically saying is that those who teach others about Jesus, you're held to a higher standard. Okay, so I just wanna acknowledge as someone who teaches others about Jesus most weekends, genuine, this is not a joke. This gives me the shivers reading this because I know just how imperfect I am. Like no one needs to judge me because I can list off a long list of imperfections for all of you. But I just wanna expand this a little bit because you see, the truth is all of us as Jesus followers, we are called to tell and teach others about Jesus. Like if you're a Jesus follower, you're called to share. good news about Jesus and teach others what that means. And so in a very real sense, this word of warning here, the start of chapter three from James, this applies to all of us. Now, in the same breath, you and I as human beings, we don't like being told

that we're held to a different standard, right? Specifically, we don't like being told, yeah, you're gonna be held to a higher standard than someone else. And yet, all of the New Testament, along with James, including the words of Jesus himself, would tell us that if you follow Jesus, that's the deal. You're held to a higher standard. Well, pastor, I didn't sign up for that. The day you started following Jesus, that's the gig. You and I as Christ followers, you are held to a higher standard. Now, what I find so interesting about this, I think this is so powerful, is that the world and the culture around us, even atheists, knows this to be true. I'm just saying, unlike any other group of people on the planet, unlike any other religion on earth, the world and our culture is constantly calling out the church, right? And it's calling out pastors, and it's calling out Christians in general. Like any time a known follower of Jesus falls short, whether they're a mechanic, a banker, a pastor, or a celebrity, any time a Christian falls short, the world immediately calls them out, declaring you're a hypocrite, you're unloving. You Christians are quick to condemn. You're quick to call out the sins of others, but you ignore your own,

not to mention all the scandals in the church. And so why does the world do this? I'm just saying the world, it's hypocritical all the time. And so why is the world quick to call out Christians? Well, I'd argue because they somehow know and understand that as followers of Jesus, we are held to a higher standard. Like what they're saying is you Christians, your words and life don't meet the standard. They don't match the standard. What's the standard? It's the words and life of Jesus. Now, as Christians, when the world calls us out, our natural reaction as humans is to get mad about it. It's like, how dare you? We get defensive and we start pointing fingers back at the world and we're offended and we become victims. But the truth is the world is right. When we fall short, the world is actually right for calling all of us out because once again, you and I, as Christ followers, we are held to a higher standard. Friends, hear this, the world holds us to a higher standard because Jesus calls us. To a higher standard. Jesus calls us to a higher standard and this is what the entire book of James is all about. James is saying, we, you and I, we are held to a higher standard. And speaking of being held to a higher standard, James, he continues on in chapter three

to highlight one specific area. He goes on and he talks about the power of our words and he stays there for a majority of this chapter, but listen to what James says. He says, when we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we can turn the whole animal or take ships as an example. Although they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they're steered by a very small rudder. He keeps going back and forth between large and small, like large impact, small things, small rudder, wherever the pilot wants to go. Likewise, the tongue is a small part of the body. But it makes great boasts. Consider again these extremes, what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. So again, James is talking about the power of our words and that we're held to a different standard and to explain just how powerful our words are, James, he goes on to give us three different examples to explain what this looks like. James first says that our words are like a small bit in a horse's mouth, like when you turn it, you'll turn an entire horse. And our words are like a very small rudder on this gigantic ship. Like when you turn the rudder, even if there's strong winds, it'll turn the entire ship in a different direction and our words are like a small spark. And when it's lit, it can burn down

and it can destroy an entire great forest. He gives us these pictures and with some of us here, we know this to be true on the deepest level imaginable because the words of someone else, they didn't destroy a forest. Instead, to some degree, they destroyed a part of our lives. Right? And maybe for you, it was rumors that were spread about you. Maybe it was something that was said about you, or maybe it was something that was said directly to your face. Seriously, some of us have had words that were spoken over us in middle school years ago. You know, we're still carrying them with us all these years later. Maybe for you, it was a classmate of yours or a neighbor of yours that told you one time, you're so stupid. No one likes you. No one likes you. I'll just be honest, myself, fifth, sixth grade, often called loser, four eyes, and whatever else. And it impacted me big time. For years, I'd be lying if I didn't say, even still today, there's a part of me that's convinced that someone really, really, really got to know me. They'd realize what a loser I really am. That's me. Maybe for you, it was your own mom or your own dad

told you things like, you're so worthless. You're so ugly. You're such an embarrassment to our family. Maybe it was a spouse or an ex of yours. I just wish I never would have married you. You're such a failure. And that's not even counting the horrible things that you and I have said to ourselves. Have you ever listened to things that you say to yourself? I mean, it's crazy. Some of the things that I say to my, it's like, that's not true. Like, what are you doing? But also, friends, what about our words? Like, what about the words that we've spoken to and about someone else? You see, in chapter three here, this right here is what James is talking about. He's talking about our words and how we've used those towards others. Continuing on in verse six, James says, the tongue, our words, is also a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole body. It sets the whole course of one's life on fire and is itself set on fire by hell. By hell. Have I mentioned that James is just a little direct? He doesn't sugarcoat things. James is saying our words, your words and mine,

when used improperly, they can set us on fire by hell. Translation, when used poorly, your words become a tool. They become an instrument straight from hell, straight from hell itself. Oh, pastor, really? It's not that big of a deal. I mean, our world just needs to grow up a little bit. Like, obviously, I wasn't meaning to say that. Like, that's not what I was trying to say. No, no, no, no, no. Misused words are straight from hell, straight from hell. Continuing on in verse seven, James says, all kinds of animals, birds and reptiles and sea creatures are being tamed and have been tamed by mankind, but no human being, no human being can tame the tongue. No human being can tame our words. It is a restless evil full of deadly poison. James is saying that you can tame all kinds of wild animals and mankind has done just that, but you can't tame the tongue. You can't tame your words. As a kid, one of my favorite stories that I grew up hearing from my dad is that when he was younger, his family had a pet skunk of all things. And not just a pet skunk, why would you just have one, okay? He had two pet skunks. Just for the record, no, my dad did not grow up in the hills of Eastern Kentucky and he has most of his teeth, I just need to say that.

But when my dad was a kid, there was a man who lived in the area up in Northeast South Dakota, a guy named Clinton Clark, which I think is one of the coolest names ever. Okay, if you're expecting, Clinton Clark, I'm gonna suggest that. A guy who if you brought him six live baby skunks, he would trade you, Clinton would trade you for one baby skunk that was descented. For all of you city kids, descended, what does that mean? They take out the gland, what does that mean? They take out the gland that makes a skunk smell. Speaking of that, some of you moms are wondering if you can descent your teenage son, maybe talk to your family physician about that. How crazy would it be if Clinton Clark had a grandson or a granddaughter who's now a physician? So go talk with Clinton Clark's descendants, all right? But this week, I started thinking about it, I'm like, where are you? Get six baby skunks if you want one descent. So I call my dad. I'm like, dad, where do you randomly get six? And for you, you got at least 12. I mean, how does that happen? Well, he said people would call my dad, which is my Grandpa Weber, whenever they found a family of them. And it's like, well, dad, how do you

become known as the guy to call when you find a family of baby skunks? I've got so many questions. But my dad went on to say, and he was just just talking. I didn't know I hurt. I hit a sensitive, exciting spot in his soul. He's just like, Adam, if you descended and you tamed a baby skunk, they made great pets. And I was like, thanks, dad. And then he just randomly said, he's like, yeah, the skunks, they were so much better than the pet raccoons we had. It's like my dad was Davy Crockett or something. I'm like, what's going on? This week, though, when I was reading these words from James, I kept thinking about my dad's pet skunks. And just to be candid, for some of us, our words stink. And not just stink, for some of us, the words that we use towards others are just repulsive. No joke. Have you been around a skunk while it's spring? I have. It's horrendous. Like, truly, truly, some of you have a skunk in your mouth that is not only just smelling up your life. No, it doesn't just do that. It's smelling up the lives of everyone around you as well. And that skunk, I'm just gonna be honest as a friend, it needs to be descended and it needs to be tamed. It's smelling.

No, no, we'll tell you. I mean, it's repulsive. You think, ha ha, you're so funny. It's disgusting, to be frank. Next time you get on your ha ha moment, think about a skunk spraying it. If you haven't been by one, it will be your best friend. Let it spray at you. One more thing with this. So many of us are South Dakota nice, and yet, just for the record, the words you and I speak behind someone else's back, and the words that you say only in your mind and only under your breath, and the words that you post online, and the words that you say in your car when you're all by yourself, just for the record, they count just as much. Just because you don't have the courage, just because you don't have the guts to actually say it to the other person doesn't mean that your words still don't stink. Once again, listen to how James says. He says, our words, our tongue, restless evil, full of deadly poison. But James, he doesn't stop there. Again, this is such an important topic. He's taken up most of chapter three to talk about this. He goes on in verse nine,

with the tongue, we praise our Lord and Father, and with it, we curse human beings who have been made in God's likeness. Do you think it bothers God that we talk like trash with our words? Out of the same mouth comes praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be. Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? My brothers and sisters, can a fig tree bear olives or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water. James is saying that our words, we use them to praise God. And then we also use them to curse those who are made in his image. And he says, brothers and sisters, basically he's saying to all of us who follow Jesus. He doesn't say it once, he says it twice. Brothers and sisters, brothers and sisters, you follow Jesus, brothers and sisters, this shouldn't be. And then to help us understand just how bizarre and wrong this is, he gives us more pictures. And he says, you can't get both fresh water and salt water from the same spring. You just can't do that. It's like, it's impossible. And you can't get a fig tree to produce olives

or a grapevine to produce figs. Basically, James is saying, if you follow Jesus, you shouldn't be able to praise God and curse the people he created. You shouldn't be able, it's actually impossible. You shouldn't be able. You follow Jesus, brothers and sisters, my brothers and sisters, my brothers and sisters, you shouldn't be able to follow Jesus and praise God and curse the ones that he created. James is saying this shouldn't be. As followers of Christ, it shouldn't even be a possibility. Now, just for a minute, I wanna focus in on this picture of a spring that James gives us, because what's inside of a spring is what comes out of a spring, right? Like if there's. Fresh water inside, fresh water's what comes out and if there's salty water inside, salty water is what comes out, well the same is true for us. What's inside of you is what comes out of you. What's inside of you is what comes out of you. I don't know where that came from. I can't believe I said that, like I didn't really mean this, no, no, no, no. What's inside of you is what comes out of you. What's inside of your heart,

what's inside of your mind and your soul, this is what comes out of your mouth. So me and my youngest son, Anderson, we might be photocopies of each other to a degree that I'm only beginning to understand right now, okay? We both never stop moving, ever. Even right now, like I'm twitching and I'm jittery, like I just, we never stop moving. We get these random ideas and we wanna implement them right now because why would you wait? And we're also both super quick to use our words, okay? It's some consider it a gift, some people don't, okay? We're quick to tell people that we love them. Specifically, if we're in trouble or think we're in trouble, we'll say that we love them. We'll tell people about what we're excited about. But Anderson and I, we can also be really, really quick to use our words in a fairly harsh way as well. Now, Anderson is a fifth grader and typically he's not trying to be hurtful with his words. For me, I'm a grown adult and I know that I can often be hurtful with my words and unlike Anderson, it's not always innocent, particularly when it comes to the people that I love the most, that I value the most. Starting with my wife and my kids. My parents will sometimes hear it along with those who were closest with me.

Now with other people, I rarely ever, ever, ever say hurtful words audibly. I need to confess underneath my breath, my words are frequently the opposite of pleasing to God. And I'll just be honest, I often grieve the words that come out of my mouth. I grieve it. Friends, I want my words to be life-giving. I don't ever want my words to be an instrument of hell, specifically when it comes to the people that I would literally give my life up for. So again, I grieve my words, but even more so, I grieve the things that are inside of my soul. Like I grieve the things that are inside of here because as James explains, what's inside of you is what comes out of you. Sometimes I just don't like the things that are inside of me. So how do we change our words? Well truly, if you're anything like me, you've got these great intentions and you wanna use your words for good and you wanna use them in a way that's pleasing to God, but then Monday happens and you get tired. Anybody exhausted on Monday mornings? And Monday happens and you cross paths with literally your least favorite human being on the planet. It's like, ah! Monday happens and by 9 a.m. you're angry and you're frustrated and just like a skunk,

all this crap starts spraying out of you. Anybody? So how do we overcome this? Well, I wanna give us, myself included, just a simple, practical seven-day word challenge. And here it is. For the next seven days, I simply wanna challenge you to tame your words. This week, for the next seven days, I wanna challenge you to only use words for good. Making an intentional decision before God of saying, I'm only gonna use my words to praise God. I'm only gonna use my words to build others up. I'm only gonna use my words to speak life into others, whether it's with my kids, with my significant other, with my parents, whether it's at work, when it comes to my social media, hello. When a person comes up in a conversation that I'm not a fan of, I'm only going to use my words for good in a way that is honoring and pleasing to God. And friends, because we're not perfect, even in these seven days, we're probably gonna screw up. Actually, that's not true. Even in these next seven days, you are gonna screw up. I am going to screw up. I started this yesterday. Walked through this message yesterday morning. 15 minutes later, I catch garbage already coming out

of my mouth in my car. Instantly grieving. And so here's the rest of the challenge. If you do screw up or when you do screw up, basically, if you use your words poorly, I want to challenge you to write them down. Next seven days, use your words like crap. Write them down. Not as punishment on a chalkboard in front of your classroom because you did the shameful thing. No, I want you to write it down as a way of acknowledging it to God. Get specific. Like, what did you write down? If anything, you'll get annoyed. And you'll start keeping your mouth shut because you're annoyed by doing it. So just write it down as a way of acknowledging it to God and grieve it. Look at what it says and grieve it. And then ask God to forgive you. Ask God to forgive you. If you're able to do so, apologize to the person that you spoke those words to. Make amends for it. But then after you do all of that, move on and ask God again for strength in his heart. And so that's the challenge. And friends, if this challenge seems kind of silly to you

or elementary to you or if you're like, I really don't need to do this, I just want to tell you, it's not easy to tame a skunk, OK? It's not easy to descent a skunk. James is like, it is brutally hard to tame the tongue. OK, so that's a practical challenge for us. But as we close, I want to go back to this one line from James again, starting in verse 7. James says this. He says, all kinds of animals, birds, and reptiles, sea creatures, I'm going to add in skunks here as well, are being tamed and have been tamed by mankind. But get this part. But no human being, no human being can tame the tongue. I think this is so powerful. James is specifically saying, no human being can tame the tongue. Or another way of saying this, friends, is this, if you want to change your words, God has to change your heart. No human being can tame the tongue. If you want to change your words, God has to change your heart. Friend, God and only God can change your heart. It's only God and it's only by His strength and His courage and His self-control and His power that our hearts and our mind and our thoughts and as a result, our words can change. No human being can tame the tongue, but God can. Today, my guess is that some of you are here and to be frank, you don't like the words that you speak right now.

And just thinking about some of the words that you've spoken, things that you've said to your parents, to your kids, whether they're young or adults, to your spouse, to an old friend of yours, to a past acquaintance in your life, you grieve those words. And you should. But also, friends, maybe you're here today and you don't like the condition of your heart either. When you look internally, you see a jaded heart. When you look internally, you see your soul is filled with anger. And maybe your heart is just kind of hard and cold and broken and dead, and overall, you don't like the person that you've become, but that's you. I got some really, really good news for you. God, He tells us, He says, I will give you a new heart. And I will put a new spirit in you. And I will remove from you your heart of stone. I'll take your heart of stone and I will give you a tender, responsive heart. Friend, today, if you're here, and you've never asked Jesus to give you a new heart, you've never asked Him, you've never given Him permission to come into your life. Maybe you've gone to church, maybe you were baptized as an infant, but you've never intentionally invited Jesus into your life. Today is a fantastic day to do so. And so, friends, right now, at all campuses,

I'm going to invite everyone to close your eyes. And if that's you, if you're here today, and for the first time, you want to ask Jesus to give you a new heart, you want to ask God, and you want to give Jesus permission to come into your life, I just want to invite you right now across campuses just to raise your hand. If that's you, just to boldly raise it up. I never cease to be amazed by what happens when we take this. small step out of our comfort zone and raise our hand up and so if it's you, just raise it. And if that is you, I just wanna invite you just in the quietness of your soul between you and God, right now, if you just wanna pray with me, when we invite Jesus into our lives, it comes down to four basic words. First word, sin. Just tell God, Lord, I have sinned. I have sinned and I have fallen short. I haven't followed your plan and I'm sorry. And then the second word is love. Just tell God, but God, you love me so much. You love me so much, even at my worst. Even when I was repulsive, Lord, you love me more than I'll comprehend. And then the third word is grace. Just tell him, Lord, I don't deserve it. But you sent me, Jesus. You sent me, Jesus.

You sent me, Jesus, to forgive me, to save me, to rescue me from my sin and you make me brand new. And then the last word is faith. Just tell God, today, I'm putting my faith in you. I'm putting my trust in you. I'm giving up control. And from this day forward, I'm deciding to follow you and your plan for my life. Lord, we're so grateful that you tell us whenever one person turns their life towards you, that the angels in heaven celebrate. And so we join in with the angels. And God, I pray that today and this week that each person who raised their hand, that you would just be so evident to them this week. That you would specifically cover them with your love and your grace and your guidance. Lord, as they start this new journey of following you, would you just guide them and lead them? Lord, would you help all of us? Our words, sometimes our words don't match the standard. And so it's only by you changing our heart, Lord, would you change our heart, which as a result would change our words to become more and more like you. Lord, we love you, we thank you. We pray all these things in the name of Jesus. All God's people said, amen, amen. Today, if you prayed with me, if you invited Jesus into your life,

I saw several hands. Gosh, we just celebrate with you. If that's you at all campuses, can we put it up and just celebrate these decisions that was made? At the first service today, it was a teenage boy. I saw him raise his hand all by himself. And I went into him after the service and I just said, hey, for me, it was July 13th, 1999 that I raised my hand and I said, I needed Jesus. And so if that's you, we celebrate that with you. If that's you, we have free Bibles at all of our campuses. We have free Bibles and a booklet out of the entryway. This is the Bible that I personally love to give out. It's a great Bible. And so if you, gosh, if you made the decision to grab one of those Bibles when you go, we won't allow you to pay for one, just grab one as a gift, but we would also love to come alongside you. And so if that's you, I can't encourage you enough, text the word EMBRACE to 97000. We're not gonna spam you. We're not gonna add you to an email list. We just wanna come alongside you as you start this new journey with Jesus. Amen? Amen. Amen.