Of The Remaining Imperfections Which Attend The Characters Of Good Men.
Adapted From A Sermon By
Philip Doddridge
For we all stumble in many ways. And if anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle his whole body.
(James 3:2 ESV)
Our text this morning is the first part of James 3:2: For we all stumble in many ways, as we consider The Remaining Imperfections That Mark The Characters Of Good Men.
The notion that pride is ill-suited for humanity is evident when we reflect on our humble beginnings, the fragility of our resolve, and the inconsistency of our moral behavior. Yet, as pride was the first sin to taint the human heart, it has taken deep root, making it exceedingly difficult to uproot completely. It is a subtle foe, often twisting even our virtues into its service, turning apparent humility into a source of vanity and self-importance. Therefore, it is valuable to recognize the flaws present in even the most virtuous individuals—flaws from which no one is entirely free, except by displaying an arrogance rarely seen, even in the proudest soul, and far less in those where God’s grace is at work, though still wrestling with lingering sinfulness. As Scripture says, “We all stumble in many ways” (James 3:2).
This letter, written by the apostle James for Jewish converts, aims to guide them toward deeper devotion to more brightly reflect God’s teachings. He specifically warns them against errors and wrongs to which Jews were prone, seeking to protect their minds from harmful ideas they might have learned from their rabbis before conversion. It is well known that Jewish teachers often sought the title of masters, claiming authority to control men’s consciences, demanding blind obedience to their words as if they were divine.
Our Savior found it necessary to warn his disciples not to accept this control from others or adopt it themselves. "Call no man your father on earth, neither be called instructors."(Matthew 23:9, 10) The apostle James, in the first verse of this third chapter, echoes his Lord’s words. "Not many of you," he says, "should become teachers, my brothers;" and he gives the reason in the text. "For," he says, "we all stumble in many ways." Our own characters have many flaws, so we must not presume to dictate to others with absolute certainty. Such behavior makes our faults more blameworthy, and we should expect stricter judgment for them due to such arrogance, as it shows we have so much vanity and pride that we forget our own faults entirely.
The Greek expression could also be stated as, We all make many mistakes. One commentator explains this metaphor very well. He says scripture describes life as a path: a consistent pattern of actions is called walking in the path, and each action is a step. Following God’s guidance and commands for our lives is walking uprightly, moving with correctness and success. Actively fulfilling our duty is sometimes described as running in that path. In contrast, small acts of disobedience are stumbling, serious wrongs are falling in that path, and abandoning faith is turning away from it.
It is significant that the apostle does not simply say, Brothers, remember you all make mistakes in many ways, though this would have been enough to support his warning against many becoming teachers. Instead, he includes himself among the flawed, saying, "we all stumble in many ways," admitting his own imperfection. When we consider who makes this statement—an apostle, and a prominent one among his peers—we can have no doubt of its universal truth and reasonableness, even without other scripture to back it up, and even if we knew people whose characters seemed perfect. But this is not the case; scripture and observation so clearly agree to confirm this truth that we would have to accept it, even if it came from a non-inspired author.
It is clear that good men in the Old Testament were well aware of their own flaws. Admittedly, some passages might seem overly bold to a careless reader, where these good men often appeal to God, claiming they have lived before him perfectly and ask him to judge them based on their righteousness. However, they meant only to say that, in the overall pattern of their lives, they have tried to serve him with honest hearts, and their consciences cleared them of specific serious wrongs falsely accused by their enemies’ malice. When we review the history of these good men, one finds they made many mistakes; and in the writings of some, especially David, one sees deep regret for their shortcomings.
However, we will not focus on the passages where the most notable Old Testament saints confess their personal flaws, but will instead consider texts where the claim is more universal. When Solomon prayed at the temple’s dedication for the forgiveness of sins that the Israelites might confess there, he admits, as he continues, that "there is no one who does not sin;"(1 Kings 8:46) and, even more strongly, "there is not a righteous man on earth who does good and never sins,"(Ecclesiastes 7:20) meaning no one is so perfectly good as to be free from lingering sinful flaws; and elsewhere, he challenges each person’s conscience to decide if he could claim such perfection: "Who can say, I have made my heart pure; I am clean from my sin?"(Proverbs 20:9)
Indeed, David clearly states that we not only have some faults, but more than we can count or even notice. "Who," says he, "can discern his errors?"(Psalm 19:12) and elsewhere, "If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand?"(Psalm 130:3) And "Enter not into judgment with your servant, for no one living is righteous before you."(Psalm 143:2) And although the gospel is a far better system than the law, revealing our duties more clearly and providing stronger reasons and more abundant grace, even this gospel does not lift its followers to the point of freeing them completely from all traces of imperfection.
Look at the writings of those apostles who fully understood it and were tasked with spreading it in the world, and you will find them, like James, admitting that we all stumble in many ways. So the apostle John states, "If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us."(1 John 1:8) And Paul says that "the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh."(Galatians 5:17) Thus, even he was not free from this struggle, despite being involved in such honorable work and blessed with an exceptional amount of divine grace, yet in the same letter where he urges the Corinthians and Philippians to follow his example, he humbly admits that he had not yet achieved this, neither was he already perfect;(Philippians 3:12) but, on the contrary, was under an unfortunate need to keep his body in check and control it, lest, after preaching to others, he himself should be disqualified.(1 Corinthians 9:23)
And if we reflect on our own experiences and observations, we will find that they confirm the truth of such scriptures. If we observe the world around us, we will see that most people live in a state of complete separation from God, chasing various desires and pleasures, and we will also find flaws and errors in Christians themselves, even in those with the most admirable and complete characters; and certainly, if we examine our own lives, we will discover many mistakes; that we daily, in some way or another, fail in our duty and break the rules of divine commands, and will find even greater reason for humility and confession when we closely examine our hearts and review the hidden wrongs visible there.
All these are enough to expose the vanity and arrogance of those who claim they have already achieved perfection, or at least assert that, though they may be imperfect themselves, others have attained it, not only in apostolic times but in later eras of Christianity. Whoever considers what has now been presented will find reason to hold the opposite view and accept the truth of this general statement, that we all stumble in many ways. However, the goal was not to explain the text or prove a theoretical idea, which was not the purpose behind choosing these words. The purpose here, as in all of Doddridge's sermons, is entirely practical; and accordingly, we now go on,
I. To identify some of those specific instances in which good men are most likely to stumble;
II. To examine what practical lessons can be drawn from these imperfections of character in ourselves and in others.
I. Let us review some obvious and important cases where all good men tend to make mistakes. They will be listed for our guidance, yours and mine, and may God help us to establish this belief in each of our hearts, and to guide us toward a more dedicated effort to overcome those flaws we cannot ignore, and, as much as the weakness of our nature permits, to seek holiness in the fear of God.
1. We all stumble in the seriousness of our worship.
We have important matters to discuss with God: we are often reminded of this and encouraged to commit ourselves to it; and no genuine Christian dares to routinely ignore it. We not only gather for God’s public worship, but we also sometimes pray to him in our private moments: yet must we not admit that we often perform our devotions in a way that reduces them to mere habit; and thus, in God’s sight, they are barely better than neglect.
How often do we limit our prayers to a few hurried moments, while eagerly chasing life’s demands, or can spend entire hours in leisure and entertainment? And, even worse, how often do we seem to completely forget the spiritual nature of God, when, like the hypocrites Isaiah mentions and condemns, we draw near to him with our mouths, and honor him with our lips, but our heart is far from him?(Isaiah 29:13) How often do we adopt a posture of prayer without seriously reflecting on the perfections and greatness of the God before whom we present ourselves, or the importance of the matters we are addressing? Or, if we have taken care to prepare our hearts and begun our prayers with some genuine awareness of God in our spirits, how quickly is our focus interrupted, and how many of our prayers are little more than a constant struggle between an awareness of God’s greatness on one hand, and the persistence of worldly distractions on the other?
And are three not many times when we lack the determination to sustain this struggle for God and our own souls, but weakly give in to those empty distractions, and are so careless of the sacred Presence to whom we claim to speak, that for several minutes we scarcely know what we are saying; and at other times, when our minds are more attentive, they are often so indifferent and unmoved that it appears as if we mention certain blessings before God only to show that we do not value them, and have no heartfelt desire for them.
Admittedly this lack of seriousness in worship is known only to God and the worshipers, for they rarely display the outward behaviors that might reveal it to others. But history shows that the most dedicated Christians lament this, and those whose role it is to lead others in worship, and who thus have significant opportunities to inspire their own devotion, often express sorrow over it, and so it is surely a common issue.
Consider how if a lack of seriousness in worship is foolish and blameworthy in every rational being, it is especially puzzling in those who have personally experienced the joy of communion with God, and who have been deeply and powerfully convinced of the importance of forgiveness, grace, and eternal salvation, which they seek in their daily prayers; and have contemplated many of the treasured aspects of those mercies they acknowledge in their daily praises.
2. We all offend in our forgetfulness of God during the times between formal worship.
Our duty is to keep our focus always on the Lord in all that we do. Yet must we not admit that we have failed in all of our duties? We often pursue our daily tasks with only a desire for their successful completion, without acknowledging God in them or relying on his blessing; we may spend entire hours in leisure without a single serious thought, without considering whether those activities, all things considered, are the most suitable for us to engage in; or perhaps without questioning whether we need leisure at all at that time and in those circumstances; and it is clear that we consider ourselves free from thoughts of God while pursuing them.
We encounter temptations and face them weakly, relying on our own strength, and thus give in to them. We harbor many anxious worries about future events while failing to entrust them to the God who cares for us. We immerse ourselves in all the painful aspects of a hardship, forgetting that it came from God and was sent with a most merciful purpose. We receive specific blessings from God with as little sense of gratitude as if he had no role in them, as if they were inevitable parts of our existence; and we pass through a continuous series of them without a single thought of heartfelt gratitude or deep love, perhaps for several waking hours at a time.
When our minds are free, how rarely do we choose God as the focus of our thoughts, and how often do we prioritize objects that are, at best, minor and unimportant, and perhaps even troubling and distressing to us? It may be feared that we frequently forget God even when he is speaking to us, whether we are attending public teaching or reading scripture in our private spaces or with our families; how often are our thoughts fixed on something else, and how frequently are they so absorbed by curiosity and criticism that we overlook the devotional and practical lessons? Now, when we recall what was said in a previous sermon to show that such focus on God is just and honorable, joyful and beneficial, we ought to be thoroughly convinced of the guilt and folly of such neglect.
3. We all offend in our tendency to overlook the Lord Jesus Christ.
When we view him as portrayed in scripture, it is clear that he is the chief among ten thousand, and altogether lovely;(Song of Solomon 5:10, 16) and when we consider the remarkable demonstrations of his love for us, we must humbly admit that it surpasses our ability to describe or even imagine. There is scarcely any situation in life where it is not appropriate for us to consider Christ in some capacity: as our teacher or our leader, our atonement or our advocate, our example or our strength, our protector or our forerunner; yet, despite this, how often do we pass the morning, afternoon, and evening—an entire day—without any earnest or lively thoughts of Jesus Christ?
We read his teachings, his commands, and his example, yet fail to seriously recall how deeply we are obligated to faith, obedience, and imitation. We turn to his atonement as our sole hope when confronted with the immediate guilt of serious offenses, but we rarely maintain a lasting sense of its value in our hearts. When we have lived uprightly for some time, we gradually forget past guilt and our need for an interest in his reconciling blood.
When we address God, it is sometimes clear that we mention Christ’s advocacy merely as a routine, without a deep and heartfelt awareness that our acceptance depends entirely on it. How rarely do we hold a warm recollection of the Redeemer, or find that the joys of life are sweeter because they come through Christ’s direction and intervention; and how infrequently do we feel in our souls that without him we can do nothing? How often do we read, think, and speak of what Christ was on earth, what he did here, what he is now in heaven, and what he does there, without any fitting impressions on our minds, as if it were merely an idle tale or a story in which we have no personal stake? This disregard for Christ is such a rebellion against divine commands, such a profound lack of understanding, such an extreme ingratitude, that even a brief reflection can thoroughly convince us that it is a great offense.
4. We all offend in the wasteful use of our time. God has commanded us to make the most of it;(Ephesians 5:16) and that whatever our hands find to do, we should do it with all our strength;(Ecclesiastes 9:10) and he has provided us with the clear example of hard work and enthusiasm in the life of our blessed Redeemer; and has promised such a remarkable and generous reward as might be enough to stir the most uninterested soul and spark the dullest heart with divine passion and enthusiasm.
Yet, despite all these duties and incentives, how little do we achieve for God and for the world? It is certainly a form of sin to focus on minor tasks while ignoring others of greater importance: but how often do we waste our valuable moments in pure idleness and inactivity? But is it only moments? Our hours, our days, and perhaps even our weeks are often spent in ways that provide little practical benefit. How often do we stay in bed, when duty calls us and health allows us to rise and tackle life’s responsibilities! How much time do we waste in unnecessary entertainment and leisure, in visits that have no real purpose, in idle breaks between one task and another! And how much time do we lose each day by doing our work in a slow and uncommitted manner, taking far longer than needed and, in the end, doing it less effectively than we could!
And this neglect is greatly worsened, for most of us, by the consistent health we enjoy through divine mercy. One day of health, energy, and vitality is, for all the most important purposes of life, worth a week or a month when our strength is fading; yet how carelessly do we waste our healthy days, even the most energetic and lively moments of them.
5. We all offend in pride, or an excessive sense of our own value and excellence. Though we are not so foolish as to believe we deserve anything from God, it is certain that, in our relationship with him, we lack the constant humble respect and awe that would be appropriate for such lowly and guilty creatures when engaging with so exalted and holy a Being.
In our interactions with our fellow human beings, we often display an air of self-importance far beyond what our character justifies. Sometimes we cannot resist openly praising ourselves or, at the very least, subtly hinting at our own significance in a way so obvious that even a child would understand our intent; yet this is, by universal agreement among mankind, a serious shortcoming: and an inspired writer has declared, "Let another praise you, and not your own mouth; a stranger, and not your own lips."(Proverbs 27:2)
Our pride also shows itself in our intolerance of disagreement. When others hold opinions different from our own, we are quick to become angry and barely have the patience to hear their reasoning. Our pride rises most noticeably when our friends dare to point out something they believe is wrong in our conduct or behavior. If the criticism is not delivered with such tact that it could almost pass for a compliment, we feel deeply offended and react as fiercely as a tiger would against someone trying to remove a thorn from its paw. Indeed, we are all sometimes so stubborn as to contradict our own beliefs, defending what another criticizes, even when we know in our hearts that we deserve the rebuke.
Our pride further appears in our craving for human praise and our excessive delight in their approval; conversely, we are overly sensitive to their disapproval, particularly their scorn, so that we are often more troubled by a mistake in our behavior because it makes us look foolish in the eyes of others than because it renders us guilty before the great God himself. If we consult our Bibles, we shall find that divine wisdom is represented as declaring, "Pride and arrogance I hate."(Proverbs 8:13) "Everyone who is arrogant in heart is an abomination to the Lord:"(Proverbs 16:5) he beholds the proud afar off, and sets himself to oppose them; whilst he gives grace to the humble, and delights to dwell with them.(Psalm 138:6, 1 Peter 5:5)
Surely, if we reflect on such passages, we must reasonably admit that there is significant fault and guilt in such an attitude; and we shall not be quick to speak of pride as if it were honorable or even harmless; nor shall we consider it a credit to our character to excuse our many small failings by attributing them to pride.
6. We all offend in our tendency toward quick and excessive anger. Indeed, there are boundaries within which it is possible for us to be angry and not sin; but we are rarely so fortunate as to recognize those limits and stick to them. We are prone to flare up at every minor irritation: indeed, to imagine slights and then become genuinely enraged by them. At other times, when we have truly suffered an injury, though we do not hold a malicious intent to retaliate, we cannot sincerely forgive it until we have expressed our frustration through heated confrontations with the person responsible.
On this matter, there is also that irritability of temper, in which many good people too habitually indulge, yet who would consider it highly shameful and sinful to erupt into violent outbursts. However, if we recall that Solomon has declared that "anger lodges in the heart of fools,"(Ecclesiastes 7:9) and Paul has warned us against it as giving "opportunity to the devil,"(Ephesians 4:27) and that our blessed Redeemer has told us(Matthew 5:22) that it will subject us to the judgment of God, we cannot regard it as a minor offense.
7. We all offend in the impatience of our spirits under difficult circumstances. We dare not openly claim, as Jonah did, that we do well to be angry with God himself, and we are rarely so lacking in propriety as to deny that it is our duty to submit to his will; but it is far easier to acknowledge the reasonableness of submission than to genuinely practice it: when God’s disciplining hand is upon us, we are prone to harbor negative thoughts of him; and when we pray to him without receiving an immediate answer, we are quick to say, "Has God forgotten to be gracious? Has he in anger shut up his compassion?"(Psalm 77:9) Under such hardship, we are inclined to believe we have permission to be irritable and short-tempered with those around us because we are in the distress of our soul, without considering that, while human nature may prompt others to excuse it, grace should certainly teach us to avoid it.
8. We all offend in the lack of our compassion toward our fellow human beings. We are often too harsh in our judgments of others. Sometimes we condemn entire groups of people who hold beliefs different from our own, as if there were no knowledge or respect for God in another form of worship or church structure. We are prone to hold overly critical opinions of specific individuals, lacking that generous and godly attitude which "is not irritable or resentful," and "does not rejoice at wrongdoing,"(1 Corinthians 13:5, 6) but believes and hopes for the best.
We must all regret that we possess too little kindness of spirit and are not as moved as we should be by the troubles and misfortunes of our fellow human beings. We may be too hesitant to share our resources with the hungry or to give generously to support those whom Providence has placed in need: far from planning generous acts or seeking out opportunities to do good, we can scarcely be convinced by the earnest urging of others.
When we see our brothers and sisters under other hardships, we do not feel their struggles as our own; we do not offer them the affectionate and tender remembrance in our prayers that we would desire from them in similar circumstances.
We must further admit that we are all lacking in our compassion for the souls of men and our concern for their eternal salvation. How little are we troubled to consider that many pagan nations do not know God and are heading toward everlasting destruction without any clear warning of their danger; and when we pray for the spread of the Christian and Protestant faith, how shallow those prayers often are; and, even more inexcusable,
we are too little concerned for the souls of people we know and interact with, even those who may be closely related to us. We can see them on a path to eternal ruin without the heartfelt compassion and deep inner distress that such a sorrowful prospect demands. We are not sufficiently earnest in pleading with God on their behalf, nor ready to offer them our warnings, nor diligent in seeking the most effective ways to reach them, as the urgency of the situation requires. When we consider that this is that new command by which we were to be known to be the disciples of our heavenly Master,(John 13:34, 35) and that Paul has told us that it is "the fulfilling of the law,"(Romans 13:10) we must acknowledge that a lack of compassion is a shortcoming of profound significance.
9. We all offend in the sinful indulgence of physical appetites. Those who are Christians have, by and large, "crucified the flesh with its passions and desires;"(Galatians 5:24) but though we hope through grace that, in our case, it is fixed to the cross, how slowly it fades! And how many strong attempts does it make to regain its freedom and control? We have already seen the apostle Paul confessing that he was compelled to discipline his body and keep it under control,(1 Corinthians 9:27) to restrain it with intense and repeated efforts, and even to subdue it, lest, despite all the remarkable advantages he possessed as a preacher and apostle, he should be found disqualified. And we must all, without doubt, admit that though by divine grace we avoid the blatant corruptions common in the world through lust, in less shameful and scandalous instances we are too quick to cater to the flesh and to place more of our happiness in its comforts and pleasures than is appropriate for rational beings, and especially for Christians.
10. We all offend in the use of our speech. This ought to be emphasized because the apostle specifically addresses it in the words immediately following our text, "If anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man."(James 3:2) The offenses of the tongue are wide-ranging and include many of those mentioned under the previous topic. It is through unproductive conversation that we waste much of our time; through harmful speech that we reveal the irritability, pride, and lack of compassion in our hearts; and, in short, most of the obvious sins of good men are sins of the tongue, as the tongue is the tool of most of the visible wrongs for which sincere Christians are accountable.
11. We all offend in an excessive attachment to earthly pleasures and forgetfulness of our eternal rest. God has presented us with "an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison"(2 Corinthians 4:17) and has called us to set our minds on things that are above;(Colossians 3:2) and, if we are truly Christians, we have deliberately forsaken earth as our portion and chosen our happiness in heaven. Yet, how prone are we to seek our rest here, to be eagerly occupied with securing some worldly comfort; and when we experience its sweetness, how readily do we say, this is that which shall comfort us in days and years to come, and how reluctantly do we consider parting with it, even to dwell with God?
How often do we read the promises and depictions of future glory, those trustworthy promises, those vivid descriptions, and find in our hearts little warmth of desire for it, little joy in anticipating it; and when life’s hardships come upon us, how quickly do we stumble under them, and how little emphasis do we place on those glorious hopes that God, in his gospel, has set before us? Indeed, these are shameful displays of dullness and ingratitude, and we have cause to rebuke ourselves for despising the promised land and to marvel that God is not provoked by it to declare that we shall never enter it.
We should now consider the practical application of this examination of the shortcomings found even in the most admirable character. Many reflections arise from this, which we will consider in the next sermon by Philip Doddridge, Lord willing.
In the meantime, your own understanding will readily suggest that if we offend in so many instances, we ought to be humbled and repentant, to be generous in our judgments of others, and to maintain a constant reliance on Christ, in whom alone we find righteousness to justify us from the guilt of these offenses and strength to empower us to resist and overcome our natural tendency toward them.