By what WE do, as well? (part 11)

So after two chapters and twelve verses, James poses a question in James 3:13: “Who is wise and understanding among you?” Or in the context of what James has covered so far: “Who is truly skilled in the righteous life that God desires?” (1:20). 

And after a lifetime now of “going to church,” starting early in my childhood attending church every Sunday, and years of learning and teaching since, what proof can I offer that I’m truly skilled in the righteous life God desires?

Well that’s easy to prove, James adds, “just show it by your good life,” James 3:13. The proof that we’re truly catching on to what God wants for all us humans, is the obviously good life we’re living. 

And it’s meant to be obvious too, Philippians 2:14-16 – “Do all that you do without grumbling or arguing, so that you may be God’s children, blameless, sincere and wholesome, living in a warped and diseased world, and shining there like lights in a dark place. For you hold in your hands the very word of life.”

In a dark world we shine as lights by the obviously blameless, sincere and wholesome lives we’re living, characterized especially by what comes out of our mouth, and in particular no grumbling or arguing. 

But how on earth is that possible when we can see how wrong and sick the world is, and how much better off we are from living by God’s word? What’s to hold us back, therefore, from criticizing and condemning the stupidity and hypocrisy that characterizes just about every aspect of our world? How can we not spill out on occasion our disgust at how people are acting? 

And be also tempted, perhaps, to mouth off about how good we are by comparison, like: “Well, if I was in charge things would be very different” – or “If I was that child’s parent, I’d know exactly what to do,” etc. 

But James adds a codicil to verse 13, that the good life we show is “by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom”…(more on this tomorrow) 

By what WE do, as well? (part 10)

So the extraordinary test that James put to his readers was to keep such a tight rein on what came out of their mouths (James 1:26) that they’d be absolutely faultless in what they said. Never a wrong word, ever (3:2) – an especially tough call for his readers, who’d been through some hard trials and they’d been mouthing off at God and blaming him (1:13).

And all due to a rather tiny part of their human anatomy: the tongue. James compares it to the tiny bit placed in a horse’s mouth that gives power to the rider to control the movements of such a large, strong animal. Ships too because, for all their size and the momentum they have with a strong wind behind them, they too can be controlled by a small rudder in the hands of a helmsman. “Likewise,” James writes in James 3:5-6, “the human tongue is physically small, but what tremendous effects it can boast of! A whole forest can be set ablaze by a tiny spark of fire, and the tongue is just as dangerous with its vast potential for spreading evil. It can poison the whole body, and make one’s entire life a blazing hell.”  

And how sad it is, verses 7-8, that “for all our skill at taming animals, birds, reptiles and creatures of the sea, we’ve never been able to tame our own tongue. It remains a wild and restless evil, full of deadly poison.” 

Tough words for those who “consider themselves religious” (James 1:26). But tougher still in verses 9-12, when faced with the hypocrisy of “using  our tongue to bless our Father, but also using it to curse and judge those he created in his likeness.” Amazing how “Blessing and curses come from the same mouth – how can such a thing happen? Have you ever known a spring pour out sweet and bitter water simultaneously? Have you ever seen a fig-tree with a crop of olives, or seen figs growing on a vine, or a spring pour out fresh and salt water at the same time?” 

So, the tongue is not just brutal it’s also clever, plotting, and subtly deceptive. It is hypocritical and duplicitous, eagerly willing to deceive in order to achieve its own advantage. So how difficult must it be for us humans to control such a monster? And yet that’s what we’re called on to do (verse 2). 

It’s a massive test, so what equally massive purpose has God got in mind for us passing it?…(more on this tomorrow)

By what WE do, as well? (part 9)

James is writing about the blessings we receive in this life now for trusting God through tough times, which is good to know, because there’s one test God puts us through that must seem as mind blowing to us as God telling Abraham to sacrifice his son. 

James hints at it early in his letter, that “Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak” (1:19), and “If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless” (1:26). And in chapter 2:12, “Speak and act as those being judged by the law of freedom.”  

To quote one writer on this verse, “God is going to judge us on the basis of how we have loved and reached out to people, regardless of who they are” – a point to ponder for those in chapter 2, because they were speaking respectfully to the rich, but disdainfully to the poor. When it came to loving their neighbour as themselves, therefore, they’d become “lawbreakers” (verse 9), for “whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point (in their case, favouritism) is guilty of breaking all of it” (verse 10). It’s all or nothing; there’s no room in God’s law for any unloving word or act. 

Which would include James 3:2, that “It’s only the person who can claim that he never says the wrong thing that can consider himself perfect (in keeping the whole law), for if he can control his tongue he can control every other part of his personality.” 

So here was a real and very practical test – and especially for those who “presumed to be teachers” (3:1), thinking they were qualified to teach because of how “religious” they were (1:26) – because, as James reminds them, “we who teach will be judged by a much higher standard” (3:1). And as Christians aren’t we all held to that standard?

In which case, what James is saying is facing us all with an extraordinary test, of never saying the wrong thing to anyone – and having that kind of control over what comes out of our mouth at all times. It would seem as impossible for us to do as it was for Abraham to kill his son. 

And yet this is what makes our faith complete (2:22). It’s doing what God requires of us, believing God has a wonderful purpose for it…(more on this tomorrow)  

By what WE do, as well? (part 8)

For Abraham’s belief in God and acting on what God told him to do he was credited with righteousness. “Credited” doesn’t meant “earned” or “deserved.” Abraham’s actions, no matter how good, could never make him righteous. But for his actions God “credited” him with righteousness. 

Like I’m credited with bonus points on my credit card. I don’t earn those points. I just use the card as intended, and the company bonuses me with points. Those points can then be put to something I get for free, credited to me as the company’s way of expressing “customer appreciation.” A poor analogy if we take that to mean “a way of keeping us hooked so they make money,” but hopefully a fitting example for describing “credited” as an unearned bonus gift from God in his deep appreciation for us trusting him. 

And what we receive for free in that bonus gift is “the crown of life,” James 1:12. Which James expands in question form in James 2:5 – “Has not God chosen (you/us) to be rich in faith and to inherit (or possess) the kingdom he promised to those who love him?” 

Rich in faith, for instance, is quite the bonus for us, knowing how little faith we had at the start of our Christian life. But, fortunately, it was enough for us to take God at his word, that he promises blessings for those who trust and obey him. Which is what got Abraham started too. God personally made a promise to him, and Abraham took God at his word. His belief was then sorely tested when God told him to sacrifice Isaac, but the bonus God credited him with for trusting him was a faith so rich that, unlike those James was writing to, he never doubted God, nor was he “double-minded” or “unstable in all he did” (1:8).  

Abraham made mistakes in dealing with tricky situations, yes, but never did he lose his underlying belief in God’s promises to him. And when he stood the test and kept on trusting even when faced with a mind blowing challenge, God not only credited him with a rich faith, he also gave him “possession of his kingdom” (2:5). 

Abraham, therefore, in his lifetime was given the chance to taste and live the goodness and rightness of God’s kingdom. And since Abraham is our example, we’re given that chance too…(more on this tomorrow)  

By what WE do, as well? (part 7)

James gets the point across that “Yes, of course we’re saved by what we do.” But what he means by “saved” isn’t salvation eternally. He’s talking about the process God set up for this life now, that saves us from living a bad life with bad effects to living a good life with good effects.

And by ‘good effects’ he’s not talking about a charmed life, or health and wealth, or never having problems. Being the Father’s much loved children didn’t make those James was writing to immune from “facing trials of many kinds” (James 1:2). But the purpose of the trials was to help them become mature, stable, wise and whole, pictured by the royal law of love (2:8), that when lived would give them freedom (salvation) from doubt, hypocrisy, uncertainty, emotional instability, and the debilitating effects of evil, immorality, anger, spite, and blaming others for bad things happening – all of which are mentioned by James. 

So James the practical is very much talking about the life our Father wishes for us now, that he made possible for us when we trust him – Abraham being our example, because when he “believed God it was credited to him as righteousness, and he was called God’s friend,” James 2:23. 

In this life now, then, James is saying we experience two things: being credited with righteousness, and being God’s friend. Both focus on what God thinks of us for trusting him, and for accepting that the trials we go through are totally for our benefit from a God who loves us. Or as James phrases it, “We’re blessed all right, when we stick to obeying God and trusting him under trial, because he promises a crown of life to those who love him,” James 1:12. 

So let’s make it three things we’re blessed with: credited with righteousness, being God’s friend, and a crown of life too. For trusting God under trial – which is our way of showing our love to him – does he ever love us in return. He’d happily pop a crown on our heads and announce, “This is my beloved child in whom I am well pleased.” 

So James is asking those troubled by trials, “Does this change your view of God a bit, knowing that he deeply loves us for trusting him, and that he promises to show it too?”…(more on this tomorrow)

By what WE do, as well? (part 6)

James is a practical man. He’s writing to “the twelve tribes of Israel scattered among the nations,” James 1:1, who believed they were God’s chosen people, and God was setting up his kingdom on Earth through them. But here they were, just like us Christians today, dotted in little groups all over the place, not making much impact at all, and being “faced with trials of many kinds,” verse 2. 

It didn’t make sense. If God truly loved them, why was he letting them suffer? If they really were his chosen people, “the first fruits of all he created” (verse 18), why was he making life so difficult for them? And especially since they were true “believers in the glorious Lord Jesus Christ” too (2:1). 

How, then, could James convince these people that what was happening to them was for a good reason? Or that the trials they were facing were perfect gifts from a loving Father (1:17)?

James the practical gets down to basics in verse 12: “Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial.” Ah, so first of all, there is a process going on here that will bring blessings. But only through “persevering under trial,” because “when you’ve stood the test,” believing wholeheartedly that God could surely only have good in mind, that’s when you “receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him.” That’s the blessing, the “crown of life,” which in context is “the righteous life that God desires” for us (verse 20), the life that makes us “mature and complete, not lacking anything” (verse 4). It’s a blessing to be experienced in the here and now. 

Because when Abraham stood his test – believing wholeheartedly that God could only have something good in mind for him – that’s the blessing he received as well. He was “credited with righteousness.” He too experienced the righteous life of maturity and wholeness God had in mind through trials. He was credited with it, given the chance to experience it. 

So in answering those who wondered why a loving God would put them through severe trials, James explains the purpose of the trials, and the blessing that awaits those who accept the process God set up…(more on this tomorrow)   

By what WE do, as well? (part 5)

James was writing to people who were feeling sorry for themselves for how hard their lives were, which had soured their view of God. They blamed God for purposely making their lives miserable (James 1:13), as though he was quite happy doing evil things to people and tempting them into sin, when in fact it was their own evil thoughts and desires they’d been “dragged away and enticed” by (verse 14). 

The result for them was a wishy-washy relationship with God; flat, flavourless and watery, like cabbage that’s been boiled too long. So when they asked God for anything, they didn’t really expect an answer. The idea that “God gives generously” (verse 5) was met with “doubt,” which to James was so sad, “because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind” (verse 6). Their thinking was all over the place, never sure or certain about God at all (verse 8), so no wonder their view of him was sour when, with their ‘down in the dumps’ attitude, how could they expect to “receive anything from the Lord”? (verse 7). 

So James sets about patching up their view of God, to add some real flavour to it – with a reminder, first of all, that it was by “God’s own wish he gave us new birth as his children through the message of the truth, to become what you might call ‘the pioneers’ of his new creation,” verse 18. In other words, they were very special to God.  

Unfortunately (verse 16), their view of God had deceived them into thinking God didn’t love them and they were just victims of his odd whims. But that’s not true “my dear brothers,” James writes in verse 17; God isn’t like that at all, “he’s the Father of light, not dark and evil, and everything that comes from him is always good. Unlike the sun that affects the shape of shadows on Earth’s surface, God does not vary at all in his nature.” And where our lives are all over the place with him, he is utterly steady and unchanging with us. 

So big hearted James is really piling on the good news about God and his unchanging love for us, so wherever his letter was read to “the twelve tribes scattered among the nations” (verse 1), they’d be hearing an inspiring message. 

But how could they know that God really loved them and they were special to him? Did James have an answer to that?…(more on this tomorrow)

By what WE do, as well? (part 4)

James makes the point that Abraham was credited with righteousness for obeying what God said, even when it sounded crazy. And the reason James brought the subject up was people in his day who also thought what God was putting them through was crazy.  

They were “facing trials of many kinds,” James 1:2, their faith was being severely tested (verse 3), and they weren’t reacting well. They were doubting God (verse 6) and blaming him for their difficulties, claiming “God is tempting me” (verse 13), as though God was purposely trying to trip them up and make life miserable for them. And they were angrily voicing their upset at God too (verses 19-20). 

So James reminds them of what they already knew, “that the testing of your faith develops perseverance,” verse 3, that we’re all a work in progress, so let “perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything,” verse 4. God’s in the process of fully developing us – making us whole and complete – so that morally we’re perfect, faultless and blameless (the Greek meaning of “complete”). So ‘hang in there’ – God’s cleaning us up, to help us “get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent,” verse 21.     

That’s what they’d been taught. So, James continues, “humbly accept the word planted in you,” verse 21, no matter how crazy it sounds or how tough it is to do, because it “can save you.” That’s what God’s word was designed for, to bring about full salvation, the full and complete maturing of the new humans Jesus is creating in his church. So, verse 12, “Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him.” So what God says in his word may seem crazy at times, but accept it and live it – because God has only blessings in mind. 

And, verse 5, “if any of you don’t know how to meet any particular problem, just ask God – who gives generously to all, without making us feel foolish or guilty – and rest assured the necessary wisdom will be given.” So James is saying, “Come on, you know the process. God gave you faith in his word so that you’d want to give it a whirl,” because in “not forgetting what you’ve heard, but doing it- you’ll be blessed in what you do,” verse 25. Blessings promised, but does James tell us what those blessings are?…(more on this tomorrow)

By what WE do, as well? (part 3)

James makes the point from Abraham’s example that belief in God and his word is empty if it isn’t lived (James 2:17). And he’s got a point, because why would anyone believe in God in the first place if they didn’t know what living by his word actually did for them? 

The proof of the pudding is in the eating. You only know if a pudding is good or bad by eating it. Up to that point it’s an unknown. Is it good or bad? Well, pick up a spoon and dive in, then you’ll know. And the same with Christianity. Is it good or bad? Who knows? It’s only a theory until proven true by experience. 

So is that what James meant by Abraham doing what God told him to do and being credited with righteousness because of it – that you only find out by doing? Imagine being Abraham, though. He’s told by God to sacrifice his son (Genesis 22:2). But why on earth would God tell him to do that? Killing his son was weird enough, but kill the only means of continuing God’s promise through his descendants as well? God was clearly up to something, and it had to be good because God was God, but what good could it be? 

The proof of the pudding was in the eating. It must have seemed totally crazy, but Abraham took the road that you can only figure out what’s going on by running with it. And faced with a similar unknown as to what God’s up to in what he says for us to do, what else can we do? As one author wrote: “All we can do is come to as good an evaluation by reason as we possibly can, and then plunge in and try it – test it, leap out on it, put our weight upon it.” Hold your nose at the deep end and jump in. 

And this is included in salvation? Well, how are we going to find out what salvation even is, or what it means, and what it results in, unless we give it a whirl? And God’s all for us doing that too. It’s why he credited Abraham with righteousness. But first of all, he gave Abraham a good reason for diving in. He said things to Abraham that really got his attention. And he does the same for us. He says things in his word that awakens faith in us too (Romans 10:17). It just rings true.

So his word sounds good, and trying it will prove it, but why try it? What’s the point of trying it? What is it supposed to result in? Well, James covers that too…(more on this tomorrow)  

By what WE do, as well? (part 2)

So, following on from yesterday, let’s take the situation James was faced with and why he used the example of Abraham to deal with it.

James is dealing with people who “considered themselves religious,” James 1:26, but they weren’t acting very religious. For instance (same verse), “If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless.” And on that point I remember driving home after a jolly time at church and feeling very religious, but in the car yelling angrily at our kids. I haven’t forgotten it, the total disconnect between what I’d been hearing in church and my actions afterwards. 

And the same with those James was writing to. What they were doing, and how they were behaving, wasn’t tied in with what they’d been taught from God’s word. And that was sad, because “the word planted in you is what can save you,” verse 21. That’s because Scripture (“the word”), verse 25, is “the perfect law that gives freedom.” So the person who sets about “doing what he’s heard will be blessed in what he does,” because it “brings about the righteous life that God desires (for us),” verse 20. God designed his word to help us live a good life, and free us, or “save” us, from a bad one. 

But here were “brothers” and “believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ,” James 2:1, who knew that “If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, ‘Love your neighbour as yourself,’ you are doing right,” verse 8, but they were fawning all over the rich people coming to their meetings while shabbily treating the poor. A total disconnect again between what they were learning and how they were behaving. 

Which explains why James wrote in James 1:22, “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.” For instance, if they really believed it was right and good to love a neighbour in need, then don’t just wish warmth and food on them, do something about it (James 2:15-16). Because all that faith they had in God’s word was completely empty if they weren’t living it in real life, right (2:17)?  

Which is why James used the example of Abraham, because Abraham’s faith in God’s word led him to living it too…(more on this tomorrow)