A Battleground...whose side are you on?

James 4

Just recently our home group finished a DVD series on marriage.  It was quite an eye opener and provoked a lot of discussion.  At the end of the series we were encouraged to take a personality test.  This was to enable us to understand our spouses better and to focus on what was right and not what was wrong J  Out of the 4 categories (Peace, Perfect, Control and Fun) peace was my top category with fun following behind.  I have never liked disharmony and either want to run from it or fix it but I never want to live in it for any length of time.

In James 4 it starts out the chapter by talking about fights and quarrels that happen between people.  Where do they come from according to v1?  They come from within us.  Until we die there will always be a battle between our flesh and our spirit, the root cause being SIN.  Max Lucado in his book “come thirsty” says that “sin sees the world with no God in it”….we might think of sin as slip ups or missteps but God views sin as a godless attitude that leads to godless actions.  Isaiah 53:6 says that all of us have strayed like sheep.  We have left God’s path to follow our own way.  The sinful mind dismisses God and celebrates its middle letter.  What is the middle letter of sIn?  Ephesians 2:3 says that we gratify our sinful natures.  We often do the opposite of what we are supposed to…we hate instead of love, we look for revenge rather than forgive, indulge our sinful desires rather than exhibit self-control.

Sin for a season quenches our thirst but sin is like salt water, it doesn’t satisfy our thirst for long before we want more. 

 When we read these first verses of James 4 children often come to mind.  It is like James is talking about someone having a temper tantrum because they don’t get what they want.  Sometimes we don’t get what we want because we simply haven’t asked God.  We have talked about it but we haven’t gone to the One who loves to give good gifts to His children.  NB Sometimes it is good to write down what we do have from God and not focus on what we don’t have.  It changes our heart and perspective and makes us more grateful.  Anyway, back to the passage.  Often times we don’t get what we want because we ask with wrong motives.  The purpose of prayer is to get God’s will accomplished on earth not my will done on earth.  Once we understand this then we will be more in tune with God and start asking for the right things; the things that God wants us to have.  Praying is not giving orders to God but it is reporting for duty.  What does God want me to do?

 James uses some strong language in this passage.  He calls us adulterous people if we are friends with the world. God called the people of Israel adulterers when they worshipped false gods and so we are also adulterers if we worship the things of this world.  If we were honest with each other what do we put before God in our lives?  Our family, our jobs, our hobbies, our successes, our status, wealth, health what else?  Pride was the downfall of Satan and can be the downfall of us also.  “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble” (verse 6b).  This is counter cultural.  We need to go against the flow of this world.

 Submission is not often seen as a positive word and yet we see it in various contexts in Scripture.  Here in James he tells us to submit to God.  What is submission?  Some synonyms of submission are obedience and compliance.  We often don’t want to be obedient to God or be compliant with Him. It can be a battle and yet God is asking that of us.  He asks us to submit to Him which will cure us of our worldliness.  We can’t serve two masters.  We are to flee from the Devil.  The Devil has been around for a long time.  He knows what makes us tick.  He knows what distracts us.  He knows what brings us down.  He knows what buttons to push.  We need to be aware of this and resist and run.  Notice James doesn’t say just turn the other way or stroll in a different direction but flee.  That means run for your life.  Let us not become comfortable with sin.  Let us acknowledge what it is and deal with it.  We are called to wash our hands, purify our hearts and to grieve the sin that is in our lives.  It is serious and not be taken lightly.

In 4:11-12 we are told not to slander each other.  It is not an option.  Just run through your day today.  Who did you judge today?  Whose reputation did you tarnish today?  These are hard questions but necessary ones.  James has his boxing gloves on and he is hitting us where it hurts so we do something about it.  One Pastor said that you cannot throw mud at somebody without you yourself getting dirty in the process.  Remember don’t prEy on people but prAy with people and for people.

For those of us who love to have a planned well organized life would do well to read the next section more than once.  I am not however saying that planning is bad but we need to hold our plans loosely and not boast about how great they are.  This planet we call home is just a temporary dwelling place.  One day we will be moving on.  If we had that idea at the forefront of our minds on a daily basis would it change the way we plan our day?  Our trust should not be in our well thought out plan but in God whom we can trust 100% no matter what comes in our day.  Let us be mindful of the time we have and use it wisely.

 James says that if we know what is right and we don’t do it then we sin.  This can be looked at in two ways; either we are doing something we shouldn’t be doing or there is something we should be doing but we are not doing.  Sin literally means to transgress and overstep God’s law.  We are choosing to turn from what is right to something that is wrong.  Sin is a violation against God and who He is.  We would be wise to deal with our sin on a short leash and not let it run wild.

 John 16:5-16 tells us that although Jesus died and went to be with His father He left us the Holy Spirit who is our counselor, who brings conviction, and is our guide.  He will lead us to what is true and right.  By reading God’s word and then allowing the Holy Spirit control in our lives we don’t need to wander around wondering if what we are doing is right.  We will know.

 

Spend a few moments in quietness just seeking God and asking Him to show you areas in your life that need to be opened up to him.  Are the rooms in your heart that are sealed closed?  Don’t keep these rooms in darkness let the light in.

What would we wish for?

James 3:13-18

If God were to grant you one thing what would you ask for?  Some people might say an end to world hunger, sickness and disease or maybe an end to terrorism or wars.   Solomon in 1 Kings 3 was granted such an opportunity.  In verse 5 it talks of God coming to Solomon in a dream with God saying to Solomon “Ask, what shall I give you”.  Solomon’s answer comes in verse 9.  Ultimately he asked for wisdom; wisdom to be able to discern good from evil and to govern God’s people.  Because of Solomon’s unselfish request God gives him what he asks for.

In this section in James it talks about wisdom.  What is wisdom?  James helps us with this but let us look at the dictionary definition for a moment.  Wisdom is described from the Encarta dictionary as “the ability to make sensible decisions and judgments based on personal knowledge and experience”.  How does the Bible describe wisdom well let us look at a few verses from Proverbs

Proverbs 2:6New Life Version (NLV)

⁶ For the Lord gives wisdom. Much learning and understanding come from His mouth.

Proverbs 2:10New Living Translation (NLT)

¹⁰ For wisdom will enter your heart, and knowledge will fill you with joy

Proverbs 4:5New Living Translation (NLT)

⁵ Get wisdom; develop good judgment.   Don’t forget my words or turn away from them.

Proverbs 8:11New Living Translation (NLT)

¹¹ For wisdom is far more valuable than rubies.   Nothing you desire can compare with it.

These are just a couple of examples of the benefits of wisdom taken from the Book of Proverbs but there is so much more.  Solomon learned at a young age that wisdom was of great value. 

Is wisdom something we desire?  I hope so.  When we look at the passage in James we see that wisdom can be seen in our actions.  James is comparing the wisdom of the world with the wisdom of God and there is a great difference.  We see that in the outcome of the wisdom.  With God’s wisdom we know that it is pure, peaceable, gentle and open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere.  Does that describe us?  Or does the wisdom of the world describe us?  Bitter jealousy, selfish ambition, boastful, liars, earthly, unspiritual and demonic.  Wow that is quite the list.  I am sure none of us would want to be described by the latter.  However, sometimes it is good to do a spiritual self-examination to see where we are at.

In the first sentence we see a link between wisdom and understanding.  There needs to be knowledge and understanding along with wisdom.  John McArthur puts it like this. “The simple distinction is that wisdom probably relates to the application of principles whereas understanding relates to the understanding of those principles or the knowledge of those principles. One would have more impact on the mind and one might have more impact on the conduct. But basically they have to do with the same thing. You can't be wise if you don't understand and you can't really understand if you're not wise.”
Sometimes looking at the very opposite of something gives even greater meaning.  Here are two antonyms for wisdom, they are stupidity and ignorance.  None of us would want to be declared stupid or ignorant and yet that is what we are if we are seeking after earthly wisdom which in reality is no wisdom at all.  What choices are you making in your life?  For your family, your future, in your job,  personally?  May we all desire wisdom of the Godly kind and be self-aware when it is not.

Tongue Trouble

James 3: 1-12

As I read this familiar passage about taming the tongue it brought to mind the character of Mrs. Oleson in the series, The Little House on the Prairie.  Joshua and Zara have been going through some of the episodes of this series and it brings up some interesting discussions in our family.  For those who have never watched this series or seen the character Mrs. Oleson then I had better explain.  She and her husband own the village store and she thinks she is better than most people who live in the town.  She is quick with her tongue which, in turn, causes great angst for many of the people living there but especially for the Ingalls family.  Her children are no different to her in many ways with their nasty comments and uppity and spoilt behavior.  When you watch an episode whereby Mrs. Oleson is up to her tricks you want justice to prevail.  You desire for her to get what is coming to her because of the rude comments and meanness that often comes out of her mouth which then guides her behaviour.  However, it got me thinking as to whether or not we are much different than Mrs. Oleson at times.  It is not always fun to look in the mirror but very necessary.

In looking at this issue of taming the tongue it made me realize how our tongues are slippery little trouble makers.  Once the words are out there is no pulling them back in.  If the words are unkind or unsavoury the only recourse we have is damage control.  The damage that Mrs. Oleson's words have on the people she comes in contact with can be devastating.  This is, of course, a fictitious story but we have all been there when people have said mean things or we have watched the effect of our mean words on someone else.  It is not a pretty sight.  I am sure all of us have heard stories of people who have had things said to them in childhood that still affects them today in adulthood.  That comment even said in jest can have distressing and long lasting effects.

James starts of this passage by saying that not all people should presume to be teachers, meaning teachers of God’s Word because those who are will be judged more severely.  What a sobering thought.  Just think of the influence a teaching Pastor has over his congregation or anyone who is teaching God’s Word.  It would make you want to run in the opposite direction if you were not sure that was what God was calling you too.  We also need to be obedient to what God has called us to and how we use the gifts and talents He has given us.  However, it is good not to go into such a role flippantly.

James goes onto say that we all stumble.  Not just some of us but ALL of us.  If we were perfect then we wouldn’t have an issue with taming our tongue.  It is amazing to think that man has put people on the moon, found cures for diseases that once were incurable, technology has increased in mind-blowing proportions over the last 100 years and yet the little fleshy organ inside our mouth has never been able to be tamed since man was created.  James uses the examples that animals can be tamed, a ship can be steered by a small rudder and a forest of woodland can be destroyed in no time by a small spark.  Our tongues are small in relation to most parts of our body but that small part of the body affects the whole.  Our tongues direct our lives.  Our tongues direct our behavior.  Our tongues direct how people treat us.  One of the characters in the series Little House on the Prairie will, on occasion, say “…do I really have to deal with Mrs. Oleson?”  “Do I really have to talk with her?”   If our tongues are not tamed if affects our relationships with each other.  We desire to have close relationships and yet we get the opposite of what we desire.  We can push people away.

One Pastor said that the only person that can tame our tongue is God.  He is the only one that can change our hearts, tame our tongues and correct our behavior.  Have a look at Proverbs 10:19-21.  How many of us are talkers?  How many of us can keep talking without hardly taking a breath?  What does Proverbs 10:19 say?  We need to be careful.  Sometimes the best option is to barricade that little organ behind your God given cage (set of teeth and lips) and be quiet.  Even if you are thought not to be wise you will be seen wise just because you can keep your mouth shut.

It is amazing that one minute we can be sitting in church, prayer meeting or Bible study singing God’s praises and saying Amen and Amen to what a Pastor has said and yet 5 minutes outside of those meetings and we are talking negatively about somebody who has been made in the image of God.  We do it over and over again.  James uses the analogy of fresh and salt water and then also the idea of a fig tree and a grapevine.   We would not expect those things to give the opposite of what they were created for and yet we accept it in our lives.   If we call ourselves to be Christ followers then our speech should be different.  Sadly, this is not always the case.

Sometimes I think we would be more careful about what and how we say something if we were the one on the receiving end of our tongue.  Just recently I heard someone say that they couldn’t believe the horrible things that were said about another person on social media.  It is incredible how much more we will say about someone else when we don’t have to tell it to their face.  Our tongues can do irrevocable damage so we need the wisdom of God to know when to speak and when to keep silent.  One Pastor commented that if we need wisdom we only need to turn to the Book of Proverbs.  There are some real gold nuggets in there.  Proverbs 4:20-27 talks about guarding our hearts for it is the wellspring of life and keeping corrupt talk from our lips.  Having the knowledge about what to do is not enough.  We need to be putting it into action.  It is amazing how we try and teach our children to say and do the right thing and yet who is correcting us?  We need to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit’s leading as we walk through each day as the flesh and the Spirit are constantly at war within us.  Hopefully there is also someone in our lives who can gently correct us when needed as we all need it.

Challenge

Think back over your day and the conversations you have had with people.  Then read Colossians 3:12-17 and Colossian 4:6.  How well did you do?

Faith and Works

“Put your money where your mouth is” is a statement that most of us have heard before.  Our mouths can shoot of big boasts but when it comes to putting those things into action it can be another thing entirely.  You just need to listen to a group on children in the car on the drive back from school.  They make great boasts in front of their friends and you wonder if half of what they are saying is indeed reality.

This leads us to our passage in James; James on faith without works is dead.  At times in history James has been accused of teaching salvation comes by works but I don’t believe that is what he is teaching at all.  I believe he is teaching that we see someone’s faith by what they do.  It is putting our faith into action.  The Apostle Paul is an example of this.  He had a dramatic conversion on the road to Damascus.  He made a complete turnaround from persecuting the believers to joining them.  Can you imagine Paul, who in Acts 8:1, welcomed the approval of Stephen’s stoning and sought to destroy the church in Jerusalem by dragging men and women from their homes and putting them in prison to hear Paul saying in Acts 9:20 that Jesus is the Son of God.  Paul was known for his war on believers and so it would have been difficult for people just to believe that Paul had turned completely around on words alone.  Later in Acts 9:26 it says that Paul went to Jerusalem and tried to join the disciples.  Stop and think this through for a minute.  If you had been one of the disciples at that time how would you have felt when Paul walked into your midst?  You probably wouldn’t have welcomed him with open arms knowing his more than shaded background and you might have experienced a tinge of fear.  However, we see the faith that Barnabas had in Paul’s dramatic conversion which encouraged others to accept Paul and his new found faith.

I am not going to get technical about the age old debate of faith alone verses faith and works.  I will leave that up to the scholars to debate that one.  However, I do believe that our faith in God should produce good works.  Our salvation should be evidenced by the change in our lives.  We see in James 2:19 that even the demons believe there is one God, however their belief doesn’t change them.  There is no obedience in their belief.  There is no transformation.  This brings about a serious question.   What about those who profess to believe in God but there is no evidence of a transformed life?   Are they truly saved or not?  I will let you ponder that one. J

If we were to define faith what would our definition be?  Let us look at Hebrews 11:1  "Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see." (NIV)  Another way of looking at is that faith is the opposite of doubt.  An everyday example of this would be when I get in our car to drive somewhere and I have the faith that my brakes are going to work.  I don’t think about it I just believe and trust that they won’t fail me.  If I did doubt it would be a difficult drive in the car any time I went anywhere.  I would be anxious and worry throughout the whole journey.  God doesn’t want us to live like that. In Ephesians 2:8-9 it says  "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God--not by works, so that no one can boast." Paul explains that our faith comes from God and, it is gifted to us by Him.  We are not saved by our works but good works should come naturally out of the faith given to us by God. 
Here are what some other peoples thoughts on the issue at hand.  I think they say it quite succinctly.

 "But James has quite another thing in view, even to shew that he who professes that he has faith, must prove the reality of his faith by his works. Doubtless James did not mean to teach us here the ground on which our hope of salvation ought to rest; and it is this alone that Paul dwells upon." (Calvin)

Works must accompany a genuine faith, because genuine faith is always connected with regeneration - being born again, becoming a new creation in Jesus (2 Corinthians 5:17). If there is no evidence of a new life, there was no genuine, saving faith. (Guzik)

"The grace that does not change my life will not save my soul." (Spurgeon)

The passage gives the example of Rahab and Abraham as people who demonstrated a living faith in a living God.  So what about us?  Do our lives demonstrate that kind of living faith?  Why or why not? Do we live our lives with a desire to be obedient to God and His Word? 

Humour me for a moment and turn to 1 Corinthians 13: 4-7.  There you see the familiar passage on love.  Replace the word for love with your name. E.g Pam is patient, Pam is kind, etc.  What ones in your life currently can you say are not true of you?  What needs some work?  What are you encouraged by.  To go one step further would be to ask a close friend to tell you if you are these things or not. J

I am happy to hear your thoughts and insights as you study along with me in the Book of James.