family devotions: James 4.1-12

~ Friendship with the World ~

James 4.1-4

What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.

James sees quarrels and fights among the church as deriving from 'passions' (or sinful pleasures) at war within us. Making such passions your life's priority results in a life characterized by the ruthless pursuit of those pleasures, a life marked by envy (coveting what others have), fighting with others, and even - at times - murder. Even our prayers become tainted: it's all about 'give me what I want!' rather than humble petition. When we live this way - putting our sinful pleasures at the top tier of our life pyramid - we are, in effect, cheating on God. This is why James calls out such people as adulterers: being a Christian involves covenant responsibilities (such as obeying God), and when we violate those responsibilities, we are breaking our covenant promises. Think of it this way: if a husband who has pledged to love only one woman forever places his love on another, he is an adulterer; in the same way, if a Christian pledges his love to God but actually loves something else more, he is breaking the 'love contract' and is an adulterer. In this way those Christians who love the world - those who make 'the world' their priority - are in a state of adultery against God and make themselves enemies of God.

This is rough language, but James is making a critical statement. Just as a tree shows its nature by the fruit it bears, so people show the character of their hearts by the way they live. Hearts 'in love with the world' showcase that love in a myriad of ways, just as those whose hearts are oriented towards god show that orientation by the way they live their lives (lives characterized, by example, by the fruits of the Spirit in Galatians 5). Those who live for their pleasures will reveal their love in envy, fighting, and the ruthless pursuit of their pleasures; such lifestyles indicate hearts oriented away from God. When Christians pledge their love to God but live contrary to what that love demands, we are rebelling against the covenant contract. It's important to note, of course, that we remain in the contract (it is why we are not merely enemies but also adulterers!). James has good news for those who are adulterers against the covenant, but we'll get to that next week. James' point here is that when you 'love the world' you make yourself an enemy of God. But what does it mean to love the world? We need to define two terms: 'Love' and 'The World' as James uses it.

Love doesn't mean warm, fuzzy feelings. To love something is to have deep affection for it, even if that affection isn't always 'felt.' When you love something, you naturally make it the object of your pursuit, putting it on a pedestal and making it your priority. It's interesting that we are, at our core, creatures designed to worship; we all worship something and are compelled to do nothing else. Even the world's greatest dictators were slaves to their disasters and lived in worship of power. Thus everyone worships; everyone loves; but the question is what (or whom) do we love? What holds our greatest affections? What do we make the priority in our lives?

The World as James uses the term here refers to the whole organized system of evil, made up of varying and changing philosophies that are expressed in the organizations and personalities of human beings. The world is a composite expression of the wickedness of man and the intrigues of Satan's rule, which are both in opposition to the rule and ways of God. James says that to have a deep affection for the world - to make it your priority and greatest pursuit - is to make yourself an enemy of God. Love for the world system and its ways is characterized by a triumvirate of three ruling pleasures: the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. The Apostle John tells us this in 1 John 2.16, where he writes, Everything in the world - the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life - comes not from the Father but from the world. (NIV) The New Living Translation puts it this way: '[The] world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions. These are not from the Father, but are from this world.' The Lust of the Flesh, the Lust of the Eyes, and the Pride of Life encapsulate the three task-masters behind worldly love; what do these refer to?

The Lust of the Flesh is the lowest form of worldliness, after which most of the world runs like wild animals in heat. The lust of the flesh encompasses all that is connected to the indulgence of our base animal propensities. Those who worship the lust of the flesh are those who live their lives ruled by their appetites, indulging anything and everything excites and inflames sensual pleasure. Drunkenness, drug use, sexual promiscuity, and pornography are all great temptations to the 'lust of the flesh.' 

The Lust of the Eyes is the lust of covetousness and envy. Those who live by the lust of the eyes are those who live their lives with the aim of accumulating for themselves the vanities of the world: the costliest clothes, the sleekest cars, the most beautiful homes. Their attention isn't on their eyes so much as on the eyes of others; they want to be seen by what they have. The pursuit of the American Dream is, in many ways, an outworking of the lust of the eyes. 

Those who live according to The Pride of Life are those whose lives are characterized by a thirst for honor, applause, and recognition. They thirst for their own kingdoms rather than God's kingdom. The current trend of 'Instagram Influencers' indicates that this driving force of love for the world is well and active.

These three aspects of love for the world infect fallen humanity. Some people express them in greater degrees than others, and each of us experiences a particular draw towards at least one of them. Part of being a Christian is resisting these draws: instead of living for pleasure, we live for purpose; instead of focusing on wealth in the here and now, we seek to accumulate wealth in the world to come; instead of striving to make a name for ourselves, we strive to bring honor and glory to God's name. Because our hearts are naturally in love with the world, resistance to the world is difficult and costly. It will be a struggle, but to make no effort against love for the world is to be a friend of the world and thus an enemy of God.

James says that Christians who make the world and the things of the world a priority in their lives are guilty of adultery against God. This adultery manifests itself in lives characterized by conflict, envy, and tainted prayers. Those who make themselves enemies of God by loving the world need to submit to God in humble repentance, and God will be gracious.

~ Turn to the Lord ~

James 4.5-10

Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, 'He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us?' But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, 'God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.' Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourself before the Lord, and he will exalt you.

James has just finished writing about how friendship with the world is to be an enemy of God. He admits that our propensity as fallen human beings is towards sin, but he holds out hope: there is a way out of our lowly condition. The answer is repentance: turning to God and turning away from sin. Those who repent from 'friendship with the world' - those who make God and His kingdom priority in their lives and who fight against the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life - will be accepted by God and 'lifted up' from the mire and placed on solid footing before their Creator.

Verse five is a perplexing text that can be translated various ways. James says that God yearns jealously over the spirit he has made to dwell in us. Though this is often taking to be the Holy Spirit, a more common-sense reading is that James is speaking of our basic human spirits. The Greek text can be translated to say that 'our human spirits are corrupted with lustful envy.' In this case, James is admitting that our hearts are naturally drawn towards sin. We are at nature friends with the world and enemies with God. This is a plain Bible teaching. The fact that this sentence is given as a quote ('Scripture says...'), but it's found nowhere in the Old Testament. What do we make of this? Likely James is summing up a principle teaching of the Old Testament, found page after page in the holy scriptures: mankind is a messed-up beast! Thus James' statement that the heart of man is naturally bent towards 'lustful envy' is a teaching concurrent with the Jewish scriptures. The good news, though, is that God gives 'more grace': God's grace is greater than the power of sin, the flesh, the world, and the devil. The question, then, is how do we partake of this power that overcomes our natural bent towards sin? James answers this question by quoting Proverbs 3.34.

Proverbs 3.34 tells us, 'God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.' When Old Testament scriptures are quoted in the New Testament, they're usually not used as proof-texts of some particular point but as echoes of biblical concepts or callbacks to Old Testament texts. When James quotes Proverbs 3.34, he isn't calling attention to only that verse but the wider context of that verse. In this case, he is echoing Proverbs 3.29-35. The main point of this passage is that those who humbly seek God and refuse to do wicked will be favored by God. The 'humble' of whom James writes aren't an upper-echelon class of Christians but Christians generally. All Christians are 'humble' before God: to be humble, after all, is to acknowledge your frailty and need and to submit yourself willingly to a higher authority (in this case God). The way to experience God's grace - which is greater than our spirits that are filled with lustful envy - is to submit to God and resist the devil. Both submission and resistance are opposite sides of the same coin of repentance. Repentance is turning, and it involves turning to God and away from sin and the devil. Repentance is the natural by-product of submission to God. It is what happens when a man 'humbles' himself before his creator.

Repentance involves both submission to God and resisting the devil. James, as a good Jewish person, saw all humanity being under one of two masters: either God or the devil. To put your allegiance on one is to stand against the other. Human beings, infected with sin, naturally give their allegiance to the devil - who is the 'head' of all opposition to God - even if they don't know it or even believe it. As such they are naturally opposed to God. To become a Christian involves a changing of allegiance: we make a decision of the will to forsake old allegiances (the devil) and embrace a new allegiance (to God). When this is fleshed out in daily life, it involves submission to our new master and resisting our old master. James uses militant language to describe this submission and resistance, though we lose these militant undertones in translation. To 'submit' is to literally 'line up under,' and the word was used of soldiers under the authority of their commander. The submission James speaks of is a willing, conscious submission to God's authority as sovereign ruler of the cosmos. A truly humble person will give his allegiance to God, obey His commands, and follow His leadership. To 'resist' is to literally 'take your stand against,' so that resisting the devil is taking a stand against him. This involves refusing to live as he wants us to live, refusing to believe his lies, and refusing to willfully sin against God. 

James gives us a flurry of Old Testament echoes to describe the nature of the repentance God requires. Repentance is 'drawing near to God' - it is making God our main priority and pursuing Him rather than our own wants and desires. Repentance involves 'cleansing hands and purifying hearts' - it requires the hard work of turning from sin and learning new ways to live that honor God and obey His commands. Repentance involves turning our laughter to mourning and our joy to sorrow - interestingly, the Greek word James uses for 'laughter' is used only here in the whole New Testament, and it refers to the flippant laughter of those foolishly indulging in worldly pleasures. The picture is of people who give no thought to God, life, death, sin, judgment, or holiness. These are the people who laugh hysterically as they take drugs in night clubs or engage in orgies or drunken revelry. Repentance requires these people to turn from such flippant laughter and to mourn over their rebellion against God. The end result of repentance will be exaltation, being lifted out of the mire of sin-driven, futile lives and placed on solid footing before the creator.

~ Judging the Law ~

James 4.11-12

Do not speak evil against one another, brothers. The one who speaks against a brother or judges his brother, speaks evil against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge. There is only one lawgiver and judge, he who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor?

James has just finished writing about how friendship with the world is to be an enemy of God, and the appropriate response to such friendship is to turn from it and to turn to God. This 'turning' is done in humility, and such humility is contrary to judging one another. James instructs his readers to not do two things: to 'speak evil' of one another and to 'judge' one another. The first refers to slander, which is an outflow of what James wrote earlier in 3.1-12. The second refers to 'passing judgment,' and it's different from practical discernment. The Bible tells us to practice discernment; we are to be wise in our dealings with others and discern to the best of our abilities the nature of people and act accordingly.

What, then, is James opposing? There are three ideas: (1) James is addressing slanderous gossip that was spreading like gangrene through the churches, and James is addressing it at the root; (2) he is addressing sinful responses to different issues and hotheaded opinions in the church that would (ultimately) be resolved in the then-future Jewish Council of AD 49/50; or (3) he is opposing Judaizers in the church. The Judaizers were a group of pseudo-Christians who taught that in order to be saved, one had to have faith in Jesus and follow the 'works of the law' (certain Jewish practices, such as circumcision, eating a certain diet, and observing certain holy days). Judaizers believed that many Jewish laws - particularly those that served as 'boundary-markers,' differentiating those in God's covenant from those outside it - were still binding. The Apostle Paul deals with them at length in many letters; it is why he's so adamant that salvation comes by faith alone and not by 'works of the law.' The theory goes that the Judaizers were active in the churches of the Jewish diaspora, and here James is addressing them particularly: they are the ones who are 'slandering' their brethren and 'judging' them as outside the covenant because they were no longer adhering to Jewish boundary-markers and 'works of the law.' The Greek that James writes can be read, He that speaks evil of his brother judges his brother; and he that speaks evil of the law judges the law. The Judaizers were setting up their own tribunals in which they were simultaneously prosecutor, witness, law, lawgiver, and judge (and executioner, as well!).

It's likely that James' motivation in this text is to address either the Judaizers or cliques in the church that revolved around issues to be dealt with at the Jerusalem Council. This background doesn't mean the text has no meaning for us today. There's no excuse for slander or judgment in our churches. We have a tendency to slander brothers and sisters for assumed motives, supposed actions, and for differences in opinion that have nothing to do with the gospel. In politically polarized times, how many Christians are guilty of slandering their brethren who hold opposing political views? James opposes slander and defamation, but this doesn't exclude confronting those who are in sin, which is elsewhere commanded in scripture (Matthew 18.15-17; Titus 1.13, 2.15, 3.10). James is condemning careless, derogatory, critical, and slanderous accusations against others, and his doing so is consistent with scripture (Psalm 50.20; Proverbs 10.18; Romans 1.29; Titus 2.3). Those who do this are speaking evil of the law because they're disregarding God's law, which says not to do this. To do so is to 'judge' the law, because by refusing to submit to it's authority, you're submitting to your own (assumed) authority. You're placing yourself above the law. Thus, in an ironic twist, the Judaizers who presented themselves as defenders of God's law were actually placing themselves above it!

Dino of the Week: Agilisaurus

Type Species: Agilisaurus louderbecki

Classification: Dinosauria – Ornithischia – Neornithischia 

Time Period: Middle Jurassic

Location: China 

Diet: Herbivore 

The small, bipedal ornithischian Agilisaurus is known from an almost complete specimen from China. Its classification in the ornithischian family tree is unknown, and most scientists categorize it as a basal ornithopod (though some have considered it a basal marginocephalian, which eventually led to the ceratopsians and pachycephalosaurs). Agilisaurus was only about four feet long head-to-tail, stood two feet in height, and weighed around eighty pounds. It had a short head with large eyes, and comparisons between its sclerotic rings and those of modern birds and reptiles suggest it was diurnal (active at dawn and dusk) rather than cathemeral like most larger herbivorous dinosaurs (active throughout the day at short intervals). Its teeth were leaf-shaped and larger and pointed at the front. The teeth had wavy enamel, a characteristic previously attributed only to the ‘duck-billed’ hadrosaurs (a type of ornithopod). Its hind limbs were much longer than the forelimbs, and the thigh bone was short compared to the leg bones; these features indicate it was a fast runner that used its long tail for balance while ‘on the foot.’ 

family devotions: James 2.14 - 3.18

~ A Faith That Works ~

James 2.14-26

What is the benefit, my brothers, if someone says that he has faith but does not have works? That faith is not able to save him, is it? If a brother or a sister is poorly clothed and lacking food for the day, and one of you should say to them, “Go in peace, keep warm and eat well,” but does not give them what is necessary for the body, what is the benefit? Thus also faith, if it does not have works, is dead by itself. But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe, and shudder! But do you want to know, O foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless? Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? You see that faith was working together with his works, and by the works the faith was perfected. And the scripture was fulfilled that says, “And Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him for righteousness,” and he was called God’s friend. You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. And likewise was not Rahab the prostitute also justified by works when she welcomed the messengers and sent them out by a different route? For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.

James 2.14-26 is the natural conclusion to what James started writing about in this chapter: partiality. Some Jewish Christians were treating other Christians in varying degrees depending upon their social status; James told them, "This is not the Christ-like thing to do!" He went so far as to say that showing partiality was a transgression of God's law, putting them in the same camp as adulterers and murderers. He implored them to show mercy to one another: instead of treating others according to social stratification, they should treat others with mercy, regardless of their social standing or likableness. Now James goes on to point out that true Christian faith can't help but produce a lifestyle of obedience to Jesus; specifically, genuine Christian faith will result in striving to treat others the way God has treated us. There's a lot to this passage of scripture, and we will devote some time to fleshing it out, but it's easy to miss the forest for the trees. James' argument from the beginning of James 2 up to now is a coherent and logical whole: "If you're a Christian, you must show love and mercy to your fellow believers. If you treat them with partiality, you're disavowing the name of the one to whom you profess loyalty; but if you treat your brethren with love and mercy, then you are showing that your faith in Christ is genuine and made of the 'right stuff.'"

In 2 Corinthians 13.5, Paul tells the Corinthians, "Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith. Examine yourselves!" How do we follow Paul's injunction? By looking at our lives! It is possible to delude ourselves; indeed, we do it all the time! In our day and age, it is quite possible to be raised in the church and to profess belief in Christianity without ever truly committing oneself to Jesus. In many parts of the United States, identifying as Christian is a cultural rather than religious phenomenon; we identify as Christians because that's what the people around us do and expect, and we follow suit because we are, at heart, social creatures yearning to conform to the expectations of our heroes and peers. But true faith is more than mental assent; it requires a mental belief in the truth of the gospel message, to be sure, but it goes well beyond mere knowledge. Biblical 'faith in Jesus' is loyalty to Jesus or trusting submission to Jesus. This sort of faith - this 'saving faith' - can do no other than produce obedience to Jesus. This is why Jesus tells us that those who truly love him will obey him; it's why Paul speaks of 'the obedience of faith'; and it's why genuine faith will prove itself in the way we live our lives.

If we are truly committed to Jesus, our obedience to Jesus and the ways of God will be fleshed out in our daily lives. Our 'works' don't save us, but they testify to what is true about us. If we examine ourselves and see a lack of obedience, or even a lack of desire to obey or a lack of effort put towards obedience, then we would do well to question whether our faith in Jesus is genuine or a self-imposed delusion. A faith that doesn't 'work' is a 'dead' faith, and it is the sort of 'faith' that even demons have! The German reformer Martin Luther put it this way: 'If works and love do not blossom forth, it is not genuine faith, the gospel has not yet gained a foothold, and Christ is not yet rightly known.'

I'm reminded of the old adage that 'what we do is who we are.' Jesus says that our actions stem from our hearts. One of the peculiarities of drunkenness is that it reveals who we are: when people get drunk and do things that are 'out of character,' their actions aren't really out of character; rather, drunkenness removes our self-imposed inhibitions, those self-erected barriers that keep us from 'acting out' what goes on in our hearts. In this sense, drunkenness is great at revealing who we are. Jesus says that a good tree cannot produce bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot produce good fruit; the things we do and say spring forth from our hearts. When we become Christians, we are given new hearts and new spirits; God implants within us a desire to obey him, and he gives us the ability to do so by breaking our enslavement to sin and empowering us with the Holy Spirit. A Christian who does not desire to obey Jesus, and who thus makes no effort to obey him, is a Christian in name only; the metaphysical (or ultimate) reality for him or her has not changed - he or she remains dead in sin because their faith is not the sort of faith God requires and accepts.

James links one's faith with actions in life. He says, 'Do you see that faith was working together with [Abraham's] works, and by works [his] faith was made perfect?' James is saying that Abraham's faith was brought to its end, or its fullness, by his actions. Just as a fruit tree has not arrived at its goal until it bears fruit, faith has not reached its fullness until it demonstrates itself in a righteous life. Putting it another way, James says that we are justified by works and not faith alone. We must grant that this is confusing, because the testimony of scripture is that we are justified by faith and not works. Where does James get off, contradicting scripture?! We must grant that James' wordage is awkward, and we cannot say that we must perform works to be saved. This goes against the entire scope of scripture, in both the Old and New Testaments. When something odd sticks out, our rule is 'let scripture interpret scripture'; by doing this, we know that James absolutely cannot mean that our obedience saves us. What, then, is he saying? Ultimately he's saying the same thing that he said about Abraham's faith, that genuine faith will show itself true - reach its fullness - in our actions. The Greek word he uses for 'justify' has two general meanings; the first meaning pertains to acquittal, to declaring and treating a person as righteous; the second meaning pertains to vindication, or proof of righteousness. James has the second meaning in mind: he's saying that our faith is vindicated, shown true, by our works. This is a thoroughly biblical idea and not at all at odds with salvation by grace through faith apart from works.

We are justified - declared righteous by God - by faith.
Our faith is vindicated - shown true - by our works.
If our works do not vindicate our faith, then something is wrong.
It's really that simple.

On a closing note, the verb tenses James uses indicate a continued lack of works. He isn't saying that if you struggle to obey or screw up a lot, your faith is in jeopardy. He says in the beginning of the next chapter that we all stumble in many ways. The Christian's obedience to Jesus isn't perfect, and it's not a linear progression of sanctification; in other words, our obedience to Jesus, though increasing gradually as we 'grow into Christ' and mature in our faith, will often be marked by highs and lows. This shouldn't discourage us or make us doubt - but if our lives are consistently marked by a refusal to obey, then we should take James' words to heart and examine ourselves. If lacking in faith, we need to remedy the situation.

~ The Power of Words ~

James 3.1-12

Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness. 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. If we put bits into the mouths of horses so that they obey us, we guide their whole bodies as well. Look at the ships also: though they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs. So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things. How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire! And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell. For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by mankind, but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so. Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and salt water? Can a fig tree, my brothers, bear olives, or a grapevine produce figs? Neither can a salt pond yield fresh water.

Words have the power to strengthen, encourage, and build up - and they also have the power to weaken, discourage, and hurt. God expects us to be holy in the way that we speak. There are several sinful ways we can talk, and scripture highlights three big ones: gossip, slander, and cursing. Gossip is when we indulge in rumors about others and spread them without any respect for the truth or kindness towards those involved. Slander is when we cut people down with our words, either to their face or behind their backs. Cursing isn't using 'adult words' but verbally calling bad things down on someone. Because words have power, blessing someone means something and, in the inverse, cursing someone means something, as well. None of us are perfect in the way we speak. We are all tempted to gossip, slander, and curse others. James admits that no one is perfect and everyone, including Christians, fails to do what is right. He says that we all 'stumble' in many ways; to stumble is to sin against God. The Greek form of the word James uses emphasizes that everyone is continually failing to do what is right. 

But James isn't just telling us to watch what we say: he's pointing out that the way we talk - the way we use our wagging tongues - reflects what's going on in our hearts. Paring this back further, the way we talk is a test of our faith. A person's faith (or lack thereof) is demonstrated by the way a person talks. The tongue, then, is a tattletale that tells on our hearts and discloses who we really are. This is the point James is making in verses 11-12: 'Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and salt water? Can a fig tree, my brothers, bear olives, or a grapevine produce figs? Neither can a salt pond yield fresh water.' James is building upon his brother's teaching that our actions disclose the condition of our hearts. His brother Jesus says in Matthew 7.17-20: '[Every] good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore by their fruits you will know them.' Later on in the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus says, 'It is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth - this defiles a person.' (Matt 15.11). A few verses later, in vv. 16-19, he says, 'Are you also still without understanding? Do you not understand that everything that enters into the mouth goes into the stomach and is evacuated into the latrine? But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these defile the person. For from the heart come evil plans, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, [and] abusive speech.' Jesus' basic idea - which James echoes here - is that the way we live - the choices we make, the things we do, the way we talk - comes from the heart. Those whose hearts love God will tend towards a certain kind of lifestyle; those who do not love God will be bent towards an altogether different way of living. 

Why, though, is James so focused on the tongue? The tongue is a specific barometer of our faith. We see this in Romans 3.10-18, an infamous passage wherein the Apostle Paul showcases human depravity by revealing how sin has infected the core of every person. He writes:

  "There is none righteous, no, not one;
    there is none who understands;
    there is none who seeks after God.
  They have all turned aside;
    they have together become unprofitable; 
    there is none who does good, no, not one.
  Their throat is an open tomb;
    with their tongues they have practiced deceit;
    the poison of asps is under their lips;
    whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness.
  Their feet are swift to shed blood;
    destruction and misery are in their ways;
    and the way of peace they have not known.
  There is no fear of God before their eyes."

In the text above, Paul established that all people are not only sinners before God but sinful to their core. He shows this by utilizing what's called a gezerah shavah, a Hebrew technique whereby he shows how depravity has affected all the parts of the body. He mentions how peoples' feet are swift to do evil, but he pays particular attention to the way people speak as indicative of our fallen status. In the Bible, the tongue is described as wicked, deceitful, perverse, filthy, corrupt, flattering, slanderous, gossiping, blasphemous, foolish, boasting, complaining, cursing, contentious, sensual, and vile. The tongue is a focal point and vivid indicator of our sinful hearts, and no one is exempt. No wonder, then, that James calls the tongue an 'unruly evil.' The Greek word he uses in verse 8 for 'unstable' refers to a wild animal fighting fiercely against the restraints of captivity; though many wild beasts can be tamed, the tongue cannot be tamed - at least absent the work of God in our hearts, which is exactly what Jesus promises us in the Spirit.

Because Christians are filled with the Spirit, who works inside us to transform our hearts and lives so that we can be obedient to God, Christians are able to mature in self-control and holy talk. Christians ought to be distinct in their talk from other people. This isn't to say that Christians will be perfect in their speech - James actually says the opposite of this! - but it does mean that if we claim to belong to Christ, that claim should be validated by the way we use our tongues.

~ Wisdom from Above ~

James 3.13-18

Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom. But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice. But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.

James contrasts two types of wisdom: earthly wisdom (which is also unspiritual and demonic) and heavenly wisdom (the wisdom 'from above'). Before launching into an examination of these contrasting types of wisdom, we must know what wisdom is. The Old Testament wisdom literature (the Book of Job to the Song of Solomon) divides wisdom into two realms: man's and God's. Each approaches wisdom differently. At the heart of wisdom is the question, 'How shall we live?' Wisdom is about living skillfully. The wisdom of man seeks to use truth and cleverness to accomplish one's goals; in this vein, 'wisdom' is manipulative; it's about how one manipulates life by shrewd living to reach one's goals. Politicians are wise with worldly wisdom to lie through their teeth, because doing so will help them attain their political ends. The wisdom from above - or 'godly wisdom' - seeks to live skillfully, but it understands 'wise living' in the context of God and His commands. Godly wisdom answers to a higher authority and approaches wisdom through a higher paradigm. The godly wise person, then, isn't the shrewd manipulator but the one who submits to God and obeys Him. This 'true' wisdom has less to do with factual knowledge than with behavior: wisdom is skill in living righteously. 

James asks, 'Who is wise and understanding among you?' The Greek word he uses for 'understanding' can be better translated 'skilled in the art of living'; thus he's asking, 'Who among you is truly wise and skilled in the art of living?' The person who answers 'Me!' should show his wisdom and skill in living by practicing good works (which refers to obedience to God and doing good for others) that are done not for self-seeking ends or self-glorification ('Look how wonderful I am!') but in the 'meekness of wisdom.' Meekness is the opposite of arrogance and self-promotion; the ancient Greeks understood it as 'power under control.' James is saying that those who are truly wise and skilled in living will obey God and follow His will for their lives for the sole purpose of pleasing Him. They don't do good works to look good or as stepping stones to their ultimate personal goals; the wise person practices good works because it is the right thing to do.

This godly kind of wisdom stands in sharp contrast to the wisdom of the world, which harbors 'bitter envy' (a harsh, resentful attitude towards others) and self-seeking hearts. Those whose lives are characterized by bitter envy and self-seeking hearts are rooted in the wisdom of the world, which James identifies as being 'sensual' (in that it is rooted in one's basest desires) and 'demonic' (in that it is promoted by those spiritual powers opposed to God and His kingdom). When this warped type of wisdom is practiced, the fruit isn't 'skillful living' but confusion and moral chaos. An illustration of this would be the fanatical pro-choice movement when it comes to the subject of abortion. Earthly wisdom says that women have every right to make choices for their bodies, even to the point of killing unborn children growing inside them. The root of this conviction is that women should not have their lives dictated by others, but this earthly wisdom also means that children - who are human - can be exterminated at another person's behest. Earthly wisdom wants people to be jailed for not feeding their dogs the highest nutritional dog food while it praises the murder of children. This is the sort of wisdom that leads to confusion and chaos. Heavenly wisdom, however, is of a different caliber altogether. James says that godly wisdom is pure (morally right), peaceable (in that it produces harmony rather than conflict), and gentle. The gentle person will submit to all kinds of mistreatment and difficulty with an attitude of kind, courteous, patient humility without any thought of hatred or revenge. James says heavenly wisdom is willing to yield; the Greek term he uses describes someone who is teachable, compliant, easily persuaded, and who willingly submits to military discipline or moral and legal standards. For believers, this defines obedience to God's standards. Those who are wise from above are merciful to others and show impartiality; such a person is consistent, unwavering, and undivided in his commitment and conviction and doesn't make unfair distinctions. Those who have this kind of wisdom show it in the 'fruit of righteousness,' which is holy living and obedience to God's commands.

We have, then, two kinds of wisdom: earthly and heavenly. Earthly wisdom is characterized by self-seeking patterns of behavior, conflict among people, and bitter envy. It produces confusion and moral chaos. Heavenly wisdom is characterized by holiness and obedience to God. Keeping in mind that wisdom is about living skillfully, we can look at 'godly wisdom' from a different angle: godly wisdom results in good behavior and obedience to God, but it is also more than that. The ancient Greek philosophers, in their pursuit of wisdom, identified as wisdom as the steps taken to lead a fully flourishing human life. Various philosophical schools - such as the Epicurians and the Stoics - sought to answer the same question in different ways: 'What is the best way for humans to get the most out of life while being true to human nature?' Heavenly wisdom seeks to answer the very same question, and the answer given in the Bible helps us understand what 'right living' is all about. The Bible teaches that we are created in God's image. This means that God commissioned us to be His standard-bearers, those who advance His word and rule through the world. As His image-bearers, we are to live a certain way, namely the way He designed us to live. When we make our own wants and desires key in our hearts, we're sinning because we're failing to live as God designed us to live; when we live according to our own twisted moral codes, we're sinning because we're not living according to God's design. Sin is basically 'missing the mark,' and it means missing the mark not only of God's standards but also, on a deeper level, of missing the mark of true human living. When Jesus died on the cross and was raised from the dead, he not only enabled us to be forgiven of the guilt of our sins but also defeated evil so that the chains that bind to sub-human (or sinful) living are undone. We are filled with God's Spirit who empowers us to obey God. Much of the Christian life is about getting back into the rhythm of who God created us to be. We're learning the rhythms of relationship with God, of expanding His kingdom, of holy (or truly human) living. Ultimately we're learning how to be human again, as God created humans to be, and when we're given 'resurrection bodies' in the coming new heavens and new earth, we will be fully what God intended us to be from the start. In the here and now we're moving that direction, but we're not there yet. All this is to say that the 'wisdom from above' is the wisdom that guides us into a lifestyle fitting for human beings. Because God created us as humans and designed us to live a certain way, 'wise living' - or living in accordance with the reality of who we are as God's creatures - is the true path to fully flourishing human living. It is the answer to Greek philosophy, and this is what the Bible's getting at when we're told that we have 'liberty' in Christ. Woodrow Wilson captured the spirit of this liberty when he wrote:

I have long had an image in my mind of what constitutes liberty. Suppose that I were building a great piece of powerful machinery, and suppose that I should so awkwardly and unskillfully assemble the parts of it so that every time one part tried to move, it would be interfered with by the others, and the whole thing would buckle up and just be checked. Liberty for the several parts would consist in the best possible assembly and adjustment of them all, would it not? If you want the great piston of the engine to run with absolute freedom, give it absolutely perfect alignment and adjustment with the other parts of the machine, so that it is free, not because it is let alone or isolated, but because it has been associated most skillfully and carefully with the other parts of the great structure. 

What is liberty? You say of the locomotive that it runs free. What do you mean? You mean that its parts are so assembled and adjusted that friction is reduced to a minimum, and that it has perfect adjustment. We say of a boat skimming the water with light foot, 'How free she runs,' when we mean, how perfectly she is adjusted to the force of the wind, how perfectly she obeys the great breath out of the heavens that fills her sails. Throw her head up into the wind and see how she will halt and stagger, how every sheet will shiver and her whole frame be shaken, how instantly she is 'in irons,' in the expressive phrase of the sea. She is free only when you have let her fall off again and have recovered once more her nice adjustment to the forces she must obey and cannot defy. Human freedom consists in perfect adjustments of human interests and human activities and human energies.

In the same vein as Wilson perceives, human liberty isn't found in anarchy, isolation, or self-autonomy; rather, it is found in being in rhythm - perfectly adjusted - with what it means to be truly human as God's created image-bearers. True human liberty is found when we first acknowledge that we were designed for a purpose and to live a certain way then when we adjust our interests, activities, and energies around that reality. True liberty is found when we acknowledge that we are created by God for His purposes and submit ourselves wholeheartedly to His design. When we do this, we are on the road to the fully flourishing human life. This isn't just smart: it's wise.

the month in snapshots

the girls all dolled up for Easter!

a few candid shots of the little ones

Naomi loves snapshots with Daddy

Ash led the girls through some fun Earth Day Activities

I was on Glenway for work and decided to check out my old stomping grounds.
All the dormitories are gone; all that remains is President's Hall, the Worship Center,
and the library. 

family devotions: James 2.1-13

~ No Partiality ~

James 2.1-8

My brothers and sisters, do you with your acts of favoritism really believe in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ? For if a person with gold rings and in fine clothes comes into your assembly, and if a poor person in dirty clothes also comes in, and if you take notice of the one wearing the fine clothes and say, “Have a seat here, please,” while to the one who is poor you say, “Stand there,” or, “Sit at my feet,” have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts? Listen, my beloved brothers and sisters. Has not God chosen the poor in the world to be rich in faith and to be heirs of the kingdom that he has promised to those who love him? But you have dishonored the poor. Is it not the rich who oppress you? Is it not they who drag you into court? Is it not they who blaspheme the excellent name that was invoked over you? You do well if you really fulfill the royal law according to the scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

James is telling Christians, "Don't treat one sort of person better than other sorts of people." To do so is to show favoritism or partiality. James isn't, however, claiming that everyone is the same. It's ridiculous to say such a thing, when there are obvious distinctions between people. 

There are black people and there are white people. 
There are smart people and there are dumb people. 
There are beautiful people and there are ugly people. 
There are poor people and there are rich people. 
There are men and there are women. 

The Bible never tells us that there are no distinctions, only that all people in every distinction have the same worth and value before God. In Galatians 3.26-28, Paul says, "For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus." In all the examples Paul gives, one of each pair is (in Paul's day and age, if not mirrored in ours) esteemed (and treated) as better than the other. Paul isn't saying that there's no such thing as Jew or Greek, or slave or free, or male or female; just look around and you'll see these distinctions everywhere. What Paul's saying is that in Christ, we are all equal. In Christ, our primary identity is that of brothers and sisters in the family of God. In every pair Paul presents, despite what society says, both are to be treated with equal value and worth. 

Men are not to be favored over women (though, in our day and age, the inverse may need to be emphasized); Greeks are not to be favored over Jews; free people are not to be favored over slaves. This is because Christians, regardless of their station in life, are all 100% children of God. We are all brothers and sisters on equal footing, with equal worth and value. None is better than the other, and it's important THAT WE LIVE LIKE IT. It's in our nature to treat some people better than others, but this part of our nature is sinful. God doesn't show partiality, and neither should we. We will come into contact with all sorts of people in the world and in the church, and we are called as Christians to love them regardless of their station in life (or even, dare we say it, their likability). None of us are likable all the time, but God loves us (and even likes us!) all of the time; and we need to reflect that love outwards to the world and especially to our brothers and sisters in Christ.

When we show partiality by treating some people as more worthy of our attention and love than others, we are sinning. James is quite clear about that. Instead of showing partiality, we are to love our neighbors as ourselves. This command comes straight from Jesus; it's not just a cute, pithy statement. But what does it mean to love people? Christian love is rooted in self-sacrifice. It's about giving yourself to others, treating others as if they are more important than you. Christian love is about looking out for other peoples' interests over our own. Worldly love is based on feelings and infatuation, and it ultimately revolves around the self; this kind of love is about getting, not giving: "What does this person do for me?" When the person we love stops fulfilling us the way we want, the world says to walk away; but Christian love doesn't walk away, it just keeps on loving, it keeps on giving. What this means is that we're to treat others with kindness, respect, and value. We're to give of ourselves - our time, our energy, our money, even our own selves - to promote the wholeness of others. We're to love others the way God loves us, forgiving them and looking out for their best interests. And we're to do this even to those people in our lives who aren't likable; even more, we're to do this to our enemies. If we treat people according to how they love us, or how they benefit us, or according to what they bring to the table, our love is worldly in nature, and by definition it shows favoritism and partiality. Such a worldly love goes against what God demands of His people.

~ Sin, Transgression, and the Law of Liberty ~

James 2.9-12

For whoever keeps the whole law but stumbles in one point only has become guilty of all of it. For the one who said 'Do not commit adultery' also said 'Do not murder.' Now if you do not commit adultery but you do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. Thus speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law of liberty.

James says that those who break one point of God's law become guilty of breaking all of it. Though he quotes the Mosaic laws against adultery and murder, he has in mind here the showing of partiality. Those who show partiality or favoritism are as guilty before God as if they'd committed adultery or murdered! 'Transgression' means breaking the law, but it's not the same thing as sin. All transgression of God's law is sin, but not all sin is transgression. To 'sin' is to 'miss the mark' of living - in thought and deed - as is fitting for God's image-bearing creature. This involves both things we do wrong and things we don't do that are right. Breaking even one of God's laws renders us guilty before God, the ultimate Judge. While God detests some sins more than others - He has a particular loathing, for example, of divorce, homosexual activities, and the abuse of children - ALL sin puts us in a guilty standing before God. The seriousness of showing partiality is emphasized by putting it on the same level as murder and adultery. 

James says that we are to speak and act (i.e. live) according to the 'law of liberty.' This law of liberty is elsewhere called the law of freedom or the law of Christ, and this law is, simply, the way of living that God expects of His image-bearing creatures. Thus James is saying, "Be watchful of the things you say and do, because you will be judged according to the standard that God has set." But why does James choose to call it the 'law of liberty'? Perhaps he wishes to distance it from the Mosaic Law; the Mosaic Law was given to the Israelites, and much of it has been abolished by Christ, since much of it was tailored towards keeping the Jewish people intact so that they would be ready when Messiah came. The 'law of liberty,' in contrast to the Mosaic Law, is all about ethics (the Mosaic Law, while containing a lot of ethics, also contained a lot of laws made redundant by Christ's sacrifice and the establishment of the New Covenant). The rules and regulations that Christians are to follow aren't meant to constrain us; they're designed to enable us to flourish. God designed us to operate in certain ways; there's a particular manner of life that is appropriate for human beings, and when we operate in contrary ways (by sin and transgression), we're dysfunctional and sabotaging our attempts at a fully-flourishing and abundant life. 

But why, again, does he call it liberty? Why is Christ's law - the law of the New Covenant - a law of liberty? Here, perhaps, our modern connotations with the word 'liberty' do us a disservice. Nowadays liberty or freedom are taken to mean a license to do as we please. This isn't what these words mean in the biblical sense. Look at it this way: in the days of great sailing ships, a ship was said to be 'at liberty' on the sea when it's sails were unfurled and it was running with the wind rather than against the wind. By running with the wind, the ship was able to reach its full potential; it was doing precisely that which it was designed to do. In the same way, human beings are 'at liberty' when they are reaching their full potential and living in the way that they were created to live. The 'law of liberty,' when embraced, leads to a fully-flourishing human existence; when we run against the wind of God's directives and design, we're failing to experience the life God wishes us to have.

~ Show Mercy ~

James 2.13

For judgment is merciless to the one who has not practiced mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.

In Matthew 5.7 Jesus says that the merciful will be shown mercy. This is a thoroughly biblical idea: when the Final Judgment takes place, and we are judged for the things we did during our lives, the way we treated others will be taken into account. God will be merciful towards those who showed mercy to others, but he will strictly judge 'by the book' those who did not. This isn't to say, of course, that the merciful will be saved by their mercy (for salvation comes only through Jesus), but that the merciful outside Christ will be judged less severely than if they hadn't shown mercy (though their judgment will remain, unquestionably, a negative experience). Mercy carries a certain currency with God. He esteems mercy. Mercy is a reflection of God's own heart, and those who have not been severely dehumanized are able to show mercy. Christians, despite their state before conversion, are filled with the Spirit and enabled to show mercy - and God expects us to show mercy, because He has shown mercy to us. Our mercy towards others doesn't justify us, but it will certainly garnish us some rewards in the new heavens and new earth.

"What, though, is mercy?" If we are to show mercy to others, it'd be helpful if we knew precisely what 'mercy' is all about. Mercy is compassion or forgiveness towards someone whom you would be justified in punishing or causing harm to. Grace is different than mercy; it is 'mercy on steroids.' Mercy is sparing someone from something bad; grace is giving something good to someone who deserves the opposite. Mercy is the removal of a negative consequence; grace is both the removal of the negative consequence and the addition of a positive blessing. We can see how mercy and grace work differently by analogy. Say a man stands trial for grand theft auto, and his due penalty is five years in the state penitentiary. If the judge pardons him so that he doesn't have to serve jail time, the judge is practicing mercy towards the thief; but if the judge not only pardons him but also gives him a Mercedes free-of-charge, that's grace.

God shows us mercy by pardoning us our sin so that we don't have to pay for it - but then he goes a step beyond and shows us grace by adopting us as his children and gifting us with all sorts of spiritual blessings and making room for us in his new heavens and new earth. We as Christians have received mercy, so we need to show mercy. Remember how Jesus said that if we don't forgive others, then we ourselves won't be forgiven? The point he's making is that those who have been forgiven by God, and who know the depth of that forgiveness, have a natural (or should we say supernatural?) bent towards forgiving others, even when it hurts. In like manner, those who have been shown mercy by Jesus will be predisposed towards showing mercy to others. They will speak and act in a way that is consistent with what they claim to believe; those who trust in God, who are in Christ, will show mercy to others. Of course, they won't be perfect in showing mercy. Christians still sin, in this and other ways. But trust in the God of mercy drives us to show mercy, at least as a matter of principle. One who never shows mercy, or rarely shows it, is not one who trusts in Christ, and God will not judge that person with mercy.

family devotions: James 1.19-27

~ "Don't be an ass." ~

James 1.19-20

Understand this, my dear brothers: every person must be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger, for human anger does not accomplish the righteousness of God. 

James tells us we are not to be quick to speak, slow to listen, and quick to get angry--a tall order, given that these qualities encapsulate our natural bent without God's Spirit working in our hearts. One might point out that we see Jesus being angry in the Gospels, to the point of turning over money-changing tables in the Temple and driving people out with a knotted whip, so how can anger be so bad? We're supposed to be like Jesus, after all! Here we must distinguish between righteous anger and ungodly anger (the latter being that which James is writing about). When we see Jesus 'over-reacting' in the Temple, that's righteous anger at work. Righteous anger doesn't express itself in a 'fit of rage'; Jesus' actions in the Temple were well-planned and well-executed (it takes a hot minute to make a knotted whip, after all). Jesus didn't act from a wounded heart; rather, he acted from a heart passionate for God and upset against injustice. In the later New Testament, we are given guidelines for how to live with anger: we can be angry if we do not sin, if we don't go to sleep with it, if it's anger from God and not man's anger, if it achieves righteousness, if it comes slowly. But in the words of Jim Wilson, "Do you get the feeling that if these qualifications are met, the amount of anger would be cut drastically?"

Ninety-nine percent of the time, we can assume that the anger we feel building up in our hearts isn't due to injustice ('righteous anger') but to being angry that our preferences aren't being met. This is ungodly anger, and it is naturally quick to speak, slow to listen, and quick to get angry. One of the worst kinds of anger is a 'fit of rage,' which, in the Bible, is seen as the exact opposite of how a Christian should be. Jim Wilson writes a poignant piece on this kind of anger:

A 'fit of rage' is an act of the sinful nature. We see it clearly in very young children. We call it a tantrum. As the child gets older, we might say in a tormenting way, 'Temper, temper, temper!' This does not normally moderate the explosion. Other expressions that describe fits of rage are 'losing it' and 'going ballistic.' These euphemisms for fits of rage are descriptive, but do not sound as sinful. 'Short fuse' is another euphemism for a person who is quick to anger. All of us know people like that. Some people take pride in having a short fuse. Their friends and relatives have learned how to walk softly or to give them a wide berth. These people terrorize their families or hold them hostage to their anger, which might erupt any time. The opposite of the acts of the sinful nature is the fruit of the Spirit. It is easy to see that self-control is the opposite of a fit of rage. But it is not the only opposite. A person in a fit of rage is not loving, joyful, peaceful, patient, kind, good, faithful, or gentle. A fit of rage undoes all the fruit of the Spirit. This is why it is natural for a person not born of the Spirit.

When we feel anger bubbling inside us, we need to stop and ask ourselves, "Why am I angry?" Often we'll answer by focusing on an indirect cause--we're angry because someone stole our parking space, or the person coming onto the highway off the on-ramp is going ten under, or it's just slightly raining and traffic's bogging down. Often the indirect reasons will be far more personal, as anger is most ripe when it involves the people who are close to us. The direct reason, which gets to the core of why we're angry, is more often than not the fact that our preferences weren't met. My preference was getting that empty spot in the busy mall parking lot; my preference was keeping my speed up on the highway; my preference was traffic moving at a decent and respectable pace. What it boils down to is loving ourselves too much: "This isn't what I wanted, people aren't accommodating my desires, therefore I am angry." 

An example from my own daily life: one afternoon Zoey got home from school and I had just picked up some Subway for lunch. I felt ravenous, and I desperately wanted to chow down. Before I ate, however, I needed to help Zoey knock out her homework (if we don't tackle it immediately, she'll get into the rhythm of play-time and it'll be like pulling teeth getting her back into 'school' mode). Zoey is very particular about the way she does things, practically borderline O.C.D., and that afternoon she was taking an ungodly long time to get her things done. I was hungry and grouchy, and I snapped at her to the point where tears welled up in her eyes. Not a good moment for me. Immediately I knew I'd messed up, and I took a few breaths and confessed my sin to her, informing her that it wasn't right for me to get angry with her just because I was grouchy. She forgave me and we went about her homework with absolutely no problems. To this day she remembers that moment (but thankfully she remembers my confession of sin more than the outburst itself; it's good to show your children that you're not perfect and to confess your sins towards them). The reason I got angry was because my preferences weren't being met; that was not righteous anger, and when such anger wells up inside us, we must fight it with self-awareness and prayer.

~ Doers vs. Hearers ~

James 1.21-25

Therefore, putting aside all moral uncleanness and wicked excess, welcome with humility the implanted message which is able to save your souls. But be doers of the message and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves, because if anyone is a hearer of the message and not a doer, this one is like someone staring at his own face in a mirror, for he looks at himself and goes away and immediately forgets what sort of person he was. But the one who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues to do it, not being a forgetful hearers but a doer who acts, this one will be blessed in what he does.

James just wrote about how we need to forsake the natural inclinations of our sinful self (to be quick to speak, slow to listen, and quick to get angry), and now he exhorts the recipients of his letter to embrace and live in accordance with the good news of the gospel. The Good News is that the kingdom of God is available to us, that in Christ we can live and breathe and participate in God's kingdom, and in order to do so we need to put into action what it means to be kingdom-minded and kingdom-focused in thought and behavior. Christianity isn't about rules and regulations, but it is about living as is fitting for human beings created in the image of God, and that takes self-reflection and self-determination: the willingness to acknowledge the true state of our hearts and the work of the will to pursue higher things. That is the gist of what James is saying, but we would do well to unpack this further.

"What is the implanted message we are to receive?" James is speaking of the gospel, the Good News, and here we must give clarification. A lot of people think the good news is that "Jesus died for our sins." But saying that is like saying the point of a car is having an engine. The purpose of a car is getting from point A to B, and the engine makes it run; similarly, the gospel is about the availability of reconciliation with God and life in His kingdom, both now and forever. The forgiveness of sins and the breaking of the power of sin over our lives, which is available to us because of Jesus' death and resurrection, is necessary for our reconciliation with God and life in His kingdom. The Atonement is the engine that drives the good news of the availability of the kingdom. The point of the Good News is that we can have a relationship with God in Jesus. The point, it must be said, isn't doctrine. It isn't about learning new things, though that's part of it. Sadly a lot of Christians are devoted to biblical teachings rather than Jesus as a person; this is a dry Christian existence--it is a sort of faith by which we are saved 'by a hair'--and it doesn't translate into a changed life.

"How might we deceive ourselves?" Many of those who put doctrine before Jesus seem to live double lives: a pious life in the public eye and deep-seeded sins behind closed doors. This is because mental assent to doctrine doesn't get to the heart, and it's from a transformed heart that we are able to walk in God's ways and obey all Jesus commanded. In Matthew 7.15-23 Jesus says that on the Last Day, many will be dismayed. There will be many who did all the right things, even super religious things, who will be cast from Jesus. "Depart from me," Jesus will tell them, "for I never knew you." Being a Christian, a disciple of Jesus, involves the heart, and even the right religion can be used for the wrong reasons: even in our divided culture and the mockery often leveled against Christians, the United States remains a strongly Christian nation, and being a Christian is often part of the cultural fabric. A cultural Christianity will perform the right actions to be seen as upstanding in the church community; it can be embraced from reasons other than the heart. But it remains the heart that matters: "Are we devoted to the Living Lord, as a person, or to the teachings of Christianity?" Are we giving mental assent to a particular worldview, or are we trusting in Jesus and pursuing him? We must examine ourselves, for we are great at self-deception. We unwittingly believe the best about ourselves, and at times we must assume the worse. The proof of our faith is in the pudding:

Do our lives show the evidence of the Spirit's work?
Are we producing, in increasing measure, the fruit of the Spirit?

If we claim to belong to Jesus, but he is not at work in our lives, then we may be self-deceived. It happens a lot, and the consequences will be dire for those blithely ignorant of their self-deception. Thus it is worth a warning that is echoed by St. Paul in 2 Corinthians 13.5: "Examine yourself, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?--unless indeed you fail to meet the test!" It is also echoed by St. Peter in 2 Peter 1.10-22: "Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election" (emphasis mine). James, Peter, and Paul all had something to say about this. We'd do well to pay attention.

"What is the perfect law of liberty?" The law of liberty is something that Christians 'look into', or meditate upon. It is the way of obedience that Jesus calls us to, but because 'liberty' is often used for 'freedom' in modern parlance, equating it with obedience doesn't feel natural. It is this misunderstanding of liberty that makes James' terminology confusing. Though 'liberty' has become synonymous with moral freedom and autonomy (doing what we want when we want and how we want to do it), this is a new definition of the term, a modern way of understanding it. Liberty in the biblical sense is the type of liberty spoken of by sailors. When a ship is 'at liberty', it is 'free' in that it is sailing with the wind rather than against it. The wind is filling its sails, and it's maximizing its power. It's sailing the way it was designed to sail. True liberty isn't living life however the hell we please; it's about having the power and ability to do what we were designed to do, and that liberty is found in trusting and obeying Jesus. This is what we, as God's image-bearers, are designed to do. To not trust and obey Jesus is to sail against the wind, or crosswise to the wind, with the result that we are, at the least, blown far off-course from being the people we were created to be - and at the worst, we flounder. Doing the 'law of liberty' is doing as God commands, so that we live as we are designed to live. And living this way leads to blessedness.

"What does it mean to be blessed?" It's been said that to be 'blessed' is to be happy, and that's not far from the mark. All of us are in search of what the Greeks called eudaimonia, a concept that is often translated as 'happiness' but which is more closely aligned with fully-flourishing human living. Greek philosophy sought how one could best live a fully-flourishing existence. This ultimate state-of-being is what the Jews called 'blessedness.' Blessedness, then, is what we all pursue throughout our life--'the search for joy,' as one theologian put it--but it is found only in Jesus. In Luke 11.28 Jesus says that blessedness is found in him and, more particularly, in following him. To follow Jesus is to accept him as your Master and give yourself to him as his student. A disciple of Jesus is nothing less than Jesus' student--or 'apprentice' or 'padawan'--who is actively and determinedly learning how to live from him. The followers of Jesus were called 'Disciples' until about a decade after Jesus' ascension; then they started to be called 'Christians' (or 'little-Christs') because they aimed to live as he lived and do as he did. The Christian life--the life of discipleship to Jesus and life in him--is the Good Life. Pursuing worldly things--the pride of life, the lusts of the flesh, and the lusts of the eyes--doesn't provide the fully-flourishing life, only cheap imitations of it. But living in God and for his kingdom opens the door to a life of love, joy, peace, and contentment. It was this very fact that made the early church so appetizing in a culture hostile to God. Christians were radically different, living like their Master and bringing him into all walks of life, and people saw the beauty and goodness of that life and craved it for themselves.

~ True Religion ~

James 1.26-27

If anyone thinks he is religious, although he does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person's religion is worthless. Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to look after orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.

In the previous verses James warned against self-deception and urged his hearers to find a fully-flourishing life in obedience to Jesus. Building upon the reality of self-deception (believing we are Christians when we're not), James links a refusal to 'bridle the tongue' (to keep watch over the things we say) with self-deception; he does this because watching over your words is one of the first things submission to Jesus results in. At the same time, bridling the tongue and taking care of those in need and being unstained by the world are not 'Christian laws' by which we're saved but signposts to what it looks like to live in obedience to God in his kingdom. True religion, then, shows itself in trying to live a life that pleases God.

Much has been said regarding self-deception, and all of us struggle at times to not say things in anger or to gossip or slander others. We may be nervous in asking ourselves the right Christian: "Am I a Christian?" It's a good question to ask; indeed, it's elemental to examining ourselves to see if we are 'in the faith' as we claim. It isn't a question we should fear, for the 'litmus test' of belonging to Jesus (of being saved) is simple: "Am I trying to follow Jesus?" Remember that the name 'Christian' (found only three times in the Bible) was coined to describe those who strove to live like Jesus and obey his commands. The term refers to a disciple, or student, of Jesus, so to ask "Am I a Christian?" is to ask "Am I a student of Jesus trying to learn from him how to live?" There is a difference between a 'cultural Christian' - one whose religion is a cultural 'boundary marker' in which he finds his place in society - and a disciple of Jesus. The cultural Christian may go to church and do very religious things, but his heart isn't upon Jesus; a disciple of Jesus may struggle to go to church and may suck at doing religious things, but he is actively relying upon Jesus and learning from him. You can be a good disciple or a bad disciple, but you'll still be a disciple--so long as you're actively trying to learn from him and obey him. 

family devotions: James 1.13-18

~ A Word on Temptation ~

James 1.13-15

No one who is being tempted should say, 'I am being tempted by God,' for God cannot be tempted by evil, and he himself tempts no one. But each one is tempted when he is dragged away and enticed by his own desires. Then desire, after it has conceived, gives birth to sin, and sin, when it is brought to completion, gives birth to death.

James advises Christians on the nature of temptation and sin. When we are in the midst of trials and difficulties, when we are suffering or stretched thin or at the end of our rope, we're more inclined to turn to things that will harm us rather than help us in our effort to cope. It is easier to obey God and withstand temptation when things are going our way; it's fitting, then, that after writing about how we ought to endure trials, James talks about temptations. I've noticed in my own life that when things are hard, my desires for wrong things seem to magnify.

Sin is the transgression (or breaking) of God's will in thought, word, or deed. When we're physically born, we inherit from Adam a sinful nature with a propensity to sin. The one word that best characterizes sin--the flesh, our human nature--is selfishness. The sin of Adam centered on setting his own will and interests against God's; and that's been the center of sin ever since. In Mark 7.20-23, Jesus makes it clear that our basic problem isn't what's outside us but what's inside us; in other words, sin isn't just something we do, it's something we are. This is why the Apostle Paul can say in Romans 7 that, outside Christ, we are 'enslaved to sin'; even if we desire to do good, we're unable to do so. The best of our deeds are stained and spoiled by the selfishness and sinfulness that runs like sap through the marrow of our bones. Jesus' death on the cross attacked sin in two primary ways: first, through his death we are forgiven of the guilt we've acquired by our sin; and second, when we participate in his death and resurrection in baptism, our enslavement to sin is broken, and we're given the Holy Spirit. We are reborn spiritually and given a new heart, but that doesn't mean we won't have evil desires. It means that, over time, God works in our hearts so that we desire sin less and less, and he enables us, through the empowering presence of the Spirit, to resist sin and obey God. 

Temptation is not evil desire; it is what happens when evil desire meets opportunity. We are tempted when we have the opportunity to satisfy a sinful desire. When that desire begins to bubble up inside us, we need to kill it then and there. We must turn to God in prayer and remove ourselves from the opportunity to sin if we can. If we linger on the desire, and tease ourselves with it, the end result, almost always, is that we give in to those desires. When we give in to those desires, we sin, and the consequence of this, according to James, is death. Sin is harmful, sowing death and decay, and it does this in three particular ways:

First, it is because of sin that we suffer physical death, as we see in the narrative of mankind's fall from the glory of God in Genesis 3. 

Second, it is because of sin that we suffer spiritual death: sin separates us from the holy Creator. When we become Christians, the guilt of sin is forgiven and its enslaving power is broken, so that our relationship with God is restored; however, if we as Christians persist in sin, we will experience an anemic relationship with him. We cannot expect God's peace and joy and abundant work in our lives if we persist in sin. 

This leads to the third type of death: it affects our quality of life. Sin naturally sows death and destruction; it steals our peace and joy, it brings all sorts of problems into our lives, and it strains our relationships. Truly, obeying God isn't just good for our souls; it's good for our lives, as well. 

~ God Provides ~

James 1.16-17

Do not be deceived, my dear brothers. Every good good and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of change. 

In our family we thank God for our food at every meal. Lately this traditional practice has come under attack by non-Christians who say we shouldn't be thanking God for our food; we should be thanking the farmers. What these critics fail to see if that the food on our plate is indeed from God, even if God delivers it through farmers. We believe this because God sustains the universe and keeps everything going. Hebrews 1.3 tells us that God upholds the universe by the word of his power; thus everything from galaxies to microbes, and the ecosystems on which the 'circle of life' depends, is sustained by the Creator. If he were to step back, to remove his sustaining hand, everything would fall apart. One theologian puts it this way: 

"As human beings, we take the predictability of the created order for granted. When we go to bed, none of us expects that the sun might not rise the next morning. We plan for the future and expect the future to be there when it is time to act. We take steps and never think that we will disintegrate into millions of whirling atoms and fly off into space when our feet hit the ground. Everyone expects the world to hold together today, tomorrow, and throughout the rest of their lives. Despite its claim of scientific infallibility, naturalistic materialism ([the idea that] the physical universe is all that there is) provides no basis for any of these assumptions. If everything arose by chance, everything could fall apart tomorrow by chance. One random atom or 'maverick molecule,' as Dr. R.C. Sproul has said, could throw everything back into chaos. Naturalistic materialists who rely on the continuing existence and regularity of the natural order for their study and experiments betray an awareness of God that they are suppressing (Rom. 1:18-32). Only the Lord's sustaining hand gives us reason to depend on the regularity of the natural order."

The food on our plate, the air in our lungs, the water in our cup, all of these are good and perfect gifts from God--and they are gifts not only to his children, but also to those who disbelieve him, those who mock him, even those who hate him. This just goes to show God's great love even towards those who would sooner see God eradicated than worship him. In Matthew 5.45 Jesus says that God 'causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and the unjust.' Jesus is speaking of what theologians call 'common grace': God provides the things people need without them having to earn it. This showcases God's love and mercy now, and on the day of judgment it will make the judgment of those who have rejected God all the more severe, for they bite at the hand that feeds them. Even those who don't believe in God, even those who have set themselves against him tooth and nail, live and breathe and have their being in him. Because of our sin, God would be just in refusing us rain or sun or the necessities of life; thus when he provides even for those who loathe him, it's an act of grace.

~ We are the First Fruits ~

James 1.18

By his will [God] gave birth to us through the message of truth, so that we should be a kind of first fruits of his creatures.

James says that Christians--those who are born again in Christ--are a kind of first fruits of God's creatures. His meaning needs a lot of unpacking, and the first step is to jump back into the Old Testament. Israel was divided into twelve tribes, and one of these tribes, the Levites, were tasked with being the priests of God's covenant. They were the ones who served in the Jerusalem Temple and in the outlying towns and villages. They didn't work run-of-the-mill jobs, so they needed to be supported by their fellow Israelites. In order to accomplish this, God ordered the Israelites to give the 'cream of the crop' to the Levitical priests. Their best products - the 'first fruits' - were to be given to the Levites so that they could be sustained as they operated as God's priests. When we come to the New Testament, the phrase is picked up in light of what Jesus has done on the cross.

Jesus' death isn't just about forgiving sins. He didn't die simply so that we could go to heaven when we die, though that's a huge bonus and the climax of it all. Jesus died and rose again to inaugurate the 'New Creation.' When God created the world, it was good and free of sin. When sin entered the world, creation was subject to decay. When Jesus died, he defeated the very evil that subjects creation to futility; when he rose again, he showed that not only had evil been defeated, but new creation had begun. God's ultimate goal isn't to scrap the physical world; it's to renew it. In this vein, when we are regenerated, or born again, we become part of the coming renewed world. We ourselves are renewed, and we are tasked with bringing new creation into every sphere of our lives. God's mission is to recover and restore all that was lost in the Fall, and it begins with us.

A question must be asked: "To what, exactly, are we restored?" The answer is found in the first chapters of Genesis. When God created mankind, he created us to be his image-bearers. An image-bearer, in the ancient near eastern world, was one who was tasked with another's identity and power. For example, when the King of Assyria sent messengers out to his provinces to speak his words and do his bidding, they were his image-bearers. In the same way, God has created us to be his image-bearers: we are the ones tasked with speaking his words and doing his bidding. In Genesis, Adam and Eve are tasked with carrying the Garden into the wider, wild world. As Christians, our mission as God's image-bearers is to proclaim the gospel and live 'new creation' lives. The Christian code-of-ethics isn't just a list of do's and don'ts; it isn't about following arbitrary rules; it's about how to live the life of the new creation in the here-and-now, and when we live a life of obedience to God, we are showcasing what genuine human living looks like, and we are acting as signposts to the new world order that has been steadily advancing through our world since Jesus' resurrection.

As first fruits, evangelism and the Christian life take on a more vibrant meaning. Evangelism is telling people about Jesus, summoning them to faith and repentance so that they can be part of God's new creation. The Christian life is a signpost to God's future, a testament and declaration that God's kingdom is alive and well and moving forward. It is also a word of judgment on those who still live in the throes of the world and the defeated evil one.

"How does this tie into what James has already written?" James has talked about trials and temptations; specifically, how God uses trials to work in our hearts and lives, and how temptation must be resisted. We are the first fruits of God's creation; as such, trials are one of the main 'sharpening tools' God uses to fashion us into the image-bearers he created us to be, and as first fruits, we are to resist the temptation to sin and pursue obedience to God. We are to recognize who we really are in Jesus and live like it.