In the section of James we’ll be reading this Sunday we’ll encounter what is the most famous quote from the entire work: “Faith without works is dead.”

Martin Luther wrote in his introduction of James concerning this section, ““This defect proves that the epistle is not of apostolic provenance.”. For him, what James says concerning justification was irreconcilable with what Paul wrote. When James says “we are justified by works and not by faith alone”, Luther in essence shouts “Sole Fide…by faith alone!”

After thinking about this whole thing for about 500 years, most reasonable Biblical scholars have calmed down a bit and have realized that James and Paul weren’t arm-wrestling for soteriological dominance…they appear to be making points from two different sides of an issue. One points toward justification, explaining how it is NOT determined, the other points from justification, explaining how it is DEMONSTRATED.

I was talking with my friend Dennis the other day about the amazing designs he does for advanced scuba technologies, and I pondered that for all of his incredible ideas, none of them are real until a diver puts one on and uses it.  Up until that point, it’s theory.  It can be an awesome breakthrough idea that will change diving forever…but until someone is using it, its just an idea. Get the correlation there?

Based on v19 we realize that faith isn’t just having an orthodox doctrine or a strong emotional response to truth since demons have those things as well. What DOES a Jesus shaped faith look like in James’ description of it? Look at the examples he uses and consider how those examples translate to your own life.

I find James’ words really challenging, do you? I have to start looking at my life and wondering about my priorities. I contemplate my plans and dreams and consider who is at the center of them in the long range. From the place where we are right now…how can we be more active in demonstrating our faith in Christ?

It’s also important to  find that balance between being confident in Christ’s sacrifice for salvation, and being convicted to move forward into maturity.  It may be helpful to think about salvation and justification less judicially and more relationally.  If a husband or wife considers the marriage licence to be the most important bond between them, they may be tempted to think through the bare essentials of what they must and must not do in order to keep that contract intact. But if they understand that marriage is a life lived for their partner, they will always strive to please the one they love. The contract is not the motive of lovers.

Anyway, it’s stuff to excogitate on until we explore it on Sunday.

Have you ever noticed how the church falls all over itslef to cozy up to some celebrity who merely mentions that “Jesus seems okay”?  We have a strange duality in our response to Hollywood. On one hand we blame them for every evil known to man and for the intentional corruption of our youth. On the other, there are few things we get more excited about than the revelation that one of these famous “insiders” is allied with our cause.

This is nothing new. It’s gone on since the days of Augustine when the famous philosopher Victorinus publicly converted to Christianity and the church in Rome got the vapors they were so stoked.  The obvious reason for our celebration over celebrities is the great amount of influence and credibility we imagine that they will add to Jesus’ gospel! After all, that’s what Jesus did – he scoured the cities buttering up and winning over the most influential people he could find to provide a sense of legitimacy to his movement……oh wait.  Sorry, I was thinking of someone else, a politician maybe.

A rich man, a type of celebrity did come to Jesus asking to follow him once. Jesus didn’t seem impressed.

This Sunday we’ll be reading James 2:1-13.

Once again, James’ words need very little explanation. The point is clear: Don’t show favoritism towards one person because of what they may have to offer and dishonor someone else who has less. Love impartially.  Nobody is better than anybody else because the same mercy covers us all.  Pretty straightforward.

But historically, we’ve seemed to have a hard time getting that right. Our emphasis at Eastgate on casual meeting style sort of diminishes the tendency to parade our bling on Sunday mornings. It would be difficult to discern a difference between the median and the rich in our gathering.  As a leader, I have no clue what anyone may give to the offerings so that avenue for knowing a person’s economic status is hidden from me and negating any influence it may have.  That doesn’t mean we are immune from showing favoritism.

Considering our present culture, and even our church culture at Eastgate, what are some ways we could fall into the trap of showing favoritism?  Who might we be tempted to prize and who might we be tempted to disregard?  If we consider what James is saying to us, how can we keep this from happening in our community gatherings?

Good stuff to ruminate on. See you Sunday!

This Sunday we’ll be looking at James 1:22-27.

When we left off last time, James made the statement that the word implanted in us was saving our souls. It seems as though this next section is a qualifier on that statement – a sort of means for testing the veracity of that claim.  How is the word saving, redeeming our lives and identities?  James is quick to let us know that the only way that redeeming agent of the word is active is when we are active in living out what it says.  This is challenging.  Martin Luther rejected this epistle because it sounded to him as though James were contradicting Paul about salvation by faith alone, apart from works.

But is that really what James is saying? Is he really trying to say that we are saved by DOING something? My contention is that he’s not saying that, but rather, he’s trying to keep us from falling into the trap of drifting along on the currents of this broken world and assuming that because we’re associated with God’s word we are experiencing redemption.  Remember, salvation and redemption are not just aspects of some heavenly destination at the end of life, they are meant to be characteristics of our present journey.  God is redeeming ruined things, making beautiful things out of broken ones.  Our challenge is to live in harmony with that ongoing redemption.  That is what I believe James to be saying.

As you consider this passage, what are some ways that we can hear the word without really doing what it says?  I’ve known some very zealous believers who had their theology down to a tee, but who didn’t really embody what this word says.

How do you think the word of God is like a mirror? When he talks about “religion“, the word he’s using in the Greek connotes “worship practices”.  How does James seem to describe acceptable worship in this passage – and how does it compare with your worship practices?

If you were to sum up what James is getting at, how would you word it in one sentence?

Heavy stuff, I know.

Ever get angry? I’m writing this for humans to read, so I’m going to assume your answer is an affirmative.

Ever get angry and react badly towards the people around you – ever say things rashly that hurt others and made circumstances that much worse?  Again, humans, so I’m assuming, yes.

In the wake of those kinds of outbursts, when feelings are hurt and tensions are high, how does life feel? I mean, does it feel like the good life to you when misunderstandings are ruining relationships and you and others around you are reeling in pain?  Speaking for myself, I don’t characterize those as “good times”.

It appears God has something else in mind for our lives. It will require discipline and a willingness to be humble – but it sounds like a good life to me.  James gives us some practical steps for our journey toward the good life in God in the passage we’ll be reading this Sunday, James 1:19-21.

It’s just a few short verses in which James does not over-elaborate.  “Listen up, shut up and calm down.” If Paul were writing this it would have taken three chapters.

Is it easy or hard for you to really listen to someone else, or gather all the facts before responding? Are you more prone to reacting from your emotions or is it easy for you to keep your cool? When you have been successful in listening in order to understand, have you found it made a difference in how things turned out?

V20 is profound to me. I feel like I need a tattoo of that somewhere on me…maybe my forehead. What do you believe James is saying in that verse?

V21 – how do you think the “implanted word” is “saving your soul”?

Just a few short verses that contain a lifetime of instructions for living.  Should be fun to explore on Sunday.  Hope to see you then!

 

How easy is it for you to “just say no”?  I’ve been a follower of Christ for several years and I can say that there are areas of my life that have radically changed – but I can also say, very honestly, that I have never stopped being tempted to fall back into old patterns.  I can also say, very honestly, that resisting temptation has never come easily nor have I always been successful. That’s just the reality of it.  From my experience so far, temptations to sin never cease to show up and it is always a challenge to resist them.

James will address this issue in our study of his letter this Sunday. We’ll be reading James 1:13-18.

Verses 13-15 paint a vivid picture, don’t they? Right off the bat, he tells us in no uncertain terms who bears the responsibility of our choices. Who is it that he points to? As you read this, is there anyone missing in his explanation of how temptation and sin develops in our lives?  Does that provide any information about why the responsibility of our choices rests where it does?

The process of desire conceiving sin and sin growing into death is a fairly unsettling image. I suppose he’s trying to make his point as emphatically as he can. I don’t believe we should read this as an intimation that if a Christian slips or commits willful sin that he or she has lost salvation, or is in any way facing physical death for it. Instead, I see him as trying to make as clear a picture about the nature of the sin we’re tempted to play with as he can.  In essence he’s posing the dilemma: “Why would you cooperate with what is trying to kill you?”  In the midst of being tempted to choose an action, attitude or thought that is not in sync with God’s character…how hard or easy is it for you to associate that with death?  Do you see that as something that would be helpful?

I absolutely LOVE verses 16-18.  After Jimmy sets up this fairly bleak picture of death, and we innately feel our own sense of weakness in this scenario, suddenly there is light streaming from above us and the Hero arrives on the scene.  Have you ever struggled with the idea that God is upset, or at least irritated with you because you still struggle with some temptations?  As you read James’ description of God’s role in all of this, do you see him as an irritated perfectionist or a powerful and caring Ally?  Does it make a difference how you imagine God when you are struggling with temptation?  If you’re fighting a temptation does it help to think of God as someone yelling at you “Do BETTER!”, or to think of Gandalf appearing at sunrise on the eastern hills of Helm’s Deep to change the tide of battle?

It appears that how we view God is of upmost importance when it comes to our success in resisting temptation. James warns us: “Do not be deceived!” just before he begins his description of the character and action of God in our times of temptation.

Let me leave you with a quote from Eugene Peterson:

“It is wicked to tell a person that God is an angry tyrant storming through the heavens, out to get every trespasser and throw him into the lake of fire. It is wicked to tell a person that God is a senile grandfather dozing in a celestial rocking chair with only the shortest of attention spans for what is going on in the world. It is wicked to tell a person that God is a compulsively efficient and utterly humorless manager of a tightly run cosmos, obsessed with getting the highest productivity possible out of history and with absolutely no concern for persons apart from their usefulness. 

“If we believe that God is an angry tyrant, we are going to defensively avoid him if we can. If we believe that God is a senile grandfather, we are going to live carelessly and trivially with no sense of transcending purpose. If we believe that God is an efficiency expert, we are going to live angry at being reduced to a function and never appreciated as a person.

“It is wicked to to tell a person a lie about God because, if we come to believe the wrong things about God, we will think the wrong things about ourselves and we will live meanly or badly. Telling a person a lie about God distorts reality, perverts life and damages all the processes of living.”   (From the book “Traveling Light”, by Eugene Peterson)

God is here to change the tide of battle in our struggle against sin.  How cool.

See you all Sunday!

This Sunday we’ll be reading James 1:9-12. We idolize the wealthy in our society. People are famous and have reality shows who have never, EVER done anything of value for our world; they are famous simply because they are rich.  We make them celebrities and envy them and fantasize what it would be like to be in their shoes. But all through the Scriptures, both Old and New testaments, we are presented with a different view of the wealthy.

From the very opening of his letter, James has been presenting us a very unusual perspective on life. He encourages joy during difficult times. He announces that wisdom isn’t something gained purely through life experiences, but that it is given as a gift by God. In this section, he turns the world on its head again.  How does this passage compare to the world’s perception of wealth? How do you think the “lowly” person is exalted? How is a rich person like a withering flower?

Considering the description James gives of wealth in v11, how does this challenge our understanding about what will bring us security and happiness?

V12 provides the ultimate contrast. If you were to summarize what he’s saying, what is the basis for a sense of security and joy?

See you on Sunday!

Have you ever had someone do something that really hurt you…or maybe infringed on your rights or took something from you?  Imagine that person coming to you with a note from your pastor saying “This person has really changed and I believe in him/her- please accept them and forgive them and charge me with anything they defrauded you of.”

What would you do? How would you feel? What would it take for you to muster up the strength to go along with that request?

That’s the premise of the short Epistle we’ll be reading this Sunday: Philemon 1-25.  It’s basically a short e-mail Paul sent to a friend of his who had a runaway slave that Paul had met and led to a salvation experience, whom he was sending back to Philemon to ask for his freedom so he could keep working with Paul in Rome. Get it? What comes through in this epistle is how Paul anticipates that the dynamic of social arrangements and relationships will change when they come under the influence of Christ.  In Christ we will treat each other differently than in the dynamic of the broken world.

So – as Paul is talking about this slave, Onesimus, he describes him with terms that are very different from fugitive or slave. What does he call Onisemus in v10 or v12 (in the ESV)?  Considering those words, and his description of Philemon’s and Onesimus’ relationship in v16, what seems to be the overriding dynamic that characterizes their relationship in Christ?

We don’t know what Philemon does after reading this letter. Some people believe the outcome was good and Onesimus went on to great things – but we’ll really never know.

Let’s think about this letter in light of our own lives, shall we? What is one of the prickliest relational problems you’ve worked on recently (it may have been yours, or problems between other people)? What can we learn from this letter that can aid us in navigating difficult relationships?  V18 and 19 are beautiful and profound to me.  Can those verses help inform us about why grace is an important factor in relationships?

What can we learn from this letter that will produce an “in Christ” dynamic in our relationships today?

Hope you can make it Sunday…if so, see you then!