Lessons From James, Part 2
Thoughts From a Bible Reader
We finished last time with James telling us that our faith, without having works to perfect it, will die. This time we will start with looking at what James had to say about our speech. But he leads into this by telling us that we shouldn’t all want to be teachers (in the church), because those who teach will be judged more strictly than those who don’t. Teaching God’s word is an incredible responsibility, and I take it very seriously every single time I sit down to write to you. I know that if I mislead you I will be held accountable by God for my words. It is a very sobering realization.
Moving on to our speech, James says, “For we all stumble in many ways. If someone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect individual, able to control the entire body as well” (James 3:2). We can all mess up in so many different ways. But if we never mess up in what we say, James says, that’s as good as we can get. Controlling our mouths will control our whole body, just like putting a small bit in the mouth of a horse allows us to control where their whole body goes, or by using a tiny rudder we can steer a great big ship. “So too the tongue is a small part of the body, yet it has great pretensions (boastings)” (3:5). It is, he says, like the little flame that starts a huge wildfire. And that fire, he says, is a fire that can defile our whole body, a fire started by hell itself. We can tame and subdue pretty much any kind of animal, bird, reptile, or sea creature, James says. “But no human being can subdue the tongue; it is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse people made in God’s image. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. These things should not be so, my brothers and sisters. A spring does not pour out fresh water and bitter water from the same opening, does it? Can a fig tree produce olives, my brothers and sisters, or a vine produce figs? Neither can a salt water spring produce fresh water” (3:8-12). Let’s just stop here for a moment and think on those few verses. Here they are again:
“But no human being can subdue the tongue; it is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse people made in God’s image. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. These things should not be so, my brothers and sisters. A spring does not pour out fresh water and bitter water from the same opening, does it? Can a fig tree produce olives, my brothers and sisters, or a vine produce figs? Neither can a salt water spring produce fresh water” (James 3:8-12)
James then tells us that wisdom and understanding should result in good conduct and gentleness, displayed in our good works. But bitter jealousy and selfishness will lead to boasting and lying. That kind of “wisdom,” he says, “is earthly, natural, demonic. For where there is jealousy and selfishness, there is disorder and every evil practice” (James 3:15-16). That is worldly wisdom. It’s the idea that I have to look out for #1, myself. And its fruits are disorder and every evil practice.
In contrast, “the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, accommodating, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial, and not hypocritical. And the fruit that consists of righteousness is planted in peace among those who make peace” (James 3:17-18). Heavenly wisdom, instead of worldly wisdom, has fruits of purity, peace, gentleness, a willingness to yield, mercy, impartiality, and a lack of hypocrisy. And it finds its home among those of us who make peace. And “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called the children of God” (Matt. 5:9).
In contrast to that, James tells us that it is our passions, battling inside of us, that lead to conflicts and quarrels. “You desire and you do not have; you murder and envy and you cannot obtain; you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask; you ask and do not receive because you ask wrongly, so you can spend it on your passions” (James 4:2-3). We desire, but we don’t ask God for what we want, and so we don’t get it. Instead, that desire leads us to murder, to envy, to quarrel, to fight. Or we do ask, but we ask for things to feed our passions instead of asking for the good things that God has prepared for us. We are, James says, spiritual adulterers. We are cheating on God by pursuing the things of the world, aligning ourselves with God’s enemies. We need to take seriously, James says, the scripture that tells us that the Holy Spirit that God has placed inside of us “has an envious (jealous) yearning. But he gives greater grace. Therefore it says, ‘God opposes the proud, but he gives grace to the humble.’ So submit to God. But 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 make your hearts pure, you double-minded. Grieve, mourn, and weep. Turn your laughter into mourning and your joy into despair. Humble yourselves before the Lord and he will exalt you” (4:5-10). If you or I are pursuing the things of this world instead of the things of God, we need to hear James’ call to us to repent. We need to resist Satan, and instead seek God anew in our lives, humbly admitting to Him that we have been led astray to pursue things that the devil, and not God, wants us to pursue. And, honestly, in the materialistic society that we live in, who of us can truly claim to be clean of what James is talking about here? The entire advertising industry is built to make us desire and want what we don’t have, to make us think that our desires aren’t really desires, but actually needs. Our society expects us to compare ourselves to our friends and neighbors, and to try to out-do them all, be it in how we look or what we own.
He next tells us to not speak out in judgment against our fellow believers, because God alone is our judge. Neither, he says, should we make grand plans for our lives. “You do not know about tomorrow. What is your life like? For you are a puff of smoke that appears for a short time and then vanishes. You ought to say instead, ‘If the Lord is willing, then we will live and do this or that.’ But as it is, you boast about your arrogant plans. All such boasting is evil” (James 4:14-16). The problem isn’t making plans. It’s making arrogant plans, and then boasting about them, instead of submitting them to God’s will as to whether they come about or not. Because if God is not willing, then they probably won’t happen.
Chapter 4 ends with, “So whoever knows what is good to do and does not do it is guilty of sin” (James 4:17). That’s a tough one! We do wrong, we sin, when we don’t do what we know is right. Ouch!
Come now, you rich! Weep and cry aloud over the miseries that are coming on you. Your riches have rotted and your clothing has become moth-eaten. Your gold and silver have rusted and their rust will be a witness against you. It will consume your flesh like fire. It is in the last days that you have hoarded treasure! Look, the pay you have held back from the workers who mowed your fields cries out against you, and the cries of the reapers have reached the ears of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. You have lived indulgently and luxuriously on the earth. You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter. You have condemned and murdered the righteous person, although he does not resist you” (James 5:1-6). The rich, James says, might be creating their own condemnation. How do they do this? Their hoarded riches will become a testimony against them in God’s judgment. The wages that they cheated their workers of will testify against them as well. The cries of those who were cheated won’t be ignored by God. Their indulgent and luxuriant lifestyles are known to God. And God also knows how they condemned and murdered people who had done no wrong.
“So be patient, brothers and sisters, until the Lord’s return” (James 5:7). For the most part, from what we know, the early church was not made up of the rich and powerful who James just said face condemnation. No, it was those who were suffering under those rich and powerful people. And so James tells them to be patient, just like a farmer patiently waits for the seeds that he planted to bear fruit, because when Jesus returns all of the world’s unfairness will be made right. And don’t only be patient, but “strengthen your hearts” as well (5:8). We should also not grumble against one another, as we will be judged for doing so. Neither should we swear any oaths, or we will be judged as well. It’s enough, James said, to simply answer with a yes or no. And yet how often do we hear someone say (or say ourselves), “I swear to God…”? We need to stop doing that. Yes or no is enough.
“Is anyone among you suffering? He should pray. Is anyone in good spirits? He should sing praises. Is anyone among you ill? He should summon the elders of the church, and they should pray for him and anoint him with olive oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick and the Lord will raise him up—and if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. So confess your sins to one another and pray for one another so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great effectiveness” (James 5:13-16). Pray if we’re suffering, praise God if we’re in good spirits, and let the church elders pray for and anoint us if we’re ill. The prayer of faith can heal us, and can also see our sins forgiven, and so we should confess the wrongs that we’ve done to each other and pray for one another as well. And if we are a righteous person, one whose life is not hindered by sin, our prayers can be very, very effective.
James ends his letter encouraging us to help those who have wandered away from the faith. “My brothers and sisters, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone turns him back, he should know that the one who turns a sinner back from his wandering path will save that person’s soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins” (James 5:19-20). I look around me today and see so much evidence that many have wandered from the truth. I don’t know if any of you are one of those or not, or if any of you have been considering wandering away. More than for anyone else, I write these posts for those who are considering leaving Jesus behind, or who may have already done so. I was once a prodigal son, and when I came home the Lord welcomed me with love, forgiveness, and a new life. He’s waiting to do the same for you!
Do you have questions or comments that you would like to share with me? Feel free to drop me an email (stevesuterfaithandfruit@gmail.com).
My posts come from my observations in reading the Bible literally dozens of times, always hoping to understand it a little bit better. If you want to go back and read more of what I’ve observed in my reading, click here.
Unless otherwise noted, the Scriptures quoted are from the NET Bible® https://netbible.com copyright ©1996, 2019 used with permission from Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. All rights reserved