Epistle – James 1-3

After struggling through the book of Proverbs and realizing that I am really short of the wisdom that comes from God, I am not confronted with a book of action – the epistle of James.

James is a compact, hard-hitting letter about practicing the faith.  Religion is not about how many members there are in church, how much do we contribute or what is said in church.  The true test of our religion is doing the truth, not just hearing it or speaking it.

Let’s see what James has for us today as we strive to make sure our actions complement our faith and wisdom.

Bible Passage:  James 1 – 3

There’s certainly a lot of pointed illustrations and reminders packed in these 3 chapters, isn’t there?

Reminders…

Sometimes when I tell my daughters certain things, they will say “You always say that!”.  In other words, I have been naggy and have repeated things over and over again.  But it is done in love and in a sincere desire for them to know what to do… and to do it right.

When I read today’s passage, I am again reminded of the great need to watch what I say.  We have read about this in our reading of Proverbs.  But this reminder is so important… and I need that lesson today… so let me share with you about this little thing called the ‘tongue’.

Hold Your Tongue

So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath; for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God.

If anyone among you thinks he is religious, and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this one’s religion is useless.  Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.

James 1:19-20; 26-27

So speak and so do as those who will be judged by the law of liberty.

What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him?  If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food,  and one of you says to them, “Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,” but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit?

James 2:12; 14-16

My brethren, let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment. For we all stumble in many things. If anyone does not stumble in word, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle the whole body.

James 3:1-2

Whew!  It must surely be a serious matter for James to repeatedly talk about controlling our tongue in just these 3 chapters.

As I said, we have read and talked about the need to hold our tongues before but I want to just highlight a point that when I read James 3:1, I realised that James was aiming his words of warning toward those who I would call “wanna-be teachers”.

I believe that James is speaking primarily to those who want to teach, who think they can teach, who assert themselves as teachers, but maybe, they should not be teachers at all.

And when I say teach, I am refering just to the teachers of students, but to anyone who gives advice, instructions and guidance to others.

As I was chatting with someone about some of the lessons I learned over the weekend, Iread James 3:1 and was filled with a sense of foreboding…

I was thinking…

Adversity always seems to attract many well meaning counsellors and teachers who wish to help us by telling us why we are suffering.

Some people are just drawn to adversity.  They do so with real concern and love.  But sometimes we do go overboard and try to instruct the sufferer as to why they are suffering.  We tend to analyse and interpret things for them and talk as if we are experts on the matter.  But are we?

We read about this in Job, where his three friends tried to convince Job that he was suffering because of some unconfessed sin, and not because of righteousness.  In the end, God rebuked these men for not speaking what was true of Him(Job 42:7-9).

So the next time when we see someone suffering from some kind of adversity, let us give heed to these words of warning from James and not be so quick to freely dispense with our words of counsel and advice.  Consider our words carefully.  Use the THINK method (remember reading it in Proverbs 29-30?)

As teachers, we should learn to hold our tongues and not stumble in our words.  And we should also remember that our actions must be in sync with our words.  If not… a stricter judgement awaits us… and that is frightening.

Are We Partial?

Although we like to think that we, in general, do not show partiality or favouritism in church, there is a need to consider further our words and our actions.

Showing partiality is something God does not allow… simply because He does not do so.

The world operates very much like Singapore Airlines.

If you don’t have much money, you fly Economy (like me!).  Those with more money fly Business Class.  And those who can really afford it… First Class, or now… Beyond First Class.  That’s the way things work in the world and we can understand it.

But that should never be the case in church. Instead, the church should operate like a budget airline… where it has only one fare and everyone gets treated equally.

In church, we do not avoid the poor and the needy.  We are to try and serve them by meeting their needs.  We do not shun the rich either.  But in all this, we must not show partiality.

In James 2, we have examples that relate to how we treat the poor.  In James 2:1-13, discrimination is blatant.  However, in James 2:14-26, the sin of discrimination is more subtle and hypocritical.  But James sees both kinds of action as sinful.

And interestingly, in both cases, it is our words that betray our sin.

Read and see… in James 2:2-4, the receptionist words to the poor are cold and cruel.  In James 2:15-16, the words of the one speaking seem caring… but are really hypocritcal.

Even though James wrote this a long time ago, we still see some signs of this in church today.  It may not be exactly similar to what James described, but they are very similar in kind.

One area of partiality that I have been thinking about is in our evangelism and training programs.

We tend to avoid those who show no promise, no great potential and actively recruit only those who are “shakers and movers”.  We only want to pick the cream of the crop to do the work.

But Jesus did not do it when He chose to save us.  His great love, grace and power is evident when He took seemingly insignificant people and used them significantly.

In evangelism … it can be the same.  We only seek out those we ‘pre-qualify’ in our minds.  Those who dress better, look better, talk better… someone who fits our vision of a Christian… and we ignore those who are uncouth, brash, and simply look different – unlike our idea of what a Christian looks like.

Food for thought today.  Certainly for me.

May God help us all.