May only truth be
spoken and only truth received. Amen.
We
are in week four of exploring the Letter of James. Let’s review…
In week one, the lesson
was that to hear the Word but to not do the Word was to do a disservice to God;
that to show your true faith in God
means to put action to your prayers, going out into your neighbourhoods and
declaring your faith by loving your neighbours each and every day.
In the second week,
James told us that discrimination of any kind against people is incompatible
with the faith of Jesus Christ.
If we truly believe in Jesus Christ,
if we follow the commandment of Jesus Christ to love our neighbor as ourselves,
then we would treat all human beings equally, the way God would care for them.
In last week’s portion
of his letter, James writes about the power of words, and about the damage and
harm that careless words can cause.
James is calling us to be aware of our
words, to be aware of our duplicity when we bless God on Sunday but curse our
neighbour on Monday, to be aware that our words can cause immense damage and
harm if used improperly.
This week, James offers
a contrast between two types of wisdom – the wisdom of this age and the wisdom
of the age to come, or Godly wisdom versus earthly wisdom.
The earthly wisdom comes out of
selfish ambition and is no better than lies or pretensions. The Godly wisdom
comes out of a personal relationship with God and makes way for peace, justice,
and righteousness.
When we look at our
society, we see plenty of evidence of earthly wisdom all around us. We live in
a world where ambition is required. If you don’t have ambition, you must be
some kind of slacker. If “money makes the world go around,” ambition is the
engine that turns it. People want all of the brand-name clothing because they see
others wearing hat clothing as popular and happy. Folks crave the best
technology so that they can promote themselves 24-7 on social media platforms. And
we often search for fulfillment in the best car, the best house, and the best
job. Now, some kinds of ambition are good. But the problem with most of our
ambitions is that they are all about us – we see what we want, we take it, and
we put all of our self-worth into how others view us.
This earthly wisdom
leads to jealousy, rebellion, and resentment as we keep searching for the next
best thing in pursuit of some sort of perfect happiness. We envy others who
seem to have what we want, and we try to make ourselves over in their image. James
tells us that earthly wisdom leads to conflict and division from self-serving
ambition and envy. According to James, human envy and ambition result in “disorder
and wickedness of every kind” because they cause people to covet one another’s
goods and to sometimes do violence to acquire them. Humanity tends to kill to
get what we want, argue to get what we want, and simply take what we want.
Earthly wisdom tells us that the more we have, the higher our self-worth.
But James’ message to us
is that our primary identity ought not to be measured by our accumulated possessions
but by our relationship and closeness to God. The alternative, from James’
perspective, is “that wisdom that comes from above.” He says that this wisdom
“leads us to be pure, friendly, gentle, sensible, kind, helpful, genuine, and
sincere.” James is calling us to humility and gentleness and peacefulness which
marks for us the receipt of Godly wisdom, a wisdom that is the opposite of bitter
envy and selfish ambition, a wisdom that that leads to harmonious living. It is
a way of life that is born of walking humbly with God.
James wants us to submit,
draw near, cleanse, purify, and focus on God. As in other portions of this
letter, he is pleading for us not to be “double-minded”, in this case one
following the wisdom of the world and the other following the wisdom of God. James
wants us to live with purity of heart, which is to say, live with integrity,
and to manifest God’s wisdom: be gentle in word and action, seek peace, be
merciful, be impartial and sincere, and bear fruit. To manifest earthly wisdom
leads to conflict and division. To manifest Godly wisdom leads to peace and
reconciliation.
As I was preparing for
this week’s sermon, I came to the realization that I wasn’t going to have the
chance to finish this series on James as Deacon Michelle is preaching next
week. So, I thought I’d quickly touch on next week’s passage which is James 5:13-20
which talks about the power of prayer:
“Are any among you
suffering? They should pray. Are any cheerful? They should sing songs of
praise. Are any among you sick? They should call for the elders of the church
and have them pray over them, anointing them with oil in the name of the Lord.
The prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise them up, and
anyone who has committed sins will be forgiven. Therefore, confess your sins to
one another and pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The prayer of
the righteous is powerful and effective. Elijah was a human like us, and he
prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it
did not rain on the earth. Then he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and
the earth yielded its harvest. My brothers and sisters, if anyone among you
wanders from the truth and is brought back by another, you should know that
whoever brings back a sinner from wandering will save the sinner’s soul from
death and will cover a multitude of sins.”
The overall purpose of James’
letter was a vision of a community in which all members care for one another. In
these concluding sentences, he emphasizes that the goal is restoration of
communion. Faith expressed in prayer leads to healing, forgiveness, and the restoration
of justice, all of which will achieve the goal of remaining in communion with
one another. In these last verses of the letter, James finishes calling his
community back to the wisdom of God.
Looking back at chapter
1 verse 5, James spoke about asking God for wisdom; now he argues that the way
to obtain that wisdom is through prayer. In every situation and need the
appropriate response is that of prayer. In both suffering and joy, people
should raise their voices to God in prayer. When ill, one turns to God and asks
for the support of the community in praying to God for healing. When good things
happen, one turns to God in thanksgiving. The power of prayer can’t be
measured. Prayer is a practice in which all ages can participate; it changes lives
and relationships. It should be our first practice as a faith community, if we
are truly to walk in James’ concept of Godly wisdom.
To wrap up this series
on James, faith was not an abstract concept. It had effects in the real world.
James offered several examples to illustrate this point: faith endures in the
midst of trials, calls on God for wisdom, bridles the tongue, sets aside
wickedness, visits orphans and widows, and does not play favorites. He stressed
that the life of faith impacts every area of our lives and drives us to truly
engage in the lives of other people in the world. While James recognized that we
all make mistakes, he also knew that faith should not coexist with people who
roll their eyes at the less fortunate or curse those in their paths.
James places the
important on faith and action to be harmonious. How well do your actions mirror
the faith that you proclaim? This is a question that we all struggle to answer.
We’d love to say our faith and works line up perfectly, but often they just don’t.
As you read the letter from James, focus on those areas that he mentioned: your
actions during trials, your treatment of those less fortunate, and the way you
speak and relate to others. Allow James to encourage you to do good, according
to the faith you proclaim.
Amen.
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