53. Why Evil?

We pick up again the meditations in Job for the final run to the end of the book

Meditations in Job : 53.  Why Evil?

Job 24:1,2,12b Why does the Almighty not set times for judgment? Why must those who know him look in vain for such days? Men move boundary stones; they pasture flocks they have stolen….. But God charges no one with wrongdoing.

In this present speech we’ve seen Job bemoan the fact that he wants to speak with God but can’t find him (23:1-12) and also acknowledge it is a fearsome thing to be under God’s hand of discipline (23:13-17). While he’s wanting to talk with God, he now thinks of other associated questions that he has, especially why it is that God seems to let people get away with unrighteous behaviour (when he hasn’t been unrighteous – implied). Thus his opening questions that we have above: i.e. why doesn’t God come and sort out those who are doing wrong?

He then categorises some of the wrongs he is aware of – moving boundaries (v.2a), stealing animals (v.2b,3), putting down the poor and not caring for them (v.4-12) – and wonders why God doesn’t hold people responsible (v.12b). He goes on about those who sin in darkness (v.13) – the murderer (v.14), the adulterer (v.15) and thieves (v.16) – all of whom make use of the darkness to carry out their wrongs (v.17) and who (implied) get away with it!.

Yet, he is aware that their lives are transitory, they are like the foam that appears on the surface of rivers and which gets blown away (v.18), or the snow which gets easily melted and soon vanishes (v.19a). Yes, death comes to such people (v.19b) and soon they are forgotten (v.20). Yes, they may prey on the weak (v.21) but God deals with them (v.22). He may allow them to rest apparently feeling secure for some time (v.23a) but He is watching them (v.23b) and although they are exalted for a while, they will soon be gone (v.24). He finishes with a challenge, that if this is not so, then tell him (v.25).

This subject or theme regularly crops up in the minds of thinking people. In fact it perhaps seems THE great mystery. How can a holy God make a world that goes wrong, where people rebel against Him and do wrong and harm other people? Why doesn’t He step in and deal with such people and minimise the suffering that the poor have to put up with? It needs a little thought but I believe the answer is wrapped up in the whole subject of free will. It is impossible to imagine a human being without free will. There are secular philosophers who are determinists and they maintain that we have no free will; we are locked into life and have to go with what comes. The Christian equivalent is the ultra Calvinist who maintains God’s sovereignty is such that He determines our every act. Both groups maintain we don’t have free will in reality, yet that is the clear implication of Scripture. When God tells Adam and Even not to do something and they do it,  that is free will in operation. When He told Israel not to do something and they did it, that is free will in operation. To say it is God making them do wrong is a nonsense! The other side of the coin is that God knows what will happen, knows what we will do and so works accordingly, (see Acts 2:23, 4:27,28) i.e. He took our sinful acts and used them to bring salvation to the world.

The big problem with free will is the fact that God has to limit Himself and allow men and women to do what they choose – even though He may speak to them and strongly encourage them to behave otherwise. Yet they choose to sin, they choose to reject Him and rebel against His laws. As they do this they harm other people. Does God just put up with this? No He speaks to them and to others. Sometimes His words restrain them, sometimes His words stir others to speak up for justice, for the Lord uses people to restrain people. Parliament makes laws to restrain wrong doing, the police seek to uphold those laws and restrain wrong doers, and the courts see that wrong doers are punished. In these ways the Lord restrains evil. But sometimes He steps in specifically deals with an individual. Sometimes we see that individual being exposed and dealt with by the Law. Sometimes they die. There is no clear formula to work this out – but there is the Lord, and He decrees what He sees is right for every situation. That may appear confusing for us, this side of heaven, but one day we will understand and then we will be satisfied, for we will know that the wisdom of God was perfect and is fault-free.

Thus it is that sometimes when wrong doing is right in our face, we question and query, just like Job. Sometimes our emotions are stirred, just like Job, and once our emotions are stirred, we question and query. It is only then, as we think through the reality of these things and see the teaching of Jesus, that we realise that God has given mankind free will and does allow us to act as we will, but He is also sovereign and so He acts into lives and situations and exercises His supreme will. If the wrong doer appears to be getting away with it – for the moment – that is God allowing it, but He may step in and act, so the wrong doer should never feel safe! We would do well to heed these things.

32. Forked Tongue

Meditations in James: 32 : Forked Tongue

Jas 3:9-12      With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God’s likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be. Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? My brothers, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water.

We don’t seem to have many Western films these days, especially those showing American Indians, now referred to as native Americans, but when I was young it was the day of the Western and the ‘Indians’ were both warlike and noble. Thus they had codes of honour and truth was one of them.  When they encountered a white man who they believed was lying to them, they spoke the immortal phrase, “White man speak with forked tongue.”  The picture of a tongue that speaks two different things is a good picture and it’s one that James now picks up on in his teaching about the use of the tongue.

He has spoken of the tongue being the thing that directs our path through life, a thing that though small has the potential to wreak havoc, and yet a thing that is impossible to tame, and now he focuses on the ability we seem to have of being able to speak good and bad from the same mouth.  He starts off pointing out that Christians have this awful ability to praise God one minute and curse people, who are part of God’s design, the next.  Here we have our Christian on a Sunday morning, singing for all their worth, joining in the worship whole-heartedly and, in some circles, raising holy hands and perhaps even dancing.  When you look at them you think what a spiritual person they must be.  But follow them home, follow them into the school, college or workplace the next day, follow them through the week and watch what they do and watch what they say. Here they are in a discussion at home about the neighbours who they are roundly condemning for a variety of reasons. True, these may not be Christians they are talking about, but they are still part of God’s creation, and the sadness it that they haven’t come to know Jesus as their Saviour yet, but we don’t see it like that and so we demean them in our conversation.  It’s tantamount to cursing them.

Then there’s the conversation in the classroom or office about someone senior in the place.  We don’t like them, or they’re not very good at their job, and in our talk we pull them down.  We don’t feel sorry for them and we haven’t prayed for them, we just pull them down in our talking, and it’s tantamount to cursing them.

This, says James should not happen, and to put weight to that declaration he illustrates it.  Stop and think about it, is what he is implying.  If you have a spring of water, can pure water and salt water come out of the same spring? No, of course not!  And if we still haven’t got the message, he adds in a further illustration. Can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? No of course not.  These things go against nature.  They are not designed that way, and so it should be with the mouth. We should not be saying good things one minute and bad the next.

Solomon gave us an interesting proverb: “The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit.” (Prov 18:21).  First of all he notes the power of the tongue.  With your tongue you can bring either ‘life’ or ‘death’.  You bring life by leading someone to the Lord, or by sharing His love with them.  That person is blessed by what has happened to them because of what you have said.  But you can say wrong things and lead people into low places of depression, anxiety, fear or even temptation.  You can lead them into a place of spiritual or even literal death, by the use of your tongue. But implies Solomon, depending on the direction of your heart, you will love that use of your tongue and as a result of using it in that way you will reap the fruits of that – either life or death.  If you joy in bringing blessing to other people by the use of your tongue, you will be blessed. If you enjoy using your tongue to pull down others, you will be cursed and will pull yourself down. But Solomon saw it as one or the other.  You cannot joy in both things, and in that he is saying the same as James.

Perhaps there is one further facet of this we should consider to ensure we are wise in our understanding.  Equated with this are truth and lies. For instance Solomon said, “He who rebukes a man will in the end gain more favor than he who has a flattering tongue.” (Prov 28:23). He saw that sometimes rebuking a person is a good thing. Telling someone off or pulling them up, for having done something wrong, is a good thing. We shouldn’t see the good use of the tongue as being only saying nice, comfortable words, because sometimes those words are not appropriate. If you flatter someone and in fact they have been doing wrong, then your words were not appropriate. Truth is a key element to be considered with our words. We should not be speaking truth one minute and untruth the next. Somehow we are to speak truth all the time. Perhaps that is why Paul refers to “speaking the truth in love” (Eph 4:15). Perhaps there are times when we need to seek the Lord for His wisdom (Jas 1:5) to know how we are to say corrective things that build up rather than pull down.

These are just a variety of ways that we can let ourselves down and fail the Lord. These are things He wants us to think through and work on. The tongue, as we have been seeing, has the potential to guide us, or bring destruction. It is only changed when our heart of changed and it should not be bringing good one minute and bad the next. Our tongue has the capability of speaking truth with love and bringing the wonderful love of God, and therefore His blessing in to many people’s lives. “The mouth of the righteous is a fountain of life.” (Prov 10:11). May it be like that with us all the time! Ask the Lord to help you be that each day.

31. Tamed Tongue

Meditations in James: 31 : Inability to Tame the Tongue

Jas 3:7,8   All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and creatures of the sea are being tamed and have been tamed by man, but no man can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.

There is often perceived in men or women a pride that says, “We are the peak of evolution and we can do anything. We can harness energy, use technology, bring health and longer life. We can manipulate atoms and genes and even create life. We are the lords of the universe.”  They may not say it in so many words, but those are the sentiments that the pride of man brings out.  In daily life, especially when we are young, we wake up in the morning feeling good, the sun is shining and everything is going well, and we feel invincible. And then we speak unwisely and harshly, and the world turns grey as the ugly truth is revealed: I can’t even control my tongue!

So far we have observed James’ descriptions of the tongue as he shows us that although it is small it can determine our path. He’s also pointed out that although it is small it has the power to wreak havoc and destruction. The warnings are clear: if only we would learn to harness our tongue we could use it to bless and build, encourage and energise, congratulate and create. But there is the problem and it is that which James focuses upon now; we can’t control it!  He will go on to suggest what needs to happen but for now he focuses on this terrible truth.

People use their minds to train themselves to be able to do great things. They discipline and stretch their physical abilities to be healthy and strong, but when it comes to focusing on harnessing something as small as the tongue, we find it is a different thing.  Singers can control their vocal cords. Ventriloquists can produce words without apparently moving the mouth, but when it comes to the words themselves and the emotions that are behind them, we seem so often completely unable to be in control. Words come out we wish we’d never said, feelings were expressed that cause hurt and upset, and once out cannot be put back in the box.  James makes us think about the natural world.  We can capture and train wild animals that seem so large and aggressive, but when it comes to something as small as the tongue, we are helpless it seems.  The tongue seems to have a life of its own at times and it seems impossible to tame it.

There are so many self-help books on the shelves of bookshops today, even books on how to say things nicely, but however many books we read, on a bad day we realise we are still not in control of this small part of our body which, as James says, seems so full of restless evil.  We can start the day out, full of good intentions.  We can make New Year resolutions, but it doesn’t take very long for a situation to arise where we find our mouth speaking out strongly and hurtfully.  If we had a hidden TV camera team filming us all day and every day for a month, how many of the words that were recorded would we be happy to be seen on the small screen?  In seeing it being replayed, how many times would we regret the words and wish either that we had said nothing or had said it differently?  Perhaps it takes a wider judging audience to face the truth about ourselves. That is what James is trying to do, to get us to think about our speech and face the truth about ourselves, because until we do that we will not see the need and if we don’t see the need we will not turn to the Lord for His help.

That’s what Scripture does so often: show us our need, show us our potential in God, so that we go to Him for His life changing power.  That is James’  aim, and that is why we continue to consider these things.  But focussing on two verses gives us a limited view. Yes, it helps us see our need but it doesn’t explain WHY and it doesn’t give us answers. For the ‘why’ of our tongues actions we have to go back again to what Jesus said about our mouths: “For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks” (Mt 12:34).  Yes, this is the truth.  The mouth reflects what is in the heart, what is there deep inside us. The heart is our state of mind and will. It is the innermost reach of our personality, the cause of what we think and feel. It is in many ways a mystery. Why do we have these inner inclinations, which sometimes conflict with what outwardly we’d like to be? Yes, when we think about it, we’d like to be cool, calm and collected, able to answer every unkind word from others with graciousness, able to respond to every hostile question with wisdom.  Yet, we find, so often it isn’t like that.  Why is that?  It is because our heart has not been changed.

At the centre of the New Testament teaching is the recognition that to be Christians we have to die to ourselves, we have to die to self.  The call is to put God first, then others next and ourselves last.  It sounds a good theory and when it works we find we are most blessed, but so often self pushes to the front.  The difficult truth is that the heart is only changed by difficulties. ‘Character’ is another expression of what the Bible refers to as the heart, the way we truly are.  Paul said, “we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character;” (Rom 5:3,4).  Our character is formed as we learn to endure in difficulties.  You’ll know how much the Lord has formed your character, how much He has moulded your heart, by the words that come out of your mouth when the circumstances are difficult and people are not being nice. At that point, your mouth will reveal what God has been able to do in you. Now there is a strange thing. It is only as He is able to do things in you, and that is determined by your willingness to let Him do it, and that is a matter of will. Don’t focus on the tongue. See it as a revealer of what you’re like inside, but having done that, ask the Lord to transform you on the inside. That’s what this is really all about.

30. Tongue Burnt

Meditations in James: 30 : Burnt by the Tongue

Jas 3:5,6 Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.

There are two sorts of TV programme that don’t excite me. One is the morning TV where there is a studio full of people talking about a contentious part of life.  The other is so-called soap operas.  Imagine both of them without any sound.  First of all imagine the contentious couples debate if they, and the other participants, were dumb.  Nobody would watch it, would they, because it is the angry words spoken that stir people’s interests.  Imagine soap operas as real life dramas and imagine again the people being dumb.  Most of the ‘difficult situations’, that go to make up the interest of these ongoing television fillers, are what they are because of what the various people say.

Oh yes, the tongue is the instrument that has this devastating potential for causing upset and upheaval. Having just written about how the tongue guides our life, James now goes on to warn us of the tremendous power of the tongue.  Solomon was aware of this when he wrote Proverbs: “With his mouth the godless destroys his neighbor” (Prov 11:9) and “Through the blessing of the upright a city is exalted, but by the mouth of the wicked it is destroyed.” (Prov 11:11) and “A fool’s lips bring him strife, and his mouth invites a beating.” (Prov 18:6) and “A lying tongue hates those it hurts, and a flattering mouth works ruin.” (Prov 26:28).  Note the things in that short list that the tongue is capable of doing: destroying a neighbour (presumably by slander), destroying a city (presumably by lies, deceit, and generally leading into unrighteous business deals), personal strife (probably by rudeness and verbal attack which invites retribution), and general hurt and ruin by harshness and flattery which deceives.

If you are a watcher of these “sort out the problems” morning TV programmes or of soap operas, next time think about what all the people are saying.  Observe where there are words that are attacking, words that are demeaning, words that are violent, and think how different the situation would be if the exact opposite sort of words were spoken instead.  James says, Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark and so watch and see how a few words can ignite a situation and cause hostility and upset and division and hurt and anger and….. the list goes on!  In families there are words that should never be spoken: “I hate you!” or “I wish I’d never been born!” or “You’re ugly” or “You’re stupid!”  Each one of these is a small spark that has devastating effects.  Once said they cannot be withdrawn and they set a fire of passion blazing which is not easily put out.

But James pushes it further.  He says, The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. That sounds awful!  Why is he using the analogy of a fire?  Because a fire is something out of control and capable of spreading destruction.  But why does he say that this fire is a world of evil among the parts of the body? Well we sometimes speak about how we ‘compartmentalise’ our lives, and he’s saying imagine our bodies like different compartments.  If you imagine the tongue as one ‘department’ in the running of your life, it seems that in so many people it is a department that is evil.  It may be the expression of the heart, but it is the visible, or rather audible expression of evil.  The mouth is the propaganda machine of the human body, that is able to reach out and influence or harm others by the words that come out.  It is seen in many people as evil, speaking out hurtful, harmful words.

But he goes on, It corrupts the whole person. If you corrupt something you spoil or mar it, you taint it or pollute it.   Speaking out words is very influential, and tragically most of us don’t realise this, so that when we put something into words it’s like it strengthens something in us.  While it only remains a thought, it is fairly powerless, but once we speak it out, it seems like it has the effect of spreading that negative right through us, so it is something that becomes more established in us.  If our lives were like a glass of clear water, when we speak negative, unkind, hostile, impure, unrighteous words, it is like black ink is being dripped into that clear water and it is polluted and no longer clear.  The words have the ability to change the life.  The heart was wrong, but the words established that wrong in a deeper, firmer way.

But James then piles on further pictures: It …sets the whole course of his life on fire. If the tongue is a fire, then the words are like flaming pieces that soar up into the air and where they land they spread the fire. As we’ve just suggested, when the words are spoken they affect the rest of the life. We used the analogy of clear water; James uses the analogy of fire.

Then he finishes with a strange expression: and is itself set on fire by hell. Can I use an analogy that I use often, that of anger? A person may use anger to get their own way, but that is unrighteous. Now if a person uses unrighteous anger regularly, then they open themselves up to Satan’s influence and he can press in on that person so that their anger flares up and is completely uncontrollable. Now the same thing is true of the tongue. Some people use the tongue to put down others, as a means of having influence over them, but this is unrighteous.  So what happens is that when they do this they make themselves vulnerable to Satan (and hell is just shorthand for ‘the powers of darkness and all that they bring’) and so Satan takes the fire (emotional words) that they have used, and blows on it so they become completely out of control.  What this person finds is that no longer can they control what they say; they are motivated or driven by these emotions which are beyond their control, and the fire burns and burns and burns until the person is destroyed. Did you realise the terrible power that is there in the use of the tongue and the forces of destruction that can be released by it?  Well think about these things.

29. Steered

Meditations in James: 29 : Steered by the Tongue

Jas 3:3-5 When we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we can turn the whole animal. Or take ships as an example. Although they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot wants to go. Likewise the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts.

We take life for granted. We don’t think about the things we do, because they are so natural. We get up in the morning. We get dressed, eat breakfast, go out for the day, come home, eat, rest and sleep – every day!  We have eyes to see, ears to hear and mouths to speak, and we take them all for granted.  Take the mouth for example.  We may get up in the morning and so we groan about the day negatively.  We turn on breakfast TV, or breakfast radio, or read a morning paper, and grumble about the state of the world.  We complain about a bus or train being late, or about the weather.  We criticise people in the news and at work.  And we wonder why we feel so negative about life.  We speak thoughtlessly to someone and we hurt or upset them and a relationship is broken.  We speak hastily and the die is cast and a decision made that was unwise.  Our mouths play a large part in expressing what we feel, in determining what we feel, and in creating or breaking relationships with other people.  Oh yes, our tongue is a powerful bit of our body, and the wise person thinks about this.

James has been guiding us to think about our lives and has been challenging us about the nature of them as we live them out in the midst of the world that is so often hostile to us and to God. He’s talked about the link between faith and deeds, and he’s gone on to allude to spiritual maturity, something we should be aiming for.  Have you ever used Google Earth or some other satellite system that looks down on the earth? You see the earth from a distance and then you can zoom down and roads become visible and then, as you get nearer, buildings take shape, and then details can be seen and, if it was a real shot, even people seen.  We zoom in and more and more detail is seen.  That’s what James is now doing.  He is zooming in on our lives and focusing specifically on that all-important organ, our tongue!

He doesn’t go into immediate teaching about it; he paints pictures that make us think about it.  He speaks first about the bit in the mouth of a horse.  It’s a very obvious picture.  As the rider pulls on the reins the horse’s head is pulled round and its body follows the direction of the head.  The implication is that we go where our tongue takes us.  There is a sense that the tongue controls the whole body.  Yes, we know that the tongue speaks what is in the heart: “out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks.” (Lk 6:45).  As we feel on the inside so we speak, but it is as we speak so our direction is set.  We speak and others hear what we say, and we are committed.  If we keep quiet, we are not committed; it is only as we speak is our path set.  What we say, we tend to do.

Then James gives another picture, that of a ship. Oh yes, he says, there may be big waves and strong winds, but it is the rudder of the ship that determines where it goes.  The rudder is so small in comparison to the rest of the ship, but it is still the part that determines the course of the boat.  The same implication is there.  Our course is determined by such a small part of us. Someone offers us as job.  We say, “Yes, I’ll take it.”  Our course is set by our tongue.  Someone chides us for wrong behaviour.  We lash back with our tongue defensively.  Unfortunately they were our manager, and our future hope of promotion has just gone.  Our course is set.  In a marriage, a row ensues and angry words create division.  No healing words are spoken and the rift gets bigger. A course is being set. It is our words that set our course. Think back over the past week or month and see if you can identify times when your words set the course of what was to follow.  Think about things that are yet to happen today or tomorrow and consider how your words will set the course of what is to follow.

James gives a strong warning to finish this verse: the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. What is boasting?  It is speaking out and making claims that are untrue, claims that we are bigger and better than is really true. The tiny tongue can say such silly things, but they are things that make other people think less of us; they are things that lead us further into self-deception. Boasting reveals pride and it reveals foolish thinking, but even worse, it leads us along a course that is damaging to us.

Before we go anywhere else with James in this consideration of the use of the tongue, can we realize how significant our words are? Can we realize what our words do? Can we see that they reveal the state of our hearts and the also commit us to the path ahead. We will, in the days ahead, be determining our paths, partly by what we will be saying. That needs thinking about!

28. Stumbling Christians

Meditations in James: 28 : Stumbling Christians?

Jas 3:2 We all stumble in many ways. If anyone is never at fault in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to keep his whole body in check.

Have you ever wondered why all the pastoral letters of the New Testament were written?  The simple, short answer is because people aren’t perfect.  Once we can accept that simple truth, the Christian life becomes so much more simple.  If you haven’t realised that, then when you do fail you will feel guilty and the guilt will cling and keep on making you feel bad.  When James says We all stumble in many ways he is saying it to both reassure and to challenge.  When I was a younger Christian I encountered those who preached perfection, and because I knew I was not perfect, I felt really bad about myself. I didn’t realize that when Jesus said, “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Mt 5:48) he was giving us a target to aim for, something to work for.

Now theologians sometimes refer to ‘imputed righteousness’ and ‘imparted righteousness’.  Imputed righteousness is the righteousness that God imputes or credits to us when we receive Christ’s salvation.  He declares us righteous in His sight on the basis of the work of Christ.  When we receive Christ we are ‘justified’ or, as some have said, God makes it so it is “just-as-if-I’d” never sinned.  In His sight we are declared righteous.  But any honest Christian knows that from time to time they get it wrong, and there are character imperfections in us that need working on, and this is where ‘imparted righteousness’ comes in.  He has given us His Holy Spirit who is totally righteous, and as we learn to let Him lead us and express Jesus through us, so His righteousness is imparted to us and expressed through us.

John in his first letter also alluded to this: “I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defence–Jesus Christ, the Righteous One.” (1 Jn 2:1). In other words sin, or getting it wrong, should not be a common thing in our lives now, but the reality is that we will stumble, we will trip over our feet and get it wrong sometimes.  John gives two answers to that.  Answer number one: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness” (1 Jn 1:9). That is our side of it. Answer number two: if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defence–Jesus Christ.” (1 Jn 2:1). That is God’s side of it, Jesus speaking up in our defence, reminding the Father that he has died for all our sins.  The challenge that comes with all this, is can we aim to keep sin out of our lives as much as possible?

But then James says something that seems both an impossibility but at the same time a challenge: If anyone is never at fault in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to keep his whole body in check. The person who is careful in what they say and is never at fault in speaking, is a perfect person and that ability to speak righteously reveals the heart that is within and that heart enables us to control our whole life.  Now is it possible to be perfect?  Well, we’ve already covered that above in the first paragraph.  Maturity is certainly something that the Bible suggests we can achieve.  The writer to the Hebrews commented, “solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.” (Heb 5:14).  There are therefore mature people.  Paul also said, “We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature.” (1 Cor 2:6) implying the same thing.  James said earlier, “Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” (Jas 1:4).  There he linked it with being complete or whole. Jesus’ call to perfection in Matthew 5 is actually a call to wholeness or completeness. So, rather than worrying about being ‘perfect’, and constantly feeling bad when we spot things that are less than perfect, can we instead aim for maturity, for wholeness and completion? This then becomes a goal to work for rather than a means of condemnation. Recognize that you have some way to go, but actually set yourself the goal of letting God change you, like his word says (2 Cor 3:18), to become more and more like Jesus.

There are two things we can do to facilitate this process of change. The first thing is to let the Holy Spirit search you and help you face up to how you fall short. This is similar to the assessing that Paul says should go on in us when we come to take Communion: “A man ought to examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup.” (1 Cor 11:28). There are some things that will be obvious and we need to confess them and deal with them.  Some things we may feel we need the Lord’s help to overcome.  Ask Him.  The second thing is simply to develop your relationship with the Lord.  As we do that, His presence will change us.  Now there are basic disciplines that Christians through the ages have found build and change us – reading the Bible, praying, worshipping, fellowshipping with other Christians, being a witness to others – all these things work in the process of changing us.

So, to summarise, recognize that sometimes you will get it wrong but there are two things to help us there (see above).  Don’t be content with those imperfections: confess them, seek God’s help to overcome them, and at the same time work positively to develop your relationship with Him.  Be changed!

27. Maturity of Teachers

Meditations in James: 27 : The Maturity of Teachers

Jas 3:1 Not many of you should presume to be teachers, my brothers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly.

We have often commented in these meditations that it is important to note the context and catch the thought pattern of the writer. When we come to chapter three, if we are not careful it could seem as if James is jumping to a new subject, but he’s not. If you scan back over the previous chapter you’ll see again that James has been concerned to emphasise to these scattered Christians the importance of living out practically, the Christian life, a life of faith.  Earlier, at the end of chapter one, he had cautioned us against letting our tongues run away with us. In the second verse of chapter three, which we’ll consider in detail tomorrow, he says, “We all stumble in many ways.” In other words James is wanting us to look at our lives to see that they conform with God’s expectations as seen in the New Testament, but at the same time realize that we all fall short and miss it sometimes.

In those days, the height of having become someone who had mastered life, was to become a teacher.  A teacher wasn’t just someone who imparted information, they were considered to be those who were mature and wise and who could impart truth from a life that showed by its fruits that it had grown in self-control and wisdom.  Now of course James is speaking to the church and this applies doubly so.  As he has been saying for a large part of this letter so far, we are called to be those who cope with the trials of life (1:2-18), those who DO what God has said (1:19-25), those who can control their tongue (1:26,27), those who do not have wrong assessments of people (2:1-13) and those who live out their faith in real and practical ways (2:14-26).  Now if you can say you’ve got on top of all these, he implies, then you can be a teacher of others, to lead them also into these things.

In fact, the way he says it comes with a warning. You really don’t want to be a teacher unless you have got it all worked out, because if you stand before others, telling them how to live, and actually haven’t done it yourself, then God is going to hold you accountable. You will be in trouble! In a sense this is just a further call to self-assessment.  That is what this letter is really all about. He is saying, look I know you have been scattered into the world, and so you are having to learn to live in the world without the strength of Jerusalem upholding and encouraging you, so I want to remind you of what you have been called to and I want you to check yourselves out against that. Don’t think too highly of yourselves because, probably there aren’t many of you who will have reached such maturity in these things that you can become teachers of others.

We also have to see these things in the wider context of the whole New Testament.  Jesus scolded the teachers of his day who loved being acknowledged publicly for what they were (Mt 23:7).  He looks for humility in such people.  That is a first thing to note.  With maturity comes humility that does not seek for position.  Indeed a teacher should be a servant: “Nor are you to be called `teacher,’ for you have one Teacher, the Christ. The greatest among you will be your servant. For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.” (Mt 23:10-12). So a teacher is to be a mature person who does all that James has been speaking about, so that maturity will bring wisdom with humility, to act as a servant of others, not as one who lords it over others. With all these warnings against being a teacher, one might think that the New Testament teaches against becoming a teacher, but the contrary is true.

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said, “whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.” (Mt 5:19). His implication is that after practice comes handing it on to other people. Indeed Jesus’ closing instructions at the end of Matthew’s Gospel were to “go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” (Mt 28:19,20). Teaching, or imparting to others all that Jesus had taught, was to be a very real part of the life of the church.

The writer to the Hebrews expected people to mature and to become teachers: “We have much to say about this, but it is hard to explain because you are slow to learn. In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again.” (Heb 5:11,12). Now there is a challenge to the church where most people are happy to sit back and do little. No, says the teaching of the New Testament, the role of the leaders is to bring YOU into a place of maturity so that YOU can do the work: “It was he who gave some to be ….pastors and teachers, to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may …. become mature” (Eph 4:11,12). So James’ call is a call to self-assessment, but it is not an excuse for immaturity. Our call is to become mature and to impart the truth to others. May it be so!

26. Rahab’s Faith

Meditations in James: 26 : Rahab’s Faith

Jas 2:25    In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction?

There are times when I giggle at the audacity of the Bible writers as, in a subtle way; they poke fun at the self-righteous, Sunday-only ‘Christians’.  As you may have gathered from earlier meditations, I have a problem with ‘ladies in big hats and men in suits’ type of religion.  It is so frightfully ‘nice’ and so far from the reality of Jesus Christ who met with prostitutes, crooks and the general dregs of society.  Now I apologise if you belong to one of those rare congregations who can wear nice hats and suits and yet also rub shoulders with the poor and the unrighteous at the same time, but so often the two do not go together.  I’m sorry for these descriptions, but they do exist and they do portray a poor imitation of the life of Christ.

I hope you will have been getting the message from these recent reflections on what James has been saying, as he has been speaking to the church, living in the world, and in danger of taking on the world’s values.  ‘Snobbery rules OK!’ is NOT a motto for the church of Jesus Christ; neither is ‘performance religion’ acceptable, where you turn up to perform as good people on Sundays but for the rest of the week fail to exhibit the nature and characteristics of Jesus Christ, or exhibit Biblical faith as the Bible teaches. These are the dangers that James is seeking to counter.

The ‘nice’ Christian is very happy to hear illustrations involving Abraham, because Abraham was a good man, a man of faith, THE man of faith.  Abraham conjures up good images, but Rahab is a bit different!  Rahab was a prostitute (possibly an innkeeper) who lied to save the Israelite spies.  A prostitute, an innkeeper and a liar!  How embarrassing!  To make it worse, it’s not only James who cites her.  The writer to the Hebrews in the ‘gallery of faith’ in chapter 11 also cites her: “By faith the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies, was not killed with those who were disobedient” (Heb 11:31).  It gets even worse, Rahab is cited in Matthew’s record of Jesus’ family tree as the mother of Boaz, which makes her the great, great, great grandmother of King David (Mt 1:5,6).  Jesus’ human family tree included a prostitute?  Yes, because even prostitute’s get saved!  Well they might not in your church, but they do in Jesus’ church. (Sorry about that!)

What fun! James who is so meticulous about right behaviour in the kingdom of God, isn’t ashamed to use a prostitute as an example of faith – because she was!  Now that is a bit of a challenge!  It’s a challenge because of the way she exhibited faith, and it’s a challenge in the light of our own lives today.

Let’s consider first how she exhibited faith.  You can find it in Joshua 2.  The key to her citation is found in the following: “Before the spies lay down for the night, she went up on the roof and said to them, “I know that the LORD has given this land to you and that a great fear of you has fallen on us, so that all who live in this country are melting in fear because of you. We have heard how the LORD dried up the water of the Red Sea for you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to Sihon and Og, the two kings of the Amorites east of the Jordan, whom you completely destroyed. When we heard of it, our hearts melted and everyone’s courage failed because of you, for the LORD your God is God in heaven above and on the earth below.” (Josh 2:8-11).  Do you see it?  “We have heard” Remember Rom 10:17, “faith comes from hearing the message”?  She had heard what God had been doing for Israel and she believed and she wanted to be a part of them as a result. Her conclusion was, “the LORD your God is God in heaven above and on the earth below.” She became a believer and because she was a believer, she acted to protect the spies.  In a Fallen World, sometimes you have to choose the lesser of two evils.  Yes there are both evil, but you have to choose one of them to prevent a worse thing.  Thus she lied and saved the spies and was taken into Israel and became part of the Messianic family tree.  But don’t forget what James is teaching: because she believe she acted.

Now the second challenge that comes out of this, is to respond as least as well as Rahab did.  If a prostitute can respond to the Good News that “God is here,” (because basically that is what she heard and believed and responded to), how much more should we respond to the wonderful news that He has come in the form of His Son, and now in the form of His Holy Spirit who lives within us.  Recently in these meditations we considered the rewards we receive in heaven, and perhaps we may find some surprises there.  Could it be that those who comes from socially much inferior groups to some of the ‘nicer’ parts of the country, may receive greater rewards because they responded more fully, being more aware of their need?  If the local drug dealer turns to Christ and his life is totally transformed and he lives a real life of faith, how does that compare with the person who thinks they are all right,  simply goes to church on a Sunday, and sees little change in their life and knows nothing of the faith experience we have been speaking about recently?  Challenging stuff here in James!

25. Abraham’s Faith

Meditations in James: 25 : Abraham’s Faith

Jas 2:20-24 You foolish man, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless? Was not our ancestor Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. And the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,” and he was called God’s friend. You see that a person is justified by what he does and not by faith alone.

If you think James has said enough about faith to convince us, you would be wrong.  It is a measure of how important he considers this subject that he now carries on by giving examples of faith in action.  His first example is that of Abraham, often known as the man of faith.  Now this is an interesting illustration because Paul had used the illustration of Abraham to prove that we are saved by faith alone: “For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law.” (Rom 3:28)….. “What does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,” (Rom 4:3) so how do the two teachings harmonise?

Well, let’s look carefully at what is being said.  Let’s consider Paul first.  He is citing the incident where Abram had been bemoaning to God the fact that he still had no children and the Lord came to him and reassured him that he would have a child: “Then the word of the LORD came to him: “This man will not be your heir, but a son coming from your own body will be your heir.” He took him outside and said, “Look up at the heavens and count the stars–if indeed you can count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness.” (Gen 15:4-6).  It was by his simple believing that the Lord declared him righteous.  Now of course the Lord can see into our hearts and see the genuineness of what is there.  God saw that when He told Abram he would have a child, he genuinely believed this would happen and he would go to Sarai and they would continue to try having a child.  Yet at the moment he believed, that was the moment that God credited him with righteousness. Similarly when we come to the Lord, He sees the genuineness of our conviction and our repentance and purely on the basis of what He sees, He justifies us. However, we have to emphasise that it is when God sees genuine faith that He justifies and only He knows when that actually is.

Now when James speaks about faith and Abraham, he used the Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness quote simply to confirm what he has already been saying through a different example. He uses the example of Abraham taking his son, Isaac, to be sacrificed. God had told him to do this and, as the writer to the Hebrews says, “Abraham reasoned that God could raise the dead, and figuratively speaking, he did receive Isaac back from death.” (Heb 11:19). Because he reasoned this he went ahead with the preparations to sacrifice Isaac which, as James said, was a case of his faith and his actions working together. His faith believed it and his actions confirmed it. James then uses an important phrase: “and his faith was made complete by what he did” Yes, Abraham had faith at the point God told him to sacrifice Isaac, but that faith was made complete or revealed when he went ahead and did it.

So yes, when it comes to our salvation, as Paul said, we are justified by faith, we are justified at the moment we have faith, which God sees to be genuine. We are actually justified without doing anything, so that we may not fall into the trap of believing that we work for our salvation. Yet our faith is proved or completed when we start living in accordance with that faith. James is absolutely right. If we do nothing as a response to what we say we believe it throws doubt on the reality of what we believe.  The person who acts out their faith is the one who has been justified.

We need to re-emphasise this, because many people get confused by it.  You ARE justified at the point of believing as God sees the genuineness of your belief.  When He sees it is genuine and that a transformed life will follow, He justifies.  From our perspective, because we do not know the genuineness of what is going on inside, it is only as we see the faith being lived out that we can look back and say, Yes, that person has been born again and has been justified by faith by God.  From our perspective, and this is what James is saying, we are proved to be justified by the fact acts that follow.  As we said yesterday, it is a faith that works.

So, yet again, the same challenge comes: are we indeed a people who are living by faith, responding in a living relationship to God’s word, His word that comes through Scripture and through His Holy Spirit?  As Paul said, “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.” (Gal 5:6), i.e. it doesn’t matter what our background is; the important thing is, are we living by faith, expressing His love?  May it be like that!

24. More Than

Meditations in James: 24 :  Faith is more than just believing

Jas 2:19 You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that–and shudder.

As we have been saying over these past few days, it is our belief that this matter of faith is one of the most crucial issues for the church of the twenty-first century, no doubt as it has been for the church of every century. The temptation, for every one of us who is a Christian, is to lapse into a belief mentality that is merely an assent to information. I can assent to what astronomers tell me about the planet Jupiter, but it has absolutely no bearing on how I live my life. I can assent to what scientists tell me about the structure of atoms and molecules and even smaller particles of matter, but it has absolutely no affect on how I live my life.

When it comes to the Bible, I have a feeling that there are probably many things which, if we are honest, have little or no bearing on our lives. Thoughts about the Millennium for instance. Different theologians have different interpretations about what will happen and so rather than argue it, which does nothing more than massage the ego, I’m happy to say, “I’m a pan-millennialist – I’m sure it’ll all pan out in the end.” Large parts of the Bible, again if we are honest, merely go to reinforce or confirm our faith which is why I always advocate read all of it. In fact I am of the opinion that we can meditate on any passage in the Scriptures and God will feed us through it, and in feeding change us. Yet, I will still maintain that some parts of the Bible will be more alive and vibrant to us than others. The New Testament will have far more impact on us as Christians with all of its teaching about Jesus, salvation and the life God has for us, than say Ezekiel’s descriptions of the new temple he sees in his vision. That’s simply being real. But again, there is a danger here in just absorbing information – ‘knowing about’.

We’ve focused on this one little verse today because in it James is making this further point here about faith – it’s not just about having knowledge. Now knowledge is important as I have just been suggesting, (and would never want you to take what I have been saying as a reason for not reading the Bible – read it even more!) and indeed without knowledge it is really impossible to have Biblical faith.  We quoted the other day, “By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.” (Heb 11:3). The implication there is that we have been told through the Scriptures that God made this world from nothing, and that creates an awesome response to Him. That response is worship and worship is an act of faith. The writer later went on, “anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him” (Heb 11:6). Again something in us believed there was a supernatural being, because that is how we are made, but when we came to the Bible we found it was ALL about God. The more we read the more we were convinced that He exists and desires a relationship with human beings, whereby when they seek Him with all their heart, they find Him (Deut 4:29), and when they find Him He blesses them. This knowledge evoked a response in us. That response is faith. The only question is, will we continue to let it evoke responses in us?

You believe that there is one God. Good! says James. Oh yes, knowing about God is a good starting place, is what he is saying, but he’s not happy for us to stop at that place. Even the demons believe that, he continues.  Why is he saying that? Well demons are fallen spirits who are led by Satan, and they are in rebellion against God.  God so permits that state of affairs because He makes use of them, but the truth is that they are not God’s children and they are not living in the blessing of God’s love and are not called to live by faith -  but they still ‘know’ about God!  You see what James is saying?  Even God’s enemies know about Him, but that doesn’t mean to say that evokes a faith response in them.  To the contrary, they shudder with awful fear, knowing that God is All-mighty and one day He will decree their end (Rev 20:10).  Oh no, they have every reason to shudder, but that is not faith.

Yes, you can have a variety of responses to hearing about God. It can be the response of the atheist, the response of denial, and for that the Bible calls them fools (Psa 14:1). Then there is the response of the agnostic which, when they hear, is, “Well, I’m not sure,” and so they sit on the fence and remain lost. Then there is the response of the would-be believer who responds gladly and receives salvation, but it is at this point that James challenges us for it’s like he says, don’t stop believing AND responding. Don’t let your Christian faith lapse into a knowledge thing, for it’s meant to remain alive and vibrant, a relationship where we go on hearing God and go on responding to Him. Make sure it is, won’t you.