Scripture: James 1:16-26
In this, our second examination of James’ advise and
guidance for our Christian walk, we must also be reminded that the world never
gives up on providing misinformation
on what the truth of God is all about.
They don’t trust in God’s word, they don’t believe in all that the Bible
has told us for nearly two thousand years, and they don’t believe that the Lord
speaks to any one in a way that should be understood, appreciated and followed.
But then, that’s their agenda! To mislead, deceive, confuse, and everything
else that they can possibly do to spread false teaching and doubts throughout
the Church. But the Church’s
responsibility is to study scripture and share the truth of God with each other,
as well as with the misguided throughout the world. And, you might ask, what will that
accomplish? It will be our response and
trust in God’s word, and it may, just maybe, lead another person back to the
eternal truth of our Lord.
Today’s lessons from James are as much words of
encouragement as they are words of challenge and correction. As we continue in this series, I trust that
all will take James’ words to heart, and will live them to the fullest and best
that each of us can.
For today, we discover that the Lord’s word of truth
is a gift that He has set down for people of all centuries and nations. And so we begin.
Read James 1:16-21
“Every good and perfect gift is from above …”. Unfortunately, James doesn’t seem to give us
any obvious guidance on how to discern the difference between God’s perfect
gifts, and the world’s imperfect ones!
The only hope we really have is through prayer, and study and discussion
of the Word of God in the scriptures!
But the one help that James does give us is the assurance that the word
that we have been given is unchanging.
Think about that! The letters and
gospels that were written so long ago are the same today as they were
then. The God inspired advice that
James, Peter, Paul, and the gospel writers of the New Testament, as well as the
prophets and sages of the Old Testament, will never change, as they are God’s
gift that reassures and strengthens all who follow Christ.
Of course, there will always be those who believe
that these words will never truly apply to their own life, or that scripture is
outdated and needs to be rewritten to reflect the ways that we continue to hear
about every day from our culture. Wouldn’t
that be convenient! We hear about that
approach in the news, of how some cities choose to either ignore or rewrite the
laws of our nation, cities, towns and states, to suit their own personal
desires or attitudes. If some can do
that, why shouldn’t they think that God’s word must also be up for
reconsideration, to reflect and allow our own personal attitudes and norms to
be lived out in our own way, regardless of what gifts of Truth and Light that have come directly from our Almighty God!
God’s word is a gift that He never withdraws, never
changes, never apologizes for, and never, ever offers us the right to
choose, reject or revise, dependent solely upon our own will and desires! We have been born anew through His truth. James tells us that we have been born into
the category of “firstfruits”, or in other words, those who give thanks and
honor to God for all that He has provided, and live as the Lord’s priesthood in
the light of 1Peter 2:9-10,
where we read “9 But you are a chosen people, a royal
priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may
declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His wonderful
light. 10 Once
you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not
received mercy, but now you have received mercy.”
This is the call and promise that is on
all who claim the name and way of Jesus.
And James warns us that anger against both
our neighbor and against the word of our Almighty God destroys that promise,
and voids our life of the relationships that we so desire. We are to reject the “moral filth” and “evil”
that seek to control our lives, and let the true word of God be our
salvation. We are reminded that morality
begins when we set aside those characteristics of prideful arrogance and rage
that stand in direct opposition to holy righteousness. Instead, we are to put on the truth of God in
humble and faithful living, and allow the word of Light to refine us and
transform us into the kind of person God has always intended that we should be.
There is nothing that can ever be a
satisfactory substitute for obedience to God’s word!
Read James 1:22-26
Have you ever known someone who could quote
scripture applicably to nearly every situation that they find themselves in,
but never quite live out the words that they speak? They can be very impressive, and yet, what
good will it ever do them? In his book
“Waldon”, Henry David Thoreau wrote “Say what you have to say, not what you
ought!” Thoreau was into transcendentalism
- a philosophical movement that developed in the early 19th century,
that believed that all people were inherently good and are at their best when
they live a self-reliant life. In other
words, neither the laws of God nor the laws of society should ever have any
important function in our lives. Thoreau
would have vehemently disagreed with James!
In Psalm 5:8-10
(NIV), though, the psalmist writes about the enemies of God, when he said “9 Not a word from their mouth can be trusted; their
heart is filled with malice. Their
throat is an open grave; with their tongues they tell lies.” This is what James is
warning us about. When others begin turning
against the divine truth, we need to stay strong in the gifts that God has
already given us, and to do the things that we now know are the ways and word
of our Lord.
And the last bit of advice that James
offers us today is that we should be especially wary of anyone who is in the
church, but refuses to accept the fullness of God’s word. They are nothing less that deceivers of both
themselves and those they lead astray. It
doesn’t matter who that person may be, or what position they may hold – there
is only one truth, and that is the one that the Lord has given us.
We need to be a gift giver to others, in
the same way that God has given to each of us. His good and gracious gifts of life, truth,
and salvation are the very hope that we all are in desperate need of.
Should we ever offer others any less?
