James 3:1-18.  I think James’ letter has gone like this so far.  There was a greeting (James 1:1) and then he jumped right in and encouraged them to endure the testing of their faith (James 1:2-4). Then he told them to ask for wisdom (Probably about how to endure the trials they were facing.) but they had to ask sincerely, both believing they would get the wisdom (in faith) and with the intent of acting on the wisdom (James 1:5-8).  James them seems to hint at what wisdom he has in mind.  He tells the reader that their value has nothing to do with how much they have (James 1:9-11).   Then he added some motivation, they would be blessed if they endured, if they got the wisdom and acted on it.  But they had to keep the right perspective.  They needed to realize that the temptation to avoid the trials was based on their own evil nature.  They were not to blame God because the wanted the easy way out.  God was working things for their good, a good that would not be complete until the end (James 1:12-18, See also Romans 8:28).  James then got more specific with what wisdom he wanted them to follow.  He told them to stop following their feelings (anger in this case) and to respond to what they were seeing in the Bible, specifically to take care of the needy among them (James 1:19-27).

James 2:1-11 continues the idea of taking care of the needy by telling them to not play favorites with the rich.  They need to care for their neighbors.  He then warns them that they need to follow this second greatest commandment (Matthew 22:39-40) because God will eventually judge people.  James then gives a second argument for caring for others; it is proof that we really have faith in Jesus.  This sort of bounces off of the other idea about judgment; if you don’t have actions that prove your faith maybe you don’t have faith.  If you have not believed in Jesus you will suffer judgment.

Which brings us to today’s reading.  If my outline above is close then it seems the letter is trying to deal with some people not being cared for, there is favoritism and the poor are losing out.  It is very likely that these poor were Jews since James was addressed to the “twelve tribe which are scattered”. According to Acts 8:1 when persecution began in Jerusalem many of those first believers (who would have been mostly Jewish originally) were scattered.   Proverbs 15:2 tells us that a wise man make knowledge acceptable.  While the letter looks like it is encouraging the Jewish believers to hang in there I think it is also telling the other believers with them to start stepping up to the plate, or should I say with the plate.  Chapter three looks like some in the churches were actually teaching the people around them not to look out for others but just for themselves.

In the beginning of chapter three he warns them that not many should become teachers.  Bad teachers not only live lives which dishonor God they teach others to follow their bad example (Matthew 23:15) so in a way they sin twice and have more to answer for.  So our mouths have a great deal of power.  The tongues of teachers need to be under control.  But controlling the tongue is difficult, perhaps impossible (James 3:8, also think about the “we” in verse 2).  Thankfully teaching is a gift from the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 12:7-8, 28-29; Romans 12:6-8; Ephesians 4:8,11) and as such the words of a teacher can be controlled b the Holy Spirit.

The end of chapter 3 kind of supports my idea that James encouragement is more to the other believers than to the ones in trouble.  I think he is telling the rich believers (and their supporters) to suffer along with the poor by caring for them.  In James 3:13 he comes back to true wisdom.  He tells them that if someone among them thinks he is wise it show up in their life as care for others.  If the actions are self centered they are not wise, at least not with god’s wisdom.  Bitter jealousy (maybe talking to the poor again) and selfish ambition (talking to the rich and their friends) is evil and demonic.  James ends by reinforcing what God wants to see in all of our lives.  Purity, peace, gentleness, reasonable (easily persuaded or willing to yield), full of mercy and good gifts, without playing favorites, and not hypocritical.

God help me be a good teacher.  Help me encourage others to live beyond themselves.  Help me live beyond myself.  Let me never play favorites.  Help my life be about others and what is good for them.  Let me love you with all that I am and let me love others at least as much as I love myself.  Let me give much.

James 2:14-26.  Today’s reading seems pretty straight forward but boy does it make a lot of trouble for some theologians (Bible experts).  Martin Luther, one of the main leaders of the Protestant Reformation, wanted to remove James from the Bible.  Ephesians 2:8-9 tells us that we are saved as a free undeserved gift from God.  It also tells us that this gift comes to us through faith.  The next part of those verses tells us “and that not of yourselves it is the gift of God, not as a result of works so you cannot boast.”  The question is, what is “that”?  Based on the Greek words and the way they are written the “that” has to be the gift and cannot be talking about the “faith”.  So those verses in Ephesians tell us that the gift is not an earned gift it is an undeserved gift.  The faith is how it comes to us and the faith is something that we do.  It doesn’t mean that we earn the salvation we just believe and accept it.  This same sort of idea is found in John 1:12 where John tells us that as many as “receive” Jesus, to those who believe in who he is and what he has done for them, to them he will give the right to be in God’s forever family.  The problem is that the scholars think that faith is a work and that if you need to have faith to be saved that means you earned it.  It seems kind of silly.

Let’s say it’s Christmas morning and mom or dad says to you, “Hey there’s something for you outside.”  But you don’t believe them.  You’ve been very bad and you figure they’ll never give you something for Christmas.  So you spend all day in the house and never go out.  Later that evening you hear some mom or dad talking on the phone.  Later yet you hear some beeping out front so you look out.  To your surprise you see a tow truck just finishing up loading a new car with a bow on it from in front of your house and there under the bow is a tag with your name on it.  As you sprint for the door the tow truck takes off and you fall to the floor screaming.  Rewind.  Same scene but this time you think, No way.  I’ve been totally bad all year. But you go out front anyway and…”.  Did you have faith in what your parents told you the second time?  Did you technically do some sort of work in getting the gift?  But did you really earn the gift?  In case you are confused the answers are yes, yes, and no.  The kind of work Paul is talking about in Ephesians is work that earns us a right to go to Heaven, to be back with God again.  It is clear that we cannot do that.  But that does not change the fact that God is holding out salvation to us and we need to reach out and take it, or not.  The decision is clearly ours.

In today’s reading James makes a distinction between faith and works.  He tells us that you can have faith without works.  If that is true it seems that faith is not a work, at least not in the sense that James is talking about.  Actually he implies that you can have faith without works but that it is fake faith.  The author of Hebrews tells us that faith is the assurance of things hoped for and the conviction of things unseen (Hebrews 11:1).  James’ point is if you really believe something you will act on your belief.  He uses two examples Abraham and Rahab.

If you read through Joshua with us you should know Rahab’s story.  She lived in a town that was to be taken over by the Israelites.  Her town had heard stories of the great power of the God of the Israelites, Yahweh.  They also seemed to know that there would be no mercy in the takeover.  When some Israelite spys came to her she asked if they would have mercy on her and her family in exchange for hiding them.  They agreed, but only if she remained in her house during the takeover.  Later in the takeover she stayed in her house and was spared.  The point is we cannot just know stuff about God we need to act on it.  If we don’t act on what we know we don’t really believe it.  It’s like the old saying, “Put your money where your mouth is.”

I think we need to be careful not to get so caught up in the faith verses works controversy that we miss what the original readers were supposed to do with this part of the letter.  Verses 15-16, I think, are more that just an example.  Rahab and Abraham are examples, but I think that verses 15-16 really contain what James was trying to get at with the readers.  In those verses James is telling us to take care of each other.  James likes to use the family idea for the church.  He keeps using the term brother or brothers.  He wants his readers to see each other as family and he clearly thinks family should take care of each other’s physical needs.  It seems that there was some sort of problem in this area.  If we really believe in Jesus we need to be careful to see other believers as family.  It doesn’t matter if they are rich or poor, what culture they are from, how they dress, how they talk, what they eat, what color their skin is, none of that matters.  What matters is that we are a part of each other and need to care for each other physically, spiritually, and emotionally.  Jesus called to all who were “weary and carrying a heavy burden” and offered them rest.  As Jesus’ ambassadors we need to do the same especially for each other (Galatians 6:1-2, 9-10).  Lord help my actions match my faith.  Increase my faith and my care for others.  Let me trust you more and serve others without favoritism.  Let me use the resources I have for others.  Give me your heart for others.  Help me trust.