An Exposition on the Book of James Part 12
If you haven’t yet, please check out part 1 of this series, The ideas of James are all centered around the idea of a perfectly forged faith that makes us perfect.
People are a peculiarity. If you have ever sat in a busy ish restaurant by yourself and watched the various types of people that come in at divers stages of their life, you probably know what I mean. You have the preps, people that think they are more important than others, you have the people that go places in their PJ’s and are unashamed, you have the old couples, and you have the young and in love couples – though they mostly don’t know what that means. If you pay attention, People from all walks of life may cross your path. It is impossible to know all of these people intimately in the few moments they eat their food or sip their coffee, but there are things we infer about people as soon as we meet them.
As a disciple of Christ, we need to look at people in a different light. There are two categories that people fall into, the saved and bound to spend an eternity with Christ, and those who are lost and bound to spend an eternity in Hell without Christ. Everyone has a soul. It doesn’t matter if the person makes a million dollars a year or 5, if a person is living off their parents, the government or providing for their own family. They all have something in common; they are eternal beings.
The person that cut you off in traffic is a person whom God formed and fashion in his image. The person who is thinks they are the most import person in the world, they too are made in God’s image. In fact every type of person you can think about is formed by God to bring glory to God. Their intellect was ascribed by God, their placement in this world was part of his design.
Jame’s audience didn’t need to be told about the goodness of God and all his wonderful attributes. They were well versed in God’s character, however James comes from a different perspective. Why do we curse – that is say negative things about or to – a man who is made in God’s image. When we are cut off in traffic, why should we blaspheme God by calling the other driver an idiot or the like? While the actions of some people are repulsive, and wrong we must be careful about the words we let come out of our mouths. Our thinking produces the words we say and often the words we say direct our thinking. We must keep every thought captive to the word of God and let it direct our minds and mouths.
Imagine growing up to hear Mozart your entire life and believe he is a master composer of music, and one day you hear a young child trying their best to perform his 5th symphony. Why would you degrade the child for not preforming to the same quality you desire? Or, better yet, knowing some of the greatest works of Leonardo De Vinci and loving them you come across a lesser-known piece and pronounce it worthless. How much more ridiculous is it to understand the greatness of the God who formed all things, but look at some of his creations and speak bad about them. I am not saying that sometime we must tell people negative things about another person, but we should set a guard at our mouth so we only speak the truth in love.
As Followers of Christ we should be filtering our words through the eternal Word of God. A fountain cannot produce two types of water. it spews forth the water it has in it. If the water in the pool is salt, it will send out salt water. if it is fresh, than fresh live giving water will flow our of the mouth of the fountain. It cannot be otherwise. Unfortunately, since we who are born again have two natures within us – the old man and the new – we can find ourself spewing out two different types of words. We can see the value in some people but not all. We can bad mouth some people very easily. But the words that we speak are indications of the faith that we believe.
What do we gain by being angry at the person on the other side of the counter. If God is in control of our life, why does it matter if the person is not doing their job? Does not God see our perspective? Does he go before us and fight our battles? Is he Sovereign over the affairs of man? Can he not reward good for evil? Can he not override man’s decrease? If an injustice has been done, God tells us to be defrauded. If we turn the other cheek, and revile not again those who revile us than maybe we can witness to the other person. Maybe their soul should become more important to us than getting our order correct.
I am a passionate person and I hate injustices, especially when they happen to me. And there are times when that is good and needed. However, sometimes the issue at hand becomes more important to me than the greater issues. The order should be correct and the person should at least be apologetic and fix the problem they caused. But when my reasonable expectation of service is not met, my reaction can tell allot about the faith or belief that lies deep in my heart. If I get angry and raise my voice than I am communicating that I am the one that hast to fix all these problems. That I am uncaring about the person on the receiving end – even if they deserve it. I care more about myself than I care about treating another person as a creation of the Holy God of the Bible.
I have seen inside my own life a lack of meekness at certain times throughout the last few weeks. Things bother me a great deal, and I can reason out within my mind why I am in the right to be upset. The truth is, If getting mad is my first response there is an imbalance between my works and my faith. The words and actions coming from me do not align with what I truly believe. My first response should always be to petition God, to keep a countenance that is not shameful, arrogant or rude, and be willing to suffer for the cause of Christ and the betterment of others.
Much easier said than done.
James 3:9-16 KJV
9 Therewith bless we God, even the Father; and therewith curse we men, which are made after the similitude of God.
10 Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be.
11 Doth a fountain send forth at the same place sweet water and bitter?
12 Can the fig tree, my brethren, bear olive berries? either a vine, figs? so can no fountain both yield salt water and fresh.
13 Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? let him shew out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom.
14 But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth.
15 This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish.
16 For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work.
S.T.
Acts 20:24
"But none of these things move me..."
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