As we have heard in our scripture reading today, James felt it was important to point out that there was a serious problem within the Church.
It was something really quite insidious, like an infection that was causing great harm from within and tearing the believers apart.
As he points out, envy and selfish ambition is evidence of a certain kind of sickness, which results in a spirit of criticism. This then gives way to boasting, a puffed up zeal and self aggrandized spirituality.
James describes this as “denying the truth”, speaking the words that come so easily and yet our lives deny the reality of those words.
Within the church, where there is envy there is then found a zealousness.
Our spirituality and religious activity becomes a facade, covering up the fact that behind the scenes we are not submitted to God at all, but rather we are following a set of standards that we have carefully curated for ourselves so we don’t feel guilty.
Of course, this is a farce. If we are in Christ, then we are set free of guilt. The price has been paid, we have been made right in his eyes.
And yet, we keep trying to do it ourselves.
The selfish nature that we all have in us compels us to try to justify ourselves by doing good works.
In contrast, a better characteristic we might choose to strive for is meekness. Meekness is not weakness. Quite the opposite - it is strength!
Meekness is power brought under control. The Greek word is one used for the way a horse is broken and brought under control.
Meekness is not false humility either, like those times when we might compliment someone on an aspect of ministry and we are given the response “Oh, it was the Lord.”
When I hear that I can’t help but think to myself “It wasn’t THAT good!”
As James says, “where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder.” When things are out of order, there is confusion.
If you ever find yourself feeling confused, it might be time to check your foundations. Are you standing on the wisdoms and truths of the world, or are you standing on the firm foundation of Jesus?
Envy, and selfish ambition leads to a denial of the truth, which masquerades as a form of wisdom. This is certainly not Godly wisdom, but worldly wisdom.
Just as James has mentioned previously, the tongue can be like a fire from hell, and this worldly mindset is against God, It is demonic. It may appear to be wisdom on the face of it, but we would do well to take great care.
There are two kinds of wisdom. It is entirely possible for Christians to be deceived - just as it is entirely possible to do good works. But without faith, what are those good works? They do not give the glory to God.
If you see good in the world, don’t just follow it, or passively enjoy and appreciate it - contribute to it! And contribute in a way that is honouring to God so that he is the one that gets the glory.
Worldly wisdom will yield worldly results.
Wrong thinking produces wrong living.
It is so very easy for us to be deceived and misled.
The wisdom that comes from heaven is pure, it is peace loving, and full of good fruit which is impartial and sincere.
This kind of wisdom is not naive, or passive - it is actually extremely costly and comes through great care and self discipline.
If you are ever looking for a next step in your spiritual growth, James 3:17 is a good place to go to.
Take each word and take your time with them, praying into them and seeking to grow in these areas: peace loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy, good fruit, impartial and sincere.
As a project that might take you some time!
“Peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of righteousness.”
Jesus said “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.”
False wisdom does not allow peace - it encourages fear, anger, and suspicion.
Peacemakers are not the same as peacekeepers. A peacekeeper works hard to maintain the status quo, making sure that no one is likely to be offended or challenged.
A peacemaker, however, sows and reaps and produces good fruit.
Sowing and reaping - is this something that we are actually doing? And if we are sowing, what are we expecting to reap?
If you sow corn, it’s no good expecting to reap apples. The peacemakers reap a harvest of righteousness.
Just as James has been warning the church against bitterness and selfishness, he also flags up another problem - that there is infighting going on within the church.
We know that it happens, but really we should be shocked that this is even possible. If we have been brought together by God’s grace, it should be unthinkable that Christians are able to lose their harmony with each other and fall into disunity.
The fact of the matter is that even the early church had its disagreements.
In the end, this all comes back to the selfishness that exists in us all.
James says “You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight.”
Quarreling points us back to what James had been writing about previously - the power of the tongue. Once again, the words we speak have the power to get us into all kinds of trouble.
Words spoken in anger are often some of the most devastating, and it is our responsibility to take care of what comes out of our mouths.
When we do bring our words under control, we still need to take care of our motives - as James says, “you don’t get what you ask for because you ask with wrong motives.”
It is like a child who gets into trouble, says sorry, not because they have understood that they have done wrong, but because they have learned to say the right thing to get out of trouble.
We all have a need for discernment, not discrimination. In the end it is only God who judges, and we must leave that task to him.
We cannot be on both sides - James puts it like this: “friendship with the world means enmity against God.”
Here, the world means the way in which the world behaves. It’s a lifestyle, a world view, and it takes effort to stand out among the crowd and to be different.
We can’t be friends with the world and with God. It doesn’t work like that.
In the end, ‘friendship with the world’ is found at the root of wars and fighting.
The ultimate argument is violence.
And yet - “he gives us more grace.”
A friend of God tames the desires of the world, and through self discipline, finds themselves desiring the things of God above the things of the world.
And so, we find the solution that is offered to us through God’s grace - humility.
“God opposes the proud, but shows favour to the humble.”
There is a major lack of humility in the world today. We find humility by submitting ourselves to God.
This requires some serious self examination. What are the desires that dwell within us, and where are those desires coming from?
We have been given all we need to do this well - if we resist the world, and the devil, then he will flee from us.
This is truth, but do we really believe these words?
“Come near to God, and he will come near to you.”
He is waiting! Even now. All we need to do is draw near to him, in humility, and he will make himself known to us.
Chris Marsh // 16th July 2017
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