08/31/2024 - Prologue – Many folks are waking up to something that would hopefully happen after death, or as a reward for good behavior in the present world. This attitude is a misplacement of our daily attention. We became a religion of religious transactions more than one of spiritual transformation. Waking up should be the goal of all spiritual work, the sacraments, and Bible study. St. Augustine, “God is closer to me, than I am to myself,”
Clericalized Christianity is waking up in terms of growing up, and that was interpreted in moralistic terms and that morality was culturally defined. Many pastors talked, wrote, and preached about cleaning up, but did this poorly. We told people of their moral failings, especially the “hot” ones. This led to religion being associated with morality, rather than any transformation of consciousness. We need to clean up, by putting boundaries on our natural egocentricity. But the goal in waking up is not personal perfection, but surrender, love, and union with God. (Reconciliation) Preoccupation with my moral perfection keeps my eyes on me and not on God, His grace or His love. Squaring up is about the need for impulse control and creating ego boundaries so we can arrive in the bigger world, i.e.- the call to enter Jesus’ world - here - now - on earth - as the world to come. Hence [James]!
[James 1:1-8] – The Challenge of Faith – James opens his letter saying He is a slave to God and to the Lord Jesus the Messiah. [1:1] Imagine being the older brother of Jesus and not believing in Jesus, who said it is hard to be a prophet in your hometown. [Luke 4:24]
James and Jesus meet alone after Jesus’ resurrection [1Cor. 15:7] Imagine how James felt and the commitment he made to serve Jesus. James says persons who doubt are double minded and unstable, blown and tossed by the winds. [v. 6] This book of encouragement is for all Christians: in 33 AD and 2024. Notice what James tells us to do when we experience trials and tribulations – celebrate! [v.2] Face up to the challenges of faith. There are many tests: persecution, temptation, physical, health, death, family and financial, to mention a few. But we are not tested unless we are doing something serious. Those who have made the choice to follow Jesus are not simply supposed to survive. They are to count – to make a difference in the world. We have choices: a quiet life of prayer or act in a way that reveals the gospel to others. Both require strength. James draws attention to our being tested. We must develop a character of patience. Do not panic; do not overreact; do not turn a problem into a crisis. This is James’ great theme [5:7]. James goes further, - we should let patience have its complete effect; allow it to work through our entire system. [v. 4] Imagine being in a house, looking out the window, away from yourself looking to God who is greater than each of us. Patience is what happens in the house when we do that. James develops another character – wisdom, James is the most obvious thinker in the NT about ancient Israelite scripture. The OT was called the ‘wisdom literature’ because those who learned to trust God for everything and then discovered that trust would work out every aspect of daily life. Wisdom helps us to cope, ask God for it. But, “How do I know God will respond?” God gives generously when we combine: faith, patience and wisdom. [v. 5] We find it too easy to picture God as: stingy, mean, petty, spiteful. Is that the image we see when we look in the mirror? We need to learn what God is really like. Pray for Faith, Patience, Wisdom!!
[James 1:9-18] – The Snares of the World and the Gift of God – Listen for the echo. Early Christians lived with a massive echo chamber, the OT. Jesus’ followers believed the OT rushed forward with new meaning with the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. The “grass withers” [v. 8] comes from [Isa. 40:7-8].We might want to reread all of [Isa. 40] James is saying we must learn to trust God, not the snares of the world; i.e., wealth and temptation. James further warns these impulses are powerful and deceptive. They are like wild flowers – here today, gone tomorrow. But what is permanent? God and God’s word. The word does not merely convey truth; we find when God speaks – things happen – to usand in us. God’s word goes deep inside us, healing inner hurts, and changes our motivation. We become different people. [v. 18] We need this action; metaphorically, we look at the glorious spring flowers and think they are what matters. We know these stories. Learn to look at the world inside out upside down, as Jesus taught. Do not allow our imagination to be drawn into a snare. See things as God sees them. What happens when we are tempted and what are those trials and tribulations? [v. 2] James warns, God is not responsible for temptation. Jesus made it clear it comes from within. If we remain true to ourselves, we will be in a mess. We must take our ‘self’ and choose wisely which impulses we follow and which we resist. Some desires start a family tree of their own [v. 15]. God, though promises, ‘the crown of life.’ [v. 12]. In our study of scripture, the teaching of wisdom’ fits with what the ancient Israelites saw as God’s ‘covenant’ promise requiring the choice between life and death. James grounds his teachings in what is true about God, the generous giver, the ‘father of lights’. – Everything that truly lights the world is a gift from Him! The sun, the moon, the stars all come and go in their shining – God’s light is constant. “He became our father by the word of truth.’ [Isa. 40] God has started His own fresh family tree – the new birth that brings new life, through the powerful word of the gospel of Jesus. It does not stop with us. Those in whose lives the word is doing its work are just the start. James says we are a ‘kind of first fruits of His creatures.’ This too is an echo of the early harvest festival in the Temple. You bring the ‘first fruits’, the beginning of the crop, as an offering to God as a sign there is more to come. Is that what we are doing? One day, God’s word will transform the whole creation, filling heaven and earth with His wonderful light and life. Our lives, transformed by the gospel, learning to see the world differently, standing firm against temptation, are the start of that larger project. AMEN.
Epilogue -Early America: Seeking religious freedom the Pilgrims landed in Plymouth in 1620. They became the first permanent settlement in Colonial America and within 5 years were self-sufficient. The colonies flourished, but King George III 150 years later wanted the colonists to pay for troops. The colonials, w/o representation in parliament remained loyal, but rebelled. They defeated British troops in Concord and Lexington on 04/19/1775. King George responded harshly, imposing direct taxation. The leaders replied with the Declaration of Independence: “… We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights that amongst them are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government …” The question today is: Do we have a government today as envisioned by the 56 signers? This was the first time in the known world a group of people consented to be self-governing. Who upon affixing their signatures were signing a death warrant.
Love, hank
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