Congregational Bible Experience Day #75: James 1-5

Congregational Bible Experience Day #75
Bible Reading: James 1-5

Introduction:  The Reformer Martin Luther called the book of James "a right strawy epistle… for (he said) it has nothing of the nature of the Gospel about it". Yes… but… while the word 'gospel' is absent, gospel themes are indeed present: James calls his readers "believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ" (2:1), alludes to 'justification by faith' (2:23-24), and in fact the whole letter explores the nature of "faith", especially in times of trials and tests (1:2-4). So, while the Gospel of the death and resurrection of Jesus may not be explored and expounded in this letter, it is assumed throughout the book as the foundation of everything else James writes about.
The letter is the 'Gospel-applied', that is, it concerns the difference that believing in Christ should make upon our Christian lives and communities in difficult times. The Christians to whom James wrote were, like other communities we have read about, experiencing hostility and antagonism from those outside the fellowship. And when heat comes from outside, like a pressure-cooker, pressure builds inside. The church fellowship was beginning to fracture as sins of the heart were exposed and unleashed. But James sees this as an opportunity to grow in faith, to mature, for the gospel to do its deep work of transformation in people's lives.

James revisits a theme we have met before: how to live faithfully to the Lord when experiencing  troubles and difficulties because of our faith. His readers are "facing trials of many kinds" (1:2) and so James writes to offer some Apostolic help and give direction to see them through these tests. But he also wants them to understand something about these trials; he wants them to see the bigger picture, to gain some perspective as to why their Christian lives are as they are and why God allows these painful times into our lives. He says, this is a God-given season in your life, a time to help you mature, to deepen and grow in your relationship (1:3-4). What you are experiencing he says, are 'growing pains'. 

The tongue is like a horse's bit (James 3:3)

These trials are an inevitable and vital part of growing in your faith, for he writes, "whenever you face trials…" not "if…".  God sends these seasons to us to expose our vulnerabilities lest we think we can make it through life without His all-sufficient grace (1:5-8).  For that reason - and we need to be sensitive here - we are to "consider it pure joy" whenever we face these times of difficulty and perplexity. The joy is not because pain is ultimately better for us; or that the pain is not real;  no, and a thousand times "No!" Rather, the 'joy' comes whenever we sense the presence and love and mercy and grace of our faithful God in our breaking hearts and broken lives in ways we could never otherwise experience (1:12). And that is a mark of a genuinely mature faith. That's the direction of travel; that's the reason for this particular journey. But for most of us, we're not there yet. And that's why James writes his letter.

The tongue is like a ship's rudder (James 3:4)

James wants us to respond to these 'trials of faith' properly, as God intends; not sinfully, as we naturally would. In the dark throes of trials, we instinctively respond with our emotions, including fear, anger, envy, self-pity, confusion - that we often keep buried and hidden. And if we let these attitudes sink their sinful roots into our hearts - says James - then our own spiritual centre of gravity may dangerously shift onto whatever, or against whoever, we think will ease our pain:  we hold onto our material possessions, our 'emotional blankets' to give some us sense of comfort and security (1:9; 5:1-6)... 

The tongue is like a forest fire (James 3:6)

We may become jealous of others and their 'pain-free' existence (3:13-18); we become indifferent to others' needs even though we know what we should be doing something to care and help (1:22; 2:14-18); we may become angry with God and blame Him and His lack of concern for our hardships rather than trusting in His loving wisdom and humbly trusting in His providential care (1:13-21; 4:7-10); we become wrapped up in our own woes and start lashing out at those around us (3:1-12); wrapped up in ourselves, we may become loveless towards those brothers and sisters we arrogantly look down on (2:1-11); we may become quarrelsome and aggressive towards others because we are not getting our way (4:1-3; 5:7-9); we may fool ourselves into thinking we are acting and responding to life well, even spiritually-minded, as God would want, when in fact we most definitely are not (1:22-27); we may become prayerless, or simply go through the motions of prayer with no living faith involved and no expectations of being heard or our prayers being answered (1:5-7; 5:13-18); we may become unforgiving (5:19-20), and forget our own failings (5:16); and in an attempt to make like easier, perhaps to lessen the tension with a hostile unbelieving world, we may even begin to drift from God and strike up unhealthy relationships with those who are no friends of God (4:4-6)…  

Or, we may trust in Jesus and His love.

As each new day brings its own new and unique challenges, 'trials of many kinds', tests and temptations that will potentially expose our sinful heart, let's not waste our opportunity to more deeply trust in Jesus and grow in our experience of His grace.