Love and Judgement, James 2:8-13

James 2:8-13 You do well if you really fulfill the royal law according to the scripture, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself."  But if you show partiality, you commit sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors.  For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it.  For the one who said, "You shall not commit adultery," also said, "You shall not murder." Now if you do not commit adultery but if you murder, you have become a transgressor of the law.  So speak and so act as those who are to be judged by the law of liberty.  For judgment will be without mercy to anyone who has shown no mercy; mercy triumphs over judgment. 

There’s a hierarchy of sin.

At least we think there is.

Yesterday, James talked about showing favoritism, about judging people based on their appearances or their wealth (or lack of it). We talked about how we all do this and pondered where we see partiality in our own actions.

Maybe we’re tempted to think, “Well, yeah.  I do that, but it’s not a big deal.  Everyone does it.  It’s just a little sin – like a white lie.  I’m still a pretty good person.”

Remember the Seven Deadly Sins – lust, pride, greed, sloth, anger, envy, gluttony?  Those are the big ones. If we stay away from them, we’re doing pretty good?  Right? 

Well, no.

There really isn’t a hierarchy of sins.  Sin is sin.  James teaches us that if we break one of the commandments, we’ve broken them all.

Jesus says the same thing: Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, will be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 5:19).

This means that as much as we hate to admit it, we’re really not that much better than those guys in orange jumpsuits being herded to court we seen on the 5’o clock news.

Paul had it right in Romans – “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Rom 6:23).  Actually, the whole sentence starts in verse 22:  For there is no distinction, since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God;

Fortunately, Paul doesn’t leave us hanging.  He finishes this thought with – they are now justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a sacrifice of atonement by his blood, effective through faith. (Romans 6:24-25a)

Fortunately, we have forgiveness through Jesus Christ.

Fortunately, we have grace and mercy from God.

Fortunately, we have the Holy Spirit to show us our sin and to help us conquer it (remember the implanted Word of God in our hearts!).

James reminds us that as sinners who have been judged by the laws of mercy, we need to go and do likewise – show others mercy as well.  That’s the point – “love your neighbor as yourself” in response to God’s love and grace and mercy to you.

Mercy trumps judgement.

Thoughts to ponder:

How does your judgement of someone's sins get in the way of you loving that particular neighbor as yourself?

Does 'love the sinner, hate the sin' really show grace and mercy, or is it just another way to judge?

Love or Judge? James 2:1-7

James 2:1-7 My brothers and sisters, do you with your acts of favoritism really believe in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ?  ² For if a person with gold rings and in fine clothes comes into your assembly, and if a poor person in dirty clothes also comes in,  ³ and if you take notice of the one wearing the fine clothes and say, "Have a seat here, please," while to the one who is poor you say, "Stand there," or, "Sit at my feet,"  ⁴ have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts?  ⁵ Listen, my beloved brothers and sisters. Has not God chosen the poor in the world to be rich in faith and to be heirs of the kingdom that he has promised to those who love him?  ⁶ But you have dishonored the poor. Is it not the rich who oppress you? Is it not they who drag you into court?  ⁷ Is it not they who blaspheme the excellent name that was invoked over you? 

“If you judge people you have no time to love them” – Mother Teresa

One of the speakers for our recent Youth Gathering was the Rev. Andrena Ingram.  She’s the pastor at St. Michael’s Lutheran Church in Philadelphia.    When she was speaking on Saturday night, she shared an experience she has while at the Gathering.

Rev Ingram and her son were looking for a place to eat late in the afternoon after they had arrived in New Orleans.  She stopped a man and a young woman – Gathering participants – to ask where she could find a restaurant.

The man was busy looking at something on his cell phone and didn’t respond.  She repeated her question twice.  At that point, the girl happened to look down and saw Rev. Ingram’s wristband – all Gathering participants, speakers, musicians, volunteers, everyone, had a wristband.  She exclaimed, “Look! She’s one of us!”

At that point, the man looked away from his phone, apologized for being busy on his phone and gave the names and directions to several nearby restaurants.

She said that she wondered later, “Really?  Because my band identified me as ‘one of us.’”

I don’t know what was going on.  Maybe that man was just so engrossed in what he was doing that he was oblivious to anything around him.  Possible, but it’s more likely that the man saw an African-American woman and boy approach him and assumed that they were – street people?  Someone asking for a handout?  Someone wanting to run one of the scams which we were warned that some locals do?  If it has been a white woman and boy, would the same thing have happened?

I don’t know. 

I do know that we all do this – we all judge based on appearances, and act according to our fear and preconceived ideas about types of people.

I do know that I have done this very thing:

When I was in seminary, I worked some evenings at the library.  When my shift was over, I would go out to Main Street and cross over to the ‘married’ housing.  Now, the seminary was located on the edge of a pretty nice, affluent neighborhood.  But across the bridge over the creek that defined the west edge of this neighborhood was one of the poorest neighborhoods in town with a very high crime rate.  I probably don’t need to tell you that the seminary neighborhood was primarily white and the poor neighborhood was primarily African-American.

Ok, now picture me, with my book bag and cell phone and computer standing on the corner of busy Main Street at night waiting for the ‘walk’ signal. 

 

Just me.  Alone.

I notice a couple of people walking up.  Young men.  In hoodies and jeans.  You can imagine what’s going through my mind.  They get closer and I’m pretty sure they are African- American.  Gang members?  Was I going to get robbed?  I clutched my book bag tighter and hoped the light would change so I could cross the street to safety.

Oh – I forgot to mention.  The seminary is right next to a college, where there are a lot of young men attending.  Young men, some of whom happen to be African-American, or even international students.  And just on the other side of the bridge is the closest grocery store where we all shopped.

These young men were students at the college going back to their dorms from a grocery run.

Changes the perspective doesn’t it?

“If you judge someone, you have no time to love them.”

Some thoughts to ponder:

Both above examples are distinctions based on race? What distinctions do you make about people?

James focuses on the distinctions between rich and poor, and the tendency we have to show special favor to the wealthy and powerful.  Where do you see this distinction in action today?

 

One Marshmallow - or Two? - James 1:12-16

James 1: 12-16 Blessed is anyone who endures temptation. Such a one has stood the test and will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him.  No one, when tempted, should say, "I am being tempted by God"; for God cannot be tempted by evil and he himself tempts no one.  But one is tempted by one's own desire, being lured and enticed by it;  then, when that desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin, and that sin, when it is fully grown, gives birth to death. Do not be deceived, my beloved. 

In college, I learned about the marshmallow experiment.  A young child was placed in a room with only a table, a chair, and a tasty treat on the table – usually a marshmallow.  The child was told that she could eat the marshmallow, but if she waited until the tester came back, she could have TWO marshmallows.  Then the tester would leave the room, leaving the tempting treat with the child.

Most of the children resisted temptation.  A few gave in and ate the marshmallow before the tester came back, losing out on the promised second treat.

There are people who think God is like that – placing temptation in our path to see if we can withstand it and then punishing us when we don’t.  That makes God the Cosmic Scientist, the world a maze and each of us rats in that maze.

God doesn’t work like that.  Sure, there are temptations.  We may be saved by grace, but as long as we are on this side of the grave, we still have that sin nature leading us astray (When Luther says we are both saint and sinners, that's what he's getting at).  The old joke goes:  “Lead me not into temptation, I can find it myself.” 

There’s another thing – if you think that God puts temptation in your path to test you, it’s really easy to be proud of all the times you ‘pass the test.’  “Look at me” you boast, “I can resist temptation.”  And by boasting about resisting temptation, you just gave into the temptation be proud – one of the legendary Seven Deadly Sins.

No, we really don’t need God to put temptation in our path.  James is right – temptation comes from our own desires, from inside ourselves.  Jesus said something similar:  “For it is from within, from the human heart, that evil intentions come: fornication, theft, murder, adultery, avarice, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, folly.  All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person." (Mark 7:21-23).  

When we pray in the Lord’s Prayer, “Lead us not into temptation”, we’re asking God to guide us away from those things that tempt us.  “God, keep me away from that room with the marshmallow just begging to be eaten.”  "God help me to not give into my old sin nature today."  "God, create in me a clean heart - remove all those evil desires - and put a new and right spirit - your Holy Spirit - in me (the prayer of David in Psalm 51, paraphrased slighty)

Thanks be to God that through Jesus Christ: He has rescued us from the power of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. (Colossians 1:13-14).

As we pray and ask for God's help to withstand temptation, it does get easier. The Holy Spirit working in our lives gives us the power to not give into our temptation to eat the marshmallow today. Soon, that particular marshmallow is not such a big temptation.

It’s true - when you leave the marshmallow on the table, good things happen.  You get the second marshmallow (James calls it the crown of life).

But if you’re anything like me, it’s good to know that when I give in to temptation and eat the marshmallow, there’s forgiveness and restoration - a different kind of tasty treat from God. 

 

To ponder today: 

What is the marshmallow in the room that tempts you?  Pray for God to 'lead you not into temptation.'

Our struggle with sin is as old as Adam.  Read Psalm 51, David's plea for forgiveness after he sinned by taking Bathsheba and murdering Uriah.  Pray this psalm as your own.

The Flower That Withers...James 1:9-11

James 1: 9-11 Let the believer who is lowly boast in being raised up,  ¹⁰ and the rich in being brought low, because the rich will disappear like a flower in the field.  ¹¹ For the sun rises with its scorching heat and withers the field; its flower falls, and its beauty perishes. It is the same way with the rich; in the midst of a busy life, they will wither away. 

When we got back from vacation, I couldn’t wait to see if my garden survived my long absence.  Had the hot weather and lack of rain destroyed everything?  Would there be anything left?

Fortunately, my garden survived pretty well.  Except for two of my tomato plants -both heirloom beefsteak varieties.  Better than half of the leaves were dry and brown, the fruit small and misshapen.

We all know plants wither in the hot, dry weather. 

James uses that same imagery to talk about what happens when your life is consumed by busy-ness, especially the busy-ness of gaining wealth.  

There will be places in James where we squirm.  In outlining how to live as a follower of Jesus, James often will use examples that get us right where we live.

This is one of those times.

The fact is, we live in a overly-busy society.  There is so much to do, so little time.  We have to go, go, go.  James sticks out a hand and says “Stop.”

In the midst of a busy life, “the rich” wither.  The ‘poor’ do not wither – apparently James assumes that they don’t have a busy life and have time for relationships, for community, for God.

We’re going to leave the ‘rich’ and ‘poor’ designations aside for right now.  James has a whole lot to say about rich and poor, so we’ll get to it.  For us right now, James’ analysis of what causes the ‘withering’ is spot on:  too much busy-ness.  When our activities get out of balance, the effect is just like hot, dry weather on a plant. 

James reminds us that it’s not the committees we serve on, not the sports and activities our kids are in, not the extra hours at work, not any of the activities that we are so busy doing – none of that will give us the things that nourish us.  Peace.  Rest.  Relaxation.  Connection with God.  Time with family.  Time to ourselves.

Think about your life.  Where are you over-stressed, over-committed?    
 

Something to ponder:

Can you name one activity or area of your life where you can step back this week and give yourself time to reconnect to something that nourishes your soul?

Ask but don't doubt? Struggling with James 1:5-8

Sept 4 James 1:5-8  If any of you is lacking in wisdom, ask God, who gives to all generously and ungrudgingly, and it will be given you. But ask in faith, never doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind;  for the doubter, being double-minded and unstable in every way, must not expect to receive anything from the Lord.    

I admit – I have a problem with this passage.  It puts a lot of pressure on the person praying to pray in just the right way.  I mean, how do you know if you asked in faith, without the least little bit of doubt?  Maybe a smidgen of doubt flashed through your mind – does that cancel out your prayer?  A person can get trapped in a rabbit hole here – did I ask right, did I waver, did God sense some doubt, and on and on.  It seems like James is saying ‘if your prayer is not answered, then you didn’t ask right.”

How does this passage square with Jesus saying that if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you could say to the mountain, be moved and it would be done? (Matthew 17:20).  Or how about the desperate father seeking healing for his epileptic son who responded to Jesus with “I believe, help my unbelief! (Mark 9:23-24)?  It sounds like there’s plenty of room for doubt alongside an imperfect faith.

One of the things I like to do when I have questions on a passage is read it in several translations.  Is there a difference in the way this passage is translated?  What might that mean?  Then I go to the original language to see how the varied meaning of the words may have lead the different translators to translate it the way they did.

So I did that here.  And I found an interesting word, “di-psuchos”  - literally, two-souls, or two-minds.  It’s a word that appears to have been coined by James, and he uses it to mean “someone with two loyalties.”[i] 

James is talking about someone who has divided loyalties – between God and money, between God and the world, God and….whatever idol someone may be worshipping in God’s place.  It’s the divided loyalties that get in the way of effective prayer, not the doubt that we, being imperfect sinners yet saints, harbor in varying degrees at different times of life. 

We need to remember two things when reading this passage:

1.     James was writing to believers who had either renounced their faith under persecution, or fallen away because of the cultural pressures of the time and now have returned to their faith.  This is a letter of encouragement –a call for those believers to put away their past failings and trust God wholeheartedly. 

2.     The big take away is the promise in this passage:  God is generous and gives lavishly.  See James 1:17.  Or Matthew 7:7-11.  Ask and it shall be given.    

 

Go ahead and ask God for wisdom, for strength, for courage, for mercy, for love, for grace, for forgiveness, for whatever you need.  And while you’re at it, ask God for faith, the faith of a mustard seed, and to help you in your unbelief.  

---

[i] From a blog written by Craig Bloomberg at http://zondervan.typepad.com/koinonia/2008/10/if-any-of-you-l.html.

Apples, Applesauce and Home

It amazing how easily you can slip back into the rhythms of something you learned in childhood.

This particular trip down memory lane started when a neighbor gave me a couple of grocery sacks of apples.  We love apples in my house - especially in applesauce, crisps, and dumplings.  In fact, I have to make 2 kinds of applesauce because my husband loves the chunky stuff his grandma used to make and my son will only eat the smooth variety that my family made.

My husband peered in the bags.  "Are you sure you have enough freezer containers?  That's a lot of apples." 

It was a lot of apples - but they were 'windfall' apples. Windfall apples aren't picked from a tree, they are picked up from the ground after the wind knocks them off.  They aren't pretty - backyard apples are never as pretty as the apples from the store.  In addition to the usual uneven shapes and blemishes, these apples were bruised.  There wasn't as much there as my husband thought.

Still, it was a lot of work.  I set up my apple chopping space and dug in.

Only a few apples in, and I picked up the rhythm of halving-quartering-coring-peeling I had learned in childhood.  It had a meditative quality about it.  Cut an apple in half, then quarter.  Slice out the core.  I marveled that I still could take the thin bite of peel leaving as much of the white fruit behind as possible - a skill I envied as I watched my mom or grandmother peel apples.  I struggled to make my thick peels thinner and thinner until I finally matched the older women's skill.

I was delighted when Mom proclaimed me old enough to join the women in the kitchen during applesauce making days.  It wasn't so much that I wanted to chop apples or hang out with my mom, grandmother or great-aunt.  My promotion to the kitchen meant an end to my days under the apple trees picking up an endless supply of apples. 

The women would chat as they processed the apples.  Just stuff, nothing world shaking.  Easy companionship.  Mom would usually handle the apple cooking, and the rest of us would have dishpans in our laps full of apples.  Half, quarter, core, peel.  Half, quarter, core, peel.  Hands would fly through the motions.  Sometimes Grandma would switch jobs with Mom so she could rest her hands from the knife.  Sometimes Mom would ask me to mash the cooked apples through the sieve - I was young enough to find the job fun.

I learned a lot sitting at that table.  There's a difference between being bruised and rotten.  There's still good stuff under the bruises, but rotten is rotten.   I learned that you just can't tell by looking if an apple is good or not.  An apple might look bad, covered in bruises that are only skin deep with lots of good fruit underneath.  An apple could look beautiful, but when cut open be full of rot, bugs. or worms. 

I learned that even a bad apple might have some usable fruit - we cut away bruises and blemishes, sometimes only keeping a quarter of the apple.  I learned that even the leftover peels and cores had a use - I'd carry dish tubs of peels from the kitchen to the field, flinging the apple debris to return to the soil.

I learned that a task shared not only goes quicker, but is more enjoyable.  I miss my mother's kitchen during apple putting-up days and the gathering of women intent on making use of every bit of harvest, putting up summery sweetness to brighten the winter, food to nourish their families.

My apple-ly endeavor was solitary.  After 4 hours of work, I  had 8 pints of applesauce - 4 of each kind.  Perhaps that seems like a lot of work for such a small return.  But for me, it's a labor of love, a kind of stewardship of the earth, and a little piece of home.

Trials turned to Joy - James 1:1-4

This post is the first in a month long series of devotional on the book of James. 

James 1:1-4  James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes in the Dispersion: Greetings.  My brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of any kind, consider it nothing but joy, because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance; and let endurance have its full effect, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking in nothing. 

Not the most auspicious beginning for a letter.  None of Paul’s flowery “Grace and peace from God our Father through our Lord Jesus Christ who has saved you by his glorious resurrection and the Holy Spirit who has gifted you with all good things.” (By the way – that’s not an actual greeting from one of Paul’s letters, just something along the lines of how Paul would start a letter.) 

James gets straight to the point – times are tough for Christians.  He calls them ‘the twelve tribes in the Dispersion’, which is an allusion to the tribes of Israel scattered  - 10 tribes scattered and lost from exile in Babylon and the remaining 2 scattered when the Romans destroyed the Second Temple.  Times are indeed tough if that’s the metaphor someone uses to describe you!

James wants to give encouragement to his fellow believers.  Yes times are hard for believers.  Yes there will be trials of all sorts.  But that’s not the end of the story.

James never mentions the cross or the empty tomb.  He never talks about the crucified and risen Jesus.  But the huge ‘yes’ God says to the world through Jesus' resurrection comes through loud and clear – God is going to take those trials and redeem them, resurrect them and make them become joy to you!

Yes, there will be trials.  Yet sometimes trials that shake your very faith.  But God walks through those trials with you.  Over time, as you begin to recognize God’s presence with you in trouble, you learn to rest in God.  It’s not an easy rest – James calls it “endurance,” - the ability to withstand adversity.  The trouble is still there, but God’s presence is greater. 

And that endurance helps to mature your faith.

Paul writes a similar encouragement to the Romans “And not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.( Romans 5:3-5 ).

Yes times are tough for Christians.  It’s hard to live a life of faith in a culture that doesn’t have the same values.  It’s hard to life a life of faith when faced with illness, death, job loss, loss of relationship, or whatever trial and tragedy that comes along.

Some questions to ponder:

What trials are you facing right now?

How might James' encouragement to consider trials as joys bring someone hope?

Where have you seen God’s presence in time of trial? 

 

Suggestions for prayer:

• those facing struggles in life;
• those who feel as if they have been exile;
• thanksgiving for God's presence in times of trial in your own life;
• ask God for strength for the trials you currently face.