A Geek looks at James 2:14-26

Ahh... The crux of the book that Martin Luther referred to as "the epistle of straw" because of it's focus on works. And this is the section that has caused significant argument from the church. Let's take our time going through here and carefully examine exactly what is being said by James.

Immediately at vs. 14 he hits us with the first slap: What good is it to have faith without deeds? That is bound to get ones ire up, isn't it? I mean, Paul clearly states in Ephesians 2:8 that is is by faith we have been saved, not by works. By faith, and faith alone. After all, if we were saved by works, then there would be people (Mother Theresa again) who wouldn't need Christ. And if there were one single person who didn't need Jesus, then none of us would because we would all be capable of saving ourselves. So obviously, James cannot be talking about salvation here.

So what is he talking about? I think verse 18 sums it up nicely. "But someone will say, 'You have faith; I have deeds.'
Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do. I love this verse, especially the second half. He is telling us that our deeds are a reflection, a result, of what we believe. Simply put (although I am sure to make it complex) Jesus died not just to justify us, but also to sanctify us. Justification means that we are made just, right before God. Justice has been done in the death of Christ. Sanctification, on the other hand, means being made holy by the work of the Spirit in our lives. In 1 Peter 1:15,16 God commands us to "be holy, as I am holy". The work of the Spirit in our lives makes us holy. Sanctifies us. So, holiness is perfection and, since we are not perfect, saving faith will change us. And that change will be reflected in our deeds.

In other words, if our outward actions don't change, then our inner being hasn't changed. Now we go on to look at proof. In vs. 19 James tells us clearly that belief without change is exactly what demons possess. They believe that there is one God. They believe (but won't admit) that Jesus came to earth, lived as a man, and voluntarily gave up his life in a painful, ignonimous death for us. They believe that those who know Christ AND obey Him are going to heaven. This sounds an awful lot like Sunday Christians. Those who are in church every Sunday and yet have no fruit in their lives. No change.

We are called to be set apart from the world, to be different. In the old Testament God gave many laws for the Jews to follow. Circumcision. Don't eat pork. Don't touch anything dead. Don't borrow money. Have 4 tassels on your cloak. Everything forgiven every 7 years. Why? Sure, some of these were examples of loving your neighbor. But overall the ultimate purpose of many of these laws was to make Israel different. To set them apart. What sets us apart today? Our language (James examines the tongue in Ch.3), our confidence (James Ch. 1), our humility (Ch. 1), our Wisdom (Ch.3), our harmony with each other (Ch 4), our submission to God(Ch 4), our giving (Ch 5), our patience (Ch 5) and our prayers (Ch 5).

Now James gives us concrete evidence that faith and deeds work together. Picture the 110 yr. old man, the 100 yr old woman. Their 10 year old son. God told Abraham to sacrifice Isaac. Abraham believed God. He believed that God could do what He said He would do, which is to make Abraham a great nation (several great nations, in fact - after Isaac he had several more sons through concubines). But if he only believed and didn't act, his faith would not have been a trusting faith. As it was, he took Isaac, tied him up, put him on the alter, pulled out the knife and was about to sacrifice Isaac as he had been told when God stopped him. Abrahams faith in God was reflected in his deeds: He did as God told him to do. This is what James is telling us. We don't need to have huge, extravagant changes in our lives. We simply need to start doing as God tells us to in his word. Remember from the end of Chapter 1: Take care of the poor, love each other, love God.

James gives us another example of faith and deeds. Rahab, the prostitute in Jericho, saw Israel, saw their might, and saw how they had crossed the Jordan during flood season. She knew their God was mighty even if she didn't know Him personally. But she chose to trust the little she did know of Him. So she gave (at great risk to herself and her family) shelter to the spies. She hid them on the roof and lied outright to the King that they had left town. Then she talked with the spies and, based on their God, requested sanctuary for her and her family. This again is an example of faith that works because it is reflected in the actions of the believer.

We can go on and on through the entire old testament with numerous examples of faith that works which is reflected in the actions of the believers, but I don't think we need to (neither did James apparently). His final comment in this section is a summation of his arguments: As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead. Interestingly the word "spirit" here is the greek "pneuma" as in pneumatic (air powered) or pneumonia (disease of the lungs). This can easily be read "as the body with breath is dead..." - in face, the word pneuma is translated breath several times in the new testament. So if our faith is the body, then the deeds stemming from our body are the life breath of that body. What have we done today as a result of what we belive in spite of worldly wisdom?

Lord, forgive us for not doing everything your word says. Forgive us for listening to the world and following that. I pray for your sanctification, to be made like you here on earth. Spirit, you live in my heart and whisper in my ear what you want me to do. Teach my ears to hear and my heart to obey without question. Give me a faith that is vibrant and steady and strong. A faith that changes how I think and how I act. A faith that lets me take my eyes off myself and fix them on you, and on eternity with you. Lord, without your grace I would look like the rest of the world. I ask that you help me to be different, to stand apart so that people can see you, that you would be glorified in my life. Amen.

A Geek looks at James 2: 1-13

Now that James has covered how a believer should act (in all things with humility) he moves on to what a believer should do. All of chapter 2 in his letter deals with what our actions and behavior as Christians should look like.

One of the major points he gets to right off the bat is favoritism. The tendency we all have to be a little bit nicer to the well dressed, to go that extra step for those we perceive as successful, to give a little more. It seems that this tendancy is rooted in the belief that if we treat the wealthy and successful "exceptionally well" then they will remember us and maybe give us something. Maybe make us rich.

I think that if we took the time to examine our own behavior around the wealthy we would discover that self interest and greed are the root. James faces this straight on by telling us "don't do it". He takes pains to point out how discriminating such behavior is. In vss. 6 & 7 he points out that the rich are those who take us into court, those who are telling lies about Christ. He tells us the rich are not people to be looked up to on a spiritual level.

What he is really saying is that the rich are frequently motivated more by a sense of entitlement than by a sense of servanthood. This is put in contrast to the poor who have been "chosen by God to be rich in faith and inherit God's kingdom". Yet rather than treat those who are truly successful well, we treat those who look successful but really aren't well out of self interest. Leviticus 19:18 is the law of God telling us to "treat our neighbor as ourselves" and Jesus said to treat others as we would want to be treated ourselves. As in Chapter 1, James is telling us to do what is in the Word: "If you do this, you are doing right". Now comes the intense part. If we show favoritism, if we don't treat others as more important than ourselves (Phil. 2:4), if we treat someone differently because they are poor or because they smell bad... that makes us breakers of the law. In God's view, anything less than perfection is imperfect, so there is absolutely no distinction between someone who shows favoritism and someone who is a mass murderer.

I found this really hard to grasp until I came up with a couple of good analogies. This first came from math. God is perfect, which mathematically is infinity. We are as good as we possibly can be, so assign a number to your goodness. The better we are, the higher the number. Then compare our goodness to God. ANY number divided by infinity is mathematically equivalent to 0 because it is as close to 0 as it can be without actually being 0. And 0's don't go to heaven. The second analogy is a little weaker but much much easier to understand. Heaven is the moon. Our goodness is how high we can jump. Now, Mother Theresa we would view as an olympic record holder high jumper. Me, I have trouble getting my feet to clear the shag of the carpet. Is she any closer to the moon than I am? Yes. Does it do her any good in actually reaching the moon? Not one bit. Our hearts have to come back to the basic humility outlined in chapter 1. Without God I can accomplish nothing. I can do all things through Christ.

James, after castigating us, then teaching and encouraging us, now moves on to instruction and building us up. If we are merciful we will win through, he says. Then he also wraps this section up by telling us that if we speak and act as the bible teaches in spite of our thoughts, we will be shown mercy. There have also been some studies (sorry, I couldn't find any references online) which indicate that if we act correctly, even if we don't really want to, eventually our thoughts will follow. So James is showing us here not only how to act, but how to change our thinking. By forcing ourselves to speak and act in a Christlike manner we will eventually come to think in a Christlike manner.

This has been a fairly short segment, but the next section will be much longer and this is an ideal break between the two concepts. Looking back over these 13 verses, we can see that although they outwardly deal with favoritism, inwardly they deal with all our actions and how to control our behavior and our thoughts. While James deals with treating everyone equally he also deals with how God treats us (all equally sinners) and how God loves us (we will be shown mercy) in spite or our sins.

Father God, free us from the worldly view of things. Free us from looking down on the less wealthy, or looking with approval on the rich. Forgive us for thinking less of those who can't afford to do laundry every week and for thinking better of those who have plenty. Father, in your word you show us that the poor are chosen by you, and that the wealthy have a harder time giving up all they have for you. Help us to see others with your eyes Lord, to obey you and treat our neighbors as ourselves. Give us a healthy knowledge of your word, God, and fill us with the desire and ability to speak and act in accordance with your law, that our thoughts may follow. Thank you for blessing us so richly with your word. Amen.

A geek looks at James 1:12-27

The crown of life. The victor's wreath. This would be a poignant visual image to Jews who were living under Roman rule. Greece was also under Roman rule and the Olympics (which were held from around 770 BC to 330 AD) were at their height. These olympics were a series of athletic endeavors between the Greek city-states and were open to any greek speaking men. First prize was the laurel, the wreath of branches, placed on the head of the victor. What James is telling us in Chapter 1, verse 12 is that the person who perserveres under trial, the person who doesn't give up seeking God, the person who keeps their gaze on Christ and doesn't give in to temptation, will receive the winner's crown of Life. An interesting note is that it is only with humility that one is able to perservere in order to win the olympics. If my thinking is that I am so good, I won't need to practice. It takes significant humility to keep focused on the goal and not on myself in order to succeed. This crown of life reference could even possibly be taken a step further to say that since Jesus described himself as THE Life (I am the way, the truth and the life...), and we will receive the crown of life, what this represents is the crown of Christ.
After this encouragement, James carries on to give us some basic advice. The first thing it does, in fact, is point us back to the basics of who God is and what we can expect from Him. God is perfect, and cannot be tempted by evil, and does not use evil to tempt people. Reinforcing this knowledge serves as a stepping stone to identifying the source of our temptations: our own lust. The word lust used here is the greek epithumia, which means "passionate longing" and also is translated into english as concupiscence, which (according to a definition in Wikipedia) means "...an ardent, usually sensuous, longing; a strong sexual desire; lust." This obviously denotes an overwhelming desire. So James is telling us that the beginning of temptation is this desire: "I wish...", "I want...", "If I could only...". When we entertain these little thoughts (dragged away and enticed) they will grow into the full blown sin, which leads to death which is seperation from God. By showing us that the root of temptation lies in our desires he shows us that if we control our desires we can stem the temptation we experience. And since desire originates in our thinking, the surest way to avoid temptation is to take our thoughts captive (as Paul tells us in 2 Cor 10:15, taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ) and dismiss them.
At the end of this chapter James tells us what God defines as "good" religion, and the second half of that is to keep ourselves from being polluted by the world. Which means?? Again he wants us to control our thoughts. Remember that Jesus said it is not what goes into our mouths that pollutes us, but what comes out of our hearts. And by our hearts he means our inner selves, which is our minds. So to keep from being polluted by the world, we must control out minds, our thoughts. Again, this means starving our thoughts of anything impure, anything which distracts us from God. This can be an extremely tough prospect. I mean, should I throw out my copy of Forrest Gump just because of a little bit of sexual innuendo? Should I dispose of Arthur shows for my daughter because it promotes self reliance and sibling rivalry? These, and other questions, are questions I need to evaluate in every area of my life. How much sex am I going to allow on my TV? How much "rely on yourself" am I going to cram into my mind? How much "I need in order to be happy" am I going to entertain? Where do I say "a little bit of this isn't too bad"? That is the same place I say "this part of the bible isn't too important". Anytime we need to rationalize to ourselves any activity we have, we are in the wrong. Anytime we are involved in anything we wouldn't want our children to see, we need to evaluate it. Anytime we are saying something we wouldn't say with our mother in the room (ok, with my mother in the room...) we should take a close look at and ask "is this somthing God would approve of in my life?" and if we ever get a "no" (or even a maybe) as a response, we need to remove that activity. This is brutal evisceration of the way we live, in exchange for a better. The way God wants us to live. Are we willing to live this way? To make a focused, determined decision to give up every little bit of worldliness for the sake of the gospel? This is take our thoughts captive in obedience to Jesus.
Further towards the end of the chapter James touches briefly on our speech. As Jesus said that our speech flows from our minds I thought this would be a good point to touch on it. He tells us that if we claim to be religious yet do not keep control of your tongue we are deceiving ourselves and have a worthless religion. Ouch. Those are harsh words. I don't think this is talking so much about what words we use (foul language etc) but rather how we use our words. Do we gossip? Are we sarcarstic to cut others down? Do our words build others up? Do we say things with the intention of hurting people? Like our thoughts, our words really need to be examined before they leave our mouth, and held back if Jesus would not approve of them. Our speech flows directly from our thoughts so this further reinforces the necessity of good thinking and controlling our minds. How can we do this effectively?
In the book "Every Man's Battle" there is a wonderful game plan for how to take our thoughts captive. First, don't give them any fuel through the eyes, ears or voice. That means that, to start with, if we have a problem with desiring say nice cars, we need to avoid watching tV shows with nice cars, we need to learn to look away from nice cars when they drive by etc. The next step is that when the mind is being starved of these images we need to, as Joyce Meyer puts it in Battlefield of the Mind, think about what we are thinking about. When we start to daydream about nice cars we need to turn that focus to God, intentionally letting go of the daydreams and thoughts that distract us from God and intentionally think about a bible verse we have memorized or sing a hymn to ourselves, or recite a psalm. Keep in mind that there is nothing inherently sinful about nice cars. The sin comes into play when we dwell on what we don't have, then we start to plan on how to get what we don't have, and somewhere in the mix we lose sight of the fact that God supplies all our needs, and that the more we give to Him the more he gives back to us. "To him who has much, more will be given" can be interpreted as "To him who uses what he has for the glory of God will be given more to use for the glory of God". James gives us further information on controlling our desires in the next section by warning us to not be deceived (by our lusts), and to keep our focus on God, who is the source of every good and perfect gift. God who is the originator of everything (...father of the heavenly lights means the creator of the sun, the moon and the stars). God who chose us to be born again in Christ, the word of truth, to be the first fruits of his creation. In the old testament law, the first fruits of the harvest were those offered to God. So God has chosen us to be his, offered to him from out of this world, to be used for his purposes. In the same way that the sacrifices of the old testament were used to serve God through supporting the priesthood and Levites, we have been chosen to serve as God sees fit, where He wants us. This would have been plainly obvious to the Jews whom James was writing to at the time: We are sacrificed out of this world to serve God. To sum this up, it appears that James is telling us that we must perservere, and will be rewarded if we do, and that we must control our thinking and desires by focusing on God because we have been chosen to serve Him. As a side note, it occurs to me that if I was chosen, that means that, unless God changes, I cannot be unchosen. What a relief!
James now takes a more focused look at our actions, giving us real steps to strive towards. As believers many of us fall short here, and while we have to avoid legalism ("do this to get to heaven") we do still need to follow directions (do this because we represent heaven). The steps in vs. 19 are exceptional advice for anyone: Be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry. How can we be quick to listen? I think that if we consider it, being quick to listen means being willing and able to admit that we need to learn. We must have the basic humility to admit that anyone speaking to us will have profound instruction for us, since God uses people to speak to us. Next we need to be slow to speak. Why? Because it is impossible to listen to others while we are speaking. It is also incredibly difficult to listen to what someone else is saying if we are busy planning what we are going to say. Being slow to speak means being humble enough to wait until they are done before we plan where we will start. Finally being slow to become angry is again a sign of humility. Man's anger typically arises because our pride has been offended: They made me look bad or they did something I cannot control.
James goes on to tell us that our anger, anger born of our pride, doesn't lead to righteousness. Basically this passage is some incredibly simple steps on how to exhibit the humility we as believers should have. In verse 21 James uses that amazing new testament word "therefore" to link being quick to listen and slow to speak and anger with the next section: Get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in us, which can save us. So using therefore as a connector, we can easily draw the connection that our pride grows from the moral filth and evil that is in us, and that our best prevention against this is to accept the Word (Christ) and the word (scripture) which can save us, and to accept them in humility, knowing that we are unable to save ourselves.
Finally James comes to the key part of this chapter. Everything we have read up until this point directs us to this. Obedience. We perservere through trials and learn endurance to enable us to obey. We control our thoughts to enable us to obey. We strive for and practice humility so that we recognize the need for obedience. James says that we should not just read the bible and walk away. We shouldn't just listen to the word and believe that we are becoming better people. In order to receive any benefit from it, we must obey it. This is a tough call on us, since there are so many little points we would happily put aside. But we can't. If it is in the Bible, we are clearly told with no ambiguity to obey it. Further, James points out that if we do not obey it, it is like looking in a mirror then forgetting what we look like. In other words, reading the bible without obedience is useless, worthless, a waste of time. This is contrasted to the man who reads the bible and does what it says who will be blessed.
James finishes the chapter off with what God would approve of: Looking after orphans and widows and keeping ourselves pure. Let's look a little more closely at this, as it seems important. Which demographic did orphans and widows occupy? I think they were really those who were unable to look after themselves. Today, that demographic is occupied in part by the homeless, by the unemployed and unemployable, by the mentally challenged. By the orphans as well. Widows don't really cut it these days because they are able to work and own property in their own right, as opposed to first centrury widows. So James here is telling us to take care of the poor, the homeless, those who for whatever reason are unable to earn an income. This is a hard challenge becase it is so easy for us to think (thoughts again) "Awww, they could get jobs if they wanted them" or "they're just lazy" or any of a number of other derogatory thoughts. But nowhere here is James telling us to judge them or decide if they are able. Instead, he is telling us to take care of them. Which means being always ready to buy them a meal. To give them a blanket. To provide a care bag of shaving gear, toothbrush & toothpase, comb, deodorant, and some sandwiches etc. To care for them. Ouch. I would really rather just criticize them. It's easier. We covered keeping ourselves pure a little above so let's look at the entire chapter 1. James talks about humbly enduring trials which we will face, about seeking wisdom from outside ourselves, from the only source of wisdom, about seeking with confidence that we will receive what we ask for because we have been promised, about taking pride and joy in our humble circumstances, about perservering, about our own desires and controlling our thoughts, about being chosen by God to be his tool, about humbly receiving the Word implanted in our lives, about obedience, about controlling our tongue (our thoughts) and about looking after others.
Each of these points, from taking joy when we face trials to looking after the poor and needy all seem to revolve around the central theme of humility and different aspects of it. This chapter is an outline of how a believer lives, and the core seems to lie in humility: Taking joy in trials is a humble reponse, while fighting them is a proud response. Asking God for wisdom is a humble response. Acting without wisdom is the proud response. Controlling our thoughts by focusing on God is a humble response. Controlling our thoughts by willpower is a proud response. We can see this same trend throughout the entire chapter. I believe one the best verses on humility is Phillipians 2:3 - "Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others as more important than yourselves". James teaches us how to go about doing this in chapter one, and encourages us with visions of what we are working towards.
Lord, you have given us so much of your word to read, to learn and to obey. Help us to lean on you, to focus on you, to perservere when faced with trials and temptations, to examine our hearts and minds for the moral filth and evil inside to remove it, to take our every though captive for obedience to you. Lord, we want that crown of life which you have promised us when we perservere. Lord, our desires lead us astray and we want to soak our minds in your word to be cleansed. Everything we are comes from you, Father, and everything we are is dedicated to obeying you. I pray that we can control the tongue you have given us. With your word, fill us with humility and patience. Let us learn to be slow to speak while we are quick to listen. Lord, help our anger be righteous anger and not selfish anger. Enable us to give up our selfish harmless sins, our criticism of others, our greed, our impure hobbies. Lord, we are the firstfruits of your creation, offered up to you as living sacrifices. We want to live for you in all areas of our lives, not just most. Fill our hearts with a hunger and a thirst for you please, Lord, and teach us as we study this word to be humble as you want us to be. Amen.

A geek looks at James 1:1-11

Who is James? What did he do that gave him the right to author an epistle in the New Testament? What does the bible tell us about him? Let's take a look and see what both the bible and history teach us. He is mentioned in Matthew 13:55 when the Nazerenes objected to Jesus teaching (Isn't this his mother, Mary? Aren't these his brothers James, Joseph, Simon and Judas?), in Mark 6:3 at the same scene, and in Galatians 1:19 where Paul refers to him as "the apostle James, the Lord's brother". John tells us that James did not believe that Christ was who he said he was in John 7:5. Paul describes his conversion in 1 Corinthians 15:7 as being at the time when the resurrected Christ appears to him, and in Acts 15:13 James is described as being a leader of the church in Jerusalem where he appears to be acting in the role of chairperson, summing up the arguments of Peter, then adding his own arguments, then delivering a verdict: It is my judgement (decision, verdict), then ...(v.19). In short, James is a man who, while he didn't believe from the beginning (after all, he grew up with Jesus - I am sure that there must have been some familial conflicts), became a solid believer and eventually a pillar in the Christian church in Jerusalem. He is shown to us as a man of wisdom who thinks things through rather than making snap decisions (Acts 15:13-21 shows this deliberation, as does his slowness in accepting Christ prior to the evidence of his resurrection). All in all, he seems to be one of the stable, knowledgable, confident individuals found in churches, someone who is absolutely certain of what he believes, who is kind, gentle and caring but will still not hesitate to tell you, lovingly, the correct course to go when you go wrong. This is the kind of man I would happily take instruction from.
Even though James played a prominent role in the early church, even to the point of being one of the leaders of the church, he didn't do a lot of writing. We have only one letter by him, which was written to Jewish believers who had spread from Jerusalem. The letter was most likely written around AD 49 or AD 50, just prior to the council in Acts 15, about the time of Paul's second missionary journey. The purpose behind this marvelous letter is to teach us how to behave properly as christians. There was a great deal of heresy going on at this time, along with huge debates on which rituals should a Christ follower obey? Eating meat, circumcision, sacrifices, Mosaic law... what was needed and what was not. On the other side of the coin there was the argument raging that Christ gave freedom from law, so we can do anything we want: Divorce, prostitutes, favortism, self gain and so on. James wrote his letter to help straighten this out. In chapter one, he begins by addressing a simple issue: The thinking that believers should not have trials. He addresses this by instructing us to "take joy WHEN we face trials" and goes on to give us hope, confidence, and a plan of action.
This is incredibly relevant nowadays, perhaps even more so than in James' day. There is a huge charismatic movement which teaches that believers should not have any problems, and if you do experience problems then you must be living in sin. However, James tells us that as believers we will have problems, and that these problems (the testing of our faith) will in fact make us stronger believers (develop perserverance) and will also mature our faith and complete us. His plan of action for us when we experience problems? Don't look at the problem itself. Instead focus our attention on what that trial will result in. Looking at verse 4 we can also see that he is clearly telling us that as long as we are alive we will have problems. Perserverance must finish it's work (by more trials leading to more perserverance) so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking in anything.
But as a sinful human I already know that I will not be mature and complete until Christ returns for me. Which means that while these minor problems in my life (house burning down, car wreck, lost job etc) seem huge, they are going to make me more like Christ if I look to the work perserverance is doing. After getting trials out of the way James immediately moves into wisdom, which is something that we as christians should exhibit. Wisdom is usually the result of maturity so it is a natural transition in his writing. In verse 5 we are given an awesome promise, one that we should all strive to take advantage of daily: "If any of you lacks wisdom he should ask God... and it will be given to him" Remember that Proverbs teaches us "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of Wisdom" and 'fear' can be just as well read as 'awe' or 'respect'. I think that it is very difficult for us to be in awe of something that we don't know, so in essence what we are promised is that if we ask God for wisdom, He will give us a deeper understanding of Him and His word, and also a closer relationship with Him. Ours for the asking.
This promise, however, does have a caveat: We must not doubt that God will give what He as promised. Instead, when we ask, then because we know this promise, we should start acting with that increased wisdom, expecting it to be there. We should look for it, not think "When will I get it". It's like muscles: Most of us can lift far more than we are aware, because we have never tried it. If I always lift 20lbs, I am going to have to step out in faith, and not doubt, when I attempt to lift 100lbs. (I know it's a weak analogy, but it sort of gets the idea across). James goes on to say that if we doubt, we really don't believe, and have no confidence at all. For a good example of what we are like when we doubt, ask a 5 year old if they want to stay home and watch movies and eat ice cream, or go out with friends to a McDonald's playplace. They will choose one, then the other, then the first, and will be hours making up their minds (or in our case "what song do you want to sing"). We have to take our stand and decide to trust God before we see results. He will deliver once we trust.
Now that James has dealt with trials, with trusting God, with maturity and with doubt he moves on to attitude. So often we have the opinion of "oh, poor me, I have no wealth" or "I am wealthy because I am incredible" (ok, maybe not that extreme). James, on the other hand, tells us that if we are poor, we should rejoice because our treasure is in heaven, and we have nothing here on earth to distract us. On several occassions Jesus talked about the poor being blessed, the most famous being "it is harder for a rich man to enter heaven than to pass a camel through the eye of a needle". And while needles back then were not quite as fine as they are today, I am still willing to accept that it wouldn't be easy to fit a camel through one even if the eye were a full inch in diameter. As believers and followers of Christ we are called to give up all for Him, and place it under His control. With great wealth this is very difficult to do, but with poverty it is simple to give our meager possessions to him.
The wealthy man, on the other hand, needs to be thankful for his low position. This, I believe, is the humility that comes because wealth is so easily lost. How many people in the last 3 months with the US economy collapsing have been humbled? How many of them are rejoicing because their trust was in God, not in something as ephemeral as money? I pray many. James is telling us that our wealth will fade away and that we should rejoice that we are using it while we have it to build God's kingdom and not our own.
The second half of this chapter we will look at next time, as it carries on in the same vein. So far we have seen, contrary to the worlds teachings, that trials and tribulations are a good thing for us, and can be dealt with in confidence that they will result in good, that wisdom is ours for the asking, that doubting God's promises is the equivalent of chidish indecision and finally that, again contrary to the worlds teachings poverty is a good thing, something to be proud of, and wealth is something to be humbled by. I am beginning to feel that James is teaching me that most of my preconceptions are wrong, and that I need to spend much more time in prayer and in the Word to understand what things are truly important, and what things are really valuable. I am beginning to form a general rule of thumb that if the world applauds it, or encourages it, it is ultimately bad for me. And if the world discourages it or frowns on it, it is worthy of further study to determine how God feels about it.
Lord, I pray for your wisdom to have clarity of mind about what is good and what is important. I thank you for giving us such clear teaching about how to live as a believer. I thank you for the trials we are all facing and pray that you help us remember to focus on what you promise to be the end result of trials: maturity. Lord thank you for the humility you give us in the low position of our wealth. Help us to realize that the poorest of us are far wealthier than most of the rest of the world, and that all of us have enough and more than enough to contribute to building your kingdom. I pray Lord that you reveal to us what you would have us do with the extravagant wealth you have blessed us with. Thank you for loving us Lord, and let us know you better so that we may love you more. Amen.

A Geeks look at Balaam

Numbers 22-24

Have you ever read the story of Balak and Balaam in Numbers? It's an incredible portrayal of how God will work in a man, and how stubborn some individuals can be.

Here is Balak, the king of Moab. He sees the nation of Israel coming towards him, and camping beside his country. So rather than stop, listen to their emissaries, and see what actions are being taken (travelling, camping, no hostile moves) he thinks "they are going to attack me. Oh no! Oh no! What will I do?" So what does he do? He calls for a prophet/priest/magician from among the Amorites. Balaam. Here is a very spiritual man who knows who God is, and even communicates with Him, but isn't completely obedient (later on he encourages Israel in idol worship - Numbers 31:16). The emissaries of Balak come to him, offering great gifts - these emissaries were the governers and leaders (princes) of Moab, so obviously Balaam was someone important. He takes their gifts, then does the sensible thing: He asks God. God says "do not go with them. You must not curse this people, because they are blessed."

So Balaam goes back to the leaders of Moab and says "nope, sorry, can't do it. God says not to." God here is "Yahwah" or "Jehovah" which is the name God gave Himself. This is translated as "Self Existent, Eternal". So Balaam comes back to the leaders and says in essence "Sorry, the Self Existant, Eternal being who loves and protects these people says no, they are blessed". Naturally they go back to Balak and tell him No go. But their story isn't quite the same. They just say "Nope, Balaam won't come".

So at this point we have Balaam knowing he has done the right thing by refusing, but Balak thinking he is just wanting more honor or more treasure. So Balak sends even more princes and treasure back to ask the same question again. This time Balaam tells them flat out: You can't give me enough to go against Almighty God. Then he invites them to spend the night while he asks God. Let's stop and think about this man for a few moments. Here is a man who is aware enough of God that he asks his guidance, does what he is told, is willing to stay up all night meditating and (likely) fasting while waiting on an answer. With all the treasure he has been offered up to this point, I believe it no idle boast when he says "even if Balak gives me his palace filled with treasure, I will not come". This man knows who God is, and that what God says is true. And he obeys.

That night while praying God speaks to him again: These men came for you, so go. But don't do anything other than what I tell you. Now God has already said "no". Why is he saying yes now? Even more interesting is the next section: Numbers 22:21-35. One of the most fascinating (and unbelieved passages) in the Old Testament. What has been happening behind the scenes is that Balaams resistance and resolve has been slowly crumbling, eroded by greed. This man knows God, obeys God, but does not put his whole trust in God. So greed overcomes his determination. Seeing that, God gives him a little relief, like a pressure valve. Of course, it would have been best had he obeyed God without any hesitation but God was still patient with him.

So the next day Balaam sets out on his donkey, following after the princes. As he is riding along the road, all of a sudden his donkey turns off onto the field. Balaams response? Beats the donkey until she goes where he wants her to. A little further, and the road narrows with a wall to a vineyard on either side. Here the donkey goes to the edge and presses Balaams foot against the wall. So he beats her again until she starts moving. A little further along again and the donkey lies down under him and refuses to move. So he beats her. Again.

Have I ever done this? I am used to a certain pattern of behavior from animals, people or machines and suddenly for no apparent reason that behavior changes, and I react with violence rather than thinking? I know that I have at times. And likely still do (or course, I don't use a whip or a crop, but I still react with anger). Now the crux of the story: As she is lying down and he is beating her, all of a sudden she turns around and asks him "What have I done that you are beating me so much?" The donkey asks him this question. His response? Pride: "You made me look like a fool, and if I had a sword I would kill you."

The donkey answers with the logic and thought Balaam should have used: Have I ever done this to you before? Is this normal for me? Only after Balaam answered "No" to this question, and presumably calmed down a little, did God open his eyes to see the angel standing there in the path with a drawn sword. This is "the angel of the Lord", which in the Old Testamant is a pre-incarnate visitation of Christ. The angel says "I have come here to oppose you because the path you are on is reckless" - "I have come" not "I was sent". Then God the son went on to say "rather than beating your donkey you should be thanking her, because she has saved your life 3 times. I would have killed you by now, but didn't to spare her life". Balaams only response was one of humility: I have sinned. Forgive me.The rest of this story is somewhat unremarkable. He goes 3 times, offers sacrifices to God, listens to God's word, then comes back and tells the king he cannot curse what God has blessed. Balak should have taken the hint the first time and realized that the best way he could prosper his country would not be to curse and attack Israel, but rather to aid them in any way possible.

Here are a few things that come to mine as I read this story. First, ask God before anything, and wait for the answer as Balaam did when the princes came. His response was "wait here. I will go and ask God". Second, if things that have always obeyed or worked correctly suddenly stop doing that, maybe it's time to stop and ask God "am I doing something wrong or reckless" and pay attention to the answer. Third, God is forgiving and looks after us even when our motives are wrong, because he loves us so much. One other thing that really struck me in this is that God loves not only us, but also the animals he has given under our control. See his response to Balaam: I would have killed you by now, but wanted to spare the donkey. Now we know that God is more than capable of eliminating Balaam while not harming the donkey at all. So what is his meaning here? This strikes me as significant (as is anything God says) but He hasn't given me any understanding of it yet. One final question I wanted to ask is how myself often do I react with anger when my pride gets offended? As Balaam did when the donkey "made him look like a fool" do I get angry with my children when they do things to make me appear foolish? Taking an honest look at myself I have to confess that yes, I do.

Lord, please give me the confidence in you that Balaam had in asking your permission and trusting your answers. I thank you that you are so merciful that you would hold off punishing me in order to not harm an animal. Thank you for your sense of humor you showed when you let the donkey turn around and say why are you doing this. Lord, thank you that no man can curse what you have blessed, and thank you that you declare those of us who trust you as blessed. Amen.