Life Project Blog

Those who consider themselves religious and yet do not keep a tight rein on their tongues deceive themselves, and their religion is worthless. Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

James 1:26-27

My first thought when it came to posting on these verses was that this would be a very easy post… and then I started thinking about it.  The “catch” here is the part about keeping a “tight rein” on the tongue.  My first thought was to go off on people within the church who abuse their positions of authority to say hurtful and ugly things to people from a position of self-righteousness.  Of course it occurred to me that having a tight rein on the tongue probably applies to the keyboard as well.  OK, I’ve heard the more traditional approach to this many times: watch your language!  Somehow however, that always has struck me as being just a bit shallow. Yes, we shouldn’t be tossing foul language around, but do you really need me to tell you that?  I have the impression that James had considerably more in mind, particularly in this context.

Great. Now what?

The truth is that I think we often make a mistake in passages such as these by taking them too literally. I doubt that James wrote this to give us the perfect verse to enable an annual sermon on cussing, nor do I think that he wrote verse 27 to give us the perfect verse to justify our annual message on helping the needy or to raise money for an orphanage. After all, the context is love in action, and that is far broader than either of these two applications. Of course followers of Jesus shouldn’t be using the filthy language of this wicked world, of course followers of Jesus should actively aid and protect widows and orphans; these are but examples of a larger truth!

In the larger context, it seems to me that James is giving instruction about the sanctity and sacredness of each one of God’s children. He wants us to recognize the fact that every single person is valued by God, that we must make every effort to respect, love and cherish every single one. We mustn’t be in the habit of denigrating anybody, for they are loved and cherished by our Lord, so much so that He willingly gave Himself up for them. Most of all, the little children who are innocent and helpless must be a high priority for us to love, nurture and protect from harm, as well as the widows who have been left alone and vulnerable… and anybody else who is unable to protect themselves from this harsh world.

This is what it means to love, to put that love into action, and to serve God.  This is what Jesus did, and this is what His followers are to do.

My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires. Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you.

James 1:19-21

I really like these verses, they are both familiar and practical; to me they are also profoundly important as a way of life.  Verse 19 is quoted so often that I’m not even sure those who quote it know it’s from the Word and it is certainly great advice, but how often do we take the time to notice that it is only the introduction to a larger theme?

First the advice: Quick to listen. For many of us, that would be quite an accomplishment in itself.  I don’t know about you, but there are still times when I find myself neglecting this one.  Slow to speak is the next one, and I know plenty of people who struggle with this. As for me, I’m usually slow to speak, but once I start you can’t shut me up!  OK, maybe we are all “works in progress.” Slow to become angry is the third in this series, and it is a real problem for some. I doubt I need to say much more on this…

Verse 20 has the point James is setting up in verse 19, yet is isn’t quoted so often as the previous verse for some reason. Human anger doesn’t produce “the righteousness that God desires.” Have you ever thought about that? What does our anger really produce?  Out of every 10 times we become angry, how many times does our anger produce anything worthwhile?  OK, I can see that there are rare cases when we become angry over an injustice and then we do something about it.  Yet even in those times, if we are acting out of anger, how often can we avoid inflicting a second injustice because we don’t stop soon enough? An example: We become angry because we see someone shove another person out of their way; how do we respond? We might let them have it with angry words, and call them all sorts of ugly names.  Do two wrongs cure an injustice? It is very difficult to respond in anger without going too far!

Verse 21 is the conclusion, something we can tell right away because of the word “therefore.” Therefore is always the conclusion when someone is making a persuasive case. What James was really getting at in the first two verses was this: “get rid” of all that “moral filth” and “evil” that is “prevalent” and “humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you.”

Let’s pause a moment and think about this “get rid” part. This is a metaphor that is used several times in the New Testament, for in the Greek it looks like the “taking off” and “putting on” that Paul likes to use. Here it would go something like this: “Take off those filthy rags that are covered with evil and clothe yourself with the righteousness of God.”  Now, looking at verse 21 again, we can see that we are to take off (get rid of) the moral filth and evil, and put on (humbly accept) the Word that can save you. Here’s a question you might want to ask yourself: Is the “Word” a what or a who?

If you regularly read this blog, you know that I am going to say that this “Word” that can save you is none other than the Person of Jesus Christ.  Yes, dear reader, going back to the beginning, if we are quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to anger, we would be putting our trust of Christ into action. Pretty cool, isn’t it?

Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him.

When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.

James 1:12-15

James is summing up this section here, and he returns to the idea of perseverance. We should consider trials a blessing, for in coming through trials, we learn to persevere in our faith, to remain firm in all situations and ensure that when the Day comes, we will receive the “crown of life.”

This is indeed a message of hope, giving us, as it does, a whole different perspective on the trials that everyone faces in this life. James goes on to point out that trials do not come because God is tempting us, for God does no such thing, He doesn’t need to! We seem to find our way into temptation quite on our own. Each of us has our own dark little secret place where we hide our desires and evil motivations.  They pop up periodically and we follow them, and the result is that we fall into sin, and if we let that sin carry us away with it, death ensues.  In this case, “death” is separation from God as opposed to in the physical sense.

So, there is the pattern, there is the cycle; the question is how can we stop it? In James’s words, how can we “persevere” in our faith?

Don’t be deceived, my dear brothers and sisters. Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created.

James 1:16-18

We have a pretty good hint in these verses, for as James says “every good and perfect gift is from above.”  Where can we look to quash those evil desires that lead us to temptation?  Above! We can increase our focus on our relationship with Jesus Christ.  God does not trick us, nor does He move the goal posts, for He is reliable, constant and true. He is our source of light, life and truth; He is where we need to look in a time of trial and testing, not this world our own inner desires.  As Paul put it elsewhere, we should set our minds on that which is above. That is where our salvation from trials comes from; that is where we will receive the crown of life!

Believers in humble circumstances ought to take pride in their high position. But the rich should take pride in their humiliation—since they will pass away like a wild flower. For the sun rises with scorching heat and withers the plant; its blossom falls and its beauty is destroyed. In the same way, the rich will fade away even while they go about their business.

James 1:9-11

In this brief text, James jumps to a subject that will keep cropping up in this letter: Rich and Poor.  James takes an approach to this subject that is very much in line with that of Jesus, and is quite different from the one most have today, for James sees material wealth as a snare.

Believe it or not, I had this post all written, spell checked, read over, edited, tagged and scheduled. I wasn’t happy with it. It wasn’t bad, and it went through verse by verse just like you’re “supposed” to do, but I cut all of that out and now add something quite different. Rather than an informal expository post, how about an example from history instead.

Have you ever seen a TV show called “The Edwardian Country House“? In my history geek view, it is the best “reality” show of all time. A bunch of volunteers are placed in an Edwardian era country house in northern England, and they have to live and work as people would have in the Edwardian Era (1901-1910) for three months.  There is a family who are designated as the Lord and Lady of the Manor House, and they must live as such high-ranking people would have lived in those times, being waited on hand and foot. The rest are the servants, from the butler to the scullery maid, and they do all the work.  Boy oh boy do these people have their challenges adjusting from the 21st century to Edwardian times!

In those days, everyone went to church. In one episode they show how this worked out. The Family rode to church in their motor car; the “upper servants” rode in a horse-drawn carriage behind, and everybody else walked the two miles each way.  Now of course, everyone involved was a “good Christian” but they had very different stations in life. The rich landowners all sat in the front of the church in places of honor, while their servants sat in the very back or in the balcony in silence as second-class citizens.

I thought this was an important scene for any Christian to see, for it shows how the attitudes of this world have played out in the Body of Christ.  Of course history shows us that this sort of thing has gone on since the very early days of the church, and we see much written against it in Scripture, such as in these verses; interesting isn’t it?  Have you seen things along these lines?

As for me, I’ve only seen this kind of thing expressed in subtle ways, but I’ve seen it, and it is nothing less than disgraceful! In Christ, we are equal. There is no Jew or Greek, slave or free, black or white, rich or poor, for in God’s eyes we are His children… and we are all expected to love one another and to put the interests of others ahead of our own.

I think this is an important point for all of us to reflect upon and to ask for God’s guidance in, that we might truly understand what it means to be a follower of Christ.