Cross my heart and hope to die

October 6, 2008 in Bible - NT - James, Meditations, Ten Commandments, Tongue

James 5:12 (NKJV)12 But above all, my brethren, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or with any other oath. But let your “Yes” be “Yes,” and your “No,” “No,” lest you fall into judgment.

The words of James in our text today are very similar to the words of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount. It seems that within Jewish culture at the time it had become fashionable to redefine the nature of truth telling and lies in order to avoid accountability.

The Ten Commandments had specified quite clearly that in the taking of oaths, one was not to take the name of God in vain. In other words, one was not to swear an oath in the name of the Lord and then lie. Why? Because God would not hold him guiltless that takes His name in vain. When we swear in the name of God to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth – God takes our oath seriously and holds us to it.

But God’s people had, as sinners, studied for years ways to avoid the thrust of God’s clear words and came up with all kinds of subterfuges by which they could avoid telling the truth. They argued that as long as they didn’t invoke the name of God explicitly then all was acceptable. We can swear by heaven, or by earth, or with some other oath based on some creaturely item and then later break our word. How so? Well, we haven’t explicitly invoked the name of God.

In our passage today, James, like Jesus, denounces such a practice in the strongest terms. He exhorts us to be men and women of our word – men and women who, when we say something, mean it and follow through with it. For what is the origin of added oaths? When Billy is sharing some outlandish tale about martians landing on the roof of the supermarket in Buffalo, New York and his buddy expresses skepticism, Billy has to reinforce his word. He has to get his buddy to believe. So what does he do? He swears an oath. “I swear, I’m telling the truth – cross my heart and hope to die.” In other words, the origin of frequent oath taking is a propensity for lying and stretching the truth. And this doesn’t just happen with martian stories. Why do you think we are so burdened with legalese in the writing of rental contracts, sale contracts, employment contracts, etc? Because we are not people of our word.

So James exhorts us – let your yes be yes and your no, no. Be a man or woman of your word. And beware; if you aren’t, James warns us – just as God did in the giving of the commandments – if you aren’t a man or woman of your word, God will judge you.

So how are we doing? Are we men and women of our word? Or have we too resorted to various means to avoid responsibility for our speech and our commitments? Do we make promises to friends and family and then fail to keep them? Do we make frequent excuses for failing to fulfill our obligations? Do we endeavor to avoid our responsibilities under contracts that we have signed or handshakes that we have exchanged? There was a day in our culture when one’s word meant something – what does your word mean?

The righteous man “swears to his own hurt and does not change” (Ps 15:4b). Reminded that we violate our promises, that our word means little, let us kneel and confess our sin to the Lord.

Those in Authority

September 29, 2008 in Authority, Bible - NT - Titus, Discipline, Meditations

Titus 2:15-3:2 (NKJV)15 Speak these things, exhort, and rebuke with all authority. Let no one despise you. 1 Remind them to be subject to rulers and authorities, to obey, to be ready for every good work, 2 to speak evil of no one, to be peaceable, gentle, showing all humility to all men.

Authority is not a popular subject in the Church today. We talk frequently of love and kindliness, of patience and longsuffering, of compassion and sympathy, but rarely of authority. As this text in Titus makes clear, however, Paul had so such inhibitions. He spoke quite freely of different authorities and our responsibility to them.

In the text today, Paul speaks quite frankly with Titus about his duty as an officer in the Church, his duty as one in authority, and about the duty of the congregation, their duty as those under authority.

So what is Titus’ duty as one in authority? He is commissioned by Paul to speak the truth, to exhort the people of God, to rebuke them with all authority, and to remind them of their duty. Paul commands Titus to let no one despise him. In other words, if Titus were to allow someone to despise him, he would be sinning. What does Paul mean “to despise”? The Greek English Lexicon of the New Testament remarks that to despise in this context means “ to refuse to recognize the force or power of something—‘to invalidate the authority of, to reject, to disregard.’” It is the last sense of this word to which I want to draw your attention. If Titus were to allow someone to disregard his authority, rightfully delegated to him by God through the laying on of hands, then he would be sinning.

The same thing goes for others in positions of authority. Whether parents, employers, magistrates, or babysitters – those who have been entrusted with a measure of authority must exercise that authority. They must use that authority for the benefit of those under their charge and the glory of the one who gave them the authority in the first place. What does it look like to use this authority?

Well, Paul gives us some pointers. At the very least it involves instruction and exhortation. Titus is to remind the members of the congregation of their duty. He is to remind them to be subject to rulers and authorities, to obey, to be ready for every good work, to show all humility to all men. He is to plead with folks to do what is right, to admonish them and beseech them to act in such a way that it adorns the doctrine of God our Savior in every respect.

But what if this fails? What if Titus admonishes and exhorts and pleads with a brother or sister and he still doesn’t listen, he rebels and refuses to acknowledge Titus’ authority? Once again we come to Paul’s words – “let no one despise you.” Let no one, Titus, disregard your authority. As any parent or magistrate knows – when you lay down the law and then fail to discipline when the law is broken, you get more disobedience. And so Paul exhorts Titus later in the letter:

“Reject a divisive man after the first and second admonition, knowing that such a person is warped and sinning, being self-condemned” (3:10-11).

If folks failed to give heed to the voice of authority vested in Titus as an officer of the Church, then Titus was to proceed to discipline the fellow as any good parent would.

Notice, then, that Titus’ duty as one in authority is to use that authority for the building up of the body and the instruction of those under his charge. Simultaneously, the duty of those under authority is to honor the authorities that God has placed over them, showing all good fidelity and being well-pleasing in all things. This is the ideal relationship. Those in authority looking out for those under authority and those under authority honoring those in authority.

Unfortunately, this ideal relationship is often not the real relationship. As those in authority we frequently abdicate our responsibility and fail to shepherd those entrusted to us. As those under authority we frequently kick against the goads and disregard those who have been entrusted with our care. Reminded of our sin, let us kneel and confess it to the Lord.

The Compassion and Mercy of the Lord

September 22, 2008 in Bible - NT - James, Meditations, Sovereignty of God, Trials

James 5:10-11 (NKJV)10 My brethren, take the prophets, who spoke in the name of the Lord, as an example of suffering and patience. 11 Indeed we count them blessed who endure. You have heard of the perseverance of Job and seen the end intended by the Lord—that the Lord is very compassionate and merciful.

When you think of the compassion and mercy of our Lord, what comes to mind? Perhaps occasions, like in our sermon text this morning, when Jesus stoops down and heals those in pain and anguish? Perhaps occasions when God, despite Israel’s great sin, sends one deliverer after another to rescue them from the predicament that they have gotten themselves into? When we think of God’s compassion and mercy, these are the types of scenarios that come to mind. And appropriately so.

But today, James points us to another evidence of God’s compassion and mercy, an evidence that we would be unlikely to see. What is this evidence? The evidence that James cites is the suffering endured by God’s prophets throughout the Old Testament.

Think, for instance, of Jeremiah who is called the weeping prophet – called to bear witness to a people under judgment, his message rejected and refused, he himself thrown into a pit, left for dead, forced to witness the destruction of Jerusalem and dying in exile in Egypt. Take all of this as evidence, James tells us, of the compassion and mercy of the Lord. Think of Ezekiel, taken into exile into Babylon, told to make a fool of himself before his friends, forced to lie on his side for so many days, to play with tinker toys and army men in the city streets as a grown man, forbidden to weep when his wife died. Take all of this, James tells us, as evidence of the compassion and mercy of the Lord. Think of Job, robbed of his family, robbed of his wealth, robbed of his health, lectured by his friends. Take all of this as evidence, James tells us, of the compassion and mercy of the Lord.

Suffering and hardship as evidence of the compassion and mercy of the Lord? What is this? What is James talking about? Evidence of His power, maybe. Evidence of His inscrutable wisdom, perhaps. Evidence of His mysteriousness, certainly. But evidence of His compassion and mercy? Yes – but in order to see it, we must also see something else. We must see what it is that God is really about in the course of our lives – the end toward which He is aiming.

You see, if God is all about making us happy, carefree, and successful then suffering is not a sign of God’s compassion – it is a sign only of His discipline and disfavor. But suffering, James tells us, is a sign of His compassion. Therefore, God is not all about making us happy, carefree, and successful. Rather, His purpose is to make us men and women and children of faith; men and women and children who trust Him, rely upon Him, cling to Him, and obey Him no matter what the cost. This is what God is about. And if this is what He is about and if suffering creates us into these kind of people, then truly suffering is a sign of God’s compassion and mercy, is it not? For by suffering God trains us in patience and endurance. And these are the very things James highlights.

So what of us? Have we considered that the sufferings through which God is making us pass right now, and that the sufferings through which He shall have us pass in the future, are evidences of God’s compassion and mercy? Or have we instead looked upon them in unbelief, seeing them as evidence of how screwed up the world really is, or how rotten we must be, or how little purpose there is in the world?

Reminded of our failure to look upon suffering as a sign of God’s compassion and mercy, let us kneel and confess our sin to Him.

Grumbling Against our Brethren

September 16, 2008 in Bible - NT - James, Church History, Meditations

James 5:9 (NKJV)9 Do not grumble against one another, brethren, lest you be condemned. Behold, the Judge is standing at the door!

The medieval historian Gregory, the Bishop of Tours, recounts for us numerous events from the tumultuous 5th and 6th centuries in modern day France. His tale is well told and his characters are multi-faceted – some full of faith and wit, others of wickedness and treachery.

Among the stories he tells, one of the most gripping is his account of the local priest of Clermont-Ferrand, a man by the name of Anastasius. Anastasius was apparently a righteous man, a faithful priest, and a good husband and father – this was before the days when the Roman Bishop interfered in the government of the Church and forced celibacy upon her leaders. As a reward for his labors, the lately departed Queen of the Franks, Clotild, had left him a piece of property so that he might be able to provide for himself and his family.

But not all was well in the Church in Anastasius’ day. There were greedy, money-grubbing priests alongside the good ones. Indeed, there were greedy, money-grubbing bishops in charge of the the good priests. Unfortunately for Anastasius, his bishop was such a man. Since Clotild had died and since communication back then was not nearly so effective as now, Anastasius’ bishop set his eyes on Anastasius’ property and, like a new Jezebel, determined to use whatever means necessary to obtain it.

He began with flattery, endeavoring to convince the priest as a dutiful subject of his superiors, to sign over the property to him. The priest refused. The bishop then began to make threats, Anastasius still refused. And so the bishop followed through on his threats – he had Anastasius arrested and locked up in an abandoned prison, stating that he would starve him to death unless he signed over the property. Anastasius still refused saying that he would not be so base as to leave his children destitute.

At this point, Gregory tells the tale better than I ever could:

“In the church of Saint Cassius the Martyr there was a crypt which had been there for centuries and where no one ever went. It contained a great sarcophagus of Parian marble, in which, so it seems, lay the body of some person dead these many years. In this sarcophagus, on top of the body which was mouldering away there, they buried Anastasius alive. The stone slab which they had removed was put back and guards were posted at the crypt door. These guards were convinced that Anastasius must have been crushed to death by the slab. It was winter time, so they lit a fire, warmed some wine and fell asleep after they had drunk it. Meanwhile our priest, like some new Jonah, from the confines of his tomb, as if from the belly of hell, was praying for God’s compassion. The sarcophagus was quite big, as I have told you. Anastasius could not turn over completely, but he could stretch out his hands in all directions. Years afterwards he used to describe the fetid stench which clung about the dead man’s bones, and tell how this not only offended his sense of smell but turned his stomach over. If he stuffed his cloak into his nostrils he could smell nothing as long as he held his breath; but whenever he removed his cloak, for fear of being suffocated, he breathed in the pestilential odour through his mouth and his nose and even, so to speak, through his ears! To cut a long story short, God finally took pity on him, for that is what I think must have happened. Anastasius stretched out his right hand to touch the edge of the sarcophagus and discovered a crowbar. When the lid had been lowered on top of him, this had been left between the stone slab and the edge of the sarcophagus. He levered the crowbar to and fro until, with God’s help, he felt the lid move. Once it was edged far enough along for the priest to be able to stick his head out he was able to make a bigger opening and so creep out of the tomb.” (205-206)

From there, Gregory tells us, Anastasius fled to the king, Clotild’s son, who was horrified to hear of the bishop’s wickedness. He confirmed Anastasius in his property and sent a subtle threat to the bishop. The bishop was so taken with fear, both of the king and of God whom he had for so many years scorned, that he died shortly thereafter.

James tells us today that we are not to grumble against our brethren. The story from Gregory gives us perspective – if you think your brothers are bad, just consider Anastasius’ bishop. And when you do, thank God that the biggest thing you have to grumble about is that Sally didn’t smile at you last Sunday.

Reminded that we grumble against our brothers and forget that God is the righteous Judge who oversees all our relationships, let us kneel and confess our sin to the Lord.

The Lord’s Farm

September 9, 2008 in Bible - NT - James, Discipline, Meditations

James 5:7-8 (NKJV) 7 Therefore be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, waiting patiently for it until it receives the early and latter rain. 8 You also be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand.

As many of you are aware through our Head of Households Meeting this week, we in company with Christ Church in Spokane have been wrestling through a discipline situation. Thankfully, we appear to be making some progress in dealing with the issue and so I would ask you to remember to pray for the elders and for the folks involved – for wisdom, soft hearts, repentance where appropriate, and a hunger to honor the Lord. When engaged in such situations, it is always good and wise to remember why we are doing what we are doing so that we might conduct ourselves in a way that honors Christ and builds up His Church.

In the passage before us today, James reminds us that the Christian life is comparable to the life of a farmer. That which most characterizes farmers in the harvesting of a crop, James tells us, is patience. They don’t plant the seed today and expect the harvest tomorrow. They have to wait; they have to be patient; they have to wait on the Lord, wait on the early and latter rain, wait for the seed to sprout, to grow, and come to its fullness.

While the farmer is engaged in this waiting game, however, he is not idle. He tends the crop, he watches for weeds and pulls them when so doing doesn’t endanger the plant itself, he puts out fertilizers to help enrich the soil, and sometimes provides water of his own in addition to that supplied from the heavens. Farming is hard work – demanding patience, a love for the land, and attentiveness.

Life in the Church demands the same characteristics. We must be patient, looking to the Lord to cultivate within our midst the fruit he has promised – 30, 60, and 100 fold. We must love God’s people, overlooking minor transgressions and forgiving others even as we have been forgiven. Finally, we must be attentive, both to the health of the farm and to the benefit that the owner of the farm expects and demands from the crop.

It is this last duty, the duty of attentiveness, that requires the Church to use her authority in calling erring members of the Church to account. Sin, in all its varied shapes and sizes, is a noxious weed – not only sucking life from the soil that might go to the crop but actually poisoning the plants in its radius. When this sin is public and comes to the attention of the Church, the worst thing that can be done is to ignore it. Ignore a noxious weed and soon you’ll have more – indeed, soon you’ll have a bumper crop. And so, the Lord of the farm has entrusted to His Church the task of holding folks accountable for their sin and, when they refuse to repent, of disciplining them even as a loving father does his children.

Our Lord declared:

Matthew 18:15-17 (NKJV)15 “Moreover if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he hears you, you have gained your brother. 16 But if he will not hear, take with you one or two more, that ‘by the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.’ 17 And if he refuses to hear them, tell it to the church.

And so discipline situations occasionally come to the attention of the entire Church. Why? Not so that we have a new scandal about which to create a vicious rumor mill. “Have you heard what so and so has done now?” “No. But I did hear . . .” We do not solve our brother’s sin by engaging in our own sin of gossip. Rather the matter is brought to the Church so that we might love our brother, pray for Him, encourage him to reconsider his ways, and ultimately gain our brother back. So that the noxious weed that has taken root in his life is uprooted, the soil is refreshed, and an even more abundant crop produced.

Reminded of our need to approach life like the farmer – full of patience, full of a love for the land, full of attentiveness as well – let us kneel and let us confess our failure to do these things to the Lord.

Exploitation of the Poor

August 31, 2008 in Bible - NT - James, Meditations, Wealth

James 5:1-6 (NKJV)1 Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries that are coming upon you! 2 Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are moth-eaten. 3 Your gold and silver are corroded, and their corrosion will be a witness against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have heaped up treasure in the last days. 4 Indeed the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, cry out; and the cries of the reapers have reached the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth. 5 You have lived on the earth in pleasure and luxury; you have fattened your hearts as in a day of slaughter. 6 You have condemned, you have murdered the just; he does not resist you.

It seems from our text today, does it not, that James takes the exploitation of workers by their employers very seriously? It seems, does it not, that James warns such folks that judgment is sure to come and that the additional riches they have obtained at the expense of others will only add fuel to their fire of their own destruction on the Day of the Lord?

And so, reminded of the necessity of justice; reminded of the necessity of showing mercy to those entrusted to our care; reminded of God’s hatred for those who exploit others; let us kneel and let us confess our injustices to the Lord.

Planning in Faith

August 25, 2008 in Bible - NT - James, Faith, Meditations, Sovereignty of God

James 4:13-16 (NKJV)13 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit”; 14 whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. 15 Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.” 16 But now you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.

We as sinners like to imagine that we are in control. We buy Franklin Planners and chart out our responsibilities. We rank them with our As, Bs, and Cs. We check them off when we’re done and get the little rush of endorphins. “Ah, I’m in control,” we say to ourselves. “I’ve got it all together. I am the master of my own destiny. Nothing shall stop me.”

It is this type of sin that James addresses with these words to his audience. They boasted in their arrogance. They imagined that they were the ultimate shapers and molders of their own destiny. But James calls them up short – you don’t even know, O foolish man, what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. You are nothing; your plans are nothing; your Franklin Planner is nothing; you are not in control. You are a vapor hovering over the ground subject to the blowing of the wind, the rising of the sun, a change in the temperature. If the wind begins to blow, you float away. If the sun rises, you vanish. If the temperature changes, you get lighter or heavier depending on the change. You are not the master of your own destiny.

Well, if I’m not, who is? God is. God is the master of your destiny. Solomon tells us in Proverbs 16:9, “A man’s heart plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps.” Our lives rest in the hand of God; He is the Lord. He causes the wind to blow; He causes the sun to rise; He causes the temperature to change. He is the One who wields the nations like a woodsman wielding his axe. “Come and do my bidding,” he declares. “Invade the northern territories of Georgia. Unsettle their population. Uproot their democracy.” And then He declares, “And afterward I shall punish the pride of your heart; I shall overthrow your wickedness. For shall the axe boast itself over the woodsman who wields it?”

So what does James have to tell us today? When you are making plans and decisions – which we all must do – when you are orchestrating a move, making an investment in some new business, selecting a spouse, organizing a date with your beloved, driving to the store to buy groceries, do so in faith, saying, “If the Lord wills, we shall do this or that.” Acknowledge the sovereign Lordship of God and hold all your plans, even those closest to your heart, in uplifted hands that are open to the sovereign intervention of our Lord. He is in control.

Unfortunately, rather than plan in faith, we plan in unbelief. We plan as though we are the master and so we get bent out of shape when our plans are thwarted. We gather all the kids and pack them in the car, getting ready to head to the store and what happens? Junior hits his sister. What is our response? Do we take this as an opportunity given to us by the hand of our loving Father to intervene and train our son? Not likely. How do we respond? With frustration and anger that our plans, orchestrated so carefully, have been thwarted. “Don’t you know, junior, how long it takes me to get everyone dressed and in the car?” But here’s the question – who thwarted your plans? Did your son? No – not ultimately. God did. He crafted this moment just for you. “A man’s heart plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps.”

Reminded that we often plan in unbelief and not in faith, let us kneel and confess our sin to the Lord.

What is Legalism?

August 25, 2008 in Bible - NT - James, Law and Gospel, Meditations, Principles and Methods

James 4:11-12 (NKJV)11 Do not speak evil of one another, brethren. He who speaks evil of a brother and judges his brother, speaks evil of the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge. 12 There is one Lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy. Who are you to judge another?

The modern church tends to devote a lot of attention to the problem of legalism. And with good reason. Legalism is a nasty sin. It packages idolatry in nice wrapping paper and pawns it off as the worship of the true God.

But for all the opposition to legalism out there, one would think that the problem itself would be well understood. Instead what one finds is a general fogginess. What exactly is legalism? “Well,” responds our fuzzy friend, “it means putting too much emphasis on the law.” Too much emphasis on the law? What does that mean? “It means,” responds another even further out on the branches, “that once the Spirit of God has taken residence in our hearts we aren’t required to keep any written codes any more.” We aren’t required to keep written codes? Why did God give us His Word? The definitions of legalism offered by most people are foggy at best and smack of anti-nomianism, opposition to all written law, at worst.

So what is legalism? James tells us today that legalism is hatred of God’s law. Did you catch that? Legalism is hatred of God’s law.

Legalism takes the law of God, which is good, holy, delightful, and life-giving through the Spirit of God, adds its own restrictions and regulations on top and then uses that to grind others to powder and speak against them.

Legalism is not paying too much attention to God’s law. Listen to the psalmist and tell me – is this legalism? “Oh how I love Thy law, it is my meditation all the day.” “The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul; the testmony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple.” “How sweet are Your words to my taste, Sweeter than honey to my mouth.” The law of God, the psalmist tells us again and again, is good, delightful, a source of light and salvation when empowered by the Spirit of God. Love for God’s law is not legalism – it is life itself.

You see the Pharisees were legalists, not because they understood the law of God but precisely because they misunderstood it and misconstrued it, applying it in ways that were oppressive and destructive. They hated God’s law and loved their traditions instead. They set themselves up as lawgivers and became, as James says, not the doers of the law but judges of the law – putting themselves in the place of God Himself.

Notice then what James is and is not doing in this passage. He is most certainly not forbidding his audience from evaluating behavior based on the law of God. How do we know this? Because he has been doing this throughout his letter! What then is he doing? He is rebuking those in his audience who were tempted to make all the people of God obey their personal whims and opinions. Whether those opinions were like the Pharisees’ restriction on washing all one’s utensils carefully or whether they are more modern restrictions like complete abstinence from alchohol, or opposition to trans-fatty foods, or hatred for marmalade. There is, James tells us, but one lawgiver and judge. Who are you to judge your brother?

And so listen – learn to distinguish between principles and methods. The Word of God is given to direct us in the way of obedience and provides us with a full and complete resevoir of wisdom and instruction for life. As we apply these laws in our lives in specific ways, we will be required to utilize methods that will enable us to fulfill the principles. When your brother uses a different method, leave him alone – whether the issue is private Christian dayschooling versus homeschooling, eating twinkies or multi-grain muffins, consuming steak or cooking up a veggie burger. God’s law grants a great deal of liberty to each household in the methods they choose to implement biblical principle. So who are you to judge your brother?

Reminded that we often hate God’s law by judging our brothers based on our own opinions rather than his word, let us kneel and ask God to forgive us through Christ.

Let Your Joy be Turned to Gloom

August 25, 2008 in Bible - NT - James, Ecclesiology, Meditations

James 4:8-10 (NKJV)8 Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Lament and mourn and weep! Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.

Two weeks ago we remarked that there are critical places where the modern church draws contrasts between the Old Testament and the New Testament but the Scriptures themselves make a parallel. The practical implications of this parallel come to roost in our text today. Many an earnest Christian has read the verses from James today and imagined that the proper Christian demeanor is one of sour gloominess, that laughter is not fitting for someone who is really spiritual, and that the safest course in life is to walk around with a frown.

But we must remember that for James the Church of God is composed not only of earnest Christians who hunger and thirst for righteousness and desire to please and honor their Lord but also of hypocrites who abuse the grace and mercy of the Lord. It is to these tares among the wheat that James addresses his exhortations today. “Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.”

In reading James’ words, it is imperative to recall the life of Israel and the words of the prophets. To recall that there are those who claim the name of Christ and live in a way that defames him and causes the enemies of God to blaspheme. It is to these folks that James issues his exhortation – much like the words of the prophets Joel and Zephaniah years before – Woe to you who long for the day of the Lord! For what benefit will the day of the Lord be to you? It will be darkness and not light. Put away your laughter, put away your insipid joy, repent and seek the face of God.

Notice then the way James responds to grievous sin in the Church. He does not deny that such folks are Christians in any sense of the term. Rather, he exhorts them for their unfaithfulness and their lack of genuine devotion to the Lord. He treats their hypocrisy seriously, viewing their fawning deception as a blot on the Church of God. The sin of hypocrites and apostates is far more grievous than that of an unbeliever in the same way that an adulterer is committing a far worse sin than a fornicator. One who has been baptized into the Name of the Triune God, covenantally bound to Him and identified with Christ, and who rebels and rejects this word is in far worse condition than he who never heard the word at all.

So give heed to the words of James all you who bear the Name of God. You children particularly, growing up in the midst of a Christian home, hear the word of James. Greater revelation brings greater responsibility. Do not reject the Lord Jesus Christ. Do not imagine that merely going through the motions of religiosity is a sufficient hedge against the coming judgment. Your only escape – even as it is the only escape of us all – is to throw yourself on the mercy of God in Christ and ask Him to deliver you. Shun hypocrisy. Shun worldliness. Humble yourself in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.

Reminded of the need to seek the face of the Lord and to shun hypocrisy and worldliness, let us kneel and seek His forgiveness.