Sept 23, 2012; 17 Sunday of Trinity; Texts: Psalm 54;
Jeremiah 11:18-20; James 3:13-4:10; Mark
9:30-37; Title: Stick the 2 x 4 where it Belongs. Rev. Tim Beck
Grace, mercy, and
peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ
James
just gave us many commands, and all good ones.
Naturally, he concludes by calling us to repentance. James is not a
marshmallow about what goes on in us. He knows us, the Holy Spirit inspiring
Him to point out what we try to hide. Addressing Christians, he aims to strike
godly fear in god-fearers. But that’s only ½ the job of repentance. Does this
passage also give hope to sinners; does it declare the gospel? And does this
portion of James’ letter give us, through the gospel’s fruit, the power to not sin? Does it both speak
Christ’s absolution and speak Christ into us?
It is a gross misinterpretation to
conclude from James “Christian faith is all up to me, all about me.” It is a misapplication to say “I’ll improve
myself right now by giving up coffee, and that will make God happy.” It is a
misstep to then feel guilty when you smell the delicious aroma from a coffee
machine and wonder “where’s God’s help?”
That is to misuse the law for our goals and not for repentance: and more
importantly, it is to miss the fact that James gives reason for hope.
Listen carefully; James speaks and
alludes to vital promises from Christ’s word. Remember the context; he speaks
to Christians. James speaks not to the world but to the faithful. For example,
he says the repentant will be what… exalted? That’s not a promise the world
makes. Those who confess failure get fired. But Christ says those who confess
their sin He lifts up into heaven, before the Father,
reconciled, restored, renewed, rejoicing. James tells you whom the Lord receives;
those who know their need of God. Where have you heard that phrase? It’s in the
beatitudes. Jesus said it. And on the
cross He fulfilled that lofty ethic for us. How else could we be numbered among
the meek? How else do we become seekers of righteousness and peace; and receive
persecution as a privilege? James also
exclaims “He gives more grace… He gives grace to the humble.”
That is, He gives grace to the
repentant, to those who admit their need of God. And grace is not an infusion
of ability to do it yourself. That’s a popular definition but it is the wrong
definition. It’s not all about you. It
is about what Jesus did for you. God’s grace is given those who admit the wrong
in us, the evil in our passions, our desires. These folks are blest, because
they are justified by God. Listen to James carefully, asking do you admit to a
spirit of murder, covetousness, and adultery against the Holy God? Then there
is hope; for grace is the forgiveness of sin where the repentant receive
Christ’s unmerited merits. In baptism we were dressed in the righteous robe of
Christ so that Christ might dress Himself with us as His body, as His bride, as
His building, so Scripture says. What a precious gift, to be dressed in the
robe of Christ so that Christ dresses Himself with us as His mystical body. The
Father is jealous over that gift. He is jealous for you. Rejoice Oh Christian.
“He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us.”
What a gift that God cares, and cares
about what He gave to you in baptism and continues to give so that you enter
eternal life. That’s why James points out what is not well in us, because we
saints are simultaneously sinners. That’s why the readings from the prophet
Jeremiah and St. Mark also paint an ugly picture of an ugly reality yet points
us to Christ’s righteousness for us. Our Lord forgives. And He gives the Spirit
so that we desire to please our God; which brings us to something else in our
text. James applies the law in two ways. Those in whom the Lord’s Spirit dwells
are encouraged to do what is right. That’s the third use of the law, a use only
for Christians because the Spirit both gives us the desires to please God and
teaches us what pleases God. But the third use is sneaky. It drags us by the
ear to the second use, revealing our need for continual repentance. We’re
dragged the way of death by our lawbreaking, yet the Spirit of Christ tugs us
back to the font, to absolution and so to new life. Baptism into Christ’s death
the old man died, but that codger needs drowning daily. It drowns when we
confess sin, and you rise with absolution to live for God. Sin’s goal is to
separate you from all others, but confession/absolution restores you to
fellowship. (That’s why the Lutheran
church practices individual confession and absolution.) James uses the 3rd
and 2nd use of the law for our sake because we know two worlds, one
of unbelief the other of faith. We not only know rebellion, we have tasted
humility, and hence godly wisdom.
What does it mean to be wise? Of the
world’s wisdom all sorts of pictures enter our minds. There’s the man behind
the curtain in Oz, pulling the strings. There’s the clever politician whose
victories leave a trail of moral carnage. There’s the wisdom of heavy handed
bureaucrats happy to decide your future.
There is the wisdom of “it’s all about me.” But there is a higher and
better wisdom. James, Hebrew that he is, embraces what the Torah reveals. He
often speaks in Old Testament imagery, in the context of the prophets. For
example, James speaks of wisdom that is not only moral, but also relational.
James speaks of Old Testament wisdom that comes in only one way: wisdom comes
from receiving the Lord’s faithful righteousness. That is, he preaches the
divine order, a living dependence on the Living God. That’s the New Testament
way too, and by this wisdom James teaches, rebukes, and promises. He contrasts
two kinds of wisdom at war: the world’s (which is the loser’s) that seems to be
stronger and is too strong in us. Then He speaks of God’s winning wisdom that
appears deathly weak, dying daily on a cross because of what the One Death
finished on a cross for us. James points out that the world’s strong wisdom was
conquered by God’s weak wisdom.
That’s why James bids the church to
“repent and receive the wisdom from on high.”
He tells us point blank we must refuse the world’s wisdom. Its way is
from hell. It is in our sinful flesh, in our fallen race and we build it into
institutions, into the fabric of everything around us. It “is earthly, unspiritual,
demonic,” and produces fruits common to those things. But the winning wisdom is
of an entirely different character and result. It is selfless, meek, generous,
ordered, clean, “pure, peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and
good fruits, impartial and sincere.” That wisdom’s beautiful characteristics
are not simply what a person does, but originate in Christ’s love, joining us
to relationship, to community. Divine wisdom is at heart personal and in fact
is a person. Does James’ description
sound like someone you know? Does it sound Trinitarian, with each person of the
Godhead sharing, giving and loving? Who is righteous, whose righteousness
springs up because the seed He planted is peace? Whose is a faithful love, a
righteous and jealous love? For example, the Old Testament shows how God’s Son
revealed Himself as a person who seeks relationship with those who run from
Him. At times He is depicted as “the
messenger of the Lord” who speaks for the sake of the hearer. He is personified
as “the Name,” “the Word,” “the Glory,” “the Spirit,” “the Power,” and “the
Wisdom;” so that we might be united in Him.
This is who seeks you, as also
recorded in the New Testament. The Apostle John says “In the beginning was the
Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God.” James says He is “the wisdom” who came down from above,
God made man, personified in flesh, revealed for our reconciliation. He is from
above, coming down to bring peace; that is declaring us righteous and restoring
us to fellowship with God and each other. He is wisdom for us the church,
filling us with heavenly wisdom, so that we might be filled with Him, living in
this corrupt world yet living as His body in the world. James preaches that
theme. You are not of this world you are of Christ and called to manifest Him who lives in you. Seek
that wisdom. Seek Christ’s cross, the
wisdom of God. We were given that
wisdom in Holy Baptism, Christ the Word joining us to His death and life. There
the Spirit entered for faith, giving us the spirit of life over which the
Father jealously yearns.
The Father yearns for our completion
in Christ; that we shine with His righteousness; that we put Him on, made holy
in His wisdom. And these gifts are ours,
for the Spirit has been and continues to be given us, because as James hints,
God the Father made Himself our friend. That’s the context in which James
applies the law; in the context of the justified, of those baptized into Christ
and given the Spirit of God. In that context James speaks the law to contrast
worldly and heavenly wisdom. In his one-room-schoolhouse, he takes us by the
ear behind the barn for a good thrashing, applying the law because we need
daily repent. We easily forget that friendship with the world is enmity against
God. You don’t want to be God’s enemies again do you? Nor does your heavenly
Father who yearns for you; the Father yearns that you receive the full
inheritance of Christ. For this reason you and I are called to daily
repentance, to humility, to submit to God with a promise ringing in our ears:
resist the devil and he will flee from you.
The Spirit of the Lord strengthens the repentant to resist evil and to
enjoy the peaceable wisdom from on high.
As an aside, James probably wrote the
first NT book, likely in the mid 40’s AD, before the Jerusalem
The peace of God which passes all understanding keep
your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
(Amen)
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