James 2:14-26 : Time for Action

Now James addresses faith and deeds. It cannot be stressed to strongly that there is absolutely no conflict between what James's says and Paul's teaching on salvation by faith. It is clear from Paul's letters that any concept of a faith that made no difference is completely alien to him. James is saying the same.

Faith makes a difference. So if there is no difference in someone's life, then there is no evidence of any useful faith either. Atheists are keen on caricaturing faith as something that is independent of evidence. This is garbage, and the Bible is the most realistic book there is. 

Faith shows itself in deeds. Words that have nothing to back them up are worthless. Faith without works is dead. Biblical belief shows itself in actions, it is not a mere intellectual assent, nor saying a formula, nor an emotional response. All these things may be involved, but if the faith is genuine it will produce fruit.

The demons know that there is one God, but it does them no good. Abraham is the father of faith, the archetypal example of how faith works. His faith showed itself in his willingness to sacrifice Isaac. 

Then James quotes the example of Rahab. Her actions overcame her unrighteous life style (that of a prostitute). Faith and deeds go together.

James 2:1-13 - No Favouritism

Favouritism is forbidden. The reason is that Jesus does not show favouritism. James then uses the very practical example of a finely dressed man and a poor man dressed in rags.It is wrong to treat one as more important than the other. If we do this we have become judges with evil thoughts. We have made the judgement that the rich man is a better person than the poor man. This test surely poses serious questions to most of us, and calls on us to examine our own attitudes.

In the Old Testament God shows concern for the poor.Moreover, Jesus said blessed are the poor for the kingdom of heaven is theirs. Now in Matthew this refers to the poor in spirit, in Luke it is just the poor. We must not dishonour the poor. 

Moreover, to show preference to the rich is illogical. It is the rich who were exploiting the church. Apparently they were being dragged through the courts in James' time. The fact of the matter is that the poor are more likely to come to Christ than the rich, for they are less likely to be blinded by the deceptions of wealth.

We need to remember that we will be called to give an account to God, not to some human judge. So we need to act and live in the light of this.

James 1:26,27 - True Religion

James has more to say about the tongue later in the letter. Here he says that control of the tongue is a sure sign of true religion. If we cannot control our tongue then we are deceiving ourselves. He then contrasts this "false" religion with "true" religion. True religion shows itself by taking care of widows and orphans.

It is noteworthy that James uses the phrase "Religion that God our Father accepts.." There many people who talk a good game, but actually do very little. Talk may impress others, may even impress ourselves, and in our society there is great emphasis on appearances. God is impressed by actions. 

Along with looking after the poor is keeping ourselves from being polluted by the world. It is very easy to infected or affected by the culture around us. We need to be on our guard against this.

James 1:22-25 - Do the Word

Part of the tragedy of the nation of Israel was that they had all the benefits of the promise of God, the Covenant, the word of God (Romans 9:4,5), but they did nothing with it. They did not believe, they did not obey. James implores them not to deceive themselves again. It is so easy to deceive ourselves. We can think because we have had an experience of the presence of God we are saved. Well the Israelites who came out of Egypt had experiences of God greater than we have, and they all died in the desert. We can think because we hear a great sermon we are blessed. Well people heard Jesus, and most of them did nothing about it. We need to believe and act on the word.
The definitive sign that we truly do believe is the actions that we take. The word shows us what we are like, what God is like, what He has done. But we then need to respond to the word. Jesus called people to follow Him, and He still does that today. We need to repent, to change our ways, and to live life His way. Then we will be truly blessed. The blessing is in the doing, not the hearing.

James 1:19-21 - Beware of your anger

"Quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to become angry". This is the antithesis of the caricature of the typical Jew. If we are honest, it is the antithesis of the typical human being! We are quick to speak, quick to become angry. Indeed, it is what our society encourages us to become. These are actions that exalt the self.  Instead we are to exalt God above all, and to give proper respect to others. 

Our anger does not produce God's righteousness. Sometimes we talk about righteous anger, but we need to recognise that most of the time our anger is anything but righteous, it is about exalting self. We need to be on our guard against our anger. It will usually achieve nothing good.

"Therefore get rid of ..." Why does he say this? Because moral filth and anger typically will produce angry reactions in us. We will become angry in an attempt to cover up our sin, or to avoid facing up to it. 

Instead we should humbly accept the word planted in us. Our anger will not save us, but the word of God can and will save us. 

Listen to God's word, and do God's word.

James 1:13-18 - Completely reliable

Trials often bring temptation. We can be tempted to make bad decisions. We can be tempted to do wrong things because we feel depressed or in despair. These temptations do not come from God. The temptation exists because of evil desires that still reside in us. The trials can expose the presence of these desires. 

It is easy for us to think "I cannot be bothered resisting this" and just give in. This is a mistake. If full reign is given to evil desires then in the end it leads o death. We need to be resolved not to give in. Trials are a time to prepare for battle.

God only give good things. All good things come from Him, and He is not capricious. He does not change. He is not kind one minute and cruel the next. God's character is utterly reliable and consistent. So we can rely on Him completely.

His purposes for us are entirely good. He gave us new birth through the word of truth. So we can be absolutely confident that He works through everything for the good of those who love Him.

James 1:9-12 - Persevering

We will all be in different worldly circumstances, and at various times in our lives may experience different things. Here James talks about being lowly and rich. If we are poor, then we should rejoice in our exalted position in Christ. Even if things are difficult in our life just now, we are still in Christ, and as such have the capacity to have an amazing positive impact on the world. 

If we are rich, then we need to recognise that all worldly wealth, whether material, or positional, is transitory. It will pass away. James then uses the analogy of wild flowers. They are beautiful, but this is only a passing beauty. We need to recognise the fickleness of earthly wealth.

Blessed are those who persevere under trial. If we are honest, our natural reaction is usually that we are blessed the sooner we get out of the trial! This is an illusion. If we stand up under the trial then we will receive a crown of life. This is not salvation by works, but if we stand up under trial we will be blessed, our character will develop, we will become more like Christ and will know God better. There is no greater reward. So how do we do this? Well somethings we can do under trial is to pray for others, still pray for people to get saved. Seek out things that we can do to help others.