Missions Paul

I was reflecting recently with another minister on an incident that took place within a Church. A woman member entered into such a fight of words with another woman that the Pastor had to open a full investigation into the matter. It took him days and weeks to sort it out. We “will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word.” (Acts 6:4) has been taken over by refereeing what James calls ‘fights and quarrels’. How many Pastors have cut short their prayer time and their preparation for preaching to deal with fights and quarrels? Eugene Peterson calls them ‘appalling wars and quarrels’ and he is right to do so. I don’t have to survey retired Christian leaders to know that on looking back on their ministry life they have had to spend or shall I say wasted so much of their life on sheep biting other sheep.

James is pondering why. He knows why. It is what lies behind the surface. It is the state of our hearts. It has always been and always will be about the state of our heart and whether it is consecrated. Though hidden the heart can be seen, every day, it comes to the surface and it reveals whether it is consecrated. James is sure of this.

“What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? ² You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God. ³ When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.” (James 4 v 1-4)

A consecrated heart may have unfulfilled desires but they are controlled. The causes for these wars within the Church are not what is based on who is right or wrong. There is a root hidden which is producing such bad fruit. You have heard of righteous wars. Holy wars. Jihad exists in the Church. These wars are the ones that the Holy Spirit apparently has asked us to start. James says they don’t exist. They are started by our own desires which are not controlled. They lead to killing and again we are reminded of the Sermon on the Mount and maybe James does this purposely when Jesus used killing for the condition of the heart displayed in anger (Matthew 5: 21-22). This may seem over the top by James. But he is wanting us to see the utter destruction that takes place when our hearts are not consecrated and our desires are out of control.

A consecrated heart is a praying heart. Whereas the world in its unfulfilled state grabs for its desires the consecrated heart brings its desires to God. We wait before Him with desires unfulfilled and more importantly we bring the reasons for those desires to Him also. What do want? Why do we want them? James will encourage us later in this letter to ask God. He wants us to seek God. He believes in the power of prayer. I wonder how many have not received what God wants to give because instead of asking they have entered into a battle for their rights. How sad to see such immaturity.

A consecrated heart is aligned away from self. How many prayer requests are about you? How many are about God? How many are about others? If you examined your prayer life what would the ratio be? James says prayer is not about asking selfishly for your desires in order to ‘spend what you get on your pleasures.’ Prayer is to align oneself with the will of God and we know His purpose is to love. We already know from James about the royal law of loving God and loving others. Our prayers can be wasted on ourselves and because it is so difficult at times to know whether this desire I have is righteous or not then perhaps it is better to focus more on aligning our lives with God and not getting things from Him?

I remember saying to two Christians who used to walk together but then entered into war with each other, ‘Can you please both go away and hang on the cross for a while.’ They didn’t want to do that. They would rather preach about the cross than hang on it. It didn’t end well.

A consecrated tongue comes from a consecrated heart.

So how do we know if we have a consecrated heart? It is by what flows out of our lives. What are the decisions and what are the reasons behind those decisions that we are making? And James has a list that we need to think on.

“But if you harbour bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. Such “wisdom” does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice. But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. Peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of righteousness.” (James 3 v 14-18)

Bitter envy – This is not being jealous of other people’s lives. James is continually thinking of our relationships with God and others being very closely linked. This bitter envy or jealousy is the thought of someone else rising above you to do what you are doing, taking over from you, being used by God equal or even better than you.

Selfish ambition – The words translated refers to those who are more than ready to fight for their rights if they feel threatened by someone. They are quick to make sure their position to be weakened in any way. ‘People don’t walk over me, I’ve got my rights’. The desire to be seen, respected, to get to the top by pushing every door possible open.

Boastful – To explain away the wrongs you have committed and to even boast that the wrong committed is not as bad as the wrongs committed against you.

Denying the truth – Being out of step with the Bible and a manipulation to fit our lives is the pathway of self-deception.

But there is a divine wisdom thank God! This is how we know we have a consecrated heart.

Pure – It clears our vision to see God at work in everything we do.

Peace-loving – We don’t start the arguments or maintain them. When Divine wisdom fills our hearts then peace-loving enters which helps heal relationships rather than tear them apart.

Considerate – It is to be tolerant of people where their behaviour is perhaps different to ours.

Submissive – Being open to reason. It is the opposite of stubborn. A willingness to be persuaded. Can you give serious thought to an opinion or a plan that differs from yours without feeling threatened or getting angry?

Full of mercy and Good fruit – A compassionate attitude with actions that naturally flow from it. It is not just to feel for those who suffer but it is towards those who have brought the problems on themselves and to go towards them with mercy, this is the good fruit.

Impartial – Unwavering believers faithfully sticking to the principles in the Bible regardless of the circumstances. The person is decisive and not afraid to make those decisions based on God’s Word.

Sincere – Not hypocritical, not wearing masks or pretending to be what you’re not. You’re not deceptive but completely and simply honest.

It is quite a list. It is what flows from a consecrated heart. When the Divine wisdom impacts our hearts this is what doesn’t flow and what does flow. It may not last long and we will need many encounters of God throughout our lives to remedy this. But James says this is the evidence.

My vertical relationship with God will always be demonstrated by my horizontal relationships.

A consecrated tongue comes from a consecrated heart. That is what James has been writing and now he gives us an understanding of the state of our hearts. He uses the word ‘wisdom’ and we need to go to the source of wisdom to understand what James means.  

God is always and at all times wise. In fact there is not a moment when He is not all-wise. Wisdom sees everything not only as the whole but every intricate detail of the whole. But it is more than that. For what I have described is knowledge and wisdom is higher than that.

Through what Jesus Christ has done for us, God is taking every detail of our lives, all the circumstances with their twists and turns and is working them for His glory. This is His wisdom. Whatever the circumstance that you are in right now perhaps hard at times to understand is not too far or too difficult that God is not already working His wisdom, fashioning the you from this situation.

So as we look at the wisdom of God we understand that to be wise is to make the right decisions and to have the right attitude behind those decisions, in every detail and moment of our life.

James writes,

“Who is wise and understanding among you? Let them show it by their good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom. But if you harbour bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. Such “wisdom” does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic.” (James 3 v 13-15)

So there is a wisdom from God and a wisdom that isn’t from Him.

There is an earthly wisdom. It is horizontal and it is inward. It views everything through the filter of oneself. It is about my success, my standards, my motives, my attitudes, my methods, me, me, oh and also, me.

There is an unspiritual wisdom. It is not of the Holy Spirit. It focuses only on the soul. The 3 functions of our soul: the will, intellect and our emotions must be directed by our spirit which was created to be in direct contact with God. In the order of God’s kingdom our souls direct our bodies but our spirit (which God constantly moves upon) masters our soul. If the primary focus of my life is my soul (my will, intellect and emotions) then not only will that dominate my body but it will negatively impact my spirit (my contact with God). Jesus reversed soulish living so that it is possible to be restored to the original kingdom order.

There is a demonic wisdom. It seems hard to believe that James is actually only speaking to Christians here. Is it possible that Christians can be driven by a demonic wisdom? James says so.

So how do we know if we are consecrated? It is by what flows out of our lives. What are the decisions and what are the reasons behind those decisions that we are making. And James has a list that we need to think on. That’s for tomorrow. For today let us surrender the wisdom of our hearts and commit them to not be about me; not to be soulish; and not to be about knowledge but lifestyle for even the demons have great understanding of God.

Oh! to be like Thee, oh! to be like Thee,
Blessed Redeemer, pure as Thou art;
Come in Thy sweetness, come in Thy fullness;
Stamp Thine own image deep on my heart.

Church-goers have been singing this hymn since 1897. We sing similar ones every Sunday.

Stamp Thine own image deep on my heart.

Read this again.

Stamp Thine own image deep on my heart.

Why is this important?

Because it is the source of what comes out of our mouths.

Can you imagine a Church that does not grieve the Holy Spirit set in the context of how we speak to one another or about each other?

Can you imagine a Church that copies God and loves like He loved us at the cross?

Can you imagine a Church which pleases the Lord because out of our mouths flow kindness?

Can you imagine every Christian’s social media posts, texts, emails, phone calls, coffee meetings are filled with gracious words?

Can you imagine this for you?

How can our mouths boast? How can we talk about ourselves so much? How can we attribute what we say as from the Lord when it is all about us? If we were banned from ever talking about ourselves what would we say? Would the world be a quieter place if we were banned from talking negatively about anyone?

For the formation of Christ to be seen and known in our lives then it will happen through our speech and for that to happen it will be birthed in our hearts.

What would it look like if every word that came from a Christian’s mouth was not for their gain or for the demise of others but for Jesus Christ and the good of other people? We could and if we did then perhaps we would see consecration.

The central message of James is indeed this whole point. The heart.

“Who is wise and understanding among you? Let them show it by their good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom. ¹⁴ But if you harbour bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. ¹⁵ Such “wisdom” does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. ¹⁶ For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice.” (James 3 v 13-16)

If God is truly moving in a Church then we will hear a different sound. What is the sound of your life?

We can hold to a sound that has embedded in our life for many years. It was born in hurt and pain and it crystallised and the words that flow now flow from that place. We need to unlock our heart. We need to change our prayers. We need to use new vocabulary. We need to search again. We need to focus on something new of the nature of God. He is a God of new things. A new day has to be a new sound that comes from a heart that is healed.

James will have much to teach us. But today surrender your heart to Him and move into a new sound for your life.

Remember hand- sanitisers at the entrance of Church? You may still have them. We spent a long period of time in a new season. We had never done it before. The closest we came to it was making sure people wiped their feet on the doormat as they came into the Church building. But the hand-cleansing was a whole new chapter. We were rightly wanting to make sure people were clean when they came in. We didn’t seem to be too bothered for them on their way out but coming in was different. Interesting that isn’t it?!

“With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness. ¹⁰ Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be. ¹¹ Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? ¹² My brothers and sisters, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water.” (James 3 v 9-12)

What needed cleansing was not only our hands but it was our hearts that God had been chasing after.

You can look clean but have a defiled heart.  What good is that?

A person can look great and acceptable on the outside but if the heart is bad then it is all a façade.

Your profile picture may look sharp but it is your texts and statuses that follow that count.

Let me caveat something here: all forms of abuse are wrong and we need to stand against it. There is no place for it in the Church nor outside it. I am not speaking about that here. But James is saying something should not be happening: praise and cursing.

Mouths of worshippers of Jesus are bringing other Christians down. We no longer need persecutors we have our own persecution department. We do it ourselves. We used to do it behind their backs but now we do it on the social media platforms. We are becoming more courageous in our cursing of each other. I was taught not to point fingers because when you do there are 4 pointing back at you. That’s not the case now. Holiness has developed a hole. For we do it and in the background is our favourite worship song. We put our hands in the air on a Sunday in the presence of God and on Monday morning we are writing to the Pastor to complain their sermon was too long, too short or had an error in it. We do it and sign it off ‘Yours in Christ’. Where is the consistency? Where is the heart-sanitiser? Where is the consecration?

Fresh water and salt water do not flow from the same spring. A fig tree does not bear olives and a grapevine does not bear figs. James appeals against inconsistencies. We may complain when we hear blasphemy but then slander a member of the family of God who bears the image of Jesus Christ in their life. It is inconsistent.

The greatest need in the Church today is heart-sanitiser not to get into the Church but for the Church as it moves into the world. Hearts that are consecrated lead to tongues that are also. For our mouths speak the words birthed in our hearts. Oh for a new day!

They were not intending to swear, it just came out, they fell off the ladder, they hit their thumb with a hammer and out it came, it had a life of its own. We understand! It really does feel at times that we cannot control what comes out of our mouths.

^“All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and sea creatures are being tamed and have been tamed by mankind, but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.” (James 3 v 7-8)

In God’s creation we see Adam being given the task of taming all the animals. But what he couldn’t do after sin entered was tame his own tongue for he cursed his wife. “The woman you put here with me – she gave me some fruit from the tree and I ate it.”

Our tongue is uncontrollable. It won’t stay still for us to hold on to it. But read what James says, “no human being can tame the tongue”. Though James doesn’t say it we know God can do what man cannot. The obvious thought after James says that no human being can is that God can.

Do you want to be like Jesus? They said of him, “no one ever spoke like this man,” John 7:46.

Can you imagine if in our work, neighbourhood, family and leisure places it was said of us, ‘no one speaks like you around here’?

People would know there was something or someone who had a hold of our mouth and we would tell them that Jesus has got a hold of us. He is the Lord. He has tamed what no one could tame.

It feels like we still have a long way to go and yet every day now the media is full of the claims and counter claims of politicians as we head to our General Election. Quotes of what he and she said litter our newscasts. Every word that comes out of a politician’s mouth is scrutinised and judged. It will be a long few weeks ahead!

“We all stumble in many ways. Anyone who is never at fault in what they say is perfect, able to keep their whole body in check. When we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we can turn the whole animal. Or take ships as an example. Although they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot wants to go. Likewise, the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course of one’s life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.” (James 3 v 2-6)

The tongue how power, influence and it impacts its surroundings. It is so small and so powerful as we see with the examples of horses, ships and forest fires.

Words matter and it is right that they are scrutinised and judged. Whether coming out of mouths or on emails or media posts, they have the power to influence, to hurt and destroy, to divide or unite.

The words that I use: Is this helpful? Does it build the person up? Is it beneficial?

Everyone can criticise but we are called to construct. Building someone up isn’t to massage ego or tip-toe around issues why they may need building up. What someone wants to hear and what they need to hear can be very different. Sometimes what is needed is not a pat on the back, a sympathetic shoulder to cry on, we need a hard word set in the context of kindness, a revelatory word set in the presence of the Spirit, something spoken that hasn’t been said before but said in love.
We do need words that will move us out of a position we may be stuck in. We do need words to think the opposite. We do need words to dare to believe in the face of opposition that something just maybe true!

Choose your words carefully today. Slow your mouth down. Don’t type so fast on your social media feeds. What will flow from you today?

Our words give out energy. Negative energy or positive energy, and that energy, gets absorbed by the listener. 

What are we saying? What do our words sound like? Positive or negative? 

Building up or tearing down? Selfish or selfless? Do we boast, do we complain and whinge, are we critical and cruel? 

The tongue has the power to do damage. With our tongues, marriages are destroyed, children grow up with a poor self-image because nothing positive was spoken to them by their parents, they end up devastated and rebellious because the words they receive tear them apart. Friendships are lost, division takes root and bitterness sets in, all because of the tongue.

There is a language of the world and a language of the Christian and it needs to be different.

The Hunchback of Notre Dame carries the beautiful maiden high into the tower. They are talking to each other and he begins to weep. She asks him, “What’s wrong?” He replies, “I never knew how ugly I was until I saw how beautiful you are.” The vocabulary of a Christian can expose the empty words of a non-believer.

The words that flow from the Spirit-filled believer is like honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones (Proverbs 16 v24).

When you speak, Jesus speaks. When people listen to you, they listen to Jesus.

Our responsibility is to choose words to use.

• Foolish Words really do count and they can hurt, it is not just sticks and stones.
• Foolish Words that are slurs outweigh the over-sensitivity of people.
• Foolish Words lead to consequences.
• Foolish Words build on sand where nothing of substance is formed.
• Foolish Words come from fools who live to regret their words.

Today is Ordination Day for my denomination and we will celebrate the ministers who have shown full proof of their ministry which involves communicating the Word of God to people. I mention this because we are about to move into a passage where James speaks a lot about communication and he starts with those who teach.

Without doubt, the health of any church depends on whether the people within it from the pulpit to the pew have been able to tame their tongue. James wants to start in the pulpit.

“Not many of you should become teachers, my fellow believers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly. ² We all stumble in many ways. Anyone who is never at fault in what they say is perfect, able to keep their whole body in check.” (James 3 v 1-2)

So why? Why should those who stand behind the ‘pulpit’ wherever that may be in a home or a church not be many? It is because ‘we all stumble in many ways’ both student and teacher. We all make mistakes. Even those who teach us how to avoid making them. We know this full well. But come the day when your Pastor is shown to have made a mistake then you realise who difficult it can be! On that day the Pastor wishes they could be anything but a person who taught what they then failed to do themselves. The truth is every person’s character is in the state of development, even those who teach others.

Those who have embarked today on a life of teaching have not reached perfection with their character nor their tongue. The price for going down this path is to be judged by God more strictly. When we stand before God we will be judged on how we encouraged the health of the Church and those we taught the Word of God to. Did we help or did we hurt?

Does your world see your faith? That is what James is challenging us with by telling stories of Abraham and Rahab.

“…Do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless? (YES!) ²¹ Was not our father Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? ²² You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. ²³ And the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,”and he was called God’s friend. ²⁴ You see that a person is considered righteous by what they do and not by faith alone. ²⁵ In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction? ²⁶ As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.” (James 2 v 20-26)

Rahab is someone who risked it all, she put her and her family’s lives on the line for the mission. This very act showed her faith. 

In 1901 a seven-year-old Indian girl named Preena escaped from a Hindu temple and sought refuge with a Christian named Amy Carmichael, a young woman who had come from Ireland to share the gospel in India. 

According to Preena’s story, her widowed mother had dedicated her as a child to be “married to the gods,” which ultimately meant a life of prostitution. The traumatised child, whose hands had been branded with hot irons as punishment for a previous escape, had heard Carmichael talking about a God who loves everyone. 

After checking into the details behind Preena’s story of alleged abused, Amy Carmichael concluded, “Investigations not only confirmed [the child’s story], but unveiled an evil greater in its extent and more grievously unholy in its character than ever imagined.”

On the spot, Amy Carmichael made up her mind. “Since these things are so,” she said, “I must do something about it!” Later she wrote, “I mean it with an intensity I know not how to express, that … such unutterable wrongs … in the name of all that is just and all that is merciful should be swept out of the land without a day’s delay.”

For Carmichael, Preena’s escape launched a 50-year career in intercepting and retrieving girls and babies from a “life” worse than death and giving them a home. (Adapted from Carolyn Custis James, Half the Church)

We need a better now. Faith is eternal and faith is now. Faith is seen but faith sees. With faith we see and hear the pain of others. People need God now. The field is white unto harvest. The needs are endless, the cries are constant and if there is anything we can do then we must, we just have to. If there is money we can give we must give. If there are hands to hold we must reach out. If there are invitations to respond to we must go. Our faith must be seen!

Faith doesn’t stop the moment we surrender our lives to Christ and accept his forgiveness and mercy and grace. That’s just the beginning. This faith should lead us to action. In a world of pain, true faith cannot remain silent or selfish.

Sometimes we get so caught up in thinking that to be ‘saved’ means to be saved for life after death, and it’s all about eternity. 

But genuine faith is now. It is faith that the world can see. It is not focused on a pious life but around works.

What is faith if it doesn’t feed the hungry? What is faith if it doesn’t provide water? What is faith if it doesn’t house the homeless? What is faith if it doesn’t clothe the poor? What is faith if it doesn’t care for the sick? What is faith if it doesn’t visit the prisoner? (Matt 25:34-36).

How is your faith seen? When we look at the different areas of our lives, our time, energies, actions, habits, words, finances, how do these areas reveal our faith, our belief?

James asks a question and the answer is yes!

“…Do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless? (YES!) ²¹ Was not our father Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? ²² You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. ²³ And the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,” and he was called God’s friend. ²⁴ You see that a person is considered righteous by what they do and not by faith alone. ²⁵ In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction? ²⁶ As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.” (James 2 v 20-26)

James has 2 stories to tell and here is the first one.

He cites Genesis 15:6 in verse 23, and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”

The context is that Abraham has been promised a son, and many thousands of descendants as numerous as the stars, even though the natural circumstances make this impossible, when Abraham is 100 and Sarah 99!!

But Abraham believes and has faith, a faith that is apart from works, and this faith was counted to him as righteousness. 

James keeps reading Genesis and moves on to ch 22 where God tests Abraham by asking him to sacrifice his son. What does he test? 

God tests his faith. Will Abraham prove his faith? 

And James says in the proving of this faith he was considered righteous or justified v24, by what he does, by his works. What does this mean? 

Is James saying two different things here?

The Apostle Paul says we’re not justified by works. Has James got this wrong?

But what Paul did say is that from the outset of our Christian lives, no amount of works or deeds will save us, we are completely saved and justified by God’s grace, because of faith in him. 

And this is actually what James is saying too, for he says that Abraham’s faith was counted to him as righteousness from the outset, when he believed. Just like when we first believe, it’s all because of our initial faith. 

But James goes on to show how we continue to hold to the faith and have assurance that we are right with God, by stating how 12 years later, after Abraham’s belief in God’s promise, Abraham maintains his right standing with God, through his works, that display his faith. 

You see his faith displayed. It is not just merely a belief in what God has said, his faith is seen through his obedience. 

And this is what Paul confirms in Galatians 5:6, what counts is not just faith alone, but ‘faith working through love.’ Faith that justifies proves itself through love. A faith that is seen.