2018-09-23 – Rev. Dr. Ryan Sato
THE JAMES-IAN CALL TO CONVERSION
James 3:13-4:10
Last Sunday we were hearing the first ½ of James chapter 3 and we we’re seeking to “improve air quality” here at FBC and beyond…
We were seeking to be a blessing…in a world so full of curses…
And today another sermonic cycle begins in James 3:13…one commentator proposes that there are 12 sermons in the letter of James and that the writer or scribe for these James-ian (brother of Jesus) sermons has simply gathered a greatest hits package of James top 12 ( today, we find ourselves in the latter sermons).
And last week I noted that James has a pattern for these sermons… poking, prodding, and maybe even jabbing and softly pummeling us… ooch, ouch, hey hey hey!
And then lovingly, but firmly urging his hearers to follow and model the way of his bro’ (Jesus) in the world.
Follow me…as I follow my brother!
In this sermon, James starts with a question… “Who is wise and understanding in the congregation today?”
It’s a rhetorical question, and James then begins to frame a world of 2 dimensions…with 2 trajectories…one that’s influenced and enlivened by the “wisdom from below” (it’s materially obsessed, unspiritual, demonic forces) or the other that’s empowered by the “wisdom from above” (it’s from and of God…it pays attention to the goodness of life that’s implanted in us, it’s a way that’s received in meekness).
James goes on to talk about the wise way from above that’s at odds with the wise way from below:
Show by your good life that your works are done with gentleness born of wisdom.
But if you have bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not be boastful and false to the truth. Such wisdom does not come down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, devilish. For where there is envy and selfish ambition, there will also be disorder and wickedness of every kind.
–But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without a trace of partiality or hypocrisy. And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace for those who make peace.
James asks 2 more rhetorical questions…perhaps he’s heard of the disunity and factions in some of these early churches…
Q: You know where conflicts and disputes come from don’t you?
Q: Do they not come from the war that wages within you?
And then he gets punchy again…James the pugilist…softening up the hearers with pokes, jabs and prods…
You desire and you do not have.
You envy and are jealous and are not able to obtain.
You fight and do battle.
Ouch.
Isn’t it intriguing and unsettling that 2000 years later we’re still beating each other up and ourselves up over the same things.
We desire. We kill. We are jealous. We do battle. We wage war.
**Pause and reflect on how that way of life, or even being a part of the human race that is fuelled by this “wisdom from below” has influenced us…formed us…animated us in this past week.
NOTE: That’s why we confess! Together…and hear words of assurance…together.
Re-read a portion of the confession prayer:
We confess we don’t want to hear that cry (of wisdom),
deciding to rely on familiar habits,
comfortable assumptions, and quick conclusions.
And then James puts in all caps:
ADULTERERS!
And these 1st Century Christ-followers wouldn’t have heard that as marital adulterers…but as Yahweh’s-bride adulterers. Especially the Jewish Christians who would have heard echoes of YHWH… rebuking his people for choosing infidelity instead of faithfulness…waywardness instead of companionship and covenant.
God…as he has from the beginning of time, yearns to be with us. Yearns to walk with us. Desires to prepare the way of deep, lasting life and we like stubborn, foolish sheep…have all gone astray.
BUT…. v. 6 brings forth the dramatic turning point in James’ sermon…
BUT… God gives all the more grace.
Ahhhhhhh…phew. GOD GIVES ALL THE MORE GRACE.
God opposes the proud,
GOD gives grace to the humble.
–And then…it’s altar-call time…now of course, James was 1950 years ahead of his time…but if there was a sawdust trail to walk (explain sawdust trail) then this is the point where James would pause and give an invitation.
Come…be friends with God again…God will give you grace.
Submit yourselves to God.
Resist the demonic forces of the world and through the power of Christ in you, the forces will flee.
Cleanse your hands, purify your hearts, stop being double-minded and double-tongued (remember James 3:10).
Lament. Mourn. Weep.
Let your laughter turn into mourning (the great reversal!).
Humble yourselves…and the Lord will exalt you.
This is wisdom from above.
–And this morning, we’re not going to have an altar call…
but, might we participate in a wisdom call?
We won’t walk the aisle…
But let us turn our hearts (our palms?) upward.
Imagine the wisdom from heaven that pours down upon us – in this moment – in this place.
And returning to vv. 17-18 in today’s sermon text…
“The wisdom that comes from heaven is first pure, then peaceable,
gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without a trace of partiality or hypocrisy.
And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace for those who make peace.”
Walter Brueggemann, the OT Scholar and writer, talks of Jesus and his reputation to companion with the “scum of the earth”…those who walk the “lowly way”… He notes:
The morality Jesus preaches is reckless, extravagant, improvident, over-the-top, a scandal to actuaries and a stumbling block to real estate agents: forgive your enemies, give away your cloak as well as your coat, turn the other cheek, love those who insult you, walk the extra mile, take no thought for tomorrow.”
This is the way that Jesus’ followers are to follow James’ brother…in concrete, bodily ways.
Might we do the same?
Let’s return to James’ opening question:
“Who is wise and understanding among us?”
–James notes that we will probably be surprised at who might be the wisest people in the room…those who are peaceable – gentle – willing to yield – full of mercy…
Those who are lowly…those who submit…lament…mourn and weep.
WHO ARE THE VOICES OF WISDOM IN OUR LIVES?
WOULD YOU CALL THESE VOICES/PEOPLE…
Lowly? Willing to yield? Humble?
An essential part of our “wisdom call” in these days is to hear from and be influenced by the “lowly ones”…
Who are these lowly voices?
–As I surveyed the landscape of my life this past week, the lowly voices were:
>> When I preached my first sermon there was one who said: “What needs to be said, will be said.”
>> My Mother….she was not a superstar…. A humble woman…of humble means… who’s great impression upon my life was teaching me the prayer of St. Francis…
“Make me an instrument of your peace…
It is in giving that we receive….It is in pardoning that we are pardoned…
it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
>> With the TRC…it’s my and our aboriginal neighbours…rather than just try to get them out of our doorways and on their way…what does it mean to hear from them, to listen to their story…to sit with them and simply let them lead the conversation rather than me.
Holy God, you move and dwell among us today…in this moment, in this place, in this season for us as a local church…
You intend mercy, justice and generosity for our neighbourhood, our city, and our world…
Break the grip of the “wisdom from below” that seeks to seduce & consume us & harden our hearts…
And in your freedom and with your spirit breathing life into us…may we pay attention to the voices and the people who speak to us with the “wisdom from above.”