The Steadfast life

Looking up at the corner of a stone building with blue sky above

Welcome to our new series on the book of James! I am excited to walk you all through this incredible book over the next twelve weeks, God willing.

Introduction

For many Christians, this is a favorite book, and it isn't hard to see why. It is short, to the point, and loaded with practical applications to life as it is really lived. For other Christians, this is a complicated book, with some fearing that perhaps James goes a little overboard on the commands. And it isn't hard to see why they would think that. The book only has 108 verses, yet there are 50 commands in this book! That means nearly every other verses has some sort of thing for you to do. Isn't the Christian life one of grace and freedom from the law? Is James just a stickler for rules, or is something else going on here?

Authoritative Guidance

These and many, many other questions are some of the things that we are going to go over in the next several weeks that we have together through this. There are going to be a number of themes that will come up again and again, but through this whole letter, and through the Bible as a whole really, we are given something that is noticeably absent in our day and age. There is something that previous generations seemed to have that our own age seems to lack. I think a precious thing that James gives to us more noticeably is authoritative guidance.

We are desperate for authoritative guidance. So desperate that we will turn to anyone who can even just pretend to be authoritative. You all have likely heard of several influencer types online that represent multiple examples of both sides of gender and political aisles all vying to define what the right and proper expression of those identities even is. That doesn't take in even the various Christian versions of all these things such that virtually everyone has an authoritative hero to guide them. Except when they fail. Which is often if we are honest.

So when we see something like the book of James coming over the horizon, there should be a great sense of comfort that comes with this. Finally, direction. In an age of "Actually, according to....", it is essential to have a "Thus saith the Lord." It is critical to have an ethic.

Essential Ethics

Now, not every ethical issue is or can be dealt with in a single book this size. However, the issues that James does go over are foundational starting points in the Christian life. The issues that he covers says a lot about the rest of your life. I see three main aspects of the Christian life that he covers, Suffering, Service, and Speech. He covers other things as well, but I see these come up with great specificity.

Suffering

The first thing he talks about is suffering, the thing we spend . You can tell a lot about a person by the way they suffer. Do they lash out in complaining and catastrophic speech, or do they quietly endure knowing that God is working? Suffering can occupy a surprisingly large part of our lives, and the way we react to it shows our perspective on life and God. Yet of all the millions of podcasts and tv shows there are out there, who is talking about how to have a proper perspective on suffering, how to do it well, and why it is happening in the first place? James is.

Service

Next, James talks about service. I'm using this word to talk about two different objects of service: our fellow humans and God.

When it comes to human beings, we like to be selective in our service. Who do you prefer to serve? Do you tend to cater to the rich and people who can serve you back, or do you notice the widow, the orphan, and the general poor? James here has a lot to tell us about partiality, how it manifests, and who often gets ignored. If there ever was a topic that we as a country could use authoritative guidance on, it is a conversation about partiality. It has been a conversation so soaked in confusion, contradiction, and politics that many of us have simply tuned it out. James won't let us.

When it comes to God, we consider our service to be sufficiently satisfied by speech. As long as we say the right things, believe the right things, then we are ok, right? James won't allow us to think this. He heavily leans on putting our money where our mouth is. To not just talk the talk but walk the walk. To not just be a hearer but a doer as well. As we will see, this provides the conclusive proof to others of one's own salvation, and we often needlessly complicate that. We will deal much more fully what James says about being justified by works, but that is what it boils down to. We do not earn our salvation. But that doesn't mean that our lives shouldn't be different. That doesn't mean that there are not real expectations on our behavior. And that doesn't mean that there aren't real blessings for follow the commands of Scripture. That what James will teach us.

Speech

Finally, another topic that James spends a great deal of time on is speech. One of the surest ways to know what is in someone's heart is by what they really say and how they say it. The ability to control your tongue says so much about what else you are able to control. He deals with many kinds of speech, such as angry speech, boastful and presumptuous speech, hypocritical speech, and even teaching speech. James has something to say about it all. We in the south have mastered the art of speaking. That sword is so sharp in our hands we can slice someone so cleanly even they might not know it, but everyone else in the know can see the blood. Subtle speech can still be sinful speech, and we need authoritative guidance even on something we know all too well.

Of course there are other themes present such as wisdom, worldliness, prayer, and the proper disposing of one's riches. All topics that we could all use some authoritative guidance on.

Steadfast Life

Imagine if we internalize all that James has to say in this letter? Imagine knowing how to endure hardship, how to serve our God and fellow man, and what to say and what not to say? What sort of life would that produce? My New Testament professor called it "The Undivided Life," but I think I am going to call it the Steadfast Life. Our age is defined by radical change and revolution. Just over a decade ago we redefined marriage. A few years after that we chose to undefine gender. In the latest four years we are struggling with what it means to be human. What is a human being when it seems that machines, built on dust and run on electrical impulse much the same as we, can think? Everything seems up for grabs, and the spoils seem to go to whoever can figure out which way the wind is blowing first.

Here, in the Bible generally, and in James specifically, we are told, step by step, what is truly important. Serve your people impartially. Demonstrate your faith tangibly. Choose your words carefully. Embrace wisdom. Run from worldliness.

That is the message of James, and when it is interpreted, as every book of the Bible should be, in light of all the rest of the scriptures, we find a comprehensive guide on how to live, and what motivates that steadfast life, mainly, the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ. We have been freed from performance based religions to embrace a joyful life of human flourishing as defined and designed by God.

Remember what I said about worship. If we don’t keep in mind that our life is a reaction to what God has done for us, these commands in the book of James will seem like burdens. When we have to earn our way to heaven, all of our good works, become tainted with self interest. If we serve our neighbor in order to get to heaven, then ultimately serving our neighbor is an expression of self preservation. We’re just doing it to go to heaven. It cheapens the good work, and it can only be sustained for so long. However, the steadfast life has produced by the Holy Spirit, can flower into a sustainable expression of worship that does good for others for the sake of others.