Bible 204 – James, Part 1

James1:17-27

 

INTRODUCTION TO SERIES

We finished Bible 203 last week with a final exam > you did very well

And left us all with a question to spend rest of our lives answering?

            How will you/I pay attention to God?

Today is first “class” of new “semester”

Subject this series is Letter to James > James will help us answer our question

            One way to pay attention to God is to mature in our faith

     Short letter > only five equally short chapters > mini-mester” >only 5 weeks

      sandwiched in between Letter to Hebrews and 1 Peter

                not well-worn in most Bibles > at least, not most Protestant Bibles

            Martin Luther thought James not worth paper it was written on > “Epistle of Straw”

 

INTRODUCTION TO JAMES

Author

Who was this “James” > many men named James were leaders in early church

Long been thought that James, brother of Jesus wrote this letter

            If that is true > probably written in early 60s

Modern scholarship has challenged that notion > more likely end of 2^nd century

In long run, doesn’t really matter

            This letter contains incredibly important words that speak to each generation

Most importantly > filled with wisdom

1.      James addresses intentional community (i.e. “church”) rather than individuals

2.      So what is good for community is lifted above individualism

3.      Sees everyone as equals rather than developing “pecking order”

So a good bit of what James has to say to us will go counter to the American Dream

            We idolize “rugged individuals” who “pull themselves up by their bootstraps”

            For James there are no individuals > everything and everybody work together for whole

            James calls for solidarity, mercy, compassion > all these are part of mature faith

Peterson’s introduction

Eugene Peterson has a magnificent introduction to the Letter of James

      “When Christians gather in churches, everything that can go wrong does, sooner or later

            Outsiders conclude there is nothing to this religion business except business

                        And dishonest business, at that.

            Insiders see it differently.

                        Just as a hospital collects the sick under one roof, churches collect sinners

                        Many people outside hospitals are every bit as sick as those inside

                                    But their illnesses are either undiagnosed or disguised

                                    Same way with sinners outside the church

      So Christian churches are not, as a rule, model communities of good behavior.

      They are places where human misbehavior is brought out in the open, faces, dealt with

      The letter of James shows one of the church’s early pastors confronting and dealing with”

According to church tradition, James carried the nickname “Old Camel Knees”

      Thick calluses built up on his knees from many years of determined prayer

So we can say with certainty that this letter comes from one who cares deeply

      Cares about God and those who come to know God through a Christian

            For if Christians are not good advertisement > Christianity suffers

      Cares about those to whom he is writing

      Cares about the quality of faith that is passed on

BEFORE WE READ > TALK ABOUT FAITH DEVELOPMENT

So now we know a bit about the book as a whole > written to help Christians grow in faith

But before I begin to read it > want us to recall something about faith development

John Westerhoff wrote book called Will Our Children Have Faith

      In it > speaks of faith as if it were a tree

            First ring of faith is experiencing > being loved by important people in our lives

                        Develop our first ring of faith as infants > never outgrow our need for love

          Second ring is affiliating > spending time with those who are like us

                        Develop this ring through family and first friends > always need them

            Third ring is searching > learning other points of view > questioning what we learned

                        Begin growing this ring as youth and young adults > always need to ask questions

                        We need to know of what we were taught as children is worth believing > is true

            Fourth ring is owning > making a decision about what we believe

                        Mature faith develops only when these others are present

                        We believe what we believe, not because somebody told us to believe it

                        But because we experienced it, heard it, questioned it, finally knew it

      All four “rings” are essential to our faith > strong faith must have all four elements

            Just like a tree that begins to rot from the center and finally dies

            If we do not have love and friends and questions

                        we begin to “rot” from the center

                        and finally our faith is dead > we cannot “produce good fruit”

Read James 1

 

MARINERS GOOD EXAMPLE OF MATURE FAITH IN ACTION

Since this is “Mariner’s Sunday” it seems like a good opportunity to find similarities

How do the Mariner’s show their mature faith by following instructions in James’ 1^st chapter?

      In spite of having a nautical theme > they are not “adrift at sea”

            They make decisions deliberately and decisively > decisions to help others

            They listen > “lead with their ears, follow up with their tongue, let anger straggle along”

            They are a pretty low-key bunch > don’t toot their own horn a lot

            But much of what happens around here can be traced to the Mariners

I thank God for the Mariners > and I also thank God for James’ words of wisdom to us

      To help us mature in faith!