Devotional Series: James: More Grace

James 2:14-17 | What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.

Mind the gap!

God does not change like shifting shadows. There is a reliability and a consistency and a unity about everything he says and does. But the life of a double- minded Christian is very different. It is full of gaps and inconsistencies.

We may listen to God’s word but never put it into practice. We may consider ourselves religious, but our lives may tell a different story. Jesus our Lord gives grace and mercy to the poor, but we may fail to do the same.

James’ readers are failing in exactly these ways and James wants them to see the danger they are in. Gaps matter, and in today’s verses James shines his spotlight on yet another one.

• • What important question does James raise (v. 14)?

The gap James highlights here is between what we say and what we do. Is it possible to claim to believe in Jesus but not be saved? Is there such a thing as fake or counterfeit ‘faith’ which will turn out to be useless?

• • Where is the gap in the story that James uses to illustrate his answer (vv. 15–16)?

James still seems to be thinking about how his readers treat poor Christians in their fellowship. He imagines a very shocking incident to demonstrate his point.

He paints a picture of a Christian brother or sister who is destitute. They have no clothes and nothing to eat. It is no good wishing this poor believer warmth and food if you give them neither. Such good wishes are hollow and fake. If you really wished your brother or sister well, you wouldn’t leave them cold and hungry.

The way you tell that such good wishes are genuine is that they turn into action. The evidence that you mean what you say is that you actually do it. Words don’t fill hungry stomachs; you need to give your brother or sister practical help, otherwise your claim to care is useless.

Claims to have faith are just as useless if there is no evidence in your actions that you believe what you say. James says such ‘faith’ is dead (v. 17). In other words, James’ answer to the question he raised in verse 14 is ‘no’.

Claims to believe in the Lord Jesus that don’t lead to obedient action are fake claims. They will do us no good at all. Such ‘faith’ will not save us.

Pray

Ask God to help you see where there are similar gaps in your Christian life and ask for his forgiveness and power to change.

Devotional from YouVersion Bible App. Contact Pastor Rod Lindemann at RodL@TimothyLutheran.com on how to use the Bible App for additional readings and topics.

Devotional Series: James: More Grace

James 2:12-13 | Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom, because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment.

How  should the gospel change the way you relate to people?

James wants to wake his readers up. He wants them to see how serious it is to treat the poor in their congregation differently from the rich. This behaviour doesn’t fit with how believers in the glorious Lord Jesus Christ should behave. It is not how God behaves towards the poor and it breaks God’s law which commands us to love our neighbors as ourselves.

We have no right to behave like judges over people, honoring some and dishonoring others.

• • How should we behave instead (v. 12)?

Rather than behaving like judges, we are to live as people who will be judged ourselves. Our lives are going to be compared with God’s law – that reflection of his perfect character – to see how well they measure up.

Jesus once said, ‘Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful’ (Luke 6:36). Christians have received mercy from God in the gospel. Now we are to behave like our heavenly Father and treat others with mercy too.

• • What will happen to those who don’t treat others with mercy (v. 13)?

Measured against God’s law of love, all of us will be found to be law-breakers. How much we need judgment with mercy! But we should not expect God to be merciful to us if we have withheld mercy from those around us. For Jesus went on to say, ‘… with the measure you use, it will be measured to you’ (Luke 6:38). This is a serious warning.

James knows that his readers have not been honoring the poor or treating them with grace. They have not showered the poor with blessings they do not deserve and could never repay – quite the opposite in fact: they have not been merciful to them at all.

James’ point is that if you have really received God’s mercy, your behavior will change. You will want to keep God’s law and become like him. Keeping his law still matters and keeping his law is also good for us. This law ‘gives freedom’, for loving our neighbor turns us outwards from the slavery of our self-centredness. The gospel of grace frees us to love like God loves.

How we live matters. Believers are to live as those whose lives are to be measured against God’s perfect law. Of course, if that was the end of the story, we would always be condemned. But praise God that judgment will not be the last word for true believers, for mercy ‘triumphs’ over judgment (v. 13). And that should be the pattern in our relationships with one another too.

Pray

Ask God to help you speak and act today with mercy towards others, especially those who cannot repay you in any way.

Devotional from YouVersion Bible App. Contact Pastor Rod Lindemann at RodL@TimothyLutheran.com on how to use the Bible App for additional readings and topics.

Devotional Series: James: More Grace

James 2:5-7 | 5 Listen, my dear brothers and sisters: Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him? 6 But you have dishonored the poor. Is it not the rich who are exploiting you? Are they not the ones who are dragging you into court? 7 Are they not the ones who are blaspheming the noble name of him to whom you belong?

Is treating rich and poor differently really such a big deal?

James clearly thinks that it is. Showing favoritism just doesn’t fit with being in God’s family, for God does not give rich people preferential treatment. He gives his grace freely to anyone who believes in Jesus.

• • What is the difference between how God relates to the poor and how James’ readers do (vv. 5–6a)?

God is not impressed by human wealth. He doesn’t check people’s bank balances before deciding who to welcome into his family. James wants his dear brothers and sisters to look around their church and see that this is true. There are believers in their fellowship who don’t have much money. Those Christians may not have been chosen for jobs with big salaries, but God has chosen them to be ‘rich in faith’ (v. 5). This is the kind of wealth that really matters, for those who love God will inherit his kingdom. That is God’s promise and he is trustworthy. Believers may be poor now, but they have vast wealth coming their way in the age to come. God will treat them very well indeed.

James’ readers on the other hand have ‘dishonored the poor’. What a contrast! They are behaving just like the unbelieving world and not at all like their Father in heaven.

• • What does James say about how the rich are relating to Christ and his people (vv. 6b–7)?

These believers have been looking down on the poor for not having much money and they have totally missed the real issue. What matters is not your relationship with your bank but your relationship with God. Again, James wants his readers to look around. They have been honoring the wrong people. The rich people they honor are blaspheming Christ’s name and persecuting Christ’s people. It is perfectly obvious that these people are God’s enemies. There is nothing honorable to say about them!

James is clearly writing to a specific situation. Not all rich people drag Christians into court and not all poor people are ‘rich in faith’. But there are still very important lessons here. We need to flip on its head the way the world judges people.

What matters is whether people love Jesus or oppose him. Many poor people love Jesus; God chooses them and honors them by giving them his kingdom. Will we honor them in the way our Father does ?

Pray: Ask God to help you honor those the world despises.

Devotional from YouVersion Bible App. Contact Pastor Rod Lindemann at RodL@TimothyLutheran.com on how to use the Bible App for additional readings and topics.

Devotional Series: James: More Grace

James 1:19-21 | My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires. Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you.

How do you think about God?

James clearly thinks his readers are in danger of being deceived (v. 16). They need to wise up about their sin and about God too. The source of our sin is never God, so we can’t shift any blame to him. The consequence of leaving sin unchecked will be spiritual death. We must not let sin flourish and become ‘full-grown’ (1:15). We must persevere in killing it off.

Now James will remind his readers of what God’s gifts are really like. This will underline how wrong it is to think that God would ever ‘give’ someone a temptation!

• What do we learn here about God and his gifts (v. 17)?

God is so different from us. In our double-mindedness we can often be like ‘a wave … blown and tossed by the wind’ (1:6). Our responses can be so unreliable.

But God is always the same. He ‘does not change like shifting shadows’. He always gives good gifts and always has done. He gave the whole universe life, ‘fathering’ the ‘heavenly lights’. He has always been on the side of light, not of darkness and deception.

• What special good gift has God given to believers? How and why did he give it (v. 18)?

What a contrast to those ugly ‘births’ of sin and death, products of our own evil desires (1:15)! God has chosen to give believers a very different sort of birth.

God has brought us to life spiritually and he has done it ‘through the word of truth’. As we heard and responded to the gospel message about Jesus, our new lives began. God’s word is very powerful. God spoke and the universe was born. His word has brought us to spiritual birth too.

God has desires in his heart but, unlike ours, his desires and plans are always good. His gift of new birth is a gift with a purpose. He wants believers to be ‘a kind of firstfruits of all he created’. This is an image from Old Testament days. The firstfruits of any farm crop were set apart to belong to God in a special way.

That is God’s desire for us. Out of all that he has created, God wants us to be specially his own.

Picking the ‘firstfruits’ was also a sign that the harvest was beginning. Receiving the seed of God’s word is to be only the beginning too. God is looking for a great harvest of righteousness in us!

Pray: Thank God for all the good gifts he has given you, especially the gift of spiritual birth.

Devotional from YouVersion Bible App. Contact Pastor Rod Lindemann at RodL@TimothyLutheran.com on how to use the Bible App for additional readings and topics.

Devotional Series: James: More Grace

James 1:13-14 | When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed.

Every believer is tempted to sin, especially in trying times. You will know that first-hand. Some sinful thought or word or action can seem very attractive, even though you know it is wrong.

• Why are we tempted? What is the wrong answer to this question and why (v. 13)?

God never pulled anyone in the direction of doing wrong. He is not responsible in any way for drawing us towards sin.

But perhaps James’ readers were looking for excuses for their sinful behavior. Maybe they were saying, ‘God tempted me to do wrong. God has put me in this difficult trial so it’s no wonder I am behaving like this! That makes God partly responsible for my sin, doesn’t it?!’

When we sin, we like to point the finger away from ourselves. We look for someone or something to blame. But James points the finger firmly in the opposite direction.

• What is the right answer to why we are tempted (v. 14)?

James points to our hearts. We feel tempted to sin when we are pulled towards it by our own desires. We sin because doing or saying or thinking something wrong is attractive to us in some way. We want to do it.

This is very searching.

Imagine a table spread with all kinds of foods – chocolate, beetroot, crisps, liver, ice cream, strawberries, squid – every kind of food you can picture. Which foods would you find most ‘tempting’? Which foods could you pass by pretty easily or maybe not find tempting at all? It all depends on what you like. The more you like it, the more tempting it will be for you. What we find most tempting will be different for each of us, but whatever it is, it reveals our desires. It uncovers what we want.

It is just like that with sin. We sin because we want to. Testing situations are the occasion not the cause of our sin; the cause is our own sinful desires. That is exactly why ‘God cannot be tempted by evil’ (v. 13) for God has no evil desires in his heart at all. We, however, have lots and that is why we find all sorts of sins attractive. We desire what we think sinful behavior will bring us; that may be pleasure or wealth or status or perhaps just a sense of superiority over others.

As with favorite foods, which sins seem most tempting will be different for different people. Someone who hates the taste of alcohol may not find drunkenness much of a temptation. That person though may find slanderous gossip very attractive. Examine the sins you find most tempting.  It will show you a lot about your heart.

Pray: Ask God to help you examine the desires of your own heart and to turn from evil ones.

Devotional from YouVersion Bible App. Contact Pastor Rod Lindemann at RodL@TimothyLutheran.com on how to use the Bible App for additional readings and topics.