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 2:8-11 | 8 If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, “Love your neighbor as yourself, you are doing right. 9 But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers. 10 For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it. 11 For he who said, “You shall not commit adultery, also said, “You shall not murder. If you do not commit adultery but do commit murder, you have become a lawbreaker.

‘Love your neighbor as yourself’ (Lev. 19:18).

King Jesus quoted this Old Testament command and so James calls it here ‘the royal law’. Jesus taught that this command summed up all God’s laws about how we should treat one other (Matt. 22:37–39), for of course, if you love your neighbor you will not take his life or his wife.

It may be that James’ religious readers thought they were doing well at keeping this law. After all, they probably weren’t guilty of murdering anyone or committing adultery. But James wants these Christians to see that they are deceiving themselves. They are not keeping this ‘royal law’ as they should and this is serious. Loving your neighbor isn’t just about avoiding lying, stealing, murder and adultery.

• • How else might someone be breaking this law (v. 9)?

James’ message is that when you treat rich and poor differently and favor the rich, the law declares you to be a law- breaker. So, if you show favouritism, don’t think you are doing fine in your Christian life, for you are a spiritual criminal! When you judge others, you are failing to love them as Jesus commands. His law convicts you and finds you guilty. Judge others and you will find yourself judged!

James’ readers might think this verdict is a bit harsh. After all, there are probably lots of God’s laws they haven’t broken.

• • How does James explain why the law’s verdict on favoritism is so serious (vv. 10–11)?

When we open our Bibles, we find lots of different laws. But James talks here about ‘the whole law’, as if there is actually just one big law. It seems that there is a unity to God’s law which means that breaking it anywhere breaks the whole of it.

The unity of God’s law flows from the unity of God himself. Yes, there are individual commands, but these are not like separate, unconnected items on a list. Each one is spoken by the same God and together they reflect the whole picture of his character. So there is a ‘whole law’ which is shattered like a pane of mirror glass when any individual command is broken.

James’ readers may have thought that how they treated rich and poor didn’t matter much. But James wants his readers to see that showing favouritism breaks the ‘royal’ summary law (v. 8): to love one’s neighbor. We cannot just pick some of the ways God wants us to love and dismiss others. Favouritism, adultery and murder all break God’s law of love, and being guilty of any one of these commands makes us a law- breaker. How we treat each other in seemingly small matters is not a small matter to God.

Pray: Ask God to help you see the ways you fail to love your neighbor as yourself and to see again how much you need his mercy and forgiveness.

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 1:126-27 | Those who consider themselves religious and yet do not keep a tight rein on their tongues deceive themselves, and their religion is worthless. Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

How do you think your spiritual life is going?

It seems that our own assessment may not always be correct. Once again, we may be deceiving ourselves. The ‘false teacher’ who lives in our heads and feeds us lies keeps very busy!

We may have a tendency to give ourselves a good ‘write-up’ as we reflect on our spiritual lives. We may remember our regular visits to church and feel rather pleased with ourselves.

But what really shows if our claim to be ‘religious’ is worth anything (vv. 26–27)?

James mentions three aspects of believers’ lives here. He wants his readers to inspect how they are doing in these areas. This will give them a much more accurate assessment of their spiritual health than just checking how many religious meetings they attend.

James will return to each issue later in his letter. This list is like an agenda of his concerns.

The first issue James points to is self- control, and in particular whether we can control our tongues. Words are tremendously powerful. God’s words brought physical life to the universe and spiritual life to us. Our words have power too. They can bring truth and love and peace. They can build good relationships. Or they can be false and hateful and destructive. James will have a lot more to say about taming the tongue (3:1–12), but his big point is clear: don’t think your spiritual life is going well if your words are out of control.

The second issue James highlights is how we treat those who are most vulnerable and needy. Orphans and widows in James’ society often had no one to provide for them. This again is a very practical test of the reality of our faith, for caring for the needy is demanding; it is likely to demand our money, our time and our effort.

The third issue is holiness. The sinful attitudes of those around us can rub off on us. James wants his readers ‘to keep’ themselves ‘from being polluted by the world’ (v. 27). This too is an issue of self-control; it won’t ‘just happen’.

How does James describe God (v. 27)?

If we believe in Jesus, we are already in God’s family, for God is our Father. But his grace should not make us complacent. God wants us to grow like him. He cares a great deal if there is a credibility gap between our claim to be his children and our actual behavior.

Pray: Ask God to help you see where there are gaps between your beliefs and your behavior.

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 1:16-18 | Don’t be deceived, my dear brothers and sisters. Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created.

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: | Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him.

Are you a blessed person? Is God’s favor resting on you?

You may look at your current circum- stances and not feel very blessed at all.

James has begun his letter by speaking to his Christian friends about testing times. He expects them to face trials of many kinds. Being a Christian is no guarantee of an easy life, quite the reverse actually. You may look at your experience of life now and not be able to see much evidence that God’s favour is resting on you.

• But what is the right way to spot a blessed person, according to James (v. 12)?

You can’t tell who is blessed by looking at how easy or hard a person’s life seems to be now. The thing to look for is their perseverance. Has this person kept on trusting and loving Christ through every trial that has come their way? Have they ‘stood the test’, or have they given up on their faith? James is very clear here: ‘Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial’. That is how you tell if someone has God’s blessing. Look for the person who is keeping on keeping on!

• Why is this person blessed (v. 12)?

This person is blessed because of what is awaiting them in the future. James wants to lift the gaze of his brothers and sisters from the trials of today to what is coming. Testing times won’t last forever. In the end, the person who stands the test and perseveres in loving the Lord Jesus will receive ‘the crown of life’. That is what he has promised us.

Being a Christian now is an experience of both loving and trusting. We love the Lord Jesus and we trust his promises. In the gospel, the Lord promises to give eternal life to those who love him, and we can be certain that he will do what he has said. You may be in humble or difficult circumstances now, but you have a glorious future coming.

No wonder James told his friends, ‘Consider it pure joy … whenever you face trials of many kinds’ (1:2). It is these tests of faith that produce perseverance in us. This testing develops our patience and steadfastness so that we do keep going.

Persevering in trusting and loving Jesus is really important. For it is the one who perseveres to the end who is blessed, and no one else.

Pray: Thank God for his promise to give the crown of life to those who persevere in loving and trusting him. Ask him to help you do that, whatever happens.

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.