Sermon 1st November 2015

Today, our Vicar, Cameron Barker, continues our study of the book of James. The reading is from James 4: verses 1-10.

Well here’s what I would say is a very James-like practical challenge to get things going today: who can quote Newton’s Third Law of Motion?!  … It is: “For every action, there is an equal and opposite re-action”. And I’ll bet that lots more people recognise those words than remember the name of the theory: yes? (I certainly had to use the internet to find out the name of it myself.)

There is another important, James-like, point in that fact as well, by the way: we do usually know how things work; even if we can’t necessarily name the theory that’s given to how they work. We’ll get to that, and why it matters, shortly; but for now I’d like to offer you what I’m going to call ‘James-theory’. Now we might even say that this is a Newton-like Law. But that may not be too helpful, because the Christian faith is meant not to be about laws. Nor would it be good to give this a number; because the earlier chapters of James’ letter contain much other teaching that could also be expressed in similar statements. And I’m aware too that this one, my ‘James-theory’, may even be a bit general-sounding. There are numerous places where it might have come from, but surely today’s verses are the best expression of it in the Bible.

So, ‘James-theory’ states that: “For every action there is a spiritual consequence: positively; or negatively”. And we all have to live in the light of that reality – whether we can name that theory, or not; and whether we’d call ourselves people of faith, or not. You see, Trevor hit the nail right on the head in his excellent sermon on the previous chapter of James. As he said, “There are two kinds of wisdom and there are two ways of going through life. There is a life that is based on the wisdom that comes from heaven – God’s wisdom. And there is wisdom that is ‘earthly’ – that has nothing to do with God’s wisdom. In chapter 3 James sets out what that means for the way we use our tongues – how we use words”. In today’s instalment, in the first half of chapter 4, James is expanding on the consequences of which of those two wisdoms we choose to live by.

Trevor ended his sermon with a quote from Tom Wright. Of just the last 4 verses of this passage that fine Bible scholar (yes, I do mean Tom Wright!) has said that a 6-month teaching programme is what it would take to unpack them. That’s why I’ve come up with James-theory, then. My hope is that this summary will stick (in at least few minds) beyond today; and help us see what’s going on around us all the time: that for every action there really is a spiritual consequence: positively; or negatively. More than that, I hope that we’ll see how this truth applies to our own actions. So you may prefer to stick with the original wording of the choice that James lays so starkly before us in these verses: are we choosing friendship with GOD; or friendship with THE WORLD?

As James makes very clear in today’s reading, those two are mutually exclusive; it’s an either/or, not a both/and: it’s a choice between friendship with God; or with the world. However much we may want to have our cake and eat it (as it were!), James-theory holds that it’s impossible. “You adulterous (which is the literal translation of the ‘unfaithful’ in the GNB) people” is how James addresses his readers who were trying to adopt a convenient both/and approach to life. Actions do have spiritual consequences, remember; and those are either positive or negative. We can see that very quickly too, if we examine the evidence that’s on offer all around. It’s particularly blatantly clear at the start of this chapter, where James isn’t holding back at all. And, while this really isn’t the sort of behaviour that we would expect to see going on in a church of all places, it is what can happen all too easily if we ever lose sight of James-theory.

I’m reminded here of another theory: the one of boiling live frogs! I stress that it is only a theory, because I’m not aware that anyone has ever tried this, and I’m certainly not encouraging you to either! The theory, though, is that if frogs are put in cold water and the temperature is increased only slowly then they don’t jump out while they still can! So, ask any Christian if they think it’s OK to quarrel, and you’ll get an answer of probably not. If you ask them about actual fighting, violence included, that wouldn’t be acceptable; while wanting to kill will definitely be out! Ask them about praying, and that should be high on their list of good Christian things to do. Check out their view on us asking for things in prayer, and you might get an answer of maybe/depending. If you make it clear that those things are for only the person’s own pleasure, then that should be different matter. But we can perhaps now see how these two ending places that James described might be arrived at by taking a series of small wrong steps down each road. And that is what friendship with the world can result in; if we don’t hold onto James-theory, and remember that every action does have a spiritual consequence.

Somebody has very helpfully defined ‘the world’ as “Society as it organises itself apart from God”. And it doesn’t take too much experience of the world as it’s defined there to realise that there are only two basic realities when there is no God to be accountable to. Firstly, I am the centre of the universe; and, secondly, I am going to do and get what I want at any cost; including by the threat and the use of violence. Watch, or read, anything post-apocalyptic, and see where that worldly road leads when push comes to shove: the gangs with weapons get or take whatever they want; until a bigger, better-armed gang does the same to them. This all happens much more subtly in civilised societies of course; but ultimately this is where world-friendship choices can and do lead.

How much better, then, to choose actions that have positive spiritual consequences instead; to “draw near to God” in the phrase James uses several times here? Today’s verse 5 is notoriously hard to make sense of; but the best explanation I came across is that God intensely wants us to make that choice. He literally longs for us to choose His friendship – and is just waiting to respond to us doing so exclusively. The practical daily personal detail of that is what we each then have to work out for ourselves. It may well take 6 months, or more, of learning better, truly Godly habits: for our words; our hands; our hearts; our minds; our eyes; etc! But it’s in this process that James-theory might most helpfully be applied, I think.

For every action there’s a spiritual consequence positively or negatively; and therefore our choices and our actions each matter and make a real difference in ways that we don’t even begin to realise. The test that we need to apply to ourselves – over and over and over again, very likely – is whether we are living for self; or for God. Is what we want for our own pleasure; or for God’s glory? In his book Run with the horses, which is subtitled The quest for life at its best, Eugene Peterson (author of The Message version) wrote this. “Giving is what we do best. It is the air into which we were born. It is the action that was designed into us before our birth … Some of us try desperately to hold onto ourselves, to live for ourselves ... We don’t think we can live generously because we have never tried. But the sooner we start the better, for we are going to have to give up our lives finally, and the longer we wait the less time we have for the soaring and swooping life of grace”.

“The soaring and swooping life of grace” isn’t just a wonderful phrase but also a wonderful thought that very much chimes with what James wrote here. That grace is what James says God offers to the humble i.e. to those who recognise their need of God’s help to live in this counter-worldly way. And this is James-theory at work yet again, look: the spiritual consequence of the action of being humble is being given God’s grace and help; the spiritual consequence of the action of being proud, on the other hand, is being opposed by God, James says. Now part of our necessary learning here may well be working out when we are being opposed by God and when we are being tempted by the devil! There is major difference between the two, obviously; and again it’s James-theory that can be most helpfully applied here as well. The key question to ask is what the spiritual consequence is of the choice that we are being invited to make. If it’s positive, for God’s glory, then that is the right choice to make. If it’s all about me, what I want, or think I should have, then that’s negative, and is to be resisted. And James-theory applies at that point as well: “Resist the devil and he will flee from you’, is what James wrote in verse 7.

In fact these final 4 verses of today’s passage are packed with practical illustration of James-theory at work. As I said at the beginning, Tom Wright thinks that these verses could and should occupy our thinking and spiritual working for a good long while. I am therefore commending them in the highest possible way; especially if you’ve become aware that you do have issues around making an exclusive choice between friendship with God and friendship with the world. Hopefully this message of James-theory is getting through to us: that for every action there is a spiritual consequence, positively or negatively. But we can all be encouraged by what that looks in these closing verses: “Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” … “Come near to God, and he will come near to you” … “Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up”.

I’m sure that the point has been made that this is serious, life-impacting teaching. Lest there be any doubt, though, I can’t end without at least quoting James’ few remaining words here that I’ve not touched on at all: “Wash your hands, you sinners and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Grieve mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom.” These are no small matters that we’ve been thinking about today; and they are clearly to be treated with all due seriousness. There is a fundamental choice to be made here: between friendship with God; and friendship with the world: between living for Him; or living for self. For every action there is a spiritual consequence: positively or negatively; and each one of us is responsible before God for our own decisions and our own choices. So my prayer is that James-theory won’t stick just in our minds, but also in all our hearts; and become the basis for much life-changing, practical, spiritual work for many months to come. And so now let’s pray that it will do, then …