Finger Thinking through James 008 b

2Pe 1:3-4
(3)  His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence,
(4)  by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.

Wait, I thought we were doing James?????????

Well we are but we need to understand something at this point.

As Peter writes, we DO have everything we need for life and godliness -- PERIOD.

WE HAVE EVERYTHING WE NEED.

I know, it doesn't always feel that way BUT if we are operating (living) Kingdom citizenship our true needs are often radically different than we think.  If living for Him is the first priority we can not be lacking anything.  Peter makes that clear.

As a well known author and speaker likes to say, we either live vertically (for and in Him), horizontally (for and of the world) or an insane combination of both.  Usually it's the latter - making us nutz.

But if God's work is indeed true and Peter was writing by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit we have to do whatever we must to live out that truth.  Trials are God's way of showing us we've made a wrong choice somewhere.  Trials are God's means of bringing us back to living vertically (for and in Him).  Trials are refining  - God's means of removing the dross that weakens us and hides His beauty in us.

A good samurai sword is not made in a moment.  It take months and months.  The steel is refined via a catalyst and heat.  Then it is forged and forged over and over, each blow of the hammer changing it's molecular structure to make it stronger and more beautiful.  It makes it able to do what it is intended to do.  It take lots of time, lots of banging and lots of heat.

God is forging each of us into an instrument for His use here and now for His glory - His glorious purposes.  

As I've said in other posts we live in between our calling and redemption and out ultimate perfection.  In this in between time we default to a fundamentally legalistic and horizontal life-style.  We seek to make ourselves godly by lists and programs and processes and we look to the world around us for validation - meaning - significance.  And so we live miserable lives in Christ or at best numb ones.

Without a whole and active faith in passages like 1 Peter we will continue to strive under our own efforts and seek the world's confirmation of our - well - identity.  We will always have trials but they do not have to be torture.  They are placed in  God's refining fire to strengthen us and allow His beauty to shine through.  A piece of gold ore is great but ugly and with less value by weight than we think.  The "dross" attached to the ore gives us a false value - it must be removed.

This is tough when we have "preachers" telling us we are OK just as we are, sin isn't so bad and holiness/godliness is for later.  Well, we're not OK, sin is a bad as anything gets and we have been made godly and been given everything we need for it

Are we going to live in faith in Him and yet seeking the world's standards and goals of are we going to live in faith in Him accepting the gracious gifts He has given us?  Are we going to live vertically of horizontally?  Are we going to live out what He has made us or are we going to live out what the world and the flesh whisper and sometimes shout in our ears?

We have the power of God backing our choice to live in and for Him.  To accept His gifts and standards and give them all we have.  We have nothing backing our choice of the horizontal except confusion, confounding and crisis.

We are free now to choose and choose we must.  We can endure and live our value and beauty in Him or we can be a lump of ore weak and of less value than we suppose.

And now we move to the conflict of indwelling sin and it's "wisdom" and the wisdom God alone gives.  Doubt and vacillation.  Crisis and chaos.  Or peace and true vertical prosperity - godliness - ever growing, ever shining.

What's the point?

(1Ti 1:5)  But the goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.

"A sincere faith."  Ha!  

Sincere????  anupokritos = one without hypocrisy or pretense, unfeigned, genuine, real.

Sincere????  from Latin sincerus or "without wax."

Used when evaluating marble statues.  

When the marble had a crack of nick in it, less scrupulous dealers would fill the crack with a wax compound, put marble dust on it and then polish it so that the crack was hidden.  But, the right amount of heat would cause the wax to melt and expose the cracks and flaws that were being hidden.  that's why I teach and why I write - the way I do.  

I only hope the heat I bring to bear is just hot enough to melt the way we've used to cover our cracks - the flaws in our faith.  

These flaws are both what we believe and how we live out those beliefs.  If we hold to an error our living will demonstrate that.  We live what we believe, it shows.  We cover up these flaws as best we can but when the heat is on these beliefs are exposed.

They say doctrine divides - and so it does.  It divides the wolves from the sheep and the hypocrite from the non-hypocrite.  Heat, that is trials, are God's loving providence to show us these flaws - and to expose them to others.

By the way, sin is also treated with wax and dust to keep them hiddden.  but they will always be exposed.

This is the work of the Word and the Spirit - but it is also the work of the believer.  How can we say we love another and yet continue to allow them to hide their sin/flaws?  Though very common this too is a sin and perhaps a very cruel one.  It's not fun, it is not comfortable but it is, when done in humility and love, needful.

We are to admonish one another:

(Rom 15:14)  And concerning you, my brethren, I myself also am convinced that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge and able also to admonish one another.

We are to admonish - WARN - one another when we see a sin or a flaw and we are to do it because we love God, honor Christ and love our brothers.  I is not comfortable and should not be engaged in lightly but it must be done.

OK, we all wax up and polish our sins and flaws.  But why?  Certainly not so God won't see them.  No, we do it so others won't see them.  I am stealing Paul Tripp's idea here - but we want our horizontal relationships to protect our pride and our illusions.  We can't hide from God but we can hide from one another.

What a waste of time and effort.  What a waste of grace and blessings.  Paul was "sincere" when he identified himself as the foremost of sinners.  He was probably recalling his heroic efforts to destroy the church.  How that must have weighed on his heart and yet he makes no attempt to hide it because the change God wrought in him was a witness to God's grace and power - as well as a witness to the awfulness of unbelief and it's results.

Note please that it is the common believers who are admonished to admonish one another.  Not a priest, not a pastor, not an elder although this is a very big part of their role.  Rather we need to find our way to admonishing, melting the wax, at the grass-roots level.  Common believer to common believer.

When scripture speaks of going to an offending (or offended) brother it is not speaking about sending in the Marines (pastors/elders/etc).  It is talking about YOU going to THEM.  Is there a condition?  Certainly.

(Gal 6:1)  Brethren, even if anyone is caught in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness; each one looking to yourself, so that you too will not be tempted.

Note a few things:

"caught" = ensnared

"any trespass = really does mean "any"

"spiritual" = mature (already had lots of wax melted)

"restore" = not remodel but restore - put bad as it should be

"spirit of gentleness"= remember your experience and learn to tough lightly as  

                                possible

"looking to yourself'= we should all admonish another with a mirror in our 

                              hands so that we see ourselves as we admonish.  Like  

                               it is said, when you point a finger at someone you have      

                               three fingers pointing at you.

"so you too will not be tempted" = entering into the struggle of another has 
                                                 its dangers.  As a Discpler I am 
                                                 woefully ware of them.  We must pray 
                                                 diligently BEFORE - DURING AND AFTER- 
                                                 that we might not be trapped/caught in 
                                                 their sin and not be caught in a sin of our 
                                                 own such as pride.

Let's not kid ourselves.  We see sincerity as a feeling and not a fact when the very work itself proposes a fact about which we should have a feeling.  We all have cracks we seek to hide.  Some of us do it well, others don't but none of us can hide them from God - so why, if we are all under His grace, do we work soooo hard to hide them from others.

Is is a lack of a sense of insincerity (sin) that is killing the church and allowing hypocrites and even unbelievers to enter and feel a part of something they really despise.  If we were more concerned with sin, if we could but grasp how evil it is we would be repentant and repentance is always the necessary precursor to revival.

Although God certainly desires that my theology and doctrine be as correct as my little brain can take - He did not send His Son so I could "get it all right."  He sent His Son so that my sins might be forgiven and I might serve His purposes here as one of His children not just as one of His creatures.

Sincerity can be very deceptive to others and even ourselves.  But have courage, God will turn up the heat to melt the wax and He will restore those places where the flaws are.  Trust Him - ask Him - wait upon Him - He will do what only He can do.

(1Ti 1:5)  But the goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.

Tetelesthai!  

Business * Busy-ness and Fellowship

James is still in progress but first this message ;-}

The other day I posted a quote from Paul Tripp speaking to how we seem too "busy" for fellowship.

I won't answer it here but the first question is, "What do you mean by fellowship?'  Ask 10 people you'll get at least 6 answers.  One thing to remember is that our "fellowship" IS - whether we are together in space of time or not.  If you want to focus on the being together or connecting - we are blessed with all sorts of new technical means for connecting.  If you focus on "meaningful fellowship/connecting" now you have a bigger and deeper issue to address.  It's not just enough to say we need "fellowship."  

Now - business and busy-ness.  Two different things but the definition will vary some with each individual.  But there is a business of living - living to honor Him.  We have to work jobs, raise children, cook, clean, get our cars serviced etc.  This is what I call business; meeting, in a godly manner, those responsibilities we have.  We all have to do business!

Yes, we can get caught up in the business of living and it can distract and detract from our individual, familial and corporate "walks."  But I suspect that is the exception and not the rule.  The Puritans had it down pat - Doing what was necessary/needful to meet our responsibilities was certainly business but that business was seen as  just as much service to Him as anything we do that is "churchy."

Working a job is business.  Homeschooling is business.  But taking your kid out for and ice-cream and some one on one time is business too (fun but business).   We need to be very careful as to what we see as legitimate and illegitimate business.  Which, of course, is why we have the Word, the Spirit and godly bothers and sisters.

Busy-ness on the other hand is not often necessary.  For ME busy-ness is what I do in a self-serving manner - convincing myself that it is necessary - that it is business and not just busy-ness.  See Mary and Martha - both were doing good things one was doing the "better" thing.  It's a discernment that takes focus and openness and prayer.  Am I doing just to be doing - to fill time - to distract myself or am I really doing something necessary (or perhaps "needful" is a better word than necessary.)

We often do busy-ness to distract us from business.  We often do busy-ness to avoid something needful that we find we don't like or are uncomfortable with.  We do busy-ness all too often out of a warped view of our worth and place.  Busy-ness is not needful.

When a tradgedy happens we encourage people to "keep busy."  We do this out of good hearts and silliness.  They need to be doing business not busy-ness.  (Of course they may need to do nothing at all for a bit as well).

Too busy for fellowship?  What is fellowship?  Business isn't not busy-ness.  Business is needful.  Busy-ness may or may not be needful.

So the quote I posted was intended to get you thinking along these lines.  Business/busy-ness.  Needful/not needful.

But most important - what in the creation do you mean by fellowship?  We have it 24/7 - it is God-given.  So perhaps we are thinking we need to get together and "get spiritual."  OK - that's Sunday morning.  Wworship is "in" fellowship (common) but it is not the place or time to focus on us.  

Maybe you mean a cell group or Bible study - that's fine but you have to have clear boundaries and expectations.  Just showing up and hanging out is not going to get it.  That would be a picnic or other social gathering by the Body - which is good and fun and not wrong but it's not, I don't believe, what the bible means by fellowship.

If you need teaching - ask for it.  If you need a prayer group, ask for it.  If you desire an accountability group, ask for it.  But "fellowship" is not what you create at those things, it is the context in which you do those things.

To be honest, when a lot of people speak of wanting "fellowship" they're asking to get together with others to hang out and have a shallow conversation about scripture and to spill all their problems on others.  I've seen it time and time again.  This is a curious thing and a distressing thing and I think it may be just another form of busy-ness - with a coat of Jesus laid on.

A lot of people desire an intimate relationship of faith with others.  That's fine but God needs to produce that - we can't program it.  We can program things that seek openness and candor but that's not intimacy.

But in the end we come back to - What is fellowship?  And, does what you seek fulfill the purpose (God's glory) for the fellowship we have with one another in Christ?  Maybe the question isn't What do I need?  but What does Jesus need for me/of me?

OK ramble over.
Business should be God honoring needful things.
Busy-ness can be more an escape and/or an excuse to avoid business ;-}.
Fellowship IS - we need to ask His guidance for experiencing it in space and time, in manner and method or it's just hangin' out (which is ok but is it fellowship?)

Finger Thinking through James 008

Jas 1:3-4  knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.  (4)  And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

The purpose of trials is endurance the purpose of endurance is - magnificent!

It is by enduring - standing up under a load - that its perfection brings our perfecting and completeness.  Huh?????

OK - the word translated perfect (same word both times) means (the first usage) "finished" result.

The second time it is used most read the moral usage of the word, that one has all the necessary qualities one should have.

perfect ("finished") result, so that you may be perfect ("morally equipped with the qualitied you need to have")

Endurance's end goal is that we have all the necessary qualities we need to be "complete" or whole in all our parts.

Remember the idea of refining our "orific-ness?"  Only through refining does gold have all the qualities it should have - and none that it shouldn't.

That's the picture we need to keep in our heads when we consider how God makes use of trials in our lives.  Endurance keeps us in the pot until the dross rises to the top and is wiped or spooned away.

We live between the cross that brought grace and the second coming which utterly fulfills grace and carries us into eternity.  This "in between time" is tough but it is not without purpose.  

No, it is not to prepare of for heaven, though it should.  Rather it is to prepare us for the work God has for us to do in this in between time.  It is also a witness to the unbelieving world that our faith is real and our God trustworthy.   

Oh, they may see and reinterpret what they see as a failure on God's part especially if our trials stay active unto death.  But their judgement is wrong judgement.  God is shown to be real in our endurance and the qualities it produces regardless of the world's verdict.  

Trials are opportunities to partake of the grace of God there-by being refined, removing the dross, so that you may have the unfettered strength and reflect the beauty of Christ in you.

Finger Thinking through James 007

Jas 1:3-4  knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.  (4)  And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

Trials - faith tested - produces endurance.  Endurance is the ability to stand under a load.  Consider these:


1Co 16:13  Be on the alert, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong.

Eph 6:11  Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil.

Eph 6:13  Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm.

2Th 2:15  So then, brethren, stand firm and hold to the traditions which you were taught, whether by word of mouth or by letter from us.

Rom 5:1-2  Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,  (2)  through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God.

Forget you need the grace of God every moment and you will not stand.  Trials teach us that we are utterly dependent for the grace of God for everything we need - not just to serve Him and bring glory to Him but to simply live.

Peter writes:

2Pe 1:2-3  Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord;  (3)  seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence.

That is grace!  When exactly would we be ok without it?

//

Finger Thinking through James 006

(Jas 1:2)  Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials,

(Jas 1:3)  knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.

We need to go slow here.  There is not way to rush through a look at the trials we face, the testing we endure.

Let's look at another passage that will help us appreciate - even learn to celebrate trials.

1Pe 1:3-9  Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,  (4)  to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you,  (5)  who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.  (6)  In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials,  (7)  so that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ;  (8)  and though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory,  (9)  obtaining as the outcome of your faith the salvation of your souls.

This is a very encouraging passage - at least until you get to verse 6.  There we go again - trials.  

Think on this - Peter sets a condition for the trials we face.  Did you see it?  It's in the words, "if necessary."  What would make a trial necessary?  The Greek word itself tells us that and perhaps a better translation would be, "if you need one (or two - or three)."

Why would we need trials?  Because God desires and His grace provides for our being conformed to the likeness of His Son.  Here and now we are to be being changed into His likeness and - well - we fight it tooth and nail.

Paul writes:

Rom 7:21  I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good.

We still have the presence of sin and God desires to kill it.  He desires that we - well, read the following:

Rom 12:1-2  Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.  (2)  And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.

We, as Paul Tripps says are "orific" believers.  That is we come into the Kingdom as raw ore - needing to be refined.  Trials are how God refines us.  It is, uncomfortably, part of grace.

In the Peter passage above we read:
(7)  so that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ;

Let me restate it as follows:

• so that the proof of your faith,
• even though tested by fire, 
• may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ;  
• being more precious than gold which is perishable,

Our faith is imperishable - as a gift from Him, how could it be otherwise.  But it is mixed with doubt, and the abiding principle of evil Paul speaks of in Romans.  It needs refining and refining requires a catalyst and heat - or, the Holy Spirit and trials.  This is how He changes us, how He make us lore like the Son.

I want you to also consider the following:

1Co 10:13  No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it.

The word translated "temptation" here is the same word translated "trials" in our James passage.  Split hairs if you will but I'll go with trials.  All men a tried and the unredeemed are found without hope or comfort.  The redeemed have the grace of God to rest on, the Word to turn to and the Holy spirit to cry for.  That's the difference.

A "trial-less" life is not the believer's life.  We cannot live in this world as aliens and strangers without experiencing trials.  A believer who is leading a trial-less life needs to ask, "Why?"  Maybe they aren't paying attention.

Ya think?

Finger Thinking through James a little bunny trail 005a

Need to take an anti-redundancy break.
Read slowly, reflect deeply ----


Heb 10:19-39  Therefore, brethren, since we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus,  (20)  by a new and living way which He inaugurated for us through the veil, that is, His flesh,  (21)  and since we have a great priest over the house of God,  

(22)  let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.  
(23)  Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful;  
(24)  and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds,  (25)  not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near.  

(26)  For if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins,  (27)  but a terrifying expectation of judgment and THE FURY OF A FIRE WHICH WILL CONSUME THE ADVERSARIES.  

(28)  Anyone who has set aside the Law of Moses dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses.  (29)  How much severer punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled under foot the Son of God, and has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has insulted the Spirit of grace?  (30)  For we know Him who said, "VENGEANCE IS MINE, I WILL REPAY." And again, "THE LORD WILL JUDGE HIS PEOPLE."  (31)  It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God.  

(32)  But remember the former days, when, after being enlightened, you endured a great conflict of sufferings,  (33)  partly by being made a public spectacle through reproaches and tribulations, and partly by becoming sharers with those who were so treated.  

(34)  For you showed sympathy to the prisoners and accepted joyfully the seizure of your property, knowing that you have for yourselves a better possession and a lasting one.  

(35)  Therefore, do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward.  

(36)  For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what was promised.  

(37)  FOR YET IN A VERY LITTLE WHILE, HE WHO IS COMING WILL COME, AND WILL NOT DELAY.  (38)  BUT MY RIGHTEOUS ONE SHALL LIVE BY FAITH; AND IF HE SHRINKS BACK, MY SOUL HAS NO PLEASURE IN HIM.  

(39)  But we are not of those who shrink back to destruction, but of those who have faith to the preserving of the soul.

Enough said!

Finger Thinking through James 005

James 1:3-4 NASB
knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. [4] And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

ENDURANCE -  HYPOMENO

The Greek World. hypomeno has the senses a. 'to stay behind,' 'to stay alive,' b. 'to expect,' c. 'to stand firm,' and d. 'to endure,' 'to bear,' 'to suffer.' hypomone means a. 'standing fast' and b. 'expectation,' 'waiting.' While hypomeno is at first ethically neutral, hypomone becomes a prominent virtue in the sense of courageous endurance. As distinct from patience, it has the active significance of energetic if not necessarily successful resistance, e. g., the bearing of pain by the wounded, the calm acceptance of strokes of destiny, heroism in face of bodily chastisement, or the firm refusal of bribes. (TDNTA)

The NT. hypomone is naturally a basic attitude of NT believers in view of the eschatological orientation of their faith. Over against a hostile world, they wait confidently for the fulfilment of the kingdom and their own salvation. (TDNTA)

Here is the whole point - the testing and God's care and provision teach us - empower us - encourage us to wait confidently.  Oh, you mean we're not supposed to fight and scratch and struggle?  Not really.  We are to simply stand firm and wait for Him to take us home or for Him to come home.

We certainly are to be about the Great Commission and living to bring honor to Him but in the face of trials - we wait - upon Him.  Regardless of how painful, long, gruelling the trial we are to remain confident that, "to live is Christ, to die is gain!"

//

Finger Thinking through James 004

James 1:3 NASB
knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.

Knowing!!  Ginosko = to have intelligent comprehension.

Do you - know?

Or do you sit in wonder and worry whenever a trial comes your way?  Do they seem cruel and purposeless?  Do you cry out, "Why??" or "Why me??"

James take us to that which we should KNOW as well as appreciate and take comfort from.

"Testing?"  Yes but not how you think.  It is a test of the genuineness of your faith.  Ok - it's kind of weird.  The testing is to show you that God is indeed faithful and that your faith is not misplaces when placed in Him.  Of course it shows us the strength or fragility of our faith but however weak and fragile or strong and mighty it is faith and faith through it - no matter how fragile - we are saved and kept in Him.

Your faith is tested more than you think.  Do you drive?  Do you use your brakes?  Everytime you do you are having faith in God sustaining the coefficient of friction so that the brakes work as they should.  Ever had your brakes fail - yeah, scary but you get them repaired and after a while your back to trusting - having faith - in them without a conscious thought.  

God is greater than our brakes!  They could not work - when they work - without Him.  He wrote the science behind brakes in eternity - we just discovered it lately.  When they fail, God hasn't failed - the brakes have.  They are a secondary cause of your car stopping and secondary causes are not God.  

Don't you have any interest in discovering the faithfulness of God?  Good times may demonstrate it but we tend to take them for granted.  But let the compose hit the fan and it's a whole different matter.  Trails show us God's faithfulness - even trials that lead to death - ouch!  

I once watched as a man told my partner (old cop story) that he could not PROVE there was a God.  My partner (Boo by nickname) assured the man that he could prove it absolutely.  When the man demanded exactly how it could be proven my partner took out his Colt 1911, laid it on the counter and said, "You won't like it but I can prove it!"  Dead comes to us all and when it comes to believers it brings the ultimate proof of God's existence and gracious faithfulness.  As someone once said, "I'm not afraid of dead - but dieing is a little scary."  Dead means being with Him - getting there may be hard on us all but it is not the end - it's the passage to the absolute proof of what we believe.

The word here translated "testing" is a testing to demonstrate genuineness not quality or quantity.  Saying we have "a little" faith is as weird to me as saying that God gave us a "little blessing."  Whatever the faith - whatever the blessing since it comes form the creator and sustainer how could "little" even matter much less be applied?

We are given the faith that saves - how can that be small.  We grow in the faith that trusts.  It's funny that though we are given the faith that brings the greatest promise God ever made into our lives we struggle with our faith in Him to get through all the "stuff" we face here.  We are weak, struggling, silly people - but we are His people.

Trials teach us His faithfulness to the faith He has given us.  Can that really be a bad thing? hard?  Yep - but bad?  Nope!

//

Finger Thinking through James 003

James 1:2-3 NASB
Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, [3] knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.

Note the "when."  Trials are to be EXPECTED!!!

But what are trials?

Well - the word translated "trials" here is the Greek word:
 πειρασμοσ peirasmos [testing, temptation], (TDNTA)

Now a temptation is certainly a trial but a trial is not always a temptation.  I believe that James is addressing the dynamic relationship between trials and the choices (including temptations) they bring.  One can respond to a trial righteously or sinfully.  It's pretty much that simple.

In common (non-biblical) writings, a πειρασμοσ peirasmos (a rare word in non-biblical writings) is often found in relationship to a medical experiment which is interesting.  Interesting because that is a powerful analogy the readers could have made concerning James use of the word.  We can think of a trial as an experiment to test the health (or unhealthiness) of our faith.

Ahhh but these trials are "various."  One translation of the term various if "many colored." I like that translation it gives the idea more breadth for me as well as more depth.

And indeed the trial we face are every color for white - which is the absence of "color" and black - which all the colors lumped together.  But trials are not all black or white.  Certainly the choices/options they bring are either black or white but the trials are no necessarily so.

You have your primary colors, red, yellow and blue from which an number of colors, shades, hues, etc. can be made.  It's the same with trials.    You have three basic types of trials - the heart, the hand and the head (just an example).  But trials never - or at least very rarely - only effect just the head, just the heart or just the hand.  We are complex creations and when we feel something we thing something and want to do something.

 Suppose you struggle depression.  You are to a lesser of greater degree a melancholy person.  You feel down, you think something is "wrong" with you so you want to do something to feel better and not be depressed.  But your melancholy is part and parcel of you.  It is a trial.  But it is not just a monochrome trial.  Lots of "colors" get added daily  so the trial is dynamic - it changes - it grows in brightness and dims in the darker hues.

Another way to look at trials is spiritual, physical and emotional.  The melancholy illustration can work here to.  Physically - neurologically you have a limited or disfunctional condition in the production of neuro-chemicals.  Ok, that has a very real effect on how you relate to God and how you respond to life.  The ups and owns, demands, provisions etc. of live all are viewed and senses and addressed through that melancholy.

Trials come in all shapes and sizes, some are weak others are strong and they all shift and change as different things come into play.  Trials are more than red, blue of green.  Some are purple, others are lemon green and some are futia.

Understanding this will help us see trials in a clearer, calmer and more Christlike way.  But we all have many colored trials - and will until we are with Him in eternity.  Appreciate the fact that regardless of the fact of your particular trial it is something God is aware of and concerned about and willing to walk you through it - if you are willing to walk with Him in it.

Finger Thinking through James 002

James 1:2-3 NASB
Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, [3] knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.

James knew they would be having trials - it was a given.  There was no way to avoid them. No way then, no way now.  

As true aliens and strangers our ways can not be their ways.  Our entertainment, work, study, etc. must be fundamentally different from theirs.   Not to mention our motivation for all we do.  

As we are citizens of His Kingdom and He is our Lord and Master we answer to Him first and foremost.   Our allegiance to Him, our submission to Him and His cause has to take precedence over any and all others.  Hence we must expect trials.

But what are the trials we really face.  Most of us have cable TV and our favorite shows.  We have our favorite teams and groups and we spend time effort and money to see them do their thing.  And all too often we do so in a chorus of compromise with the world.

We'll blink at the inappropriate things just to watch the show or game or whatever.  We'll tsk tsk at the half naked cheerleaders just to watch a ball game.  (By the way - baseballs only redeeming quality is - no cheerleaders ;-}}}).  We'll over-extend ourselves to be entertained, distracted even titillated.  And in doing so we are overcome by the trials - or what should be trials - but sadly for too many of us, aren't.

In His reality (the only real reality) what I watch on TV - the coice I am faced with should be a trial.  Whether or not I even have TV should be a trial of choice.  But we will take part in the great lemming sit-a-thon, the couch potato olympics without any real consideration of the problem - being just like them - the citizens of this earthly kingdom - the one ruled by the Prince of the Power of the Air.

Am I saying TV is evil?  Well what is something that is 97% evil,  evil?  Can you commit a little adultery, a little idolatry and it be OK?  Guess you know where I stand - I'm not a TV watcher (anymore) nor am I a movie goer - it's just I'm tired of ignoring the trial and therefore excusing or tolerating that which I should not.  For me all shows that start off watchable ultimately become un-watchable.  It's just not worth the investment of time, attention, compromise and money.

You make your own decision - but please do it wisely and broadly/deeply.

But - back to the verse.

We are called to consider trials "all joy."  why in the world would we do that?  The answer is best given by Jesus:

John 15:18-19 NASB
"If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you. [19] "If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you.

John later writes:

1 John 2:15-16 NASB
Do not love the world nor the things in the world If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. [16] For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world.

When we encounter trials of faith and faithfulness it is a solid point at which we can be assured we are His.  Why else would it be a trial?  Had we no faith and no desire to be faithful we would hardly be concerned.  Sadly though too many of us are little concerned if concerned at all by the love we have for the world and the trials that go un-addressed.

We look and act and enjoy too much of the world.  We "love" too much of the world and this should drive us to our knees seeking His forgiveness and His strength and wisdom.  We should also plead for a greater sensitivity to trials and ask for tender consciences that we might recognize the subtle schemes of Satan and the subtle seductions of the world.

Joy at trials?  Certainly for we are His and trials are just part and parcel of being aliens and strangers here. 

But it's not just joy, it's "all joy."  That's unmitigated joy - joy un-deterred, un-marred, not mixed with anything.  Tough call here.  But it is the promise of heaven - eternally being with Him that makes it possible.  We are weak and frail and we may have to work hard at it but "all joy" is possible.  It is not a joy without sorrow or sadness but a joy without regret or bitterness.  It mourns the struggle and the antipathy with and of  the world but celebrates in the hope of heaven.  The sorrow is a sorrow of not yet and not a sorrow of I can't.  It's a sorrow for the unredeemed who can not see the poison, the pit, the judgement that awaits them.

James tells us to "count it" all joy - huh?  Well the term is the present participle which in the Greek indicates on going action as the result of a completed act.  In other words we count it because we are counted as Him.  That is the only reason anyone would have to consider (esteem) a trial as joyful.

OK, enough for now -- How trial sensitive are you - how's your joy level?

//

Finger Thinking through James Extra

As we work though James we need to have an understanding of "sin."
So, here's a chart from D. Smith's book, With Willful Intent.  I highly recommend the book as a sound primer concerning the biblical view of sin.

Accents and breathing marks omitted.

Hebrew             English                       Greek                   English
Word                  Meaning                  Equivalent             Meaning

----                   ------                         adekia                  synonym to parabasis
                                                                                             transgression

asaq                act unjustly                adikeo                  do wrong; injure/harm

seqer               deciet, fraud               adikos                    unjust

pesa               unlawful act                adikama               unjust deed                    

awon              offense, guilt               adikia              unrighteous, wrongdoing

hatta't             lapse, sin                    amartia                   sin

----                 -------                         amartema         faiure/mistake against someone

----                   -------                       amartano           everything that is opposed to God

rasa                 evildoer                       amartolos            sinner / synonym to poneros = 
                                                                                             depraved or evil  anyone whose actions
                                                                                             thoughts and attitudes run contrary to 
                                                                                             God's will Matt 16:1-12; 23:1-38

----                    ------                        anomia                lawlessness

----                    ------                         apistia                lack of trust, infidelity
                                                                                           obstinant unbelief

sur ; satah    turn aside, deviate      parabaino           turn aside, transgress
                                                              parabasis

ma al              unfaithfulness            paraptoma          trespass, false step, a deliberate action                            
                                                                                           by which one loses his/her standing 
                                                                                           with God

Remember - one of the most common accusations against our Lord was that he was, :a friend to sinners." Matt. 11:19; Mark 2:14-15    Think on that one!!!!!!

Lk. 15:11-31   NT scholar D. Guthrie commented that, "sin is not a squandering  of family property, although this is not condoned.  It is rather a refusal to act as a son {daughter}, which in effect amounted to a rebellion against the father."

Think on:
  James 4:17 NASB
Therefore, to one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, to him it is sin.
                                                    

Finger Thinking through James 001

James 1:1 NASB
James, a bond-servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes who are dispersed abroad: Greetings.

Just some insights:
Possibly the first epistle of the NT to be written (50-60 AD)
Written (we believe) by James the brother of Jesus and leader of the Church at Jerusalem.

Written to:  Possibly Jewish believers who had fled persecution in Israel but none-the-less the letter is applicable to all believers.  Regardless of the background of the recipients the letter is the most practical letter to any church.

Verse on lays out the context for us.  The recipients are, "the twelve tribes who are dispersed abroad."  Though it is tempting to assume the letter is written to believing Jews we can't assume that.  There has long been a belief that "Israel" - that is those Jew who were faithful to the faith of Abraham -were aptly the church in the Old Testament.  The Puritan especially saw things that way and we would not do wrong to see it the same.

Remember that the redeemed are those who have placed their faith in the Christ regardless of whether they lived before He came, dies and was resurrected or after.  It is faith in God and His Word - trust in His faithfulness - that was counted as righteousness to Abraham.  Regardless of how little of how much even Abraham understood of God's promise and the coming of a Redeemer, Abraham's trust in god was the key.

So, we have believers, "scattered abroad."  This had to be difficult.  For Jewish believers
there may or may not have been a Jewish community which would tolerate these folks.  for Gentile believers is may have been tougher.  They would have not real "community" to associate with in a pagan city and association with the Jewish community would have been iffy at best.

So we have believers living, if you will, in exile.  They have been uprooted from their homes and have gone to a foreign place with no real support group.  This had to produce trials and with those trials came temptation and with temptation - sin.

They were no different than we are.  Even if we were born here in  the U.S. we are resident aliens.  This is not our "home."  It is just where we live.  Not only that but our "support group," other faithful believers grow fewer and fewer daily.  We too are faced with trials and that brings temptation and hence sin.

We would do well to remember as we move through James that the context is trials.  Not temptations as much as the trials which precipitate them.  We are constantly bombarded (at least I hope we are) with challenges to our faith and our faithfulness.  How could we not be?  And if we are not we need to be very very concerned about whether or not we are indeed of the faith.  It's one thing to "trust" about Jesus.  it is a whole other thing to trust in Him as the only object of trust anywhere and to resist the confrontation of offers to trust other people, processes, things, etc.

The context of James is trials.  We will be looking next at that word, trial, and hopefully we will gain a greater insight and sensitivity concerning trials.  We desperately need to.  Our "trial radar" is being jammed by multiple sources of interference and we need to ramp up the power to overcome them.

Questions:
Do you live as a resident alien, waiting to finally be "home?"
Do you recognize all the subtle trials you and your friends and family face daily?
Are you actively armoring yourself and increasing your wisdom in regards to these trials?
Do you understand that in not being sensitive to trials you set yourself up for temptations?

Peter writes:

1 Peter 2:11-12 NASB
Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts which wage war against the soul. [12] Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles, so that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers, they may because of your good deeds, as they observe them, glorify God in the day of visitation.

Great lyrics - May they bless you as they do me!

Songwriters: GREEN, KEITH GORDON

Lord, the feelings are not the same, 

I guess I'm older, I guess I've changed. 

And how I wish it had been explained, that as you're growing you must remember, 

That nothing lasts, except the grace of God, by which I stand, in Jesus. 

I know that I would surely fall away, except for grace, by which I'm saved. 


Lord, I remember that special way, 

I vowed to serve you, when it was brand new. 

But like Peter, I can't even watch and pray, one hour with you, 

And I bet, I could deny you too. 

But nothing lasts, except the grace of God, by which I stand, in Jesus. 

I'm sure that my whole life would waste away, except for grace, by which I'm saved. 

But nothing lasts, except the grace of God, by which I stand, in Jesus. 

I know that I would surely fall away, except for grace, by which I'm saved.

The cost - 051113

Luk 14:28  "For which one of you, when he wants to build a tower, does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if he has enough to complete it?

"cost" = expense

How can we ever clearly count the cost of following the Master?  I don't know that it's possible to specifically enumerate the cost but in general He Himself makes it plain.

Paul puts it well:

Php 3:7  But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ.

This is an interesting perspective that the English fails to convey clearly.  It's not just that Paul counts all that gave him place and status in the world as loss - but also that he counted it as damage/detriment with a view to violence.  It was violently damaging.

We put sooooo much confidence in our achievements here and in doing so we damamge ourselves - especially our walk.  If there is nothing we can do to be His we can't place confidence or take fleshly pride in our achievements.

It's the "not I but Christ" conundrum.   We did and do things that the world and the flesh applaud and encourage us to build our view of ourselves upon.  Education, training, talents, skills - all these things the world encourages the flesh to revel in and use to get ahead in the world with.  

But where are we told we are to, "get ahead" in the world - especially by the world's criteria?  Paul saw, in comparison to knowing Christ, all he had achieved (which was considerable) as damaging and detrimental.

Here is a nice insight into:

Rom 7:18-24  For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not.  (19)  For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want.  (20)  But if I am doing the very thing I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me.  (21)  I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good.  (22)  For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man,  (23)  but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members.  (24)  Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death?

We're currently "downsizing" and I've found certificates and plaques and awards - all kinds of neat things that I could take pride in and use in the world to advance there.  But - is that where I really want to advance?  Do I want to fight my way downfield just to score a goal for the other team?  Do I want to run their plays - work their gameplan?  Even use their players?  I don;t think so.

Dieing to self is not some weird nebulous hippy dippy idea - it is a very real and necessary and intentional giving over all "we" have done, do and will do to His glory and honor.  all I have achieved in all of my life is His to glory in not mine.  It is His glory and - my sorrow (when it takes my eyes off Him and put them on me.)

D. Bonhoeffer said it well, "Christ calls men to come and to die."  Dead men achieve nothing.  But Christ makes us alive and lives in/through us so we may, in His power, in His divine mercy and grace "do" - whether it "achieves" ought or not is in His power to determine ( as well as "what" it does or does not achieve).  We can claim no credit, accept no applause, hear no accolades.  

We are dead men made alive again and that life is not our won (never really was).  We are not of the Kingdom of God and not of the world.  

Paul writes:

Php 4:12-13  I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need.  (13)  I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.

We soooo abuse verse 13.  Paul is calling us to "contentment."  The "all things" here are aimed at verse 11 and 12.  

Php 4:11  Not that I speak from want, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am.

Consider:

2Co 12:10  Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ's sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong.

1Ti 6:8-10  If we have food and covering, with these we shall be content.  (9)  But those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a snare and many foolish and harmful desires which plunge men into ruin and destruction.  (10)  For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.

Heb 13:5-6  Make sure that your character is free from the love of money, being content with what you have; for He Himself has said, "I WILL NEVER DESERT YOU, NOR WILL I EVER FORSAKE YOU,"  (6)  so that we confidently say, "THE LORD IS MY HELPER, I WILL NOT BE AFRAID. WHAT WILL MAN DO TO ME?"

The cost of our redemption was Him - the cost of our sanctification is "me."

Am I willing to meet that cost.

Luk 17:33  "Whoever seeks to keep his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it.

Mmmmmmm? How're ya doing?

Php 2:9-11  For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name,  (10)  so that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE WILL BOW, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth,  (11)  and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

TO WHOM SHALL WE GO?

Guns, groceries, bullets and band-aids; getting pretty hard to find and pretty pricey.  Seems the end is near and folks are equipping themselves' for hunkering down and going to war.

Oh, get a grip!!!

What part of the prophesies did you not get.  God is carrying time and history right where He wants it - just as He planned.  All the guns and bullets in the world won't make a bit of difference except - perhaps - in the witness of the real church.

Yeah - I said real church.  Not the clubs passing themselves of as churches but the collective assemblies of believing individuals who seek whole hearted (although haltingly) to follow the Master.  Its time we quit being splenda sweet (that's fake sweetness) and just told the truth.  As a believer, if and when they come for you, you don't get to do battle - sorry - it's the "sheep to the slaughter" time.

There are beautiful, big, impressive "churches" out there that have great influence and reach and with which the world is oh so impressed.  Well folks, I'm with Martin Luther, "A golden plated turd is still a turd."  God calls men and women out of error, heresy and sin - not through it!!!

Yeah folks - I'm a little testy here.  I see believers (at least self-denominated believers) going to all kind of things in these tough times.  Gun's, bunkers and bastions of feel-good-self-ology, temples to individualism and flesh farms (seeker sensitive "churches") are just some of the places and things these so called believers are running to.

Peter said it best:
 John 6:68-69 
Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life. 69 We have believed and have come to know that You are the Holy One of God.” (NASBStr)

Oh but nooooooo we don't go to Him - we're gonna fight our own war - a new revolution - right?  We're going to go to "war" over Amendments and Rights killing and being killed for a nice but man-made concepts which though alluding to God has little if any biblical basis except that God ordained govenment.

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. (NASBStr)  Eph. 6:12

What part of that don't you "get?"  Bunkers, bullets, band-aides and stockpiled food stuffs are NOT what the believer needs.  What the believer needs - desperately is to:

Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. 14 Stand firm therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, 15 and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; 16 in addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. (NASBStr)  Eph 6:13-17

What believers should (must) be doing is:
With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints (NASBStr)  Eph. 6:18

But no - we run to the bright and shiny or the largest caliber, the deepest hole and the greatest stock of munchies.

I for one, am broken hearted that instead of repentance and revival many believers (not to mention false-believers) are choosing revolution - which by the way - even our own revolution - is a sin.

Who does God call us to emmulate?

23 By faith Moses, when he was born, was hidden for three months by his parents, because they saw he was a beautiful child; and they were not afraid of the king’s edict. 24 By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, 25 choosing rather to endure ill- treatment with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, 26 considering the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt; for he was looking to the reward. 27 By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king; for he endured, as seeing Him who is unseen. 28 By faith he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of the blood, so that he who destroyed the firstborn would not touch them. 29 By faith they passed through the Red Sea as though they were passing through dry land; and the Egyptians, when they attempted it, were drowned.
30 By faith the walls of Jericho fell down after they had been encircled for seven days. 31 By faith Rahab the harlot did not perish along with those who were disobedient, after she had welcomed the spies in peace (NASBStr)  heb. 11:23-31

Not - it's BY FAITH NOT BY FIRE-POWER.

ENOUGH SAID - RANT OVER --  DEAR GOD HELP US TO REPENT AN TURN TO THE ONLY ONE - THE ONLY THING IN WHICH THERE IS HOPE AND PROMISE!!!