Deeds – Page 16 – Three Minute Bible

March 30, 2020March 31, 2020

James 5: 7a — Two Sides

Be patient, then, brothers and sisters, until the Lord’s coming.

At the beginning of his letter, James encourages his readers to face trials with joy. The goal, he says, is to produce perseverance. Now he says to be patient. I wonder, aren’t perseverance and patience two sides of the same coin?

James’ letter is sometimes disparaged because he ties what we do to what we believe. Martin Luther, in particular, was critical of James’ letter. Luther had broken free of the legalism imposed by the Catholic Church. His means of breaking free was Paul’s assertion that we are saved by faith alone. Paul writes:

“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.” (Ephesians 2: 8-9)

March 21, 2020March 22, 2020

James 4: 8a — Closeness

A man's hand touches a child's hand, fingertip to fingertip.

Come near to God and he will come near to you.

I’ve always thought this statement to be a little bit odd. But then, I don’t think I have always thought about God the right way. If God is a stationary object, it makes sense (in a worldly sort of way) that if I get nearer to Him, He will be closer to me. But that is not what James says.

God doesn’t just wait for us to come to Him. He wants to be united with us. So he is very willing to come to us. Like the father in the parable of The Prodigal Son (Luke 15: 11-32) when God sees us coming home he comes out to meet us.

March 10, 2020March 10, 2020

James 3: 9-12 — Gob and Nob

Twin boys with blond hair. One is smiling the other looks afraid.

With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be. Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? My brothers and sisters, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water.

Purity of speech is a beautiful thing. To speak only what the Father wants us to say is to speak light into the world. Sadly, our world is hopelessly corrupt. No one is righteous… (Romans 3: 10)

Imagine for a moment, two children that happen to be identical twins. Both are boys. Both look alike. But inside they are different. One is very good, and the other is very bad. Let’s call the good twin, Gob and the bad twin, Nob. How are their worlds different?

March 8, 2020March 8, 2020

James 3: 5-6 – The Demon in Your Mouth

Fire dancer sprays fire from the mouth up in the air.

Likewise, the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course of one’s life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.

STOP!

Do not proceed until you have calibrated your brain to think like James.

Each of us speaks from a unique point of view. As much as we would like to think that everyone agrees with us on this or that topic, the fact is that no one agrees with you on everything. God made us so that we are each unique and dependent on Him.

Yes, there are a lot of things we have in common. But there are more things we disagree on. The challenge with reading the Bible is not to fit the words of the Bible into our world view, but to get our heads around God’s view. I suspect that he purposely wrote the Bible the way he did to keep us on our toes.

February 22, 2020February 22, 2020

James 2: 26 – Candlelight

As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.

I was just reading an interesting article about candle burn marks on the wood beams and walls of ancient buildings. The article goes into a long history of the candle and its association with funerals, church rites, and daily life. No one knows for certain what the burn marks were for but they may have been there to ward off evil spirits. As I read through the rather long text I was taken back in time to the fourteenth century and reminded about how much I take for granted in this day and age.

At night our house is full of light. Little glowing lights are found everywhere. From the nightlight in the bathroom to the alarm clock on the nightstand. Need to make your way to the kitchen at one in the morning? No problem! Even the thermostats have glowing lights on them. There are little light markers everywhere not to mention the glow given off by the streetlights outside.

February 21, 2020February 21, 2020

James 2: 25 – Shorthand

In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction?

There is a kind of shorthand that exists when it comes to the matter of the Bible. Certain people I hobnob with are prone to refer to Bible passages by their address only. Instead of reciting the passage they are thinking of they simply give the verse and chapter and assume that you will know what they are talking about. Usually, I am left to look up the verse on my own if I want to have a clue what is going on.

(Full disclosure: I occasionally do the same thing, but rarely. Mainly due to an abundance of ignorance about exact passage references. :- )

February 15, 2020February 16, 2020

James 2: 19 – Phone Call for James

You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.

Who is James arguing with?

Have you ever listened to someone talking on the phone? You can hear one side of the conversation, but not the other. Listening to one side only leaves us guessing at what the person on the other end of the line is saying.

Reading James’ letter is a bit like that.

February 14, 2020February 14, 2020

James 2: 18 – A Puppy Named James

But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.”
Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds.

If you ever have had a puppy dog for a pet, you know how they like to play tug-o-war. It doesn’t matter if it is a $15.00 toy from Pets-R-Us or an old sock. Given the chance to chomp down on something, growl fiercely, and throw their head back and forth, they will take it every time.

Like a puppy with a sock, James has sunk his teeth into this idea of faith and deeds.

Grrr-rrr-rr—rrrr—rrrrrr—rrr!!

He just won’t let go!

So here we are, talking about faith versus deeds again.

Like a puppy who wants to play, James growls out a challenge: Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds!

Let’s accept his challenge. Let’s show James our faith. And we will do it without deeds. How does that work?