OUR GOD GIVES GOOD GIFTS (FROM ABOVE)
James 1:17-27 - September 4, 2005 - Pentecost 16
Dearest Fellow-Redeemed and Saints in the Lord:
About eight months ago in a country far, far away, half way around the world, we heard about the disastrous tsunami. We probably did not think about it too much. After all, it was quite a ways away. Tens of thousands or more were killed. As Christians we had some compassion but did not know too many people touched by that disaster. Almost eight days ago and closer to home we could not escape the news of the hurricane which was approaching our own shores. Probably thousands will end up losing their lives. Now we see the outpouring of Christian compassion. We are compelled as believers to be concerned and show our love. We are reminded as believers that this disaster is not to be laid at the feet of God. We cannot blame the Lord as some are tempted to do. But it all began at the beginning, didn’t it, when Satan deceived Adam and Eve? The perfect world became imperfect and we live now in a world that is imperfect.
Today, we are going to be reminded of the fact that every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. That is why we are here today. God has given us that most perfect gift, the gift of faith, not because we went out of our way to find it, not because we deserved it or earned it, but purely and simply by divine grace. Paul writes in Ephesians: "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God--not by works, so that no one can boast" (Ephesians 2:8,9). As the letter of James tells us in our text for today,
OUR GOD GIVES GOOD GIFTS (from above).
Those good gifts are: I. Ears to hear,
II. Minds to think III. Lives of action.
I. EARS TO HEAR
Here James writes to these believers and he reminds these believers in a changing world, God does not change. He says: "Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows." They heard of shifting shadows, and they may have thought of Satan. The devil was that deceptive serpent in the Garden of Eden. They may have thought of Satan’s shadowy lies and deceit.
The heavenly Father is not like that. He is the one who provides every good and every perfect gift. James describes that good and perfect gift. It is faith. Verse 18: He chose to give us birth through the word of truth. These believers were born again. Their lives were dramatically and drasti-cally changed, because they had once lived in the excesses of the world. They once lived as people who did not care about God and cared only about themselves. But now "God gave them birth through the word of truth, he says, so that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created." Now they were to be the examples. These believers were to be the examples because they had ears to hear, eyes to see, minds to think, and lives of action to be the firstfruits of God’s creation. These believers’ lives were lived as firstfruits to God.
How were they born of the word of truth? James writes: "My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen." They had ears to hear. They heard God’s word and God worked faith in their hearts. Their lives were changed.
It is the exact same with us today. God does not require the believer to be able to read or write before he can believe, does He? God says if we have ears to hear, we hear that message and his Holy Spirit works faith in our hearts. Children come to faith, not because they can open up the Bible and read it; but they come to faith because they hear their Sunday school teachers tell them about creation, sin, redemption and salvation. They believe. Paul says: "Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the Word of Christ" (Romans 10:17). This is God’s gift to us, a good gift from above, the word of truth which works faith in our hearts.
The Lord gives us ears to hear, and we gather together on Sundays to hear. Amazing grace it is that we have these ears and that we have listened. God alone has worked faith in our hearts. We may notice the world does not always listen to God’s Word, does it? Even when Jesus walked on the earth, the scribes and Pharisees who were the leaders of the church, kicked Jesus out time and time again. Some claimed that Jesus was possessed by a devil. Not everyone has hearing ears. Jesus spoke to His disciples in parables and to the believers in parables so that they would see the deep meaning of the truths of God. They listened and heard. Sometimes Jesus had to explain it to them. But there were others who did not listen, who did not want to hear. Jesus said: "In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah: ’You will be ever hearing but never understanding, you will be ever seeing but never perceiv-ing’" (Matthew 13:14).
Amazing grace! God’s good gift from above to us. Amazing grace that we no longer sit in darkness simply because we have ears to hear, because our God has called us out of this darkness, and has given us new birth in the word of truth with II. minds to think.
II. MINDS TO THINK
James describes that when he says: "My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry." God says we should be quick to listen, be anxious to hear the Word of God. Then he says, "Think before you speak and be slow to become an-gry." We should be slow to be angry. Then he explains why. James does not want the believers to think these are only his words. Therefore he writes: "Be slow to become angry, for man’s anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires." There is a clash between man’s anger and God’s righteousness.
They might think now, "What does God want us to do?" In their Christian faith these believers would think, "What is the path that God wants me on?" They won’t think necessarily so much about themselves, but they would think about their neighbors. James says to them: "Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. " God gives another example: "If anyone considers himself reli-gious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worth-less. They could think again before they speak, right? Rather than using bad language, they could use Christ-like language. These believers were to use their minds to think.
There was another thing they can think about and make a conscious decision, whether to do bad or follow God. He says: "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." Today we can think back almost 2,000 years, not quite, when Paul wrote these words and he describes that society as filled with moral filth and evil that is prevalent.
Probably today we are worse off, aren’t we, because of the moral filth and evil that surrounds us? Many homes have access to the Internet filled with moral filth and evil. The print media is not much better. On TV there is hardly a show on that doesn’t try to corrupt what Christ stands for. So this moral filth and evil is all around us. Sometimes it is almost hard to avoid, but like these believers the Lord has given us minds to think. He has given us newborn Christian minds to think, to turn off that which would offend, to turn off that which is morally filthy and evil. It takes a conscious effort, but our new man can do that. Peter writes: "Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against you soul" (1 Peter 2:11).
We might not think it is too bad to watch some of those borderline evil things or say some of those things. What does God tell us this morning? He said, "Be slow to speak;" think before you speak and use God’s good gift of a Christian mind to avoid the filth that is around us. In 1 Thessaloni-ans, chapter 5, which is the end of that book with short verses with great advice we are told: "Test eve-rything. Hold on to the good. Avoid every kind of evil" (1 Thessalonians 5:21,22). Good minds to think to do that. We know what is right and wrong even though we live in a world that says, "Right is wrong and wrong is right." It seems as if everything is mixed up. To get ahead at the expense of oth-ers is the philosophy of this world. The Lord has reminded us--our minds tell us to love our neighbors, the fulfillment of the law. Our second lesson in Romans today says: "The authorities that be are there because God put them there." The neighbors around us are those we are love as the fulfillment of God’s live.
God has given us his good gifts from above, ears that we might hear the word of God which gives us a new birth and minds to know what is right and wrong. God gives good gifts from above such as minds to think and then follow in the path of God. James adds another good gift of God -- "Lives of action." Probably, this is the hardest thing to do in our society today.
III. LIVES OF ACTION
To these believers he says: "Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says." Then he uses that example of a person who looks in a mirror and immediately forget what he looks like. This is the same as the believer who sees, hears God’s word and forgets to act on it. They simply forget. They hear it and forget. They hear it and have a hard time applying it in their life. We are given advice.
James writes, "But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and con-tinues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it--he will be blessed in what he does." Again when we use our God-given minds to think and do what God wants us to do and not what the world wants us to do, not what our sinful flesh wants us to do, not what Satan wants us to do, then we discover God’s blessings in this life. We see God’s blessings in this world. Now remember James and the other letters towards the end of Scripture are written to believers when they lived in terrible times. They faced persecutions beyond all imagination. Disasters today may take away buildings and cities. During the time of James and Peter it was the government that took away the believers’ businesses, houses, possessions. But still James writes: The believer "will be blessed in what he does."
At the end of our text the Lord describes religion: "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress. This act of charity was even more important during this time since there were no government agencies to help those in need. This was still considered an act of love, a life of action of Christian faith helping those in distress and those who were left alone. There is more -- and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world." Here is a work of faith--to keep them from being polluted by the world. God through James says that is religion; that is faith.
As believers we also are to have lives of action: of love for our fellow man and concern for our own souls. to remain faithful. Once again, today we are reminded that every good gift God gives to us beginning with faith. Then our gracious God gives us the ability to do great things in this world. We don’t think that often as believers, but we do great things in this world. Where would this world be without believers? Where would this world be without Christ? Where would this world be without eternal salvation? We think things are bad, but they would be far worse without the influence of Chris-tianity. The book of Proverbs tells us: "Even a child is known by his actions, by whether his conduct is pure and right. Ears that hear and eyes that see--the LORD has made them both" (Proverbs 20:11,12). God gives us good gifts--ears and eyes and hearts to serve him that others may see in us the glory of God.
The Lord gives us great blessings, blessings that we don’t deserve, blessings that we sometimes we don’t even expect, and blessings beyond imagination. Why do we want to be caring and compas-sionate? Why are we concerned about anyone that lives thousands of miles away and has lost every-thing? Well, very simply because God is concerned about us. Today we are reminded of that part of Christian faith, that good gift, which truly is the greatest gift of all--that is God’s forgiveness. God has forgiven us all of our sins, all the times we have fallen short when we maybe haven’t been very caring and concerned about anyone else. God forgives us those times when maybe we don’t care if we are polluted by this world, when we fall into the trap of moral filth and evil that surrounds us. God gra-ciously forgives us, and we see his great love for us. We can now live lives of actions. We can live lives that glorify God, because as Paul writes: "For Christ’s love compels us, because we are con-vinced that one died for all, and therefore all died" (2 Corinthians 5:14). Christ died for all. That is our God’s great love for the world. Today we also realize that this is God’s great love for us as indi-vidual sinners and believers. So we are compelled to live lives that are caring and compassionate and concerned.
Sometimes disasters are a half a world away. Sometimes they come to our nation. Sometimes they come into our own lives, but God only, always means good for his believers. God gives good gifts and not bad gifts. Satan, who changes like shifting shadows, would like people to think that God isn’t so good and great. But God is good and Satan is evil. Our God is a God who knows exactly what each one of us needs. The triune God is a God who provides for each one of us that good and perfect gift that we need at each time in our lives.
Those good gifts come from above. They start with faith, ears to hear, minds to think, and lives of action. Jesus taught about prayer in the Scriptures. Jesus taught the disciples about the importance of prayer. After teaching about prayer Jesus said: "If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him" (Luke 11:13). If you and I who are tainted by sin are caring and concerned about others, just think how much God (who is perfect) cares and is concerned about us. James is right. Scripture is always right. Every good and perfect gift comes from the Father of heavenly lights, and he does not change. The world may change, events may change, and we may think disasters are in our lives; but God gives us what we need. Our gracious God gives good gifts to us so that we might give goodness to others. Amen. Pastor Timm O. Meyer
Sunday radio broadcast @ 9:05am on KQNK 106.7FM or 1530AM + www.kqnk.com
Readings, Pentecost 16(ILCW-A): EZEKIEL 33:7-11; ROMANS 13:1-10; MATTHEW 18:15-20
