But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere.
Many times when we think of a teacher, we wonder if they are eloquent, able to speak clearly, able present ideas in a clearly and concisely, whether we like their accent, etc etc. James here, however, seems less concerned with the person's ability and more concerned with the person's character. Also, many, if not all, of these traits have to do with how the teacher relates to others and to God. Wouldn't a peace-loving, considerate, merciful, impartial teacher draw people eager to hear? And wouldn't a submissive, sincere teacher hear more from God?
Then we talked about why James relates teaching and wisdom to the taming of the tongue. On the one hand, it's an easy enough association to make. You don't want the guy standing up front in church, supposedly acting in the capacity of a teacher, to start railing about anything he sees fit. But then James *really* starts getting into the tongue and its many dangerous tendencies, and one might wonder if he's getting into a whole other thing entirely!
After comparing the tiny little tongue to a rudder that steers a massive ship, and a tiny spark that starts a fire that sets a whole forest ablaze, James says
All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and creatures of the sea are being tamed and have been tamed by man, but no man can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.
Now that's just hyperbole, right? We can tame the tongue. We simply need to exercise self-control. The scriptures talk frequently about self-control. 1 Corinthians 9:24-27 says "Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever."
So why shouldn't James simply apply that simple principle here? Instead he seems to approach the issue from a slightly different angle:
From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so. Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and salt water? Can a fig tree, my brothers, bear olives, or a grapevine produce figs? Neither can a salt pond yield fresh water.
As we talked about this, one person shared that this had to do with "identity". It is common for us to view ourselves in a dualistic manner. If we're honest with ourselves, it is impossible not to! We think or do or say something good one second, and turn around and wallow in something bad the next. If we were to go with something along the lines of James' analogies, we may think we are like water taps that sometimes spew forth fresh, clean water, and sometimes spew forth muddy water. Within this framework, a common way to think of "self-control" is the ability to turn the tap off whenever we sense the muddy waters about to burst forth, and, conversely, to start the tap up again when the fresh water is ready to come out.
However, that isn't exactly what James is saying. Instead of saying "You're a tree that sometimes produces figs and sometimes produces olives, and you need to stop yourself when olives start sprouting", he instead says "You don't get olives from a fig tree". He's seems to be asking us to first consider who we are. Are you a fig tree, or an olive tree? Are you a fresh water spring, or a dead pond? Are we a people who are constantly welling up with selfish thoughts and desires, bursting with slander and angry words, trying to subdue a rotten core in the hope that God will someday reward us with a new nature completely unlike who we are now? Why then does Paul say in 2 Corinthians 5, "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come", as though this is something that has already happened?
James and Paul aren't saying, of course, that we do not struggle with sin. James just got done saying "We all stumble in many ways" back in verse 2. He does seem to suggest, though, that our understanding of who we are, our core identity, is of great importance before we attempt to address everything else about our Christian walk. Even his words from chapter 1 take on new meaning in this context: "Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like." Could James be suggesting that we are literally forgetting who we are when we give in to sin?
So what is this identity we have received from God that we need to remind ourselves of the next time we are tempted? Here are just a few things we can think about.
John 1:12
Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God...
John 15:15
I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.
2 Corinthians 5:20
We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us.
Philippians 3:20
But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Saviour from there, the Lord Jesus Christ...
John 15:16
You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last.
Have a blessed week reminding yourself who you are in Christ!
No comments:
Post a Comment