James 2:14-26

But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. (v. 18) James is distinguishing between two kinds of faith, one without works and one with works. My Study Bible refers to the former, faith without works, as an “intellectual assent to certain truths”. Two verses later James says that …faith apart from works is useless. (v. 20b) I find it hard to imagine faith without works. For years I’ve been telling our Avanza kids, “…we want you to know Him, love Him, and serve Him. The more you know Jesus, you can’t help but love Him, and the more you love Him, the more you will want to serve Him by serving others in His name.” I just can’t see someone claiming faith and not wanting to serve. That seems to me, very weak faith – maybe even “lukewarm”.

I understand James’ reference to the latter, faith with works, to mean faith demonstrated by works. My Catholic roots run deep and I do not claim to know or understand all their theology, but I do not believe that they are saying that we are (or can be) saved on the basis of our works alone. My sense is that their faith is James’ “faith with works”. Immediately Catholic hospitals come to mind. Hospitals today may be big money makers, but Catholic hospitals were founded first and foremost to serve – to heal and to comfort. I also think of Catholic missionaries. It seems to me that many Protestant missionaries today have a full focus on preaching the gospel to the unreached. Early Catholic missionaries, on the other hand, went to the unreached to establish clinics and schools, to heal and to teach. They built their own chapels for their services and would encourage their patients and their students to come to their services. But they came to the unreached, first and foremost, to serve – not to preach.

None of the above is meant to diminish Protestant missionary activity. I love what the Petersons are doing in Egypt and what Mark and Tomi Bruner were doing with Podskali in Czechia. And while the Shirkeys, the Harkonens and Bethany Tennent are clearly Gospel-focused, they are all doing admirable work! Not everyone is called to medical or educational service. Bethany, especially, has everyone’s highest admiration! What a life she has cut out for herself – in my opinion she is honoring our Lord at the highest level of service!

I fully agree with James. Our faith is most manifest to the world around us in both our walk and our talk. If we never speak to others of what God has done for us, we are missing the opportunity to lead others to Him. But if all we do is talk, I’m not sure that unbelievers will want to listen. So, go forth – walk and talk!!

Slava Bohu!

James 2:1-13

Mercy triumphs over judgment. (v. 13) Because this is true we have hope of eternal life. Without mercy we are damned to hell because we, ourselves, can never pay the debt for the sins we have committed. Period.

I mentioned two days ago about James’ discussions of the rich and the poor. Here we have it played out in today’s first seven verses. Yet as a society we do tend to honor the rich and powerful. And it’s not just our American society. Carol and I have seen it firsthand when we lived in Slovakia in 04/05 and again in 09/10. Even though we were living and working among them (and were not just tourists) we were always treated with extreme graciousness, much more than our positions warranted. And I’m sure Debbie saw the same thing in Uganda last summer. Yes, she was an emissary for St. Andrew’s, and St. Andrew’s has been supporting them with thousands of dollars a year since 2004. Still, I daresay, Debbie and Julie were also treated with extreme graciousness – the best seats, the best food, the warmest welcomes. No doubt, knowing Debbie and Julie, they deserved it!! Again, still, the point is made, we honor the rich among us.

But let me back off that position a bit and look at another side of St. Andrew’s – Avanza! Here we find ourselves, probably more than 50 volunteers in the past seven years, serving the poor among us. It’s a small thing and we wish it could be bigger, wishing that we could get more to church on Sundays. But it’s St. Andrew’s reaching out in some small way – and with other ministries too.

Verse 13a: For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy.

Slava Bohu!

James 1:12-27

Hearing, speaking, doing. Each of these activities is mentioned more than once in today’s reading. Hearing is mentioned four times (vv. 19, 22, 23, 25); speaking is mentioned twice (vv. 19, 26); and doing is mentioned four times (vv. 22, 23, 25, 27). In addition, hearing precedes both speaking and doing (see especially verses 19 and 23). Which makes me think more about David’s continuing call to silence for those of us at St. Andrew’s. I confess that I have not been practicing silence as David has suggested, but I think I should. Silence and hearing before speaking or doing – a good plan.

But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin… (vv. 14-15) The NASB translates “desire” as “lust”. Unfortunately, lust more often is associated with sexual thoughts. But on the other hand, lust is a much stronger word than desire – and if we thought of our own personal temptations as lust instead of desire, it might help us to battle more forcefully with those trials and to seek the Holy Spirit’s intervention on our behalf. Strange, but reasonable…!

Slava Bohu!

James 1:1-11

So now we have finished our first epistle, Galatians, and moved on to James. James has long been one of my favorite epistles. It has a special history for me (and Carol). On the day that I fell in love with Carol (40 years ago this coming June 1) we had about an hour drive back to our homes and during that drive Carol read the book of James out loud while I drove. I can’t remember why, but it’s a really sweet memory!

James has a lot to say about poverty and riches; I’m sure it’s the egalitarian economist in me that hearkens to James’ words. We see it already today in this first chapter, verses 9-11. And we’ll see it again – and again!

Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect… (vv. 2-4) The three translations that I read every day had three different translations for “steadfastness”: “patience” (NKJV), “endurance” (NASB), “steadfastness” (ESV). And each of those words seems to have a different sense about them. To me, “patience” carries a negative context. Seldom do I hear positively of someone being patient; more often I hear of impatience! And if someone is referred to as patient, it is often associated with that person’s difficulties with another person. So yes, a negative context. “Endurance”, however, seems positive to me. There are difficulties, but someone endures. Awesome! Endurance reflects strength! A mighty man! (Or woman!) And to me it’s also associated with difficult events, not difficult people when we speak of endurance. Finally, to me “steadfastness” also carries a positive context. Someone who is steadfast is constant, consistent, faithful, responsible. Steadfastness seems out of context for someone meeting trials and having their faith tested. So my bottom line – I like “endurance” in the translation: Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result… (vv. 2-4, NASB)

So we’re in James for the next ten days. Enjoy it with me!!

Slava Bohu!

Galatians 6:11-18

It is those who want to make a good showing in the flesh who would force you to be circumcised, and only in order that they may not be persecuted for the cross of Christ. (v. 12) It took me a while to understand this verse, reading through it and thinking about it and reflecting on my Study Bible notes, but I finally got it: Paul is talking about Jewish believers, converts from Judaism, who are preaching circumcision so that they will not be persecuted by their Jewish friends (non-believers) because they have put their faith in Jesus. Which is a strange position for them to be in, having the faith, yet not standing up for it. They sound like the lukewarm Laodiceans from Revelation 3:16: So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. Which is always scary to most Christians – myself included – as to whether we also fall into that lukewarm category! An old revival song comes to mind: “Stand up, stand up for Jesus, you soldiers of the Cross!” GLORY!

Slava Bohu!

Galatians 6:1-10

For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. (v. 8) The word “corruption” in this verse can be misleading. When we think of corruption, we typically think of financial dealings – embezzlement, money laundering, etc. However, I suspect that corruption when we sow to our flesh in this verse refers to our bodily decay when we die – as opposed to eternal life when we sow to the Spirit.

But before I realized (what I imagine to be) the correct meaning of corruption, I was thinking of our evil human natures. And it is true that the more we focus on earthly things, the greater becomes the temptation for sin with respect to those things. The more we strive for money, the more the love of money becomes our “god”. The more we strive for power or recognition, the more we become enchanted with “the praise of men”. The more we focus on and strive for earthly things, the more we take our eyes off of God. So this “incorrect” understanding of corruption does lend itself to further introspection as to our striving for earthly things. Interesting!

Slava Bohu!

Galatians 5:16-26

I wondered whether Paul penned these “fruits of the Spirit” (vv. 22-23) in a particular order or if he just rattled them off in his letter. But as I imagined these fruits to be a particular ordering by him, I wondered at some reasoning behind his ordering and put together some thoughts.

1. Love is listed first, not surprisingly. “And now abide faith, hope and love, but the greatest of these is love.” (I Corinthians 13:13) “Love one another, as I have loved you.” (John 15:12)
2. Joy follows love. If we truly have love, joy will radiate from our lives.
3. Peace follows joy. Complete joy in our lives leaves us with an inexplicable peace – a relaxation “…that can be felt” (lifted from Exodus 10:21).
4. Patience follows our internal peace. Circumstance and what others do will trouble us less and less.
5. Kindness follows patience. Our patience with others will result in kind acts directed their way, both intentional and unthinking.
6. Goodness is both an internal feeling and an external reflection of who we have become.
7. Faithfulness – as reflected in our human experiences – people will come to anticipate, even expect our positive demeanor. They can count on us!!
8. Gentleness is probably an attribute that we least see in the people (and the world) around us. Maybe it follows from the first seven?
9. Self-control is listed last, maybe because it’s the most difficult – or maybe it just follows when the other eight fruits of the Spirit are exhibited in our lives.

I was also thinking that these fruits of the Spirit reflect what we take in, what we send out, and what we retain inside us. And I’m going to leave that thought for you to think about! GLORY!!

Slava Bohu!

Galatians 5:1-15

Although there’s a lot of good material in today’s reading, I found myself hung up on this one verse: But if I, brothers, still preach circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case the offense of the cross has been removed. (v. 11) As worded, that verse was very confusing to me. So I looked it up in the New Living Translation: Dear brothers and sisters, if I were still preaching that you must be circumcised—as some say I do—why am I still being persecuted? If I were no longer preaching salvation through the cross of Christ, no one would be offended. That’s more clear, but Paul’s “dashed offset” left me a bit confused. So I re-worded this NLT text: Some say I am preaching that you must be circumcised; if that’s true, then why are the faithful Jews still persecuting me? Because if I were not preaching Christ, I would be one with them and everything would be OK. Clear as a bell…!!

This whole circumcision issue… I think Paul nailed it with this one verse: I have confidence in the Lord that you will take no other view, and the one who is troubling you will bear the penalty, whoever he is. (v. 10) These Gentile Christians are being troubled by the Judaizers (Jewish believers) who are demanding that Gentiles be circumcised. Paul is confident that these Gentile converts will come back to him, the person who originally preached salvation to them and that the Judaizers themselves will be “punished”, however the Lord would choose to discipline them.

This entire issue of the Judaizers preaching circumcision calls to mind words from James’ epistle to which I have always hearkened: Let not many of you become teachers, my brothers, knowing that as such we will incur a stricter judgment. (James 3:1) This is my 12^th year leading RTB. During that time many folks from St. Andrew’s have looked to me (at some level) for Biblical leadership. I have known that all along and have always been careful not to venture too far into that with which I am unsure. I have often claimed “blessed ignorance” – that is, I just don’t know what some Scriptural passage means. So if I venture too far, please don’t be afraid to call me on it!!

Slava Bohu!

Galatians 4:21-31

In verses 22-26 Paul “equates” Hagar (and Mt. Sinai and the Law) with the “present Jerusalem” (the Judaizers and the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem) and he “equates” Isaac (God’s promise to Abraham) with the “Jerusalem above” (those of the new Christian faith). It’s a good allegory, clearly designed to encourage his readers to not want to be under the Law but under faith in Christ instead. What intrigues me here is how Paul came up with this allegory. Did this understanding come directly from God when he was being tutored by the Holy Spirit in the Arabian desert? Or is this something that Paul came up with “on the fly” – as the Judaizers were bearing down on the new Gentile Christians in Antioch? Interesting…

But the son of the slave was born according to the flesh, while the son of the free woman was born through promise. (v. 23) I wonder how much we do “according to the flesh” when we fail to fully seek the Lord for His desires in our lives? There have been times in my life when His will for my future direction has been clear to me – and other times when I make decisions or simply plod along, not really knowing where He would have me. But if I make a wrong decision, I know it’s not over for me – God can redeem me from myself! Still better to be right (with God) the first time!

Slava Bohu!

Galatians 4:12-20

It is often confusing to know what Paul means in his epistles, since he is writing letters to people and congregations and we don’t always know what occurred beforehand to which he is responding. For example, in the first two verses of today’s reading we have “Become as I am…”; “You did me no wrong”; then Paul’s mention of a “bodily ailment”; and finally and most confusing “that I preached the gospel to you at first”. So when Paul says “Become as I am…”, what does he mean? He is a Jew, but he does not want his Galatian converts to become like Jews. Why does Paul talk about the Galatians doing him wrong? And what is the bodily ailment? Is this the same “thorn in the flesh” that Paul talks about in II Corinthians 12:7? Or is this some speech impediment, as Paul seems to imply in some of his letters? (II Corinthians 11:6) And to that last item, what does Paul mean when he says “at first”? We know that Paul visited his Galatian coverts at least twice. So does “at first” refer to his first missionary journey? And if so, he must have written this letter after his second missionary journey and this letter would have been misplaced in our chronological study; otherwise he would have simply said “that I preached the gospel to you…”, with no time-determinant ending. I have no answers for any of those questions! Sorry…!

Slava Bohu!