Christianity Amongst Christians (Part A)

Proverbs 10, in the multitude of words sin is not lacking, but he who restrains his lips is wise.

It is so difficult for all of us to shut our mouth when we're supposed to be quiet, when it's supposed to be shut. It's so easy to let it go and justify flying off the handle. You can justify an axe head flying off the handle, but are you willing to let it go?

Are you willing to receive the consequence of that axe head hitting someone in the head? Proverbs 10, in the multitude of words sin is not lacking, but are you willing to receive the consequence of that axe head hitting someone in the head? And there should also come in a poor man in filthy clothes, and you pay attention to the one wearing the fine clothes and say to him, you sit here in a good place and say to the poor man, you stand there or sit here at my footstool. Have you not shown partiality among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? Listen, my brethren, my beloved brethren, has God not chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which he promised to those who love him? But you have dishonored the poor man.

Do not the rich oppress you and drag you into the courts? Do they not blaspheme that noble name by which you are called? If you really fulfill the royal law according to the scripture, you shall love your neighbor as yourself.

You do well. But if you show partiality, you commit sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. For whoever shall keep the whole law yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all, for he who said do not commit adultery also said do not murder. Now, if you do not commit adultery, but you do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. So speak and so do as those who will be judged by the law of liberty, for judgment is without mercy to the one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment. It calls for restraint to read that, having pondered it for the last few days and not comment.

But again, we're going to go back just a bit. We look now at verse 18 of chapter 1 in James. He says of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth that we might be a kind of first fruits of his creatures. Now the first fruits, of course, are a way of thanking God, expressing gratitude to God. Now I know we're going to start at verse 18, but we have got to tie it in. So he writes, James does, this entire letter, to develop Christianity among Christians.

Now there's a thought. This morning's consideration, the emphasis that I hope to place on it, is Christianity amongst Christians. Hopefully I can develop that a little bit more to make it meaningful to us. And so he says God has, through his word, through his truth, given us new life, as those who are now saved and in love with the Lord, a kind of first fruits.

So he links that. Now look at verse 19 of chapter 1 in James. So then, because of this relationship we now have, because of this gratitude in our hearts, so then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear and slow to speak, slow to wrath. Here James is sort of saying to Christians, slow it down.

Just slow it down a little bit. He's softening his tone as he does throughout this letter. Faithful are the wounds of a friend, deceitful are the kisses of an enemy. And James is saying, I'm going to deal with some hard things here, but I don't want you to think I don't love you, that I don't care. And so, rather than saying every time that he comes to a hard point, I'm trying to be nice to you, he simply says, my brethren, my beloved brethren. He is not talking down to them. He's talking over to them as though he's one of them.

He's putting himself in this number. It's a lesson in humility for us all. He's not being self-righteous. He says, let every man be swift to hear. Now those of you who sit under the word of God, you are being swift to hear. Yet there's an old saying of, most of us know it, it's not by accident that God has given us two ears and one mouth.

Well, some seem to make up for the lack in creative ways. Slow to speak, having something belittling to say to someone, does not mean you should say it. Just because you can criticize someone and make them feel small and yourself feel big, does not mean you're supposed to do it. Job had this issue.

He had three of his friends gang up on him. At one point he says in Job 13, oh, that you would be silent and it would be your wisdom. If you just shut your mouth, people would think you're smarter than you are.

That's what Job was saying. Is it conduct becoming of a Christian to be nice and respectful only to those we like or fear? Some Christians are that way, you know.

They'll talk very nicely to the pastor or people in positions of authority, but they'll be very unkind to others or to the pastor's wife. And I'm not saying that simply because I have a wife, but my position is the hardest position. The most difficult role in the church is the wife of the pastor. She not only has to work in the shadow of his office, the office of a pastor, but she also has to go home with him. So she's got it pretty rough.

I'm expecting filet mignon for dinner tonight. Proverbs 10, in the multitude of words, sin is not lacking, but he who restrains his lips is wise. It is so difficult for all of us to shut our mouth when we're supposed to be quiet, when it's supposed to be shut. It's so easy to let it go and justify flying off the handle. You can justify an axe head flying off the handle, but are you willing to receive the consequence of that axe head hitting someone in the head? Remember that when you read about it in Kings, that servant chopping wood and the axe flies off. He had an Elijah there to retrieve the axe head.

We may not always have a prophet of God who can get us out of the problem that we find ourselves in, so we ought to be careful. Peter caught up. This is an emotional moment for Peter. He's on the Mount of Transfiguration, and he's seeing all these glorious things. And he says, let's make three tabernacles, one for Moses and Elijah and one for the Lord Jesus. And God the Father rebukes him.

That would have been a good time for Peter to have been quiet. He says, slow to wrath. That's a good word for those of us who tend to be hot-headed, especially when you're younger. You can be quite hot-headed, quick to be angry, quick to attack people. Again, Proverbs 14, verse 29, He who is slow to wrath has great understanding, but he who is impulsive exalts folly.

You're being dumb and unwise. In verse 20 of chapter 1, he says, for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God. Now, again, in the first chapter, he's been dealing with Christian issues, trials that we go through and how we're supposed to face them by faith. He's already discussed briefly the rich and the poor in church.

He's going to hammer it in a moment. He says, be doers of the word, not hearers only, which ties in to being able to sit under the word and then do something with it. It is a practice, Christianity. It is not something that you just do and you've got it.

It is a lifelong experience of hard work over and over again. If you find a saint that you look up to and you admire, understand that that person that you admire is very likely a hard worker in the faith, in prayer, in turning the other cheek, in staying in the presence of the Lord. All of us should be working towards that so that when people come in touch with us, they find Christianity amongst Christians.

Christ-filled, Christ-like Christians as opposed to Christless Christians. In verse 20, he says, for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God. An easy verse to remember. Man's anger and God's are not the same. Sometimes we can have a righteous anger, but most of the time I fear that that is not the case with so many. Two men in Scripture that had a problem with anger, Moses, of course, and Jonah. Jonah was angry with God. For he was angry with the Ninevites, he was angry with the fish, he was angry with everybody except himself.

Well, I don't know if that's true. I think, using myself as an example, whenever I've lost temper, my condition is exacerbated by me being angry with me for losing control of me. The flesh getting the upper hand. Working hard to not let that be the case. Getting in my truck and praying, God, help me not get in the flesh. He has been faithful to me. Moses, again, you know, he killed the Egyptian, he shattered the tablets of the Scripture, the word of God coming down from the mountain, he struck the rock in anger.

Here's your water, scoundrels, rebels. Righteous anger is thought out. It is deliberate. It is steady. It is no harm. It is not impulsive. It does not lack self-control. Righteous anger is high.

It is effective. Christ our Lord. You know he has a reputation for driving people out of the church? Mark chapter 3, And when he had looked around at them with anger, being grieved by the hardness of their hearts. He had gone into the synagogue.

He healed someone. He gave relief to a soul without violating God's word and they were looking to attack him for this. He was angry at that. He looked around at them with anger and he was grieved, he was broken in his heart, at their hard heart.

Unfortunately, too often this is the case today. And then at another time when Jesus had made a whip of quartz, he drove them all out of the temple. Righteous indignation. He was not going to tolerate it. And he did not tolerate it. And we're told that he stood guard. He did this twice in Scripture. And one time he actually stood guard.

He wouldn't let them back in. Proverbs 15, A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger. You just pour gasoline on fire. So the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God. Every Christian wants the righteousness of God reproduced in them through Christ. That's Christ's likeness. So it would help to couple James 1-20 with Proverbs 15-1, a kind word turns back wrath. And it does so often. Officer, you make that uniform look so nice.

I wouldn't recommend that exact tactic, but there are others telling him, you know, I think you're a little overweight. That's not a good way to handle confrontation. Well, James 2 now we come to, and it's really no break. Remember, these are letters.

It is not the book of James. It is the letter. And it's the significance to that. It's freely writing out of his heart to them.

And so it's all connected. He says, My brethren, do not hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with partiality. Again, his favorite address, my brethren. This word, do not, it appears in every chapter of this letter.

In other words, he uses it quite a bit. Don't do this because he is seeking to form Christianity in Christians by pointing out those things that are not Christ-like. Now, this is crucial to understanding even more from this verse the structure of this sentence in the original Greek. Now, if you're new to Christianity, you might not understand that the New Testament, which we are in this morning, was originally written in the Greek language.

We have it translated into English, and we're very happy about that. But while the English language does not steal from us any critical doctrine or meanings, to go to the Greek often accentuates, it highlights it, it makes the point even stronger, and this is one particular case where it is so, the structure of the Greek language. James calls our Lord the glory in this verse, and it should read, actually, and the scholars of the Greek, many of them hold this opinion. This is a more accurate translation of what James was saying. He says, My brethren, do not hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ the glory. This is significant. You can look in your Bibles, the words that are italicized, they're added in the translation by the translators to help the ease of the language which they're translating the text into.

So they really don't belong there. And they've opted, most of them, for of glory instead of the glory. So again, James calls the Lord Jesus Christ the glory. This is one of the main points of this morning's message because everything else kind of just flows into place, but this stands out. It is consistent with what Luke wrote concerning Simeon's blessing with the baby Jesus in his alms, Luke chapter 2 verse 32, a light to bring revelation to the Gentiles and the glory of your people Israel. 1 Corinthians, Paul makes this point in the second chapter, speaking about the rulers of this age, he says, For had they known they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. We have to open this up, it is significance to our faith, it is why we hold our hands up and we sing love songs to him because he is worthy, yes, but also because he is merciful in our hearts. Showing us, there's an old song, Thank you God for sending Jesus, thank you Jesus that you came. Holy Spirit, won't you teach us more about his lovely name. The Holy Spirit, God the Holy Spirit, teaches us about Christ, how to worship him. God's glory, it includes, that word glory, it includes his presence, his radiance, his holiness, all the attributes that are exclusive to him are found in the glory of God.

We, we share in some of this, limited albeit, but he allows us to have much of the very thing, that's why he says, Be holy as your father in heaven is, be perfect as your father in heaven is. So what is the Old Testament word that captures this? The word amongst the Jews, Shekinah, the presence, the uncreated light, the revelation, the manifestation, the visible presence of God. In the Old Testament it's known as the Shekinah glory, that pillar of fire over the Holy of Holies in the temple of the Jews by night, in the cloud, in the day. The root to that word Shekinah means the dwelling, the presence of God. That is why we call, one reason why this is called the house of God, wherever God's people assemble. In his name, it is the house of God. Zechariah 2, the Old Testament prophet, God speaking through him, For I, says Yahweh, will be a wall of fire all around her, and I will be the glory in her midst. The Shekinah glory, the visible presence of the uncreated light of God. John's Gospel, chapter 1, verse 14, And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory. The glory, as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth, have goosebumps.

Well, more like eaglebumps for me. Just thinking about it. James thus, or therefore, terms our Lord Jesus Christ the Shekinah glory of God. That's what he thought of. That's what he spoke of, his half brother, his brother according to humanity, who died a violent and shameful death for sinners. While he was still in his youth, he just gave his life away for us. This is how James sees him. Doubtless, James was devastated at the crucifixion of Christ Jesus. Yes, he was not a believer at the time.

That doesn't mean he wasn't devastated by what took place. And what I think brings that out is when Paul makes this little mention in Corinthians, he says, and after that, he was seen by James. After the resurrection, Jesus made a special trip to James. The glory. Straight out rejected by lost souls.

And we're not supposed to hate them for that. We're supposed to love on them with the love of Christ because of that. Other New Testament passages where Jesus is pictured as the glory, the radiating presence, the holiness, the purity of God Almighty. 2 Corinthians 4. For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. You see the Spirit dwelling in us.

It's a personal Shekinah. A personal presence of God. I will not leave you orphans, Jesus said.

I will not leave you fatherless. You will have the Almighty, God Himself, the Father of all, in your hearts through the Holy Spirit because of the work done on the cross. Hebrews chapter 1, speaking of Jesus, who being the brightness of His glory, the express image of His person and upholding all things by the word of His power when He had by Himself purged our sins and sat down at the right hand of majesty on high. The brightness of His glory. There's no way to take that away from what the Bible says.

Unless you lie. This adds to the indictment against the Mormons and the Jehovah Witnesses for daring to reject the glory of Jesus Christ equal with the Father by decree of the Father. He mentions here now, based on that, again, that is a significant thing.

Christ the glory. He says, don't let there be any partiality with you. Snobbish favoritism in the church.

Don't let it be there. So we go back again and we just briefly look at verse 1. My brethren, do not hold the faith of our Lord Jesus the glory with partiality.

Don't be snobs. Verse 2, for if there should come into your assembly a man with gold rings in fine apparel and there should also come in a poor man in filthy clothes, verse 3, and you pay attention to the one wearing the fine clothes and say to him, you sit here in a good place and say to the poor man, you stand there or sit here at my footstool. We go back up now and look at verse 2. That word for assembly.

For if there should come into your assembly. The word synagogue. Well, these were Jewish Christians. These were Christians who became Jews. And where they gathered to meet, they called it the assembly. That's what the word synagogue means. This was not likely, not 100% sure, but 99, this was a separate assembly for those who accepted Christ as their Messiah. So he says, and this evidently was a prevalent, a problem in the early church, a snobbery going around because he's going to hammer it, he's not going to let it go.

He's already covered it a little bit in chapter 1. He says a man with gold rings in fine apparel. That word fine apparel.

Lampros in the Greek, from where we get our English word lamp. Thanks for joining us today as we took a deeper look into the book of James here on Cross Reference Radio. Cross Reference Radio is the daily radio ministry of Pastor Rick Gaston of Calvary Chapel Mechanicsville in Virginia. We're blessed to bring you God's word with each broadcast. If you'd like more information or want to listen to additional teachings from Pastor Rick, please visit our website, crossreferenceradio.com. If you've been blessed by this program, we'd love to hear from you. If you'd like to see the website, simply click on the contact us link at the top of the page and leave us a message. That website again is crossreferenceradio.com. Please join us again next time as we continue our study through the book of James on Cross Reference Radio.