Fourth Sunday after Easter, 2003
James 1:17-22

Once upon a time there was a peasant woman and a very wicked woman she was. And she died and did not leave a single good deed behind. The devils caught her and plunged her into the lake of fire. So her guardian angel stood and wondered what good deed of hers he could remember to tell to God; "she once pulled up an onion in her garden," said he, "and gave it to a beggar woman." And God answered: "You take that onion then. Hold it out to her in the lake, and let her take hold and be pulled out. And if you can pull her out of the lake, let her come to Paradise, but if the onion breaks, then the woman must stay where she is." The angel ran to the woman and held out the onion to her; "Come," said he, "catch hold and I'll pull you out." And he began cautiously pulling her out. He had just pulled her right out, when the other sinners in the lake, seeing how she was being drawn out, began catching hold of her so as to be pulled out with her. But she was a very wicked woman and she began kicking them. "I'm to be pulled out, not you. It's my onion, not yours." As soon as she said that, the onion broke. And the woman fell into the lake and she is burning there to this day. So the angel wept and went away. [From The Brothers Karamazov .]

This Russian tale has both charm and theological problems. It overlooks grace, the fact that salvation is by grace alone, suggesting that salvation is earned by good works. Nonetheless, it does illustrate the excellence of gifts, and the heinous nature of selfishness. Even the giving of just one onion can be a great thing.

In our epistle lesson for today St. James writes, "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above." What does James mean? The good things that are yours are "from above." God is the source of everything good and everything perfect. Do you have food to eat, a roof over your head, a car to drive, and employment? These things do not come to you by luck or chance; God is the Giver of every gift, and they come to you from above. Some may object, "what about carrots and lettuce, or gold and petroleum; how do they come from above? Don't those things come from the earth below? Then I buy them at the store. Don't they come from the market?" Well, of course cabbage and tomatoes grow in the soil, but who puts the sun in the sky and makes rain to fall on the earth, allowing gardens to grow? Our Lord is the Creator of the universe and He is the One who sustains it minute by minute. He put the petroleum reserves in their underground vaults, and He laced the mountains with veins of silver and gold. And if men are able to discover these wonders, mine them out of the earth, and utilize them, God is the One who gives them the strength of their bodies and the intelligence of their minds to accomplish it. We buy our fuel at the gas station, our food at the grocery store, while the jewelry shop sells necklaces, rings, and bracelets, yet ultimately they are gifts "from above." They descend from our Sovereign God Himself. And let's not forget the greatest gift of all: our Lord Jesus who came down from Heaven to save sinners. Christ is the gift par excellence. Hence, God's gifts surround us if we would only open our eyes. Our response to this bounty and mercy should be one of praise and thanksgiving. It is known that chickens take a sip of water and then look up. That's how we should respond to the daily blessings we receive. Looking up often to give thanks to our Heavenly Father.

Moreover, God the Giver of every good gift sets an example for us. Just as He is the Creator, and calls us to be sub-creators in the artistic sense, so God as the Supreme gift giver calls us to be gift givers on a smaller scale to one anther. Giving gifts is beautiful, and emulates the Lord.

Saint James states that all these things come "down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning." Now James points out the immutability of God. He doesn't change. The phrase "Father of lights" is unique. Light in the singular can refer to salvation, the light of salvation, but with the plural James has something else in mind. He must be a stargazer. The phrase "no variation or shadow of turning" points to an astronomical image. God's steadfastness is like the stars, whose position in the heavens is consistent and whose steady positions can serve as guides for travelers. It is interesting how the ancient world contrasted stars and planets. The stars were good and reliable; whereas the planets symbolized whatever is fickle and suspect. The word for "error" in the Bible, especially doctrinal error is plane (Matt. 24:4-5; 1 John 4:6), the same word from which we get planet . James uses it as "any one who wanders from the truth." Jude 13 compares false teachers to wandering planets. For Jude, false teachers are wandering stars or planets whose course through the heavens is not as easily charted as the stars. God remains constant; like the stars in the sky He does not falter, fail or fluctuate.

"Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth." That is the next sentence to comment upon. It means that God brought us forth, He saved us, He gave us new birth. James is talking about being born again, and alluding to baptism (John 3:3; 1 Peter 1:23). God gives the new birth by means of the Word, the "Word of Truth." Is the "Word of Truth" a reference to the Gospel, Baptism, Scripture or even Christ Himself? It could be all of the above. They all play a part in our regeneration.

Notice the origin of our regeneration. "Of His own will" we become born again. That suggests that your salvation and mine took place by the good pleasure of God the Father. It was His will and His decision that brought about our rebirth. Our conversion experience derives from God's prior decision. An ongoing theological debate revolves around the question: Are we contributors to our new birth or not? The two opposing positions are called monergism and synergism . Monergism holds that God alone is responsible for salvation. Synergism claims that salvation is a cooperative effort between man and God. God is involved but man contributes something as well. The statement of James bolsters the case for monergism. We don't contribute to our own justification. The words "of His own will" are strong. They mean God is the Author of salvation. Comparing new birth and the natural birth may help illustrate the point. When a baby is born to earthly parents, the parents usually are the ones who decide if and when the baby will be born. In spiritual birth the decision of when the baby will be born is always of God the Father. In both cases it is the parent who makes the decision and does the action. Therefore, God is our Father, the Church is our mother, and we are children in the Household of faith. The Church is what we are born into by faith and baptism. We are born again because, as Jesus said, "You did not choose me, but I chose you" (John 15:16).

Once we are born again, we become a kind of "first-fruits of His creatures." That's the next phrase we want to examine. We have heard that word "first-fruits" before. The apostle Paul tells us that the risen, glorified Christ is the first-fruits of those who believe (1 Cor. 15). In other words, just as Christ rose from the dead with a glorified body, we shall also. St. Paul uses the "first-fruits" metaphor to uphold the doctrine of the resurrection of the body. St. James uses it in a different context. He uses the first-fruits image to describe the redemption of the cosmos. The phrase "first-fruits of His creatures" actually hearkens back to Genesis one. The Greek word for creation is "ktisma." It speaks of the material things in creation. Calling believers the first-fruits of created things means that Christians enjoy a special place in the totality of God's creation. James here is speaking of the complete restoration of the entire creation and not merely the redemption of the human race. The redemption of the elect leads to the redemption of a cursed earth. People always come first, since they are in God's image. Human beings alone are the crown of creation. In the course of redemptive history, the children of God are rescued first, then the stars, seas, mountains, animals, and plants are brought into perfection. How is that so? St. Paul explains it in Romans 8. Since creation was dragged down by man's sin, it will eventually be lifted up to Edenic conditions with the redemption of the bodies of Christians. Romans 8:21 declares, "the creation itself will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God." This is the teaching James seems to be repeating. The curse brought thorns, disease, and death; the future glory of our resurrection bodies will roll back the curse on creation and bring about universal restoration. James calls born again believers the "first-fruits" of this dynamic; we are the catalysts towards a new earth. In light of this truth, we should be good stewards of the environment and work now to bring about the Edenic garden conditions that God promises.

Reading the next verse. The writing style of James is dense; every phrase is packed with meaning. Thus we are able to cover only a couple verses in this sermon. James 1:19 says, "So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath." St. James has just spoken about the new birth and how it is God who causes us to be born again. But we are not to be stuck in infancy. The growth from babyhood to adult spiritual maturity depends to a large degree on whether we can get along with people. And getting along with people rests on this foundation: "Let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath." What does "swift to hear" mean? It signifies listening well, with a humble attitude, and a teachable spirit. What is the most important thing we must listen to? God's Word! The Christian is always ready to hear good instruction and accept correction based on biblical teaching. There is a connection between listening to others and listening to God's Word taught. A good listener of other people will normally become a good listener of the Bible; and vice versa, a good hearer of Scripture will come to listen well to other people.

How about "slow to speak"? That refers to controlling one's speech. The great talker is rarely a great listener. James has much to say about the tongue, much of it negative. People who talk all the time, mostly about themselves are narcissists. And narcissists are lousy at getting along with others. Christians are saved to live and grow in a family, the Family of God, and the tongue is the greatest threat to the harmony of that body. St. James compares the tongue to a horse, a ship and a fire (James 3:3ff). The horse needs a bit to rein him in. Without a bit, the unbroken horse becomes the proverbial bull in a china shop. He runs over people and hardly realizes it. To steer a ship requires a rudder. A ship without a rudder? It must be a hopeless feeling to be buffeted by gales on the high seas. And nothing is more dangerous than a fire out of control.

The authors Cloud and Townsend warn us that the undisciplined tongue starts early in life. [ Boundaries p. 79.] "We all know the experience of going into a supermarket and observing a four-year-old in total control of a mother. The mother begs, pleads, and threatens her son to stop having his tantrum. Then, at her wit's end, she gives him the candy bar he has been screaming for. "But that's the last one," she says, struggling for some control. But by then control is an illusion.

Now imagine that four-year-old as a forty-year-old man. The scenario has changed, but the script is the same. When he is crossed, or when someone sets a limit with him, the same tantrum erupts. And by then, he's had thirty-six more years of having the world cater to him." Now imagine a whole society of such individuals. That society would resemble Hell.

I spoke to a high school teacher recently. He's been teaching for a long time. He described the current classroom environment. Just when you think that lack of self-control and verbal rudeness couldn't get any worse, it does. Loud mockery, foul language, open defiance, adolescent temper tantrums when they don't get their way; these things create a poisonous atmosphere. Teaching is impossible in most schools. Yet, the current crisis of or culture could be reversed overnight if we were to put the words of James into practice: "let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath."

The phrase "slow to wrath" fits naturally with "swift to hear." An angry man is rarely capable of listening. He is lashing out in fury, usually to retaliate. And "the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God" (v. 20). Granted, anger is not inherently evil. There is a place for righteous anger. Christ practiced holy anger when He twice cleansed the Temple. Nevertheless, for most of us our anger is too heavily mixed with self-importance, retribution, and manipulation. We would have to confess that we are not yet holy enough to practice holy anger. That is why the Bible urges us to cultivate a reticent tongue and a calm temper. This is the beginning to Christian maturity.

James is not entirely opposed to the tongue. Some people don't talk enough. They fail to speak up when they ought to. Instead of voicing their opinion, they sit silent as a sphinx. In reality, the tongue can be a source of great blessing. It can be a source of blessing when we use our tongues to empathize, identify, encourage, confront, and exhort others. Lord, help us to control our tongues and use them for good purposes.

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