When our kids turned 12, for their birthday gift I gave them a copy of the Autobiography of Malcolm X, and told them I wanted them to read all 400+ pages, and then write me a five page paper contrasting Malcolm’s ideology with the gospel. Now, as you can imagine, when they heard this they were quick to give me a big bear hug, kiss me on the cheek and say, “Oh, thank you father! This is the best birthday gift a 12 year old could ever ask for!” Said none of them ever! But seriously, after some arm twisting, they would do it and we would sit down and talk, and inevitably we would get to how Malcolm recruited many of his followers away from the church, and into the Nation of Islam. What he would do is, Malcolm would stand outside the doors of some prominent church just as the service was ending, and would yell at the top of his lungs, “Yall have been in church for three hours, singing and hearing about Jesus, and meanwhile nothing has changed in your community! What difference has your Jesus made in your day to day life?” That really is the question isn’t it? What difference has your Jesus made in your day to day life?

Historical Context

And this is the question James entertains when he sits down to write his letter. James is an intensely practical book where he is constantly pressing into the question of what difference should Jesus make in our day to day lives? And this is why I think the book of James is particularly relevant in our current cultural moment. We live in a culture where people are looking for something intensely practical. They want something that works. People today want to know what does our faith have to say about the marginalized? What does our faith have to say about the oppressed? Does our faith speak to those who are suffering, and should it ever critique those who are greedy or misuse their power? All these questions and more, James responds with a resounding YES! Christianity says something to all of the situations of life, many of which he deals with in this letter. Or to say it another way, while all Scripture is profitable and applicable, James particularly focuses on one aspect of the believers anatomy- our feet. He is putting shoe leather to our faith, and showing us how to walk these truths out in the varied situations of life.

And when we come to our text, James, in his typically intense practical way, shows us three questions Christianity addresses: 1. How do I deal with people who have offended me? 2. How do I respond to the Word when it exposes me? 3. How do I relate to people who can never repay me? 

How Do I Deal With People Who Have Offended Me? James 1:19-21

As our text opens up James talks about the issue of anger, and he gives detailed instructions on what to do when you find yourself angry. Anger of course happens when a person is offended. And James doesn’t give us any details when it comes to what initiated the offense and sparked the anger. In fact, it feels as if James mentions this so casually he is assuming a universal truth and that is at various points we will find ourselves offended by something from someone. When this happens our anger is triggered. The Greek word here is orge, and it’s pretty straightforward in that it means a feeling of intense emotion. That then leads to the question is anger, or orge bad? Yes and no. Writing to the Ephesians and the Colossians, Paul tells them to put anger away. But earlier he would say to the Ephesians, “Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger”- Ephesians 4:26. Interesting, but here Paul is clear, that there is a way to be angry that is not sinful. James corroborates this in our text. Notice two things. First, James does not say don’t get angry, but be slow to anger. But then he talks about the anger of man, which is a negative kind of anger that does not produce the righteousness of God. The implications is there is another, good kind of anger. James is in agreement with Paul, there is a way to be angry that is not sinful. 

It’s sort of like for those of you who have firepits. Orge is the fire, and boy is it a great thing when it is controlled within the boundaries of some sort of container. A fire walled off by stone is life-giving, and an amazing time. But boundary-less fire is bad, causing damage to everything around it, even human life.. The difference between the two can be summed up in the word boundary, or control.

Unrighteous Anger

Anger without boundaries, as we all know can be very destructive. In fact, in Matthew 5, Jesus says unrighteous, unfettered anger, kills: “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment”- Matthew 5:21-22a. Do you see what Jesus did there? He is connecting unrighteous, unfettered anger to murder. Now some of you have an image in your mind. You’re thinking of someone who has a violent outburst. Or maybe you’re thinking of that precious three year old who screams and throws themselves out on the floor, I’m thinking of the time I had my sons who were very little with me at a sporting goods store in Memphis, where we watched a kid who looked about 9, kick his father in the hind parts because his dad didn’t buy him what he wanted. My kids were shocked and looked at me as if to say, “Is that permissible?” I looked back at them as if to say, “I wish you would.” But there’s another face to this murderous kind of anger, it’s what I call the silent assassin face. A lot of us here are way too cool to pop off and erupt. Instead, when we are offended something in our spirits say, “Okay,” and we head for the exit. The result is the same- the relationship is killed.. 

Righteous Anger

On the flip side is healthy, or righteous anger. I know, I know. Some of you are saying, wait a minute, Bryan, are you saying anger can be a good thing? Absolutely. We see this with God. There’s no way you can read the Bible without seeing God get angry. In fact, theologians say anger is an attribute, a characteristic of God. Ephesians 2 says that God was angry with all of us because of our sins. God didn’t just stew in anger, he actually did something about it. God dealt with both his anger and the problem of sin, by giving Jesus Christ, his only son, to die on the cross for our sins. In fact, I John 2 says that it was the death of Jesus which became the propitiation for our sins. You know what that means? God’s wrath, his anger, was satisfied because of the death of Jesus, and now you and I can have a relationship with him, and experience eternal life now. God’s anger towards us worked itself out in a righteous outcome. That’s good anger. And in the same way, we look like God, when we are angry, but use our anger to resolve issues and draw closer to one another in relationship. 

Steps to Life-Giving Anger

If we are going to turn from unrighteous anger to righteous, godly  anger, we are going to have to take James’ words to heart. Instead of killing the relationship with a violent outburst, or playing the role of a silent assassin who just ghosts people, James says we are going to have to deal with our anger by having a conversation. This is what he means when he says we are to be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger. These three phrases all assume one thing- interaction between the offender and the offended, in an effort to bring resolution and healing to the relationship. What’s more is that we are going to have to keep our anger in control.

Last week Pastor JD used a Coming to America illustration, and since we are big on ethnic unity, let me bring some balance to that by using a NASCAR illustration. NASCAR is made up of vehicles that can flat out fly. The speeds at which they go are not only exhilarating, but can be scary. You may be surprised to know these cars never go as fast as they can. Out of concern for the safety of others, these cars have restrictor plates which limit their power and speed. As followers of Jesus Christ we have the Holy Spirit, and one of his roles in our life is to play the part of a restrictor plate, which is why one of the attributes of the HS is self control. When we feel orge rising it’s always good to call a timeout and ask the HS to be in control. 

Gentleness. Finally, James says in this section on anger that we are to be meek, which is the idea of gentle, another fruit of the HS. Now I want you to think with me of the things you are gentle with in your life, and I guarantee you all of them have one thing in common- what you deem to be valuable. You know the difference between a murderer and a doctor? Gentleness. Both hold sharp objects. One wields theirs to kill, the other to heal. And one values life while the other takes life. The person who offended you is made in the image of God, loved by God as much as God loves you. Be careful with your anger, and use it to give life, not diminish life. 

How Do I Respond to the Bible When it Exposes Me? James 1:22-25

Christianity has something to say about how we deal with people who have offended us, but it also has something to say as it relates to how we view and respond to the Bible. Now to those of you who either wouldn’t call yourselves followers of Jesus Christ, or are brand new to the faith, maybe you have an impression of the Bible that it is full of rules, and is therefore restrictive.  So when you see James referring to the Bible in verse 25 as the perfect law/law of liberty, your suspicions on one level seem to be confirmed, because the idea of law conjures up a whole bunch of rules, which would seem to suck the life out of the faith. But according to James, nothing could be further from the truth. Notice he refers to the Bible as the “law of liberty”. Of course we know that liberty is the idea of freedom. And many of you are confused because we think of freedom as the absence of restrictions, but the law seems to be the idea of restrictions making this phrase appear to be an oxymoron- law of liberty?  Freedom is not the absence of restrictions, but rather freedom is actually the ability to function at your highest or fullest God ordained capacity. Writing to the Galatians, Paul tells them, “For freedom Christ has set us free”- Galatians 5:1. And we know Paul does not mean they get to do whatever they want, but rather, Christ came so that they would live at their highest and fullest capacity.

It’s sort of like our cars. Now there’s things we do to our cars that we don’t like- like changing the oil, constantly putting gas in them. We might call these things laws. And yeh, you may shrug your shoulders and say that’s too restrictive so I’ll never do those things. Well, I can tell you that car will never be free- it will never function at its highest or fullest capacity. Or a fish may go, I’m tired of all this water, I want to live on land. The water is too restrictive. Well, go ahead and do you, but that fish will die. It’s the great irony of life- boundaries are the key to freedom, to functioning at our highest and fullest capacity. And so it is in the Christian life. The Word of God has much to say about our finances, how we steward sex and marriage, our time, our bodies, and every other area of life, but these laws are not meant to restrict us, but to unleash us. 

It’s from this point that everything else falls into place. Because the Bible has been gifted to the follower of Jesus Christ to make us the most free people on the planet, James says I want you to be a doer of it, and not just a hearer. To hear God’s Word without doing God’s Word is like chewing food without swallowing- it may taste good, but it has no long term benefit. And it is because the Bible has been gifted to us to free us, that we are to respond, James says, by looking intently into the mirror of the Word.

I love the imagery here. A mirror is simply an instrument which reveals reality. Because of this we don’t argue with mirrors. We don’t shake our heads and question mirrors. Instead we respond to mirrors by making corrections. That’s why James says that we are to look intently into the mirror of God’s Word. Back then mirrors didn’t use glass at all—only highly polished metal. In other words, their mirrors were not as clear as ours, so a person had to really look to see what was going on- they had to look intently. 

For a long time my wife was really frustrated with me because every morning I would stand in front of the mirror, leave without addressing a long piece of hair that stood out in my eyebrows. I saw it, but just didn’t think it was a big deal. Well, a year or so later I’m preaching out of town, get done and am shaking hands in the lobby. While talking to this one guy I noticed he wasn’t looking me in my eyes, but just above my eyes. So weird. All of a sudden he yanks this long eyebrow hair out, which hurt like nobody’s business. I wanted to punch this guy in his nose. When I told  my deeply sympathetic wife what happened she was dying laughing and said that’s what you get. Failing to respond to the truth of the mirror brough consequences down the road. 

Every Sunday, Pastor JD, myself or Pastor Curtis hold up the Word of God as a mirror and we say in so many words, LOOK! What this means is from time to time you will not like what you see and get offended. Let me offer you some practical advice. Done right, the perfect mirror of God’s Word WILL offend you. Offense is inevitable. When this happens, don’t rush to send us an email. Instead, take a 72 hour timeout and wrestle with why are you offended? Was it us, or the Word? Sometimes it’s us, and we do need to apologize because we could have said it better or different. But sometimes it’s just the Word. 

How Do I Relate to People Who Can Never Repay Me? James 1:26-27

James ends by telling us that pure and undefiled religion involves visiting orphans and widows and keeping oneself unstained by the world, or to say it another way it involves acts of justice and holiness. I love this, because most liberal churches leap at advocating for orphans and widows, but have little to say about personal piety, while historically conservative churches have had a lot to say about personal piety, but not a whole lot to say comprehensively about justice. Pure Christianity speaks to both.

Some years ago I was reading through the bible in a year and I was struck by how many verses dealt with the widow, poor, immigrant and orphan. Did you know there are over 2,350 verses that show God’s heart for the widow, the poor, immigrant and orphan? I read verses like Proverbs 19:17: “Whoever is generous to the poor lends to the LORD, and he will repay him for his deed”. I read passages like Jesus’ last sermon prior to the cross in Matthew 25 where he says that whatever we do for the least of these we do for him. And as if that’s not enough, in the same sermon he said that the failure to engage the least of these would result in us going to hell. No, Jesus wasn’t preaching works salvation. He wasn’t saying give to the poor so you’ll get into heaven. Instead, Jesus was saying the way we know heaven has gotten into us is we give to the poor. 

At the same time I’m reading about a 25 year old guy named William Wilberforce who was a follower of Jesus Christ serving in parliament of the UK back in the 1700s. Fueled by his faith he announced in a six hour speech that his great cause would be the abolition of the slave trade. He had a community of Jesus loving friends who decided to give up sugar, because most of the slaves worked the sugar plantations, so they said they won’t eat sugar until the trade was abolished. And sure enough this is what happened. 

And then in the midst of all this I was looking at my own life. Yeh, sure I was tithing, but could I really say my life was deeply invested in advocating for the least of these, for people like widows and orphans? I couldn’t. No, I wasn’t greedy by American standards, but is America really the standard? No, the kingdom of God and this book is. So how was my faith relating to people who could never pay me back? That’s a question I continue to ask to this day. Now I’m not going to get down into the weeds, but as we close there were two things along these lines which just rattled me. “When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap your field right up to its edge, neither shall you gather the gleanings after your harvest. And you shall not strip your vineyard bare, neither shall you gather the fallen grapes of your vineyard. You shall leave them for the poor and for the sojourner: I am the LORD your God”- Leviticus 19:9-10. Notice God’s care for the poor did not ultimately rest on a government program, but on the people themselves. They were to leave margins in their field for the poor to come and glean. This is, by the way, how Boaz meets Ruth. I know this is OT, but the principle is that of margin. Korie and I came to the conclusion that there was no way we could ever live into the fullness of James 1:26-27 unless we left margin “in our fields”.

John Wesley was rocked by this same principle. As a college student at Oxford he asked how much did he need to live off for the year. He did some calculations and came up with 28 pounds (this was too the 1700s). Anything he made over that he would give away. At the end of that year he made 30 pounds, lived off the 28 and gave the other 2 away. He said he would do that for the rest of his life. 28 pounds was enough for him. One year he made like 1500 pounds through the sale of his books, but he lived off the 28 and gave the other 1,472 away. He had settled the question of enough. Wesley and the Scriptures show us that we will never advocate for the poor and least of these until we do the very un-American thing of settling the question of enough. And I can’t determine that for you, and you can’t determine that for me. But let’s let the mirror of God’s Word wrestle with us.

Gospel Conclusion

And of course what fuels our generosity is Christ’s generosity towards us. You and I had the most intense kind of need there is- spiritual. But Christ, Paul says, though he was rich, yet for our sakes he became poor, so that we by his poverty might become rich.