What Kind Of Person Do You Want To Be? (James 1:1-12) Series

Who do you want to be? (James 1:1-12)

Today, we begin a new series on the letter of James. The sort of weird thing about teaching on James, from my perspective, is that I've done this before. Maybe 10 years ago, I preached through James in two little churches in Kulm and Medina. I'm not planning to look at my old sermons-- maybe at the end, I'll dig them out. But I'm in a very different place in life, in many ways. And I'm guessing that the whole book is going to come out quite differently.

One of the really interesting things we find about James's letter, when we study it academically, is that NT scholars read the letter in two very different ways. The older (critical) approach tended to divide James up into dozens of little sections, and treat them all as distinct little sayings. The end result was that James was treated like the book of Proverbs, in many ways (Dibelius is like the shining example of this approach).

Now, my guess is that most of us, when we read James's letter, tend to take the same approach. We treat it a little like a 5 minute Our Daily Bread. We'll read two or three verses, chew on them, and then put the letter down. The next day, we'll maybe read two or three more.

More recent NT study understands that James has a number of topics that he covers-- things like faith, prayer, testing, good works, and wealth. But above all of these ideas, arguably, there is one central idea. You can use a few different English words to describe this idea: Wholeness. Completeness. Perfection. Maturity (Douglas Moo does a nice job on this, somewhere).

I say this, and it's possible that some of you find yourselves feeling really squirmy. We evangelicals have been trained to have a built-in, instinctive response to all language like this. Any time we hear talk about wholeness, and completeness, and maturity, and perfection-- especially perfection-- we find ourselves wanting to offer a cautionary note. We will always sin. And perfection is something that won't come until Jesus returns.

All of this sounds pious, and humble. But the expectation throughout the NT is that we will grow to the place, spiritually, where we can legitimately be called whole, complete, mature, and perfect.

I know if I say something like this, I need to defend it. Let me quote two other people in the NT who are kind of big deal.

Let's read Jesus' words first, from Matthew 5:43-48 (NIV no reason):

43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor[i] and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. 46 If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? 47 And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? 48 Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

Now let's turn to Ephesians 4:12-13 (NIV again). Paul says:

11 So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, 12 to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.

The word Paul uses here for "mature," is the same word Jesus used in Matthew 5:48. "Be perfect, as your Father is perfect." Paul expects that through the work of apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers, we (laity) will be equipped for ministry, and we (laity) will build the body, so that we as a church grow together to a place of spiritual maturity. We, as a church, will attain the "whole measure of the fullness of Christ."

The idea of perfection, and completeness, and maturity, isn't that we never sin. Jesus, and Paul, and James are all aware that Christians still sin at times. The idea with perfection, and completeness, and maturity, is that we can reach the place, as individuals, and more importantly, as a church, where we are completely committed to God and to each other. We do sin, now and then. But we don't live in sin. We aren't slaves to sin. We don't even think that much about sin. Our attention is focused up, toward God, and outward, toward people.

So this goal of maturity, and wholeness, and perfection, is Jesus' goal for us. It's Paul's goal. And we will also see that it's James's goal.