from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.

2018 09.16 James 1:17-27 17 Every generous act of giving, with every perfect gift, is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. 18 In fulfillment of his own purpose he gave us birth by the word of truth, so that we would become a kind of first fruits of his creatures. 19 You must understand this, my beloved: let everyone be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger; 20 for your anger does not produce God s righteousness. 21 Therefore rid yourselves of all sordidness and rank growth of wickedness, and welcome with meekness the implanted word that has the power to save your souls. 22 But be doers of the word, and not merely hearers who deceive themselves. 23 For if any are hearers of the word and not doers, they are like those who look at themselves in a mirror; 24 for they look at themselves and, on going away, immediately forget what they were like. 25 But those who look into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and persevere, being not hearers who forget but doers who act they will be blessed in their doing. 26 If any think they are religious, and do not bridle their tongues but deceive their hearts, their religion is worthless. 27 Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world. 1

What Do You See in the Mirror? Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs [SLIDE] is the first Disney animated feature film and the first full-length animated film ever made. Based on the fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm, it tells the story of Snow White, a lonely princess forced to work as a domestic servant for her cruel stepmother (aren t they always?), who also happens to be the queen. The Queen s cruelty is surpassed only by her vanity. So obsessed with her appearance is she [SLIDE] that each day she seeks reassurance from her magic mirror that she is the most beautiful woman in the land. Magic mirror on the wall, who is the fairest one of all? she asks. ( Fairest in this sense refers to beauty, not impartiality. The Queen may be fair, but she certainly isn t fair.) Each day the mirror assures the Queen that there is no one more fair than she, but one day the answer suddenly changes. The mirror informs her that there is another whose beauty surpasses her own. Unfortunately for the Queen, the mirror is telling the truth. And the truth hits close to home, for it is the Queen s own stepdaughter Snow White whom the mirror describes. As the Queen learns, mirrors can tell us uncomfortable truths about our appearance. In fact, in English we have an expression to remind us of this [SLIDE]: The mirror doesn t lie. We all know this to be true. We stare into the mirror and scrutinize our appearance. Sometimes all we see are so-called flaws... an extra kilogram or two around the waist, a blemish on the nose, or wrinkles around the eyes. The mirror may not lie, but it can bend the truth. It can bend the truth to the extent that it can bend light. Department stores have sometimes been accused of using skinny mirrors in their dressing rooms to boost sales. If you look thinner in that cocktail dress or in those skinny jeans, you re more likely to make the purchase, or so the thinking goes. 2

One company in California has turned that accusation into a reality by producing a range of mirrors that make people look about 5 kilograms thinner [SLIDE]. Unlike the Queen s mirror in Snow White, there is no magic involved, only science. The mirrors feature curved glass that slightly distorts what it reflects, making objects appear thinner. The company s founder claims that the mirrors make people feel better about themselves and, more importantly for retailers, compel people to buy more clothes. One study found that people who used a dressing room with a skinny mirror were more likely to make a purchase than those who used a dressing room with a normal mirror. A mirror with curved glass is nothing new [SLIDE]. If you ever walked into a fun house at a carnival you probably saw a wildly distorted image of yourself in a trick mirror. You might have seen yourself with an enormous head or tiny legs, or [SLIDE] with a neck like a giraffe. So, on the one hand mirrors can tell us uncomfortable truths, and on the other they can deceive our eyes. In today s Scripture reading, James likens those who hear the word of God but do not act on it to people who look at themselves in a mirror but turn away and immediately forget what they look like. They can t remember what they look like because their image of themselves is not grounded in the word of the God who made them. They don t see themselves in God s image. Their vision of themselves comes from the world, which distorts their God-given image. They don t have a true picture of themselves. This is our first time reading the Letter from James. So, as with last week s reading from Hebrews, getting some background on this letter would be helpful. The letter is written from someone who refers to himself as [SLIDE] James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ (Jam. 1:1). 3

James was a common name, and there are many people named James who appear in the New Testament. The one mentioned most often in the Gospels is James the brother of John who, along with John, was one of the twelve disciples. James, John, and Peter seem to have been particularly close to Jesus because they often appear with him apart from the other disciples. Another James is James the son of Alphaeus, who was also one of the Twelve (yes, there were two disciples named James). However, James the son of Alphaeus appears only in lists of the disciples. Scripture does not tell us anything more of him than his name. Yet another James is James the brother of Jesus who appears in the book of Acts as a leader of the church in Jerusalem. There is some debate as to whether James and Jesus were actual brothers or if the term brother simply designates that they had a close relationship. As for which of these Jameses may have written the Letter of James, tradition has favored the brother of Jesus, but that is disputed for reasons I won t go into here. The bottom line is that the author of the letter refers to himself simply as James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ. The letter is written [SLIDE] to the twelve tribes in the Dispersion (Jam. 1:1). That term calls to mind the twelve tribes of Israel, but the letter is written to believers in Jesus Christ who likely had a Jewish background. The letter isn t addressed to any one specific community. No location is mentioned. The letter was probably intended for the church at large. Despite the greeting with which it begins, James doesn t follow the format of a letter. Unlike Paul s letters, it doesn t indicate specific knowledge of issues that the church is facing, it doesn t mention other co-workers in the gospel, and it doesn t end with a 4

concluding farewell. In fact, it ends rather abruptly, as if the writer had not finished his thought. Thematically, it jumps from one topic to the next without always a clear, logical progression, but there is one overarching theme to this letter [SLIDE]: James is concerned first and foremost with how Christians act. You won t find much in this letter about proper beliefs, but you will find exhortation after exhortation to right action. James is concerned with Christian ethics. Christian ethics refers to the moral values that guide the way that Christians live...what they do and don t do. The letter is filled with imperative verbs, i.e., commands, providing instruction on how Christians ought to live. We see several in today s passage: you must understand be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger rid yourselves of wickedness welcome the implanted word be doers of the word According to James, Christians must be and act in the world in a particular way. What they do and don t do is just as important as what they believe. Their actions must align with their beliefs. These commands that James gives his readers are not random. They are not just good advice. They are grounded in God, the God who gives generously so that we would become generous givers [SLIDE]. Every generous act of giving, with every perfect gift, is from above, coming down from the Father of lights (Jam. 1:17a). God chooses to be generous. God chooses to be the Father of lights, which probably refers to the lights of the sky, i.e., the stars. In other words, God chooses to create the heavenly bodies, the sun, the moon, the stars, and the earth. 5

God also chooses to create something else...us [SLIDE]. In fulfillment of his own purpose he gave us birth by the word of truth (Jam. 1:18a). God creates the heavenly bodies and God creates human bodies in fulfillment of his purpose. And what is that purpose? It is that we would become a kind of first fruits of his creatures (Jam. 1:18b). God creates us in God s own image so that we would bear that image to the world...the image of God s love, the image of God s grace, the image of God s peace, the image of God s forgiveness, the image of God s reconciliation, the image of God s hope. There is a fundamental difference between God and us, between creator and created, and yet at the same time we have been touched by the divine. We are God s handiwork, or as James puts it, we are a kind of first fruits. In the biblical tradition, the first fruits are the gatherings of the first grains that grow in the field or the first fruits to ripen on the tree or the vine. They were dedicated to God as a sign that the entire harvest belonged to God. That is what James is saying of the lives of Christians. They belong to God and are meant to be dedicated to God. Because we are the first fruits, the apple should not fall far from the tree. That expression--the apple doesn t fall far from the tree--is an idiom that means that a child has similar character and qualities to his or her parents. If the father is serious and studious, then it s not a surprise if the son or daughter is also serious and studious. As people who have been given life through the word of truth spoken by God, the God who loves freely and gives generously, we are to reflect God s goodness to the world. We are to bear witness to that love and generosity that we have received from God. Great! So, how can we do that? James has some practical advice [SLIDE]: be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger (Jam. 1:19b). The letter of James puts a great 6

deal of emphasis on Christians being mindful of our words. This brief warning here is a prelude to a much longer and more fiery warning about the danger of the tongue that occurs in chapter 3. James is particularly concerned with the way we express self-righteous anger. We are quick to criticize and find fault. To borrow a metaphor from the Gospels, we see with spectacular clarity the speck in someone else s eye, while we remain blind to the plank in our own eye. The anonymity of social media has only worsened our tendency to self-righteous anger. It has made us merciless. We go after one another with glee. Hiding behind computer screens emboldens us to say things that we would never say in person. If any think they are religious, and do not bridle their tongues but deceive their hearts, their religion is worthless, James warns (Jam. 1:26). A bridle [SLIDE] is the headgear that controls a horse. James is suggesting that the tongue must be tamed like a wild animal. Actually, he says just that in chapter 3. James is not saying that anger is wrong [SLIDE]. He is not calling us to weakness but to meekness. There is a difference. Weakness is fearful, but meekness is humble. Anger in the face of injustice is absolutely biblical. Not only is it biblical, it is holy. It s what fuels the prophets, who rail against Israel for neglecting to care for widows, orphans, and refugees. It s what empowers Jesus to overturn the tables of the money changers in the temple. Righteous anger reflects God s attitude toward injustice, and therefore righteous anger has its place. But self-righteous anger, on the other hand, does not produce God s righteousness (Jam. 1:20). It comes not from above, from the righteous God, but from within, from the sinful human heart. It s not about establishing justice. It s about establishing ourselves as morally superior. It s about the pleasure we take in looking down on someone else for their failings. 7

That is why James describes self-righteous speech as deceptive. It reflects our attitude that our behavior is beyond reproach, that we are somehow above judgment. Doing so makes our religion worthless, because as Christians, one thing that we should be certain of, without any doubt whatsoever, is that we are sinners in need of a Savior. Our words to one another ought to reflect that. It s not only our words that reflect God s image to the world but also our actions, and even our inaction as well [SLIDE]. James exhorts us to be doers of the word, and not merely hearers who deceive themselves (Jam. 1:22). There s that word deceive again. James is saying that to hear God s word of truth but not respond to what we ve heard with action is to deceive ourselves. It s like looking in the mirror and then turning away and immediately forgetting what we look like. It s forgetting that we are bearers of God s image. It s forgetting that we have received the grace of the God who gives generous gifts, perfect gifts, even the gift of his own Son. It s forgetting that through the life, death, and resurrection of God s Son that we have received new life, right here and now. It s forgetting that we are God s first fruits, set apart to live lives that reflect the grace that we have received in Jesus Christ. That is who we are. What happens to us when we forget who we are? Instead of looking in the mirror and seeing God s image, we see ourselves in the world s image [SLIDE]. When we see ourselves in the world s image, our lives take on the values of the world. When we forget that we belong to God, we look for something else to belong to. When we forget that our lives have meaning and purpose through Jesus life, death, and resurrection, we look for that meaning and purpose elsewhere. Rather than aligning ourselves with the word of truth, we end up deceiving ourselves and falling for lies. 8

Consumerism is a lie that tells us that we can buy our way to fulfillment. Happiness is just a purchase away, but the happiness always proves fleeting. We quickly grow tired of the last purchase, and need to make another. Tribalism, and its big brother nationalism, are lies that tell us that our identity lies in our membership in a group that is bound by borders. Those within are included, and those outside are excluded. The native-born are in, immigrants and refugees are out. America first. Korea first. To the Christian who hears the word of truth and acts upon it, these are heresies. The Gospel of Jesus Christ recognizes no boundaries. It is for everyone. Careerism, so prevalent in Korea, would have us believe that our worth consists in what we do for a living. The more we work, the greater our worth to our employer and our society. The quest for status and recognition is a lie that seeks to persuade us that our worth is found solely in what others think of us. Social media is particularly poisonous in this regard as it confers status with likes. We measure our worth in how many, or how few, likes we receive. The obsession with youthful appearance is a lie that tells us that our looks define us, and so our worth lies in our being desirable. These lies and many others would keep us from committing ourselves to the word of truth that we have received in Jesus Christ. They promise freedom, but they end up enslaving us [SLIDE]. But those who look into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and persevere, being not hearers who forget but doers who act they will be blessed in their doing, James writes (Jam. 1:25). Jesus Christ has liberated us from that life of slavery. We don t 9

need to search for meaning by purchasing stuff that we don t need, or by belonging to some exclusive group, or by what we do for a living, or by worrying what others think of us, or by how youthful we look, or anything else. We have been given our identity in Jesus Christ because he came into the world for us. He lived for us, teaching us a way of being in the world that is grounded in radical love. He died for us, freeing us from the grip of sin and death. And he was raised for us, raising us to new life together with him. The life that we live now we live in his name. Our lives are not our own. They have been transformed. Our words and our works, what we say and what we do, now has the power to reflect his love to the world. And speaking of reflecting [SLIDE], what do you see when you look in the mirror? Do you like what you see or do you see only the flaws? Beyond your physical appearance you should see something else you should see what Jesus Christ sees, a beloved child of God. You should see someone for whom he gave his life so that you could have life in him and live for him. 10