Jeremiah 29:4-14
James 1:2-8
That
the Church in America has foundered in the past 50+ years is no secret.
That the Church is spiritually compelled to address this problem is also no
secret. The secret, then, seems to be in exactly how we need to address
this spiritual drain - AND - why we even need to bother. There is a lot of hand-wringing within the
Church over the notion that we are somehow in "uncharted" territory,
that this new "unknown" requires new programs for a new generation,
that we face "new" problems of irrelevance and social insignificance,
that no one (including, perhaps, many members) takes the Church seriously anymore, that
there is a "war on religion", or that perhaps we are indeed running
headlong into the "end times" as foreseen in The Revelation and that there is simply nothing more we can do.
Maybe
none of these things, maybe all these things; but we are kidding ourselves if we
think the problems the American Church face are anything new; or that the
problems we face are purely "external" rather than primarily, perhaps
exclusively, "internal". The
"holy" and "priestly" nation of Israel has already been
down this dark path, and the prophets sent by YHWH to call them out of their
spiritual slumber spoke directly to the problems and told the people of Israel exactly
why they were headed to destruction if they did not repent. The prophets were not sent to the "godless
hordes" by whom Israel was surrounded; the prophets were sent to the
people of YHWH!
What
the prophets shared with the people of Israel was nothing new to them; they
just didn't want to hear it, didn't believe they needed to.
Because they were so arrogant in their faith, their religion, their
heritage, or a combination of the three, they refused to listen. Or maybe like the contemporary secular
culture seems to demand of the Church, the Lord just needs to "catch
up" with the times; but the Church fails to remember that the Lord did
indeed "catch up" - and Israel was brought down not because foreign
armies overtook them but because the glory and presence of the Lord had
departed from them as shown to the prophet (Ezekiel
10), allowing the foreign armies to invade and destroy.
Several
studies and well-intentioned efforts have tried to reach back to the book of Acts
in order to rediscover and recapture the Church’s genuine “root” and reconnect
to the movement that changed the world.
This is in fact our Wesleyan Methodist heritage. It was John Wesley's effort and vision to
revitalize the Anglican Church in England in the 18th century. While we
must not dismiss the usefulness of Acts in this endeavor (or
any other book in the Bible, for that matter!), it occurs to me that we
are not dealing with a Church that has yet to be called forth anymore than the
prophets were dealing with a nation that had yet to be freed. Rather I
think we need to more seriously consider that we are dealing with a Church that
is 2000 years old; a "faith" that is older even than this! We
should not be seeking to create a “new” thing like Abraham and Sarah tried to
create with Hagar; the Lord Himself already did the New Thing (Isaiah 43:19). We should be seeking to reconnect with and
embrace that New Thing we have perhaps turned our backs on.
The
Epistle of James, then, may
be a resource better suited for our needs today because the apostle was
addressing a body of believers who conceivably should have already known better
than what they were actually doing - or not doing. The epistle seems more
an admonishment of the established Church than a letter of encouragement to a
church under the fire of persecution.
Where
James veers from Paul's writings is
that James was speaking purely from a
Jewish Christian perspective to a perhaps a purely Jewish Christian
audience. Paul and James are both talking about how the church is to treat newcomers,
the poor, and the otherwise marginalized without sacrificing some fundamentals
or their spiritual and doctrinal integrity.
And both very pointedly require that the Church answer not to the
newcomers nor to the dominant culture; but to the Lord Himself. Always.
So the problem the Church today faces, such as it is, is INTERNAL; not
external.
James is probably best known for his
statement that "faith without works is dead" (2:17). In this, then, and
dating back to the Reformation period, James
is unfairly (and often blindly) dismissed because his emphasis seems to be on
"works" rather than on faith.
This is an unfair characterization, however, because James' audience is presumably more
mature in the faith. It is also
reasonably to see that James is doing
battle with a perceived heresy - like St. Paul's battle with the
"Judiazers" in Galatians
who tried to force circumcision on the Gentiles, a uniquely Jewish religious
practice the apostles had agreed previously (in Acts) was not among the "fundamentals" - but James' battle is with spiritual
complacency. We often forget, as James' audience apparently had, that our
Lord must - be - served!
And this service requires - REQUIRES - "works" of faith.
Over
the years, however, it seems to be that Christians have taken a sound Protestant
doctrine that "no works can save" and turned it completely
upside down in that "no works are to be performed". This is, of course, a betrayal of traditional
Christianity in which Jesus requires that His faithful "take up his cross
and follow Him". It should also be
our understanding of what is required of us on the path toward
"sanctification", that spiritual journey by which we go on and strive
toward "perfection, leaving the discussion of the elementary principles"
(Hebrews 6:1). Call it "Advanced Christianity"
because it's time to grow up and move to the next level.
It
is a good message to someone who does not know the Lord at all to be reminded
that our Lord wants THEIR hearts; that they cannot - and need not - "earn"
their way in! Yet it is a remarkably
careless word to the Body of Believers who know (or should know) that our
"works" are not only those means of grace by which we are
strengthened in the faith - but - are also those means of grace by which we
share the Gospel (as we are called to do), help and hold one another to
mutual accountability in the faith (as we are challenged to do); and
serve the needy, protect the oppressed, and minister to the poor (as we are required
to do). The Body of Christ as an
expression of Christ Himself can do no less than to "work" for and
toward the Kingdom of Heaven. Jesus'
life and ministry were filled with "works" of mercy and
"works" of piety! How can we
think we can carry on His work if we do no "work" at all?
So
James is a much more prophetic - and
relevant - critique of the contemporary Church even as it was written 2000 year
ago, and he uses his Jewish Christian points to show a practical approach to "hospitality"
- a required component of the Church that reaches far beyond a simple
handshake - which itself requires "works". In this single element, then, I think it may
be that the Church as a whole underthinks "hospitality" and overthinks
"works". We do not give enough
attention to the communal purpose for which the Church was called into being -
AND - we use the curse of "works of the Law" as a means by which to excuse
ourselves from the need for the "works" to be performed; insisting
perhaps that the burden falls to "someone else". There is no one - NO ONE - among the faithful
who is immune to this confusion and arrogance as evidenced by the modern Church
flailing about, "doubting ... like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the
wind" (James 1:6); "being double-minded";
trying to keep up with the secular Joneses, vainly attempting to play on both
sides of the spiritual street.
This
challenge is not easy. Repentance is not
easy. Both, however, are necessary. Both require that we take the steps necessary
to draw closer to the Lord - intentionally and purposefully. Both require that we examine not only the
Word of the Lord as revealed in Scripture - but - also examine the reality of
the culture and how it relates to the Lord's revelation in Scripture. And both require this certain knowledge: that
sanctification is not possible without "works" of faith.
If we choose to live like Israel did - and for which they
were driven from the good land the Lord had given to them - we should not be
surprised when the Lord turns His back on us. And where is the
Lord? Where is the Lord while our children are numbing themselves to
reality with drugs and alcohol? Where is the Lord as men and women decide
to abandon hearth and home to find new lovers or seek self-fulfillment?
Where is the Lord while our children are killing each other in the streets for
money and drugs and “turf”? Where is the Lord when our women sell
themselves on the street for drugs or money? Where is the Lord when
widespread corruption has come to be acknowledged as “just the way it is” in
politics?
Yet
in the midst of this chaos the promise is certain: "You will seek Me and find
Me - when - you search for Me with all your heart;
I will be found by you" (Jeremiah
29:13,14). Jesus did not take away
our need to repent - He showed, instead, why we should! To receive life. To participate in the "New
Thing". To strengthen us for the
journey. To grow His Beloved Church by
His means - and not our own. To lead us
Home. Until that time, then, let us begin
to "bear fruit worthy of repentance".
Let us give Glory where Glory is due - because we have seen the New
Thing ... and it is good! AMEN.
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