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Tag Archives: James 2:14–17

The Church at Ephesus and Canticles 3

31 Wednesday Oct 2012

Posted by memoirandremains in 1 Corinthians, 1 John, James, Revelation, Song of Solomon

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1 Corinthians, 1 Corinthians 13:1-3, 1 John, 1 John 3:16–18, Ephesus, Faith, faith, Good Works, James, James 2:14–17, James Durham, love, Love, Revelation, Revelation 2, Song of Solomon, Song of Solomon 3, Song of Solomon 3:1-4, works

In Revelation 2, Jesus commends and then rebukes the church at Ephesus. He commends their good works and care for correct doctrine, “I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance, and how you cannot bear with those who are evil, but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and found them to be false.” He also commends their “patient endurance”. Yet, there is a fault, “But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first.”

Now James explains that a faith which has no work is no true faith:

14 What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food,
16 and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? 17 So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. (James 2:14-17)

John in his first epistle explains that one who claims love and yet does not actually conduct acts of love has no true love from God:

16 By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.17 But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him?18 Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth. 1 John 3:16-18

Thus, “faith” and “love” which exist only as words, are not faith or love; yet work — even good work of charity, and endurance and right doctrine — without love means nothing:

1 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.2 And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.
3 If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing. 1 Corinthians 13:1-3

What does all this mean? At times Christians of this time and place speak of a personal relationship with Jesus. Unfortunately, it seems that such words usually mean a self-centered self-defined vague Jesus as the guy who paid for my get out of hell card. Yet there
is a sense in which the phrase is quite correct: Jesus is a persons : he is a man and the Son of God incarnate and is a person. He is a person with whom a relationship may and must be cultivated.

But the relationship may not be a matter of mere words like “faith” or “love”. Were I to tell my wife “I love you” and yet keep a mistress, my wife would rightly question (to say the very least!) the word “love”. I perhaps may feel an emotion of some sort — but I would not demonstrate love. That would be a “dead” love or faith. My wife seeks the words, but she really seeks my life. When words and conduct, when the entire life renders a true love, then the marriage exists.

Conversely, if I were to do things because I thought she wanted me to, but I did not care for her out of love, there would still be no true love.

Conduct without love and words without conduct are both nothing more than manipulation. Work without love and faith is rank paganism: I have sacrificed X and so the deity owes me Y. Words without corresponding conduct are fraud. A confidence man promises an interest in an oil well in North Dakota — he may even deliver a piece of paper claiming the same — but he only delivers words without meaning, because he words correspond to nothing in reality.

How then must the church at Ephesus respond? Canticles (Song of Solomon) 3 pictures the bride who seeks her love:

1 On my bed by night I sought him whom my soul loves; I sought him, but found him not.
2 I will rise now and go about the city, in the streets and in the squares; I will seek him whom my soul loves. I sought him, but found him not.
3 The watchmen found me as they went about in the city. “Have you seen him whom my soul loves?”
4 Scarcely had I passed them when I found him whom my soul loves. I held him, and would not let him go until I had brought him into my mother’s house, and into the chamber of her who conceived me.

This passage pictures the desire of the bride for the bridegroom — and thus the desire of the Church for Christ. In Revelation 2, Jesus has told the Ephesians, You must come seek me — and seek until you find: just as the bride in Canticles must seek her love. James Durham’s comment on verse 4 helps us to understand the application to the soul:

The second thing here, is her success, which is according to her desire, ‘I found him’ (saith she); when I had pressed but a little further, he sensibly and surprisingly made himself known to me. Observe. 1. Christ is not far off from his people when they are seeking him, whatever they may think when he hides himself. 2. They who love Christ, and conscionably follow all means for obtaining him are not far from finding, nor he far from manifesting himself to them. 3. They who sincerely press forward to the life of ordinances beyond the form, and by faith take themselves to Christ himself for the blessing, not resting on their performances will not long miss Christ, yea, it may be, he will give them a sensible manifestation of himself sooner than they are aware; for, ‘the Spirit is obtained, not by the works of the law, but by the hearing of faith,’ Gal. 3:2. 4. A soul that sincerely loves Christ, should not, and when in a right frame will not give over seeking Christ till it find him, whatever disappointment it meets with; and sure such will find him at last. 5. Christ found after much search, will be very welcome, and his presence then will be most discernible. 6. Believers should no less observe, and acknowledge their good success in the means, than their disappointments; there are many who often make regrets of their bonds, that are deficient in acknowledging God’s goodness when they get liberty.

The Word in Acts.4 (Good Works)

26 Friday Oct 2012

Posted by memoirandremains in Acts, Good Works, Prayer, Preaching

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1 John 3:16–18, 1 Tim. 5:9-16, Acts, Acts 6:1–7, Africa, Amos 2:6–8, Charity, Ephesians 2:8-10, Faith, Galatians 2:10, Good Works, James, James 2:14–17, John, John 6:63, Justification, love, Matthew Parris, Paul, Peter, Prayer, Preaching, Self-denial, Word, Word in Acts, Word of God

1 Now in these days when the disciples were increasing in number, a complaint by the Hellenists arose against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution. 2 And the twelve summoned the full number of the disciples and said, “It is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables. 3 Therefore, brothers, pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we will appoint to this duty. 4 But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.” 5 And what they said pleased the whole gathering, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a proselyte of Antioch. 6 These they set before the apostles, and they prayed and laid their hands on them. 7 And the word of God continued to increase, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith. Acts 6:1–7 (ESV)

To rightly understand the bite of these words, we must first read them against the rest of the Bible. In 1 Timothy Paul writes to Timothy to direct him on the working of the church. Paul writes:

But if anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever. 1 Timothy 5:8 (ESV)

Thus, caring for the poor – particularly in one’s own family – is of extraordinary importance. One who will not care for his family is “worse than an unbeliever”!

What of widows who have no family? These are to be either cared for by the church or encouraged to become part of a new family by marriage (1 Tim. 5:9-16; this command obviously presents interesting challenges in the current societal structure where marriage is less than universally sought or obtained – particularly for widows).   

When Paul met with James, Peter and John, the pillars gave him “the right hand of fellowship” and left Paul with a single charge:

Only, they asked us to remember the poor, the very thing I was eager to do. Galatians 2:10 (ESV)

Both James and John specifically condemn those who claim faith and yet will not care for the physical needs of the poor (James 2:14-17; 1 John 3:16-18).  Both make plain that who does not actually care for the poor does not possess saving faith and does not bear the love of God!

So here we see that Peter, Paul, James & John all explicitly give commandment for the care of the poor – to the point that caring for the poor is a necessary coordinate of a truly redeemed believer. If we were to canvas the OT we would find repeated exhortations to care for the poor and repeated condemnation of those who refused to care for the poor.  The words of Amos, in particular, have always haunted me:

6 Thus says the LORD: “For three transgressions of Israel, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment, because they sell the righteous for silver, and the needy for a pair of sandals— 7 those who trample the head of the poor into the dust of the earth and turn aside the way of the afflicted; a man and his father go in to the same girl, so that my holy name is profaned; 8 they lay themselves down beside every altar on garments taken in pledge, and in the house of their God they drink the wine of those who have been fined. Amos 2:6–8 (ESV)

Without question, care for the poor, for the widow is of supreme concern for the Christian Church: it lies at near the very center of our life. However, there is one element which has even greater importance: prayer and the word.

There are two aspects to this hierarchy. First, without the word of God, without love and faith, such care for the poor fails. It is not the mere transfer of money which is needed. Material poverty, as awful as it is, is not the deepest danger and harm. Even the most wealthy and privileged human being will stand before God.  On that day, wealth will not help:

For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? Mark 8:36 (ESV)

The deepest and most profound need of humanity is reconciliation with God. Our particular troubles are merely symptoms and warnings of the underlying rebellion against God. All human misery flows from the fountain of sin and death. Pain and misery and oppression are merely proof that sin is present – and only in Christ will sin be destroyed.

The grandest anti-poverty program in the world – even if it lived up to its grandest claims – would merely ease the poor into hell.

Thus, the work of the word was of more importance that care for the poor (as extraordinarily important as that is), because the word is the only means to convey life (John 6:63 – interestingly coming at the end of a confrontation where the poor wanted only food and were not interested in the words of life).

Second, even as a practical matter, immediate care for the poor without the sustaining work of true faith and love will fail. The damage to the poor is much more than mere material want.  Giving money may ease one’s conscience but it does little to bring love to another human being.

Even as the welfare state has grown in the West, brutality has grown up alongside of it.  The most old and the most young, the most vulnerable of all are killed to grant momentary comfort to those with more power and strength. 

Along this line, there was an interesting article in the British Press, by Matthew Parris. Christianity Today recounted his argument as follows:

The problems in Africa cannot be solved with aid money alone, but Africans need to know God, contends an atheist journalist and former politician.

 

Religion offers change to the hearts and minds of people – something aid cannot do, argues Matthew Parris, a former conservative MP, in a column for The Times.

 

“Now a confirmed atheist, I’ve become convinced of the enormous contribution that Christian evangelism makes in Africa: sharply distinct from the work of secular NGOs, government projects and international aid efforts,” writes Parris, who was born in Johannesburg, South Africa, but now lives in England. “These alone will not do. Education and training alone will not do.”

 

He went on to say, “In Africa, Christianity changes people’s hearts. It brings a spiritual transformation. The rebirth is real. The change is good.”

 

http://www.christiantoday.com/article/atheist.africa.needs.god.not.only.aid/22223.htm

In conclusion, the word of God is more important than even the best of good work, because only the word of God transforms the heart and reconciles humanity to God. Then, as a wonderful secondary effect, the transformed life in turn flows out in good work. This is precisely the movement which Paul recognizes in Ephesians 2 where he first posits justification on the ground of God’s free grace received by faith – but such faith turns inevitably into good work:

8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. Ephesians 2:8–10 (ESV)

 

Richard Sibbes: The Danger of Backsliding.2

18 Wednesday Apr 2012

Posted by memoirandremains in 1 John, 2 Corinthians, Biblical Counseling, Discipleship, James, Preaching, Puritan, Richard Sibbes, Service

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1 John, 1 John 3:16–18, 2 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians 1:3-4, Affliction, Biblical Counseling, Comfort, Discipleship, Faith, Holy Spirit, Hope, James, James 2:14–17, love, Preaching, Psalm 46:1, Puritan, Richard Sibbes, Richard Sibbes, Service, Suffering, The Danger of Backsliding, Trial

Now lets us consider the observations of Sibbes upon the text, with a particular eye to the lessons that can be learned for practical ministry:

BLESSED St Paul, being now an old man, and ready to sacrifice his dearest blood for the sealing of that truth which he had carefully taught, sets down in this chapter what diverse entertainment he found both from God and man in the preaching of the gospel. As for men, he found they dealt most unfaithfully with him, when he stood most in need of comfort from them.

First, God’s people must comfort and minister to God’s people:

As for men, he found they dealt most unfaithfully with him, when he stood most in need of comfort from them

God ministers comfort in two ways: First, God ministers comfort immediately: That is, God provides his Spirit directly and without means as a comfort.  Paul references this in verse 17:

But the Lord stood by me and strengthened me

Paul has mentioned this elsewhere. In 2 Corinthians 1:3-4:

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our affliction,. 2 Corinthians 1:3–4 (ESV)

When I say that the comfort of God is immediate, I do not mean that it is without means.  The typical manner of comfort is through the Holy Spirit making the Word of God living and active in our heart so as to bring comfort. Thus, one person may read Psalm 46 and experience no comfort and another may reads the words and find themselves resolute and at peace:

God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Psalm 46:1 (ESV)

God becomes an effective refuge in the act of reading, meditating, praying, believing.

Second, God’s comfort is meditated through the actions of other believers.  The concluding portion of 2 Corinthians 1:4 reads:

[God comforts us] so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.

God comforts us immediately, so that we may comfort those who need comfort. We receive comfort to give comfort.

The obligation to provide aid, the command to love is a command to do – which no believer may safely ignore:

16 By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. 17 But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? 18 Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth. 1 John 3:16–18 (ESV)

John’s command is no warning. James makes this plain by appending the most severe consequence to the one who will not love in word and deed:

14 What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? 17 So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. James 2:14–17 (ESV)

While Paul was sustained by the Lord, the Lord’s body, the people of God, owed comfort and help to Paul. The failure to provide such comfort was a failure of faith, hope and love.

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