James: God’s call for Godly Living

Our men’s Bible Study looked at the book of James this week. The most common comment was that it was a “hard book”. Through the discussion, it did not seem that too many people liked it and they will be happy to move on from it. Personally, James has always resonated with me and I have enjoyed it over the years. While it has caused some controversy in the past, I see it as a clarion call for all believers today to be different from the world in our actions.

“My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires. Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you. Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.”

(James 1:19-22)

The book of James in the New Testament is one that stirs up different emotions as one reads it. As a practical book, it talks about the actions that believers take and how important they are to their faith and salvation. One the one hand, it seems to directly contradict the message that is given in Paul’s letters: people are saved through faith not by works (Eph 2:8-9). This causes confusion and even doubt about the message of not only this book but about the Bible in general. On the other hand, it calls followers of Christ to a much higher standard than most American Christians want. It literally says that when someone read the Bible, they are to “do what is says.” It even goes so far as saying that if someone is not showing their faith by what they do, they may not be saved.

The famous Reformer, Martin Luther, struggled with James because of the important that the author puts on works. At the time of Luther, the Church had many practices that over emphasized works of the believer to ensure their salvation. This was troubling for Luther when he taught on the letters of Paul. Luther saw the clear message of the Gospel saturating all of Paul’s writings. Grace comes freely from God and it is through this grace and through their faith that believers receive salvation. Good deeds have no part of the work of salvation. So when Luther read James and it says, “You see that a person is considered righteous by what they do and not be faith alone.”, it is understandable that he would react strongly[1].

The key to understanding both James and Paul is in acknowledging the differences in their audiences. For Paul, he was writing to groups of believers that included both Jews and Gentiles. He also was pushing back on the prevalent thought that even Gentile believers needed to follow the Jewish laws and customs in order to show a changed heart. To combat that idea, Paul was emphasizing the fact that salvation is a work of God only and that humans only receive it by faith and not by anything we do. He would go further and say that since believers are saved through grace and not under the law, there is no requirement to follow the Jewish law. He was pushing against a works-based religion and proved that works according to the law were not needed.

James, on the other hand, was written to believing Jews. They had just come out of this works-based religion and were free of the requirements that had been part of their lives since birth. For them, this newly found freedom through Christ’s sacrifice was attractive. They knew that they were saved apart from the law and so what they did had no effect on their eternal destiny. This freedom, evidently by the words of James, caused them to neglect the parts of the law that showed God’s character and were universal in nature and not tied to the practices of the Jewish religion. Because of this background, James highlights that believers need to live out their faith in their actions. To him, a person that believes the Gospel (sin is bad, Jesus paid the penalty for the sins of the world, believers then respond by following Jesus) will live differently than the rest of the world and will show God’s character in how they treat others. Believers, then have a high expectations for their lives like the Jews did but the reason is different. It is not leading to salvation but it is as a result of salvation.

Looking at our Christian culture today, I see more similarities with the culture James was addressing rather than Paul.  There is always a danger of becoming legalistic that needs to be avoided. However, the world is not puling believers in a legalistic direction as they were with the Judaizers that Paul was confronting. Instead, there is constant temptation to slide into compromise and to not stand out as a Christian. One only needs to look at the string of Christian leaders whose actions show the lack of care in living differently for Christ. That is why being different for Christ is so critical today.

My father lived this out. His life was a testament to striving to apply one’s faith to one’s actions. He was not afraid to stand up for what was right and he suffered the consequences for the stances that he took multiple times. Seeing that example has inspired me to watch what I do. His often quoted this definition to me: “The fear of the Lord is the continual awareness that God is watching and weighing all of our thoughts, words, actions, and attitudes.” Because of his guidance and example, Biblical ethics has become a passion of mine as well and why James speaks to me so much. James is a harsh reality check that reminds us that God is telling believers that our lives are important and what we do does matter. It is almost like James read Paul’s letter to the Corinthians when he said “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.”(I Corinthians 10:31) Today’s culture needs believers who are willing and able to show their faith in God through their actions.

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[1] While Luther struggles with James, he never suggests that it should be ignored nor removed from scripture.

Political Viewpoint _ Long Read

As with most people, my social media circles has people from various stages in my life. Because of that, I have people from very different places on the political spectrum. In the past few years, I have disagreed with both people on the left and on the right. Ironically, both sides assumed that I was opposite of them on everything simply because I disagreed with them on an issue or a few issues. During this time, I have posted articles that I mostly agreed with and “stalked” other people’s posts and only commented when I felt they went too far. My default is to react to others rather than be proactive (that is why I was much better at defense in sports than offense). Since I have some time on my hands, I wanted to express my opinion more completely and on my own terms rather than just reacting to others posts. I feel like the chorus from the song “Stuck in the Middle with You”: “Clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right, Here I am stuck in the middle with you.” I guess I am just a jester/fool in the middle, neither a clown nor a joker. I would rather be called a fool and stand by my convictions than be thought wise and compromise.

Problems with the Right:

My position has been and always will be that character matters when it comes to our leaders. That was a lesson that I learned from both my father and my father-in-law: treat others with respect, help others regardless if they “deserve it” or not (because they deserve it as much as or more than we do), and work hard in everything you do. While there are many other character qualities that are important, there is a basic line that needs to be obtained in these basic qualities in order for one to be considered for leadership. In my lifetime, there have been three Presidents that in my eyes have failed this test: Nixon (not that I remember much from then), Clinton, and Trump.

Unfortunately, many of my evangelical friends have tossed out the character issue for a more pragmatic approach to political debate. While many in the ’90s said (and ironically still say it) that character matters, it does not matter enough to make a stand when it would hurt politically.. I have heard that “we are in a war for our nation”, “leadership is a character trait”, “look at all he has done”, “he has endured so many attacks from the other side and still has done so much”, “we are not voting for a pastor but a president”, “We do not like his character either but...”, and others. Every one of those reasons are based upon the same premise: the character of our leader does not matter as much as their ability to accomplish what we want them to. In other words, the “character” test that was applied to Clinton can be ignored when it comes to our political allies.

As a Christian, this saddens me greatly to see so many abandon basic decency for pragmatic “short-term” wins in the political arena. Not only that, but I am hearing more and more that people who stood on their convictions before are setting them aside for political expediency in the upcoming election. This last week, the president of the seminary I attended just came out saying he was going to vote for Trump in November due to the policy stance and behavior of the democrats and he felt that voting a third party is wasting his vote. While I respect him and his stance on many issues, this was vastly disappointing. In 2016, he said “When it comes to Donald Trump, evangelicals are going to have to ask the huge question, ‘Is it worth destroying our moral credibility to support someone who is beneath the baseline level of human decency for anyone who should deserve our vote?’” He went on to say this:

“Can we put up with someone and can we offer them our vote and support when we know that person not only sounds like what he presumes and presents as a playboy, but as a sexual predator? This is so far over the line that I think we have to recognize we wouldn’t want this person as our next door neighbor, much less as the inhabitant of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. And long term I’m afraid people are going to remember evangelicals in this election for supporting the unsupportable and defending the absolutely indefensible.”

It is hard to see anything in President Trump’s actions in the last 4 years that would change one’s perspective on this matter regardless of what his opposition has done. I have not heard that he has addressed these comments in light of his previously recorded statements about the president.

Most of the criticism of the president comes from those on the political left and so they attack his policies. I am a conservative and my perspective is a bit different. As far as what he has done for the religious right, he has done many things that I agree with from a political perspective: His appointments for judges have been consistent with a constructionist legal perspective and supporting pro-life arguments; his undoing of many of the Executive Orders that President Obama used to bypass the legislature and enact some of his agenda; and wanting Congress to change current immigration laws to be more workable are just some examples of positive actions he has done. On the other hand, he is not a conservative and so his expansive budget, his used of tariffs, his method of enforcing immigration laws, and his consistent inability to speak the truth when his ego is involved are just some examples of actions that the Republicans have typically been against in the past but support because their man, Trump, is in charge.

My one question to those that support him is this: Do we need to take all that baggage that he brings to achieve these victories? Absolutely not. Besides, the methods that he uses to achieve these wins is childish, mean, arrogant and insulting. His managing style would never be used as a positive example in any reputable business school and the way he treats those under him swings from flowing hyperbolic flattery to ugly attacks and personal insults. It is no wonder that turnover is so high in his administration. This behavior is not acceptable in the normal business world and it should not be accepted in our political leaders either.

Problems with the Left:

While there are serious problems on the political right, the left has its fair share as well. Because I am a conservative, I will not address the political differences that I have with those on the political left. That list is quite large. Instead, I will highlight a few areas where those on the left have bent over backwards to turn actions other presidents have done into attacks on the current president.

Quite a few years before my dad passed away, he had a conversation with someone talking about Journalism schools. At the time, a dean of a prominent school said that over 90% of all the professors of Journalism schools were democrats. A truth a few years ago has blossomed into the mainstream media (MSM) loosing all credibility because of their bias against the political right and President Trump. The latest example is the way the MSM is treating the (more) credible accusations against Biden compared to the accusations against Judge Kavanaugh. Someone did a comparison of CNN’s coverage of the stories. The day the accusations against Kavanaugh came out, CNN did multiple stories and in three weeks, they had done 700. Compare that to the fact that three weeks after the accusations against Biden came out, CNN had not done a single article and it is clear the statement they are trying to make. The NYT editor even justified their bias reporting and even changing a headline because the Biden campaign asked them to. He said that they want to give all the information so that their readers can make their own decisions except for when they [The New York Times] need to make a judgment. In other words, they will report the news as long as it agrees with their perspective. Then, they cannot be relied to give the basic facts. While the MSM is counted on to ask difficult questions, their antagonism for anything the president does or says taints any questions they ask and articles they produce because of their own bias and agenda.

The Democrats in Congress are also showing themselves unable to keep from distorting facts and spinning quotes intending to inflict political harm on the president. While the presidents actions are childish, they never rose to the level of “high crimes and misdemeanors” and required him to be thrown out of office. The manner the House hearings were held was pathetically partisan and unfair and the rhetoric that has come against the president at times is ludicrous.

Stuck in the Middle:

If anyone has read this far, I am pretty sure I have offended everyone by something I have said. I know that I am in a VERY small minority that does not support President Trump but agrees that he should not have been impeached. I believe that we should enforce immigration laws and work to make them more viable but I also feel that some path can be carved out for those currently here to be treated humanely without destroying their families. I also believe, to paraphrase Lord Acton, Power corrupts, but political power corrupts absolutely. Our political landscape has turned from fighting for what is best for America into fighting to regain/retain political power even to the point of compromising on the basic tenets of the ideology each side claims to represent. I would love to see a third party of Common Sense arise. The current two party system is broken and the parties are drifting farther and farther apart: the Democrats are going more left and the Republicans are going like they are “three sheets to the wind” (my favorite idiom); not knowing what their foundation should be.

Thankfully, my hope is not in the political system. my hope is in the person of Jesus Christ. Thus, while I understand we are to fight to bring God’s truths to bear here on earth, I feel it is a poor trade to vote on the basis of achieving your agenda for making a stand and preserving your witness. Political gains are fleeting and temporary. Your Christian witness is more significant and besides, we are commanded by God to pay attention to it.

Autumn Foliage

Fall brings in cooler temperatures, pretty fall colors, Pumpkin Spice everything, and football. We love look at the different trees and the variety of colors that are hidden from us the rest of the year. Deep reds and purples and bright yellows and oranges show up in a dazzling display of God’s creativity. As pretty as they are, they do not last long. For some, it seems that one day all the leaves are changing and then the next day, they are down on the ground.

So what causes the leaves to fall? During the spring and summer, a storm can come through and have gale force winds but most of the leaves stay on the trees. During the fall, a light breeze can make a clear yard littered with colorful souvenirs. What is the difference?

While it has not been confirmed, I suspect that the leaves are not getting what it needs to stay healthy in the Fall. Because of that, the environment is better able to affect the leaf and dislodge it from its place on the branch. Some leaves stay longer than others; some trees hold their leaves longer than other trees. In any case, they drop because they are not secure to the branch anymore because they are not getting fed.

That is a wonderful illustration of the Christian life. We can be healthy and thriving in a church where we are receiving what we need. There might be differences in what each person needs but there are some basics: feeling God’s love, taking God’s Word and applying it to our lives, and the encouragements to and from other believers. These help us stay “green and healthy”.

On the other hand, when we are not getting those things, our spiritual health disintegrates. There can be many reasons for this. We could let our feelings and emotions get the best of us and we are not able to receive those things. We may let the environment around us influence us so we cannot get the benefits from God’s gifts. We may even see the church or our relationship with God in a way that does not focus on getting what God has for us (Abiding with him) and so even in going to church, we are not able to grow. As we lose that nourishment, our connection to God is weakened and like in the fall, it will not take much to send us tumbling down in doubt, despair, or hopelessness. In this state, our environment will have more of a negative impact on us than it did before.

While the pretty colors are nice, it does indicate that the leaf is dying. As a picture of my Christian life, I would rather be seen as a leaf on a Pine tree. Regardless of the weather or time of year, its leaves are still attached and growing. Regardless of what is happening in my life, I want to be attached to the tree that never stops giving me my daily bread. What are you doing to stay attached to the “Tree of Life” and are you able to receive your daily needs from God?

In Christian Ethics Does the "Why" Matter More than the "What"

Today is Halloween. I dislike Halloween. The commercial version that is on TV or the movies is not enjoyable to me. The scary, creepy, and spooky are not my choices for entertainment. I will be glad when tomorrow comes around and that theme of entertainment has passed on again.

Halloween in general was never a big deal at my house growing up. I do remember going out trick or treating once with some neighbors but that was not the norm. Typically, my mom and dad and I would go out for dinner and that would be the one night that dad would go to a movie with us. When we got home and since we did not have any candy, we would turn off the front lights and be in a back room. It was always the “Devils’s holiday” and we did not want to participate. Over the years, my view has changed and I now see that it is a great day to show community and be a presence for God this this dark night.

To my surprise, Dr. Russell Moore, former faculty at SBTS and current head of the ERLC of the SBC (that is enough acronyms), put in his new book the fact that he loves Halloween. The reason I was surprised needs some background information. While I agree with much of what he writes and stands for, there has been one item that I have always thought differently than him. He has written against the practice of cremation and said that it does not point to the hope of Christ’s return. His argument has never convinced me. Without getting into the particular arguments, I would have thought since he was against cremation, he would be against Halloween also.

So it was a surprise when I read his excerpt saying that Halloween was his favorite holiday. I was curious how, when he says that cremation cannot be redeemed, Halloween can be. His explanation was telling and shows what the Christian life is all about. To him, Halloween expresses the true nature of reality. There are invisible forces in the world as told in the Bible and those are "celebrated" once a year openly. There are times when we should be scared because evil is real. However, just like having an adult with you to protect you from the scary stuff outside and then going home and being safe inside your house, we can be safe from evil and the bad invisible forces when we are in the presence of our heavenly Father.

Whether you agree with that argument or not, I found it informative that he considers how his life, including how he treats Halloween, will “preach” the Gospel and point people to the hope we have in Christ. As Christians, we tend to just see actions. We tend to be legalistic about drinking, movies, daily devotions, music, etc. i.e. good Christians would not do this or that. We are more about doing the right things rather than being the right person and being the right person involves bringing all of our actions in line with our faith (1 Cor 10:31). I am not saying that what we do does not matter. It does. There are things that are off limits for Christians. On the other hand, the reason those things are off limits speak to what it means to be a Christian. It shows that being a Christian does and change things.

While there is a danger of justifying wrong actions, using unbiblical ideas, and giving the Sunday School reasons, I believe most Christians are committing the opposite mistake of not even considering why they do what they do. How much have you considered why you do the things you do? How do your everyday activities reflect your relationship with God?

Do we approach God like a cat or a dog?

We just got back from a week-long vacation and our cat, Luna, is showing us that she missed us. When I sat down for my devotions today, she jumped up on my lap and wanted me to pet her. For those of you who do not know, while I love cats, I am allergic. Every time I pet her, I need to go wash my hands before I touch my face or else I will breakout, particularly in my eyes. Since she needed some loving, I indulged her until I had enough and stopped. Surprisingly, she stayed on my lap for 5 minutes after I stopped. During that time, she was looking at the birds and acted like she wanted to go but never did. Finally, she jumped off and is laying down next to the sofa I am on.

If you haven’t experienced it, cats are different from dogs. Cats will come to you when they feel they need something. When they are finished, they walk away, or in the case of our cat, when she does not want you to pet her anymore, she will bite you. She is very lovey when she needs attention or food or water. Once you give that to her, she will ignore you. That is not the same as our dog that we had when I was growing up. Ginger would come up to me at any time and want to play or just me next to me. In general, cats are independent and only come when they can get something from you. Dogs want to just be with us regardless what we are doing. I wonder if they realize that they get something out of just being with us.

Before Luna jumped up, I read Psalm 4. In that Psalm, David says to God, “Answer me when I call to you, O my righteous God. Give me relief from my distress; be merciful to me and hear my prayer.” Later on, he states “… the Lord will hear when I call to him.” David is expressing the truth that God is always with us and we can rely on him for what we need. That is a wonderful truth and as Christians, we need to be reminded of that daily.

What struck me today is that too often, I approach God like a cat and not like a dog. I know that God is always there but when I approach him, I try to get something out of him. Maybe, I need a word of encouragement. Maybe, I need to be rescued from my own sin. I come to him needy. But when I get what I want, I leave. I walk away satisfied and that I can do things by myself again. Like a cat, I walk away to be independent.

Instead, we should approach God like a dog approaches its owner. The dog is just happy to be with their owner and do whatever the owner wants. If the owner wants to play, great. If the owner wants to pet the dog, great. If the owner wants to feed the dog, great. If the owner just wants to sit with the dog, great. The dog just wants to be with its owner and gets something out of it by just being with the owner.

How much to we approach God with that anticipation and excitement of just being with God? How often are we excited to spend time with him? My to do list each day always gets in the way of me just relaxing and enjoying time with God. How do you approach God? How much do you enjoy spending time with him? What can you do to put everything aside to enjoy God today?

Head - What type of knowledge do you want?

Last week, I used the image of building a snowman to help understand discipleship particularly in the family. A well formed snowman has 3 sections. Those sections relate to areas we need to grow as a Christian: Head (Know about God), Heart (Love God), and Feet(Service for God).  Today, I want to talk about what it means to make sure the head of our snowman is well-formed. How do we grow in our knowledge of God?

One of the things we do from time to time as a family is to watch Jeopardy. We like to watch to see how many of the answers we know. We know that we will not be good enough to make it on the show but we want to see what we know. We all have our strong subjects where we might now over half of the answers in that category. Rarely do we know all of them in a column but it does happen. Now, when I do know the answer, quite often, I struggle to explain why that is the right answer or how I know that answer.

We use a term for that: trivia – interesting facts that are not well-known.  Most of the time, they are unknown because they are also trivial – of little worth or importance. Knowing who all the wives of Zeus is not going to impact how I live. Knowing the different countries that Paul visited on his second missionary journey is not really going to help me deal with problems that I have at work. Completing the song line: “Sing us a song, you’re the piano man” does not help when I have an argument with my wife.

While Jeopardy focuses on the trivial, we can have knowledge of more important things and weightier topics. For example, we know the other people in our family in a much deeper way than just the brute facts about them. Our hobbies are another place where we can find this more robust knowledge. Both of my boys are into Marvel movies. When we go to one, they can talk about the backstory about this character and how the movie was different from the comics. I sit there and all I have to say is that I liked the movie. Their knowledge of that topic is significant. They do not just know the facts.

So what is my point? What kind of knowledge should we have of the Bible, God, The Gospel, and Theology in general: trivial or robust? Okay, that was an easy question. Obviously, we should have as robust knowledge of God that we can. Great. Which is easier to teach: trivial or robust knowledge? Unfortunately, trivial knowledge is fact based and is right or wrong. It is easy to teach, correct, reproof, and train basic facts into people as opposed to making them think. I am not saying that we should not teach kids the names of the books of the Bible. I am not saying that we should not encourage Bible Memorization. I am not saying that we should not push our kids to work on their Awana workbooks. What I am say is that those things do not translate to a deeper walk with God. We need to get kids out from thinking just because they know the facts, they know what they need to know. I was that kid. I knew the right answers. I knew God broadly but never knew him deeply.

The key to getting kids to know God deeper is to ask better questions. A webcast from Truth78 said it this way: we need to ask questions that lead to Biblical conclusions that are linked to practical applications in their lives. We need to “blow their minds” with deep questions or push back on their pat answers so that they can see their “trivial” answers just won’t cut it in the real world. We need to make sure that we are teaching for the right kind of knowledge to make it easier to connect with the heart. How is that done? We will talk about it next time.

Discipleship - Do You Want To Build A Snowman?

My folks gave me a wonderful gift by raising me with a strong foundation in the knowledge of God and seeing the world through the lens of the Bible. One of my dad’s popular sayings was “prove it to me in Scripture”. That foundation stuck with me and helped me through times where I questioned my faith. For example, I took a religion course at NDSU from a Lutheran Pastor/Professor. He had some different ideas and openly questioned the validity of the Bible. Because of the foundation that my parents instilled into me, those questions and comments drove me to learn more about God through the Bible rather than drive me away from the Christianity.

In some of my interactions with atheists personally or through their writings, I found that many grew up in the church but lost their faith. What makes some hold to faith and some loose it? I think the answer is found in their foundation. If kids are taught to ask hard questions and lean into the Bible, their foundation will be much stronger than the kids that received the Sunday School answer to their questions. Some do not get any answer to their questions at all. This is why I think Children’s and Family Ministry is so important. We need to build that foundation of faith on the Rock (Matthew 7:24-27) so that when hard times come, their house will stand.

It was not until recently that God gave me a helpful picture of how disciples are “grown”: a snowman. Growing up in Minnesota, I have built a few snowmen in my days. The best snow for it is the wet, sticky stuff. To make a snowman, you gather up some snow into a ball. They you roll the ball on the snow. As you roll it, it gets bigger and bigger. If you are getting the shape of a tire, you need to roll the ball sideways so the ball can stay round. If you have some spots that need to be filled in, you can pack some snow in there. As you are going, you are trying to grow the snowball in all directions at the same time.

This struck me as a great analogy for how we need to help our kids grow as disciples. Larry Fowler[i] (Awana Ministries) and Mark Steiner[ii] (DiscipleLand Ministry) both use a three-pronged model for growing disciples: Know, Love, Serve. For our snowman picture, what we know about God is our Head, what we feel about God is our body (which has our heart), and what we do for God is our Bottom (our feet). We want a well-formed snowman which means that all three need to grow together. Too often, we focus too much about knowledge and facts and not enough about learning to Love God. So the idea is that we want our kids to grow in knowledge about God, grow in our desire to have a relationship with God, and grow our character into being like Christ.

The passage of scripture that helped this vision is Philippians 1:9-11. In this passage, Paul talks about how all three areas work together. We start with growing in the knowledge and wisdom of God (Know). Then we “approve what is excellent” which deals with our hearts desires (Love). Then, we strive to live pure and blameless lives (Serve). And we do all of it for the praise and glory of God. That is our goal: to help our families to bring God all the glory in everything we think, say, and do.

In the next few weeks, I will be blogging about what it means to grow in what we Know, Love and Serve about God along with some other ideas about how we can help our kids grow in these areas as well.

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[i] Fowler, Larry. Raising a Modern-day Joseph. 2009

[ii] Steiner, Mark. “Measure Your Ministry”. 2014 DiscipleLand Brochure.