James 1:16-21

May 15, 2022

Immanuel Evangelical-Lutheran Church, Alexandria, Virginia

Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

My wife befriended another mom at my son’s school. She’s Orthodox, and they worship in Aramaic, which was the common language of the Jews at the time of the NT. She knows I’m a pastor, and last week she said to her son, “James’s dad is Abuna.” Abuna is Aramaic for “father.” People in public call me “father” all the time, but I tend to just think of it as a title most Lutherans don’t use. This is the value of learning languages; we are forced to stop and think about the meaning of words.

Abuna, father, denotes a familial relationship between pastor and people. In our transitory area, our individualized culture, and the toxic nature of contemporary politicking, we might not even know the names of the other people in our church. And if we do, we might speak the name derisively.

But the Bible would have us think differently. At the beginning of today’s Epistle reading, James calls his fellow disciples, “My beloved brothers.” He uses this language again and again: “Brothers, brothers, my beloved brothers.” The church is not a community based on race or color, a political ideology, or common interests. We are brothers, first of all from our common ancestor, the first man, Adam; and we are brothers through baptism into Jesus. Jesus taught us to pray, “Our Father.” Disciples of Jesus are by definition family.

What does James tell his brothers? “Do not be deceived.” Deceived by what? In the immediately preceding context James observes the power of sin in our hearts. We call this “original sin,” or “the sinful nature.” In other words, our hearts, our thoughts, our emotions are deceitful. He says, “Each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death” (vv14f). Our natural desires easily deceive us. God’s Word tells us, “Be on guard, be watchful, ‘Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers,’ your desires can deceive you; don’t look within yourself, but look up, to God; He gives you the gifts you need. ‘Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.’”

In other words, we didn’t become disciples of Jesus by our own choice, but by God’s action. If salvation depends on us, everything is lost. God does the action. “Of His own will He brought us forth.” For what? To be “His creatures.”

What does that mean? It means you are not your own. You belong to God. You are His treasured possession. He delighted in creating you, and He delighted in regenerating, re-birthing you to be a disciple of Jesus. In the same way that you make restrictions for your children to keep them from harm, God has given to us His holy law for our benefit and blessing. St. Paul shows us that the sixth commandment is grounded in our status as God’s precious treasure:

Flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s. (1 Co 6:18–20)

We are daily, constantly tempted to compartmentalize our Christianity, so daily life in the world operates in a different realm. But if your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, then a tabernacle devoted to the Name of JESUS is moving around the world as you leave this temple dedicated to Immanuel. You are an embassy of Immanuel, God with us, every moment of every day.

As tabernacles of YHWH, our ears and words and heart are at all times devoted to holy words, holy speech. That’s why James tells us, “Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God.”

There is no righteous anger, at least among men. God can be angry, but for us, anger is always sin. Yet we live in a culture that, both right and left, urges us to be enraged each day. That spirit of outrage influences the church, where “owning” the other is more important than speaking the truth in love.

A caricature of God, especially in the OT, is that He is easily and often capriciously angered. God’s own Word shows us otherwise. YHWH is repeatedly described as slow to anger. He is frequently angry with His people, because Israel—and we—are prone to ignore Him.

As for human anger, Proverbs is filled with warnings against it. Just a few examples:

A man of quick temper acts foolishly, and a man of evil devices is hated. (14:17)

A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger. (15:1)

A hot-tempered man stirs up strife, but he who is slow to anger quiets contention. (15:18)

So what do we do when we feel angry? Being quick to listen is oriented specifically to listening to what God says to us. That’s how James concludes this section: “Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.”

When we are angry, we are putting ourselves in the place of God the judge. The sin of anger puts our souls in danger. Jesus and John the Baptist would both say, “Repent.” James says, ‘Put away these sins, and receive with meekness, i.e., humility, the saving Word of absolution.”

“Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers.” The world wants you to be outraged. The world wants you to be angry. But God’s Word is able to save your souls. In the death of Jesus is your absolution. In the resurrection of Jesus is your life. He makes His Father our Father.

In the Name of + Jesus