Gifts along the way and sermon post - James 4:13-17

 

After Sunday's sermon and standing in the foyer greeting people, I was presented with this beautiful artwork from the children who were in children's church.  I have received these over the years and I am always taken back by the love of the children.  I am thankful for the parents and workers who help our children understand the importance of the church leadership in their lives.  I do think as a church leader that I need to take seriously how I connect with the "little ones" of the church.  Jesus, at times, stopped everything to pull them up onto His lap.  A good question to ask myself as a church leader, "What are my connection points with those who are below my usual line of sight?"

We finished up the 4th chapter of James this Sunday which means next Sunday will be a stand-alone sermon before heading into chapter 5.  I am thinking about preaching on what true Christian fellowship looks like and why it is so important.  

This week we addressed one of the common ways we set aside what we should do with sin.  Instead of addressing sin with confession, repentance, and reconciliation we agenda sin to another period, place, and plan.  Even this diversion James corrects for it focuses on our will instead of God's will before heading back to the issue at hand.

When we boast in ourselves, we are standing alongside the boaster, the devil, who does this all the time found in the Scriptures.  When we humble ourselves, we are standing alongside the One who humbled Himself so that we might be saved and at peace with God.  

James gets us back to focusing on the battle within.  What side is winning?  We know by our reactions to what is going on the outside.  If it is creating quarrels and fights among us then we are "best man" or friends with the world's way of operating.  If it is focused on sharing true peace with others, the peace that comes from knowing God, then we are friends with God's way of operating.

The chapter ends with that very quoted verse, "Therefore, to one who knows to do the right thing and does not do it, to him it is sin" (James 4.17, LSB).

The sins of omission are those focused on what was not done.  God instructs and we don't do.  A great example is the parable of the talents.  They were given talents to used for the benefit of the away master.  The 5 produces 5 more, the 2 produces 2 more, the 1 buried it and dug it back up when the master returned.  The 1 was disciplined on what he didn't do.

The sins of commission are those focused on what was done.  God forbids and we do, do.  A great example is the fall of mankind in the Garden of Eden.  God forbade Adam and Eve to eat of the fruit from the tree in the center of the garden.  Adam and Eve did what God forbade.

How should we treat those sins of omission?  Are they of less importance than the sins of commission?  James ties them together.  The flow of the passage is that he has pointed out a sin of commission, the quarreling among them, something God clearly forbids.  It is followed with instruction on what a Christian should do when a sin is revealed.  Not following this instruction would be a sin of omission, failing to do what God has said.  James calls this failing to act on what you know as another sin.  Sin is piling upon sin and the hole you are digging is getting deeper.

For the Christian, the hole has a rope let down by God that I will call the rope of forgiveness.  The only way out of the hole of sin is the right response to sin and that is confession, repentance and reconciliation.  The only way out is to deal with sin God's way and not our own.  We grab ahold of the rope that says, "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness" (1 John 1.9, LSB).  

If we keep digging deeper than we are following the next verse, "If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us" (1 John 1.10, LSB).

Pastor Adam