James 3:17-18

But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy. Now the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.

Encouraging Words

If we are pursuing Christ and growing in righteousness then we will be people who sow the seeds of peace and make peace wherever we go. This means that we do not engage in divisiveness. We are not at odds with those who think differently, whether politically, religiously, socially, or any other way. How can we get to this place? By receiving God’s wisdom from above, He gives us that wisdom and it is pure, peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner!

James 3:14-16

But if you have bitter envy and self-seeking in your hearts, do not boast and lie against the truth. This wisdom does not descend from above, but is earthly, sensual, demonic. For where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there.

Personal challenge

James moves on from teaching us that in order for our faith to be alive, we must be doing godly works, to this warning of how we must be careful of how we do Gods’ works. It is so easy for us to get wrapped up in all that we are learning about God and become puffed up and self-seeking in our endeavors. When we go down this path we become envious of others and try to project our own wisdom and actions. By doing this then we are moving away from God not towards Him. We must stay humble and centered in God for our works to be able to glorify Him. Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy!

James 2:26

For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.

Personal challenge

James spends a lot of his letter talking about the synergistic relationship between faith and works. This was important to him. As a reminder, who was this James? He was a half-brother to Jesus and one of His Apostles. He knew Jesus personally, his entire life. So, I am willing to bet that faith-driven works was also important to Jesus. The challenge for us in this is to hold on tight to the faith we are given by the Holy Spirit and to roll up our sleeves and put that faith to work. We are to be building His Kingdom, all of the time, not just on Sundays. we are to be loving our neighbor, all of the time, and all of our neighbors, all of the time. Our faith and works should be so tightly intertwined that they cannot be separated. Glory be to God!

James 2:19-20

You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble! But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead?

Personal Challenge

It is one thing to say that we believe in someone or something but is an entirely different thing to put our all into that which we have put our belief in and act upon it. God is who we put our belief. God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is the object of our faith and belief as well as the source of that faith and belief. However, if we stop there, then we are no different than the demons who also believe in God, and tremble in that belief. If we do not act upon that belief, become new and changed people in Christ, then that belief, that faith, is a dead faith. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner!

James 2:17

Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.

Personal challenge

I think it would be safe to say that no one wants to be dead. We all desire to be alive, vibrantly alive. If this is the case, then why do we so often choose to let our faith in God die a slow miserable death? We can live our lives saying that we believe in God, that we have faith in Him, and yet even the demons believe in God. The key to our journey to theosis is, what do we do with our faith. As James reminds us, if we do not act upon our faith and do things for Christ, then that faith is dead. Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy!

James 2:14-16

What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him? If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you says to them, “Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,” but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit?

Personal challenge

The epistles are pretty clear in their teachings, we must have godly works accompany our faith if we desire to be counted as children of God. Faith is not just some mental exercise whereby we proclaim our trust in God. This is fundamental, but without following that faith with works that glorify God, then our faith becomes stillborn. Lord, have mercy?

James 2:1-4

My brethren, do not hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with partiality. For if there should come into your assembly a man with gold rings, in fine apparel, and there should also come in a poor man in filthy clothes, and you pay attention to the one wearing the fine clothes and say to him, “You sit here in a good place,” and say to the poor man, “You stand there,” or, “Sit here at my footstool,” have you not shown partiality among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts?

Personal Challenge
There is only one principle that should drive the life and actions of every Christian. It is LOVE! This love started with God, flowed through Jesus Christ, and should be exhibited in our every thought, word, or deed. In this passage, James tells us that there is no room for partiality in the hearts and minds of a committed Christian. We are to treat EVERY human being as a special person, a child of God. It does not matter if they are rich or poor; black, white, brown, yellow, or any other color; male or female, adult or child; Republican or Democrats; American, immigrant, or even illegal alien. Every human being is created in the image of God and we are commanded to love them as we love our families or ourselves. If all professing Christians were to do this today, our world would be changed in an instance. What is stopping us? Lord Jesus Christ, son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner and forgive me for the partiality in my life.

James 1:22-25

But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.

Personal Challenge

One area of Christian doctrine that often generates great and vigorous, sometimes vehement debate, is the area of works. There are some faith practices that will go to the extreme of belittling or even trying to eliminate recognition of any works for fear that someone might think they are earning their way into Heaven. I have been on the receiving end of this teaching multiple times. In Orthodoxy, we believe that there is nothing that we can do on our own to earn salvation. Salvation only comes from the mercy of God through the works of His son, Jesus Christ. However, we do agree with the teachings of Jesus and His Apostles, that we eagerly do the works of God because of that salvation. His works all boil down to loving God and loving our neighbor. These are the perfect law of liberty that sets us free. These are what all of our works should be grounded in. This is what it means to be doers of the word, and not hearers only. So we do believe in doing works for our God. The works are not to earn us anything but come from our gratitude and joy of the blessings poured out upon us. Glory be to God! Let’s go and do likewise.

James 1:19-20

So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath; for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God.

Personal Challenge

It is so easy to jump to a conclusion in a situation and start blurting out my response. All too often that response is premature and ends up making the situation so much worse. This is such good advice to keep both ourselves and others in our relationship from resorting to angry responses. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner!