A Call for Integrity

As we close our study of James, it occurs to me that while a typical follow-up on the message blog might be helpful, a wrap up and summary on James is also in order. So, that is the aim of this blog.

First, let’s chat about James 5:13-20. Redemptive intervention is a sort of unifying theme of these verses. We ask God to redemptively intervene in our lives and world as followers of Jesus. Be it suffering, rejoicing, healing, confession; ours is a walk of dependence on God for resources that He alone has. Blomberg and Kamell comment helpfully, “We should view prayer as another revolutionary tactic, not a passive resignation to a situation. In prayer, we enlist the aid and ear of “the Lord of Hosts”, our God who is more than capable of righting our wrongs and helping us in our pain.” Prayer is our way to seek God’s redemptive intervention. Then, we come to the idea of being God’s redemptive intervention voice in  someone else’s life. To lovingly confront someone who has wandered is in essence to ask God to use us a tools of redemptive intervention. In our culture (and if not more so in the church) loving confrontation is an unknown skill. We often end up in one of two ditches: confronting without love or avoiding confrontation altogether. And while those are understandable realities given our cultures values and norms, they cannot become the functional reality of the church. If they do, we will have even more people “quitting” on their faith joining the epidemic of wanders whose wounds are real and whose restoration feels more impossible with each passing day. Prayerfully, we can be people who go after the wandering ones. Just before Jesus addresses how to lovingly confront (Matthew 18:15-17) He tells the parable of the lost sheep (Mt. 18:12-11). The two are not disconnected. 99 sheep are safe and sound but there is one that is lost. It is that one that is pursued until it is found and brought home again. Jesus says it is this way with our Heavenly Father who “is not willing that any of these little ones should perish.” Redemptive intervention. And so, what we need to redouble in our lives is prayer. Prayer is the gateway for redemptive intervention for us and for others.

Now, let’s turn our attention to the whole book of James. One of the challenges of preaching this book is its seemingly haphazard outline. At times it feels like James is working on a randomized list of topics he feels need addressing. And, that might be in part the case. More so, it feels like James is trying to drive home a single point and coming at it from a number of topics and issues that have arisen in the church. James’ central point is: be an authentic follower of Jesus. Craig L. Blomberg and Mariam J. Kamell, said it this way in their concluding comments on James, “…when we examine the attribute of God’s simplicity or single-mindedness and the way in which Christians ought to imitate it, we discover a potentially unifying motif or subtheme running throughout the epistle. Because God never wavers in his character or purposes, believers should shun all duplicity or vacillation in their allegiance and obedience to Christ and emulate God’s trustworthy consistency. In short, they should become people of integrity.” Allegiance and obedience to Christ. Emulating God’s trustworthy consistency. This is what James is pleading for from his readers. After all, he didn’t write a theological textbook to his brothers and sisters, he wrote a field manual for Jesus followers. In closing then, let me add my voice to his, invest yourself fully in this- be an authentic follower of Jesus. And when and where you fall short, repent, get up and keep growing.