God Can Not Be Limited

Those conflicts and disputes among you, where do they come from? Do they not come from your cravings that are at war within you? ²You want something and do not have it; so you commit murder. And you covet something and cannot obtain it; so you engage in disputes and conflicts. You do not have, because you do not ask. ³You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, in order to spend what you get on your pleasures. ⁴Adulterers! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. ⁵Or do you suppose that it is for nothing that the scripture says, ‘God yearns jealously for the spirit that he has made to dwell in us’? ⁶But he gives all the more grace; therefore it says,‘God opposes the proud,

but gives grace to the humble.’  ⁷Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. ⁸Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. ⁹Lament and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy into dejection. ¹⁰Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.(James 4)

I don’t know about you, but I am getting weary of Jame’s finger pointing at me. 

James offer very little grace in his theology.  And the little grace he does allow always has a limits. 

However I do think the question he begins with is interesting.  And important:

Those conflicts and disputes among you, where do they come from?

I would add on to that question, by asking, about the kind of grace we offer each other.

According to the writer of John’s Gospel God offers grace in abundance:

¹⁶From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.(John 1)

And again in John 10:

7 So again Jesus said to them, ‘Very truly, I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. ⁸All who came before me are thieves and bandits; but the sheep did not listen to them. ⁹I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture. ¹⁰The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.(John 10)

The God I believe in, is limitless.  And His understanding of the human limitations is much greater than James gives Him credit for. 

Two Old Testament writer put it this way:

31 The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. ³²It will not be like the covenant that I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt—a covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, says the Lord. ³³But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. ³⁴No longer shall they teach one another, or say to each other, ‘Know the Lord’, for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the Lord; for I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more.(Jere. 31) 

For my thoughts are not your thoughts,

   nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord. 

For as the heavens are higher than the earth,

   so are my ways higher than your ways

   and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Is. 55)

I am thinking that James has forgotten that God created the world/earth.  

And, God put the human being in the world.  

And.  Soon after, that major event, God came to realize that both the world and the human were less that perfect — less than “very good.”  

God, in my understanding, made it very clear throughout scripture that His children were to be kind, and just and humble to each other.  

All of the other rules and rituals were from human thinking.

⁶ ‘With what shall I come before the Lord,

   and bow myself before God on high?

Shall I come before him with burnt-offerings,

   with calves a year old? 

⁷ Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams,

   with tens of thousands of rivers of oil?

Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression,

   the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?’ 

⁸ He has told you, O mortal, what is good;

   and what does the Lord require of you

but to do justice, and to love kindness,

   and to walk humbly with your God? (Micah 6)

So the one thing James write that seems in line with God’s will is this: 

¹⁰Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.

Maybe we should take some time to explore the power of humility.  

What do you think?

What Is The Missing Link?

Now on to Wisdom.

 ¹⁷But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without a trace of partiality or hypocrisy. ¹⁸And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace for those who make peace.(James 3)

Before I use the Greek and Hebrew to make the terms peace and wisdom more interpretable.  I want to ask you to wonder about what it might mean to make peace?   What would it cost us?

It is an important question in, our overly conflicted, world today.  World peace is far from a reality.  Peace in our own nation seem absent.  Family systems are filled with peace-less-ness. 

So I wonder how it could be that we make peace.  

First Let's take a look at the Hebrew word shalom, this often prayed for sense of peace.  Shalom, carries the meaning of pure, un-compromised, calm.

“In the basic sense, it is not the narrower one of peace, but the wider one of “well-being.”..for health, and for national prosperity, which implies stability…..

"The peace that God gives is all-sufficient. It carries with it a solid blessing.”  

“Peace of the soul…comes through God’s saving work which restores our normal state of being….It is a positive state inseparably connected with joy and faith.” (p.210)

¹ The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. 
²   He makes me lie down in green pastures;
he leads me beside still waters; 
³   he restores my soul.
He leads me in right paths
   for his name’s sake.

That my friends is true peace.

The Greek word for wisdom is Sophia.  Which “…always denotes a quality rather than an activity…not just the skill itself, but the mastery of it,….hence Sophia is an attribute of the gods (God) and their gift to humanity….Some of its common parallels have to do with perception, understanding or skill combined with uprightness and honesty.”  

"It is summed up as wisdom being the practical mastery of life and its situations.”(p. 1056ff)

Sophia is thought to be imparted or learned.  Its  source always comes from  God’s Spirit’s activity acting within the human soul.

Which all brings us to the my question: What it might mean to make peace?

Here is another wonder I have:  If people all over the world pray for peace, then why does it seem so impossible?  

The reason I asked is because I am quite sure that God’s Spirit has not stopped moving among God’s people.  I believe that with all my heart. 

I also am also confident that prayer works.  God does still listen to his people’s honest needs. 

So, where is the missing link here?  

If people indeed pray for peace.  And God still is listening, and active, in this world.  Then why is peace some illusive something that seem so impossible?

Peace, and harmony, on earth is one of God’s goals for his creation.  Right?

Otherwise, why would God have come to earth in Jesus’ skin?

It is true, isn’t it, that at Jesus’ birth the angels sang of this shalom.  Peace and good will.  Right?

Where is the missing link to this most wanted quality?

13 Who is wise and understanding among you? Show by your good life that your works are done with gentleness born of wisdom.

Any thoughts?

13 Who is wise and understanding among you? Show by your good life that your works are done with gentleness born of wisdom. ¹⁴But if you have bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not be boastful and false to the truth. ¹⁵Such wisdom does not come down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, devilish. ¹⁶For where there is envy and selfish ambition, there will also be disorder and wickedness of every kind. ¹⁷But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without a trace of partiality or hypocrisy. ¹⁸And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace for those who make peace.(James 3)

What is "Good?"

13 Who is wise and understanding among you? Show by your good life that your works are done with gentleness born of wisdom. ¹⁴But if you have bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not be boastful and false to the truth. ¹⁵Such wisdom does not come down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, devilish. ¹⁶For where there is envy and selfish ambition, there will also be disorder and wickedness of every kind. ¹⁷But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without a trace of partiality or hypocrisy. ¹⁸And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace for those who make peace.(James 3)

I continue to approach the Book of Jame with an open mind (;  

As you know, I have already commented on the first twelve verse of James 3, at the beginning of this adventure, speaking first of Jame’s analogy of the tongue.  One point where James and I can fully agree.  

In his discussion on the tongue he points out the dangers of such a small muscular organ of the body.  

In many ways the tongue is the cause of unwise and not-good expression. Which causes other, to have the need, to balance the words spoken; with the actions taken by the person who speaks. 

13 Who is wise and understanding among you? Show by your good life that your works are done with gentleness born of wisdom. 

My first inclination, this morning, was to ask: What is “good?”  Which led to another question about the biblical meaning of “wisdom.”

So what is good?  And what is wisdom? (what does it mean to be wise?)  Two issues that James names without explanation.  

The truth is, what is “Good” can — and is — often a source of debate.

Who can say what is good or not good?   

Many disagree on the definition of good. What is good for one; is not-so-good to another.  Which can lead to the conversation of what is right and what is wrong.

Example:  Not long ago I was having this, cautious, debate with a young woman who was not so critical of our present national leader.  It was clear that what I felt was not-so-good, she assessed as just fine. 

This particular conversation had mostly to do with our, so-called, President’s common evaluation of women and the way he speaks to and treats them.  A subject that, to me, is appalling and totally unacceptable.  

Her feeling was that it was just normal.  Perfectly okay with her.

So what is good?

According to my handy theological dictionary good, in the Greek language when used as an adjective, means “excellent,” “quality.”

In the Hebrew understanding, God is pure good.  God does good.  “We are shown what is good by the revelation of God’s will in the law…..Those who do good are good; but whether that is possible without God’s help is debatable.”    

“Goodness is “a quality or moral excellence —  the fruits of the Spirit.” (p.3) 

“Good is kind, excellent, useful, orderly, genuine.” (p.1320)

According to Matthew 19, Only God is good .

¹⁷And he said to him, ‘Why do you ask me about what is good? There is only one who is good. If you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments.’

So when James tells us to: Show by your good life that your works are done with gentleness born of wisdom. 

He is telling his listeners to live with kindness, orderliness and in genuine ways.  He is talking about the things God, through Jesus, has taught us.  

As always, this is just one person’s interpretation of what might be understood from reading Jame’s words.

Tomorrow I will tackle wisdom.