Our church receives a pastoral letter from James by messenger. We know James and trust his wisdom and leadership. He addresses us familially as brothers, opening with encouragement, ‘count it all joy when you experience trials.’ Come now, brothers, James urges, be wise, repent and do what the Lord wills.
Unlike the church nearer the end of these last days, those who received James’ letter know well their trusted pastor who writes from Jerusalem.
James knew Jesus as a brother for many years, then finally repented of his sin and disbelief after the resurrection when the Lord appeared to him. Now James and the church must live with the controversies of the day or possibly die for their witness of Jesus.
He addresses these men as brothers (although some contemporary translations include ‘sisters’). Culture dictates that women are included in the church, yet the Lord authorizes only men to lead its course. Also, men address only men and their family as leaders serving the Lord, while women lead other women and children as the Lord wills. All serve Christ.
All leaders of the church, James, the Apostles, Elders and other men must look to the Lord, through Christ Jesus and the Holy Spirit for works of the Lord’s will.
After beginning with his encouragement, ‘count it all joy,’ James calls on the church to seek wisdom from God.
Men who judge
James has pointed to God as One. The Lord God is the only lawgiver. Only our Creator, Almighty God has the complete power to destroy. The Lord also has the merciful power of grace — forgiveness of our sins — and also forgiveness of the sins of all those we tend to judge.
Who are you to judge the Law, James asks? Why would you judge another believer?
Perhaps some disciples of Jesus had judged the half-brothers of Jesus or thought that Saul of Tarsus could never be saved by the Lord. So James asks us to use the wisdom of God with men and allow God to judge.
James 4:
8 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Be miserable and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.
11 Don’t criticize one another, brothers and sisters.
Of course James had heard Jesus’ teachings before His crucifixion and resurrection. Surely James knew the comforting beatitudes Jesus taught frequently. Blessed are you when…, but also ‘woe to you’ when… (you turn from the Lord God.) James will address some woes as well.
Blessed are those who mourn,
for they will be comforted.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they will be filled.
Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they will see God.
Woe! -אוֹי
James reminds us of blessing from God, but warns of the coming woes to the worldly. This same pattern of warning from Jesus and the Prophets resonates with more familiarity to the church then than now.
Woe! alas! oh! passionate cry of grief or despair
Many first century hearers of the word would have been more familiar with these cautions from Isaiah:
Woe unto the wicked! it shall be ill with him: for the reward of his hands shall be given him.
Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!
Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!
Isaiah 3:11, 5:20, 5:21, KJV
Jesus taught this same wisdom of God known through the Prophets.
James warns the church against the woes of the worldly among us, even in the church. He will add more specific woes of the Lord’s opponents to our letter before its conclusion.
Brothers and sisters, do not complain about one another, so that you will not be judged. Look, the judge stands at the door!
James 5:9 CSB
The Vapor of this Life
Thy will be done.
What would James have learned from Jesus about expectations for this life?
Our mortal life is a vapor, a passing mist.
For prior to His crucifixion James and others had expected a Messiah quite different from the brother with whom he grew up.
Jesus died as a man of only about thirty-three years, not as an aging conquering king (like David or Herod the Great). Joseph had also died when James was quite young.
James must have recalled, ‘we both had an earthy papa who raised us for a time; but my brother, the Lord taught us to pray only to our Father in heaven, for ‘His Kingdom will come.’
Now, after the resurrection James must have recalled Jesus’ words about prayer.
“Our Father…,” Jesus taught.
Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
So James writes to the church:
James 4:
13 Come now, you who say,
“Today or tomorrow we will travel to such and such a city and spend a year there and do business and make a profit.”
14 Yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring—what your life will be!
God knows, James implies, and we all must realize.
Most of the church commutes to work; we trade with the world as merchants of the Lord’s work. Yet what profit to our heavenly treasure from those of the world with whom we trade?
So where will we go? Who should we see and how must we make our plans every day?
Instead, you should say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.”
James 4:15 CSB
Why does James address the church in this way?
Because some merchants become rich in commerce and poor in spirit.
16 But as it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.
Woe to those who boast!
James equates our business braggings as evil. And worse, because you know Christ, you know what is good. Yet for some to whom he writes, James warns, ‘your works are evil.’
17 So it is sin to know the good and yet not do it.
Rich Oppressors Will Be Judged
Do you know sin? And does the fruit of your salvation blossom into right works as the Lord requires?
Jesus and others warn that the wolves of the world cunningly watch the sheep of the Shepherd. Although it is their place to watch over us, some oppress us.
The rich (who may even employ or trade with us) sometimes oppress others of the church, he writes. And James’ implied question to the ‘saints’: ‘Are you one of these, brother?’
Even the world opposed to Christ sees your works and wounds His bride the Church by the false witness of the hypocrite.
James 5:
Come now, you rich people, weep and wail over the miseries that are coming on you.
James 5:1 CSB
There it is again, ‘come now,’ James implores directly.
Is he talking to me — a Christian, an upstanding financial supporter of our gathering?
James is not addressing the world here, only the worldly of the church who would claim Christ Jesus.
Once again his tone will reflect that of familiar prophets of old.
2 Your wealth has rotted and your clothes are moth-eaten. 3 Your gold and silver are corroded, and their corrosion will be a witness against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have stored up treasure in the last days.
Some indictment!
A few hearing James’ letter may think:
Perhaps Pastor James had best back off some, so as not to offend other rich supporters of our church who make our work possible. Did Jesus ever talk to His followers like this?
Jesus said to his disciples,
“Truly I tell you, it will be hard for a rich person to enter the kingdom of heaven.
Matthew 19:23 CSB
But what of their tithe to the church? (At least I think all of that money more than I can imagine must be a tenth of their income.)
These are the business owners, the merchants of our church, respected by the businesses and communities we serve.
“But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your comfort.
οὐαί – Woe to you, warns Jesus. – Luke 6:24
‘What do you who are bosses say to yourself, brothers,’ James would ask the hearers of his letter? Don’t you realize that you cannot treat your brothers or your neighbors of the world in a worldly manner when you continue to claim Christ Jesus?
4 Indeed the wages of the laborers … which you kept back by fraud, cry out…
…and the outcry of [your employees] has reached the ears of the Lord of Hosts.
I take some liberties here contemporizing & combining English translations and authoritative commentary.
5 You have spent your years on earth in luxury, satisfying your every desire.
Your glutinous heart feasts, as in the day of slaughter for an ox unaware of its last day, its blood destined for the altar of judgement.
You have condemned.
The just man you murder.
A righteous man from whom you claim compassion does not resist you when you show him no mercy.
You have heaped up treasure in the last days.
Your gold and silver … will be a witness against you and will eat your flesh like fire.
James 5:3c,ab excerpt NKJV
The Harvest Approaches
“Now concerning that day and hour no one knows —
Matthew 24:36a CSB
“Then two men will be in the field;
one will be taken and one left.
“Two women will be grinding grain with a hand mill;
one will be taken and one left.
“Then two men will be in the field;
one will be taken and one left.
“This is why you are also to be ready,
because the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.
--- Matthew 24:40-42,44 CSB
“Blessed is that servant whom the master finds doing his job when he comes.
“But if that wicked servant says in his heart, ‘My master is delayed,’…
Matthew 24:46-48a CSB
Of course, James preaches the same warnings to the rich as he certainly heard his brother Jesus teach.
“He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. – Matthew 24:51
Therefore, be patient
James preaches to the faithful, ‘Woe to the rich.’ Do not count yourself with them. We will all face the judgement when Jesus returns. Now he encourages the most faithful, most worshipers of Jesus who suffer at the hands of many in this brief life.
7 Be patient, therefore, brethren, until the coming of the Lord.
The farmer waits for precious fruit. He waits first for rain and endures to wait for the late rains before the harvest.
8 You also must be patient. Strengthen your hearts, because the Lord’s coming is near.
The fruit of patience in the church
9 Brothers and sisters, do not complain about one another,
so that you will not be judged.
Look, the judge stands at the door.
10 Brothers and sisters, take the prophets who spoke in the Lord’s name as an example of suffering and patience.
11 See, we count as blessed those who have endured.
You have heard of Job’s endurance
and have seen the outcome that the Lord brought about
—the Lord is compassionate and merciful.
Come now
James’ letter to the church about our works sounds so much like Jesus.
“Come now, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will … do this or that…’”
How do you know that the Lord will give you more time?
“Come now, you rich,
Weep and groan with anguish .. because of all the terrible troubles ahead of you.
It’s an invitation, a forceful rebuke to some in the church:
“Come now, repent and receive our Lord’s mercy.”
Make your covenant with the Lord and He will accept you through the sacrifice of Christ Jesus.
“Come now, let’s make a covenant, you and I. Let it be a witness between the two of us.” – Genesis 31-44
As Laban, father-in-law to Jacob, reached out in peace, so does your Father in Heaven reach out to the lost sheep of Israel. James, half-brother of the Son of Man, the Messiah Jesus, writes to the church from Jerusalem.
Come now, —the Lord is compassionate and merciful. Count it all joy when the world tries your patience.
To be continued...
