Practical Christianity 10 - change is needed if we want to reach our spiritual potential

In Chapters 4 and 5 of James, we are exposed to the internal struggles troubling the early church. There is no doubt that the apostles had their hands full with trying to navigate a safe passage through a cloud of isms, ideological tensions, rifts and rebellions.

James, no stranger to such things, addresses a trend across the Christian world

He resents the encroachment of worldly ideas into church life and labels it as spiritual adultery or an unhealthy friendship with the world. He also resents the independence of the saints. Their willful desire to do their own thing with no regard for the community, also gets to him.

More than that envies, strife, bickering and warring abounds. That old spirit of Cain is rife and therein lies the root cause as well. Indeed James obliquely confirms that.

He says, “You have not because you do not ask, yet when you do ask, you ask amiss, to consume it on your lusts”. He adds that for all our pursuits, we remain unsatisfied and incomplete.

I suppose it is possible that James had a leadership style that was a bit testy, for he certainly writes quite directly. However, the churches of the time were not built around singletons, which emboldens him to defend a principle, not himself.

My marriage fulfills me indirectly, through my wife. The same principle governs spiritual fulfillment. If I worked to please myself only I would be unfulfilled – and probably without a wife.  

We need to change

His argument recalls God’s instruction to Cain to find out what would be a worthy sacrifice, make relevant adjustments, and find the acceptance he so needed.

Yet, like him, many then and now, are not asking the right questions or seeking real answers, because they are preoccupied with themselves.

The implication is about self-promotion, for he says, “humble yourselves and God will lift you up”. It alludes to a great virtue of our faith, namely that the way up is down.

That should be the spirit with which we engage our fellow believers. Self-advancement and personal ambition is neither appropriate nor necessary.

What works in the world rarely works in God’s kingdom. We have a different model.

God reserved a place for all of us, but it has zip to do with what works for us in the world. So what about your qualifications or your position in the world. Of greater value is that we love the brethren, honor God, seek His ways and turn from our own.

I live in a country with the greatest concentration of natural endowments on earth – yet it can’t reach its potential, because everyone has a private agenda. We are divided along ethnic and ideological lines and our government relies on corruption to maintain a patronage system.

Does that make for a healthy, free society? Not at all. We have the most progressive constitution on earth, yet we are failing and heading for the wall, because we cannot or will not work in harmony. Every soul is in it for himself not the collective good.

Thus, in chapter 5, James asks what the gain is? Our wealth is corrupted, our garments moth-eaten. How tragic. The need to gain advantage over my neighbor makes us both poor.

Yesterday’s post was about there being a place for us all. That is so. Under a constitutional model, all should have a share in the world framed by that model.

If so, people should be able to live in peace and harmony, except that the intended beneficiaries of the new dispensation see all that loot and like children are intoxicated by it.

A missionary who works with such communities and loves them dearly, observed that “they will kill each other to gain another inch”.

It invokes the picture of souls in hell, feeding off a sumptuous common pot, yet remaining emaciated because they cannot get their long-handled spoons near their mouths, whilst the believers next door are fat and healthy from feeding each other.

The notion that sin is destructive and will yet destroy us all  is as relevant as ever. We need to get off our high horses, humble ourselves and return to our roots.

How will the church survive the coming storms if we don’t stand together?

We are going to have to learn how to stand as one or we will fall together. And leaders, that includes you. Assuming titles and setting yourselves above the community, is as much a root cause of our challenges, as the corruption of our political leaders is to the ills of our society.

As such, James challenges us to resist the Devil at work among us, and to know that he will withdraw if we have sufficient collective will to change.

The Jews help each other with long value chains, that pay Shlomo, to buy from Issy, who buys from Jaakov, who asks Avram to deliver the goods, so that Josef can run his business. Muslims do much the same. Christians don’t have a clue about that.

It brings me to the essence of a long study into practical Christianity. It is all good and well that we have a savior and the cross and all that goes with it, but that’s like having a great constitution without realizing its potential to enhance our lives.

Repent, turn around – madness is doing the same thing and expecting a different outcome

If we really want to see this faith work and work for all of us, we need to repent of our own ways and pitch in to make it work as a collective under one head, Jesus.

Our minds must be renewed by Him to ensure a meaningful path to harmony and abundance, without which we will fail – for judgment will begin in God’s house.

Against that background James says, “the effectual fervent prayer of the righteous avails much”. If we desire the right thing and earnestly seek it, will God not hear from heaven, change our hearts, heal our bones and revive us? That is the context for elders praying for the sick to be healed. 

(c) Peter Missing: bethelstone@gmail.com