James makes his vital
point in Ch 2: 17, that “faith without works is dead”. He follows with, “show
me your faith without works and I will show you my faith through my works”.
At the most practical
level, works like prayer reveal how you believe God to answer prayer, and going
to church shows how you believe God to reveal Himself through his people, or
reading your bible reflects a belief that the Holy Spirit will ignite its
pages.
At a more advanced
level, loving your spouse, guiding your children, cleaning up your life,
avoiding old haunts and so on, all reflect your fear of God, the essence of
faith.
No respecter of persons
However, James makes a
point about not being respecters of persons. Treating everyone equally in God,
hinges on the belief that in Christ we are indeed neither black or white, rich
or poor, male or female, bond or free, Jew or Gentile, and so on (Galatians 3:28).
In my daily
commentaries on reading the bible in a year, I have been enthralled by the
story of Job.
Job spends 30 chapters
defending a simple principle: that he is only answerable to God and that God
alone determines his life course. That contrasts the views of his friends who witch-hunt
for a deeper cause to explain the contradictions of his crisis.
Caught in the middle with Him
My conclusion was that
Job was caught between three primal tensions: his vertical relationship with
God and sorting out where he stands with Him, his horizontal boundaries as in
staying within himself and his calling instead of tempting God, and the depth
of his life relative to material needs.
Those three tensions
ground him and center him in God’s will and disabuse the opinions of his well-meaning
but misguided friends.
A few years ago, I
had a close encounter with God. His presence was so real as he whispered,
without judgment for my failings, “I raise up. I cast down, but your life
is not in the hands of another”.
Jesus got there too.
When he declared His life calling, the locals in Nazareth wanted to either
throw him off a cliff or crown him. He ignored both, walked through them and
advanced to His life purpose. He never again answered to anyone less than God.
There is a place for you
Well, James is recognizing
every person’s unique place in God and the value they bring as individuals, to the
life and thought of His kingdom. We are not here to serve the ambitions of
others, to please men or to become a hired platform for other ministries.
God honors your
individual value and calls you to follow him towards a place of personal
relevance and value within the collective we call church.
I hate the clergy-laity
model and ministers who promote themselves above the community, are in the way
of what God is doing. Every member of the body serves a vital role and we will
only ever plumb the height, depth and breadth of Jesus, through that collective
expression.
Hence, like Job and
Jesus, we must ultimately stand before the Great I am as individuals, to hear
him say as he did to Jacob, “who are you?” That is not a negative question, but
a challenge for you to stand up and be what He meant you to be.
Getting there your
crises, turmoils, desert places and wilderness wanderings, will thicken your
armor, insulate your thoughts with the helmet of salvation and guard your heart
with His breastplate, so you can stand your ground. Thus, having done all, stand
(Eph 6).
Rise Sir Knight
Then you too will walk
through the crowd of divided opinions and popular expectations, to answer His call
and rise to your own throne.
David so got that,
that he set God at his right hand. God had no desire to rule where David was
expected to rule. David needed to fulfil his calling, but God was his right
hand counselor.
En route there, David
was challenged by the Philistines. He
set aside his coronation and retreated to the citadel of Zion to confront the
long-standing threat to his calling. God promised to be with David as he routed
the enemy. The enemy turned away, resigned to fight some other day.
God has his hand on
you. Sooner or later you must get what that means and rise to it as a noble
son, never to apologize for what he has called you to: as you then run your
race and finish your course, for His glory – not your yourself or for the glory
of others, but for Him.
Get real, get practical
What frustrates most of us is a tendency to over-spiritualise our calling. We will hear prophetic words and yearn for more, ever hoping for the day; but sooner or later we must go.
Sure there is a place for growing up, and getting ahead of ourselves will in a pigsty, but when your time is fulfilled and God calls you, don't turn back.
As Richard Branson said, "When called, don't worry that you don't know what to do, go and you will learn what to do". That sums up Practical Christianity well enough.
(c) Peter Missing: bethelstone@gmail.com
No comments:
Post a Comment