More on James

Tearing a hole in the fabric of the universe. That's a picture of what our sins/shortcomings do. When we looked at James at EverGreen this past week we looked at how we move from tearing holes to stitching the universe back together again. (You can find the message in the download's sections at www.egm.org) A huge part of doing this says James (James 1.21) is humbly accepting the word that is planted in us i.e. we need to see that God's word is the guide we need to do life well or as Guido DeBres said, "those who are truly a part of the church bend their necks under the yoke of Jesus Christ."
What we didn't get to Sunday was figuring out if we are making progress in humbly accepting the word planted in us. James gives us a guide to check our progress when he says, 1:26 "If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person’s religion is worthless. 27 Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world." To check our progress we check our mouth--am I getting my tongue under control more and more or am I pretty much destroying people as I have in the past, in whatever way. Our words have the power to destroy by telling lies about God, by abusing people with our words, by failing to listen etc. The next thing James points out is that if we are overcoming our shortcomings we are caring more about the most helpless in our society (orphans and widows were the most helpless in his day). So we ask if we our hearts and eyes are growing for those in need, particularly for the ones who have no one to speak up on their behalf. Finally, James tells us that we need to keep from being stained by the world. The world here has a very specific meaning, it is not space rather it is a following after the ways of evil. We read in 1 John 2:15   "Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions—is not from the Father but is from the world. 17 And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever." John's point is that when we get focused on this world while ignoring or striving to attain the life that God has for us, we get all caught up in the wrong way of life. To remain unstained by the world means that we are focused completely on doing God's will, all the choices we make, the paths we go down are influenced not by the world, but are influenced by following the heart of God. Interestingly, this may lead us in all kinds of different directions based on the gifts God has given us, our sense of how he is calling us to use those gifts to shape and mold his culture (or in the language of Sunday's message "stitch the world back together:"). So the other question we need to ask is, "What is influencing my choices, decisions etc? Is it my heart for God or my heart for the world?