Jonah Albrecht

3rd Sunday After Easter

James 1:16-21

God’s Ultimate Gift: Consistency

16 Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers. 17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. 18 Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures. 19 Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; 20 for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. 21 Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.

INJ Through whom our Heavenly Father gives us all things DFR:

In many areas of life, the greatest value something or someone can have is its availability, or consistency. It marks the difference between a league-record, multi-millions of dollars contract, and a football player washing out from team to team and making the league minimum. How consistent a car part is, or stable the barrel of your gun is, makes all the difference in your confidence behind the wheel or shooting that gun. As much as things change and improve/lose quality, we place a high value in those things that are consistent. How many times have you dejectedly looked at a broken part and sighed, “They just don’t make them like they used to.”?

It should really make us appreciate, then, that God’s Ultimate gift is HIS consistency! God’s consistency is not His greatest gift He offers you, that would be the gift of His Son, who died on the cross for your sins and rose again for your justification. Rather, James leads us to look at a fundamental aspect of God Himself – something that is so intrinsic to God’s character, that it will never go away; and that is: His consistency to chastise us with His Law – herding us away from the wayward path of the world; His consistency to offer us His forgiveness; and His consistency to be with us through the Holy Spirit who brings us to eternal life. May the Holy Spirit bless our study of our God’s consistency.

James addresses his letter to the 12 tribes in the Dispersion, which are the Jews who had been scattered among the Gentiles throughout the world. This goes all the way back to the removal of the Jews from Israel and Judah and their relocation to cities across the known world. Why would James be writing to a bunch of Jews outside of his homeland? Because of the Day of Pentecost.

If you remember in Acts, Luke lists off all the nations from which Jews had come for that holy feast – everywhere from Mesopotamia, Rome, and Egypt and other African countries. They had all gathered together in Jerusalem where they heard Peter and the Apostles proclaim the saving grace of God through Jesus Christ in their own native tongue. Over 3000 souls were brought to faith just that day alone. That meant that these Jews took the Gospel message back to their homelands to share with their families, friends, and everyone else they could reach.

This really sets the stage well for James’ letter because here were thousands of Christians who were existing and growing outside the immediate influence of the Apostles. They needed shepherding and guiding as much as anybody else, and what better way to do that from afar than by a letter? James isn’t the only one who fills this need, but Peter likewise addresses his letters to the Jews of the dispersion, providing the necessary nurturing needed. It was Peter who wrote, “Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation”, and James who has simple instructions like showing no partiality amongst believers in chapter 2; or in chapter 4, “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.”

But before all that can be laid on their hearts, James must lay down the foundation first, and that is where our text comes in. 16 Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers. 17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. 18 Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.

One of the things people struggle with in reading James is the overwhelming emphasis on Christian living and an apparent lack of the Gospel. But right off the bat, James hits us with one of the sweetest and most comforting descriptions of the Gospel. Do not be deceived, every gift is from God, God’s giving does not change, and His greatest gift is His bringing us to faith. It is really that middle line that makes all the difference: with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.

What does that mean for us? Sure, it is nice that God’s will calls people to the faith, but how do I know the standards won’t change? How do I know that God still offers free forgiveness through faith in Jesus for me, and He hasn’t raised the bar due to human wickedness? The way human eyes and human intellect looks at it, it would be like draft picks in the National Football League. The first-round draft picks have more or less proven their worth and that is why they were picked first, they bring in a salary from 10 million to over 30 million over 4 years. One might think of these as the Apostles and those who walked with Jesus physically. From there, the need to prove one’s worth only increases and these only make 4-6 million over 4 years. These would be those who heard of Jesus secondhand – like the diaspora Jews or even us.

That would be pretty depressing if God actually worked like that, wouldn’t it? But that isn’t how God operates His kingdom. He doesn’t raise or lower the standards because of how good your life has been or whether you “showed less resistance” than others in believing. That is preposterous. God’s standard has not, and will never change. In fact, it isn’t up to you at all. It is God’s will, James says, that He brought you forth. And when He brings you forth, that is calls you to faith, you aren’t a second, third, fourth, or seventh round pick. No, you are a kind of firstfruits, you are a first rounder!

Firstfruits is not talking about when you came to faith, but as the first fruit of the harvest was considered to be the best and was set aside to be offered to God as the most precious offering, that is what you are to God. You are not an unforgotten fruit that somehow got swept up into God’s Church. In God’s eyes, you are the cream of the crop. You are that most important fruit that He sets aside for Himself. It may have been a straight road that God called you to faith through Jesus, or it may have been a windy road through high mountains and stormy gale. But you are here. You are His. And you came to be God’s and remain God’s the same way the first Apostles were brought to faith. God’s standard is consistent. His grace is never-changing.

19 Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; 20 for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. 21 Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.

Is there anyone here today that has not fallen prey to these words? I on my own part can say I have. Anger is something that can affect even those people whom we consider to be the most patient and the most calm. I can think of specific times in my life where frustration boils over so quickly it is like a sudden volcanic eruption, and before I know it, the anger has risen from my gut, to my heart, to my brain, and finally out of my mouth, excreting harmful words that I can never take back. It isn’t until after the fact, and the anger subsides that I realize how foolish and sinful it was that I said what I said.

There is a righteous anger that Scripture talks about, but we dare not assume we always fall into that category. In fact, the vast majority of the time, our conscience will tells us without a doubt, “Not, that was anger that comes from sin.” The difficult part is, our anger doesn’t even have to take the form of angry or hurtful words, but even the sinful thoughts are worthy of damnation.

What does this have to do with God’s consistency? Everything! James reminds us how inconsistent we are, even when we have been brought to faith. Just because God has called us to be His own children through Jesus our Savior, does not mean we immediately stop sinning. We still have a sinful nature that sins all the time. The question might be, why? Why did God’s salvation not involve an immediate extraction of our sinful nature? Do you know the last time that God destroyed sin? It was the flood. It wiped out everyone in the world except for 8 who were righteous by faith. Even then, sin was not eradicated. It cannot be without destroying every single human being – that is how intrinsic sin is to our nature.

Instead, Jesus’ death on the cross destroyed sin’s power so God would not destroy us. Now, God has given us the means to fight back. It began with your Baptism when you were washed clean of your sins and renewed, that is, given a new life, a new spirit, that always abides by the will of God. This new spirit is your faith that lives in you. It fights against your sinful nature to maintain control of your body and soul. When we abide by God’s Word and avoid temptation and sin, it is that new spirit working in you. But when we fail and fall into sin, we have let our sinful nature get the best of us.

Another means that God has given you to fight back is the implanted word. And this is where God’s consistency really shines. The implanted word is talking about more than just the Bible. The Bible is a book and it really can’t be implanted within you. But its teachings and the understanding of those teachings certainly can. We read in our Gospel lesson Jesus’ promise to send a helper who would lead God’s faithful in all truth and, “will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment: 9 concerning sin, because they do not believe in me; 10 concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer; 11 concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.”

That helper is no one else, but God Himself. God the Holy Spirit to be specific. God’s consistency in action is the Holy Spirit using the Word of God to chasten you when that anger rises in your heart; or when filthiness and rampant wickedness infects your life. When sin abounds, the Holy Spirit shatters you with the Law of God to call you to repentance. If that seems harsh, ask any parent why they punish their child for doing something wrong. They don’t do it because they hate their child or they want to punish them, but because they love their child and want what is best for them.

God wants what is best for you. That never changes. Many times, He needs to use His Law to herd you back to the path that you need to be on. But as often as you sin, as often as God’s Law shatters and convicts you of that sin; as often as that happens, the Holy Spirit showers you with God’s unwavering, always present love and forgiveness. John writes in his epistle, “for whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything.” And Paul in 1 Timothy 1:14-15, “the grace of our Lord was exceedingly abundant, with faith and love which are in Christ Jesus. 15 This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief.”

This is what is able to save your souls. It is the God’s gift of the Holy Spirit who uses the Word of God to keep you steadfast in the faith and ready as one whose home is not in this present world, but is in the one to come.

Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers. Do not let the rise and fall of this world, or of your own life make you lose sight of the one constant you can always rely on: Your God and Father who has begotten you by His own will; Your Savior Jesus Christ, whose love carried Him to the cross so that your sins are forgiven and you can stand in His righteousness; Your helper the Holy Spirit who guides you and preserves you for everlasting life. God is consistent. Amen.