Streams of Living Water

Most everything goes in cycles – in biology, we talk of the water cycle – evaporation, precipitation and so on; in biochemistry we talk of Kreb’s cycles; in Chemistry we talk of Carbon cycles; in Church life we talk about cycles in the life of a particular church, whether it’s growth, steady-state, or decline. In James 3:13-18 we have an example of another type of cycle – the cycle of true, godly wisdom. And this cycle is seriously important! According to James, this cycle can make or break an entire church community.
The cycle of true, godly wisdom is explained in the second part of vs. 13 – we start from the end. True wisdom produces humility (or literally meekness). Meekness was a quality the Greeks hated – to them, to be meek was the same as being a servant – I think our society increasingly devalues the quality of meekness favouring assertiveness and self-confidence – but true wisdom is expressed in meekness – a putting of others before oneself. Meekness produces deeds – good actions which are in line with the servant heart of God. Good deeds lead to a good life – not just individual actions, but a whole lifestyle which is pleasing to God. Wisdom leads to good living. And what James is saying here is that the only true way to judge whether someone is wise or not is by their way of life – not by how much doctrine they know, but by the quality of their conduct. And that’s a challenge to us all – some of us may claim to be wise, but do our lifestyles match up to our claims? Read the rest of this entry »

There is no greater cancer in the Christian church than that of disunity – Christians argue and fall out; Churches break up and relationships are soured. We, in the Scottish Presbyterian Church have had our fill of disunity – schism and break up in the name of truth and righteousness. But what lies beneath disunity? Is it all so cut and dried – is it all so simple? In James 4:1-10, James looks beneath external disunity and sees inner turmoil, war and struggle. He has already discussed the two forms of wisdom in Chapter 3 – heavenly wisdom and earthly wisdom. Now he states what happens in a fellowship of God’s people when earthly wisdom dominates – there is disunity. I want to see three things about this disunity from James 4:1-10: Read the rest of this entry »

It was the great Greek author Homer who first talked of the hero Achilles and his famous battle with the city of Troy. Achilles was a tower of strength, moody, arrogant but un-defeatable. Achilles – the hero who killed hundreds of Trojans and defeated the Trojan hero Hector in one to one combat. But Achilles was finally killed, when another Trojan hero Paris shot him in the heel with a poisoned arrow. And so, since 1855 when the term was first used, we talk of an Achilles heel being a fatal weakness which, in spite of overall strength, can lead to our downfalls. And according to James, we all have an Achilles heel – our tongues. Our tongues cause fights and wars in church fellowships as we enlist them in the service of devilish wisdom. In James 4:11-17 James goes on to give us another two examples of areas in which our tongues are our Achilles heels: slander and boasting. Read the rest of this entry »

According to a recent Save the Children fund study, more than 90,000 children in Scotland live in severe poverty – that corresponds to nearly 10% of the children living in our own land. In Britain, 1.3million children are living in severe poverty – the highest regional percentage being in London. In years past, the evangelical church wasn’t that interested in social statistics for fear of being contaminated by the social gospel – but isn’t it about time that the Church in Scotland began to speak up about these issues, and not just about clear cut moral issues like abortion and homosexuality? If you had spoken to James, he would have been outraged at the extreme divide between the rich and the poor – for him, and I make no apologies for saying this, God was on the side of the poor and stood against those rich people who misused their wealth. I wonder if we take that on board when we are thinking about plans for church growth and planting! Read the rest of this entry »

It is hard enough to go through difficult times in life, but what makes it harder is either that they these difficulties have been caused by other people, or even worse, that while you suffer, these other people who have been responsible for your pain, are having a great time. That’s the situation many of the early Christians found themselves in – impoverished and suffering whilst those who were causing their suffering were getting richer and enjoying life to the full. James 5:1-6 talks of the rich who misuse their wealth, often at the expense of the righteous poor. James 5:7-11 now talks about what the reaction of these suffering Christians should be – and what our reactions should be to our times of difficulty. In a nutshell, he tells us to be patient – to endure and to keep on going. I want therefore to look at three things this evening: first, the command to be patient; secondly the motives to be patient and thirdly, the ability to be patient. Read the rest of this entry »

Community life, even Christian community life, can be difficult. And yet, the Christian faith is one which must be lived out in community – for a Christian to be effective and to grow, he must be part of a community where his gifts can be honed and the fruit of the Spirit within him can come forth. The book of James helps us to understand how we can lived together as Christians in this community we call the Church – it helps us to be the kind of congregation and people God wants us to be here in St. V’s. In this penultimate study in the Book of James, we encounter two more directions for our lives together as Christians – first, in the area of honest communication, or straight talking with each other – or as James talks about it – the making of oaths, and then in the area of prayer with and for each other. Read the rest of this entry »

The reviewers are falling over themselves to praise the latest Matt Damon film, the Bourne Ultimatum. Many of you will have seen billboards plastered with posters featuring Damon with his gun at the ready and the catchphrase – ‘remember everything, forgive nothing’. That just about tells you what the film is about – some people have done wrong by the hero, and he’s going to get them back for it good and proper. ‘Remember everything, forgive nothing’. That’s what our world’s heros think. How glad we are then when we come to the Bible to read of a God who remembers everything but is also prepared to forgive everything – a God who has been more offended by our sin than we can ever imagine, and yet through Jesus Christ our Lord, and His death on the Cross for us, forgives everything. That’s the Gospel – no matter who you are or what you’ve done – no matter what kind of mess you’ve made of your life, God can forgive you everything. In fact, once He’s forgiven you, He forgets all the bad things you’ve done – our Gospel God says, ‘forgive everything and remember nothing’. Read the rest of this entry »

The other day, when I was driving through the city, I was caught behind a 4×4. I’m sure many of you have in traffic queues behind 4×4. But what was strange about this car was that I couldn’t work out whether it has a back windscreen or not – maybe its owner had just cleaned it – it looked just like any other car, but I’m sure it didn’t have a back windscreen. That’s the way it is in the church sometimes – when James says, “if any one of you” in vs. 19 he is speaking to all those who profess to be Christians – they look like Christians, and act like Christians, and speak like Christians – they look as if they have a back windscreen – but they don’t really. They don’t really know the Lord Jesus Christ at all. We’ll see why that is later, but right at the end of James’ letter he is reminding us that not everyone in the church has their eyes focussed on Christ – not everybody is a Christian who says they are. It’s a warning to us all to make sure that we are truly saved and aren’t just going through the motions – and it is an encouragement to us to work with those who think they are Christians, but aren’t really, and bring them to a saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. Read the rest of this entry »

The other evening, as I was driving back from Inverness, I had to take a detour through Elgin – and it struck me as I was driving through Morayshire how green and fertile the land was. Morayshire and Aberdeenshire are known as the breadbasket of Scotland since most of the crops we eat come from there. Every spare bit of land has crops planted – the whole land is beautifully fertile – everywhere you look, everything is growing. The land is designed to grow. Growth is one of the signs of life. The person who stops growing dies. The Christian who stops growing in his or her faith dies spiritually. And so, churches should be filled with growing Christians – just as Morayshire is literally growing, so the mark of the church should be that of growing Christians. Remember what Peter says in 2 Peter 4:18 – “Grow in the grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.” We must grow as Christians. But in what directions does Christian growth take place – how do we grow as Christians, and what will that growth look like? Paul gives us the answers in Colossians 1:3-8 – he proposes three directions for growth: growth in thanks (vs. 3), growth in truth (vs. 4-6) and growth in teaching (vs. 7-8) Read the rest of this entry »