Good Gifts Come from Above

The twentieth sunday after pentecost

Shepherd of the Hills Ev. Lutheran Church (WELS)

James 1:17-27

17 Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. 18 He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created. 19 My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, 20 because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires. 21 Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you. 22 Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. 23 Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror 24 and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. 25 But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do. 26 Those who consider themselves religious and yet do not keep a tight rein on their tongues deceive themselves, and their religion is worthless. 27 Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. (NIV)

Do you remember how badly you wanted it?  It was the only thing you could think about.  In your mind you had this working list made up of all the practical reasons that you “needed” it.  You invested time in researching it to make sure it was the best.  You saved up enough money and finally you were able to buy it.

That was then.  This is now.  Now, it doesn’t begin to compare to the newer models.  Now, you look at it and all you can think of are all of the things it doesn’t do.  You see everyone else with a shiny new one and you pout because yours isn’t good enough.  It seems like you’re “the only one” who doesn’t have anything recent and you “always” have to settle for older models.  You are so much worse off because you never get anything fun and new like everyone else.

Funny as it might sound, it’s very easy for us to feel that way, isn’t it?  We have been programmed into thinking that if we don’t have the latest or the newest, then we don’t have anything.  Ironically, you could take truckloads of stuff out of our houses, and the truth is, we’d still have abundantly more than the overwhelming majority of people in the world. I point this out, not to bring about feelings of guilt, but because we need an occasional reality check once in a while.  We are so much more inclined to ungratefully dwell on all that we don’t have, instead of the rich supply of what we do have.  Face it, far more people in this world than we care to admit would be thrilled just to live off of what we throw away in a year.  In many ways you have more than your parents did, and much more than your grandparents ever did.  And all this even in the middle of the “harshest” of economic times.  You get the point – we’ve got lots.

But that’s not really the point, actually.  As James reminds us this morning, it’s not so much about what you have as it is who gave it to you.  What’s worse than not being truly appreciative of how much we have?  It’s forgetting where it came from in the first place.  James reminded us in our Second Lesson this morning: “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows” (v.17).  Yes, you may have put it on your check card.  The check written to pay it off may have come from your check book.  It might have been your cash used to purchase it.  But make no mistake, you have it only because God gave it to you.

And whether it is acknowledged by others or not, God is the giver all things good.  So even the good that the unbeliever enjoys is good that comes from God.  Like the sun that shines everywhere, from the highest alpine meadow to the lowest tucked away valley, and everywhere between, so God is the giver of every good thing this world has ever known.  That has always been the case and it always will be the case.  It will never change, as James illustrated with the words, “who does not change like shifting shadows.”  As the sun shifts, a shadow may change slightly over the course of the day.  But the sun doesn’t change.  It still shines.  Our good gifts may change, but the giver of them does not.  He is God.  His gifts will always be good.

Of these good gifts, there is a gift that God gives that far surpasses the rest of them.  One gift that by comparison completely overshadows the rest.  Without this gift, no other good gift matters.  One can live his appointed years on this earth enjoying all the other good gifts God gives, but without this one essential gift, he cannot live beyond that in heaven with Jesus.  That gift is the gift of faith, and just like every other good gift, it comes only from God, only because God chooses to give it, as James reminded us.  “[God] chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created” (v.18).  The birth that he refers to here is the spiritual rebirth of being born again into God’s family.  We were given physical life when our mothers brought us into this world.  We were given spiritual life when God called us to faith through his Word, whether that first involved the application of water with the Word in baptism, or whether that Word stood alone and the good news of life and salvation in Jesus so permeated the heart that the blindness of unbelief could no longer oppose it and a child of God was born.

You have countless good gifts from God, but none greater than this.  Not a one.  Not even close.  Your faith in Jesus as your Savior from sin is priceless, though it came at a cost.  Though it cost you nothing, it cost God the Father his Son.  How much does a Father love someone for whom he’s willing to give up his own Son?  Enough to also to go another step and give you his Word, which lays out in such an incredibly detailed manner the historical record of his loving actions on your behalf.  History is plastered with record after record of God’s gracious deeds on your behalf and yet, as compelling as they all are, they were only the shadow of what was to come.  The reality, the greatest gift of all, came in the person of your Savior, Jesus Christ.

James reminds us that that great gift, and all other good gifts, are from God. When we receive good gifts, when we have things that we enjoy, we have ways of showing that we appreciate them, don’t we? We do that naturally without even thinking about it.  People can tell what we truly treasure by observing certain things.  Your schedule for example will reflect what is important to you by making time for certain things.  If working out is important, you set aside time for it.  If watching your kids play sports is important, you schedule time for it.  If you have a hobby or a show or some event that you treasure, you make time for it.  You also handle things differently if they are important to you.  The china that has been passed down to you is one of those “look, but don’t touch” items for little hands, whereas a hand-me-down T-shirt doesn’t enjoy the same protection.  If we treasure something, usually others know about it, because we find ourselves talking about it often.  These are just a few of the ways that we show we appreciate certain gifts and other things that are important to us.

James spends a number of verses giving numerous examples of how we can demonstrate with our lives how thankful we are to God for all his gracious gifts, especially the gift of our faith, and it’s object, Jesus.  One of the ways by which we show how much we treasure the gifts of our good and gracious Father is in how we speak.  And also in how we don’t speak.  In fact, often times that is where we tend to struggle.  It’s not in what we say, but sometimes learning not so say anything.  James said it this way: “My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry,” (v.22).  We often have it turned completely around.  We’re quick to speak and much too slow just to listen.  We could learn from the example of the loquacious young man who approached the philosopher Socrates, hoping to learn from him the art of speaking.  Socrates explained that he would have to charge the young man double, as he needed to teach him not just one, but two skills: how to speak, yes; but also how to hold his tongue. We are thankful for God’s gracious gifts, especially his gift of faith.  Let us reflect it by being quick to listen and slow to speak.

That skill, the ability to hold one’s tongue and just listen, tends to be very much related to one’s success in controlling anger.  James reminds us, “man’s anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires” (v20).  That’s probably not a big shocker to most of us, that letting our anger get out of control doesn’t generally result in conducting ourselves in the righteous manner that God expects.  In fact, it’s almost just a little bit condescending, isn’t it?  As if we know better, but we do it anyway.  Obviously uncontrolled anger and righteousness have nothing to do with each other!  Indeed, we might be inclined to think, “well duh!” when reading this, except that such a response would only highlight all the more how shameful it is that we know well enough, but that our behavior still doesn’t reflect the practice of James’ blatantly obvious point.  We are thankful for God’s gracious gifts, especially his gift of faith.  Let us reflect it by controlling our anger.

As we seek to control our anger, one of the ways we can do it is by “get[ting] rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept[ing] the word planted in you, which can save you” (v.21).  It’s much easier to control our anger if we avoid the garbage that sets us off and dwell more in the Word which saves us.  But James goes on to make a crucial point about that Word: it is of little value if it merely goes in one ear and out the other.  He points out that another way in which we can show our thanks to God for his generosity is in how we treat his Word. “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says” (v.22).  Applying what is heard in God’s Word is essential.  Yes, the Word works, but not like some simple voice recognition technology, where the listener of the Bible merely acknowledges that he is in fact hearing the Bible.  Rather, the words heard must hit the heart. 

For example, consider the man who hears the fire alarm go off in his office building, but remains in his cubicle even after the chaotic exit of all his fellow employees has taken place.  He dies in the burning building.  Why?  Not because he didn’t hear the fire alarm, but because he didn’t take to heart what it meant and apply it’s emergency warning and evacuate the building.  Or what would you think of the convicted criminal sitting in his jail cell who doesn’t move an inch from his bed even after the deputy unlocks his cell, informs him that he’s been pardoned, and holds open the doors to freedom?  He heard that he was freed, that he was pardoned, but he chose to remain in prison.

So it is with those who hear God’s law, but do not bother to heed it’s warning.  So it is with those who hear God’s gospel, his good and gracious gift of pardon and forgiveness in Jesus, but refuse it and instead choose to remain in sin and its prison.  Don’t merely think that hearing the Word is sufficient and fool yourself.  Apply it.  Do what it says.  When it calls for repentance, repent.  When it guarantees forgiveness, believe it.  Let it sink into your heart, transform it, and make you new and whole again.  Right now you are showing your thanks to God for his gracious gifts by hearing his Word.  When you leave this morning, show that you treasure that Word not just by hearing, but by doing, by applying it and by putting your gift of faith into practice in the many ways James points out.  Amen.

“For the freer confidence is from one’s own works, and the more exclusively it is directed toward Christ alone, so much better is the Christian it makes.” (Luther)