A case study

When you read spiritual advice like James' you wonder how it might truly work out in practice. When you're in a situation where conflict seems inevitable - can Christian wisdom really heal?  I know it might seem too convenient (a preacher's trick!) but while I was preparing this sermon Derek called me. It was early morning and he had not slept all night because he was unspeakably angry and hurt at work. He is head of a department in a big organization. A keen Christian who tries to lead in a Christian way. He poured out his situation.  

Two days earlier he had led a department meeting reviewing the last few months and preparing for the next months. Together with team leaders they marked up several significant successes. But then they uncovered a major problem, which unfortunately a couple in the team had responsibility for yet had failed to complete the task. The implications were serious. Derek immediately set about trying to rectify the issue. It took a while but at the end good plans were made for its resolution.  Overall, he deemed the meeting positive.

Next morning his boss called Derek into his office. Derek anticipated a happy catching up session, but entering the room he saw another boss was present. Immediately his boss flew into a rage, railing at Derek's appalling incompetence in running his department. Accusations, some woundingly personal, were hurled at him about his many failures. Derek was utterly stunned.  How on earth did his boss know about the trouble in the previous day's meeting.  How incredibly unjust to blaze away like this. Derek asked him how he knew about the meeting but the boss said he just knew. However, Derek guessed that a long-standing critic on his team, a strong personality and friends with his boss, had malevolently spat out these accusations and lit this fire.

I listened to Derek for a long time. I admire him and I felt his anger. Actually I felt really angry too. A knee jerk reaction seemed inevitable  And then I thought of James! Oh!   Yes, a major conflict lay ahead unless a deep breath was taken, wisely realizing that belonging to Jesus adds a deep layer of reflection, a pause to take stock of motives, a recognition that this potential for conflict can develop wisely - or unwisely.  A wise Christian would gain perspective. 90% of the meeting, of the department's life was positive. This 10% issue, that was blown out of all proportion, had become so destructive. |Who knows about some of the motives of the disloyal colleague and boss (jealousy? thwarted ambition? chemistry?)  But Derek needed to look at his own motives. He could be a wise Christian. He did need to confront the disloyal colleague but without anger.  He did, and though this man at first denied responsibility he later gave a spoken and written apology.  Derek was not going to allow all the good in his department to be destroyed. And, similarly with his boss, he pointed out the unnecessary anger and injustice, but he sought to reduce tension and make peace honorably.  

Wonderfully, Derek called me a few days later and told me how a fight was avoided. Indeed, all that anger was gone. He'd been a wise Christian. James has taught me that when conflict arises we need A BIG REFLECTION BUFFER TO TAKE A BREATHER WITH JESUS. To ask about our motives - Why am I feeling this way? How best can I respond to this offence? How can I behave and relate like a wise Christian? Strong stuff, eh?

Wise Christians BEHAVE and RELATE TO OTHERS differently

 1. Wise Christians behave differently. In 3:13-17 James is most concerned about working out the practical implications of being wise Christians. He asks: Who is wise and understanding among you?v.13 And answers that those who are wise and understanding show it by their good lives, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom. Their wisdom shows in the quality of their lives and actions.  Because if we live by spiritual wisdom, Jesus Christ wisdom, it is not just a matter of understanding but also of behaviour which flows from a wise living relationship with Jesus and the fruits of the Holy Spirit.

What a staggering list of characteristics are involved: pure (that is especially about our motives), peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere (verse 17).  Especially, wise Christians are peace makers.  This list deserves serious attention. What a combination of qualities.

And what a contrast with the 'wisdom' (it's in quotes) that does not come from heaven which is earthy and unspiritual. Such wisdom harbours bitter envy and selfish ambition, disorder and every evil practice (verse 15).  The unwise Christian remains captive to basic motivational forces of envy and ambition and almost delights when they see disorder and hurt for people with whom they have a poor relationship.

2. Wise Christians relate to others differently. Now James comes to his crunch question with which we began: What causes fights and quarrels among you? (4:1) He sees their cause lies within us. Fights and quarrels come from desires that battle within you. You want something and you covet it, you quarrel and fight.  And when you pray (yes, he's addressing praying Christians) what matters is how we ask. Because when we don't receive God's best it's because we ask with wrong motives bound up with our pleasures.  Bluntly, when something goes wrong in a relationship unwise Christians are not pure in their motives, asking whether envy, selfish ambition, causing disorder or worse is the trigger for their anger.  Is there a single quality in that list above in verse 17 that genuinely pleases us?  When someone offends us, how likely are we to pause and consider what makes for peace in the relationship? Or being considerate, full of mercy and good fruit?  All that goes out the window in our knee jerk response!

I need to be careful because I must not give the impression that I know much about Freud but mention of pleasure (4:3) reminded me of his emphasis on the pleasure principle as the initial principle of life.  As he put it: 'The aim of the pleasure principle is to rid the person of tension, or to reduce the amount of tension to a low level, to avoid pain and find pleasure.'  From a very different angle to James (very different!) he is analyzing why the inside battle goes for the soft pleasure option. Why trouble yourself to seek peace or be considerate when offended by someone.  The pleasure principle motivates us to stir up fights and quarrels! 

We need wise Christians

When we think of wise people we tend to identify people whose life experience and personality makes them especially trustworthy.  Mature people who help us see perspective and gain balance when we are perplexed. As children it's Owl in 100 acre wood to whom |Winnie the Pooh and his friends can go, though Owl isn't always wise! Gandalf in Lord of the Rings, Obi Ben Kenobi in Star Wars. Exceptional characters.

But when the New Testament views wisdom it's dramatically different.  It's not about the few exceptional people, Gandalf, Obi Ben Kenobi etc. It's a gift of UNDERSTANDING shared by the Spirit when believers in Jesus experience a totally new way of seeing life. The apostle Paul in 1 Cor 2. contrasts spiritual wisdom with earthly wisdom. And spiritual wisdom is not about a few special individuals but ever since Pentecost a possibility for everyone who believes in Jesus.  It's a completely different kind of wisdom which 'gets' the story of the cross and is open to the wonder of God's love in Jesus.  In contrast earthly wisdom of unspiritual people seeing the cross as utter foolishness. To such people the whole bundle of God talk is deemed irrelevant to living properly in our world. Who needs Jesus and the crossto get on in the world? Secular conventional wisdom reigns supreme.

In the church this spiritual wisdom is one of the wonders of being together.  Paul actually claims that Christians together have the mind of Christ (1 Cor 2.16). It is possible to see things, understand things like Jesus. I have always marvelled at those saints I have met along the way who so clearly have this depth of understanding. As a 16 year old I was so inspired by this older man, a farm labourer with outdoor weathered features, who rode his bicycle to church. A self-taught pianist he used to accompany enthusiastically and loudly our mid-week prayer times. But when he spoke there was a quality of spiritual wisdom that was deep.  Since then I have met many more like him.  Ordinary people with undeniable spiritual wisdom. 

But how in this passage, James 3:13-17 does James view wisdom?  Typically, absolutely typically, his definition isn't about UNDERSTANDING.  He assumes that.  Rather he defines it by BEHAVIOUR. It's an intensely practical definition.  Actually, this forms the first part of this passage, preluding James' application in 4:1-6, to which we come to shortly.  Chapter divisions were added later to help us but on this occasion they are in danger of interrupting the flow.  First his practical definition.

Sitting comfortably/uncomfortably

Today I preached again. It's 12 weeks since my left leg gave way and I shared my gloom with you my kind readers as I staggered through rehab. The progression (and yes, definitely progression) has been slow and painful. Through crutches, splint, rollator, excruciating physiotherapy, I am now using a stick this last week. This gives the appearance of normality but with wobbles and pain So, for my return to preach in the sermon series on James in Bluntisham today, I needed to sit. My set passage was James 3:13- 4:6 with the title ' Living Wisely.'

I began with a brief explanation of why I had to sit in comfort and then remarked that making you comfortable is not James' specialty! Indeed for much of his letter he lobs out very uncomfortable practical challenges. On the dangers of favoritism, snobbery, uncontrolled tongues, trusting in material prosperity. It's often noted that the book's themes echo the Sermon on the Mount, but this step brother of Jesus likes to add his own punch.  Oh Yes!

And what is the central issue in this reading. James is concerned that people cannot seem to get on with each other. 4:1 What causes fights and quarrels among you? Why is it that in every group of people whether at work, at play, at home, at worship, tension and division arises? We've probably had enough of the Gallagher brothers and Oasis reforming (though I never know who might have patiently got tickets). I saw a newspaper spread with the headline: Inside Story; the Greatest Breakdown and Reunion of the Century! But the truth is we all know about breakups, sometimes we have been sadly involved. People cannot seem to go along in relationships without trouble. In my first job as a teacher in a Junior School when as a keen young man I was introduced to the staff I very quickly learned that so-and-so didn't speak to so-and-so, and that there was history between two others.  I found, as the newcomer, different sides tried to coopt me as their friend!

It's much more tragic that James is writing to the church: What causes fights and quarrels among you? The very group that should know about forbearing one another in Jesus' love, with great themes like reconciliation. That we should be riven with breakdowns, fights and quarrels is tragic.  But it happens. And James is concerned to confront it. 

How does he teach us? His answer is a surprise. In answer to the question what causes fights and quarrels he says it's a lack of wisdom.  Christians who fight and quarrel are not being wise. Really? Is that the reason?  Let's see.......

Bookends

I chuckled when two large volumes came through the international post ($60) last week.  They speak of a beginning and ending to a chapter in my life. In 1994 I was invited to be a guest lecturer in the E.Y. Mullins preaching conference at Southern Baptist Seminary in Louisville.  That conference was  my first intensive experience of spending a few days (yes, a few days!) focused on preaching and, best of all, I shared the seminary's luxurious hospitality house with two of the best known preachers in the US - Tom Long and William Willimon. That honour has remained with me ever since. There I was a mere junior on my first US preaching encounter sharing meals with two gracious giants.  I had to give a lecture and share each evening preaching session with Will Willimon, as both of us gave consecutive sermons to an extraordinarily attentive packed auditorium.  Several times I asked myself why I was there?

As a first it is burned in my memory.  At the conference's conclusion I was shown into a study where some duplicate homiletical volumes occupied a shelf, and I was invited to select whatever I could manage in my luggage allowance. I had so little specific preaching literature.  Among the volumes was the Handbook of Contemporary Preaching (1992). a dense book comprising essays from leading teachers/preachers covering a wealth of counsel. I looked at the authors and recognized so few. Dipping into its sections I felt overwhelmed.  

Big surprises continued. The following year I was invited to be the main speaker at the E.Y. Mullins conference and returned to share in a memorable US opportunity.  I was quickly growing up in a new preaching world.

But why the chuckle when these two books arrived?  Well the second edition of the Handbook of Contemporary Preaching has just been published.  As I review it this time I am thrilled to know so many of the authors. And, as you might guess I have a chapter in this one. It's in the section Preaching and the Ministry entitled: The Role of Preaching in Ministry.  So my little story has come full circle bookended by the first and second editions of this book.  Actually it does mark the conclusion of my writing on preaching. Yes, I'll still keep bible reading notes (if invited again) and some preaching (if invited) but this is my swansong. And I am so so grateful to God for his calling and guidance on this surprising journey.