The NT book of James is a practical guide to Christianity. The first thing to note about this book is that it is a very Jewish example of Christianity in the first century. Opinions vary about when it was written, anywhere from somewhere in the early 50's AD (making it possibly the earliest book in the NT aside from Galatians), to somewhere in the 60's.

James sections off pretty neatly. Each chapter introduces a new thought, but they're always tightly linked with the previous thought. Though James is most often quoted for his message in chapter 2 (faith and deeds, deeds and faith), my favorite passage is chapter 4. He begins the passage by asking a really good question:

What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don't they come from the desires that battle within you? You want something, but don't get it. You kill and covet, but you can't have what you want.

Isn't this still the case today? Isn't that why we're unhappy much of the time? Our expectations of life are sky high...life doesn't let us down, we let ourselves down. We overestimate what God will do in the short run, but underestimate what He'll do in the long run.
But all is not lost! James goes on to give the answer in verse 7:

Submit yourselves then, to God
Resist the Devil and he will flee from you.
Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.
Wash your hands you sinners
And purify your hearts, you double-minded.

Notice how I wrote that. It's written differently than in your bibles. That's because this is a beautiful example of James expressing a very Jewish thought using classic Hebrew poetry (paralellism). In this case it's synthetic paralellism, where one thought advances the last.

We'll go through one line at a time for the next few blogs, but we'll do the first now. What is the answer to our unhappiness? Submission to God. The greek word used for "submit" indicates the submission of a son to a father or a student to his teacher, not of a slave to his master...that's something else entirely. "To God" is in the dative case, indicating that God is the direct object of our submission. We do this to God...it's not a vague kind of idealistic thing. It's about lifestyle and intention. It is a constant repetition of Christ's words in the garden, "Your will, not mine".

Earlier in the chapter James points out that he readers don't have because they don't ask, and when they do ask, they ask with bad motives. It's the same with us...God's not telling us not to ask Him for things, only to submitt our desires to Him and let him change them.

A word about the word "desire" and then I'll end. Though there are several words in greek used for "desire", one of the most common is epithumeos. I love the NIV translation, but this is where it gets wacky. James, like most of the NT writers, is expressing a Hebrew thought about desire here and elsewhere, using the word epithumeos. The NIV takes the more Greek line, translating is as "evil desires" or "lusts" or a bunch of other things, depending on the context. In the NIV's defense, they're trying to make this readable, so they're doing a little bit of interpretation based on the context, and they're almost always right on, but I don't think it's helpful. "Epithumios" simply means desire; not "evil" or "lust" or "sinful", just desire. The point to James and the other NT writers is that desires are not evil in and of themselves. Our expressions of them are. Desires are like anything else...they are at the crossroads. They can be good or evil. They must be submitted to God. And that brings us right back to 4:7.

The more time I spend just being with God, the harder I realize it is. It's not too hard in the short term. It gets very, very hard over the long term though. I'm becoming increasingly aware of how badly I want to do something to feel...connected, or something...to God. As I discipline myself to enter his rest (see Hebrews chapter 4), I necessarily discipline myself to accept the fact that there's nothing I have that God needs. He wants my willing devotion and loving obedience, but he does not need it.

This is all about long term, dynamic relationship with the Living God. This is about knowing that God is, and that He is with me whether I feel it or not. It's not that my feelings are irrelevant, or that God does not want to engage me on that level. It's that faith is, by definition, not about what I'm feeling right now. For that matter, real, mature love is not about what I feel in the moment. This well developed love has depth, width and height, and it matures over many, many years; it is beautifully aged and views itself and its object with perspective. It does not live or die, wither or prosper on a careless word or a insensetive act because it is rooted in long experience. I know He is good because He has been good.

So, I am quiet with God, needing nothing, requiring nothing but the promise of His presence. I can be quite, still and content in this moment, as it is, knowing that He is with me. Each moment is an intentional act of worship, and He is worthy of it simply because He is. I have a quiet confidence that He is with me that has nothing to do with what I happen to be feeling right now. And that feels pretty good, ironically enough.

Hannah and I just got back from a Vineyard conference in Cape Coral, FL. It was awesome. The first couple of days were devoted to a regional Worship Leader's conference...any time you get 60 Vineyard worship leaders in the same room, it's bound to be good. It was also great for a couple of up-and-coming worship leaders here at VCOS to get some hands on training. It also gave me some quality writing time, which was great.

One of the first speakers for the Pastor's portion of the conference was Jamie Stilson, the senior pastor at the Cape Coral Vineyard, who hosted the event. He was hilarious and real...and something he said, really stuck to the bones. I'll use the same quote that he did, from "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe", by C.S. Lewis:

"Is - is he (Aslan) a man?" asked Lucy.
"Aslan a man!" said Mr. Beaver sternly. "Certainly not. I tell you he is the King of the wood and the son of the great Emperor-beyond-the-Sea. Don't you know who is the King of Beasts? Aslan is a lion - the Lion, the great Lion."
"Ooh!" said Susan, "I'd thought he was a man. Is he - quite safe? I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion."
"That you will dearie, and make no mistake", said Mrs. Beaver; "if there's anyone who can appear before Aslan without their knees knocking, they're either braver than most or else just silly."
"Then he isn't safe?" said Lucy.
"Safe?" said Mr. Beaver; "don't you hear what Mrs. Beaver tells you? Who said anything about safe? 'Course he isn't safe. But he's good. He's the King, I tell you."

"'Course he isn't safe. But he's good."

That hit me hard. I have become "safe". I have begun to protect and maintain what I have. This isn't about "safe". This is about trust, and goodness, and knowing that He is so very, very much more than I am. Of course he isn't safe. But he's good.

I'm ready for the next risk. Whatever that may be.

The state of Georgia has passed a law stating that convicted sex offenders can't live or work within 1000 yards of a church. The thing that's so amazingly idiotic about this is the fact that the church is exactly where they're supposed to be!

Jesus comes onto the 1st century stage with a clear message: the Kingdom is available for anyone who wants it! You don't have to a member of the religious elite. You don't have to be ritually pure. You don't even have to be a Jew! What awesome news for the 95% who were none of those things. As a matter of fact, Jesus responds to religious criticism regarding who he hung out with by saying that forgiveness was for those who needed it, not for those who don't (don't miss the sarcasm there).

Somehow, 2000 years later, we've discovered a new eternal truth. Yes indeed, we've decided that we get to filter our churchgoers like job applicants, and darn it, let's make sure they're clean before they come into the House of God! Goodness, we certainly can't have them coming to God DIRTY! Heavens no! It's not fit for a KING! Nope, sorry...you'll have to get all straigtened out first. Come talk to us when you think you're ready.

The church is a hospital. It's a place where the grievously wounded come to heal, and sometimes that takes a long time. Sometimes people retain bad habits. Sometimes people's language is rough, or they drink too much on occasion. Or sometimes a person comes to church every Sunday in the midst of a devestating struggle with drugs or sexuality. Sometimes they come brimming with pain stemming from a myriad of sources, from abuse and abandonment to divorce and disillusionment. If they cannot find love, solace and hope in the midst of God's people, to whom he deparately desires to restore them, where will they find it? If YOU, reading this article right now, will not accept and love the "leper" (fill in the blank with any outcast you can think of) sitting next to you, and YOU are the conduit of God's love to the lost, then who will love them?

So what do we do? Do we send the message that God doesn't want them? And don't say, "Well, they just have to understand that it's our human failing, not God". That's pretty naive. Who do you think they will blame? It will be God, and they will paint the entire institutionalized church with the same brush. They'll become yet another among the millions and millions disenfranchised by the church over the years because they didn't measure up.

Sure, let's take reasonable precuations. At the Vineyard Church of Savannah we screen Kid's Church workers carefully. To lump all these offenders into one homogenous group, then expell them from society is unjust. Before we become the church with stones in its hands, maybe we should take a look at where a lot of us came from. The Apostle Paul calls himself "the worst of sinners(gk., "offender")". Jesus came to accept to outcast...so will the Vineyard Church of Savannah.