Category: Devotional Grist

“On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Now both Jesus and His disciples were invited to the wedding. And when they ran out of wine, the mother of Jesus said to Him, “They have no wine.” Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does your concern have to do with Me? My hour has not yet come.” His mother said to the servants, “Whatever He says to you, do it.” Now there were set there six waterpots of stone, according to the manner of purification of the Jews, containing twenty or thirty gallons apiece. Jesus said to them, “Fill the waterpots with water.” And they filled them up to the brim. And He said to them, “Draw some out now, and take it to the master of the feast.” And they took it. When the master of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and did not know where it came from (but the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom. And he said to him, “Every man at the beginning sets out the good wine, and when the guests have well drunk, then the inferior. You have kept the good wine until now!” This beginning of signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and manifested His glory; and His disciples believed in Him.”

Introduction

Why Church Calendar

1.) Recital theology

¹¹ I will remember the deeds of the Lord;
    yes, I will remember your wonders of old.
¹² I will ponder all your work,
    and meditate on your mighty deeds.

The Church calendar gives us the means to recite our theology and our History. If familiar with the Church calendar we can become a people who are anchored in our undoubted catholic Christian faith. When we are involved in this recital theology as connected to the calendar we are involved in a kind of catechism.

2.) The most effective way to destroy people is to deny and obliterate their own understanding of history.

George Orwell

We want to use the Church Calendar to remind us of our History as a Christian people. And so we spend this time seeking to ground these New Testament texts in the history of God’s people. The purpose is that we will be both theologically and historically grounded.

When we celebrate Advent, for example, we look at the History of God’s people looking forward to the coming of Christ and then we speak of that fulfillment and then we add that we now look forward to a future coming of Christ.

3.) As a Christian people we desire to measure time in a Christian fashion and not as a people who think the measuring of time is neutral. If we will not measure time as Christians we will measure time as non-Christians. Why should we note President’s Day or MLK Day and not mark Epiphany or Advent?

4.) There is no intent to absolutize the Church Calendar. We ourselves do not find ourselves tied to it. We will deviate to address other issues that need to be spoken to but neither do we find ourselves required to ignore a means that can work to help us to ground us in Christian thinking habits.

There is nothing Romantic or mystical in observing the movement of time in Christian terms.

As we turn to the text, we note that the structure of John 2:1-11 is typical of a miracle story: the setting is established (verses 1-2), a need arises (verses 3-5), a miracle addresses that need (verses 6-8), and there is a response to that miracle (verses 9-11).

Preliminary considerations

By way of introduction we note that Cana of Galilee was in territory inhabited by many Gentiles and there he performed his first miracle in the Gospel of John. From the very beginning therefore, Jesus is portrayed as a trans-national figure in the Gospel. His life and work is intended to extend beyond Israel.

Though it sounds rude to our ears, Jesus’ address to his Mother is not curt but an address revealing the respect he has for His mother. The phrase “what concern is that to you and to me?” is a common Semitic expression that implies a sense of disengagement, not active hostility (similar uses occur in 2 Kings 3:13; Hosea 14:8).

¹³ And Elisha said to the king of Israel, “What have I to do with you?
8 O Ephraim, what have I to do with idols?

As we consider the core of the passage we would note that it is all about connecting the anticipation of the OT with the inaugurative fulfillment of the age to come as found in Christ then on to the complete realization of the coming Day when sin is removed from the Cosmos and men dwell with God.

I.) Eschatological Movement of OT anticipation to NT inaugurative fulfillment

1.) The reason that this is called “This beginning of signs Jesus did in Cana” is because it is the first indication, by way of miracle, that Jesus is the embodiment of the glorious age to come that was anticipated in the OT. The Lord Christ gives a miracle here that is a sign that reveals the salvation, abundance, and new life now present in the world through the Lord Christ. Here forward King Emmanuel will continue to demonstrate the presence of the Kingdom with healings, exorcisms, and miracles over nature. Here though is the first sign … a sign at a wedding feast that announces that the promised groom spoken of in the OT has now arrived with Christ in the NT.

Illustration — Bud upon tulip tree

2.) The Old covenant was a ministry of condemnation. The New Covenant is a ministry of life. This first sign Miracles demonstrates that.

Jesus first sign thus shows the difference of emphasis between the two covenants. Whereas Moses, being one of the premier representative of the old covenant that brought condemnation, did exhibit that character of the covenant with the first plague that found the source of life (water) in Egypt being turned to blood. Jesus, as head of the New and better covenant counters this first plague with his first sign that finds him turning water into wine.

Jesus is thus revealed as a better Moses. Whereas Moses’ sign was to the end of leading God’s people out of the bondage of Egypt, Jesus sign was to the end of leading God’s people into the Kingdom. Moses sign was to harden Pharaoh’s heart. Jesus sign was to soften the hearts of his people. (“and His disciples believed in Him”)

3.) The marriage setting serves likewise as a fitting motif because through covenantal history God is a groom to His bride people. The sign of Cana thus indicates the high point of that marriage motif. God in Christ has brought the new and better covenant and with that new and better covenant the marriage between God and His people is at it’s full expression.

So, it is appropriate that this first Sign happens in the context of a wedding feast since in the OT wedding and banquet imagery is used, as we just noted, to symbolize the messianic era (Isaiah 54:4-8; 62:4-5; Matthew 22:1-14; Revelation 19:9).

Isaiah 54

For your Maker is your husband,
    the Lord of hosts is his name;
and the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer,
    the God of the whole earth he is called.
⁶ For the Lord has called you
    like a wife deserted and grieved in spirit,
like a wife of youth when she is cast off,
    says your God.

Isaiah 62

You shall no more be termed Forsaken,^[a]
    and your land shall no more be termed Desolate,^[b]
but you shall be called My Delight Is in Her,^[c]
    and your land Married;^[d]
for the Lord delights in you,
    and your land shall be married.
⁵ For as a young man marries a young woman,
    so shall your sons marry you,
and as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride,
    so shall your God rejoice over you.

^{Revelation 19:9} And the angel said^[a] to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.”

Parable of the Wedding feast in Mt. 22

4.) This beginning of signs is in keeping with Jesus coming as one eating and drinking compared to John The Baptist, who was the greatest prophet of the OT not eating or drinking wine. As Jesus is the one who is the new and better covenant it is fitting that His coming is adorned in merriment and celebration with a beginning signs that finds him turning water into wine.

II.) The Importance of “Hour” and “Wine” Here

Wine

1.) This miracle centers on wine because abundant wine is symbolic of God’s presence in the world in the eschatological age (Amos 9:13; Joel 3:18) in the OT.  This will take on even more significance when we look at the phrase the Lord Christ’s references as “that hour.”

^{Joel 3:18} “And in that day
the mountains shall drip sweet wine,

Amos 9:13 —  “Behold, the days are coming,” declares the Lord,
    “when the plowman shall overtake the reaper
    and the treader of grapes him who sows the seed;
the mountains shall drip sweet wine,
    and all the hills shall flow with it.

So … that day spoken of in the OT has arrived.  The promised Day has arrived in Christ.

2.) The head-waiter made the ironic statement that the good wine had been saved “until now.”  This of course is both literally and symbolically true. It was literally better wine but the Lord Christ as the long promised Messiah in the OT is Himself better than all who had come before.

The real bridegroom who served this superior wine, Jesus, has “now” appeared, ushering into the world God’s abundant goodness and grace in a definitive way.

3.) The comment by the Master to the Bridegroom at the end of the Cana record about the quality of the wine is a double entendre. The obvious meaning is, of course, quite literal, but the underlying motif is covenantal in meaning. In redemptive history the new and better covenant is “the good wine kept until last.”

With Jesus’ institution of the Lord’s Supper he brings forth wine again. This in effect gives us wine bookends of his ministry. Water to wine in His first miracle. Wine in order to show forth the blood of the covenant on the night he was betrayed. In this we see that in Jesus, who is the new and better covenant, we have the one who brings together the joy of the new covenant represented by the water to wine at Cana and the water to blood old covenant plague. As Christ’s younger brethren we drink the wine of Cana at the table because He took upon Himself the wrath of God that should have justly found us all being plagued with the death that the water to blood was to God’s enemies in the Old Covenant. Christ took the curses for the penalty of sin that we might drink the wine of Cana.

And of course we know of the promise that connects the future with all this. The promise that bespeaks the fact that Christ will drink wine with us again in the newness of the Father’s Kingdom.

The Word — “Hour”

A1.) The word “hour” is a technical and theologically rich term in the Fourth Gospel. It is used in two technical senses,

A.) to refer to the era of eschatological fulfillment (e.g., 4:21, 23;  5:25, 28)

¹ Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. ²³ But the hour is coming, and is now here,

²⁵ “Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live…. ²⁸ Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice

B.) Perhaps more importantly it is a technical references to Jesus’ glorification through his passion, death, resurrection, and ascension (7:30; 8:20; 12:23; 13:1; 17:1).

³⁰ So they were seeking to arrest him, but no one laid a hand on him, because his hour had not yet come.

no one arrested him, because his hour had not yet come.

‘Father, save me from this hour’? But for this purpose I have come to this hour.

Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father

When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, “Father, the hour has come…

It is significant though, that at the beginning of his public ministry the Lord Christ is mindful of where all this ministry is going. He understands His task and that He is the Messiah assigned for a particular hour. 

Conclusion

Abundance of Grace

6 Stone Jars 20-30 Gallons
The best of the wine

We see God provides above and beyond the need and that with the very best. Christ is the very best and is given to more than meet our need. He is our salvation, our reconciliation, our redemption. God provides the Son just as Christ provides the wine.

Where else might we go with all this?

Joy … Christ has come. He has brought all that God has promised. There is no reason for us to now be downcast. In Christ the Kingdom has come and we are part of that Kingdom.

Mary mentioned here and at cross. Is there at the beginning and at the end.

_________________

7.) Given Mary’s concern for the Wedding problems it is probably the case that this wedding was a family member to Mary and Jesus. If so it would again be fitting that this first sign would be done among his kinsman people serving as a adumbration of what His bringing of the new and better covenant meant for His spiritual kinsman people.

I..) 20:1-15 teaches God can legitimately do whatever he chooses to do with all that he possesses.

We see this kind of reasoning in the book of Job. At the end of Job the answer God gives Job is that as God He is above inquiry as to what He does with His own.

It this kind of God we have to do with in Romans when it teaches that God will have mercy on whom He will have mercy.

We must not miss the Sovereignty of God in this Parable for that is one over-riding theme. The Vineyard (Kingdom) belongs to the owner. He brings into the Vineyard who He will and when He will. He recompenses according to justice and grace. We all get what we deserve because we are found in Christ. From another perspective all of us get what we do not deserve and that is reward above our work. Those who complain against the Vineyard Owner are implicitly complaining against the Sovereignty and generosity of God.

Down this line of Sovereignty we see the clear teaching of Election. “Many are called but few are Chosen.” I understand this to mean that many are attached to visible Kingdom who do not have the invisible Kingdom within them. All in the Kingdom are called but only the elect are chosen. Some reckon their Kingdom work as merit based. These are forever trying to put God in their debt. These are those who are called and not chosen. .

II.) 20:1-15 teaches that the promise of reward should not become ground upon which to stand. The ground upon which to stand is the generosity of the Vineyard owner in calling one to work. All is of grace, including the reward.

We find this kind of point made in Luke 15 in the parable of the Prodigal Son

Here we find the workers first hired, resentful, and complaining of injustice
Lk. 15 we find the elder son, who stayed at home, resentful and complaining of injustice

Here we find the unexpected generosity of the Employer towards the workers hired late
Lk. 15 we find the unexpected generosity of the Father towards the prodigal son

Here the employer justifies his extravagant generosity
Lk. 15 the Father justifies his extravagant generosity

Part of our sin nature reveals itself in our being inveterate comparers. We are consumed with all things being fair and then we are forever defining fair as that which works in our favor. In Matthew 20 the complaint of “unfairness,” is really about envy. There was a belief that the latecomers are getting more than they deserved and that the latecomers were not getting what the earlier workers thought they deserved. The earlier workers were discontent with what they received only because they were angry that the later workers were treated with abundant kindness.

Here is one point of application I believe. Can we rejoice with others in the largesse of God’s grace towards them when we might be tempted to think that God, having plenty of largesse to spare, isn’t being quite as gracious towards us as He might? Can we be content with the grace we’ve been given without being angered that someone has been given more? Can we keep from looking at others and playing the comparison game?

It is grace for any of us to be in Kingdom work. What matters it if God decides to bless some in the Kingdom with more than He does others in terms of blessing?

III.) 20:1-15 teaches that God’s generosity transcends human expectations, and grace disallows calculations of recompense

There is, in some quarters of the Church, a great deal of discussion on future rewards of the Kingdom, as if the desire for rewards ought to be a motivating factor for obedience. However, our motivation for obedience is found not in the promise of rewards, as if we could calculate that.

I’ve never been too concerned about this whole notion of rewards as a motivating factor or as something that should draw our interest. It is enough that God has placed us in the Vineyard to begin with, and it is enough that our motivation is calculated not on what more we might receive but on all that God has already freely given us. God has freely saved us and freely put us in the Kingdom and He will freely measure out to each according to His good measure.

As we have hinted at already, note that the complaint is not against the landowner’s injustice. There was no injustice in his dealing with those who would bring complaint. The complaint instead is against the generosity towards the latecomers. The complaint isn’t “you haven’t been good enough to us,” the complaint rather is, “you’ve been too good to others.”

Text — II Kings 2
Subject — The Character of God
Theme — The character of God as seen in the mauling bear’s incident of II Kings 2
Proposition — …. should remind us of the Holy God we serve

Today is “Sanctity of Life” Sunday. The one day that is set aside yearly to specifically confess this great sin of which we all are partakers and to pray that God might grant us repentance from our wickedness. Of course Abortion, in our time, has served as one of the great markers of the culture wars that is raging in the West.

We should not think however that culture wars are unique to us. Whenever you have people belonging to the same nation who have given their allegiances to different gods there you will find culture wars.

We see some of that in Israel during the times of the post-Davidic Kings. We all remember a high expression of those Culture wars as they raged on Mt. Carmel in I Kings 18 where the solitary Man of God does battle with the 850 representatives of Baal and Asherah. That passage comes to us far more squarely as a Worldview conflict with life and death implications.

However this passage that we are looking at today, I believe continues to give us insights into the worldview conflicts / culture wars during those times in Ancient Israel. I believe an examination of this passage, concentrating especially on the mauling of the youths, will reveal to us that this is not the case of a capricious God who has anger management issues but rather it is a case of a Holy God doing the very same thing He did on Mt. Carmel when He upheld the character of His name for all to see.

We must remember that the character of the times which we are looking at are revealed to us in II Chronicles 36

15 The LORD, the God of their ancestors, sent word to them through his messengers again and again, because he had pity on his people and on his dwelling place. But they mocked God’s messengers, despised his words and scoffed at his prophets until the wrath of the LORD was aroused against his people and there was no remedy

So in order to set the table here we must keep in mind that all of this is happens among God’s covenant people. Israel has been set apart, by God, to be a witness and priest to the nations. In the immediate time frame Israel has miserably disobeyed God and has been dishonored among His people and so among the Nations as well. Israel had been promised great blessings if she would be obedient but similarly great curses if she were disobedient to her calling (Cmp. Dt. 28, Lv. 26:21-22.).

Israel should have already learned that they were uniquely accountable to God as His people. When God’s people rebel, their sin is high-handed because they have more to rebel against. And what we find in this passage is God’s people rebelling.

Secondly, after the showdown between Ahab and Jezebel’s Baalism, and Elijah, (I Ki. 18) Ahab still did not repent. Elijah became a new Moses. He did not run away as many suppose, but walked straight to the same mountain, the same cave, where Moses saw the glory of God. Elijah became the Moses of a new interim covenant with a remnant of believers. That is why, in the passage in question, there are two ‘water crossings’. Elijah as the new Moses has a water crossing that symbolizes Exodus out of Egypt and into the Wilderness. Elisha is with Elijah representing the remnant who have not bowed the knee to Baal. Later, Elisha as the new Joshua, after seeing Elijah ascend as kind of a first-fruits of all that will follow, has a water crossing symbolizing entry into the new covenant land that is to be conquered.

Like Moses whose grave could not be found, Elijah can not be found after his ascension and so Elisha is established as the Elijah’s Joshua who is given a pentecostal type double blessing upon all his work. To change the metaphor slightly Elijah is the Christ who goes ahead and Elisha is the Church who remains behind to do the King’s work and who is doubly blessed to do the work that must be done.

Elisha is working in terms of a covenant already established. This covenant promises blessings for obedience. And Elisha, as God’s conquering representative, is used to bless a place (Jericho — vs. 18) that had formerly known only curse.

Joshua 6:26

“At that time Joshua pronounced this solemn oath: “Cursed before the LORD is the one who undertakes to rebuild this city, Jericho”

Elisha requests a new bowl possibly because a new bowl would not be unclean and he asks for salt. Salt is often associated with the OT sacrifices and so is associated with the cleansing that comes by way of sacrifice. And that is what we find here that the salt provides — A cleansing of the waters and so the land. This becomes a sort of Atonement for the land.

As we noted earlier though, the Covenant promises not only blessings but cursing as well. And it is interesting that we find God’s representative as the one who brings both blessing and cursing.

Here we see Elisha as a Christ figure. Either we will petition him for atonement for the springs out of which our life proceeds or we will be cursed for our mocking behavior. The passage before us reminds us that there is no “third way” with God. Either we will be atoned for or we will be suffer the curse of the covenant.

Now a word or two concerning vs. 23-25

First, remember that all of this is happening in the context of idolatrous Israel. Israel is whoring after other gods. That this is so is seen in the previous chapter where the King of Israel desires advice from the Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron whether he will live or not from a fall he had. God is none to pleased with this and inserts himself to give counsel to this King that he is going to die.

The land is rife with idolatry. This must be kept in mind to understand this passage.

Second, note that Elisha is headed towards Bethel (23). Keep in mind that Bethel is the hub of this idolatry. Remember your OT History. King Jeroboam, years prior to this, had instituted his own system of worship by setting up two idolatrous shrines with golden calf images when he broke from Judah (See 1 Kings 12.). One shrine was established at Dan, in the far north of the kingdom, and the other was strategically located at Bethel, on the border with the southern kingdom of Judah. Jeroboam also made up his own priesthood from among his own people. All of this Baal paganism in the Northern Kingdom can be traced back to Bethel. Elisha was headed into enemy territory when he was headed for Bethel.

Now between these two facts,

1.) The land is rife w/ idolatry

2.) Bethel is the hub of that idolatry

And between the reality that Elisha is God’s Joshua re-conquering the land visiting covenatal blessings and cursing upon God’s covenant people I don’t think it is a stretch at all to premise that what Elisha runs into is a pack of pagan Seminarians who are mocking God’s covenantal spokesman. What we have here, I would contend, is not a bunch of three year olds teasing a Prophet about his baldness, but rather what we have is a bunch of young adults testing the living God.

The word “youth” in the passage is used to designate people elsewhere in the OT of the ages of anywhere from twelve to thirty years old. These youths … these priests of Baal in training are mocking God’s prophet. To mock God’s spokesman is to mock God. Their mocks come to us as “baldness,” but such a mocking may have had to do with

1) natural loss of hair;
2) a shaved head denoting his separation to the prophetic office; or more likely,
3) an epithet of scorn and contempt accusing Elisha of being a Leper since Lepers had to shave their heads

Suffice it to say that insult ‘baldhead’ was one of “contempt in the East, applied to a person even with a bushy head of hair.”

Their cat-cries to “go up” doubtless refers to their desire to for Elisha to go away the same way that Elijah had “gone up to heaven.” They wanted to be rid of God’s spokesman.

So here we have the ideological kin of the 850 that Elijah executed at Mt. Carmel. You would have thought that they had learned their lesson.

We should note that the bears mauled 42 of the youths which indicates that Elisha was likely facing many more detractors then the 42 who were cursed.

We should also note that being mauled by wild beasts was a sign of covenant curse.

Lev 26:21 “Then if you walk contrary to me and will not listen to me, I will continue striking you, sevenfold for your sins. 22And I will let loose the wild beasts against you, which shall bereave you of your children and destroy your livestock and make you few in number, so that your roads shall be deserted.

So, being torn in two by scavenging birds and wild beasts was a curse of the Covenant that is often repeated throughout the Bible. We see it beginning with the raven sent out by Noah, that fed on the floating bodies until the waters went down. If you remember, Jezebel was eaten by dogs, Saul’s sons were hung high but one of their mothers chased the birds away. Abraham chased the birds away from the divided animals that purified the Land, etc. There are many more examples.

These youths were violating the covenant by mocking God and God, who is patient and long-suffering gave them what He promised. Like those who Elijah dismissed after Carmel, these are dismissed by God. Jezebel’s children shall not stand in the company of the righteous.

Now, today what we get are people running to this passage complaining about a capricious God with anger management problems. But the thing we need to keep in mind is not that the action of God here is surprising but rather that this doesn’t happen all the time is what is surprising. Each of us deserves our own personalized female bear.

But God is gracious and has provided for people a covering in Jesus Christ who took our mauling for us. Christ bore the covenant curses that we might know the covenant blessings and that we might walk in the ways of the covenant in order to glorify Him.

You can be sure of this that God will cut off the wicked completely and finally. They will not stand w/ the righteous. The fact that we still have our own culture wars is indicative of God’s patience and the day of grace that we live in. However, you can be sure that if we will not repent of our wickedness a day is coming when the judgment of God will come upon fall upon the wickedness of our land just as it fell upon the wickedness of the land of Israel.

If you abide in my word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free.

A.) Set Free From Sin’s Dominion

The promise here by Jesus is that if they will abide in His word they will be set free. Christians have been set free from sin’s dominion. They are no longer a slave to sin (8:34). Upon being set free they are now alive to what they were once dead to and are dieing to what they were once alive to. Because of this their desire is to live for God and not unto self. Because they are no longer under Sin’s dominion — which manifested itself in the disregard for God’s Character and moral law — and are now under Christ’s dominion they have a desire to search out and walk in terms of a Spirit animated exaltation in God’s Law-Word

“But with the gospel and in Christ, united to him by faith, the law is no longer my enemy but my friend. Why? Because now God is no longer my enemy but my friend, and the law, his will, the law in its moral core, as reflective of his character and of concerns eternally inherent in his own person and so of what pleases him, is now my friendly guide for life in fellowship with God” ~ Dr. Richard Gaffin

B.) Set Free From Humanist Notions of Freedom

Liberation theology emphasizes the need to free the oppressed, the minority, and the victim from the social structures that are used by the majority ideological and moneyed interests that are advantaged by oppression. Liberation theology is animated and defined by the idea of class and culture struggle having as its goal the achievement of a social justice that would flatten all biblical hierarchical relational structures and would result in the equalizing of all men and women.

Liberation theology offers a liberation from oppressive institutional structures and as such when you read the Liberation Theologians you get the sense that they believe that the Gospel goes forward not by means of individuals being set free by Christ but rather you get the sense that individuals are set free only as political or social environments are set free.

Because of this you hear quite a bit of language from Liberation Theologians about institutional oppression, or corporate cultural wide structural sins, or oppressive cultural attitudes. You see it is whole cultures that are indicted and not individuals that make up the culture. The goal then is to change the culture from the top down by long marches through the cultural institutions where such oppression, structural sins, and victimizing attitudes supposedly come from.

Now in order for this to work the Liberation Theologians have to create a large class of people who feel victimized, and so to that end grievance, real and imagined, are drug up and used to convince people they are oppressed. Wives are putatively oppressed by their husbands and children and must be liberated from this bondage. Minorities are putatively oppressed by Majorities and the culture must be liberated from this bondage. Children are putatively oppressed by their parents and so the culture must be liberated from this bondage. Sexual deviants are putatively oppressed by Christian understandings of marriage and family and so culture must be liberated from this bondage. The poor are putatively oppressed by the Rich and so cultures must be liberated from this bondage. The West is oppressed by apparitions of a vengeful deity, with his bloody Son, who has a law word that must be esteemed and so the West must be liberated from this bondage.

And the Liberation that the Liberation Theologian offers up is a Top Down Liberation that is achieved by revolution and results in bondage that is, on the whole, more severe than any real bondage that existed prior to the successful Liberation.

The Liberation that Jesus promises in his promise to set people free is not social-institutional until it is first individual and personal. Jesus Liberates a person not primarily from their social oppressions — as real as those may very well be. Jesus Liberates a person from their own spiritual slavery to the Devil. Jesus Liberates not primarily from the sin of corporate structural sins but primarily from the sin of loving self above God. The promise of Jesus for Liberation is the liberation from the work of making the world revolve around me. Jesus will free the sin saturated heart not by calls for Revolution by the reality of regeneration.

Do you see the difference here between what the Liberation Theologian as Humanist offers and the Liberation that Jesus promises? The Liberation Theologians believes that people can only be set free as cultural institutions are changed and as the environment is redeemed in the direction of Marxist – Feminist definitions of social justice. The Christian believes that people can only be set free as individuals are regenerated. The Liberation Theologian teaches people that cultural conflict is the only way to be set free. Jesus teaches people that only an abiding in His word can set people Free. In the
end what the Liberation Theologian gives to people is only more bondage. What our Lord Christ gives is genuine freedom.

It is true that injustices abound in this world but the answer to curing the injustices of the world is not by pursuing a Liberation that is forcefully seized. The answer to injustices of the world is by the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit upon individuals who build unjust cultures. When the Spirit moves to set people free … and when those people abide in the Word … then those freed people will build just cultures.

In short the primary problem is never political, social, or cultural. The primary problem is that people are dead in their sins and trespasses — he Liberation Theologian as much as anybody. It is not to much to say, I think, that people who advocate for various stripes of Liberation Theology Freedom, from socialism, to feminism, to the cultural Marxist, to environmentalism to code Pink do not know what it means to be free indeed.

Text — James 3:13-18
Subject — Wisdom
Theme — The Character of Wisdom

Proposition — The Character of Wisdom as taught by James 3 should give us insights into the type of Wisdom we practice

Purpose — Therefore having seen the Character of Wisdom in James 3 let us thank God that Jesus is our Wisdom and then pray God for a repentant heart that puts off earthly wisdom and put on heavenly wisdom

Introduction

Context

vs. 13 should be read in context with vs. 1. There the warning was of the dangers that come with being a teacher. Vs. 13, with the picking up of the theme of “wise and understanding” seems then to be a reference back to who should and shouldn’t be a teacher. The idea would be that a teacher is wise and understanding, and this section then goes into what that wise and understanding looks like.

I.) Wise & Understanding Looks Like Good Conduct

vs. 13 — In James requirement that Wisdom would be reflected by its fruits James is being consistent in his whole root and fruit theology. Remember James is the Apostle that is teaches that faith as a root produces good works as a fruit. James uses that same kind of reasoning in 3:13. Wisdom as a root produces good conduct.

In saying this James makes Wisdom to be a quality or virtue that is known by its children or offspring. If one is Wise, then that is revealed in good conduct. We notice how concrete James is here. Wisdom has hands and feet.

At this point we must realize that there must be an objective standard that is being used in order to measure the idea of “good conduct.” “Good conduct” is not conduct that is measured by good intentions, or by subjective opinions about what would be “good,” but by the clear description of what is good as set forth by the word of God. This is necessary to keep emphasizing because of our American predisposition to believe that “good” is situational relative.

At this point James turns to characterize the good conduct called for and says that Wise and understanding man will do works that are done in the meekness of Wisdom. Here we find a definitional component of Wisdom. James characterizes Wisdom as have a certain meekness about it.

“Meekness of Wisdom” — James is calling for a wisdom that does not put itself on display, is not arrogant, boastful, is not concerned about public exhibition to gain notice.

So when works are done in the “Meekness of Wisdom” there is the sense that there is not a great deal of grandstanding that is going on in order to put those works on display. The works of Wisdom are not concerned with being advertised of glorified by men.

These words then are reminiscent of Jesus’ own words

1 “Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.

2 “So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. 3 But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
Prayer
5 “And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. 6 But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

II.) Wise & Understanding does not look like

Vs. 14 is a conditional sentence that in the Greek communicates the presence of those vices that are in the conditional sentence. So, what is being said here is,

“If you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts [and I know you do] stop boasting about it and stop denying the truth.”

“Bitter envy” & “self seeking” seems to be what is contrasted with the the “the Meekness of Wisdom.”

Envy is resentful and even hateful dislike of the good fortune or blessing or position of another. That fact that James calls it “bitter” accentuates the character of envy or what envy naturally does to a person.

This idea of “bitter envy” is part of the old nature. It is the means by which old Slew-foot appealed to Eve. Satan birthed Envy in Eve with the temptation,

5 “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

See the resentment that Satan is creating in Eve? See how Satan is creating a hateful dislike in Eve of the position of God?

“God is keeping something from you Eve. Be ‘wise.’ Be God yourself. Make your own decisions.”

So this “Bitter Envying,” and “Selfish ambition,” is characteristic of the Old Man. However these are traits that are also accentuated by our own culture where we are largely taught that “Bitter Envying” and “Selfish ambition” are positive traits.

We are taught to envy the possession of others in the class warfare that is always being brought before our eyes. In the word “Schadenfreud” we have adopted a word that speaks of our delight at the misfortune of somebody else. We see the people fail who we are trying to replace or who we are in competition with and we have a certain Schadenfreud about their demise.

This envying tends to make comparisons between what others have and what we don’t have or it compares the attributes of others as against our own attributes. This kind of envying resents the existence of other people and is delighted when they are pulled down even if it means that the ones doing the resenting are not themselves rising. This kind of envying then values its own welfare less than it does the debasement or harm of others.

Much of what goes on in Liberation Theology and thus passes for Christianity is really just envy and selfish ambition dressed up in evening clothes.

(Cmp. Gal. 6 — “Selfish ambition — part of “Lust of the Flesh)

James then calls for a cease in boasting in this. (Out of the abundance of the heart them mouth speaks.)

James calls this “Wisdom”

Note something here. When God’s standard is ignored the result is an upside down, inside out world where good becomes bad and “Bitter envy and selfish ambition” becomes Wisdom. James calls it “Wisdom” but it is only “Wisdom” in the context of a God hating World and life view.

Earthly … unspiritual … Demonic

James offers that where this Demonic Wisdom exists there you have confusion (chaos) and every evil thing.

The reason that this is so is obvious. With Envy you have everybody trying to pull everybody else down. Nothing in human relationships or social orders can be built when you have the war of all against all. Selfish ambition likewise is a situation where everyone is trying to be God. Only confusion (chaos) can result in a world where every person is trying to be God to everyone else.

III.) Wise & Understanding Looks Like

A.) Right Oriented attitudes

Peace-loving, considerate, submissive

B.) Right Oriented action

Full of mercy and good fruit

C.) Right Oriented judgments

Impartial and w/o Hypocrisy (sincere)

Now we must close with the Gospel.

Who alone has the ability to attain the status of Wise?

Why it is only those who are clothed in Jesus Christ and who have taken Him for their Wisdom. The pagan and Christ hater will never be wise. Because they are dead in their sins and trespasses their minds are darkened and their whole existence is characterized by a futility in their thinking.

It is only Christians who have looked to Christ alone and trust him for their acceptance with God who have any hope of being sanctified unto Wisdom. It is only Christians who put no hope in their own Wisdom to find favor with God who can hope to be wise. It is only Christians who have, despite their foolishness and wickedness, who can aspire unto Wisdom.