Happy Fourth of July to all of you. I join you in celebrating our independence from foreign rule and our total dependence on the grace of God. In this last article on "loving God with all our strength", we will look strongly at renewal and recovery. Strength trainers tell you us physical strength is actually built when muscle fibers are torn down and then given nutrition and rest to recover. Overtraining is the result of vigorous exercise without recovery time, and the results can be counter-productive and even cause injury. The same is true in our lives as we follow Christ. Everyone wears out and burns out from time to time. What are the things you do to emotionally, spiritually, physically and mentally recover?
Isaiah 40:28-31
There is an interesting mystery about God in the Bible. We are told that "he neither slumbers or sleeps"(Psalm 121:3) and in this passage that he "will not grow tired and weary", and yet in Genesis 2:1-4, God takes a rest, a Sabbath. Furthermore, the letter to the Hebrews, chapter 4, says that God is still resting.
We seem to have two different kinds of rest here. First, there is rest from labor, which God does as an example that the work/Sabbath rhythm is part of all of creation. But second, there is a sense of restfulness that we can have even as we are active, a confidence that God has everything in hand (even when things are hectic, out of control, and even going in the wrong direction). The prophet is clear, however that though God doesn't get tired or weary, we do - no matter what our age. When we place our trust and hope in the LORD our strength is renewed. When you ride an airplane, the attendant tells parents of a children that when the oxygen mask drops from above, put on your own oxygen first and then put it on your child. The same is true as we offer ourselves for the love of God. We take time to get fresh air, rest and time in worship so that we are able to offer the love of Christ to others.
One misunderstanding often comes from this passage. We think that if we get tired or weary it is because we have not believed enough or put our hope enough in the LORD. That can be true, if we have been trying to do things in our own strength. But following Christ does not take away our humanity. The eagle referenced in this passage takes time away in solitude to be renewed before going back out in flight. We do get tired and weary and we need time with God and solitude away from our demands so that we can finish the race well. It might be better to say, "We run and get our second wind," and "we, after resting, walk all the way to the finish line."
James 5:1-20
Before James gets to his renewal agenda, he has one more thing to say about arrogance. The first arrogance was us thinking we are in charge of our lives and calendars. The second arrogance is trusting in our wealth. The early church was by and large a slave church, so the wealthy people he is writing about are likely outside the church. Today, church people are wealthier than the average American, so it can be important for us to pay attention to what he says in a way that his readers might not have needed to. We do tend to pay a lot of attention to what we have and paying for what we have is often a major stressor in our relationships. Pretty soon we are giving attention to "things" more than the important people we live with, work with and even more than our relationship to God. No wonder Jesus required his first disciples to leave everything and follow him. James reminds us that at our death we can take none of these "things" with us. But James also calls to question the ethics of people who have means. If we're not careful, we will be part of networks that exploit people (e.g. clothing manufacturing and food production and the slave labor involved around the world) and even nations (using our money and means to bully other nations into submission). As Christian people of means (and by world standards that is true of just about all of us), we are called to higher standards than mere profitability or competitiveness.
But as a slave people, the readers of James' letter would be wondering when they will finally no longer suffer and be oppressed. Among the New Testament writers, there was a strong belief that the answer to that suffering and oppression was the second coming of Christ, which was likely to happen in their generation. Every generation since has anticipated that they were the ones who would see the second coming of Christ. We have televangelists saying today that Christ is going to come in their lifetime. This, too, smacks of arrogance. For the Bible is clear that "no one knows the day or the hour." So has the Bible misled us? No, for the truth is Christ has come to us - in the person of the Holy Spirit. A clear reading of John 15-16 will show that the Spirit was sent by Jesus to us as one who would be like Jesus on the inside. I do believe that some day Jesus will make a great and triumphant return (I have no idea when), but in the meantime Christ comes to us thousands of times. The second coming will be the exclamation point on what he has been doing all along through the Holy Spirit. Our endurance is not founded only in an event to happen some unknown day in the future, it is founded also in the ever-present Christ who is there with us in every moment helping, teaching and providing us joy and peace.
Our renewal, however is not just a "me and God" thing. Renewal and recovery also happens in our relationships with one another in the Church. In verse 12, James calls for open honesty, echoing Jesus' teaching from "The Sermon on the Mount" in Matthew 5:33-37. Having people you can trust and lean on is renewing and invaluable - one of the great gifts I have seen in action at St. Luke's. The most renewing gift we can give each other is prayer, prayers for: endurance in suffering, shared joy in celebration, healing in sickness and forgiveness in sin and brokenness. This is the passage that gives the model for having people anoint each other with oil in prayers for healing. Notice the confidence that James has in the power of God to respond to prayer, even using the Old Testament example of Elijah. The actual Kings readings do not say Elijah prayed for those things, he merely announced to King Ahab that famine was coming (I Kings 17:1)and, three and half years later, announced when it would start to rain (I Kings 18:41-46). But the point remains, "The fervent prayers of a righteous one is powerful and effective." In a word prayer works, not because it is magic, but because God works and chooses to work through open people of faith in a powerful way.
In light of the ongoing drought in our area, I have been asked many times, "Do our prayers really make it rain?" Quite often, people will quote this passage from James as an answer. Watch for an extra article on this one, because I believe the question gets at the heart of what it means to pray.
James finishes with a reference to those who stray. In the Christian life, there are casualties, people who fall into moral failure and people who even give up on the faith. They may face hurts and doubts that few know or understand. The parable of Jesus and the lost sheep comes to mind. Sometimes just knowing someone cares and is willing to walk along side them will be what restores them to fellowship in the Church. People are tempted to just assume what might have happened to make them stray. Often those assumptions are completely false. It's always worth it to seek out one who is straying and offer the restoring love of Christ. Not everyone will be ready to respond quickly to such an offer, but some will and we won't give up on those that do not respond.
See you tomorrow in worship. We will be celebrating "Independence Sunday" and having a special time of renewal and recovery at the Lord's table, so that we can go back in the world and "love the LORD with all our strength" in all that we do.
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