“17 But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. 18 Peacemakers who sow in peace raise a harvest of righteousness. ”
There is a plaque in a church in a small town in Massachusetts which reads, “Church member of the year.” I saw it back in 2006. There was a name behind each year. “This is the church member of the year for 2005.” Now I can only begin to imagine what that nomination process looked like. I can’t fathom anyone put themselves forward for the honor. I do imagine that whoever was named felt a bit sheepish about the whole matter.
It is a strange practice but there is something to it. There are particular church members who are invaluable to congregational life just like there are members of a baseball team who are invaluable to the life of the team, and there are particular virtues common to all such church members. These were undoubtedly the virtues common to that congregation’s “church member of the year.” Each of these virtues help the church be the way it is supposed to be. The most valuable church members, if you want to use that language, don’t cultivate disorder and evil practices as we saw last week; they cultivate peace and righteousness as we will see this week.
Last week you were urged to consider yourself. This week consider yourself and feel free to consider other members of this church. If a member of this congregation radiates one of these virtues, or most likely many of them because they go together, consider telling him or her. Appreciating virtue in each other is part of church life. It is awareness of the work of the Spirit.
Churches marked by peace and righteousness don’t simply happen; they require certain God-given virtues. That is the claim of this sermon: churches marked by peace and righteousness don’t simply happen; they require certain God-given virtues.
We will see this in five points. First: towards peace and righteousness. Second: the virtue of pure motives. Third: the virtues which resist bitter envy and selfish ambition. Fourth: the virtues of fullness. Fifth: the virtues of consistency.
Since verse 18 is something of a capstone for verse 17, we will begin with verse 18 and then move to verse 17. We will study the move towards peace and righteousness in verse 18 and then the virtues which cultivate peace and righteousness in verse 17.
First: towards peace and righteousness. Last week’s sermon was entitled, “How to cause trouble in your church, family, and everywhere else.” I chose that title because James taught us that dissatisfaction, which is bitter envy, and pride, which is selfish ambition, will produce disorder and every evil practice in churches, families, and any community of people. None of us want that for this church. None of us want that for our family. None of us want that for our workplace. Since none of us wants to be dissatisfied, we must be satisfied in Jesus. Since none of us wants to be proud, we must be humble before God. Last week we saw what we don’t want and how to work against it. This week we see what we do want and how to work towards it.
We want peace and righteousness in our church. We want peace and righteousness in our families. We want peace and righteousness in our world.
Now peace, in this sense, is not simply the absence of conflict. The peace for which we long is what the Old Testament calls “shalom.” Shalom, to borrow Neil Plantinga’s helpful definition, is, “the way things ought to be.” We don’t just want a church that is free from conflict. We want to be part of church the way it was meant to be. As we saw last week Sunday morning, the church is something of a miracle and we want to do justice to this miracle. We want to be part of church the way it is supposed to be.
Now some people are willing to work towards such a community. James calls them peacemakers. Verse 18, “Peacemakers who sow in peace raise a harvest of righteousness.”
Peacemakers are not those who call for peace at all costs. Peacemakers are those who are willing to work for the way things ought to be. They are those who are willing to listen and speak in hopes of restoring a relationship. They are those who are willing to serve according to God’s direction. They are those who are willing to practice the virtues which we will study tonight.
Last week we saw that dissatisfaction and pride lead to disorder and every evil practice in the church. Tonight, we see that people who are willing to practice the virtues James lists will cultivate righteousness in their local church. “Peacemakers who sow in peace raise a harvest of righteousness.”
The life of a church is righteous if it conforms to the character of God. If a church holds out no hope for sinners, that church is not acting righteously because God holds out hope for sinners, which is all of us. If a church is not hospitable, that church is not acting righteously because God welcomes the stranger.
Each of us longs to be part of a community which conforms to the character of God. Even those who say they hate God long to be part of a community which conforms to the character of God. “You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in You,” as Augustine put it. This is a world filled with restless hearts.
The church is to be the community which conforms most closely to the character of God. That is part of why we are called the body of Christ. Our charter says we are to conform to Christ. If that is to be the case, we all need—and that means all of us—we all need to be committed to practicing these virtues as we seek the way things ought to be. That is part of verse 18, “Peacemakers who sow in peace raise a harvest of righteousness.”
So, what are these virtues? The first virtue we will study is pure motives. That is our next point: the virtue of pure motives.
Each of these virtues which we will study comes from God. Last week we saw that the bitter envy and selfish ambition which cause so much trouble come from the world, the flesh, and the devil. In contrast, these virtues which make relationships the way they are supposed to be come from God. That is why James calls them, “the wisdom that comes from heaven.”
Now God gives this wisdom liberally. You will find the virtues of this wisdom in Christians, Muslims, Hindus, and atheists. There are many impartial atheists. There are many considerate Muslims. These virtues are part of what we call God’s common grace.
That being said, these virtues are to be acutely concentrated in the church because we are the foothold of the new creation. We are becoming the way people ought to be; that is the nature of church.
The first virtue on its way towards that is pure motives. “But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure.” The man of purity, “follows God’s moral directives with unmixed motives,” in the words of one commentator.
You are not going to cultivate God’s character among us if you are not single-minded about God. You urge what you love. You always urge what you love. We all do. The more you love the Lord with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength the more you will urge what is godly among us by your example and by your words.
The more single-minded you are about God, the more righteousness you will cultivate among us. This singlemindedness is the nature of purity. Kierkegaard was right; “purity of heart is to will one thing.”
You see that in Jesus. Jesus willed one thing. He told his disciples, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent me and to accomplish His work.” That is perfect purity; Jesus “follows God’s moral directives with unmixed motives.”
The purer your motives in obedience, the more righteous your harvest in your family and in this church. Take Robert Murray M’Cheyne as an example. He was a single-minded man. In his diary he wrote, “Oh how sweet to work for God all day, and then lie down at night beneath His smile.” It is not surprising that the church to which he belonged benefited as a result. It is not surprising that the family to which he belonged benefited as a result.
That is the virtue of pure motives. Now we turn our attention to the virtues which resist bitter envy and selfish ambition. That is our third point.
Last week we learned that, “where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice.” None of us wants disorder in our families. None of us wants disorder in this congregation. None of us wants evil practices to flourish among us. The following three virtues help resist bitter envy and selfish ambition.
These three virtues all sound rather similar in the Greek; they are translated as peace-loving, considerate, and submissive. The peace-loving church member works toward good relations. He thinks about decisions in terms of unity. By contrast, the bitterly envious man thinks about decisions in terms of his own preferences. The selfishly ambitious man thinks about decisions in terms of his own agenda. The peace-loving man works towards church the way it is supposed to be. The dissatisfied and proud man work, largely unwittingly, towards disorder in the church.
The considerate church member considers the needs of others before himself. That word ‘considerate’ is also translated as ‘forbearing’. This man is willing to bear with others. He is willing to sacrifice for the greater good. The dissatisfied man is not willing to sacrifice for the greater good. He doesn’t find his satisfaction in Christ and so he probably thinks he has sacrificed too much already. The prideful man by definition does not consider the needs of others before his own. He usually doesn’t even notice the needs of others in his church. Not surprisingly the considerate man and the dissatisfied, proud man have distinctly different effects on their churches and families.
The submissive man requires some explanation because the word ‘submissive’ is not well understood in our day. To give you a sense of the word, I’m going to give you a few alternative translations—this man is “open to reason.” He is, “willing to be persuaded.”
The submissive man doesn’t simply go along to get along; rather he is open to thoughts which are not his own. Peter Davids said this man, “gladly submits to true teaching and listens carefully to the other [man] instead of attacking him.” This is work because we can be quick to attack when we disagree. James would urge us to ask questions to understand.
The submissive man can live this way because he is mastered by Christ. The proud man must fight for his own opinions because they are his; the submissive man’s opinions are not his own. He submits his mind to Christ and so he is open to hear from a Christian brother because that Christian brother might see something that he has missed.
The submissive man can live this way because he is satisfied in Christ. He doesn’t find satisfaction in ‘being right’ like the dissatisfied man does. He finds daily satisfaction in the Son of God who loved him and gave himself for him.
What is remarkable to consider is that Jesus of Nazareth exemplifies these three virtues. He was willing to listen to others even though he is God. We are often too proud to listen to someone else because we think we know better. Jesus, who does know better, is willing to listen. Jesus was willing to forbear with others. None of us can begin to comprehend how much forbearance Jesus showed to his disciples as he lived with them day in and day out for three years. If you think that you bear well with those who aren’t as mature as you, consider how Jesus bore with those men and consider how Jesus bears with you today.
Consider how Jesus works towards unity. You see his passion for it in his prayer for you, not just for his original disciples but for you. He prayed it shortly before he was crucified. He prayed, “I do not ask for these only [meaning the original disciples], but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.”
We shouldn’t be surprised that the body of Christ becomes more and more the way it is supposed to be when we members of the body of Christ become more like Christ.
Our next two virtues are a seemingly haphazard pair, or perhaps I just can’t see their connection with each other and the whole. What I do know is that James introduces both of them with the phrase “full of”—full of mercy and full of good fruit—and so I am calling these two the virtues of fullness. This is our fourth point.
The wisdom that makes for church, and families, and any human relationship as it ought to be is full of mercy and full of good fruit; “the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit.”
James has already told us about the woman who is full of mercy or charity. She is the woman who sees someone poorly clothed or lacking in daily food and does not simply say, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled.” The woman who is full of mercy gives that soul everything needful for the body.
She shows neighbor love like the Good Samaritan. She can know that she will hear, “well done, good and faithful servant,” at the final judgment today because the charity which is within her heart shows that she is a recipient of the charity of God.
Such women, and of course men, produce a harvest of righteousness in the church. They help the church be the way it is supposed to be. There are many unspoken deeds of charity in this church. Some of us have been recipients. Others of us will be recipients. The regular response to such charity when received is overflowing thanks for the body of Christ. I am thankful to be part of this church because you really care for each other and that is part of shalom. That is part of the way it is supposed to be. That is righteous because it conforms to God’s character. He has shown charity to us and so we are to be charitable to each other.
Caring for one another in difficult straits is obviously a Christian thing to do because it is what Christ did. “For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly… God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
Don’t show charity out of dissatisfaction, as if somehow doing good to others will make you feel better about yourself. It is true that will make you feel better about yourself, but there is a better reason to show it. Show it because you are a recipient of charity and that charity is overflowing in your heart. Show it because, in the words of James, you are full of charity and that charity comes from God.
The next virtue is good fruit and the woman who makes for peace and righteousness in the church is full of it. We usually think of this metaphor of fruit in regard to Paul and the fruit of the Spirit and while James doesn’t use that exact phrase he has largely the same truth in mind; he is talking about fruit that comes from above.
If God is at work in a woman—in James’ words if she has “the wisdom that comes from heaven”—she will bear good fruit. She will be full of it. Women who are not only willing to do good deeds but who want to do good deeds do remarkable good in their church. They are assets. I’m sure that the women of the Circle of Faith wouldn’t want me to talk about them, but they have done this church great good. They have contributed to this church being more the way it ought to be. Their work has produced righteousness among us. We are more like Christ as a result of what they have done over the years.
That is the way it has always been and always will be in the church. Those who are full of good fruit benefit the church in ways that are easy and sometimes not so easy to see. The same is the case in the family. A man who is married to a woman who is full of good fruit can see the positive effects on himself and the family, but he cannot see them all. Some of these fingerprints of grace are visible but many are invisible, yet he is still enjoying them. So, it is true for the church.
We now turn to our final two virtues for our final point: the virtues of consistency. The bitter envy and selfish ambition we saw last week produce disorder because those vices can’t help but produce disorder. Proud people expect life to work differently for them; that is a disordered desire which if granted will produce disorder in communities. Dissatisfied people want the community to satisfy them; that is a disordered desire which if granted will produce disorder in that community.
By contrast impartiality and sincerity produce community, or in this case church, the way it is supposed to be because they are properly ordered. They produce order because they are properly ordered virtues.
These two words, impartiality and sincerity, sound very nice together in the Greek, which might be one reason that James used both. James had already taught that impartiality is proper. ‘If a man wearing a gold ring and fine clothing comes into your assembly, and a poor man in shabby clothing also comes in, and if you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothing and say, “You sit here in a good place,” while you say to the poor man, “You stand over there,” or, “Sit down at my feet,” have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?’ Partiality to any group makes distinctions and that can lead to disorder.
Impartiality isn’t ignorant of distinctions, but it doesn’t decide based on distinctions. It doesn’t overlook sin simply because the one committing it is within the in-group. It doesn’t praise in a Republican what it condemns in a Democrat. It affirms that God didn’t show love to some particular in-group, but rather God showed His love to the whole world by sending His one and only Son that whoever believes in him might not perish but have eternal life.
James has also taught about sincerity. We saw that the double-minded man is not sincere. He prays for wisdom but has no intention of putting it into practice and so he doesn’t get it. We saw that when we praise God in song but slander each other we are not using our tongues with sincerity. “With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing… these things ought not to be so.”
This word for sincerity literally means, “not playing a part.” We are all prone to play parts. Os Guinness is right, “only madmen, geniuses, and supreme egotists do things purely for themselves… most of us, whether we are aware of it or not, do things with an eye to the approval of some audience. The question is not whether we have an audience but which audience we have… a life lived listening to the decisive call of God is a life lived before one audience that trumps all others—the audience of One.” That audience is, of course, God Himself. You can only stop playing a part when you consciously live with God as your audience. Sincerity comes from living sincerely before God.
Dissatisfied people play the part. They play the part necessary to get what they want. That causes trouble. Proud people play the part. They play the part that makes them look good. That causes trouble. Sincere people play only for God and that causes good. They live to please God and it shouldn’t surprise us that what pleases God is like God. This raises the harvest of righteousness of which James spoke. The good that we enjoy as a church has come from sincere hearts living for God.
Now given what we have said about sincerity, it should be obvious that Jesus is the sincerest man who ever lived. He lived to please only one audience and look at the good that he did and is doing even now. As we have seen he is the exemplar of all these virtues. The church is merely the people living Jesus’ life. We are the body of Christ in that our life together is like the life of Christ.
You have a role in our life together. Your role is to work towards church as it’s supposed to be. If you are not, that is having an effect. If you are, that is having an effect. Amen.