Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up. [James 4:9-10 NIV]
I am guessing that many people will not find today's title attractive. What is James talking about? Why all this talk about expressing deep sorrow and even anguish? Is James contradicting Paul's instruction to 'rejoice' in his letter to the Philippians?
Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!
[Philippians 4:4 NIV]
To answer this last question, it is worth looking back to a book in the Old Testament which reminds us that 'there is a time for sorrow and a time for joy.'
Everything that happens in this world happens at the time God chooses. He sets the time for birth and the time for death, the time for planting and the time for pulling up, the time for killing and the time for healing, the time for tearing down and the time for building. He sets the time for sorrow and the time for joy, the time for mourning and the time for dancing,[Ecclesiastes 3:1-4 GNT]
James is saying that this is not a time for rejoicing. It is a time for sorrow. James is dealing with a very important subject - the need for repentance which involves deep sorrow and bitter anguish for sin. When I was a teenager, I heard a Bible teacher distinguishing between 'remorse' and 'repentance.' Remorse is regret at how our sins have affected us (Judas displayed remorse after he had betrayed Jesus for thirty silver coins - Matthew 27:3-5). Repentance is a deep-seated sorrow and anguish at how our sins have offended God.
James is speaking about the need to repent. He has exposed sins that are grievous to God. James is saying that these proud Jewish teachers need to repent. Does this mean that he is speaking to unbelievers? Some commentators including John MacArthur say that James is preaching to those who were part of the Jewish Messianic community - but they were not true Christians. I am not dismissing this too hurriedly. Jesus spoke a parable which indicates that there are two crops intermingled in the field which is a picture of the kingdom of heaven. There were weeds (tares in the King James Version) growing among the crop of wheat. The Lord's parable was clearly indicating that there would be unconverted men and women mingling with those who were genuine born-again believers. Jesus stated that this situation was the work of the enemy (Satan). Their destination was different though: at the harvest, the weeds were collected separately from the wheat, tied in bundles and burned. This would indicate eternal separation from God in hell. However, the wheat was given a very different treatment - it was 'gathered' and brought into His barn. This would refer to heaven - being in God's presence. Jesus spoke to His disciples about His Father's house and that He was going to prepare a place for them. (John 14:1-3). The context is clear that this is for those who believe in God and the Lord Jesus, the Son of God (John 14:1). There is no doubt that if are not a committed Christian, you need to repent and acknowledge Jesus as Saviour and Lord.
But I want to suggest that we are missing the point if we restrict the need to repent to those who are not believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. Here is the message from the risen Lord to the church at Ephesus
Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first. Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place. [Revelation 2:4-5]
This is a word to Christian believers in the Lord Jesus Christ but they have 'forsaken the love that they had at first.' That description would cover many churches in the United Kingdom in the 21st century. We also need to repent. What evidence do I have for this claim? Apart from conducting a self-assessment (looking into my own heart), I believe there is ample evidence that as a Christian community we have forsaken the love we have had at first. Our churches are ridden with division and bitterness and conflict. We need to repent - stop blaming other people and start looking within ourselves to see the condition of our hearts.
And repentance is not a light-hearted affair. In the Jewish society, mourners made a public display of mourning at funerals for loved ones. We can detect this in the Gospels when Jesus visited homes where there had been a bereavement (Read Mark 5:38). This was ostentatious mourning but we need to be truly sorry and distraught for the sins in our lives. There is the danger that we begin to tolerate sin and allow it to take root in our lives. Notice that this requires humility. We are often too proud to admit our true condition before God. We are often like those that Robert Burns condemned so vigorously.
O ye, wha are sae guid yoursel', [O you people who think that you are so good]
Sae pious and sae holy, [So pious and so holy]
Ye've naught to do but mark and tell
Your neebour's fauts and folly [You have nothing else to do but notice your neighbours weaknesses and foolish sins]
[From Address to the Unco Guid by Robert Burns]
I suggest that, if you get the opportunity to listen to another poem by the same poet called Holy Willie's Prayer, you would find a powerful reminder of the danger of hypocrisy. We are so ready to condemn other people and so reluctant to judge ourselves. Burns himself lived a very immoral life but he condemned those who professed to be good-living but were, in fact, covering up secret sins in their own lives.
When was the last time we shed a tear in private or even in public when we thought about the state of our heart - our lack of compassion, our tendency to gossip, our lack of genuine love for our fellow Christians, our selfishness, our jealous resentment of others etc. The devil does not want us to be genuine - he is relieved at our hypocrisy as it suits his purpose.
Portrait of Robert Burns in the Scottish National Portrait Gallery by Alexander Naismith [Public Domain]
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