Mission Possible: James 1:12-27                                                             Ed Backell

When I was a child, one of my favorite television shows was “Mission Impossible”, starring Peter Graves and Leonard Nimoy. The series followed the missions of the Impossible Missions Force, a team of secret agents employed by the United States government. The team is sent on covert missions to combat dictators, evil organizations, and crime lords. The IMF team leader, Mr. Phelps, received a recording with the basics of the mission they were to accomplish, along with the option of refusing the mission ("Your mission, should you decide to accept it..."), and would usually close with the famous "this tape will self-destruct in five seconds", and then the tape would disappear in a cloud of smoke, in order to leave no evidence of the mission.

In my reading of the first chapter of James, I'm struck by the parallels between Mission Impossible and the mission that we, as followers of Jesus, have been given. James gives his readers a mission to complete – to live out their faith in Christ in the midst of a prosperous society so as to make a difference.

You see, the historical background of James shows us that during the early part of the first century, Jews lived in the prosperous society of Rome, and they had special rights that other citizens of the Empire didn't have; they were allowed to have their own synagogues, they were exempt from military service and from certain taxes – in short, they were able to have the advantages of both Roman citizenship and their Jewish heritage. The challenge to the new Christian who came from a Jewish background was a delicate one: how to live out their faith in such a way that it isn't mistaken for Roman piety or Jewish tradition. How could they make a difference with their Christian faith in their world?

The portions of James 1 that we'll look at this morning provide the “mission objective” of living a real and vibrant life of faith. I see one mission – live different with God – with five steps: Attend, Receive, Listen, Abide, and Implement. Let's look at the first section in verses 12-16.

Blessed is anyone who endures temptation. Such a one has stood the test and will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him. No one, when tempted, should say, “I am being tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil and he himself tempts no one. But one is tempted by one’s own desire, being lured and enticed by it; then, when that desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin, and that sin, when it is fully grown, gives birth to death. Do not be deceived, my beloved. (James 1:12-16, NRSV)

In this step, GOD GETS OUR ATTENTION – God uses tough things in life to test us so WE know what we're made of; not because God doesn't know, but because we don't. The word translated “test” is peirasmos, as God's examination of a man to test him. It reminds me of an engineer's “test to fail” method: the stress applied to a product is increased until a failure occurs. The aim of this test type is to find design weaknesses using high stress levels. We have a promise from God in 1 Corinthians 10:13 that God will not stress us beyond what we can bear, but will provide a way for us to stand up under times of stress.

Once God has our attention, we're reminded as to the reason for the testing in the first place:

Every generous act of giving, with every perfect gift, is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. In fulfillment of his own purpose he gave us birth by the word of truth, so that we would become a kind of first fruits of his creatures. (James 1:17-18)

The reminder here is that GOD GIVES GOOD GIFTS – Since God is the source of all Good, any goodness in us isn't ours, it's His. He gives us this to show us that we belong to Him. It's a reminder that we're not our own, but we belong to Him. That reminder is what we need to receive. These verses remind us of God's character: He is Good. In fact, there is a call-and-response that I've heard a number of times; “God is Good... All the time. All the time... God is Good.” It, like these verses, serves to remind me that God isn't a vindictive grump out to punish me for no reason. God is GOOD, and seeks to have good in me as well.

Once God has our attention, and we've received goodness from Him, our next step is to Listen to Him.

You must understand this, my beloved: let everyone be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger; for your anger does not produce God’s righteousness. Therefore rid yourselves of all sordidness and rank growth of wickedness, and welcome with meekness the implanted word that has the power to save your souls. (James 1:19-21)

It's a crucial reminder that WE NEED TO LISTEN FOR GOD – when we respond to the tests of life in our own nature, we respond badly. That doesn't do anyone any good. Get rid of those habitual responses. I think one of the challenges here is for people who don't trust the character of God. When they lose sight of the fact that God is Good, they ascribe bad motives to a Good God. Consequently, when they go through a hard time of testing, they become embittered – which is exactly what is being warned against in this passage. God doesn't want us to become angry when we're being tested; He wants us to use the testing to get rid of our less-than-stellar qualities and grow to become like Jesus.

James gives us a good reminder here, however. It's not enough to just hear what God is saying to us; we need to experience it in our own lives as well.

But be doers of the word, and not merely hearers who deceive themselves. For if any are hearers of the word and not doers, they are like those who look at themselves in a mirror; for they look at themselves and, on going away, immediately forget what they were like. But those who look into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and persevere, being not hearers who forget but doers who act—they will be blessed in their doing. (James 1:22-25)

LISTENING ISN'T ENOUGH – we need to agree with and abide in what God gives us; it's not a matter of grudging obedience, but rather a sense that we hang out with God and do the things that make him happy just because we want to be with him. All too often, we get hung up on the “do” part of this verse. There are whole books written on the subject of legalistic “musts” that are to be done. But that's not the sense here. Poietes, the Greek for “do” in these verses, is where we get our word “Poet”, as in one who does something as their occupation as a maker, author, or poet.

For those of you who are married, do you remember the times when you'd spend time with your spouse for no other reason than just to be in their presence? Date night in the Backell household can either be a fancy affair, where we get babysitters and go out to a nice meal, or it can just be a trip to Top Foods. What we do doesn't matter nearly as much as the fact that we're doing it together. That's the idea in this section; God wants us to experience life with Him, and to for us to want to do the things He wants just because we want to be with Him. The focus is on the presence of God, not the commands of God.

After all, we become like who we spend time with. An excellent example of this is Fred Rogers, from the public television show “Mr. Roger's Neighborhood”. According to a TV Guide piece on him, Fred Rogers drove a plain old Impala for years. One day, however, the car was stolen from the street near the TV station. When Rogers filed a police report, the story was picked up by every newspaper, radio and media outlet around town. Amazingly, within 48 hours the car was left in the exact spot where it was taken from, with an apology on the dashboard. It read, “If we’d known it was yours, we never would have taken it.”

How could Fred Rogers generate that kind of response from people? Because he spent concentrated time with Jesus. He arose daily at 5 am for prayer, reflection, and Bible reading. Knowing that Mr. Rogers got up every day at 5 am to read the Bible and pray only reinforces the reality that he brought that time before God into every show he made. It has been said, even by non-religious people, that Fred Rogers reminded them of Jesus.

James seems to reinforce this concept when he writes about the practical matter of how people of faith are to live out their beliefs:

If any think they are religious, and do not bridle their tongues but deceive their hearts, their religion is worthless. Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world. (James 1:26-27)

The crucial call here is for MORE WALKING, and NOT JUST TALKING – when we spend our time talking about what we should do, but don't really do it, we don't even believe it ourselves. We're wasting words for words' sake only. Often, there's a mental disconnect when we consider the implications of this verse. Some branches of Christianity focus on “looking after orphans and widows”; they're concerned about making a difference in the physical lives of people. That's good; but too much emphasis on the activity can lead to mere social work. Other groups in the Kingdom emphasize the “keep from being polluted” phrase, and a zeal for purity from the world is also good. When that becomes the primary focus of one's life, however, it can easily lead to a legalistic separatism.

I believe James is calling for both a social and a spiritual dimension in the lives of the follower of Jesus. Our outside actions must match our inside motivations. The key is this: Jesus didn't just read the Scriptures, he lived them out as our prime example. He not only died to save us, he lived to give us a model of what God intended life to be like for all mankind.

Which brings us back to the Mission: Possible question. “Mr. Phelps” of Mission Impossible fame never tried to accomplish his mission on his own; he recruited others to help him pull off the “impossible”. Our challenge is the same – to assemble our team. The question that faces us today is this: who is on your Possible Mission Force?