Podcast 98 Epistle of James, “Pt 1, Ch 1”

In Christian tradition, James is generally believed to be James the Just, brother of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and a leader in the early church. His writings bring a practicality to Christianity. He does not remain in the abstract but envisions a practical religion modeled after the works of the Savior as well as his teachings. Curious beings that we are, we like to know more about the early writers. We want to eulogize them. We want to show them as perfect. We want to put them above the rest of us. James introduces himself merely as a humble servant. Perhaps that is sufficient.

James 1:1

James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, greeting.

His idea is that we should not only listen to what Christ said, but strive to live as Christ lived, a servant of mankind. The following verse summarizes James’ philosophy.

James 2:18

Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.

He was not without temptation. In fact, he teaches us how to deal with temptation.

James 1:2

My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations;[3]

He sees temptation as a trial of our faith, as an opportunity to increase in virtue. Among the top virtues is patience.

James 1:3-4

Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.

Paul teaches that patience leads to Hope. Christians often consider Faith, Hope, and Charity to be the highest achievement of man. They are known simply as The Three Theological Virtues. Paul teaches.

Romans 5:3-4

And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; And patience, experience; and experience, hope.

It was Peter who said:

1 Peter 1:6-7

Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations: That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:[5]

These teachings came out of enormous suffering, All had witnessed the persecution and death of Jesus Christ. Tradition has it that most of the apostles were killed, some in gruesome ways. It is believed that thousands were murdered because of their faith. John refers to it as a time of “great tribulation.”

Revelation 7:13-14

And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they? And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.[6]

Words matter. Take, for example, the following words: wisdom, knowledge, information, facts, truth, understanding, awareness, learning, comprehension, insight, perception, erudition, scholarship, etc.

Synonym means “same-name” word. But they aren’t the same. Wisdom is greater than scholarship. Wisdom is the application of knowledge. It implies sound judgment, discernment, discretion, sagacity, sapience, prudence. Both God and Satan have knowledge. Only God has wisdom. James said the following:

James 1:5

If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.

Podcast 97 Ecclesiastes, “Pt 12, Ch 12”

Understandably the final chapter in Ecclesiastes is a summing up. Characteristically Solomon boils down everything leaving to the end what is most important. I think we may properly assume that Ecclesiastes was written when King Solomon was old and knew that he was about to die. He gave us many clues. Consider the following statements given early on:

Ecclesiastes 1:14

I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and, behold, all is vanity and vexation of spirit.

Ecclesiastes 2:4

I made me great works; I builded me houses; I planted me vineyards:

Ecclesiastes 2:11

Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, and on the labour that I had laboured to do: and, behold, all was vanity and vexation of spirit, and there was no profit under the sun.

Ecclesiastes 2:18

Yea, I hated all my labour which I had taken under the sun: because I should leave it unto the man that shall be after me.

Ecclesiastes 2:23

For all his days are sorrows, and his travail grief; yea, his heart taketh not rest in the night. This is also vanity.

If the above is not convincing that he is waiting to die, perhaps the opening statement of the final chapter is.

Ecclesiastes 12:1

Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them;

Solomon is old. He has lost pleasure in life. He poignantly recognizes the vanity of earthly pleasures. One is reminded of William Wordsworth’s beautiful poem, Ode, Intimations of Immortality.

There was a time when meadow, grove, and stream,
The earth, and every common sight,
To me did seem
Apparelled in celestial light,
The glory and the freshness of a dream.
It is not now as it hath been of yore;—
Turn wheresoe'er I may,
By night or day,
The things which I have seen I now can see no more.

Solomon also laments those lost times.

Ecclesiastes 12:2-6

While the sun, or the light, or the moon, or the stars, be not darkened, nor the clouds return after the rain: In the day when the keepers of the house shall tremble, and the strong men shall bow themselves, and the grinders cease because they are few, and those that look out of the windows be darkened, And the doors shall be shut in the streets, when the sound of the grinding is low, and he shall rise up at the voice of the bird, and all the daughters of musick shall be brought low; Also when they shall be afraid of that which is high, and fears shall be in the way, and the almond tree shall flourish, and the grasshopper shall be a burden, and desire shall fail: because man goeth to his long home, and the mourners go about the streets: Or ever the silver cord be loosed, or the golden bowl be broken, or the pitcher be broken at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern.

“Because man goeth to his long home, and the mourners go about the streets” refers to death. King Solomon continues:

Ecclesiastes 12:7

Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.

Is that not another way of saying, “Cast thy bread upon the waters: for thou shalt find it after many days.” Solomon gives his familiar refrain.

Ecclesiastes 12:8

Vanity of vanities, saith the preacher; all is vanity.

Words often have two values. One is connotative. The other is denotative. The connotative value refers to the emotional overtones, to the feelings the word conveys. The denotative refers to the dictionary definition. It is cold and abstract usually consisting of a name, a class, and a differentia. Without connotation, there would be no poetry; without denotation, there would be no sense. The connotation appeals to the emotions. The denotation appeals to the mind. The word vanity has many connotations, mostly negative as suggested by common synonyms:

Podcast 96 Ecclesiastes, “Pt 11, Ch 11”

The first verse of Ecclesiastes is such a common axiom in every Christian vocabulary, it is likely that most have forgotten its origin.

Ecclesiastes 11:1

Cast thy bread upon the waters: for thou shalt find it after many days.

What is it that keeps such a phrase alive. We hear it in other ways, “What goes around comes around.” “That which ye sow, so shall ye reap.” “It will come back to bite you.” “Do unto others as ye would have them do unto you.” The variations are, perhaps, multitudinous because everyone who has experienced life knows instinctively that it is true. We live on a spinning planet in a spinning universe. Everything circles something. The moon circles the earth. The earth circles the sun. Our solar system circles the galaxy at about 500,000 miles per hour. One cycle takes from 225 to 250 million years. What does our Milky Way Galaxy galaxy circle and where does it end? The point is everything returns. Consider the water cycle. From evaporation and transpiration to condensation to precipitation, water returns. It is quite possible that we have swallowed the same molecules of water many times, and those same molecules could have been consumed by every other living being since Adam.

Think of it in a broader scale. We are children of God, of noble birthright. We once lived with our Father in heaven and every good Christian’s goal is to return to the presence of God the Father and God the Son. Each of us is a universe. A Jewish proverbs says that if you kill a man, you kill a nation. Regardless of what scientists concoct or atheist’s claim, we all descended from Adam and Eve. We are all brothers and sisters, equal in the eyes of God who is no respecter of persons. That which we do has eternal significance. Sometimes small things have the greatest consequences.

“Cast your bread upon the waters” has great spiritual significance. Christ is the ‘bread of life.’ Bethlehem, where Christ was born, means House of Bread. When we eat the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper, we take bread to remind us that he gave his body for us. That which is Christ centered will last. If we follow his laws and obey his commandments, after many days, we shall find Christ. In 1st John we read the following:

1 John 3:2

Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.”

We live in a world of uncertainty; therefore, we must rely upon God, creator of all.

Ecclesiastes 11:2-5

Give a portion to seven, and also to eight; for thou knowest not what evil shall be upon the earth. If the clouds be full of rain, they empty themselves upon the earth: and if the tree fall toward the south, or toward the north, in the place where the tree falleth, there it shall be. He that observeth the wind shall not sow; and he that regardeth the clouds shall not reap. As thou knowest not what is the way of the spirit, nor how the bones do grow in the womb of her that is with child: even so thou knowest not the works of God who maketh all.

Solomon counsels us to sow our seed. When one sows seed he scatters it broadly, generally in prepared soil, hoping it will grow.

Ecclesiastes 11:6

In the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening withhold not thine hand: for thou knowest not whether shall prosper, either this or that, or whether they both shall be alike good.

Sowing the seed both morning and evening significantly increases probability. We should also take joy in sowing our seed.

Ecclesiastes 11:7

Truly the light is sweet, and a pleasant thing it is for the eyes to behold the sun:

Of course, plants need sunlight, but Solomon is not talking about merely temporal seeds or temporal light. He is talking about spiritual seeds and spiritual light. In Isaiah we read.

Isaiah 2:5

O house of Jacob, come ye, and let us walk in the light of the Lord.

In typical Antithetical Parallelism, so common in in the Bible, Solomon plays light against darkness.

Ecclesiastes 11:8

But if a man live many years, and rejoice in them all; yet let him remember the days of darkness; for they shall be many. All that cometh is vanity.

Among other things vanity refers to the temporary nature of things. It refers to putting our trust in things that have no lasting value. That is why we must walk in the light of the Lord. Perhaps that is the primary theme of Ecclesiastes which begins with the famous opening of Ecclesiastes: