DRAW NEAR TO GOD

Jas. 4:8 ... "Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you."

      This exhortation consists of two parts, the second being the consequence of the first. That is, when a person commits himself to seek the Lord, the Lord sets forth to meet that soul. Jehovah once sent His prophet Azariah unto Asa, the third king of Judah, with a word of advice on how to succeed in the administration of God's chosen people. "The Lord is with you when you are with Him. And if you seek Him, He will let you find Him; but if you forsake Him, He will forsake you," (II Chr. 15:2). This statement is as true for us today as it was for King Asa, who himself took it to heart, (see II Chr. 14:2). It assures us that whoever will make it his sincere, steadfast ambition to seek God and come into His wonderful presence will not suffer failure. To this writer the saddest condition that can come upon a person is the resolution that God does not exist, that He is nothing more than a product of human imagination. Those who do not perceive the real and imminent existence of God surely have not made the effort, for the quest for God does not extend inordinately far nor expend considerable time. 

      One does not have to go far to begin to "draw near to God," for in the sermon to the people of Athens, Paul urged them that "they [sh]ould seek God, if perhaps they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; for in Him we live and move and exist," (Acts 17:27-28). God is, in fact, just beyond the limit of our physical senses. We cannot quite see, or touch, or hear Him, but He is nonetheless very close and very much present. Nature eloquently expresses His constant presence, as David by inspiration so beautifully proclaimed: "The heavens are telling of the glory of God; and their expanse is declaring the work of His hands," (Psa. 19:1). So God is ever near to us, just beyond the veil of nature which testifies to His presence, something like the swaying of trees indicates the passage of the unseen wind through their boughs. To a limited, but very significant extent, we can "draw near to God" by beholding and admiring the order and beauty of the material world about us, and showing it due respect and appreciation as the masterpiece of God.

      There is, however, a higher and more essential avenue of approach to God, one which was revealed by Jesus when He said, "He who has seen Me has seen the Father," (John 14:9). By coming unto Christ, therefore, a person may also "draw near to God." Our Lord made this even more emphatic when He said, "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life; no one comes to the Father but through Me," (John 14:6). Not only can you "draw near to God" through Jesus, but His last-quoted statement unequivocally says that it is utterly impossible to come to God otherwise.

      We must further observe that this Godward approach is one of faith. In Heb. 11:6 it is decreed that "without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him." Therefore, to "draw near to God" one must bring with him a true and stable faith. The true God cannot be approached as an impersonal abstraction, which is the only image in which many people do see Him. One must not think of God as a spirit which fills the meetinghouse on Sundays, but rather as an omnipresent Spirit who fills the factory, the department store, the home, the schoolroom, and the athletic field all seven days of the week. The promise is that if in faith you will "draw near to God," God will in turn "draw near" to you. He will then support you and lead you in the path of life that is best. He will also protect you like a mighty shield day by day. God will listen to your prayers and answer them in your best interest according to His own will and perfect wisdom. And, in a way that the infinite human mind cannot comprehend, He will cause "all things to work together for (your) good," (Rom. 8:28).

BLESSING AND NOT CURSING

Jas. 3:10 ... "From the same mouth come both blessing and cursing, My brethren, these things ought not to be this way."

     The story is told that during World War II in France a staff officer entered the tent of a prominent general to deliver a message. To his surprise, he found the man on his knees by the cot with his head bowed. Never having seen this highly aggressive, self-assertive commander in such an humble posture, he asked, "General, what are you doing?" Looking upward, but without rising, he replied with a blasphemous oath, "----!!! What does it look like I'm doing? ----!!! I'm praying!"

      Such contradictions, though perhaps not so dramatic, are not rare in the lives of many who consider themselves, and are also esteemed by others, to be religious. We exalt the apostles of Christ, who in Eph. 2:19-20 are called "the foundation ... of God's household (the church) ... Christ Jesus Himself being the cornerstone." We especially admire Peter, who made the great confession to Jesus, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God," (Mat. 16:16). The same Peter, however, on the night Jesus was arrested, denied Him three times. The third time he even "began to curse and swear, 'I do not know the man!'" (Mat. 26:74). In his confession this apostle blessed Jesus as God's annointed Son, but when accused of being His disciple, when it looked dangerous to be so, he cursed and swore his denial. Out of the same mouth came forth both blessing and cursing, to Peter's shame and humiliation. Since he was basically a sensitive and conscientious man, "he went out and wept bitterly."

      This is not a rare problem peculiar to Peter and a few others, but one which occurs frequently and to which any of us may easily fall victim. Let us not say, "Had I been in Peter's place, I would not have done it!" An inspired writer has stated, "If anyone thinks himself to be religious, and yet does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this man's religion is worthless," (Jas. 1:26). One wonders about the conscience of a person who can speak to God in an humble spirit, with gracious speech and in imploring tones, only to arise and address his fellow man in the spirit of harshness, with rough words and terrible imprecations and curses. The idea of some sort of schizophrenia is strong, but Jas. 1:26 labels it "self-deception" as indicated by the phrase," but deceives his own heart." However the state of such a conscience is to be analyzed and labeled, the just-quoted verse declares that "this man's religion is worthless." In other words, the blessing is canceled by the cursing issuing from the same mouth.

      Nature suggests the absurdity of extracting a valid blessing from the very mouth that acidly spews forth cursing. Can you expect sweet water to bubble out of a bitter spring? or a fig tree to bear olives? or a grape vine to produce figs? The mouth that utters harsh speech and curses betrays a venomous spirit within, for Jesus said in Mat. 12:34, "The mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart." When someone who projects himself as religious also resorts to harsh, censorious, vindictive speech toward others, it is proper and just to mark him as being mentally corrupt, self-deceived, and vain in his religion, if he really has any. Though he must be treated with politeness and kindness, no quarter should be given him within the fellowship of the church.

      At the same time, every Christian should always be guarding himself lest he fall into this very practice, being guided by the direction of Col. 4:6, "Let your speech always be with grace, as though seasoned with salt, so that you will know how you should respond to each person." Just as we apply salt to food to make it pleasant and palatable, we should apply grace to our speech to make it pleasant, pure, and wholesome to any who hear it.

THE INTEGRITY OF THE LAW

Jas. 2:10 ... "Whoever keeps the whole Law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all."

      Statistics have risen to a position of importance, and often even authority, in the current world. We tend to quantify most of the things in life in an effort to discover their basic nature, the degree of their influence upon us, and what they may portend for the future. This is doubtless our attempt to cope with the complexity and confusion of the mass society into which we have moved during the past century. We also use statistics to evaluate things and compare their worth in relation to other things. If a baseball player's batting average is .400, we say he is an excellent hitter. If the mechanical efficiency of a device is 80%, it might indicate it is performing rather well. If a new drug cures 95% of the cases of a disease that was formerly untreatable, we rejoice over the medical breakthrough.

      When we begin to consider the matter of our performance in obeying the will of God, however, statistical measurement becomes irrevelant. The precise number of commandments that constitute "the whole Law" is known only to God. It is sad that ancient Jewish scholars counted 615 commandments in the Mosaic Law. Using that number for illustration, if someone "offended in one point," he also obeyed the other 614. This fixed the measure of his rate of obedience at 99.8%, and by human standards this would be quite acceptable, even admirable, laudable, and exemplary. But, according to Jas. 2:10, it is tantamount to total disobedience. We wonder why.

      The explanation must involve the attitude in which the isolated transgression is committed. The person evidently chose to set aside God's Law in one instance to follow his own, and this constitutes an act of rebellion. A case in point might be King Saul in I Samuel 15. The Lord commanded him to attack the Amalekites and put to the sword both man and beast. For the most part, Saul did exactly what he was instructed to do, but in a few cases he chose to make exceptions. He spared Agag, the Amalekite king, to bring back as a trophy, and he spared the best of the flocks and herds to offer up as a grand sacrifice to God when he returned home. But when the prophet Samuel met Saul, he said to him, "Has the Lord as much delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed than the fat of rams," (v. 22). Because the king set aside one point in God's law to do what he thought better, God told him that he had rebelled. Rebellion, in turn, changes entirely a person's relation to God. In Saul's case, it meant being rejected as king, (v.26); in our case, it means being held guilty of breaking the whole Law and becoming a sinner before God.

      Yet another factor involved is the concept of God's Law that a person holds. Some people have been reared in such a way that they "do instinctively the things of the Law," (Rom. 2:14). Their obedience to the Law is not particularly based upon respect for it and reverence toward Him who gave it, but rather upon the subjective relation to the law which they acquired in their training. One's transgression of a solitary statute might betray his actual independence from the Law. When he confronts something in it that displeases him, perhaps for the first time in his experience, he feels no compulsion to obey. It is important as we are teaching God's will, especially to youth, that we base the training upon knowledge and understanding so that their response will always be rational. We do not want to turn out products who "have a zeal for God but not in accordance with knowledge." For such are those who, "not knowing about God's righteousness," then seek "to establish their own," (Rom. 10:2-3). In other words, when their will differs from God's, they feel quite justified in setting aside His law to institute their own. This attitude is perhaps the most prominent characteristic of contemporary "Christianity." The "form of godliness" is still there, but it has come down to us as part of our culture, and "its power" is all too often denied, (II Tim. 3:5).