Lincoln gave his second inaugural address…in Spring, 1865…just weeks before an assassin’s bullet would take his life.
It was a short speech, took about 5 minutes…it’s been said no one has ever given a bad, short speech.
I don’t think that’s true…but Lincoln was a master of the concise, powerful spoken word.
In speaking of the War that was nearing its end he said…
“Both (sides) read the same Bible and pray to the same God, and each invokes His aid against the other. It may seem strange that any men should dare to ask a just God’s assistance in wringing their bread from the sweat of other men’s faces, but let us judge not, that we be not judged. The prayers of both could not be answered. That of neither has been answered fully. The Almighty has His own purposes”
Clearly, he believed the South was wrong in the support of slavery…he alludes to Gen 3 and human fall into sin…”wringing their bread from the sweat of other men’s faces”
However, God, he said, has not fully answered the prayers of either side.
So…he goes on…
“With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation’s wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.”
He holds a delicate tension in those words.
In…Malice toward none, charity for all…he is setting up the country for restoration rather than retribution after the war.
But at the same time, he has a sense of moral clarity…”firmness in the right as God gives us to see it.”
But it is courageous moral clarity without arrogant moral superiority.
Imagine if that balance were achieved more commonly today.
If more people would say and live…I am going to do what I believe is right as God gives me the ability…but I will not demonize others in the process.
Ideally, we can have strong convictions…and yet have enough confidence in God to act with humility in those convictions
Lincoln wrote in reply to a congratulatory letter regarding his speech.
“I believe it is not immediately popular. Men are not flattered by being shown that there has been a difference of purpose between the Almighty and them. To deny it, however, in this case, is to deny that there is a God governing the world.”
Lincoln believed in the rightness of his cause, but he was not under the illusion that all he, or the North had done in the war was right.
He recognized evil for what it is…but he was able to see his own heart for what it was…a mixed bag.
God was not on Lincoln’s side…God is God.
And God being God always knows and does what is right…and he lifts up the humble, but humiliates the proud.
You can be right about an issue…but if you are proud in your heart…then you are on the wrong of God.
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, was a prominent critic of the Soviet Union.
His most famous work was “The Gulag Archipelago”
-Gulag is the name of the forced labor camps in the Soviet Union
-An Archipelago is an island chain
He spent years in that vast Soviet prison system, along with millions of others who suffered and died there under that evil empire.
He saw, close up the wickedness of a totalitarian government that murdered tens of millions of its own citizens and yet he wrote…
“The line dividing good and evil runs through every heart.” Solzhenitsyn
That’s Moral clarity, without moral superiority.
Lincoln recognized slavery for the evil that it is, and gave his life to fight that evil…but he was able, like Solzhenitsyn to turn the sword inward…to see his own heart.
Utopian visions of the world will always lead to some kind of tyranny…because the world will not be a utopia in the present age.
Evil is a part of this age…until the Lord returns.
And those utopian visions are often held by people who lack humility…they act with a sense of moral superiority…not moral clarity…utopia usually means that “you must change to agree with me.”
When I have my way…the world will made right.
But as we live in the world as it is(broken), seeking to do what we can to make it a better place…we pay the most careful attention to our own hearts.
James, the brother of Jesus, pastor of the 1st church in Jerusalem…wrote of this tension.
The tension of societal evil and evil in our own hearts.
The implication is never that we should stand passively by while evil people do evil things.
It is rather that God himself will ultimately bring justice on the earth…things are not as they seem…evil will not go unjudged.
We must trust in God to bring final justice.
As we trust God to bring justice…that trust will show up in how we live our lives…in practical ways…in interpersonal ways…how we live together with others.
I have been fascinated by the number of men and women…who were determined to change human history on a grand scale…who have had broken relationships with the people right around them.
Reminds me of the Peanuts cartoon where Lucy told Linus that he couldn’t be a doctor because he didn’t love mankind.
“I love mankind” he replied, “It’s people I can’t stand.”
Karl Marx is one of the most blatant examples of this…he wanted to change the world for the common man (he did change the world, but not for the better)
In his personal life he was so angry and bitter that no one could stand him for long, his own children suffered and died because of his refusal to take care of them.
We must act courageously and decisively, with moral clarity (As God gives it to us in Scripture)…but not arrogantly or divisively in our relationships with each other.
Let’s break our passage into two parts, in line with this dual idea of “Believing that God will bring Justice” and “Living with the kind of patient and trusting lives together that reflect that confidence in God.”
5 Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming upon you. 2 Your wealth has rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes. 3 Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire. You have hoarded wealth in the last days. 4 Look! The wages you failed to pay the workmen who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty. 5 You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter. 6 You have condemned and murdered innocent men, who were not opposing you.
For a variety of sound reasons NT scholars believe that James is addressing non-Christians here.
These are wealthy land owners who were a class of people frequently singled out by the OT prophets for judgement…not for their wealth but for their injustice towards others.
These were some of the people who were oppressing the Christian community James wrote to…
Remember chapter 2 where James said,
“Is it not the rich who are exploiting you? Are they not the ones who are dragging you into court? Are they not the ones who are slandering the noble name of him to whom you belong?”
These abusive people were not going to read James’ letter, they are unchurched, so why is he addressing them here?
He is casting vision for the people who were reading it.
You are impressed by these people who oppress you…rather you should be impressed with God and depressed for these people.
Misery is coming on them…their wealth is rotten, their fine clothes are destined to be moth food, their very flesh will corrode like the things they treasure.
They lived lives of luxury while causing misery to others…They caused great harm and even death…but God will not let this stand.
Being rich is not sinful and is not condemned in Scripture.
In the Bible “rich” is sometimes a shorthand for “ungodly rich”…those who put their trust in their wealth, specifically those who use the power of wealth to mistreat others.
There were wealthy people among the followers of Christ and members of the NT church.
We already addressed this last fall so I will not belabor the point…because having wealth is not the point.
The point is that God’s people must look to God for justice…they must not be fooled by what they are seeing and experiencing.
The wicked seem to be prospering…and the righteous, can often be seen suffering…this can be confusing.
But he is the “Lord Almighty” and he sees and he acts in his time.
These ungodly rich who are living as if God does not exist will be judged by the God who does in fact exist…do not be fooled by what you are seeing.
So, he turns next to casting vision how they are to act in light of this reality.
Be patient, then, brothers and sisters, until the Lord’s coming.
“Be patient…then”…so in light of the fact that God hears and sees and will bring justice…act with patience…confident, trusting, endurance.
Then, as James often does…he give some practical analogies…be patient like the…
1. The Farmer
2. The Prophets
3. Job
See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop and how patient he is for the autumn and spring rains. You too, be patient and stand firm, because the Lord’s coming is near. Don’t grumble against each other, brothers, or you will be judged. The Judge is standing at the door! Brothers and sisters, as an example of patience in the face of suffering, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. As you know, we consider blessed those who have persevered. You have heard of Job’s perseverance and have seen what the Lord finally brought about. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy.
The key theme here is seen in the frequency of the word “patience” and corresponding words like “persevere”
Hard to miss the personal application.
If we are going to trust God…we are going to demonstrate patience and endurance.
1. The farmer waits actively not passively…right column living.
-right column living for the farmer is planting, weeding
-left column…waiting for rains to come and for the ground to do what God has designed it to do.
2. The prophets actively spoke the truth of God to their nations…often to those in power, and they suffered for it.
-actively doing what is clearly right to do
-actively enduring suffering for doing what is right
*”God, I obeyed you”
*”Well done, now endure suffering in my name.”
3. Job, the ultimate example of patient suffering
-He was not perfect by any stretch, he struggled with his suffering and with God’s justice
-But in the end, he came round.
So, biblical endurance/patience is not simply a passive putting up with whatever our circumstances might be.
We don’t live an “It is what it is” kind of life…this implies passive resignation…not active faith.
What is, often shouldn’t be…so we are to be active in our patient endurance.
*For example: instead of sitting in your home overwhelmed by how messed up the world is, rising crime, polarization of people…pray…then go invest in a child at Youth Horizons…or a thousand other similar ways in which change actually happens in the world.
Active trust, active patience.
The Farmer is active in his patience
The prophets, spoke truth to evil in their time and circumstances…and endured persecution
Job, was honest with his struggle…but in the end, he trusted God in his suffering.
We should take appropriate action against what is wrong…we should seek to bring change where we can
But in the midst of all this proactive endurance…our confidence is in God not ourselves.
Because sometimes…it just looks like evil is winning
And, of utmost importance for James…we must not turn on each other as we act, wait, endure, suffer.
Look at what is right in the middle of all this, patient endurance…
Don’t grumble against each other, brothers, or you will be judged
When we are under pressure, when stress is high…it is easy to take aim at one another.
As the old adage goes, when the cup is shaken, what is in the cup comes out.
Often, it comes out all over those around us…those closest to us.
James is once again casting vision for transformed hearts revealed in how we respond to pressure and how we treat one another.
He is a pastor, concerned with unity in the church…never unity over truth…but unity in the truth.
When people go from acting on moral clarity (based on the revealed truth of God) to acting out of moral superiority (based on their own self-pride, or self-woundedness)…they war against one another.
I mentioned how “world changers” often have terrible relationships with those right around them.
It’s because people who have tried to bring cultural change or justice apart from active confidence in God, will often turn cannibalistic…they begin to consume one another (not literally).
These movements fall apart because individuals in them, do not submit to the Spirit of God…so they act out of arrogance not humility…they don’t have faith inspired patience….God will judge.
I am to be faithful…but God is in charge here…not evil doers, and certainly not me.
The church, James is saying…must proactively, patiently trust God…even when being mistreated…but it must not turn on one another.
Remember those comments from two great men who sacrificed much for their proactive moral clarity.
Lincoln: “With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right.”
And Solzhenitsyn “The line dividing good and evil runs through every heart.”
To be clear…they both called evil what it is…and they separated truth from lies.
But they saw their own hearts with some clarity.
I would summarize James here with:
-Live with proactive, patient trust in God, he will judge evil…but live in humble nonjudgmental relationships with each other in the church.
Let’s go to the book of Psalms and see the parallel with James and David
Psalm 37,was written by David, Israel’s best king.
He begins with…
Do not fret because of evil men or be envious of those who do wrong; for like the grass they will soon wither, like green plants they will soon die away.
*He is doing some cognitive reframing here….we often do envy or at least are puzzled when evil people seem to thrive.
Trust in the Lord and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture. Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord;
trust in him and he will do this:
*Verse 4 is famous and often misapplied…if we delight in the Lord, he will give us what our hearts desire…he will give us himself.
Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; do not fret when men succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes. Refrain from anger and turn from wrath; do not fret—it leads only to evil.
*David had been selected by God to succeed Israel’s first King, Saul.
*Saul had made his role as King about himself…not about his stewardship before God…to serve the people.
*He had literally lost his mind…pride is crazy…Saul’s pride literally made him so.
*He tried on several occasions to kill David…David on the other hand, even when he had opportunity to kill Saul…refused to do it.
*This Psalm is testimony not mere poetry.
I have seen a wicked and ruthless man flourishing like a green tree in its native soil,
but he soon passed away and was no more; though I looked for him, he could not be found. Consider the blameless, observe the upright; there is a future for the man of peace.
*David would eventually act with terrible duplicity himself…he would cause the death of a loyal and good man…and steal his wife.
*This would cost him dearly…and that cost would echo through the generations to come.
*However, he turned to God in his sorrow and shame…unlike Saul, who became more arrogant and obstinate in his sin.
*The key difference was not that Saul was sinful and David was sinless…but that David humbled himself and Saul did not.
*In this Psalm, and the backstory for the Psalm…we see an imperfect man, struggling to live out moral clarity and personal humility.
*This has always been a difficult balance to keep.
*We tend to let go of one side of the tension or the other.
1. we give up on the reality of moral clarity (or of knowing it)…we just get beat down by all the noise and relentless pounding on our biblical beliefs.
Or
2. We embrace moral superiority…and become full of pride and hubris.
We must, by God’s grace hold the tension…God has revealed the right…we can know it and live it courageoulsy without becoming arrogant or combative.
We can do this even on us pressure on us increases…because our confidence is in the righteous judge.
Conclusion
We tend to think God is on our side =
-Social issues
-Political positions
-Theological finer points
-Relational, interpersonal perspectives
It is good to believe that there is ultimate right and wrong on these issues and that God does see them clearly.
Because the commonly held view called “relativism” claims that all truth is relative not absolute…you have your truth and I have mine.
There is no ultimate right and wrong for many people…at least hypothetically.
Because ironically, no one really lives as if they believe this…hence the great moral outrage when people do not act in line with “my truth.”
My truth and your truth doesn’t ever work, interpersonally…thus people who seek change…cultural, organizational, relational…apart from confidence in God will inevitably turn on one another.
“My truth” gets defined in narrower ways until there is eventually only “me” who can live inside that reality…everyone else is wrong.
Moral superiority…without moral clarity and personal humility….turns into outrage towards others who dare disagree with me.
There is no hope for relationship or unity…without absolute truth…”God has spoken.”
You might think, “Christians don’t agree, even though they say God has spoken”
In the church, we do have intramural arguments…but when we begin with “The God who is there, who has spoken”…as the foundation for our lives.
This allows for some wonderful outcomes:
1. We can be sacrificially proactive in pursing moral good in the world…because there is absolute truth, some things are right and some are wrong…these things are not fluid, not shifting.
We can do this, while enduring patiently when evil seems to rule the day.
We don’t read the news and lose hope, or become exasperated…God has already told us how things are going to be this side of his Christ’s return.
When we read the news, we can leave things that are outside our control to God…and then we enter the world with confident clarity…and humble activity.
Harder still…we can do this when it’s not just in the news….when I am suffering injustice.
I can fret and rage about all that is wrong…or I can go into the world invest, do good work…be faithful.
It doesn’t depend on me…but what I do, in faithfulness, matters…regardless of whether I see immediate impact or not.
2. We don’t seek to bring our truth to the discussions and differences, we come together seeking to know the truth of God as revealed in Scripture.
-Even if we don’t agree, we have some hope of moving toward each other rather than away from each other.
*Because there is a standard…even if we are disagreeing on what it says…it is something permanent, external to us…that we are both trying to adapt to.
-In relativism…it is always going to be “my wayism”…and “your wayism”…you either agree or you are my enemy.
God’s truth is what we seek and when we disagree…we are not enemies…we are co-seekers of the truth of God…and we know, that there is truth to be found and we want to be on the right side of it.
3. So, when we disagree on what is the truth of God regarding a complex issue…we can agree on the truth of God that is not complex at all.
John, in his letters gives us some non-complex truth…difficult to do, not hard to understand.
“This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.”
*Surely, laying down our lives would at least conclude…giving others room on disagreements, letting others fail and forgive them.
“We love because he first loved us. If anyone says, “I love God,” yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother.”
To believe you have the moral or theological high ground on an issue…does not exempt you from these commands to love one another.
Moral clarity must always be linked with godly humility.
This combination both unifies and mobilizes the church.
We hold to truth…because God has spoken…we have the possibility of moral clarity
We hold truth in humility…because it is God who has spoken…we reject moral superiority.
James, was laser focused on faith expressed in relationships because pride and dissension immobilizes the church…while humility and unity mobilizes it.
The long running TV series MASH, an acronym for “Mobile army surgical hospital” was about a Korean War medical unit.
In comedy form it presented what is true in reality…a loss of mission leads to a loss of unity…and a loss of unity negatively affects the ability to live missional.
In the show when there are no war casualties to attend to (the mission)…the medical personal get into all kinds of silliness and their differences are magnified.
When they are engaged with the mission…tending to the wounded….they work together in harmony…the silliness is absent.
James, is a pastor…who wants the church to flourish in the kingdom.
This requires…a commitment to truth, and humility…both of which are foundational for community (the gospel impacting relationships) and mission (taking the gospel into the world)
Look again, as we conclude at how James brought together two realities of God…and the implication for us.
Don’t grumble against each other, brothers, or you will be judged. The Judge is standing at the door
The Lord is full of compassion and mercy.
What do you see here?
-God is judge (He will bring Justice)…you are not the judge
-God is full of mercy and compassion (He extends grace)
-So, we do not “grumble against each other”
Grumble=is a word that describes the verbalization of suffering or stress…the people “grumbled/groaned” in slavery in Egypt.
“Meanwhile, we groan” Paul wrote about life now on the fallen world.
Under the pressure the church was experiencing…persecution and oppression…they were turning in their stress against one another…they were “groaning” against each other.
This is doubly tragic…because they needed one another to endure the stress, and the dissension caused by this “grumbling” was negatively impacting their ability to live missionally in the world.
Live with moral clarity, not moral superiority…be proactive in doing good and patient in trusting the justice of God.
*Turn towards each other, not against each other…in the face of trials and testing.
This was the Lord’s plan to change the world…it worked; it is working still when it is tried…and contrary to popular opinion…it’s being tried quite often in the church…ours and many others.
My main application this morning is to simply say…”well done, and in the name of Jesus…carry on”