One thing is clear about James. He’s blunt. He’s been blunt through most of
his letter. He’s been blunt about the sin of the Christians to whom he
writes. Just a glance at the preceding verses in this chapter confirms this.
In no uncertain terms, using very pointed language, James rebukes these
saints for their sin. We all, at different times, have felt something of the
Spirit’s work in bringing clear conviction of sin. I can’t help but think
that these believers were feeling that conviction by the time that got to
this part of the letter. That’s why what James writes next, our text for
this morning, is so important. Having made the problem abundantly clear,
James now makes the solution abundantly clear. ‘But He gives more grace.’
This sentence, in its context, has much to teach you. You are the products
of many different factors. Those factors have affected you as you matured
and they continue to do so. One of those factors is the people around you,
the society in which you live. Paul had to write to the Corinthian church
about the reality of the resurrection of the body. And that wasn’t
surprising. Greek culture thought of the body as the prison of the soul. It
was good to be rid of it at death. The thought of having a renewed body for
eternity seemed to them very strange. They had a problem with that part of
the Gospel. In a similar way American society has a problem with a part of
the Gospel. It has a problem with the idea of grace. We all have been
taught, to a greater or lesser extent, that if we try hard enough we can
achieve our goals, whatever they may be. Haven’t you ever been told by your
parents or a teacher, ‘I think that you can do better than this. Go back and
try again.’ The statement might have been true – maybe you could have done
better. But unless your parents were careful, it also carried with it the
underlying message that problems are solved by trying harder. And so, there
are so many American Christians who struggle with the notion of grace. When
confronted with some sin that needs to be dealt with, their idea is to go
back and try again. They try a little harder to fix the problem and get it
right. But that isn’t James’ solution. Many sins have been uncovered in this
letter. Change must occur. But James doesn’t talk about trying harder.
Rather, he talks about God giving grace. This is the same James who stressed
the critical importance of works back in chapter two. Here, he points to
grace as the solution for our sins.
So, what’s this thing ‘grace’? There are many aspects and nuances to the
Scripture notion of grace. It’s good enough for now to say that grace is an
expression of God’s favor or good will that brings you good. Some folk tend
to limit this to the grace of forgiveness. Because of God’s favor to us, He
will forgive our sins. And that’s true. But you need to remember that the
grace of God also brings about change, real change in the Christian’s life.
So, having lambasted these Christians, James now tells them that their hope
is that God gives grace. Ours is a religion of grace. That is something that
you need to remember, especially in our present society. We all have a long
way to go when it comes to getting a good handle on what this grace is
really about.
Now, earlier I quoted our text as ‘God gives grace’. That’s not actually
what James wrote. Rather, he wrote, ‘He (God) gives more grace.’ That little
word ‘more’ is quite interesting. It isn’t necessary. The sentence would
still be true and helpful if James had written ‘God gives grace’. So, why
add the ‘more’? I’m not entirely sure, but here’s my guess. The Spirit wants
you to know that you are never in a situation where your sin is too much to
deal with. You are never in a situation where there isn’t more grace to be
received. You are never in a situation that’s hopeless. As awful as your sin
might be – and it does get awful at times – God gives more grace to deal
with it. ‘Where sin abounded, grace abounded all the more.’ Ours is not only
a religion of grace, it is a religion of more grace. That’s something that’s
worth pondering.
Now I need to deal with a problem that is very common when it comes to so
many truths of the Bible. There are those who miss the truth and fall into
the ditch on the right side of the road. But then there are those who miss
the truth in the opposite way and fall into the ditch on the left side of
the road. So, there are those who misunderstand the Gospel to mean that our
becoming like Jesus, our dealing with our sin, depends on our fixing up our
lives pretty much on our own. They fall into the error of thinking, ‘I’ll
just try harder.’ They don’t understand the grace that God offers and so
they wear themselves out trying to get it right. But there are the others
who misunderstand God’s grace in the other direction. They think it means
that they can just sit back and do nothing. ‘After all’, they say, ‘God
gives more grace.’ James knew all about this error. So, after reminding
those Christians about the life-changing grace of the Gospel, he then has a
list of things that they had better do. No one should misunderstand God’s
grace as an excuse for sinful laziness. Now, how verse 6 fits with James’
list in verses 7 and following will have to wait until another sermon. But
we see again James’ pastoral care as he writes to these Christians.
Now, you need to deal with an important question. We all have sin issues.
The Spirit has used James to make this point quite clear to us all. The
Spirit has also made clear that the solution to those sins issues is not in
working harder. The solution is the grace of God, His favor and blessing
that changes our lives. Now here’s the question. How do you get this grace?
It’s great that a starving man is told that food is being given away to all
who ask. But that does no good to him if he doesn’t know how to get this
food. So, how do you get the grace of God? I think that it’s fair to say
that if you were to pose this question to so many church folk these days
they would answer, ‘I’ve never really thought about it.’ That is incredibly
sad! There’s a banquet being held and starving people haven’t thought about
how to get there to enjoy it. This is one reason why there a so many
Christians who struggle with sin without making much progress. After a while
it’s no wonder that they conclude that there isn’t much reason to expect
serious change in their lives. They don’t know how to receive the grace of
God. Now, there are others who, when asked our question, will answer,
‘Prayer. You get God’s grace by praying for it.’ Now, that’s obviously much
better than the first response. But there are some problems with it. For one
thing, for too many this answer is just another way of trying harder. They
tell themselves, ‘If I would just pray more…’ And so, the emphasis even here
is on what they need to do instead of the grace of God. Isn’t it amazing how
the right answer can become the wrong answer?
The other problem with this answer is that it’s incomplete. There are other
ways to receive the grace of God. In fact, prayer isn’t even the most
important way of receiving this grace. And because it’s the first Sunday of
the month, the way that I want to stress this morning is the Lord’s Supper.
Our Lord Jesus has instituted Communion so that we might receive grace from
His hand. He understands our need as well as our weakness and so He has
given us the Supper. There is no magic in the bread and cup and yet, by
these elements Jesus gives grace to all who come to Him worthily. By the
Supper, He gives grace that brings about change, real change in your life. I
realize that there is so much behind those words that explains the details
of how this works. But you don’t really need to know all of the theological
ins and outs right now. All you need to know is that by the Supper Jesus
gives grace to all who come to Him in worthy manner.
I’m sure that you noticed how I included that key phrase ‘in a worthy manner
’. And most of you wonder what that means. It doesn’t mean that you need to
approach some sinless perfection before you come. And it isn’t some
complicated theological notion. It’s quite simple. First, you come aware of
your need. ‘I am a sinner who needs more of God’s grace to deal with my sin.
’ Then, secondly, you come believing the Gospel as it is pictured in the
Supper. ‘I come to Christ as the Savior of sinners, confident that He has
abundant grace for me.’ Those are the basics of coming in a worthy manner.
Jesus promises grace to every disciple who comes in this way.
So, it all boils down to a few questions. Do you see your need? Do you
understand that you have much sin to deal with and that your sin must go?
Your God doesn’t expect you to achieve sinless perfection in this life. But
at the same time He will by no means tolerate a careless and casual attitude
toward your sin. Do you see your need? Then, do you also see that Jesus can
meet that need? Do you see that He is the Savior who is full of grace and
ready to give it to you, ready to deal with your sin, ready to change your
life? Do you see Jesus as the Savior from sin? Will you come and seek grace
from Him? Will you come so that your sin might be dealt with and be removed?
Will you come so that your changing life will honor Christ before the
watching world?
