About Christian Integrity (James 1:1-21)

About Christian Integrity

 

James 1:1-21

 

I would like to think about today’s text in connection to Christian integrity. On the Internet, I found a few definitions of “integrity.” The word is defined as “personality trait that means having strong moral principles and consistently doing the right thing, even when no one is watching,” or “the state of being whole and undivided.” According to these definitions, the word “integrity” implies multiple meanings including morality, consistency, honesty, and wholeness. I would like to share a story that illustrates the meaning of integrity. I read this in a business article on quality control. A buyer visited a manufacturing company in order to buy its products. The president of the company boasted of how high-quality products they were supplying. He said, “We inspect every finished product thoroughly so that no defected one can pass the inspection.” But the buyer said, “Stop inspection!” The president of the manufacturing company was puzzled, “What? Then how can we remove bad products?” The buyer said, “Reform your entire manufacturing system so that it becomes impossible to make any bad product.” Although the president was saying that they were doing thorough inspection, it is barely possible to select all bad products through one inspection. Some products might be made of cheap materials, and some might have hidden faults. Some might look good now but would go bad after a lapse of time. The workers might not do their best to make the best-quality products, but work only “to pass the inspection.” Considering these problems, thorough inspection of finished works cannot guarantee the high quality expected by the buyer. As demanded by the buyer, quality control is required in every aspect of every phase including the input materials, the manufacturing processes, and the workers’ skills and sincerity. It is because all these elements affect directly the quality of the final products. Accordingly, all these inputs must be perfect for the “perfect quality” of the output. This is “integrity.”

 

This is also the case for a Christian’s life. The main theme of James is “the integrity of the believers.” There are some key verses representing James, and one of them is James 2:17. In this verse, the author says, “Faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.” He is saying that faith without action is not faith at all. In verse 3:2 as well, he says, “Anyone who is never at fault in what they say is perfect.” He is warning against verbal mistakes. For the integrity of the believers, there are many things that we should be careful. Especially, we should be careful with our words and deeds. Nevertheless, believers’ integrity is not attained by observing many moral codes. There are important truths that we should remember for our integrity as a Christian, and we can learn them through today’s text.

 

Verse 18 of today’s text says, “He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created.” This word tells us why we should reach perfect integrity. It is for us to be “fruit acceptable to God.” Each of us is fruit harvested by God. And God wants “the choicest fruit.” In Isaiah 5:4, God says, “What more could have been done for my vineyard than I have done for it? When I looked for good grapes, why did it yield only bad?” God does every good thing for us. And God does so in order to harvest “good grapes.” Here, the believers are called “firstfruits.” The Greek word for “first” is “arche (αρχή).” This word means not only “first” in the chronological order, but also it means “best” or “highest” in eminence, rank, or power. Thus, “the firstfruits” can be understood as “the most prominent, noble, and powerful beings.” In fact, this is the single purpose that God has in human history. Let’s say here is a manufacturing company. Its goal is, of course, making best-quality products. Let’s say here is a vineyard. The owner’s single desire is, of course, producing the best-quality grapes. The world is God’s vineyard. And God wants to harvest the choicest fruit. This is the reason and purpose for us to attain integrity. Like factory products are recognized as finished works after passing the last inspection, we may expect to enter the paradise after passing the last judgement. But this is not our goal of integrity. And with this goal, we cannot reach the integrity acceptable to God. Our goal of integrity is being the firstfruit, the choicest fruit acceptable to God. “What am I” is not determined by “What I am now.” “What am I” is determined by “What I want to be in the future.” Even if I have many defects, I am already perfect in God’s eye if I have such a strong desire to be “perfect fruit acceptable to God.” On the contrary, if I don’t have that desire, I cannot reach true perfection even if I am extremely careful with my words and deeds and observe many moral codes.

 

The beginning and end of the road to integrity is “the word of truth.” Verse 18a says, “He (God) chose to give us birth through the word of truth.” And verse 21 says, “Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you.” The word mentioned here is the way of Jesus Christ. God showed us what “integrity” is through Jesus Christ. Only by following Jesus, we can reach the perfection acceptable to God. The author says, “Humbly accept the word planted in you.” True humiliation and meekness is nothing but humiliation and meekness toward “the word of truth,” that is, Christ Jesus. It is not putting forward my will, my interest, my righteousness, and my understanding, but accepting God’s will, God’s interest, God’s righteousness, and God’s understanding. The word of truth is like “blueprint” of Christian integrity. If I pursue perfection without following the blueprint, it is like making products just as I like, ignoring the buyer’s requests. Indeed, we have our own blueprint. It is “desire.” Desire is the DNA deeply engraved in every human being. In today’s text, the author is extremely watchful against desire. Desire keeps tempting people and drags them away from God (13-14). Unless we disclose our hidden desires and throw them away, we cannot attain the integrity acceptable to God. Desire only misleads us to destruction. Verse 15 says, “After desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.” People may think that the fulfillment of their desires give them “success,” “satisfaction,” and “happiness.” That is not true. The end of desire is sin and death. Desire is the blueprint of misfortune that already conceives death in it. God “gave us birth through the word of truth.” This means that God gave us Jesus, the word of truth, as new DNA to be planted in us. We should receive this word humbly and meekly every day. This word is truly “the blueprint of blessing” that leads us to perfection acceptable to God. There cannot be a better fortune than hearing, seeing, and receiving the word of God through Jesus Christ.

 

Along with Jesus Christ, the word of truth, God supplies us with all good and perfect gifts from above. Verse 17 says, “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.” Sometimes, we, in troubles, may complain that Jesus put heavy burdens and difficult works on our back and left us like orphans in the world. In fact, with regard to the receivers of this letter, the author says that they were “scattered among the nations” (1), and they were “facing trials of many kinds” (2, 12). Indeed, in the world where everybody is racing after evil desire, the believers are always an alienated minority, and they are exposed to various trials. In this way, the door to the world is closing, but a new gate is opening. It is the gate to heaven. Now God becomes our father, and the father God gives us all kinds of good gift. Jesus said to his disciples, “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you” (John 15:16). This word testifies to an important truth about “integrity.” Christian integrity is learning, practicing, and enjoying a life relying on God in the name of Jesus Christ. It is leaning on God and looking for God’s provision. It is because every good thing comes only from God. The author warns, “When you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do” (6-8). We often, out of unbelieving, wander around the world, peeping in here and there to see if there is something good. With this divided heart, we cannot experience God’s goodness and his generosity. God gives generously to all without finding fault (5). When we ask and believe, God gives (6). God has already given us the best gift, which is the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is God’s guarantee that he, our Heavenly Father, would give whatever we ask in the name of Jesus. And it is the way to our godly integrity to trust in God, to rely on his provision, and to live on what he gives to us.

 

There is another important element for us to reach Christian integrity. It is “perseverance.” Verse 2-4 says, “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” The author says, “Let perseverance finish its work.” Quite often, we fall in such a situation that we cannot do anything but having to endure sufferings with no visible end. Then, we may feel helpless and hopeless. But the author says, “Let perseverance finish its work.” This means that while we are enduring trials, our perseverance is working for our maturity and perfection. And this is an essential process for our integrity. Even, Jesus, the Son of God learned obedience and was made perfect from what he suffered (Hebrews 5:8-9). So this is true to us all the more. Ephesians 2:10 says, “We are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works.” How does God work on us? It is through our perseverance. As it literally means, perseverance is being patient for a long time so that God may work on us as he wants. Perseverance is letting God do his work with enough time so that he finishes his work completely. I would like to share a short YouTube video showing what perseverance is. This is an advertisement of a New Zealand cheesemaker.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJd0Vvtrd3I

 

 

Cheesemakers should learn how to wait. It’s because cheesemaking takes time. Waiting and waiting, they should let time finish its work in order to get high-quality cheese. We must believe God who is working on us even when we are helpless and hopeless. In fact, that is exactly the time when we grow mature and perfect in God’s hand.

 

Christian integrity is the ultimate product of our entire Christian life. For this, God gave Jesus the word of truth, and the Holy Spirit, the gift of God. Now our present perfection is our trust in God and our perseverance. Then, God finishes his works on us, and we will find ourselves with faultless integrity fully acceptable to God. I pray that we learn more through the study of James how we grow into beautiful children of God.