Doubt, Faith, and Wisdom

The New Revised Standard Version Faith and Wisdom

Faith and Wisdom

2 My brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of any kind, consider it nothing but joy, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance; 4 and let endurance have its full effect, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking in nothing.

5 If any of you is lacking in wisdom, ask God, who gives to all generously and ungrudgingly, and it will be given you. 6 But ask in faith, never doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind; 7, 8 for the doubter, being double-minded and unstable in every way, must not expect to receive anything from the Lord.

This morning, we kick off a new study through parts of the New Testament writings. These next couple of months, we’ll do a study on the book of James. I’ve been excited to work through our church’s namesake epistle. And then, we’ll move to a study through the book of Hebrews, another of my favorite New Testament texts. Both of these studies follow the lectionary cycle, mostly, and lead us into studying a couple of the more interesting writings of the early church.

James is not always the most popular book to study. The book of James was criticized by Martin Luther, who called it an “epistle of straw”, lacking some of the rich teachings of other New Testament writings. The book has a unique quality to it.

Let’s step back for a moment and consider the genres of the New Testament writings, so as to situate the book of James in the broader context. The New Testament begins with the four gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. These accounts of Jesus’ life are told from four different perspectives, with each other taking an angle and addressing a specific group of people. Luke, with it’s second-part, Acts, is an address to Greek Christians and contains much of the Hellenistic Greek intellectual tradition in its telling of the stories.

We might notice that John, for instance, has more of a mystical, spiritual quality to it. This links up with the other writings of John and the style of a more heartfelt faith that addressed different understandings of Jesus’ love and sacrifice.

Then, we move into the letters of the New Testament. Paul and Peter’s writings, in particular, are focused theological arguments addressed, again, at different communities of Christians around the Roman Empire. The Corinthian letters are written to a church wrestling with their identity amidst the global cultural center of Corinth. The Colossian church is written to with an angle of addressing the Roman cult of worshipping the emperor as the son of God. There are letters like Timothy and Titus that speak more to the particular needs of individual leaders in the bourgeoning church, the struggles and joys of being a part of this new thing God is doing.

While most of the New Testament contains letters, it is important we don’t rush to consider these all in the same way, as they are examples of different writers writing for different purposes. Clearly, the Revelation of John at the end of the New Testament has a quality of letter prose to it, but then this gives way into a full on apocalyptic vision, with all kinds of wild beasts and grand unveilings of the powers of the world in anticipation of Christ’s return.

So, with all of that, then I want to go back to James. The book of James is an address to a specific group of people — as vs. 1 states the salutation,

The New Revised Standard Version Salutation

James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ,

To the twelve tribes in the Dispersion:

Greetings.

James, in contrast to the letters to Corinthian or Roman church, is a wisdom teaching text. The same applies to Hebrews. James and Hebrews are writings that are way more similar to the Old Testament books of Proverbs and Ecclesiastes, wisdom literature that addresses ancient Israel’s life together. In the same way, James looks at wisdom through the lens of the modern church, the early church, and is something of a collection of sayings and teachings that are way less systematic and structured as other New Testament writings, and more enigmatic and rich for deconstruction and exploration.

All of this to say, I’m excited to study a book like James with us here.

The problem with wisdom literature, though, is that we have to read it differently. Wisdom literature often makes very definite statements, like “faith without works is dead.” On the surface, that statement is pretty clear — you gotta work out your faith in action. But if you reflect on that more, you begin to realize there’s a lot of complexity to what the means when we live it out.

So with wisdom literature, we have to read what’s on the surface, but then also dive deeper and explore what might be going on underneath. There is potential for the text to be read more than one way, to find a more nuanced interpretation. And so we sit with it, we roll it around in our minds, we discuss wisdom sayings, we live into them in order to discover the truth they have for our lives in faith.

All of this prologue is important, trust me. It’s important, because as we read these texts, we have to take their statements and let them rest in our hearts. Let’s hear again our reading from James.

The New Revised Standard Version Faith and Wisdom

Faith and Wisdom

2 My brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of any kind, consider it nothing but joy, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance; 4 and let endurance have its full effect, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking in nothing.

5 If any of you is lacking in wisdom, ask God, who gives to all generously and ungrudgingly, and it will be given you. 6 But ask in faith, never doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind; 7, 8 for the doubter, being double-minded and unstable in every way, must not expect to receive anything from the Lord.

This morning, I want to pull this text apart and focus on two key statements. The first leads into the second very well.

Vs. 2-4 tell us of the struggle of faith which produces endurance. We are instructed to consider trials a joy!

What is that about? Joy in the face of struggle leads to endurance? Ok.

Well, we’ve all been enduring quite a lot these last couple of years. We all know that we continue to collectively endure the COVID-19 pandemic. But also, with that, we’ve struggled to stay connect to the people we love, we’ve lost jobs and homes and struggled to stay calm and sane under so much stress. It’s enough to lose faith, at least faith in humanity or leaders or society. We have endured a lot.

And while I am so very tired of this endurance race we’re running, I also marvel at what we are learning and deepening in our resolve, our determination, our faith. See, this kind of endurance produces a deepened faith, lives that are more tuned and strengthened and weathered.

As James shares, this kind of endurance will lead to maturity, fullness of self, which lacks nothing.

How does enduring suffering, having so much taken away from ourselves, lead to us having all that we need, lacking nothing?

Well, this endurance produces wisdom. And wisdom recognizes what is truly necessary, what actually matters, and also what doesn’t.

Endurance produces wisdom. And, as we transition into the second piece of this text, in vs. 5 we hear that if we lack wisdom, God will provide it for us. God will help us strengthen and endure.

During a long distance race, runners will be aided at many points by volunteers who prepare water, bagels, electrolyte drinks, bananas, and other healthy snacks that will bolster their endurance. To run a marathon and not grab water at an aid station is foolish at best and physically dangerous at worst. To endure, we need help.

To endure the long road of faith, we also need aid. And this is what James reminds his readers of — we have the aid we need in God’s generous, loving, providing hands. We need to simply ask for it.

Running by an aid station at mile 17, you’ll hear folks shouting “water, water, water.” There is no doubt in their parched words. No going back and forth — if that was the case, like I wasn’t sure what I wanted, I might dilly dally at the aid table, ponder if its juice or coffee I need. And doing this would add minutes to my race time and make me less competitive.

So, when we lack wisdom, when we need aid, when we need help enduring and making sense of the complexities of our lives, we are instructed to ask in faith, boldly.

The first point today — enduring struggles produces wisdom, wisdom that comes from God’s aiding help and providence. We get stronger and can endure through the understanding that wisdom offers.

Now, let’s move to the second part, the more tricky part, the part that might throw many of us off track. Let’s talk about doubt.

Doubt. Is that a bad word in your mind when it comes to being a follower of Jesus? Is it right to doubt? Are we allowed to doubt?

In the wisdom teachings of James, we hear a strong, focused statement on doubt:

The New Revised Standard Version Faith and Wisdom

6 But ask in faith, never doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind; 7, 8 for the doubter, being double-minded and unstable in every way, must not expect to receive anything from the Lord.

The double-mindedness of doubt is not what is going to get us further down the road, is it?

Well, actually, the way this text reads is problematic if we simply cut out doubt, stuff it down inside, and speak with a clear mind alone.

The Greek word for doubt here is diakrino, which means to separate one thing from another, to waver, to judge, to distinguish. There is a critical feel to this word. As we hear it applied, it’s that sense that doubt is like a wave that moves this way and that, changing with the wind. And we are instructed that we must come with faith, not the wavering of doubt, as we approach God and ask for help.

But...the opposite of doubt is not faith. The opposite of doubt is certainty. To have no trouble distinguishing, determining, making the critical choice, clear, concise, certain. It’s the yell, “water water water” without any question.

You see, we are quick to lump faith in with certainty, though, and expect that to doubt is to lose faith. We read these kinds of texts and immediately push doubt into the negative and faith into the positive. But that’s not what’s going on here — faith and doubt are not opposites, they are partners in the pursuit of enduring.

I can’t tell you how many times I have sat down with someone in a pastoral appointment and they have shared that they doubt. That they don’t know if they believe what they are supposed to believe. There is such shame in these voices, shame that maybe they’ve missed the mark, shame that they don’t hold on to their religious convictions with more certainty.

I have to tell you, though, that I celebrate with folks when they can name their doubt. The entertainment of doubt is actually, often, a marker of a very rich, deeply held faith. Our shame comes from feelings of despair that our faith must be certain, never questioned. But again, doubt is not the opposite of faith — doubt is the opposite of certainty.

We hold doubts or certainties about many things. They are the opposing forces that invite us to be critical about our world, to question things, to endure and deepen our understanding of God and all creation. So to wrestle with doubt is to wrestle with what we can hold fast to. It is a deepening practice as we endure and mature as people.

And that enduring process, which we looked at first this morning, is made what it is because it is a testing of faith. Through testing faith (with doubt and certainty), we discover wisdom.

Let me say this very plainly: by learning to doubt, we gain wisdom. To doubt is to pursue wisdom. Because wisdom and certainty are not the same. Certainty has no room for nuance, for experience, for the difficulties of the real world. Rather, certainty is rigid, still in the winds of change. But what is rigid often breaks. See how this is the opposite of doubt, of wavering?

Let’s bring this on home. James is encouraging his readers to endure the trials of the world and in this endurance, discover wisdom.

How do you run a long long race? One step at a time. There’s wisdom in realizing that you can’t just go out and sprint for 26 miles. And there are many points along the road that you doubt your ability to keep going. I’ve gone back and forth between doubt and certainty many times on a long run. “I’m certain I can do this and will not die.” VS “There’s no way I’ll make it, I doubt I can even get up this hill.”

And, what is in between this all is faith. Faith produces the ability to hold the doubts and certainties in healthy tension. Faith says, “I’m gonna try.” I don’t know if I can make it (certainty and doubt), but I’m going to endure.

Do you doubt? Good. Bless that.

Do you hold some things with certainty? Good, also bless that.

Today, let us see that our doubts actually lead us right into the space where we can develop faith and seek wisdom. Doubts will always nag at us — and that’s important. We have to let doubt air itself out in order to grow, to mature, to make those next steps happen.

Many years ago, I discovered I had a lot of doubts about my Christian journey. I had doubts about who God was, who I was, what the church was supposed to be. I have gone through a process of dismantling a lot of what I thought I believed, unpacking what I know in my heart and what I read in the Scriptures. I’ve been able to hold very few things with utmost certainty. And what that has produced, in me, is not an abandonment of my faith in Christ, but a deepening of it. Simple answers have given way to much more nuanced reflections upon God’s truth.

Doubt has led me to a stronger faith. Hear that? Not that I’ve left doubts and found certainty. But doubt (and in some measure, the certainties I hold) has led me a faith that can hold that tension. This is the work of wisdom.

Back to the promise of this morning’s passage: In faith, we can endure. Through faith, God will lead us and mature us and grow us. May we embrace this doubt-and-certainty-and-everything-in-between journey, deeper into faith and love of Christ.

Amen.