Reverend Patrick Erickson
Pastor of Peace Lutheran Church
PERISH THE THOUGHT!
(St. James 1:1-18)
James speaks of the double-minded man being full of doubts which, like waves of the sea buffeted by the wind, drive him this way and that, making him unstable in all his ways, like a boat without a rudder, unworthy of receiving anything from the Lord.
Such a person in times of testing, like a leaky boat in high seas, is undependable. In fact, "like the flower of the grass he will pass away. For the sun rises with its scorching heat and withers the grass; its flower falls, and its beauty perishes" (Jas 1). Like "sea flowers", the effervescent, evanescent foam the waves make, fizzle out when the sun hits them, so undependable, wishy-washy men fizzle when the heat is on!
The double-minded man, unstable in all his ways, buffeted by doubts in rough seas without rudder or paddle, under his own undependable steam, tossed to and fro, with no safe haven in the storm, perishes just like that rudderless and leaky boat.
It is for this reason that God crafted the sword of His Spirit, His Word, as a double-edged sword, as a beacon in distress. With one edge, that of the Law, God cuts through the double-minded man's double-mindedness like a distress signal cuts through the fog--or a beacon in distress--the same way the mower cuts the grass, cutting through his doubts like so much stubble, the way the mower cuts through the undergrowth to the flower of the field or the way the prow of a sea-worthy ship cuts through the waves buffeted by the winds and avoids the rocky shoals and the sandbars and makes straight for safe haven.
Once the double-minded man has been cut to the quick, the razor's edge, the Gospel goes to work like a scalpel healing the wound. Though no longer double-minded, once on the mend, the patient is henceforth duel-natured: at one and the same time sinner and justified, though thankfully not once and for all!
For there is healing for this rift, too, by his duel-natured Savior who as God and Man wields this unwieldy two-edged sword of the Spirit, this beacon in distress, God's Word, and because He is both divine and human can cut through the fog of self-doubt and answer the distressed one's distress call and separate justified from sinner once and for all, not merely at one and the same time, and leave the sinner in the grave and raise the justified to eternal life.
That's some sword--and some swordplay and some swordsmanship. And He is some Swordsman, some Beacon in distress. So, sound the distress signal! And blessed be the man He goes to bat for and goes to work on, whose double-mindedness He cuts down like a power hitter cuts down one poor pitcher after another, like a mower cuts through the underbrush, cutting off his doubts like a weed eater cuts down a weed-choked lot without cutting the man off and without undercutting the flower of his youth.
He stands with him, so he can stand the heat, like water to dry roots in a drought or a drink of cold water to a thirsty slugger, so he won't wither in the home stretch. "Blessed is the man who endures trial," who takes the heat and stands up under it, and stands his ground, who swings both ways at once, who is simultaneously sinner yet justified, but double-minded no more, redeemed by the God-Man Jesus Christ, both our atoning Lamb and our sanctifying Shepherd, our Sword of the Spirit and our Beacon in distress, at one and the same time and once and for all.
"For when [we have] stood the test", steadfast in our Savior, "we will receive" no mere garland of laurel, no laurel wreath which perishes like our short-lived glory or new mown hay in a grassfire, the flower of our youth spent like yesterday's stubble--perish the thought!--but "the crown of life" which God has promised to those whom He loves who love Him in return, a crown that won't wither, wilt, spoil or fade, much less perish. Perish the thought! Amen.
- Pastor Erickson