Harvest of Righteousness
Texts: James 3:13-18
Pastor Phil Hughes, American Fork Presbyterian Church, Utah
January 21, 2024
Will you read together with me those last two verses from the passage in James?
But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere.
Peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of righteousness.
James got it right. Bitter envy, selfish ambition is the “wisdom” of the world. It is also earthly, unspiritual and demonic. Where these things are valued you will find disorder, conflict, and evil. So James points us toward a better wisdom, a true wisdom, the wisdom from God. It is a wisdom that James writes is peace-loving.
And peacemakers love peace. Peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of righteousness. Those who do the hard work of getting along with others, treating each other with dignity and honor, respecting those with whom they differ, who listen before talking, and practice mercy are planting what will grow into what is right and true with God.
A harvest is getting what you sow. And those who plant peace reap what is right and good and honorable in the eyes of God. They are right with God.
It seems so common sense: disrespect others, strive for vengeance, take out anger, speak harshly, strike back and there will be discord, violence and a harvest of enmity. Yet, how many world leaders and nations in their relations with one another, how much of our national life and politics, how many people in their personal relationships practice that earthly wisdom. Hence, we find ourselves where we are.
I am going to share some examples from the Bible of those who sowed a harvest of righteousness.
Jacob and Esau were the sons of Isaac. Jacob stole Esau’s birthright by conniving it from their elderly father. It says that “Esau held a grudge against Jacob because of the blessing his father had given him” and he vowed to kill his brother.
Years pass by, Esau hears where Jacob is, and Jacob finds out that Esau is on his way to find him with four-hundred men. Jacob is scared. And why not? This is not going to end pretty. When he finally sees Esau and the army of men with him, he runs out to meet Esau, bowing to the ground. Maybe Esau will spare him. And it says that “Esau ran to meet Jacob and embraced him; he threw his arms around his neck and kissed him. And they wept.”[1]
We aren’t told how it happened but Esau’s anger and envy subsided. His vow to kill became a vow to embrace. What could have become ugly became a harvest of righteousness as the brother’s reconciled. Esau and Jacob made peace.
Remember Joseph? One of Jacob’s sons. With his coat of many colors? Sold into slavery by his brothers. If that doesn’t scar you for life I don’t know what does.
Joseph’s life becomes hard. He spends time in an Egyptian prison. He is the victim of lying. Lots of reasons to seethe, become angry and plot his vengeance. But Joseph trusts God and God brings him to better times. He is not only freed from incarceration but he finds favor with the new Pharaoh. He is exalted to second in command in all of Egypt.
Meanwhile a famine hits Israel. Joseph’s brothers come to Egypt in hopes of finding food. They end up before Joseph though many years have passed and they don’t recognize their brother. They also assumed he was done for. But Joseph recognizes them. It’s quite a story but eventually Joseph reveals himself to his brothers. And they are stunned. Not to mention scared. Joseph is now in the place of power. They are at his mercy. How do you expect to be treated by someone you treated so poorly?
But Joseph gives food to his brothers and cares for his father Jacob until Jacob finally passes away. And when Jacob dies, Joseph’s brothers think that maybe the only thing keeping Joseph from taking vengeance on them was Joseph’s love for his father. So they say, “What if Joseph holds a grudge against us and pays us back for all the wrongs we did to him?”
So they sent word to Joseph, saying, “Your father left these instructions before he died: ‘This is what you are to say to Joseph: I ask you to forgive your brothers the sins and the wrongs they committed in treating you so badly.’ Now please forgive the sins of the servants of the God of your father.” When their message came to him, Joseph wept.
His brothers then came and threw themselves down before him. “We are your slaves,” they said.
But Joseph said to them, “Don’t be afraid. Am I in the place of God? You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. So then, don’t be afraid. I will provide for you and your children.” And he reassured them and spoke kindly to them.[2]
Joseph chooses to sow forgiveness, kindness, and reconciliation. And he sowed a harvest of righteousness.
There is a story from the life of David before he becomes king. David is growing in popularity and is leading a band of men in the desert regions.
There is a man named Nabal who we are told is very wealthy and also “mean in his dealings.” David sends some men to Nabal who greet him with a blessing for long life and good health to him. They tell Nabal that they have always treated his men well by protecting them as they shepherd their flocks. No bandits have hurt them because David’s men have protected them. So would Nabal consider providing some food and water for David and his men in the desert as they now are low on supplies.
Nabal insults David and his men and refuses. His words are fighting words. David’s men report back and David tells them to strap on their swords.
Now, Nabal is married to a woman named Abigail. Word gets to Abigail what her husband has done and what David is going to do. Abigail is told “disaster is hanging over our master and his whole household. He is such a wicked man no one can talk to him.”[3]
Abigail grabs a bunch of food and supplies and runs out to David. David vows that he is going to kill them all. Abigail reaches David and bows down in humility. She tells David to pay no attention to Nabal because Nabal is a fool. She asks for forgiveness - always a key component in peacemaking. She acknowledges that the Lord is with David and that David has a wonderful future. And that he will ruin his conscience with what she says is “the staggering burden of needless bloodshed of having avenged himself.”
“Do this and you will live with regret and pain.” Vengeance can leave us a burden that weighs us down the rest of our lives.
David’s wrath is turned back and he changes his heart. He praises Abigail for coming to him. He credits her good judgment and for keeping him from avenging himself with bloodshed. David takes the gifts Abigail brought and says to her, “Go home in peace.”
Abigail goes back but tells Nabal nothing of what happened because he is drunk and holding a party. The next day when he sobers up she tells him. It says that Nabal’s heart failed him and he became like a stone. Ten days later he is dead. David praises the Lord for keeping him from doing wrong and for bringing Nabal’s evil down on Nabal’s own head.
David was determined to get revenge. Abigail subtly and wisely persuades otherwise. In the end, both trust and affirm that vengeance belongs to the Lord – not to us. David is grateful that he was restrained.
One of my daughters went to college and got a degree is what is called “Peace and Justice” studies. I paid a lot of money for this degree so I asked her what she thought made for peace in our world. She said that one thing is more women to be leaders.
Sometimes it’s the smaller stuff that causes conflict. One of the issues in the New Testament was who could eat what foods. Jewish faith prescribed strict dietary laws. When Christ came he freed people from that. But people from a Jewish background who became believers in Christ still felt they should keep Jewish laws. It became a divisive issue in various churches and circles. Some were offended that they others would eat certain things and it created a lot of conflict.
Paul writes about this in some of his letters. In one of those places he tells people that even though he doesn’t believe any foods are unclean, nevertheless, if someone feels that way for themselves then to criticize them or eat foods they consider wrong to eat in front of them is unloving. He says that to be inconsiderate is to not act in love, and that to just dismiss that person’s feelings is to destroy someone for whom Christ died.
Then Paul writes,
For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit, because anyone who serves Christ in this way is pleasing to God and receives human approval.
Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification.[4]
Sometimes peacemaking requires us to set aside our preferences. And so in the New Testament we read that we are to look not to our own interests but to the interests of others. And to not think more highly of ourselves than we ought to think but consider others better than ourselves. We have to look at our prejudices and desires and see if they help with the peace of the larger body.
Let me step out of the Bible with an example of a harvest of righteousness in our day and time. Daryl Davis is a blues musician. He is also black. And he owns over 200 Ku Klux Klan hoods and robes.
How did this come about? One night Daryl was playing at a club and a white man came up to him and told him it was the first time he had ever heard a black man play like Jerry Lee Lewis. Davis suggested to the white man that Lewis learned how to play the way he did from black musicians. The white man couldn’t believe it but invited Davis to his table for a drink and they began to talk.
The white man said, “You know this is the first time I have ever had a drink with a black man.” Davis was surprised and asked why. The man was hesitant but his friends kept saying, “Tell him. Tell him.” And the man shared that he was a member of the Ku Klux Klan. Davis began laughing. He thought it was a joke. But he realized the man was serious when he showed his KKK identification card.
Davis was challenged with the thought how someone could hate him without even knowing him. It began a relationship between the two men who had a common love for music. As they talked Davis heard how this man believed blacks had smaller brains and have a gene that makes them violent. Through talking this white man came to realize Davis didn’t fit this bill at all. That man’s hood was the first Davis claimed. The man left the KKK.
Davis made it his mission to learn about the KKK and their beliefs. He began with an interview with the Grand Dragon of Maryland named Roger Kelly. Davis had his secretary call Kelly’s people and set up a meeting. It was in a motel room. Kelly came preceded by his armed bodyguard, not knowing he was coming to meet a black man. Davis had been warned not to mess with this man who would kill him. Kelly was astonished to see a black man in the room waiting for him. Once he realized Davis was unarmed and Davis was transparent with him he sat down and agreed to talk. Their conversation was civil if not tense.
Davis knows that human beings all want the same thing: respect, to be loved, to be heard. We all want the same things for our families. Davis said Kelly wanted to be heard in the interview so he let him be heard. He let him spew his hatred. And because Davis didn’t push back it threw Kelly off his game. But the wall came down. Kelly reciprocated by allowing Davis to speak. Davis responded to some of Kelly’s claims saying that he had never been on welfare, didn’t have a criminal record, and went to college.
Klansmen have a conversation with Davis, go home, think about it, and realize they just sat down and talked with a black man for three hours. They don’t agree on everything but some things. And they realize that this black man made some sense. A seed is planted and they have to decide if they are going to change their minds about this black man, or continue to live their life as a lie.[5]
Davis has continued to meet members of the KKK, getting to know them and they him. He says, “…when two enemies are talking, they're not fighting. It's when the talking ceases that the ground becomes fertile for violence. If you spend five minutes with your worst enemy — it doesn't have to be about race, it could be about anything...you will find that you both have something in common. As you build upon those commonalities, you're forming a relationship and as you build about that relationship, you're forming a friendship.”[6]
He has the hoods and robes to show for it.
In everyone of these instances – Jacob and Esau, Joseph, Abigail, Paul and the early church, Daryl Davis - a harvest of righteousness came because people sowed what James said makes for peace. And in every instance great courage was needed.
Martin Luther King, Jr. said, "I am convinced that men hate each other because they fear each other. They fear each other because they don’t know each other, and they don’t know each other because they don’t communicate with each other, and they don’t communicate with each other because they are separated from each other."
The incredible story of the Bible is about how sin divides and God brings back together again. Which is why peacemaking is essential Christian work. God is committed to reconciliation and sent his Son to bring peace, even at the price of the cross. If God himself is so committed to peacemaking, Christians cannot be indifferent to it.
This is why Jesus says in Matthew 5:9 that peacemakers will be called children of God. Peacemaking is what the Son has been doing all along![7] And it is what he asks his children to do.
What kind of harvest are you sowing?
Prayer: Holy Spirit, giver of peace, put the peace of Jesus in our hearts. Let it flow from our lives, in our conversations, in how we treat others. Let us know the wisdom of making peace.
For this is your heart, and it is your heart, Lord, that we want to follow. Amen.
[1] Genesis 33:4
[2] Genesis 50:15-21
[3] 1 Samuel 25:17
[4] Romans 14:17-19
[5] In The Lion’s Den: A Conversation With Daryl Davis, Harvard International Review, August 9, 2020, Garrett Walker
[6] “How One Man Convinced 200 Ku Klux Klan Members to Give Up Their Robes”, National Public Radio, August 20, 2017, All Things Considered, Dwane Brown
[7] Matthew 5:9 Organization, “Theology of Belonging” booklet