Each photo below corresponds to the chapter-a-day post for the books of 1 & 2 Peter published by Tom Vander Well in February of 2026. Click on the photo linked to each chapter to read the post.
1 & 2 Peter (February 2026)
Tag Archives: James
James (February 2026)
Each photo below corresponds to the chapter-a-day post for the book of James published by Tom Vander Well in February of 2026. Click on the photo linked to each chapter to read the post.
Kindness Not Condemnation
Kindness, Not Condemnation (CaD Rom 2) – Wayfarer
Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, forbearance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance?
Romans 2:4 (NIV)
Every year our town has a three-day Tulip Festival that draws giant crowds from all over the world. For the past several years, a street preacher has set up his microphone on a corner right in the middle of the festivities and spews hellfire, damnation, and condemnation to all of us sinners. While I honor everyone’s freedom of speech, it’s really annoying on multiple levels. Most of all, it’s annoying because it is contradictory to the example Jesus set and His teaching. It misrepresents what Jesus’ message is all about.
In yesterday’s chapter, I pinpointed the “one thing” that Paul wants to communicate to the Roman believers in his letter. He said he wasn’t ashamed of Jesus’ Message because it was the power of God to save all people, both Jew and Gentile. The early Jesus Movement was a cross-section of those who had been Jews their whole lives and those who had never been Jews (a.k.a. Gentiles). This created significant rifts within local gatherings of believers. Much of this letter is intended to address those rifts.
One of the most predominant rifts was the fact that the Jews felt superior because they were “God’s people” who had been given “God’s Law” through Moses. Despite the fact that the Law commanded the Jews to love their neighbors and treat them as they would want to be treated the Jews of this period had been culturally raised to see themselves as superior and all non-Jews as inferior.
To address this, Paul begins by laying down the foundational understanding that Jews and Gentiles, indeed all human beings, are equally sinners. He then points out that there are Gentiles who, despite not having the Law of Moses, live as if they did. Likewise, the Jews who boast about having the Law of Moses continue to sin and break those laws. Therefore, no one has the standing to condemn anyone else. In fact, self-righteous condemnation of others is showing contempt for God’s love:
Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, forbearance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance?
When James and John wanted to call down hellfire from heaven and burn up a town that had not welcomed them, how did Jesus respond? Did He condemn the town and burn them up? No, He condemned James and John for suggesting such a thing.
That same John would later write his own version of Jesus’ story in which he points out: “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”
So, in the quiet this morning I remind myself that the behavioral outcomes of being one with God’s Spirit include love, kindness, gentleness, and patience. Nowhere on the list of those behavioral outcomes (Gal 5:22-23) will you find judgment, condemnation, threats, or warnings. In fact, what Paul is pointing out so clearly is that the way to help lead a sinner to repentance is by being extraordinarily kind to them. That’s the very thing Jesus prescribed when He said that if someone steals your coat, give them your shirt as well. If someone asks you to walk a mile for them, walk two miles. It’s kindness that leads a sinner to repentance.
The street preachers at Tulip Time are misled and mistaken. But my response toward them is no different than with any other sinner. I am called to be kind, not condemning.
If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.
Clashing Kingdoms
Clashing Kingdoms (CaD Acts 12) – Wayfarer
It was about this time that King Herod arrested some who belonged to the church, intending to persecute them.
Acts 12:1 (NIV)
The name Herod appears in various places through both the stories of Jesus as well as the record of the early Jesus Movement in Acts. The name Herod, however, refers to different members of the same royal dynasty who ruled under the authority of Rome.
When Jesus was born, it was Herod the Great who sat on the throne. After his death, the kingdom was divided into three parts, each ruled by Herod’s sons. It was Herod Antipas who had John the Baptist beheaded and participated in Jesus’ trials. Herod Agrippa, grandson of Herod the Great, was made king by Caligula and is the Herod referenced in today’s chapter.
A dynasty does not happen without knowing how to rule the masses and manage the chess game of politics. This is especially true under the ever-shifting political winds from Rome, who demanded, above all else, that order be maintained across the Empire. The Herods were masters at the game of thrones and were absolutely ruthless in gaining and maintaining power. Jesus referred to Herod Antipas as a fox.
In Judea, especially in Jerusalem, the Herods had to manage a tricky relationship with the Jewish rulers who managed the Temple. Herod’s palace overlooked the Temple. It was Herod who paid for the Temple’s renovation and it was referred to as Herod’s Temple. The Herods pretended to be Jews for political reasons, but no one really believed there was real devotion there. The relationship between the Herods and the Jewish leaders was purely about power and money.
In today’s chapter, Herod Agrippa has James the brother of John, and one of the Twelve executed. Luke doesn’t record James’ offense (not that he needed one) but his intention was to persecute the pesky, growing Jewish sect that had been a thorn in the side of the Jewish leaders. Of course, politics is all about leverage and influence, so when Herod realized he’d scored some political points and there was more to be had, he had Peter arrested, as well.
On a grand level, the Jesus story and the Jesus Movement are about bringing the Kingdom of God to earth, and then into the world. There is inherent conflict on this grand scale because the “kingdoms of this world“ are about power, wealth, and pride and are under the dominion of the evil one, whom the Great Story refers to as the “Prince of this World.” The Kingdom of God is about humility, sacrificial love, and service.
Along my life journey, I’ve observed that religion can be as much a Kingdom of this World as any civic or commercial authority. It was precisely this reality that Jesus criticized in the Jewish establishment. It was because the Jewish authorities were operating as a kingdom of this world that they found it necessary to have Jesus killed, Stephen stoned, James beheaded, and Peter arrested. The further I get in my journey, the more wary I become of religious establishments that operate as earthly kingdoms and the more passionate I’ve become about living out the Kingdom of God without the labels of any establishment.
In the quiet this morning, it seems to me that God worked powerfully and miraculously in and through the early Jesus Movement because it was small, weak, humble, and focused on being the kingdom of God. As a disciple of Jesus, I want to follow that example.
If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.
Ruth (Aug 2021)
Each photo below corresponds to the chapter-a-day post for the book of Ruth published by Tom Vander Well in Augst of 2021. Click on the photo linked to each chapter to read the post.
John (Jul-Aug 2021)
Each photo below corresponds to the chapter-a-day post for the book of John published by Tom Vander Well in July and August 2021. Click on the photo linked to each chapter to read the post.
Give and Live
Give and Live (CaD James 5) – Wayfarer
Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming on you.
James 5:1 (NIV)
The times in which James wrote his letter to scattered believers was tumultuous. Jesus railed against the aristocrat Pharisees and religious leaders who lived in luxury while they exploited the poor. He cleared out the temple moneychangers who were getting themselves and the priests rich by charging poor pilgrims exorbitant exchange rates. Jesus’ criticism and the favor it gained him among the poor and marginalized was what got him crucified. Jesus wasn’t crucified for religious reasons. He was crucified because He threatened the religious racket’s cash cow, and stirred up resentment that already ran deep.
Thirty years later, the situation has not changed. It’s only gotten worse. James was the leader of the Jesus Movement in Jerusalem. He was well respected as he tried to manage the political powder keg between the Jewish religious leaders, local ruler Herod Agrippa II, and Rome. The gap between rich and poor continued to grow further and further apart. The aristocratic priests lived in spacious homes in the city’s upper city while the poor lived downwind of the local sewers. Exorbitant taxes pushed poor farmers out of business and wealthy landowners took over everything. The rich sided with the Romans in an effort to keep stability. This gave the poor more reason to hate them. Tensions were high, and about to spill over.
Reading today’s chapter with this context, it’s easy for me to feel James’ situation. The Jesus Movement exploded in part because it addressed the disparity of members. The wealthy generously gave. The poor and marginalized were welcome at the table with the rich and noble. James calls out the wealthy who are exploiting the poor. He calls on poor believers to persevere in chaotic, desperate circumstances. His instructions are about maintaining simple, daily ritual: Keep praying, keep praising, keep healthy, and stay in community with other believers. Pray for one another, confess to one another, forgive one another.
In the quiet this morning, I am reminded that the current chaotic times are a cakewalk compared to what it would have been like to be a poor day laborer in Jerusalem back in James’ day. History is always good for providing me with much needed context. At the same time, the same general principles and forces are at work today as they were then. Generosity, equality, deference and humility are still the tangible ways that the love of Christ is to flow through me to others. As a follower of Jesus, I’m to live out my faith daily in simple rituals that channel those same values. I’m called to view my current earthly circumstances in the eternal perspective of the Great Story.
James’ warnings in today’s chapter were incredibly prescient. The rich in Jerusalem continued to hoard more and more wealth. The rich priests withheld tithes from poor priests, forcing them into day labor. There were 18,000 day laborers who worked to finish construction work on the temple who didn’t get paid. James was condemned by the religious leaders and stoned to death. In 66 AD a revolt broke out. Priests and the Roman Garrison on the Temple mount were massacred. The four-year revolt against Rome would end in 70 AD when the Romans invaded Jerusalem and destroyed it along with the temple.
“Some of his disciples were remarking about how the temple was adorned with beautiful stones and with gifts dedicated to God. But Jesus said, “As for what you see here, the time will come when not one stone will be left on another; every one of them will be thrown down.”
Luke 21:5-6 (NIV)
If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.
James (June 2021)
Each photo below corresponds to the chapter-a-day post for the book of James published by Tom Vander Well in June of 2021. Click on the photo linked to each chapter to read the post.
Acts 15 Four Level Table from Sunday’s Message
I’ve posted the matrix from the message from this past Sunday as promised.
Please click on the link below to download a PDF of the matrix:
Chapter-a-Day Mark 3
When his family heard what was happening, they tried to take him away. “He’s out of his mind,” they said. Mark 3:21 (MSG)
When one decides to follow Jesus and to embark on a faith journey, it is common for the individual’s family system to grind loudly with the changing of gears. This reality goes all the way back to Jesus himself, whose public teaching created as many enemies as it did friends. His own family system, feeling the pressure and the negative consequences of his unexpected rise into the social spotlight, switches gears. Reacting to the shame and negative pressure of the religious authorities, Jesus’ family denies and betrays the perceived traitor to the family system:
“Don’t listen to him! He’s out of his mind, I tell you. He’s always been a bit odd ever since he was a kid.”
Jesus was undaunted by this betrayal, and pressed on with the journey to which He was called. In the end, his family got over their shame and followed Him. Mary followed her son all the way to the foot of the cross. Jesus’ brother, James, became a leader among the early Christians in Jerusalem, and wrote the book of James in the New Testament.
Today, I’m reminded that stepping out in faith to follow Jesus is not always understood nor accepted by family and friends. Even Jesus understood what it was like to be misunderstood and ridiculed by those closest to Him. Faith is acting out of the assurance that you will realize those things for which you can only hope. Sometimes the thing for which we hope is the understanding and grace of those in our own family.
