There are many sermons and devotions on this passage that ironically embody the contrarian point James is making. Many expositions on this verse take it as a typical ‘sin avoidance’ encouragement passage, which fits conveniently with the Church’s overall centralized focus on sin-avoidance going back to sometime not long after the Scriptures themselves were recorded. There are enough Scriptures on resisting and avoiding sin to support this focus. However, we need to note the opposite and more important side of the ‘committing sin’ coin; the one I think James is actually talking about here: doing good.
Sin-avoidance, of course, isn’t a bad thing, but it definitely comes second to doing good. I would even argue that part of what makes sin sinful is that it’s something that takes us away from the good things we should be doing instead.
If the historical narrative of the Western Church is to be believed, we’re only capable of ‘doing good’ if/when we’ve been able to avoid doing bad. It’s the incredibly persistent old trope that only the spotlessly clean are ready and able to serve the Kingdom. A trope that Jesus died to obliterate and countless heroes of faith (with dubious histories) have proven false. Yet, we as a Church have broadly chosen to focus on sin-avoidance as the primary aim of our teachings.
This is what James combats here in Chapter 4. The ‘sin’ he speaks of is not, as so many expositors have noted, knowing what is right and instead choosing what is wrong. The sin is knowing what good we should be doing and not doing it. It is a sin of inaction. The sin of letting orphans and widows in our locale go hungry. The sin of not making a habit of checking in on the marginalized. The sin of not initiating fellowship with other congregations around us. The sin of not prayerfully giving a first-fruit of some form unto the Lord. The sin of not actively working to reconcile ourselves to the people around us, the creation around us, ourselves, and God (*for more on this see Dr. Clement Wen’s article discussing the four redeemed relationships encompassed by Salvation in Christ.).
So what good do you know you should be doing within your immediate context that is going undone? What lifestyle ministry is losing out to general business, misaligned life priorities, or time-killing holes like too much idle entertainment?
Take a few minutes today to ask God what good thing you’re missing in his plans for you. Whatever it is, don’t take it as a guilt trip, but rather a fresh opportunity to seize the Kingdom God has built into your day.
*For some excellent additional reading in this area, I recommend this article (also by Dr. Wen), which is a strong call for us to shed the heavy yoke of a limited or narrow devotional life, for the ‘easy yoke’ Jesus spoke of: Rediscovering an ‘Easy yoke’ Devotional Life.