James series – “The Litmus Test for life”

James 5:12

Above all, my brothers and sisters, do not swear—not by heaven or by earth or by anything else. All you need to say is a simple “Yes” or “No.” Otherwise you will be condemned.

To help us pass the integrity test James points to four issues involving individual integrity. Today we will look at the first one:

1. The importance of individual integrity

Notice how James starts this verse by saying, “But most of all” or “but above all things.” This phrase has created trouble for theologians for years. Because it begs the question, “where does this verse fit?” “Above all WHAT things?” Is this verse a part of the verses that make up the patience test we talked about last week? If so, why is he saying that we need to be people of integrity over and above all the traits of being patient? It’s important to ask yourself those types of questions when you are studying the Bible. Because one of the most important keys to understanding passages in the Bible is understanding them in context. There is a phrase about studying Bible verses in context that has been a tremendous help to me over the years.  It says, “a TEXT without a CONTEXT is a PRETEXT.” In other words, you can make a verse say a whole lot of things it doesn’t say if you don’t keep it in the context it was written in. Many of us take scripture out of context because we fail to read it in context. So, when you do that and place this verse in its proper context, you see what the “all things” he’s talking about are. He’s saying that your personal integrity is above all the things he’s talked about so far in his letter. Of the 10 test of faith James has given us so far, this one is “above all.” That brings up the next question, what does he mean by above all? Is he saying that, of all those 10 tests: The identity test, The poverty and prosperity test, the Bible test, the preference test, the works test, the tongue test, the wisdom test, the pride test, the treasure test and the patience test, this is the most important? That if we take care of this one and slip up on some of the others it’s OK? No, by commanding us to “above all” be people of integrity, James is telling us that our personal integrity is preeminent. It is the king that rules over the other 10 areas. Your integrity will rule over how you view the Bible. A person with no integrity will see the Bible not as truth but as something to twist to suit self. Your integrity rules over whether you show preference to people or not. A person with no integrity will show favoritism and form cliques and hold themselves in judgment over others. Your integrity rules over how you perform good works. A person with no integrity will do good works for personal recognition and profit. Your integrity rules over how you use your tongue. A person with no integrity will use their tongue to control, consume and condemn people. Your integrity rules over your wisdom. A person with no integrity seeks worldly wisdom based on pleasure instead of pleasing the Lord.  Your integrity rules over your pride, someone with no integrity is selfish, presumptive and greedy. Integrity also rules over how you practice patience, those with no integrity cannot patiently endure because they have no rock to anchor to. Not only is our individual integrity preeminent over those 10 areas, it is pervasive. Passing the previous 10 tests will insure that we are people of integrity. But at the same time, we cannot pass those tests without “above all” being people of integrity. Individual integrity isn’t just the next thing to accomplish on your to-do list. If your individual integrity isn’t “above all”, you can’t pass any of these tests we’ve been talking about for the last few months. That’s how important individual integrity is.