It’s widely understood that though there were many men named James surrounding Jesus, it was indeed James, the half brother of Jesus that authored this book in the NT. He was in fact, a pillar in the early church as Paul tells us in Galatians 2:9
Jesus appeared to him (1 Corinthians 15:7) after the resurrection and that was all James needed! James quickly became one of the early leaders of the church.
Easter: Nearly 1,400 people stood to accept Jesus! If you are one of those people, know that James has an Easter salvation too☺
There are many heavy theological books in the Bible. James is all about application. I love it because it’s a manual for Christian living! It forces us to not just say we’re Christians…but actually LIVE IT OUT. It just doesn’t get any clearer than this! We’re going to tackle a chapter a week, so you don’t want to miss it.
Of all the things James will hit on in the upcoming 5 chapters, he chooses to start by telling us that life isn’t about happiness, it’s about holiness. That life is going to throw a lot of things our way. Life isn’t always easy.
The Christian life doesn’t assure constant happiness.
This young church was getting hammered! Persecuted in ways we could never imagine. The Romans saw the early Christian movement as a threat to their power. You don’t bow to some ‘king’ named Jesus, you bow to Caesar!
James is telling us that WRITE THIS DOWN : the Christian doesn’t have to be a victim of this worlds circumstances! He says ‘be joyful when you encounter hard times’!!! The testing of our faith develops perseverance. WHAT?? Keep in mind, the majority of people James was addressing were uprooted, homeless, even imprisoned for their faith in Jesus!
Find joy amidst that?? Let’s face it, these are tough times…job losses, economy problems, unstable nations around the world getting more and more power…
When you have all of those outside components stacking up, then you add in personal tragedy…when bad things happen to good people…
We have a choice to make, when bad things happen to us, when life throws an unexpected curve ball…when there seems to be no joy to be found…we have a simple choice: we can get angry with God and question Him, or we can try to find out what He is trying to do IN us.
In Good times and in bad…
God is always wanting to produce Christ-likeness in us, as Christians.
This process necessarily involves suffering sometimes. It doesn’t make sense in our finite minds! Understand that the fruit of the spirit that needs to grow inside of us ( love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, self control ) – Galatians 5 They can’t grow inside of us if there’s always sunshine. You need dark clouds and rain sometimes.
Cufr’s Video
From time to time I hear a Christian tell me after coming out of the toughest time of their life, they’ve never felt closer to God. God wraps His arms around them. He proves that He’s big enough by far to handle anything their going through. God is plenty big enough!
V 17 James points out that God not only created all, but He alone is the unchanging source of all light in the universe, spiritual light included! His light won’t change like a shadow in a setting sun, His light will never be eclipsed and cut off from us! Once we accept Him….
Look at the beautiful poetic cadence James uses from 17-18 God created all…then he sucks it down to a personal level and reminds us that He is our Father also, and that God has given us each a unique roll in his creation! How we act in that role is up to us! How do we act???
V 19 READ IT can take some of us a lifetime to master☺ Quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger! Proverbs 16:32 ‘ he who is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he who rules his spirit than he who takes a city’.
If we could not only memorize this one but apply it!
V 21 reminds us that just reading your Bible isn’t the only key! Too many times we can read scripture for learning, or academic purposes…and not be impacted by it. Read it with a meek, submissive, humble spirit James says! It won’t do us much good just to read the Bile to check a box.
Be doers of the word, not just hearers!!!!! Be doers of the Word, not just church attendees! We could camp out for a month on this verse alone!!! There’s no value in reading the Bible as literature!
There has to be a deep desire to hear God speaking to us, and an unquestioning willingness to do whatever he says.
V 23-24 sums up our series title! Hearing what God commands, preaching what God commands and not doing it is like looking in the mirror, turning around and forgetting what you even look like.
There is NO benefit to looking in the mirror if it’s not going to change you.
People, obey the mirror! When the mirror says ‘wash, brush, comb, shave, trim, pluck, pop, or PICK…DO IT’, for crying out loud. For ALL of our sakes☺
When the mirror says, lose some weight sergeant spare tire…respect the mirror!!!
The mirror doesn’t lie. It tells us the truth whether we like it or not.
There’s nothing worse than when you get out of the shower and look in the mirror...what is THAT all about?? James NAILS it.
You can spot someone who neglects the mirror a mile away!
You can spot a non-doer of the Word of God a mile away.
The bible is like a mirror, it tells us the truth whether we like it or not.
Again, the answer is not found in religion. Religion will not save you. The church cannot save you. God is not satisfied with rituals, traditions and ceremonies. He is interested in a life of practical Godliness.
The power to be saved is only found in a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, we then grow – not by church attendance, but by applying God’s word into our daily lives.
James is an instruction manual….but you have to apply it. We understand instruction manuals in our daily lives!
Like when you get a new gadget. Phone, camera, Xbox game, you usually read the instruction manual first. Guys that don’t do this out of pride always fall victim to their laughing wives…It’s in a fortune cookie somewhere!
You read as much as you think you need to…then you set out to actually apply it…that’s when it all sinks in. That’s when it’s field tested and learned. That’s when you figure out maybe you didn’t read it well enough…,maybe it didn’t sink in and stick.
It’s no different for me.
You can study all you want for a message, but it only comes together when you teach it , when you apply it. This is why our wives love a marriage series. Magically we become better husbands for a week☺
Get out there and apply it, teach it…don’t be a hypocrite…LIVE IT OUT. Know what it says in the first place, but don’t let it just sit there like stagnant water on a pond, get it flowing…get it moving. Get it flowing into every corner of your life. You’ll never look at life the same way again. You’ll never look at God the same way again, you’ll never look at people, who God gave His own Son for…the same way again! Let’s be doers of the word.
