INTRODUCTION
1. Open your bibles to James 1:12-27.
2. Studying the book of James will help Christians with an age old problem. The problem that we are talking about is the fact that not everybody who grows old, grows up spiritually. There is a vast difference between physical age and spiritual maturity.
3. Spiritual maturity is one of the greatest needs today, in homes and in the church.
4. God is looking for spiritually mature men and women to build homes and congregations that will carry on His work. A great majority of the time all He can find is the young people of those homes and congregations.
5. Someone made a statement, something similar to the following, “too many congregations are play pens for the youth instead of workshops for adults.”
6. Let’s begin to read and study some things that will help us to mature and be strong and faithful Christians.
DISCUSSION
I. FIRST, JAMES 1:12 TEACHES THE IMPORTANCE OF ENDURANCE IN THE TIME OF DIFFICULTIES AND THE IMPORTANCE OF PROVING OUR LOVE TO GOD.
1. Let’s read verse 12, “Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.”
2. “Enduring temptations” refers to remaining faithful as we deal with persecutions and difficulties in our daily life. The Christian life will never be a bed of roses and free from all trouble.
3. Those who endure and hold out to the end of life are promised three blessings in this one verse.
(1) “Blessed” refers to the enduring Christian to be assured that he or she will experience the joy, rejoicing and happiness that has been referred to in the first eleven verses.
(2) The “being approved” comes from a Greek word that refers to the enduring Christian becoming like metal which has passed through the fiery furnace, and has been cleansed of all impurity, he now possesses a character wholly free from all contamination, and is therefore pure”
(3) Such a character is ready to receive the third blessing: “he or she will receive the crown of life.” (v. 12d).
The crown is the victor's crown. The “crown of life” means the glory and blessings of heaven. God’s people will not wear literal crowns in heaven. “Crown of life” is figuratively referring to eternal life to enjoy in heaven. This is what the Lord Jesus promised (Revelation 2:10). “Be thou faithful unto death and I will give thee the crown of life.”
That doesn’t mean that we are merely to be faithful until we die (although that definitely is taught in other passages). Rather, it means that we are to be faithful even during the receiving of death. Faithful during whatever experience would bring death to us.
Paul, in 2 Tim. 4:7&8 said, at the end of his life, 7“I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 8 Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing.”
We might summarize this by saying, “faithful endurance leads to eternal life.”
4. Before moving away from verse 12 it is important to stress that James emphasizes that the “crown of live” comes to Christians not only because they endure, but also because they the show genuine love. James says it is “promised to those who love the Lord”.
(1) In John 14:15 Jesus says, “If you love Me, keep My commandments.”
(2) James is telling Christians that they will receive the “crown of life” – that is heaven, if they will endure through the trials of life and do it in a way that they show their love for God and Christ.
II. SECOND, JAMES 1:13-18 TEACHE THAT CHRISTIANS ARE NEVER TEMPTED BY GOD, BUT RATHER EACH ONE IS TEMPTED WHEN THEY DO NOT EXERCISE PROPER SELF CONTROL.
1. Let’s read vs. 13-15 and make a few comments as we read. “13 Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. 14 But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Let’s make a comment before reading verse 15.
(1) As Satan dangles alcohol or drugs or sexual immorality or stealing or “what ever sin” in front of us and our desires are so strong for that which is sinful that we are “enticed” to do the sin we are the one to blame. Desire plus the opportunity = temptation.
(2) We can’t blame God! We can’t blame the devil! We can’t blame some other person! Each individual always has the ability to say: “No”!
2. Verse 15 tells us that once we have let the strong desire motivate us to be guilty of the actual doing of the sin, that at that point we are guilty of spiritual death.
(1) Let’s read verse 15, “Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.” Temptation = desire + opportunity. Sin = desire + opportunity + action.
(2) The “death” that is referred to is “spiritual death”. The word “death” means separation. When one becomes separated from God, unless they repent and obey God there is no way for them to receive the crown of life and go to heaven.
3. In verse 16 James reminds Christians a second time to not make the mistake of thinking that God is responsible for the sins that we commit.
(1) In Gen. 3:11&ff, after Adam and Eve committed the first sin, Adam & Eve started the blame game. God asked Adam, “how that they knew that they were naked”. Let’s read vs. 12&13, “Then the man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate.” 13 And the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
(2) Let’s read verse 16, “Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren.”
4. In verse 17 James declares that instead of there being the slightest possibility of God tempting man to commit sin, God to the contrary is the provider of every good and perfect gift.
(1) The heavenly bodies of the universe: the sun and he moon and the stars may vary in shadows and some details, but God never has, and never will show inconsistency.
(2) Let’s read verse 17, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.”
(3) God is constant and unchanging and dependable. Don’t ever think that you sin because of any bad influence from God.
5. In verse 18 James clenches his argument, about the fact that nothing sinful, but only good gifts, come from God. He clenches that argument when he reminds us that the gift of salvation comes from God.
(1) Let’s read verse 18, “Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth, that we might be a kind of first-fruits of His creatures.”
(2) Instead of leading men into sin, God has begotten and brought forth many into the new life in Christ. God is the source of life, not of sin and death. God brings us forth by the word of truth as we believe, repent, confess and obey the command of baptism.
(3) Turn and read 1 Peter 1:22&23 "Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart, 23 having been born again, not of corruptible seed, but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides for ever.”
(4) In James 1:18, we read that when one hears and obeys the gospel, he becomes the first fruits of his [God’s] creatures. The phrase “first fruits” is taken from a reference to the crops back under the O. T., being the part of the harvest that always belonged to God.
(5) “First-fruits”, as James uses it, refers to those who obey the gospel as belonging to God and also being “the cream of the crop” from among all the creatures of God.
(6) Some interpret “first-fruits” to refer to the fact that those who became Christians in the first century as being recognized as a pledge of more to be converted by the word of truth throughout the future.
III. THIRD, JAMES 1:19-27 TEACHES CHRISTIANS DIFFERENT WAYS THAT WE NEED TO RECEIVE AND REACT TO AND APPLY THE WORD OF GOD.
1. V. 19a tells us we must be “swift to hear” God’s word.
(1) Most people read this verse and think that it is talking about being a good listener when they are in conversation with one another. The bible does teach that “being a good listener” to other people is commanded, but verse 19 is talking about being a “good listener to God”.
(2) The first phrase in verse 19, “so then [wherefore kjv] my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear….” means that in view of the fact that verses 13-18 teach that God does not tempt man to commit sin, but rather that God provides man with the things that are good, man needs to be swift and eager to hear and accept this important truth.
2. The second part of verse 19 teaches that Christians must “be slow to speak” back to God and argue against the truth that God does not tempt us to commit sin.
(1) Christians should never speak against the word of God. When God’s word teaches a truth, Christians must accept it and not speak against it.
(1) Ecclesiastes 5:2 says, “Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thine heart be hasty to utter any thing before God: for God is in heaven, and thou upon earth: therefore let thy words be few."
2) Proverbs 13:3 says, “He who guards his mouth preserves his life, But he who opens wide his lips shall have destruction.”
3. The third part of verse 19 teaches Christians that they are to be “slow to wrath”.
(1) “Slow to wrath” against God because of our trials. We need to be quick to hear that it is not God who tempts us, but our own desires tempt us. In fact, God is the One Who gives us the good gifts. We must not be quick to speak out gainst God, or quick to get angry when bad things happen. Again, our improper desires are the root cause for our trials.
(2) Christians should not get angry at the teachings of God’s word or at God. Of course many verses also teach that Christians should not get mad at other people.
(3) One passage is Ephesians 4:26-27, ““Be angry, and do not sin”: do not let the sun go down on your wrath, 27 nor give place to the devil.”
(4) Look at James 1:20, which is an explanation of why one should always be “slow to wrath”. “for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God.”
1) Wrath is a violent emotion that results in loss of self control and makes one completely incapable of receiving the word of truth. A child of God, under the control of wrath, is sure to say or do things he will later regret.
2) There is a righteous anger such as Jesus had Mark 3:5, which was against that which was sinful. James 1:19&20 are describing selfish anger, anger that exist because of the strong desire to please one’s self.
3) God has given us two ears and one mouth. If we did twice as much listening, and half as much speaking, we would be a lot better off. God doesn’t tempt us. Our trials and temptations come because of our own wrong desires. Thus, we must continually look to the Word and the Will of God.
4. Look now at verse 21 which teaches Christians a fourth way in which they should respond to the word of God. Let’s read verse 21, “Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.”
(1) The first part of this verse teaches Christians to properly repent and turn away from sin: “lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness”. Christians can not bring their baggage of sin with them as they profess to live the Christian life.
(2) The second part of verse 21 teaches to humbly and meekly receive God’s word and allow it to be implanted or engrafted into one’s life to the extent that it will change their life and save their soul.
(3) “Meekness” comes from a Greek word that the Greek horsemen would use in reference to a horse that was easy to control with the nudge of the heels to get him to go faster, the feel of the reins against his neck to get him to turn to the right or to the left and/or the pulling up of the bits to get him to stop.
(4) “Meekness” demonstrated by a Christian is one moving a little faster when God’s word says to. Meekness is further demonstrated by one moving to the right or to the left or stopping when God’s word says to.
(5) When a person responds readily to God’s word, God’s word will save our soul.
5. Look at v. 22, which gives Christians the fifth way in which we must respond to God’s word. “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.”
(1) James is plain spoken and gets right to the heart of the matter.
(2) What James has said in the verses early must be obeyed or we are deceiving ourselves about thinking we have any chance of our souls being saved.
6. Look at verses 23-25 which teaches Christians a sixth response to God’s word. James teaches Christians that they must use God’s word as if were a spiritual mirror.
(1) James explains that we should not, after seeing something in the mirror wrong about our physical appearance, forget and walk away from the mirror and not do anything to correct the problem. Such as neglecting to comb our hair or wash our face!
(2) James teaches that when God’s word teaches us that we need to make spiritual changes that we should do so and not be guilty of being a forgetful hearer.
(3) Let’s read verses 23-25, “23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; 24 for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. 25 But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.”
(4) The saving of our soul and multitudes of other blessings will come when we obey God’s word. Let’s use the spiritual mirror that God has given us and receive all His wonderful blessings!
7. Look at verse 26 at the seventh response that we are taught to have toward God’s word. “If anyone among you thinks he is religious, and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this one’s religion is useless.”
(1) This carries our thinking back up to verse 19 where James warned Christians when he said, “slow to speak”.
(2) In Eccl. 5:1 we read "Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God, and be more ready to hear, than to give the sacrifice of fools: for they consider not that they do evil” (Eccl. 5:1).
(3) Some wise adages have been developed through the years, addressing the problem of the tongue, including the following:
1) “Men have two ears, and but one tongue, thus, they should hear more than they speak.”
2) “The ears are always open, ever ready to receive instruction; but the tongue is surrounded with a double row of teeth, to hedge it in and to keep it within proper bounds.”
3) “We may not be able to tame the tongue, but God gave us a cage to keep it in. All we need to do is keep the door shut.”
7. Look now at verse 27 at the eighth response that Christians should have to God’s word. “Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.”
(1) Pure religion, which pleases God, is Christians being concerned about the needs of others. They seek to help others, especially the fatherless and widows.
(2) James teaches a second thing in this verse. He says, “to put away filthiness and the overflowing of wickedness”. While Christianity emphasizes the things Christians should do, Christians must also refrain from sin (Romans 13:9).
CONCLUSION
1. As we look at the Book of James, we see a book of true wisdom that discusses the practical side of living the Christian life, and that provides a “common-sense” guide to real Christianity.
2. If you need to obey the gospel and become a Christian or if you are a Christian and need to come forward and ask for prayers doesn’t it make good sense that you would come forward as we stand and sing?
