According to Jim
Pt. 1
Introduction
Have you ever met one of those people who just gave really sound advice? You know there are really smart folks in the world that have all kinds of brilliance, degrees, and knowledge, but there is just this ordinary person who has the ability to just cut through the chase and give you insight and information that impacts and changes your life forever.
That is the information that we are going to be going over in the next few weeks. Jim can teach us volumes. His short writings in the New Testament are some of the most down to earth, insightful, and unlived portions of text in the Bible.
So, over the course of the next 5 weeks let’s examine some of these simple, but challenging truths from Jim by tackling one chapter each week.
James 1:1-4
1James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes scattered among the nations: Greetings.
2Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. 4Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.
(You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors. So don't try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way.)
A. According to Jim we must have the correct perspective on the purpose of testing.
Testing isn’t to destroy you! Testing is to strengthen you and promote you in your walk with Christ. Some of you are living mad at God and mad at people and therefore you remain immature and lack much. Jim makes it clear that it is testing that matures us. It grows us up! Quit complaining about the test and pass it already! Quit trying to escape the test too early. If you get out early you flunk and will have to take the test again. Some of you act like God is your enemy because He allows tests to come your way. Perhaps rather than your enemy He is your friend! He is trying to better you! I have told you 2 times already and I will tell you again . . . an unresisted life is a weak and wasted life. Jim says trials, when we allow them to work out their purpose in us, produces patience. Have you ever seen a more impatient generation or society? Perhaps we are so impatient because we have failed to allow trials to shape us and mature us and we try to escape all and any pain.
James 1:5-8
5If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. 6But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. 7That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; 8he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does.
(People who "worry their prayers" are like wind-whipped waves. Don't think you're going to get anything from the Master that way, adrift at sea, keeping all your options open.)
B. According to Jim we should ask God for wisdom!
Jim gets a really novel idea. Ask the God of all wisdom for … wisdom! The Bible declares that we have not because we ask not. I wonder how many of us could use a good old heaping helping of some God wisdom? And yet, most of us will ask advice, opinions, council from everyone (well what do you think, what should I do) except the ultimate source. Wisdom is obtainable, but you have to ask for it and submit to it. We need to understand that there are two kinds of wisdom: Wisdom based on limited knowledge and experience or wisdom based on all knowledge and experience. So why do we place higher value on Aunt So and So and my best friend Fred’s wisdom than on the wisdom of God? Do we lack trust? Do we lack expectation of an answer?
Need advice in business? Here’s an idea . . . Ask God.
Need marriage help? Ask God.
Need parenting insight? Ask God.
Need medical expertise? Ask God.
I am afraid that we turn to God as a last resort rather than our first option. We only turn to Him to validate what we have already heard from others rather than the other way around. Should we seek council from others? Yes, the Word says there is wisdom in a multitude of counselors. However, we should seek God first and His council should trump everyone else’s council. Not vice versa!
C. According to Jim doubt has destructive power.
Jim implores us to approach God with steadfast faith!
1. Doubt is destructive to our prayers. If we doubt when we pray Jim says we won’t get anything.
2. Doubt is destructive to our lives. Doubt causes us to be double minded . . . split headed . . . and the end result is that we become unstable in all of our ways! You have to sell out to one way. You have to sell out to faith. Doubt will undermine your prayers and it will undermine your life! A doubt filled life is a destroyed life. Doubt is deadly. It shakes the very bedrock of your life and makes you unstable in all your ways! Not just your church ways . . . all your ways. What you believe or don’t believe about God impacts your entire life.
James 1:9-11
9The brother in humble circumstances ought to take pride in his high position. 10But the one who is rich should take pride in his low position, because he will pass away like a wild flower. 11For the sun rises with scorching heat and withers the plant; its blossom falls and its beauty is destroyed. In the same way, the rich man will fade away even while he goes about his business.
(Well, that's a picture of the "prosperous life." At the very moment everyone is looking on in admiration, it fades away to nothing.)
d. According to Jim our standards are messed up.
He says that the humble are high and the rich are low. We are so
commercialized and possessed by possessions that we can’t measure correctly.We judge our station in life not by happiness, health, or wholeness, but by the car we drive and clothes we wear. Jim states that in the end the prosperous life is not in what we have, but who we have and who has us! Quit trying to keep up with neighbors you don’t know or even like! Stay humble and content.
James 1:12-15
12Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him.
13When tempted, no one should say, "God is tempting me." For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; 14but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. 15Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.
(The temptation to give in to evil comes from us and only us. We have no one to blame but the leering, seducing flare-up of our own lust. Lust gets pregnant, and has a baby: sin! Sin grows up to adulthood, and becomes a real killer.)
e. According to Jim we have to man up and accept responsibility for our own sin!
Quit blaming God for your sin! There is no one to blame but us! Our lust leads us to sin! You must learn to respect the process of sin! Sin starts small. Sin is a seed. But every seed grows up unless we are diligent to continue uprooting! You need to know and embrace the fact that sin always takes you further than you wanted to go. That is why people always say, “I didn’t mean for this to happen.” Sin always keeps you longer than you want to stay. Why people always end up losing more time, effort and energy to sin than they intended. For the amount of effort and energy they lost on dabbling with sin they could have just lived right, disciplined lives and avoided the loss of time and the pain. Sin always costs you more than you wanted to pay. Sin is a real killer. You have to stop and count the cost before you sin. The price tag of sin always carries interest and it is compound interest. The destruction and price of sin will always be more than you ever thought it would be! God doesn’t make us sin. No one makes us sin . . . but us!
James 1:16-18
16Don't be deceived, my dear brothers. 17Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. (Neither shadow of turning.) 18He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created.
f. According to Jim our employer isn’t God!
According to Jim our family, our friend, our family, our talent, our hard work, our sweat, or our effort isn’t our God.
Those things are channels! So, since they aren’t God we should quit treating them like God. Jim wants us to make sure we are clear on the source of blessings. He makes is absolutely clear that God is the source of blessings! If the gift is good it is God. And according to Jim there is no variation in God.
God doesn’t change. When He is intent on blessing you He will not turn His back on you. You can bank on Him! You can count on His consistency. What He says He will do. What He started He will complete. You may have been let down by a husband, a wife, a family member or a friend, but there has never been and will never be day when you will have the shadow of God’s back turn toward you! His goodness and mercy will follow you all the days of your life. They never take a day off. They never stop for a rest. They are hounding you even now!
James 1:19-21
19My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, 20for man's anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires. 21Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you.
(Lead with your ears, follow up with your tongue, and let anger straggle along in the rear. In simple humility, let our gardener, God, landscape you with the Word, making a salvation-garden of your life.)
g. According to Jim we should have big ears, small mouths, and a slow fuse.
Have you ever had one of those guys in the street booths draw your picture? They always seem to make your head bigger, ears bigger and they exaggerate everything. A caricature is a pictorial representation in which the subject's distinctive features or peculiarities are deliberately exaggerated. As a believer, your caricature should be big ears, small mouth and a slow fuse! Some of us just have big mouths, ears, and fast fuse. Jim is adamant that we must change that. How? He declares that the Word that is planted in you should be reshaping you. Word intake is crucial to having the correct caricature! No Word results in a tendency to speak quickly and sharply!
James 1:22-25
22Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. 23Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror 24and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. 25But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it—he will be blessed in what he does.
H. According to Jim listening to one sermon a week doesn’t get the job done.
Word without action is useless! How short is your memory? If you can hear it this morning, but fail to act on it on Monday what good did it do you? We must put feet on the Word that you hear or it affects no one! Word must be active in every area of your life.
James 1:26-27
26If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless. 27Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.
I. According to Jim your tongue tattles on you!
Go through all the religious contortions, incantations, rituals, and exercises you want, but the moment you open your mouth your tongue shows us exactly who you really are. Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. Whatever is in the well will come up in the bucket.
Your gossip trumps your eloquent prayers.
Your cursing trumps your praise.
Your criticism trumps your sermons
Your slander trumps your song.
According to Jim the thing that gets God’s attention is not our talk. It is our touch and our walk. Your willingness to hang out in the apartments and touch untouchable folks is when you find you are being the church! Talk a good game all you want. Worship in here all you want. Quote chapter and verse all you want, but God doesn’t notice those things if you aren’t loving those who are in need!
Too many Gong Shows and not enough actually putting hands and feet on the Gospel.
And . . . the other thing that gets His attention is when we stay clean. Quit seeing how close you can get to the edge without crossing the line. Quit singing about Him and then living unlike Him! God is attracted to holiness!
