A call for patient endurance in light of the coming judgment.
1. (7-8) Imitate the patient endurance of the farmer.
Therefore be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, waiting patiently for it until it receives the early and latter rain. You also be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand.
a. Therefore be patient, brethren: James brought the issue of the ultimate judgment before us in his remarks about the ungodly rich and their destiny. Now he calls Christians (especially those enduring hardship) to patiently endure until the coming of the Lord.
b. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, waiting patiently: A farmer does not give up when his crop does not come to harvest immediately. He keeps on working even when the crop cannot be seen at all. Even so Christians must work hard and exercise patient endurance even when the harvest day seems far away.
c. Until it receives the early and latter rain: The pictures of the early and latter rain should be taken literally as James intends. He refers to the early rains (coming in late October or early November) which were essential to soften the ground for plowing, and to the latter rains (coming in late April or May) which were essential to the maturing of the crops shortly before harvest. There is no allegorical picture of an “early” and a “latter” outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the church.
i. The Bible does explain that there will be a significant outpouring of the Holy Spirit in these last days (Joel 2:28-29, Acts 2:17-18); but this passage from James doesn’t seem to be relevant to that outpouring.
d. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand: The soon return of Jesus requires that we have established hearts, hearts that are rooted in Jesus and His eternal resolution of all things.
e. For the coming of the Lord is at hand: There is a real sense in which the coming of the Lord was at hand in the days of James as well as our own day today. One might say that since the Ascension of Jesus, history has been brought to the brink of consummation and now runs parallel along side the edge of the brink, with the coming of the Lord . . . at hand.
2. (9) Practicing patient endurance among God’s people.
Do not grumble against one another, brethren, lest you be condemned. Behold, the Judge is standing at the door!
a. Do not grumble against one another: Times of hardship can cause us to be less than loving with our Christian brothers and sisters. James reminds us that we cannot become grumblers and complainers in our hardship - lest we be condemned even in our hardship.
b. Behold, the Judge is standing at the door! Jesus comes as a Judge, not only to judge the world, but also to assess the faithfulness of Christians (2 Corinthians 5:10). In light of this, we cannot allow hardship to make us unloving towards each other.
3. (10-11) Following examples of patient endurance.
My brethren, take the prophets, who spoke in the name of the Lord, as an example of suffering and patience. Indeed we count them blessed who endure. You have heard of the perseverance of Job and seen the end intended by the Lord; that the Lord is very compassionate and merciful.
a. Take the prophets . . . as an example of suffering and patience: James reminds us that the prophets of the Old Testament endured hardship, yet practiced patient endurance. We can take them as examples.
i. Jeremiah stands out as someone who endured mistreatment with patience. He was put in the stocks (Jeremiah 20:2), thrown into prison (Jeremiah 32:2), and lowered into miry dungeon (Jeremiah 28:6), yet he persisted in his ministry.
b. You have heard of the perseverance of Job: We are reminded of Job as an example of patient endurance. His story shows both the necessity of a constant trust through times of calamity, and God’s compassionate and merciful resolution of seasons of hardship.
c. That the Lord is very compassionate and merciful: The compassion and mercy of God may seem far away in times of trial. But examples like Job encourage us to be those who, by our patient endurance, see the goodness of God in the land of the living (Psalm 27:13-14).
4. (12) An exhortation in light of the coming judgment before Jesus.
But above all, my brethren, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or with any other oath. But let your “Yes,” be “Yes,” and your “No,” “No,” lest you fall into judgment.
a. Do not swear: The Jews of James’ time made distinctions between “binding oaths” and “non-binding oaths.” Oaths that did not include the name of God were considered non-binding, and to use such oaths was a way of “crossing your fingers” behind your back when telling a lie. It is these kinds of oaths that James condemns.
i. The Bible does not forbid the swearing of all oaths, only against the swearing of deceptive, unwise, or flippant oaths. On occasion, God Himself swears oaths (Luke 1:73, Hebrews 3:11, Hebrews 6:13).
b. Do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or with any other oath: James again echoes the teaching of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:34-37). The need to swear or make oaths, beyond a simple and clear yes or no betrays the weakness of your word. It demonstrates that there is not enough weight in your own character to confirm your words.
c. Lest you fall into judgment: This lack of character will be exposed at the judgment seat of Christ. This motivates us all the more to prepare for that judgment by our speaking with integrity.
3. (17-18) Elijah as an example of answered prayer.
Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain; and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit.
a. Elijah was a man with a nature like ours: Elijah is a model of earnest prayer that was answered by God. His effectiveness in prayer extended even to the weather! Yet, this shows that Elijah’s heart was in tune with God’s. He prayed for the rain to stop and start only because he sensed it was in the heart of God in His dealings with Israel.
b. Prayed earnestly is literally prayed with prayer. To truly pray, by definition, is to pray earnestly.
c. If Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, then we can be men with the power of prayer like him.
4. (19-20) Helping a sinning brother.
Brethren, if anyone among you wanders from the truth, and someone turns him back, let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save a soul from death and cover a multitude of sins.
a. If anyone among you wanders from the truth: Having introduced the topics of sin and confession, James reminds us of the need to confront those who have wandered from the truth. Wanders from the truth is a good picture. Most people don’t wander deliberately - it just sort of happens. Nonetheless, it still gets them off track and possibly in danger.
b. He who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save a soul from death and cover a multitude of sins: There is a blessing for the one who loves his brother enough to confront him, and who turns him from the error of his way. He has saved that soul from death and covered a multitude of sins.
c. James concludes with this because this is exactly what he has endeavored to do through this challenging letter - to confront those who have wandered from a living faith, endeavoring to save their souls from death, by demanding that they not only hear the word, but do it, because a living faith will have its proof.
Monday, June 30, 2008
James 5: 7-20
James 5;7-20 Read ;1-6 for Review
· In James’s day there was no middle class, you were either very rich or very poor. Because of this kind of a set-up, the lower classes were usually extremely oppressed by the rich class. The rich class had control over the court systems, they could buy off the lawyers & buy off the judges, and thru bribes they had power. They had their own golden rule. He who has the gold rules.
· And because of this, the early church who were mainly slaves & of the low class, were oppressed & persecuted. And James is speaking about the godless rich people who were oppressing the poor. And one of the most beautiful things to see in scripture is that God is on the side of the oppressed, always. God is always rooting for the underdog in most cases, unless the oppression is from that peoples own fault. God is always on the side of those that are downtrodden, in fact one of the beautiful things about Messiah's reign in the Millennium is that the poor will reign and actually have a special place w/ Christ.
· Money is not bad, the love of money...You can use it for evil or good, for yourself or for the Lord or for the devil...But when a person begins to love it to the extent that he's not controlling but it's controlling him or her, then it becomes evil. When a man is under bondage and is ruled by anything, it's sin, he's not free anymore to make choices.
· J Paul Getty, one of the richest men that ever lived, while spending the last few days of his life, a newspaper came out where Getty was quoted as saying," I would give all the money I've ever earned if I could have one happy marriage. Some of us are happily married. We're richer than J Paul Getty ever was.
· Howard Hughes, the last few days of his life, spent the last few years of his life as a recluse, a very sick & miserable man. And so James is speaking to the godless rich, when he says terrible troubles are ahead of you, NKJV says you have heaped up treasure in the last days. As it comes to the very last days, as inflation continues, especially in other parts of the world, money will become valueless. And when people are really hungry, during the tribulation period before the second coming, people will be hungry & their money won't feed them.
· In Revelation it says," a measure of wheat for a penny/actually a quart of wheat for a day's wage, will be the cost during the tribulation. So when it comes down to it, you can't eat gold. Food will become valuable. If you think about it, even if the oil & energy fails us, we can still get by. There are other ways of transportation; people have done it for thousands of years.
· But when it comes to energy for our body being depleted, that's far more serious than just energy for our automobile.
· In; 3-6 James is saying in the end, God will judge the world, & the cries of those who have been defrauded are reaching the ears of God. And God will work, God will intervene. Vengeance is mine says the Lord. Deut. 32; 35.
· There was once a farmer who was an atheist, who was very proud he was an atheist, and he once wrote a newspaper in the town that he lived in and he said," I've been experimenting w/ a certain field of mine this October, he said I've ploughed my field on Sundays. I've planted all the seed on Sundays & didn't go to church while all the other farmers were in church. I plowed/I planted, I fertilized & I reaped my field on Sunday. And in the newspaper it says, what is the result? He said I have more bushels of wheat per acre than any farmer. He's very proud of the fact that he's not keeping God's land laws or Sabbath laws. The editor of the newspaper wrote back and said, God doesn't always settle His accounts in October. God has eternity to settle His accounts.
· And James is reminding his readers here in; 1-6 although they're oppressed, that God is still in eternity & they must face eternity. In these verses he clearly shows us the condition of the world.
· A call for patient endurance in light of the coming judgment.
1. (7-8) Imitate the patient endurance of the farmer.
Therefore be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, waiting patiently for it until it receives the early and latter rain. You also be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand.
a. Therefore is patient, brethren: James brought the issue of the ultimate judgment before us in his remarks about the ungodly rich and their destiny. Now he calls Christians (especially those enduring hardship) to patiently endure until the coming of the Lord.
b. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, waiting patiently: A farmer does not give up when his crop does not come to harvest immediately. He keeps on working even when the crop cannot be seen at all. Even so Christians must work hard and exercise patient endurance even when the harvest day seems far away.
c. Until it receives the early and latter rain: The pictures of the early and latter rain should be taken literally as James intends. He refers to the early rains (coming in late October or early November), which were essential to soften the ground for plowing, and to the latter rains (coming in late April or May) which were essential to the maturing of the crops shortly before harvest. There is no allegorical picture of an “early” and a “latter” outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the church.
i. The Bible does explain that there will be a significant outpouring of the Holy Spirit in these last days (Joel 2:28-29, Acts 2:17-18); but this passage from James doesn’t seem to be relevant to that outpouring.
d. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand: The soon return of Jesus requires that we have established hearts, hearts that are rooted in Jesus and His eternal resolution of all things.
e. For the coming of the Lord is at hand: There is a real sense in which the coming of the Lord was at hand in the days of James as well as our own day today. One might say that since the Ascension of Jesus, history has been brought to the brink of consummation and now runs parallel along side the edge of the brink, with the coming of the Lord . . . at hand.
2. (9) Practicing patient endurance among God’s people.
Do not grumble against one another, brethren, lest you be condemned. Behold, the Judge is standing at the door!
a. Do not grumble against one another: Times of hardship can cause us to be less than loving with our Christian brothers and sisters. James reminds us that we cannot become grumblers and complainers in our hardship - lest we be condemned even in our hardship.
b. Behold, the Judge is standing at the door! Jesus comes as a Judge, not only to judge the world, but also to assess the faithfulness of Christians (2 Corinthians 5:10). In light of this, we cannot allow hardship to make us unloving towards each other.
3. (10-11) Following examples of patient endurance.
My brethren, take the prophets, who spoke in the name of the Lord, as an example of suffering and patience. Indeed we count them blessed who endure. You have heard of the perseverance of Job and seen the end intended by the Lord; that the Lord is very compassionate and merciful.
a. Take the prophets . . . as an example of suffering and patience: James reminds us that the prophets of the Old Testament endured hardship, yet practiced patient endurance. We can take them as examples.
i. Jeremiah stands out as someone who endured mistreatment with patience. He was put in the stocks (Jeremiah 20:2), thrown into prison (Jeremiah 32:2), and lowered into miry dungeon (Jeremiah 28:6), yet he persisted in his ministry.
b. You have heard of the perseverance of Job: We are reminded of Job as an example of patient endurance. His story shows both the necessity of a constant trust through times of calamity, and God’s compassionate and merciful resolution of seasons of hardship.
c. That the Lord is very compassionate and merciful: The compassion and mercy of God may seem far away in times of trial. But examples like Job encourage us to be those who, by our patient endurance, see the goodness of God in the land of the living (Psalm 27:13-14).
4. (12) An exhortation in light of the coming judgment before Jesus.
But above all, my brethren, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or with any other oath. But let your “Yes,” be “Yes,” and your “No,” “No,” lest you fall into judgment.
a. Do not swear: The Jews of James’ time made distinctions between “binding oaths” and “non-binding oaths.” Oaths that did not include the name of God were considered non-binding, and to use such oaths was a way of “crossing your fingers” behind your back when telling a lie. It is these kinds of oaths that James condemns.
i. The Bible does not forbid the swearing of all oaths, only against the swearing of deceptive, unwise, or flippant oaths. On occasion, God Himself swears oaths (Luke 1:73, Hebrews 3:11, Hebrews 6:13).
b. Do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or with any other oath: James again echoes the teaching of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:34-37). The need to swear or make oaths, beyond a simple and clear yes or no betrays the weakness of your word. It demonstrates that there is not enough weight in your own character to confirm your words.
c. Lest you fall into judgment: This lack of character will be exposed at the judgment seat of Christ. This motivates us all the more to prepare for that judgment by our speaking with integrity.
· As we get to; 13 to the end of the chapter, a lot of it deals w/ the issue of healing & it's one of the most interesting passages in the NT on healing.
· ; 13 Suffering=speaks of emotional duress more than anything, not talking about physical illness, we'll come to that. Are you smitten w/ something that's eating @ you, driving you out of your mind, it's bothering you; you find your life falling apart over it, it says simply let him pray.
· God's prescription is prayer. I don't find anywhere in the NT, " if you're hassled & afflicted go tell everybody else about it". Some people love to go from person to person...And there is a point where we share our burdens w/ one another. But the interesting thing is, as you look @ the answer, in light of the scripture, when you're afflicted, it's to go to the Lord. He's the only one who can straighten it out anyway.
· The scripture really indicates that if we're really going through those deep waters in our hearts & in our minds & we're troubled, that Jesus is the answer. And I've discovered that human beings are so complicated, who could ever understand them anyway? I’ve lived inside of me for 41 years, & I don't understand me yet. So how am I ever going to understand you?
· People go through emotional situations that affect their health, that affect them in remarkable ways, we're very complicated & integrated, & I don't understand all the problems & all the dynamics of a human being but, I understand the answer.
· Jesus Christ is not just a force, He's a shepherd, and a Father, and He's a groom, & He's a living Saviour.
· And He calls us that are afflicted into fellowship w/ Him, but it is by His power, & His Spirit, that we're delivered & are given peace.
· So is anyone suffering, James says let them pray. Then it goes on & it says are any of you cheerful? If you're cheerful, sing. Don't waste it just skipping down the street, if you're having a great day, remember to praise God too. I find in my own life, when things are falling apart, when things are desperate, I pray desperate prayers. Desperate men do desperate things. I find when everything's falling apart around me, I'm praying; oh God, oh God, oh God...And then when things are going great, usually I'm thinking, "I know the Lakers can do it". So my mind is somewhere else. I'm not at that time going; oh God oh God...
· And that's what it says; hey if you're going through a valley, seek God. It says if you're on a mountaintop, then sing to God. Remember that He's the one that created that circumstance too. And lift your hearts to Him. And some indicate that the phrase here, "to sing psalms", is to literally pluck on strings. In case you know anyone who says that instruments are not to be used in church, there is an indication here of that.
· ; 14 is interesting now, I'll read down to ;16 & we'll back up & look @ this. Now James moves on to those that are sick in the body of Christ & their responsibility to call for the elders to be prayed for. As we look @ this, we need to determine several things. Who are the sick in the church?
· And it uses a word there that is used by the man who was lying by the pool of Bethsaida, who was unable to move himself down to the waters when the angel troubled the waters. It's the word that is used of Lazarus when it says he was sick unto death. It's the word that's used of Dorcas in the book of Acts when it says she was sick unto death. The word means to be laid down & unable to get up & it actually indicates, some feel, to be in a position where no-one else can help. To indicated someone who's already gone to the doctor & they've said there's nothing we can do. It's not everybody w/ the flu calling for the elders of the church to come to their house.
· It's talking about a situation where it's really fallen to the church where it seems that life is falling away & the medical community says there's no hope that things have obviously fallen into the hands of the Lord. And it says in those circumstances, call for the elders, and the word call their means to call to one's self. I'm mentioning that because as we look @ this, it seems to be a private circumstance, it seems to be the elders plural, are called to the home of this individual there to pray for them as they're requested to come.
· This is not a verse that validates some of the sideshow shenanigans that we see in the name of Jesus, that are called healing on television, where on guy is @ the center of it, & claims to have this power that he can wield whoever he wants to, and he's knocking people down, and if you don't have enough faith, I felt it bounce off of you & come back onto me. We here all of this nonsense. This says that when someone is to that point in their health, that they then should request the elders to where they are, "to call to themselves=KJV", and that the elders plural, it indicates that this person is a part of this body of believers, or has been a part of this body of believers, the elders then should attend them, should come to them to pray for this person who is literally without strength, "and let them pray", the emphasis through here, is on the prayer of the elders & not of the prayer of the sick person.
· A lot of these sideshow hucksters that are on television, that's how they get around people who don't get healed, is they claim the person didn't have enough faith. Well the bible talks about the prayer of the elders, it puts the emphasis here,” let them pray for the person".
· It seems to me that is there's a problem in prayer, and I don't believe there is, it's not on the sick person's part, it's on the elders part.
· "Anointing them will oil" is interesting, it's not the phrased that's used for anointing a king or anointing a prophet. It's literally rubbing them w/oil or oiling them w/ oil. The only time we find it used in regards to praying for the sick is in Mark 6;13 where Jesus is sending out the 12 to 70 and then in one place it does say praying for the sick anointing them w/ oil.
· But it's used of the woman who was a harlot, who came to the house of Simon & began to weep @ the feet of Jesus & it says she anointed His feet w/ oil & wiped His feet w/ her hair & tears, that's the word anointing there. It's used of Mary, when there's a memorial made for her, the sister of Martha, how she took her bottle of Spikenard & broke it & anointed Him for His burial. It's used of the body of Jesus on resurrection morning; remember the women came back w/ spices to anoint Him. In that day they would rub the body w/ fragrant oil to prepare it for the burial. Spiro Zhodiates has a very thick commentary on the book of James, & he's left saying that in that culture, that it was the responsibilities of the elders of the church to come to the person's house & actually rub them down, it was a medicinal thing w/ oil.
· Remember as Jesus talked about the good Samaritan it said the innkeeper took & bound up his wounds w/ oil & w/ wine, he says that actually the elders early in the church would go & actually rub the person down w/ oil to sooth them in their affliction, when they come to the point where they're without strength, & then to pray for them, to care for them. There was no Hospice programs back then, that it fell to the elders of the church.
· Now I don't believe that this is laid out for us in a medicinal way, I really believe it's laid out for us in a symbolic way. Because then it talks about anointing them in the name of the Lord & the prayer of faith & the Lord raising them up & I do believe, when people come & want to be anointed, we will do that. It isn't the oil that straightens them out, & it isn't the prayer, it says,” the Lord will raise him up. There is no trick in the prayer itself. There is no emphasis in saying...It's the Lord.
· It was the Lord in the book of Acts, the Lord in the gospels, & if somebody get's healed today, it is the Lord. It's not the nut on TV. If you study the scriptures, you shall know the truth & the truth shall set you free. It does say the elders should go then anoint w/ oil, symbolically, and the prayer of faith, there are about four different words in Greek used for prayer in the NT, this word in ;15 means to wish. It doesn't mean to come & to offer supplication or intercession, it just means to wish & it gives us the indication that it's a submissive prayer.
· We've come to the home of this individual & death's door, he no longer has any strength, in a symbolic fashion we'll anoint him w/ oil, & then seek the Lord, and say Lord we just wish, Lord Jesus please & raise this person up & put the ball in Jesus' court. Because there lies the power & the wisdom of God to minister.
· "The prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up, and if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven them." And the tense here is if he has been continually committing sin, the idea is this, and I think we have to watch it & be careful. All sickness is ultimately a result of sin. When Adam & Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden creation fell. And all sickness in the world today is a result of that sin, not necessarily as a result of the individual's sin.
· And so often we hear what is so wrong, particularly in the Word of Faith movement, when someone is ill, they'll blame that person for a lack of faith or sin in their life & that's why they're ill & that's ridiculous. We live in a world that's plagued w/ all kinds of illnesses. There are people that say about Joni Erickson, sure God is using her, but if she had enough faith, she'd get out of that wheelchair. It breaks your heart because how many of God's children that are ill for one thing or another, have been put under condemnation/needless heartache because some foolish individual has misrepresented God & told them there must be sin or unbelief in their lives.
· There was a little girl who died of cancer and her elders told her it was because of sin in her life & she died w/ that thought in her mind, a believer who loved the Lord.
· But it does seem that there are times when a believer in rebellion continually lives in sin, habitually takes up a course of rebellion & sin, that God may use illness to judge him. 1 Cor. 11 talks about those who come to the communion table who eat & drink unworthily, not discerning the body of Christ drinking damnation unto themselves. The problem in Corinth is they were suing one another, not discerning the body of Christ, getting drunk, and eating all the food before the poorer brethren got there, it was complete selfishness. And it says some became sick and fell asleep/died as the result of their sin.
· There are times when God will do that. And if you’re worried about it it hasn't happened to you. To say that all sickness is the result of sin is wrong. Here it indicates if that person had been continually sinning, those sins will be forgiven. So...
· ;17 So if that is the problem, we're to confess our faults to one another, by the way, this doesn't mean that married women are to be confessing their faults to someone else's husband...There are certain parts of the church that emphasize "the body ministry" & being open...You can't improve the unity in the body of Christ because the bible tells us that there's neither Jew nor Greek, neither bond-slave, neither male nor female. You're not going to improve on that.
· We are one in the Spirit & God will link us together w/ people in the body that we're to have friendships w/. You can't have friendships w/ everybody in the body of Christ. And if you're sensitive, God will give you meaningful relationships & I encourage you, as you build those relationships, build relationships w/ those that are godly, not
Prayer for the Nation (James 5:17–18)
· James cited Elijah as an example of a “righteous man” whose prayers released power. “The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective” (James 5:16, NIV).
The background of this incident is found in 1 Kings 17–18. Wicked King Ahab and Jezebel, his queen, had led Israel away from the Lord and into the worship of Baal. God punished the nation by holding back the rain that they needed (see Deut. 28:12, 23). For three and one half years, the heavens were as brass and the earth unable to produce the crops so necessary for life.
Then Elijah challenged the priests of Baal on Mt. Carmel. All day long the priests cried out to their god, but no answer came. At the time of the evening sacrifice, Elijah repaired the altar and prepared the sacrifice. He prayed but once, and fire came from heaven to consume the sacrifice. He had proven that Jehovah was the true God.
· But the nation still needed rain. Elijah went to the top of Carmel and fell down before the Lord in prayer. He prayed and sent his servant seven times to see if there was evidence of rain; and the seventh time his servant saw a little cloud. Before long, there was a great rain, and the nation was saved.
Do we need “showers of blessing” today? We certainly do!
· “But Elijah was a special prophet of God,” we might argue. “We can expect God to answer his prayers in a wonderful way.”
“Elijah was a man just like us,” stated James (5:17, NIV). He was not perfect; in fact, right after his victory on Mt. Carmel, Elijah became afraid and discouraged and ran away. But he was a “righteous man,” that is, obedient to the Lord and trusting Him. God’s promises of answered prayer are for all His children, not just for ones we may call the spiritual elite.
· Elijah prayed in faith, for God told him He would send the rain (1 Kings 18:1). “Prayer,” said Robert Law, “is not getting man’s will done in heaven. It’s getting God’s will done on earth.” You cannot separate the Word of God and prayer, for in His Word He gives us the promises that we claim when we pray.
Elijah did not only believe in his praying, but he was persistent. “He prayed... and he prayed again” (James 5:17–18). On Mt. Carmel, Elijah continued to pray for rain until his servant reported “a cloud the size of a man’s hand.” Too many times we fail to get what God promises because we stop praying. It is true that we are not heard “for our much praying” (Matt. 6:7); but there is a difference between vain repetitions and true believing persistence in prayer. Our Lord prayed three times in the Garden, and Paul prayed three times that his thorn in the flesh might be taken from him.
Elijah was determined and concerned in his praying. “He prayed earnestly” (James 5:17, NIV). The literal Greek reads “and he prayed in prayer.” Many people do not pray in their prayers. They just lazily say religious words, and their hearts are not in their prayers.
A church member was “praying around the world” in a prayer meeting, and one of the men present was growing tired of the speech. Finally the man cried out, “Ask Him something!” That is what prayer is all about: “Ask Him something!”
Prayer power is the greatest power in the world today. “Tremendous power is made available through a good man’s earnest prayer” (James 5:16, PH). History shows how mankind has progressed from manpower to horsepower, and then to dynamite and TNT, and now to atomic power.
But greater than atomic power is prayer power. Elijah prayed for his nation, and God answered prayer. We need to pray for our nation today, that God will bring conviction and revival, and that “showers of blessing” will come to the land. One of the first responsibilities of the local church is to pray for government leaders (1 Tim. 2:1–3).
· Prayer for the Straying (James 5:19–20)
While James did not specifically name prayer in these verses, the implication is there. If we pray for the afflicted and the sick, surely we must pray for the brother who wanders from the truth.
These verses deal with our ministry to a fellow believer who strays from the truth and gets into sin. The verb err means “to wander,” and suggests a gradual moving away from the will of God. The Old Testament term for this is “backsliding.” Sad to say, we see this tragedy occurring in our churches regularly. Sometimes a brother is “overtaken in a fault” (Gal. 6:1); but usually the sin is the result of slow, gradual spiritual decline.
Such a condition is, of course, very dangerous. It is dangerous to the offender because he may be disciplined by the Lord (Heb. 12). He also faces the danger of committing “sin unto death” (1 John 5:16–17). God disciplined the sinning members of the Corinthian church, even to the point of taking some of them to heaven (1 Cor. 11:30).
But this backsliding is also dangerous to the church. A wandering offender can influence others and lead them astray. “One sinner destroys much good” (Ecc. 9:18, NASB). This is why the spiritual members of the church must step in and help the man who has wandered away.
The origin of this problem is found in the statement “wander from the truth” (James 5:19). The truth means, of course, the Word of God. “Thy Word is truth” (John 17:17). Unless the believer stays close to the truth, he will start to drift away. “For this reason we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it” (Heb. 2:1, NASB). Jesus warned Peter that Satan was at hand to tempt him, and Peter refused to believe the Word. He even argued with the Lord! When he should have been praying, Peter was sleeping. No wonder he denied three times.
The outcome of this wandering is “sin” and possible “death” (James 5:20). The sinner here is a believer, not an unbeliever; and sin in the life of a Christian is worse than sin in the life of an unbeliever. We expect unsaved people to sin, but God expects His children to obey His Word.
What are we to do when we see a fellow believer wandering from the truth? We should pray for him, to be sure; but we must also seek to help him. He needs to be “converted”—turned back into the right path again. Do believers need to be converted? Yes, they do! Jesus said to Peter, “When thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren” (Luke 22:32).
It is important that we seek to win the lost, but it is also important to win the saved. If a brother has sinned against us, we should talk to him privately and seek to settle the matter. If he listens, then we have gained our brother (Matt. 18:15). That word gained means “won.” It is the same word translated “get gain” in James 4:13. It is important to win the saved as well as the lost.
If we are going to help an erring brother, we must have an attitude of love, for “love shall cover the multitude of sins” (1 Peter 4:8). Both James and Peter learned this principle from Proverbs 10:12—“Hate stirreth up strife: but love covereth all sins.”
This does not mean that love “sweeps the dirt under the carpet.” Where there is love, there must also be truth (“speaking the truth in love” says Paul in Eph. 4:15); and where there is truth, there is honest confession of sin and cleansing from God. Love not only helps the offender to face his sins and deal with them, but love also assures the offender that those sins, once forgiven, are remembered no more.
While the basic interpretation of these verses is as I have explained, the application can be made to the lost sinner. After all, if a straying brother needs to be restored, how much more does a lost sinner need to be brought to the Savior? If the wandering believer loses his life, he at least goes to heaven; but the lost sinner is condemned to an eternal hell.
“Seeking the lost” is a common Bible picture of soul winning. In Luke 15, Jesus pictures the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost son, all of whom needed to be found and brought back to where they belonged. Our Lord also compared winning souls to catching fish (Mark 1:17). Peter caught one fish individually with his hook (Matt. 17:24–27), but he also worked with his helpers and used the nets to catch many fish at one time. There is a place for both personal and collective evangelism.
Proverbs 11:30 compares evangelism to hunting: “He that catcheth souls is wise” (literal translation). Sin is out to catch and kill (James 1:13–15), but we ought to be out to catch and make alive.
The soul winner is also an ambassador of peace (2 Cor. 5:20). God has not declared war on this world; He has declared peace! One day He will declare war, and judgment will fall.
Both Zechariah 3:2 and Jude 23 picture the soul winner as a fireman, pulling brands out of the burning. John Wesley applied Zechariah 3:2 to himself, for when he was but a child, he was pulled from a burning house when it looked as though it was too late. Sometimes we must take risks of love to snatch people from the fires of judgment.
· Jesus compared evangelism to sowing and reaping (John 4:34–38) and Paul used the same illustration (1 Cor. 3:6–9). There are seasons of sowing and seasons of reaping; and many people are needed for the work. We are “laborers together with God” (1 Cor. 3:9). Both the sower and the reaper will receive their rewards, for there is no competition in the Lord’s fields.
· In James’s day there was no middle class, you were either very rich or very poor. Because of this kind of a set-up, the lower classes were usually extremely oppressed by the rich class. The rich class had control over the court systems, they could buy off the lawyers & buy off the judges, and thru bribes they had power. They had their own golden rule. He who has the gold rules.
· And because of this, the early church who were mainly slaves & of the low class, were oppressed & persecuted. And James is speaking about the godless rich people who were oppressing the poor. And one of the most beautiful things to see in scripture is that God is on the side of the oppressed, always. God is always rooting for the underdog in most cases, unless the oppression is from that peoples own fault. God is always on the side of those that are downtrodden, in fact one of the beautiful things about Messiah's reign in the Millennium is that the poor will reign and actually have a special place w/ Christ.
· Money is not bad, the love of money...You can use it for evil or good, for yourself or for the Lord or for the devil...But when a person begins to love it to the extent that he's not controlling but it's controlling him or her, then it becomes evil. When a man is under bondage and is ruled by anything, it's sin, he's not free anymore to make choices.
· J Paul Getty, one of the richest men that ever lived, while spending the last few days of his life, a newspaper came out where Getty was quoted as saying," I would give all the money I've ever earned if I could have one happy marriage. Some of us are happily married. We're richer than J Paul Getty ever was.
· Howard Hughes, the last few days of his life, spent the last few years of his life as a recluse, a very sick & miserable man. And so James is speaking to the godless rich, when he says terrible troubles are ahead of you, NKJV says you have heaped up treasure in the last days. As it comes to the very last days, as inflation continues, especially in other parts of the world, money will become valueless. And when people are really hungry, during the tribulation period before the second coming, people will be hungry & their money won't feed them.
· In Revelation it says," a measure of wheat for a penny/actually a quart of wheat for a day's wage, will be the cost during the tribulation. So when it comes down to it, you can't eat gold. Food will become valuable. If you think about it, even if the oil & energy fails us, we can still get by. There are other ways of transportation; people have done it for thousands of years.
· But when it comes to energy for our body being depleted, that's far more serious than just energy for our automobile.
· In; 3-6 James is saying in the end, God will judge the world, & the cries of those who have been defrauded are reaching the ears of God. And God will work, God will intervene. Vengeance is mine says the Lord. Deut. 32; 35.
· There was once a farmer who was an atheist, who was very proud he was an atheist, and he once wrote a newspaper in the town that he lived in and he said," I've been experimenting w/ a certain field of mine this October, he said I've ploughed my field on Sundays. I've planted all the seed on Sundays & didn't go to church while all the other farmers were in church. I plowed/I planted, I fertilized & I reaped my field on Sunday. And in the newspaper it says, what is the result? He said I have more bushels of wheat per acre than any farmer. He's very proud of the fact that he's not keeping God's land laws or Sabbath laws. The editor of the newspaper wrote back and said, God doesn't always settle His accounts in October. God has eternity to settle His accounts.
· And James is reminding his readers here in; 1-6 although they're oppressed, that God is still in eternity & they must face eternity. In these verses he clearly shows us the condition of the world.
· A call for patient endurance in light of the coming judgment.
1. (7-8) Imitate the patient endurance of the farmer.
Therefore be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, waiting patiently for it until it receives the early and latter rain. You also be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand.
a. Therefore is patient, brethren: James brought the issue of the ultimate judgment before us in his remarks about the ungodly rich and their destiny. Now he calls Christians (especially those enduring hardship) to patiently endure until the coming of the Lord.
b. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, waiting patiently: A farmer does not give up when his crop does not come to harvest immediately. He keeps on working even when the crop cannot be seen at all. Even so Christians must work hard and exercise patient endurance even when the harvest day seems far away.
c. Until it receives the early and latter rain: The pictures of the early and latter rain should be taken literally as James intends. He refers to the early rains (coming in late October or early November), which were essential to soften the ground for plowing, and to the latter rains (coming in late April or May) which were essential to the maturing of the crops shortly before harvest. There is no allegorical picture of an “early” and a “latter” outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the church.
i. The Bible does explain that there will be a significant outpouring of the Holy Spirit in these last days (Joel 2:28-29, Acts 2:17-18); but this passage from James doesn’t seem to be relevant to that outpouring.
d. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand: The soon return of Jesus requires that we have established hearts, hearts that are rooted in Jesus and His eternal resolution of all things.
e. For the coming of the Lord is at hand: There is a real sense in which the coming of the Lord was at hand in the days of James as well as our own day today. One might say that since the Ascension of Jesus, history has been brought to the brink of consummation and now runs parallel along side the edge of the brink, with the coming of the Lord . . . at hand.
2. (9) Practicing patient endurance among God’s people.
Do not grumble against one another, brethren, lest you be condemned. Behold, the Judge is standing at the door!
a. Do not grumble against one another: Times of hardship can cause us to be less than loving with our Christian brothers and sisters. James reminds us that we cannot become grumblers and complainers in our hardship - lest we be condemned even in our hardship.
b. Behold, the Judge is standing at the door! Jesus comes as a Judge, not only to judge the world, but also to assess the faithfulness of Christians (2 Corinthians 5:10). In light of this, we cannot allow hardship to make us unloving towards each other.
3. (10-11) Following examples of patient endurance.
My brethren, take the prophets, who spoke in the name of the Lord, as an example of suffering and patience. Indeed we count them blessed who endure. You have heard of the perseverance of Job and seen the end intended by the Lord; that the Lord is very compassionate and merciful.
a. Take the prophets . . . as an example of suffering and patience: James reminds us that the prophets of the Old Testament endured hardship, yet practiced patient endurance. We can take them as examples.
i. Jeremiah stands out as someone who endured mistreatment with patience. He was put in the stocks (Jeremiah 20:2), thrown into prison (Jeremiah 32:2), and lowered into miry dungeon (Jeremiah 28:6), yet he persisted in his ministry.
b. You have heard of the perseverance of Job: We are reminded of Job as an example of patient endurance. His story shows both the necessity of a constant trust through times of calamity, and God’s compassionate and merciful resolution of seasons of hardship.
c. That the Lord is very compassionate and merciful: The compassion and mercy of God may seem far away in times of trial. But examples like Job encourage us to be those who, by our patient endurance, see the goodness of God in the land of the living (Psalm 27:13-14).
4. (12) An exhortation in light of the coming judgment before Jesus.
But above all, my brethren, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or with any other oath. But let your “Yes,” be “Yes,” and your “No,” “No,” lest you fall into judgment.
a. Do not swear: The Jews of James’ time made distinctions between “binding oaths” and “non-binding oaths.” Oaths that did not include the name of God were considered non-binding, and to use such oaths was a way of “crossing your fingers” behind your back when telling a lie. It is these kinds of oaths that James condemns.
i. The Bible does not forbid the swearing of all oaths, only against the swearing of deceptive, unwise, or flippant oaths. On occasion, God Himself swears oaths (Luke 1:73, Hebrews 3:11, Hebrews 6:13).
b. Do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or with any other oath: James again echoes the teaching of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:34-37). The need to swear or make oaths, beyond a simple and clear yes or no betrays the weakness of your word. It demonstrates that there is not enough weight in your own character to confirm your words.
c. Lest you fall into judgment: This lack of character will be exposed at the judgment seat of Christ. This motivates us all the more to prepare for that judgment by our speaking with integrity.
· As we get to; 13 to the end of the chapter, a lot of it deals w/ the issue of healing & it's one of the most interesting passages in the NT on healing.
· ; 13 Suffering=speaks of emotional duress more than anything, not talking about physical illness, we'll come to that. Are you smitten w/ something that's eating @ you, driving you out of your mind, it's bothering you; you find your life falling apart over it, it says simply let him pray.
· God's prescription is prayer. I don't find anywhere in the NT, " if you're hassled & afflicted go tell everybody else about it". Some people love to go from person to person...And there is a point where we share our burdens w/ one another. But the interesting thing is, as you look @ the answer, in light of the scripture, when you're afflicted, it's to go to the Lord. He's the only one who can straighten it out anyway.
· The scripture really indicates that if we're really going through those deep waters in our hearts & in our minds & we're troubled, that Jesus is the answer. And I've discovered that human beings are so complicated, who could ever understand them anyway? I’ve lived inside of me for 41 years, & I don't understand me yet. So how am I ever going to understand you?
· People go through emotional situations that affect their health, that affect them in remarkable ways, we're very complicated & integrated, & I don't understand all the problems & all the dynamics of a human being but, I understand the answer.
· Jesus Christ is not just a force, He's a shepherd, and a Father, and He's a groom, & He's a living Saviour.
· And He calls us that are afflicted into fellowship w/ Him, but it is by His power, & His Spirit, that we're delivered & are given peace.
· So is anyone suffering, James says let them pray. Then it goes on & it says are any of you cheerful? If you're cheerful, sing. Don't waste it just skipping down the street, if you're having a great day, remember to praise God too. I find in my own life, when things are falling apart, when things are desperate, I pray desperate prayers. Desperate men do desperate things. I find when everything's falling apart around me, I'm praying; oh God, oh God, oh God...And then when things are going great, usually I'm thinking, "I know the Lakers can do it". So my mind is somewhere else. I'm not at that time going; oh God oh God...
· And that's what it says; hey if you're going through a valley, seek God. It says if you're on a mountaintop, then sing to God. Remember that He's the one that created that circumstance too. And lift your hearts to Him. And some indicate that the phrase here, "to sing psalms", is to literally pluck on strings. In case you know anyone who says that instruments are not to be used in church, there is an indication here of that.
· ; 14 is interesting now, I'll read down to ;16 & we'll back up & look @ this. Now James moves on to those that are sick in the body of Christ & their responsibility to call for the elders to be prayed for. As we look @ this, we need to determine several things. Who are the sick in the church?
· And it uses a word there that is used by the man who was lying by the pool of Bethsaida, who was unable to move himself down to the waters when the angel troubled the waters. It's the word that is used of Lazarus when it says he was sick unto death. It's the word that's used of Dorcas in the book of Acts when it says she was sick unto death. The word means to be laid down & unable to get up & it actually indicates, some feel, to be in a position where no-one else can help. To indicated someone who's already gone to the doctor & they've said there's nothing we can do. It's not everybody w/ the flu calling for the elders of the church to come to their house.
· It's talking about a situation where it's really fallen to the church where it seems that life is falling away & the medical community says there's no hope that things have obviously fallen into the hands of the Lord. And it says in those circumstances, call for the elders, and the word call their means to call to one's self. I'm mentioning that because as we look @ this, it seems to be a private circumstance, it seems to be the elders plural, are called to the home of this individual there to pray for them as they're requested to come.
· This is not a verse that validates some of the sideshow shenanigans that we see in the name of Jesus, that are called healing on television, where on guy is @ the center of it, & claims to have this power that he can wield whoever he wants to, and he's knocking people down, and if you don't have enough faith, I felt it bounce off of you & come back onto me. We here all of this nonsense. This says that when someone is to that point in their health, that they then should request the elders to where they are, "to call to themselves=KJV", and that the elders plural, it indicates that this person is a part of this body of believers, or has been a part of this body of believers, the elders then should attend them, should come to them to pray for this person who is literally without strength, "and let them pray", the emphasis through here, is on the prayer of the elders & not of the prayer of the sick person.
· A lot of these sideshow hucksters that are on television, that's how they get around people who don't get healed, is they claim the person didn't have enough faith. Well the bible talks about the prayer of the elders, it puts the emphasis here,” let them pray for the person".
· It seems to me that is there's a problem in prayer, and I don't believe there is, it's not on the sick person's part, it's on the elders part.
· "Anointing them will oil" is interesting, it's not the phrased that's used for anointing a king or anointing a prophet. It's literally rubbing them w/oil or oiling them w/ oil. The only time we find it used in regards to praying for the sick is in Mark 6;13 where Jesus is sending out the 12 to 70 and then in one place it does say praying for the sick anointing them w/ oil.
· But it's used of the woman who was a harlot, who came to the house of Simon & began to weep @ the feet of Jesus & it says she anointed His feet w/ oil & wiped His feet w/ her hair & tears, that's the word anointing there. It's used of Mary, when there's a memorial made for her, the sister of Martha, how she took her bottle of Spikenard & broke it & anointed Him for His burial. It's used of the body of Jesus on resurrection morning; remember the women came back w/ spices to anoint Him. In that day they would rub the body w/ fragrant oil to prepare it for the burial. Spiro Zhodiates has a very thick commentary on the book of James, & he's left saying that in that culture, that it was the responsibilities of the elders of the church to come to the person's house & actually rub them down, it was a medicinal thing w/ oil.
· Remember as Jesus talked about the good Samaritan it said the innkeeper took & bound up his wounds w/ oil & w/ wine, he says that actually the elders early in the church would go & actually rub the person down w/ oil to sooth them in their affliction, when they come to the point where they're without strength, & then to pray for them, to care for them. There was no Hospice programs back then, that it fell to the elders of the church.
· Now I don't believe that this is laid out for us in a medicinal way, I really believe it's laid out for us in a symbolic way. Because then it talks about anointing them in the name of the Lord & the prayer of faith & the Lord raising them up & I do believe, when people come & want to be anointed, we will do that. It isn't the oil that straightens them out, & it isn't the prayer, it says,” the Lord will raise him up. There is no trick in the prayer itself. There is no emphasis in saying...It's the Lord.
· It was the Lord in the book of Acts, the Lord in the gospels, & if somebody get's healed today, it is the Lord. It's not the nut on TV. If you study the scriptures, you shall know the truth & the truth shall set you free. It does say the elders should go then anoint w/ oil, symbolically, and the prayer of faith, there are about four different words in Greek used for prayer in the NT, this word in ;15 means to wish. It doesn't mean to come & to offer supplication or intercession, it just means to wish & it gives us the indication that it's a submissive prayer.
· We've come to the home of this individual & death's door, he no longer has any strength, in a symbolic fashion we'll anoint him w/ oil, & then seek the Lord, and say Lord we just wish, Lord Jesus please & raise this person up & put the ball in Jesus' court. Because there lies the power & the wisdom of God to minister.
· "The prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up, and if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven them." And the tense here is if he has been continually committing sin, the idea is this, and I think we have to watch it & be careful. All sickness is ultimately a result of sin. When Adam & Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden creation fell. And all sickness in the world today is a result of that sin, not necessarily as a result of the individual's sin.
· And so often we hear what is so wrong, particularly in the Word of Faith movement, when someone is ill, they'll blame that person for a lack of faith or sin in their life & that's why they're ill & that's ridiculous. We live in a world that's plagued w/ all kinds of illnesses. There are people that say about Joni Erickson, sure God is using her, but if she had enough faith, she'd get out of that wheelchair. It breaks your heart because how many of God's children that are ill for one thing or another, have been put under condemnation/needless heartache because some foolish individual has misrepresented God & told them there must be sin or unbelief in their lives.
· There was a little girl who died of cancer and her elders told her it was because of sin in her life & she died w/ that thought in her mind, a believer who loved the Lord.
· But it does seem that there are times when a believer in rebellion continually lives in sin, habitually takes up a course of rebellion & sin, that God may use illness to judge him. 1 Cor. 11 talks about those who come to the communion table who eat & drink unworthily, not discerning the body of Christ drinking damnation unto themselves. The problem in Corinth is they were suing one another, not discerning the body of Christ, getting drunk, and eating all the food before the poorer brethren got there, it was complete selfishness. And it says some became sick and fell asleep/died as the result of their sin.
· There are times when God will do that. And if you’re worried about it it hasn't happened to you. To say that all sickness is the result of sin is wrong. Here it indicates if that person had been continually sinning, those sins will be forgiven. So...
· ;17 So if that is the problem, we're to confess our faults to one another, by the way, this doesn't mean that married women are to be confessing their faults to someone else's husband...There are certain parts of the church that emphasize "the body ministry" & being open...You can't improve the unity in the body of Christ because the bible tells us that there's neither Jew nor Greek, neither bond-slave, neither male nor female. You're not going to improve on that.
· We are one in the Spirit & God will link us together w/ people in the body that we're to have friendships w/. You can't have friendships w/ everybody in the body of Christ. And if you're sensitive, God will give you meaningful relationships & I encourage you, as you build those relationships, build relationships w/ those that are godly, not
Prayer for the Nation (James 5:17–18)
· James cited Elijah as an example of a “righteous man” whose prayers released power. “The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective” (James 5:16, NIV).
The background of this incident is found in 1 Kings 17–18. Wicked King Ahab and Jezebel, his queen, had led Israel away from the Lord and into the worship of Baal. God punished the nation by holding back the rain that they needed (see Deut. 28:12, 23). For three and one half years, the heavens were as brass and the earth unable to produce the crops so necessary for life.
Then Elijah challenged the priests of Baal on Mt. Carmel. All day long the priests cried out to their god, but no answer came. At the time of the evening sacrifice, Elijah repaired the altar and prepared the sacrifice. He prayed but once, and fire came from heaven to consume the sacrifice. He had proven that Jehovah was the true God.
· But the nation still needed rain. Elijah went to the top of Carmel and fell down before the Lord in prayer. He prayed and sent his servant seven times to see if there was evidence of rain; and the seventh time his servant saw a little cloud. Before long, there was a great rain, and the nation was saved.
Do we need “showers of blessing” today? We certainly do!
· “But Elijah was a special prophet of God,” we might argue. “We can expect God to answer his prayers in a wonderful way.”
“Elijah was a man just like us,” stated James (5:17, NIV). He was not perfect; in fact, right after his victory on Mt. Carmel, Elijah became afraid and discouraged and ran away. But he was a “righteous man,” that is, obedient to the Lord and trusting Him. God’s promises of answered prayer are for all His children, not just for ones we may call the spiritual elite.
· Elijah prayed in faith, for God told him He would send the rain (1 Kings 18:1). “Prayer,” said Robert Law, “is not getting man’s will done in heaven. It’s getting God’s will done on earth.” You cannot separate the Word of God and prayer, for in His Word He gives us the promises that we claim when we pray.
Elijah did not only believe in his praying, but he was persistent. “He prayed... and he prayed again” (James 5:17–18). On Mt. Carmel, Elijah continued to pray for rain until his servant reported “a cloud the size of a man’s hand.” Too many times we fail to get what God promises because we stop praying. It is true that we are not heard “for our much praying” (Matt. 6:7); but there is a difference between vain repetitions and true believing persistence in prayer. Our Lord prayed three times in the Garden, and Paul prayed three times that his thorn in the flesh might be taken from him.
Elijah was determined and concerned in his praying. “He prayed earnestly” (James 5:17, NIV). The literal Greek reads “and he prayed in prayer.” Many people do not pray in their prayers. They just lazily say religious words, and their hearts are not in their prayers.
A church member was “praying around the world” in a prayer meeting, and one of the men present was growing tired of the speech. Finally the man cried out, “Ask Him something!” That is what prayer is all about: “Ask Him something!”
Prayer power is the greatest power in the world today. “Tremendous power is made available through a good man’s earnest prayer” (James 5:16, PH). History shows how mankind has progressed from manpower to horsepower, and then to dynamite and TNT, and now to atomic power.
But greater than atomic power is prayer power. Elijah prayed for his nation, and God answered prayer. We need to pray for our nation today, that God will bring conviction and revival, and that “showers of blessing” will come to the land. One of the first responsibilities of the local church is to pray for government leaders (1 Tim. 2:1–3).
· Prayer for the Straying (James 5:19–20)
While James did not specifically name prayer in these verses, the implication is there. If we pray for the afflicted and the sick, surely we must pray for the brother who wanders from the truth.
These verses deal with our ministry to a fellow believer who strays from the truth and gets into sin. The verb err means “to wander,” and suggests a gradual moving away from the will of God. The Old Testament term for this is “backsliding.” Sad to say, we see this tragedy occurring in our churches regularly. Sometimes a brother is “overtaken in a fault” (Gal. 6:1); but usually the sin is the result of slow, gradual spiritual decline.
Such a condition is, of course, very dangerous. It is dangerous to the offender because he may be disciplined by the Lord (Heb. 12). He also faces the danger of committing “sin unto death” (1 John 5:16–17). God disciplined the sinning members of the Corinthian church, even to the point of taking some of them to heaven (1 Cor. 11:30).
But this backsliding is also dangerous to the church. A wandering offender can influence others and lead them astray. “One sinner destroys much good” (Ecc. 9:18, NASB). This is why the spiritual members of the church must step in and help the man who has wandered away.
The origin of this problem is found in the statement “wander from the truth” (James 5:19). The truth means, of course, the Word of God. “Thy Word is truth” (John 17:17). Unless the believer stays close to the truth, he will start to drift away. “For this reason we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it” (Heb. 2:1, NASB). Jesus warned Peter that Satan was at hand to tempt him, and Peter refused to believe the Word. He even argued with the Lord! When he should have been praying, Peter was sleeping. No wonder he denied three times.
The outcome of this wandering is “sin” and possible “death” (James 5:20). The sinner here is a believer, not an unbeliever; and sin in the life of a Christian is worse than sin in the life of an unbeliever. We expect unsaved people to sin, but God expects His children to obey His Word.
What are we to do when we see a fellow believer wandering from the truth? We should pray for him, to be sure; but we must also seek to help him. He needs to be “converted”—turned back into the right path again. Do believers need to be converted? Yes, they do! Jesus said to Peter, “When thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren” (Luke 22:32).
It is important that we seek to win the lost, but it is also important to win the saved. If a brother has sinned against us, we should talk to him privately and seek to settle the matter. If he listens, then we have gained our brother (Matt. 18:15). That word gained means “won.” It is the same word translated “get gain” in James 4:13. It is important to win the saved as well as the lost.
If we are going to help an erring brother, we must have an attitude of love, for “love shall cover the multitude of sins” (1 Peter 4:8). Both James and Peter learned this principle from Proverbs 10:12—“Hate stirreth up strife: but love covereth all sins.”
This does not mean that love “sweeps the dirt under the carpet.” Where there is love, there must also be truth (“speaking the truth in love” says Paul in Eph. 4:15); and where there is truth, there is honest confession of sin and cleansing from God. Love not only helps the offender to face his sins and deal with them, but love also assures the offender that those sins, once forgiven, are remembered no more.
While the basic interpretation of these verses is as I have explained, the application can be made to the lost sinner. After all, if a straying brother needs to be restored, how much more does a lost sinner need to be brought to the Savior? If the wandering believer loses his life, he at least goes to heaven; but the lost sinner is condemned to an eternal hell.
“Seeking the lost” is a common Bible picture of soul winning. In Luke 15, Jesus pictures the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost son, all of whom needed to be found and brought back to where they belonged. Our Lord also compared winning souls to catching fish (Mark 1:17). Peter caught one fish individually with his hook (Matt. 17:24–27), but he also worked with his helpers and used the nets to catch many fish at one time. There is a place for both personal and collective evangelism.
Proverbs 11:30 compares evangelism to hunting: “He that catcheth souls is wise” (literal translation). Sin is out to catch and kill (James 1:13–15), but we ought to be out to catch and make alive.
The soul winner is also an ambassador of peace (2 Cor. 5:20). God has not declared war on this world; He has declared peace! One day He will declare war, and judgment will fall.
Both Zechariah 3:2 and Jude 23 picture the soul winner as a fireman, pulling brands out of the burning. John Wesley applied Zechariah 3:2 to himself, for when he was but a child, he was pulled from a burning house when it looked as though it was too late. Sometimes we must take risks of love to snatch people from the fires of judgment.
· Jesus compared evangelism to sowing and reaping (John 4:34–38) and Paul used the same illustration (1 Cor. 3:6–9). There are seasons of sowing and seasons of reaping; and many people are needed for the work. We are “laborers together with God” (1 Cor. 3:9). Both the sower and the reaper will receive their rewards, for there is no competition in the Lord’s fields.
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
· Matthew 16; 24Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.
· All of us to a certain degree, go through the analyzing of ourselves, centered on ourselves, always worried about ourselves=miserable
· Jesus said the key is to deny yourself & take up the cross=lay down your life redemptively/sacrificially for others
· The cross is not dealing w/ a cold, or battling the flu, or even dealing w/ cancer
· The cross is not being left by a loved one or being divorced from a spouse
· The cross=when you choose to lay down your rights like Jesus did, for the sake of others
· You do something that may cost you, that may be hard for you but, you choose to lay down your life for others, Jesus said that’s the key to life, dying to self for the sake of others
· And then He said whoever lays down his life or gives up his life will find life!
· Be of help to others, care about others, you’re going to find life
· Put yourself on the bottom and that’s the Y of Joy=Jesus first, others second, you lastly, on the bottom
· Not talking about yourself, not burdening others w/ your situations, your hurts, your problems but saying, “what can I do today to die to myself & to help others along the way?”
· That’s where true, real joy is to be found, Jesus, Others, You.
· All of us to a certain degree, go through the analyzing of ourselves, centered on ourselves, always worried about ourselves=miserable
· Jesus said the key is to deny yourself & take up the cross=lay down your life redemptively/sacrificially for others
· The cross is not dealing w/ a cold, or battling the flu, or even dealing w/ cancer
· The cross is not being left by a loved one or being divorced from a spouse
· The cross=when you choose to lay down your rights like Jesus did, for the sake of others
· You do something that may cost you, that may be hard for you but, you choose to lay down your life for others, Jesus said that’s the key to life, dying to self for the sake of others
· And then He said whoever lays down his life or gives up his life will find life!
· Be of help to others, care about others, you’re going to find life
· Put yourself on the bottom and that’s the Y of Joy=Jesus first, others second, you lastly, on the bottom
· Not talking about yourself, not burdening others w/ your situations, your hurts, your problems but saying, “what can I do today to die to myself & to help others along the way?”
· That’s where true, real joy is to be found, Jesus, Others, You.
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
I Needed to Read This Today
Heart Cleansing June 11
I consequently learned that the one important thing was to have the Lord possess the center and at the center He would possess all the rest and would guard and protect it all Himself. And I saw that the way to get Him to set up His throne in the center was simply to accept by faith that His precious blood really did cleanse my heart from all corruption, and make it pure in His sight, casting out the carnal nature and crucifying the old man of sin. So that one could truthfully say, “I have put off the old man which is corrupt etc.” “I am dead to sin” “I am crucified with Christ” etc.
And to believe further that having made the heart pure, and a fit dwelling place for Himself, He does indeed come in and take up His dwelling there and sets up His kingdom and possesses all things. So that I can go on to say, “And I have put on the new man which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. I am dead it is true, but also I am alive to God in Jesus Christ my Lord.” “I am crucified indeed, but nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me!”
I took this step of faith, and I’m standing firm. Discouragements are all around, but I don’t dare pay any attention to them. God’s unalterable plan is that “according to your faith, it shall be unto you.”
—Journal, September 3, 1871
I consequently learned that the one important thing was to have the Lord possess the center and at the center He would possess all the rest and would guard and protect it all Himself. And I saw that the way to get Him to set up His throne in the center was simply to accept by faith that His precious blood really did cleanse my heart from all corruption, and make it pure in His sight, casting out the carnal nature and crucifying the old man of sin. So that one could truthfully say, “I have put off the old man which is corrupt etc.” “I am dead to sin” “I am crucified with Christ” etc.
And to believe further that having made the heart pure, and a fit dwelling place for Himself, He does indeed come in and take up His dwelling there and sets up His kingdom and possesses all things. So that I can go on to say, “And I have put on the new man which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. I am dead it is true, but also I am alive to God in Jesus Christ my Lord.” “I am crucified indeed, but nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me!”
I took this step of faith, and I’m standing firm. Discouragements are all around, but I don’t dare pay any attention to them. God’s unalterable plan is that “according to your faith, it shall be unto you.”
—Journal, September 3, 1871
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
Christianity 201 James 3;1-18
James 3
James 3;1-12=Faith Controls the Tongue James 3;13-18=Faith Produces Wisdom
· James has explained to us two characteristics of the mature Christian: he is patient in trouble (James 1) and he practices the truth (James 2).
· In chapter two we read that faith w/o works is dead
· It's not faith & works that brings salvation, it's not faith or works=salvation
· But it's faith that works, true faith works.
· In chapter 3, James begins talking about the tongue, it would seem @ first glance that these two things are a bit disconnected, why would he go from faith that works right into speaking & words? If indeed chapter 2 is stressing that words are not the issue, it's not what you say, it's how you live that is the proof of your salvation.
· Even though words are not the sign of our salvation, it doesn't mean that words aren't important in our spiritual life.
A pastor told about a member of his church who was a notorious gossip. She would “hang on the phone” most of the day, sharing tidbits with any and all who would listen.
She came to the pastor one day and said, “Pastor, the Lord has convicted me of my sin of gossip. My tongue is getting me and others into trouble.”
The pastor knew she was not sincere because she had gone through that routine before. Guardedly he asked, “Well, what do you plan to do?”
“I want to put my tongue on the altar,” she replied with pious fervor.
· Calmly the pastor replied, “There isn’t an altar big enough,” and he left her to think it over.
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· 3:1. 1 DEAR BROTHERS AND SISTERS,* NOT MANY OF YOU SHOULD BECOME TEACHERS IN THE CHURCH, FOR WE WHO TEACH WILL BE JUDGED BY GOD WITH GREATER STRICTNESS.
Again addressing brothers, a sign that a new topic is being considered, James suggested moderation and restraint in the multiplication of teachers. Too many of the new Jewish Christians aspired to teach and thereby carry some of the rank and admiration given to Rabbis. These are the unofficial teachers (didaskaloi) in the synagogue meetings of the church family where much latitude was given for even strangers to speak. Paul frequently used this courtesy given visitors. James’ complaint was simply that too many believers were overly anxious to speak up and show off (cf. John 3:10; 9:40-41).
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· He says don't desire/be too eager to be a teacher, it's inevitable that we're going to offend in the words that we speak. A teacher talks a lot & sets yourself up for condemnation/controversy.
· We should desire to be learners more than we desire to be teachers. And one of the chief things to learn, as Paul would say, is to learn to be content. Be content wherever the Lord has placed you. Many people say they wish they could be behind the pulpit. But James says to be careful about that because when you teach, you occasionally cause people to become unsettled. When you're sharing a teaching, oftentimes that teaching will cause there to be a great deal of conviction in the heart of the hearer. And conviction can either cause the hearer to repent when they hear the message or it can cause them to retaliate against the messanger.
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· That's what happened to Jeremiah, who brought a message to the people in Israel & they didn't like what he was saying. 18;18. He's saying these prophets & priests & wise men are not speaking truth. "Come let us strike him w/ our words"...So what did they do? They talked bad about him. They found fault w/ him & they raised accusations against him, so much so that in chapter twenty, Pashur the priest struck Jeremiah literally & put him in stocks. And it came to pass that they brought him into the prison. We read 20;7=Lord I'm tricked. Here I became a teacher, a preacher, a prophet & I end up in the pit. They're not responding, they're not receiving, but they're retaliating/hostile towards him. I'm in ridicule daily Jeremy complains, everyone mocks me. 20;8-29 He says I've had it, the people are striking me w/ their tongues, & now they've placed me in stocks & put me in a dungeon. I'm not gonna speak anymore. But there's a problem w/ those that are called to teach. Even though sometimes there's retaliation/condemnation, people who feel like," how dare you tell me what to do," there becomes temptations for the teachers that tickle the ear by saying,"Let me just be normal, let me just sit comfortably in a pew for awhile." The problem was the Word of God was burning in his bones & he could not shut up.
· And he starts preaching & prophesying again. And that's the thing; if you really are called to teach the Word in that way, now not many are called, but if you are called, you'll find the Word burning in your bones & you just can't keep quiet. Even though it might mean that you're in controversy or condemned by people or placed in a dungeon, yet there's no other alternative than to share the word.
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· 3;2-6 We all make many mistakes, but those who control their tongues can also control themselves in every other way. 3 We can make a large horse turn around and go wherever we want by means of a small bit in its mouth. 4 And a tiny rudder makes a huge ship turn wherever the pilot wants it to go, even though the winds are strong. 5 So also, the tongue is a small thing, but what enormous damage it can do. A tiny spark can set a great forest on fire. 6 And the tongue is a flame of fire. It is full of wickedness that can ruin your whole life. It can turn the entire course of your life into a blazing flame of destruction, for it is set on fire by hell itself.
· Teachers are not the only ones who are tempted and sin; every Christian must admit that “we all stumble in many ways” (James 3:2, NIV). And sins of the tongue seem to head the list. The person who is able to discipline his tongue gives evidence that he can control his whole body. He proves that he is a mature (perfect) man.
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· Is James making a mistake by connecting sins of the tongue with sins committed by “the whole body”? No, because words usually lead to deeds. During World War II people were accustomed to seeing posters that read LOOSE LIPS SINK SHIPS! But loose lips also wreck lives. A person makes an unguarded statement and suddenly finds himself involved in a fight. His tongue has forced the rest of his body to defend itself.
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· This little thing called the tongue, weighs about 20 ounces, it controls your whole life.
· James presented two items that are small of themselves, yet exercise great power, just like the tongue. A small bit enables the rider to control the great horse, and a small rudder enables the pilot to steer the huge ship. The tongue is a small member in the body, and yet it has the power to accomplish great things.
Both the bit and the rudder must overcome contrary forces. The bit must overcome the wild nature of the horse, and the rudder must fight the winds and currents that would drive the ship off its course. The human tongue also must overcome contrary forces. We have an old nature that wants to control us and make us sin. There are circumstances around us that would make us say things we ought not to say. Sin on the inside and pressures on the outside are seeking to get control of the tongue.
· This means that both the bit and the rudder must be under the control of a strong hand. The expert horseman keeps the mighty power of his horse under control, (one of the most powerful ‘machines’ of James’s day) and the experienced pilot courageously steers the ship through the storm. When Jesus Christ controls the tongue, then we need not fear saying the wrong things—or even saying the right things in a wrong way! “Death and life are in the power of the tongue,” warned Solomon (Prov. 18:21). No wonder David prayed, “Set a watch, O Lord, before my mouth; keep the door of my lips. Incline not my heart to any evil thing” (Ps. 141:3–4). David knew that the heart is the key to right speech. “Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh” (Matt. 12:34 When Jesus Christ is the Lord of the heart, then He is Lord of the lips too.
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The bit and rudder have the power to direct, which means they affect the lives of others. A runaway horse or a shipwreck could mean injury or death to pedestrians or passengers. The words we speak affect the lives of others. A judge says “Guilty!” or “Not Guilty!” and those words affect the destiny of the prisoner, his family, and his friends. The President of the United States speaks a few words and signs some papers and the nation is at war. Even a simple yes or no from the lips of a parent can greatly affect the direction of a child’s life.
Never underestimate the guidance you give by the words you speak or do not speak. Jesus spoke to a woman at a well, and her life and the lives of her neighbors experienced a miraculous change (John 4). Peter preached at Pentecost and 3,000 souls came to salvation through faith in Christ (Acts 2).
On April 21, 1855, Edward Kimball went into a Boston shoe store and led young Dwight L. Moody to Christ. The result: one of history’s greatest evangelists, a man whose ministry still continues. The tongue has the power to direct others to the right choices.
It would do us all good to read frequently the Book of Proverbs, and to note especially the many references to speech. “A soft answer turneth away wrath: but grievous words stir up anger” (Prov. 15:1). “Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord” (Prov. 12:22). “In the multitude of words there wanteth not sin: but he that refraineth his lips is wise” (Prov. 10:19). Yes, the tongue is like a bit and a rudder: it has the power to direct. How important it is that our tongues direct people in the right way!
· In Proverbs 26;20 Fire goes out for lack of fuel, and quarrels disappear when gossip stops. When you're hearing gossip, hearing words that are putting down, even subtely, humorously, sophisticatedly, when you're hearing words, you can pray in the Spirit to keep your tongue busy, lest you join in on the hellish conversation, & you can also refuse to respond.when you're Because here it says in Proverbs, where there is no fuel/wood, the fire goes out. If you & I don't respond when somebody is gossiping or putting down or burning somebody else, whoever it might be, if I don't respond the conversation just sort of fizzles out. There can be an awkwardness or an embarassing silence, good! Because it says quarrels disappear when gossip stops or when there is no talebearer! Talebearer=one who is allowing the tale to go on. If I listen to gossip, to put-downs, to burns, I'm actually involved in that fire that's ingnited by hell. I mustn't listen.
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· 3;7-12 People can tame all kinds of animals and birds and reptiles and fish, 8 but no one can tame the tongue. It is an uncontrollable evil, full of deadly poison. 9 Sometimes it praises our Lord and Father, and sometimes it breaks out into curses against those who have been made in the image of God. 10 And so blessing and cursing come pouring out of the same mouth. Surely, my brothers and sisters, this is not right! 11 Does a spring of water bubble out with both fresh water and bitter water? 12 Can you pick olives from a fig tree or figs from a grapevine? No, and you can’t draw fresh water from a salty pool.
Warren Wiersbe in his Bible Exposition Commentary had this to say," Not only is the tongue like a fire, but it is also like a dangerous animal. It is restless and cannot be ruled (unruly), and it seeks its prey and then pounces and kills. My wife and I once drove through a safari park, admiring the animals as they moved about in their natural habitat. But there were warning signs posted all over the park: DO NOT LEAVE YOUR CAR! DO NOT OPEN YOUR WINDOWS! Those “peaceful animals” were capable of doing great damage, and even killing.
· Some animals are poisonous, and some tongues spread poison. The deceptive thing about poison is that it works secretly and slowly, and then kills. How many times has some malicious person injected a bit of poison into the conversation, hoping it would spread and finally get to the person he or she wanted to hurt? As a pastor, I have seen poisonous tongues do great damage to individuals, families, classes, and entire churches. Would you turn hungry lions or angry snakes loose in your Sunday morning service? Of course not! But unruly tongues accomplish the same results.
· There's something else that the bible teaches here. He's drawing upon an analogy by saying, can a fountain yield salt water & fresh? Reminds of 2 Kings 2. Elisha the prophet had just been anointed for ministry, his master Elijah had been taken up to heaven, & so he goes to Jericho. And when he gets to Jericho, the people there say, hey Elisha, we've got a problem. You can see that this is a pleasant area but, we're in trouble because the plants are barren. The crops aren't coming. The fruit isn't growing because the well in Jericho has becomed poisoned. The water isn't pure & sweet. And it's affecting the fruit in the region. So Elisha asks for a bowl, tells them to put salt in it & he pours salt into the fountain. And it says the waters became sweet.
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· He poured salt water into polluted water because in Colossians 4;6 it says let your speech always be seasoned w/ salt that is grace. Let your speech always be w/ grace, seasoned w/ salt. What does that mean? In any given moment at any given time, I have the opportunity to not only not listen, to not become a box of kindling for that person's gossip, and get my tongue involved, not in hellish fire, but in heavenly fire/praying in the Spirit quietly, but I can also do something else.
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· In that water that's going to cause a lack of fruit to be produced, I can actually bring about healing to the water like Elisha did that day by speaking grace. By talking grace. By sharing grace. Grace=God's riches @ Christ's expense. I just keep talking about how God loves to be gracious. How God has been gracious to me & how He'll be gracious to that person in that situation, you talk grace! Because inevitably, what the person or people are doing, who are polluting the water, they're talking law.
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· The law? In some way, those people or that person is not living up to their expectations. Whether it's spiritually, intellectually, socially, educationally, whatever it is, it's the law. They say,"How could they"=the law/judge. So what do you do? You just start speaking grace & love.
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· I want this badly in my own life. I'm not there, not where I should be, I'm not what I used to be, praise the Lord!But I see the wisdom of James, I see what this does in people's lives. I've known a few that have refused to listen to gossip. There is a beauty & a refreshment that comes from their lives. The great danger to the church today is not the tongues movement, it's the movement of the tongue. That's what divides churches.
· `Again, in concluding this section entitiled Faith Controls the Tongue, I'd like to share another excerpt from Wiersbe's Bible Expostition Commentary:
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As I close this chapter, let me suggest that you start using the “Twelve Words That Can Transform Your Life.” If you use these words and sincerely mean what you say from your heart, you will find that God will use you to be a blessing and encouragement to others. There are only twelve of them, but they work.
“Please” and “Thank you.” When you use these three words, you are treating others like people and not things. You are showing appreciation.
“I’m sorry.” These two words have a way of breaking down walls and building bridges.
“I love you.” Too many people read “romance” into these words, but they go much deeper than that. As Christians, we should love the brethren and even love our enemies. “I love you” is a statement that can carry tremendous power.
“I’m praying for you.” And be sure that you are. When you talk to God about people, then you can talk to people about God. Our private praying for people helps us in our public meeting with people. Of course, we never say “I’m praying for you” in a boastful way, as though we are more spiritual than others. We say it in an encouraging way, to let others know that we care enough for them to meet them at the throne of grace.
Yes, the smallest but largest troublemaker in all the world is the tongue. But it does not have to be a troublemaker! God can use our tongues to direct others into the way of life, and to delight them in the trials of life. The tongue is a little member, but it has great power.
Give God your tongue and your heart each day and ask Him to use you to be a blessing to others.
· James 3;13-18=Faith Produces Wisdom
· 13-16 If you are wise and understand God’s ways, live a life of steady goodness so that only good deeds will pour forth. And if you don’t brag about the good you do, then you will be truly wise! 14 But if you are bitterly jealous and there is selfish ambition in your hearts, don’t brag about being wise. That is the worst kind of lie. 15 For jealousy and selfishness are not God’s kind of wisdom. Such things are earthly, unspiritual, and motivated by the Devil. 16 For wherever there is jealousy and selfish ambition, there you will find disorder and every kind of evil.
· Wisdom was an important thing to Jewish people. They realized that it was not enough to have knowledge; you had to have wisdom to be able to use that knowledge correctly. All of us know people who are very intelligent, perhaps almost geniuses, and yet who seemingly are unable to carry out the simplest tasks of life. They can run computers but they cannot manage their own lives! “Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom” (Prov. 4:7).
· Read from KJV-3;13 KJV=asks the question, who is a wise man among you? “Wise” (sophos; cf. sophias in 1:5) describes one with moral insight and skill in the practical issues of life. “Understanding” (epistēmōn) refers to intellectual perception and scientific acumen.
Let him show it. Here is an original “show and tell.” Wisdom is not measured by degrees but by deeds. It is not a matter of acquiring truth in lectures but of applying truth to life. The good life and deeds are best portrayed in the humility of wisdom, or “wise meekness” (prautēti sophias). The truly wise man is humble.
3:14. True wisdom makes no room for bitter envy (“zealous jealousy”) or for selfish ambition (“factious rivalry,” erithian, from eritheuō, “to spin wool,” thus working for personal gain). This is nothing to glory about. To boast (lit., “exult,” katakauchasthe) in such attitudes is to deny, or “lie against,” the truth.
· 3:15-16. Envy and strife are clear indicators that one’s so-called wisdom is not from above (cf. 1:17), but is earthly, unspiritual (“natural, sensual,” psychikē), and of the devil (“demonic,” daimoniōdēs). Envy and selfish ambition, or rivalry, can only produce disorder, or confusion, and every evil practice. A truly wise person does not seek glory or gain; he is gracious and giving.
· 17 But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure. It is also peace loving, gentle at all times, and willing to yield to others. It is full of mercy and good deeds. It shows no partiality and is always sincere. 18 And those who are peacemakers will plant seeds of peace and reap a harvest of goodness.
· The only true protection against this false wisdom and the evil in the tongue is God’s wisdom. James gives a list of the characteristics of this true wisdom which is very similar to the one that Paul gives for the fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22–23). It is pure, which means that the person is sincere in obeying God, not having any twisted motives in their desire for holiness. It is peace-loving (Pr. 3:17; Heb. 12:11), meaning that it produces peace in the church. It is considerate or ‘gentle’ (Phil. 4:5; 1 Tim. 3:3), which means that it is non- combative. It is submissive, which speaks of a person who is willing to learn, be corrected, or will otherwise gladly respond to godly leadership. It is full of mercy and good fruit, which refers to the charitable giving that is so important to James. God, of course, is always merciful and giving, so those filled with his wisdom will be that way as well. Finally, it is impartial and sincere, which means that the person has a heart which is set solely on following God, unlike the ‘double-minded’ person of 1:8. The term sincere means that there is no falseness or play-acting in the person’s actions. As the person is to one’s face, so they are when one’s back is turned.
· James sums up this whole paragraph with a saying which sounds like a proverb. Some scholars believe he may have got this saying from Jesus. Peacemakers who sow in peace raise a harvest of righteousness. This is the solution to the problem noted in 1:20; human anger does not produce God’s righteousness, but peace-making does. This is what Jesus said as well, ‘Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God’ (Mt. 5:9). They are God’s sons because they are acting like their true Father, producing the type of righteousness of which God is proud. This is very different from the anger and struggle of merely human ways of producing what human beings call ‘right’. God’s way of doing things requires his wisdom, his Spirit.
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James 3;1-12=Faith Controls the Tongue James 3;13-18=Faith Produces Wisdom
· James has explained to us two characteristics of the mature Christian: he is patient in trouble (James 1) and he practices the truth (James 2).
· In chapter two we read that faith w/o works is dead
· It's not faith & works that brings salvation, it's not faith or works=salvation
· But it's faith that works, true faith works.
· In chapter 3, James begins talking about the tongue, it would seem @ first glance that these two things are a bit disconnected, why would he go from faith that works right into speaking & words? If indeed chapter 2 is stressing that words are not the issue, it's not what you say, it's how you live that is the proof of your salvation.
· Even though words are not the sign of our salvation, it doesn't mean that words aren't important in our spiritual life.
A pastor told about a member of his church who was a notorious gossip. She would “hang on the phone” most of the day, sharing tidbits with any and all who would listen.
She came to the pastor one day and said, “Pastor, the Lord has convicted me of my sin of gossip. My tongue is getting me and others into trouble.”
The pastor knew she was not sincere because she had gone through that routine before. Guardedly he asked, “Well, what do you plan to do?”
“I want to put my tongue on the altar,” she replied with pious fervor.
· Calmly the pastor replied, “There isn’t an altar big enough,” and he left her to think it over.
·
· 3:1. 1 DEAR BROTHERS AND SISTERS,* NOT MANY OF YOU SHOULD BECOME TEACHERS IN THE CHURCH, FOR WE WHO TEACH WILL BE JUDGED BY GOD WITH GREATER STRICTNESS.
Again addressing brothers, a sign that a new topic is being considered, James suggested moderation and restraint in the multiplication of teachers. Too many of the new Jewish Christians aspired to teach and thereby carry some of the rank and admiration given to Rabbis. These are the unofficial teachers (didaskaloi) in the synagogue meetings of the church family where much latitude was given for even strangers to speak. Paul frequently used this courtesy given visitors. James’ complaint was simply that too many believers were overly anxious to speak up and show off (cf. John 3:10; 9:40-41).
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· He says don't desire/be too eager to be a teacher, it's inevitable that we're going to offend in the words that we speak. A teacher talks a lot & sets yourself up for condemnation/controversy.
· We should desire to be learners more than we desire to be teachers. And one of the chief things to learn, as Paul would say, is to learn to be content. Be content wherever the Lord has placed you. Many people say they wish they could be behind the pulpit. But James says to be careful about that because when you teach, you occasionally cause people to become unsettled. When you're sharing a teaching, oftentimes that teaching will cause there to be a great deal of conviction in the heart of the hearer. And conviction can either cause the hearer to repent when they hear the message or it can cause them to retaliate against the messanger.
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· That's what happened to Jeremiah, who brought a message to the people in Israel & they didn't like what he was saying. 18;18. He's saying these prophets & priests & wise men are not speaking truth. "Come let us strike him w/ our words"...So what did they do? They talked bad about him. They found fault w/ him & they raised accusations against him, so much so that in chapter twenty, Pashur the priest struck Jeremiah literally & put him in stocks. And it came to pass that they brought him into the prison. We read 20;7=Lord I'm tricked. Here I became a teacher, a preacher, a prophet & I end up in the pit. They're not responding, they're not receiving, but they're retaliating/hostile towards him. I'm in ridicule daily Jeremy complains, everyone mocks me. 20;8-29 He says I've had it, the people are striking me w/ their tongues, & now they've placed me in stocks & put me in a dungeon. I'm not gonna speak anymore. But there's a problem w/ those that are called to teach. Even though sometimes there's retaliation/condemnation, people who feel like," how dare you tell me what to do," there becomes temptations for the teachers that tickle the ear by saying,"Let me just be normal, let me just sit comfortably in a pew for awhile." The problem was the Word of God was burning in his bones & he could not shut up.
· And he starts preaching & prophesying again. And that's the thing; if you really are called to teach the Word in that way, now not many are called, but if you are called, you'll find the Word burning in your bones & you just can't keep quiet. Even though it might mean that you're in controversy or condemned by people or placed in a dungeon, yet there's no other alternative than to share the word.
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· 3;2-6 We all make many mistakes, but those who control their tongues can also control themselves in every other way. 3 We can make a large horse turn around and go wherever we want by means of a small bit in its mouth. 4 And a tiny rudder makes a huge ship turn wherever the pilot wants it to go, even though the winds are strong. 5 So also, the tongue is a small thing, but what enormous damage it can do. A tiny spark can set a great forest on fire. 6 And the tongue is a flame of fire. It is full of wickedness that can ruin your whole life. It can turn the entire course of your life into a blazing flame of destruction, for it is set on fire by hell itself.
· Teachers are not the only ones who are tempted and sin; every Christian must admit that “we all stumble in many ways” (James 3:2, NIV). And sins of the tongue seem to head the list. The person who is able to discipline his tongue gives evidence that he can control his whole body. He proves that he is a mature (perfect) man.
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· Is James making a mistake by connecting sins of the tongue with sins committed by “the whole body”? No, because words usually lead to deeds. During World War II people were accustomed to seeing posters that read LOOSE LIPS SINK SHIPS! But loose lips also wreck lives. A person makes an unguarded statement and suddenly finds himself involved in a fight. His tongue has forced the rest of his body to defend itself.
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· This little thing called the tongue, weighs about 20 ounces, it controls your whole life.
· James presented two items that are small of themselves, yet exercise great power, just like the tongue. A small bit enables the rider to control the great horse, and a small rudder enables the pilot to steer the huge ship. The tongue is a small member in the body, and yet it has the power to accomplish great things.
Both the bit and the rudder must overcome contrary forces. The bit must overcome the wild nature of the horse, and the rudder must fight the winds and currents that would drive the ship off its course. The human tongue also must overcome contrary forces. We have an old nature that wants to control us and make us sin. There are circumstances around us that would make us say things we ought not to say. Sin on the inside and pressures on the outside are seeking to get control of the tongue.
· This means that both the bit and the rudder must be under the control of a strong hand. The expert horseman keeps the mighty power of his horse under control, (one of the most powerful ‘machines’ of James’s day) and the experienced pilot courageously steers the ship through the storm. When Jesus Christ controls the tongue, then we need not fear saying the wrong things—or even saying the right things in a wrong way! “Death and life are in the power of the tongue,” warned Solomon (Prov. 18:21). No wonder David prayed, “Set a watch, O Lord, before my mouth; keep the door of my lips. Incline not my heart to any evil thing” (Ps. 141:3–4). David knew that the heart is the key to right speech. “Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh” (Matt. 12:34 When Jesus Christ is the Lord of the heart, then He is Lord of the lips too.
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The bit and rudder have the power to direct, which means they affect the lives of others. A runaway horse or a shipwreck could mean injury or death to pedestrians or passengers. The words we speak affect the lives of others. A judge says “Guilty!” or “Not Guilty!” and those words affect the destiny of the prisoner, his family, and his friends. The President of the United States speaks a few words and signs some papers and the nation is at war. Even a simple yes or no from the lips of a parent can greatly affect the direction of a child’s life.
Never underestimate the guidance you give by the words you speak or do not speak. Jesus spoke to a woman at a well, and her life and the lives of her neighbors experienced a miraculous change (John 4). Peter preached at Pentecost and 3,000 souls came to salvation through faith in Christ (Acts 2).
On April 21, 1855, Edward Kimball went into a Boston shoe store and led young Dwight L. Moody to Christ. The result: one of history’s greatest evangelists, a man whose ministry still continues. The tongue has the power to direct others to the right choices.
It would do us all good to read frequently the Book of Proverbs, and to note especially the many references to speech. “A soft answer turneth away wrath: but grievous words stir up anger” (Prov. 15:1). “Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord” (Prov. 12:22). “In the multitude of words there wanteth not sin: but he that refraineth his lips is wise” (Prov. 10:19). Yes, the tongue is like a bit and a rudder: it has the power to direct. How important it is that our tongues direct people in the right way!
· In Proverbs 26;20 Fire goes out for lack of fuel, and quarrels disappear when gossip stops. When you're hearing gossip, hearing words that are putting down, even subtely, humorously, sophisticatedly, when you're hearing words, you can pray in the Spirit to keep your tongue busy, lest you join in on the hellish conversation, & you can also refuse to respond.when you're Because here it says in Proverbs, where there is no fuel/wood, the fire goes out. If you & I don't respond when somebody is gossiping or putting down or burning somebody else, whoever it might be, if I don't respond the conversation just sort of fizzles out. There can be an awkwardness or an embarassing silence, good! Because it says quarrels disappear when gossip stops or when there is no talebearer! Talebearer=one who is allowing the tale to go on. If I listen to gossip, to put-downs, to burns, I'm actually involved in that fire that's ingnited by hell. I mustn't listen.
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· 3;7-12 People can tame all kinds of animals and birds and reptiles and fish, 8 but no one can tame the tongue. It is an uncontrollable evil, full of deadly poison. 9 Sometimes it praises our Lord and Father, and sometimes it breaks out into curses against those who have been made in the image of God. 10 And so blessing and cursing come pouring out of the same mouth. Surely, my brothers and sisters, this is not right! 11 Does a spring of water bubble out with both fresh water and bitter water? 12 Can you pick olives from a fig tree or figs from a grapevine? No, and you can’t draw fresh water from a salty pool.
Warren Wiersbe in his Bible Exposition Commentary had this to say," Not only is the tongue like a fire, but it is also like a dangerous animal. It is restless and cannot be ruled (unruly), and it seeks its prey and then pounces and kills. My wife and I once drove through a safari park, admiring the animals as they moved about in their natural habitat. But there were warning signs posted all over the park: DO NOT LEAVE YOUR CAR! DO NOT OPEN YOUR WINDOWS! Those “peaceful animals” were capable of doing great damage, and even killing.
· Some animals are poisonous, and some tongues spread poison. The deceptive thing about poison is that it works secretly and slowly, and then kills. How many times has some malicious person injected a bit of poison into the conversation, hoping it would spread and finally get to the person he or she wanted to hurt? As a pastor, I have seen poisonous tongues do great damage to individuals, families, classes, and entire churches. Would you turn hungry lions or angry snakes loose in your Sunday morning service? Of course not! But unruly tongues accomplish the same results.
· There's something else that the bible teaches here. He's drawing upon an analogy by saying, can a fountain yield salt water & fresh? Reminds of 2 Kings 2. Elisha the prophet had just been anointed for ministry, his master Elijah had been taken up to heaven, & so he goes to Jericho. And when he gets to Jericho, the people there say, hey Elisha, we've got a problem. You can see that this is a pleasant area but, we're in trouble because the plants are barren. The crops aren't coming. The fruit isn't growing because the well in Jericho has becomed poisoned. The water isn't pure & sweet. And it's affecting the fruit in the region. So Elisha asks for a bowl, tells them to put salt in it & he pours salt into the fountain. And it says the waters became sweet.
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· He poured salt water into polluted water because in Colossians 4;6 it says let your speech always be seasoned w/ salt that is grace. Let your speech always be w/ grace, seasoned w/ salt. What does that mean? In any given moment at any given time, I have the opportunity to not only not listen, to not become a box of kindling for that person's gossip, and get my tongue involved, not in hellish fire, but in heavenly fire/praying in the Spirit quietly, but I can also do something else.
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· In that water that's going to cause a lack of fruit to be produced, I can actually bring about healing to the water like Elisha did that day by speaking grace. By talking grace. By sharing grace. Grace=God's riches @ Christ's expense. I just keep talking about how God loves to be gracious. How God has been gracious to me & how He'll be gracious to that person in that situation, you talk grace! Because inevitably, what the person or people are doing, who are polluting the water, they're talking law.
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· The law? In some way, those people or that person is not living up to their expectations. Whether it's spiritually, intellectually, socially, educationally, whatever it is, it's the law. They say,"How could they"=the law/judge. So what do you do? You just start speaking grace & love.
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· I want this badly in my own life. I'm not there, not where I should be, I'm not what I used to be, praise the Lord!But I see the wisdom of James, I see what this does in people's lives. I've known a few that have refused to listen to gossip. There is a beauty & a refreshment that comes from their lives. The great danger to the church today is not the tongues movement, it's the movement of the tongue. That's what divides churches.
· `Again, in concluding this section entitiled Faith Controls the Tongue, I'd like to share another excerpt from Wiersbe's Bible Expostition Commentary:
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As I close this chapter, let me suggest that you start using the “Twelve Words That Can Transform Your Life.” If you use these words and sincerely mean what you say from your heart, you will find that God will use you to be a blessing and encouragement to others. There are only twelve of them, but they work.
“Please” and “Thank you.” When you use these three words, you are treating others like people and not things. You are showing appreciation.
“I’m sorry.” These two words have a way of breaking down walls and building bridges.
“I love you.” Too many people read “romance” into these words, but they go much deeper than that. As Christians, we should love the brethren and even love our enemies. “I love you” is a statement that can carry tremendous power.
“I’m praying for you.” And be sure that you are. When you talk to God about people, then you can talk to people about God. Our private praying for people helps us in our public meeting with people. Of course, we never say “I’m praying for you” in a boastful way, as though we are more spiritual than others. We say it in an encouraging way, to let others know that we care enough for them to meet them at the throne of grace.
Yes, the smallest but largest troublemaker in all the world is the tongue. But it does not have to be a troublemaker! God can use our tongues to direct others into the way of life, and to delight them in the trials of life. The tongue is a little member, but it has great power.
Give God your tongue and your heart each day and ask Him to use you to be a blessing to others.
· James 3;13-18=Faith Produces Wisdom
· 13-16 If you are wise and understand God’s ways, live a life of steady goodness so that only good deeds will pour forth. And if you don’t brag about the good you do, then you will be truly wise! 14 But if you are bitterly jealous and there is selfish ambition in your hearts, don’t brag about being wise. That is the worst kind of lie. 15 For jealousy and selfishness are not God’s kind of wisdom. Such things are earthly, unspiritual, and motivated by the Devil. 16 For wherever there is jealousy and selfish ambition, there you will find disorder and every kind of evil.
· Wisdom was an important thing to Jewish people. They realized that it was not enough to have knowledge; you had to have wisdom to be able to use that knowledge correctly. All of us know people who are very intelligent, perhaps almost geniuses, and yet who seemingly are unable to carry out the simplest tasks of life. They can run computers but they cannot manage their own lives! “Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom” (Prov. 4:7).
· Read from KJV-3;13 KJV=asks the question, who is a wise man among you? “Wise” (sophos; cf. sophias in 1:5) describes one with moral insight and skill in the practical issues of life. “Understanding” (epistēmōn) refers to intellectual perception and scientific acumen.
Let him show it. Here is an original “show and tell.” Wisdom is not measured by degrees but by deeds. It is not a matter of acquiring truth in lectures but of applying truth to life. The good life and deeds are best portrayed in the humility of wisdom, or “wise meekness” (prautēti sophias). The truly wise man is humble.
3:14. True wisdom makes no room for bitter envy (“zealous jealousy”) or for selfish ambition (“factious rivalry,” erithian, from eritheuō, “to spin wool,” thus working for personal gain). This is nothing to glory about. To boast (lit., “exult,” katakauchasthe) in such attitudes is to deny, or “lie against,” the truth.
· 3:15-16. Envy and strife are clear indicators that one’s so-called wisdom is not from above (cf. 1:17), but is earthly, unspiritual (“natural, sensual,” psychikē), and of the devil (“demonic,” daimoniōdēs). Envy and selfish ambition, or rivalry, can only produce disorder, or confusion, and every evil practice. A truly wise person does not seek glory or gain; he is gracious and giving.
· 17 But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure. It is also peace loving, gentle at all times, and willing to yield to others. It is full of mercy and good deeds. It shows no partiality and is always sincere. 18 And those who are peacemakers will plant seeds of peace and reap a harvest of goodness.
· The only true protection against this false wisdom and the evil in the tongue is God’s wisdom. James gives a list of the characteristics of this true wisdom which is very similar to the one that Paul gives for the fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22–23). It is pure, which means that the person is sincere in obeying God, not having any twisted motives in their desire for holiness. It is peace-loving (Pr. 3:17; Heb. 12:11), meaning that it produces peace in the church. It is considerate or ‘gentle’ (Phil. 4:5; 1 Tim. 3:3), which means that it is non- combative. It is submissive, which speaks of a person who is willing to learn, be corrected, or will otherwise gladly respond to godly leadership. It is full of mercy and good fruit, which refers to the charitable giving that is so important to James. God, of course, is always merciful and giving, so those filled with his wisdom will be that way as well. Finally, it is impartial and sincere, which means that the person has a heart which is set solely on following God, unlike the ‘double-minded’ person of 1:8. The term sincere means that there is no falseness or play-acting in the person’s actions. As the person is to one’s face, so they are when one’s back is turned.
· James sums up this whole paragraph with a saying which sounds like a proverb. Some scholars believe he may have got this saying from Jesus. Peacemakers who sow in peace raise a harvest of righteousness. This is the solution to the problem noted in 1:20; human anger does not produce God’s righteousness, but peace-making does. This is what Jesus said as well, ‘Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God’ (Mt. 5:9). They are God’s sons because they are acting like their true Father, producing the type of righteousness of which God is proud. This is very different from the anger and struggle of merely human ways of producing what human beings call ‘right’. God’s way of doing things requires his wisdom, his Spirit.
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Christianity 201 James 2;14-26
James 2;14-26 Faith Proves Itself by Works
· Faith is a key doctrine in the Christian life
· Faith is like calories, you can't see them but you can see their effect
· The sinner is saved by faith (Eph. 2:8–9),
· And the believer must walk by faith (2 Cor. 5:7).
· Without faith it is impossible to please God (Heb. 11:6)
· Whatever we do apart from faith is sin (Rom. 14:23).
· Someone has said that faith is not “believing in spite of evidence, but obeying in spite of consequence.”
· When you read Hebrews 11, you meet people who acted on God’s Word, no matter what price they had to pay.
· Faith is not some kind of nebulous(hazy/indisticnt) feeling that we work up; faith is confidence that God’s Word is true, and conviction that acting on that Word will bring His blessing.
· We need the in your face impact of James
· Jerusalem brothers(Southern)Peter, James, John(to a lesser degree)tended to be a little more in your face
· Paul, Barnabas, Silas, from Antioch/up North, their emphasis was definitely grace,
· In 1;19-27, we looked @ how faith obeys the Word.
· Remember we said that James has a pattern to his writing; he begins w/ a principle/concept
· Then he uses illustrations to amplify his teaching
· In 1;22 he said be doers of the Word=faith proving itself, not just hearers only
· He illustrated it by using the example of the man who looks @ himself in the mirror
· He said in 1;26 if you think you have the faith but, you cannot excercise verbal self-control, once again, you're not a doer
· In1 ;27 he says as an example, doers visit orphans, minister to widows, and are not worldly=more illustrations
· In chapter two he lays out the next practical principal of partiality, he says don't do it=gives an illustration
· He tells us about how to treat and not treat people that come to church, not to become a judge of others, based upon their clothes or appearance.
· In 2;8 he goes to a biblical illustration: Leviticus 19;18 “Never seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord. He says if you can do this, you do well/fulfilling the royal law=
· affirmed by Christ (Matt. 22:39): Love your neighbor as yourself. The law is royal or regal (basilikon, from basileus, “king”) because it is decreed by the King of kings, is fit for a king, and is considered the king of laws. The phrase reflects the Latin lex regia known throughout the Roman Empire.
· Turn to Galatians 5;14 For the whole law can be summed up in this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”* 15 But if instead of showing love among yourselves you are always biting and devouring one another, watch out! Beware of destroying one another. Read thru ;21
· It's interesting to note that God, thru the pen of the Apotle Paul, lists adultery & murder in the same list as as quareling, selfish ambition, jealousy & envy, which become our comfortable sins.
· And then the last verse we looked @ last time, actually gives us some practical perspective on our actions. If we show mercy to others, mercy will be shown to us & vice-versa. Mercy has been defined as=to abstain from inflicting punishment upon an adversary or a law-breaker. That compassion which causes one to help the weak, the sick or the poor, showing mercy is one of the cardinal virtues of a true Christian and is a part of the "fruit of the spirit"(Gal. 5;22,23).
· If you've not been giving mercy/you won't be given mercy
· So in this next session, James discusses the relationship between faith and works.
This is an important discussion, for if we are wrong in this matter, we jeopardize our eternal salvation. What kind of faith really saves a person? Is it necessary to perform good works in order to be saved? How can a person tell whether or not he is exercising true saving faith? James answers these questions by explaining to us that there are three kinds of faith, only one of which is true saving faith.
· Faith #1=Dead Faith=2;14-17-Even in the early church there were those who claimed they had saving faith, yet did not possess salvation. Wherever there is the true, you will find the counterfeit. Jesus warned in Matt. 7;21 “Not all people who sound religious are really godly. They may refer to me as ‘Lord,’ but they still won’t enter the Kingdom of Heaven. The decisive issue is whether they obey my Father in heaven.
· People with dead faith substitute words for deeds. They know the correct vocabulary for prayer and testimony, and can even quote the right verses from the Bible; but their walk does not measure up to their talk. They think that their words are as good as works, and they are wrong.
· Your life testifies your belief so no works, claim faith=self-decieved,
· Your words cannot make somebody warm or fill their stomach
· The works don't save me, they only prove that I have saving faith
· A lot of people have gone forward & said sinners prayer, went on living the same way
· Bible says a fool doesn't believe in God/devils said in the gospels to Jesus, we know who You are, You're the holy one of God, it was only intelectual
· What good does it do if there's no change of life?
· Evidence proves the heart has been changed
· You can look @ our lives & see if there's evidence
· There's nothing more powerful than that testimony
· It draws the broken hearted to Christ
· Paul also understood the necessity of works in proving the character of our faith. He wrote: 10 For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so that we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.Ephesians 2:10). He also wrote: 8 These things I have told you are all true. I want you to insist on them so that everyone who trusts in God will be careful to do good deeds all the time. These things are good and beneficial for everyone.(Titus 3:8)
Real faith, and the works that accompany it, are not made up of only “spiritual” things, but also of a concern for the most basic needs - such as the need for comfort, covering, and food. When needs arise, we should sometimes pray less, and simply do more to help the person in need. We can sometimes pray as a substitute for action.
· Food and clothing are basic needs of every human being, whether he is saved or unsaved. “And having food and raiment let us be therewith content” (1 Tim. 6:8). “Therefore take no thought, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or, ‘What shall we drink?’ or, ‘Wherewithal shall we be clothed?’... for your Heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things” (Matt. 6:31–32). Jacob included these basic needs in his prayer to God: “If God will be with me... and will give me bread to eat, and raiment to put on” (Gen. 28:20).
· like the common Jewish farewell, Go, I wish you well (lit., “Go in peace,” cf. Jud. 18:6; 1 Sam. 1:17; 2 Sam. 15:9; Mark 5:34; Luke 7:50).
· As believers, we have an obligation to help meet the needs of people, no matter who they may be. “As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith-Gal. 6;10 Whenever we have the opportunity, we should do good to everyone, especially to our Christian brothers and sisters.
· Also in Matt. 25;40 And the King will tell them, ‘I assure you, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters,* you were doing it to me!’
Faith #2=Demonic Faith (James 2:18–19)-James wanted to shock his complacent readers, so he used demons as his illustration. When Jesus was ministering on earth, He often cast out demons; and He gave that power to His disciples. Paul often confronted demonic forces in his ministry; and in Ephesians 6:10–20, he admonished the early Christians to claim God’s protection and defeat the spiritual forces of wickedness.
· What do they believe? For one thing, they believe in the existence of God
· They also believe in the deity of Christ. Whenever they met Christ when He was on earth, they bore witness to His sonship (Mark 3:11–12). They believe in the existence of a place of punishment (Luke 8:31); and they also recognize Jesus Christ as the Judge (Mark 5:1–13). They submit to the power of His Word.
· But it is not a saving experience to believe and tremble. A person can be enlightened in his mind and even stirred in his heart and be lost forever. True saving faith involves something more, something that can be seen and recognized: a changed life. “Show me thy faith without thy works,” challenged James, “and I will show thee my faith by my works” (James 2:18).
· How could a person show his faith without works? When you trust Christ, you are “created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them” (Eph. 2:10). Being a Christian involves trusting Christ and living for Christ; you receive the life, then you reveal the life. Faith that is barren is not saving faith. The Greek word translated “dead” in James 2:20 carries the meaning of “barren or idle,” like money drawing no interest.
· James has introduced us to two kinds of faith that can never save the sinner: dead faith (the intellect alone), and demonic faith (the intellect and the emotions). He closes this section by describing the only kind of faith that can save the sinner—dynamic faith.
· Dynamic Faith (James 2:20–26)-Dynamic faith is faith that is real, faith that has power, faith that results in a changed life.
James described this true saving faith. To begin with, dynamic saving faith is based on the Word of God. We receive our spiritual rebirth through God’s Word (James 1:18).
· James used Abraham and Rahab as illustrations of dynamic saving faith, since both of them heard and received the message of God through His Word.
· Faith is only as good as its object. The man in the jungle bows before an idol of stone and trusts it to help him, but he receives no help. No matter how much faith a person may generate, if it is not directed at the right object, it will accomplish nothing. “I believe” may be the testimony of many sincere people, but the big question is, “In whom do you believe? What do you believe?” We are not saved by faith in faith; we are saved by faith in Christ as revealed in His Word.
· Dynamic faith is based on God’s Word, and it involves the whole man. Dead faith touches only the intellect; demonic faith involves both the mind and the emotions; but dynamic faith involves the will. The whole person plays a part in true saving faith. The mind understands the truth; the heart desires the truth; and the will acts upon the truth. The men and women of faith named in Hebrews 11 were people of action: God spoke and they obeyed. Again, “Faith is not believing in spite of evidence; faith is obeying in spite of consequence.”
· True saving faith leads to action. Dynamic faith is not intellectual contemplation or emotional consternation; it leads to obedience on the part of the will. And this obedience is not an isolated event: it continues throughout the whole life. It leads to works.
· Many different kinds of works are named in the New Testament. “The works of the Law” (Gal. 2:16) relate to the sinner’s attempt to please God by obeying the Law of Moses. Of course, it is impossible for a sinner to be saved through the works of the Law. “The works of the flesh” (Gal. 5:19) are done by unsaved people who live for the things of the old nature. There are also “wicked works” (Col. 1:21) and “dead works” (Heb. 9:14). Where there is dynamic faith—saving faith—you will always find good works.
· James then illustrated his doctrine in the lives of two well-known Bible persons: Abraham and Rahab. You could not find two more different persons! Abraham was a Jew; Rahab was a Gentile. Abraham was a godly man, but Rahab was a sinful woman, a harlot. Abraham was the friend of God, while Rahab belonged to the enemies of God. What did they have in common? Both exercised saving faith in God.
· You will want to read Genesis 15 and 22 to get the background facts for this illustration. God called Abraham out of Ur of the Chaldees to lead him into Canaan and to make out of him the great nation of Israel. It was through Israel that God would bring the Saviour into the world. Abraham’s salvation experience is recorded in Genesis 15. At night, God showed His servant the stars and gave him a promise, “So shall thy seed [descendants] be!” How did Abraham respond? “And he believed in the Lord, and He [the Lord] counted it to him for righteousness” (Gen. 15:5–6).
· The word counted is a legal or financial term; it means “to put to one’s account.” As a sinner, Abraham’s spiritual bankbook was empty. He was bankrupt! But he trusted God, and God put righteous on Abraham’s account. Abraham did not work for this righteousness; he received it as a gift from God. He was declared righteous by faith. He was justified by faith (read Rom. 4).
· Justification is an important doctrine in the Bible. Justification is the act of God whereby He declares the believing sinner righteous on the basis of Christ’s finished work on the cross. It is not a process; it is an act. It is not something the sinner does; it is something God does for the sinner when he trusts Christ. It is a once-for-all event. It never changes.
· How can you tell if a person is justified by faith if this transaction takes place between the sinner and God privately? Abraham’s example answers that important question: the justified person has a changed life and obeys God’s will. His faith is demonstrated by his works.
· James used another event in Abraham’s life, an event that took place many years after Abraham’s conversion. This event is the offering up of Isaac on the altar (Gen. 22). Abraham was not saved by obeying God’s difficult command. His obedience proved that he already was saved. “You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did” (James 2:22, NIV). There is a perfect relationship between faith and works. As someone has expressed it, “Abraham was not saved by faith plus works, but by a faith that works.”
· How was Abraham “justified by works” (James 2:21) when he had already been “justified by faith”? (see Rom. 4) By faith, he was justified before God and his righteousness declared; by works he was justified before men and his righteousness demonstrated. It is true that no humans actually saw Abraham put his son on the altar, but the inspired record in Genesis 22 enables us to see the event and witness Abraham’s faith demonstrated by his works.
· D.L. Moody often said, “Every Bible should be bound in shoe leather.” He did not say that because he had been a successful shoe salesman; he said it because he was a dedicated Christian. Dynamic faith obeys God and proves itself in daily life and works. Alas, we still have church members today who fit the description given in Titus, “They profess that they know God, but in works they deny Him” (Titus 1:16). Paul also writes, “This is a faithful saying, and these things I will that thou affirm constantly, that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works” (Titus 3:8).
· His second illustration is Rahab, and the background for her is found in Joshua 2 and 6. Israel was about to invade their Promised Land and take the city of Jericho. Joshua sent spies into the city to get the lay of the land. There they met Rahab, a harlot, who protected them and affirmed that she believed in what God had said and what God was going to do. When the men departed, they promised to save her and her family when the city was taken; and this they did.
· It is an exciting story. But in it is one of the Bible’s great examples of saving faith (see Heb. 11:31). Rahab heard the Word and knew that her city was condemned. This truth affected her and her fellow citizens so that their hearts melted within them (Josh. 2:11).
· Rahab responded with her mind and her emotions; but she also responded with her will: she did something about it. She risked her own life to protect the Jewish spies, and she further risked her life by sharing the good news of deliverance with the members of her family.
· The Hebrew word translated “harlot” in Joshua 2 can also have the wider meaning of “an innkeeper.” Rahab ran a guest house, so it was normal for the spies to go there. The Greek word “harlot” in James 2:25 definitely means an immoral person.
· This is also the meaning in Hebrews 11:31. Matthew 1:5 indicates she married into Israel and became an ancestress of our Lord. What grace! Rahab is one of the first soul winners in the Bible, and you can compare her with the “bad Samaritan” in John 4.
· Rahab could have had dead faith, a mere intellectual experience. Or she could have had demonic faith, her mind enlightened and her emotions stirred. But she exercised dynamic faith: her mind knew the truth, her heart was stirred by the truth, and her will acted on the truth. She proved her faith by her works.
· When you realize the small amount of information Rahab had, you can see how truly marvelous her faith really was. Today we have the full revelation of God through His Word and His Son. We live on the other side of Calvary, and we have the Holy Spirit to convict and to teach us the Word. “For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required” (Luke 12:48). Her faith is an indictment against the unbelief of sinners today.
· James 2 emphasized that the mature Christian practices the truth. He does not merely hold to ancient doctrines; he practices those doctrines in his everyday life. His faith is not the dead faith of the intellectuals, or the demonic faith of the fallen spirits. It is the dynamic faith of men like Abraham and women like Rahab, faith that changes a life and goes to work for God.
· It is important that each professing Christian examine his own heart and life and make sure that he possesses true saving faith, dynamic faith. “Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves” (2 Cor. 13:5a). Satan is the great deceiver; one of his devices is imitation. If he can convince a person that counterfeit faith is true faith, he has that person in his power.
· Faith is a key doctrine in the Christian life
· Faith is like calories, you can't see them but you can see their effect
· The sinner is saved by faith (Eph. 2:8–9),
· And the believer must walk by faith (2 Cor. 5:7).
· Without faith it is impossible to please God (Heb. 11:6)
· Whatever we do apart from faith is sin (Rom. 14:23).
· Someone has said that faith is not “believing in spite of evidence, but obeying in spite of consequence.”
· When you read Hebrews 11, you meet people who acted on God’s Word, no matter what price they had to pay.
· Faith is not some kind of nebulous(hazy/indisticnt) feeling that we work up; faith is confidence that God’s Word is true, and conviction that acting on that Word will bring His blessing.
· We need the in your face impact of James
· Jerusalem brothers(Southern)Peter, James, John(to a lesser degree)tended to be a little more in your face
· Paul, Barnabas, Silas, from Antioch/up North, their emphasis was definitely grace,
· In 1;19-27, we looked @ how faith obeys the Word.
· Remember we said that James has a pattern to his writing; he begins w/ a principle/concept
· Then he uses illustrations to amplify his teaching
· In 1;22 he said be doers of the Word=faith proving itself, not just hearers only
· He illustrated it by using the example of the man who looks @ himself in the mirror
· He said in 1;26 if you think you have the faith but, you cannot excercise verbal self-control, once again, you're not a doer
· In1 ;27 he says as an example, doers visit orphans, minister to widows, and are not worldly=more illustrations
· In chapter two he lays out the next practical principal of partiality, he says don't do it=gives an illustration
· He tells us about how to treat and not treat people that come to church, not to become a judge of others, based upon their clothes or appearance.
· In 2;8 he goes to a biblical illustration: Leviticus 19;18 “Never seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord. He says if you can do this, you do well/fulfilling the royal law=
· affirmed by Christ (Matt. 22:39): Love your neighbor as yourself. The law is royal or regal (basilikon, from basileus, “king”) because it is decreed by the King of kings, is fit for a king, and is considered the king of laws. The phrase reflects the Latin lex regia known throughout the Roman Empire.
· Turn to Galatians 5;14 For the whole law can be summed up in this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”* 15 But if instead of showing love among yourselves you are always biting and devouring one another, watch out! Beware of destroying one another. Read thru ;21
· It's interesting to note that God, thru the pen of the Apotle Paul, lists adultery & murder in the same list as as quareling, selfish ambition, jealousy & envy, which become our comfortable sins.
· And then the last verse we looked @ last time, actually gives us some practical perspective on our actions. If we show mercy to others, mercy will be shown to us & vice-versa. Mercy has been defined as=to abstain from inflicting punishment upon an adversary or a law-breaker. That compassion which causes one to help the weak, the sick or the poor, showing mercy is one of the cardinal virtues of a true Christian and is a part of the "fruit of the spirit"(Gal. 5;22,23).
· If you've not been giving mercy/you won't be given mercy
· So in this next session, James discusses the relationship between faith and works.
This is an important discussion, for if we are wrong in this matter, we jeopardize our eternal salvation. What kind of faith really saves a person? Is it necessary to perform good works in order to be saved? How can a person tell whether or not he is exercising true saving faith? James answers these questions by explaining to us that there are three kinds of faith, only one of which is true saving faith.
· Faith #1=Dead Faith=2;14-17-Even in the early church there were those who claimed they had saving faith, yet did not possess salvation. Wherever there is the true, you will find the counterfeit. Jesus warned in Matt. 7;21 “Not all people who sound religious are really godly. They may refer to me as ‘Lord,’ but they still won’t enter the Kingdom of Heaven. The decisive issue is whether they obey my Father in heaven.
· People with dead faith substitute words for deeds. They know the correct vocabulary for prayer and testimony, and can even quote the right verses from the Bible; but their walk does not measure up to their talk. They think that their words are as good as works, and they are wrong.
· Your life testifies your belief so no works, claim faith=self-decieved,
· Your words cannot make somebody warm or fill their stomach
· The works don't save me, they only prove that I have saving faith
· A lot of people have gone forward & said sinners prayer, went on living the same way
· Bible says a fool doesn't believe in God/devils said in the gospels to Jesus, we know who You are, You're the holy one of God, it was only intelectual
· What good does it do if there's no change of life?
· Evidence proves the heart has been changed
· You can look @ our lives & see if there's evidence
· There's nothing more powerful than that testimony
· It draws the broken hearted to Christ
· Paul also understood the necessity of works in proving the character of our faith. He wrote: 10 For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so that we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.Ephesians 2:10). He also wrote: 8 These things I have told you are all true. I want you to insist on them so that everyone who trusts in God will be careful to do good deeds all the time. These things are good and beneficial for everyone.(Titus 3:8)
Real faith, and the works that accompany it, are not made up of only “spiritual” things, but also of a concern for the most basic needs - such as the need for comfort, covering, and food. When needs arise, we should sometimes pray less, and simply do more to help the person in need. We can sometimes pray as a substitute for action.
· Food and clothing are basic needs of every human being, whether he is saved or unsaved. “And having food and raiment let us be therewith content” (1 Tim. 6:8). “Therefore take no thought, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or, ‘What shall we drink?’ or, ‘Wherewithal shall we be clothed?’... for your Heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things” (Matt. 6:31–32). Jacob included these basic needs in his prayer to God: “If God will be with me... and will give me bread to eat, and raiment to put on” (Gen. 28:20).
· like the common Jewish farewell, Go, I wish you well (lit., “Go in peace,” cf. Jud. 18:6; 1 Sam. 1:17; 2 Sam. 15:9; Mark 5:34; Luke 7:50).
· As believers, we have an obligation to help meet the needs of people, no matter who they may be. “As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith-Gal. 6;10 Whenever we have the opportunity, we should do good to everyone, especially to our Christian brothers and sisters.
· Also in Matt. 25;40 And the King will tell them, ‘I assure you, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters,* you were doing it to me!’
Faith #2=Demonic Faith (James 2:18–19)-James wanted to shock his complacent readers, so he used demons as his illustration. When Jesus was ministering on earth, He often cast out demons; and He gave that power to His disciples. Paul often confronted demonic forces in his ministry; and in Ephesians 6:10–20, he admonished the early Christians to claim God’s protection and defeat the spiritual forces of wickedness.
· What do they believe? For one thing, they believe in the existence of God
· They also believe in the deity of Christ. Whenever they met Christ when He was on earth, they bore witness to His sonship (Mark 3:11–12). They believe in the existence of a place of punishment (Luke 8:31); and they also recognize Jesus Christ as the Judge (Mark 5:1–13). They submit to the power of His Word.
· But it is not a saving experience to believe and tremble. A person can be enlightened in his mind and even stirred in his heart and be lost forever. True saving faith involves something more, something that can be seen and recognized: a changed life. “Show me thy faith without thy works,” challenged James, “and I will show thee my faith by my works” (James 2:18).
· How could a person show his faith without works? When you trust Christ, you are “created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them” (Eph. 2:10). Being a Christian involves trusting Christ and living for Christ; you receive the life, then you reveal the life. Faith that is barren is not saving faith. The Greek word translated “dead” in James 2:20 carries the meaning of “barren or idle,” like money drawing no interest.
· James has introduced us to two kinds of faith that can never save the sinner: dead faith (the intellect alone), and demonic faith (the intellect and the emotions). He closes this section by describing the only kind of faith that can save the sinner—dynamic faith.
· Dynamic Faith (James 2:20–26)-Dynamic faith is faith that is real, faith that has power, faith that results in a changed life.
James described this true saving faith. To begin with, dynamic saving faith is based on the Word of God. We receive our spiritual rebirth through God’s Word (James 1:18).
· James used Abraham and Rahab as illustrations of dynamic saving faith, since both of them heard and received the message of God through His Word.
· Faith is only as good as its object. The man in the jungle bows before an idol of stone and trusts it to help him, but he receives no help. No matter how much faith a person may generate, if it is not directed at the right object, it will accomplish nothing. “I believe” may be the testimony of many sincere people, but the big question is, “In whom do you believe? What do you believe?” We are not saved by faith in faith; we are saved by faith in Christ as revealed in His Word.
· Dynamic faith is based on God’s Word, and it involves the whole man. Dead faith touches only the intellect; demonic faith involves both the mind and the emotions; but dynamic faith involves the will. The whole person plays a part in true saving faith. The mind understands the truth; the heart desires the truth; and the will acts upon the truth. The men and women of faith named in Hebrews 11 were people of action: God spoke and they obeyed. Again, “Faith is not believing in spite of evidence; faith is obeying in spite of consequence.”
· True saving faith leads to action. Dynamic faith is not intellectual contemplation or emotional consternation; it leads to obedience on the part of the will. And this obedience is not an isolated event: it continues throughout the whole life. It leads to works.
· Many different kinds of works are named in the New Testament. “The works of the Law” (Gal. 2:16) relate to the sinner’s attempt to please God by obeying the Law of Moses. Of course, it is impossible for a sinner to be saved through the works of the Law. “The works of the flesh” (Gal. 5:19) are done by unsaved people who live for the things of the old nature. There are also “wicked works” (Col. 1:21) and “dead works” (Heb. 9:14). Where there is dynamic faith—saving faith—you will always find good works.
· James then illustrated his doctrine in the lives of two well-known Bible persons: Abraham and Rahab. You could not find two more different persons! Abraham was a Jew; Rahab was a Gentile. Abraham was a godly man, but Rahab was a sinful woman, a harlot. Abraham was the friend of God, while Rahab belonged to the enemies of God. What did they have in common? Both exercised saving faith in God.
· You will want to read Genesis 15 and 22 to get the background facts for this illustration. God called Abraham out of Ur of the Chaldees to lead him into Canaan and to make out of him the great nation of Israel. It was through Israel that God would bring the Saviour into the world. Abraham’s salvation experience is recorded in Genesis 15. At night, God showed His servant the stars and gave him a promise, “So shall thy seed [descendants] be!” How did Abraham respond? “And he believed in the Lord, and He [the Lord] counted it to him for righteousness” (Gen. 15:5–6).
· The word counted is a legal or financial term; it means “to put to one’s account.” As a sinner, Abraham’s spiritual bankbook was empty. He was bankrupt! But he trusted God, and God put righteous on Abraham’s account. Abraham did not work for this righteousness; he received it as a gift from God. He was declared righteous by faith. He was justified by faith (read Rom. 4).
· Justification is an important doctrine in the Bible. Justification is the act of God whereby He declares the believing sinner righteous on the basis of Christ’s finished work on the cross. It is not a process; it is an act. It is not something the sinner does; it is something God does for the sinner when he trusts Christ. It is a once-for-all event. It never changes.
· How can you tell if a person is justified by faith if this transaction takes place between the sinner and God privately? Abraham’s example answers that important question: the justified person has a changed life and obeys God’s will. His faith is demonstrated by his works.
· James used another event in Abraham’s life, an event that took place many years after Abraham’s conversion. This event is the offering up of Isaac on the altar (Gen. 22). Abraham was not saved by obeying God’s difficult command. His obedience proved that he already was saved. “You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did” (James 2:22, NIV). There is a perfect relationship between faith and works. As someone has expressed it, “Abraham was not saved by faith plus works, but by a faith that works.”
· How was Abraham “justified by works” (James 2:21) when he had already been “justified by faith”? (see Rom. 4) By faith, he was justified before God and his righteousness declared; by works he was justified before men and his righteousness demonstrated. It is true that no humans actually saw Abraham put his son on the altar, but the inspired record in Genesis 22 enables us to see the event and witness Abraham’s faith demonstrated by his works.
· D.L. Moody often said, “Every Bible should be bound in shoe leather.” He did not say that because he had been a successful shoe salesman; he said it because he was a dedicated Christian. Dynamic faith obeys God and proves itself in daily life and works. Alas, we still have church members today who fit the description given in Titus, “They profess that they know God, but in works they deny Him” (Titus 1:16). Paul also writes, “This is a faithful saying, and these things I will that thou affirm constantly, that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works” (Titus 3:8).
· His second illustration is Rahab, and the background for her is found in Joshua 2 and 6. Israel was about to invade their Promised Land and take the city of Jericho. Joshua sent spies into the city to get the lay of the land. There they met Rahab, a harlot, who protected them and affirmed that she believed in what God had said and what God was going to do. When the men departed, they promised to save her and her family when the city was taken; and this they did.
· It is an exciting story. But in it is one of the Bible’s great examples of saving faith (see Heb. 11:31). Rahab heard the Word and knew that her city was condemned. This truth affected her and her fellow citizens so that their hearts melted within them (Josh. 2:11).
· Rahab responded with her mind and her emotions; but she also responded with her will: she did something about it. She risked her own life to protect the Jewish spies, and she further risked her life by sharing the good news of deliverance with the members of her family.
· The Hebrew word translated “harlot” in Joshua 2 can also have the wider meaning of “an innkeeper.” Rahab ran a guest house, so it was normal for the spies to go there. The Greek word “harlot” in James 2:25 definitely means an immoral person.
· This is also the meaning in Hebrews 11:31. Matthew 1:5 indicates she married into Israel and became an ancestress of our Lord. What grace! Rahab is one of the first soul winners in the Bible, and you can compare her with the “bad Samaritan” in John 4.
· Rahab could have had dead faith, a mere intellectual experience. Or she could have had demonic faith, her mind enlightened and her emotions stirred. But she exercised dynamic faith: her mind knew the truth, her heart was stirred by the truth, and her will acted on the truth. She proved her faith by her works.
· When you realize the small amount of information Rahab had, you can see how truly marvelous her faith really was. Today we have the full revelation of God through His Word and His Son. We live on the other side of Calvary, and we have the Holy Spirit to convict and to teach us the Word. “For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required” (Luke 12:48). Her faith is an indictment against the unbelief of sinners today.
· James 2 emphasized that the mature Christian practices the truth. He does not merely hold to ancient doctrines; he practices those doctrines in his everyday life. His faith is not the dead faith of the intellectuals, or the demonic faith of the fallen spirits. It is the dynamic faith of men like Abraham and women like Rahab, faith that changes a life and goes to work for God.
· It is important that each professing Christian examine his own heart and life and make sure that he possesses true saving faith, dynamic faith. “Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves” (2 Cor. 13:5a). Satan is the great deceiver; one of his devices is imitation. If he can convince a person that counterfeit faith is true faith, he has that person in his power.
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