Route 66: James - Faith That Does

Am I on?

Uh I don't hear anything.

I am on.

Okay.

All right.

Can't hear a thing.

Well, it's good to be here.

I was gonna say good to be back, but um it's not like I'm not here.

Um I can definitely relate to what Doug said about uh the steely silence.

There are times I've spoken in places, and I have absolutely no idea whether anyone's listening.

But you know, you you come to that point, and maybe Doug and Micah, you can relate to this, where right before you speak, you you make that covenant with the Lord and you say, no matter if anyone listens or not, I'm gonna I'm gonna preach your word and I'm gonna obey you, and I'm gonna give your word no matter whether anyone's here or not, whether anyone listens or not, and you have to actually have to come to that point because you're not doing it for others, you're doing it for Him.

So we're gonna hopefully move pretty quickly tonight through the book of James.

And let me just briefly begin with a word of prayer again.

Father, thank you so much for this opportunity to preach.

Thank you, Lord, for the practicality of this book, and thank you, God, for how this book has changed me by studying it.

Um, the great truths, the wonderful pithy sayings that are contained in this book.

We just pray that you'd be with us now during these next few minutes.

Amen.

So, just a brief introduction since we have to start somewhere.

The book of James is often called the Proverbs of the New Testament because of its practical wisdom.

It's also compared to the Sermon on the Mount in other instances.

Uh, at first glance, it could look like just a set of practical suggestions or prohibitions, but in actuality, it's a full-length illustration of what life in Christ really looks like.

So, just a little background, uh, in terms of who is James, there's a bit of a debate that goes on.

I think it's largely been settled, but just to review some of the Jameses that we know of.

First, of course, there's James, the son of Zebedee rather, the brother of John.

That's James the greater, some call him.

Then, of course, there's James, the son of Alpheus, who is likely the brother to Matthew, and he's called James the Less in some circles.

Then there's a l another James that we don't hear about much, James, the father of Judas, seen in Luke chapter 6, 16.

Luke 6 · chapter mention

And this is Judas, not Iscariot.

Neither one of these Jameses, do we believe, the one is the one who authored this book.

This would be James, the brother of the Lord.

Uh, we see James in the upper room praying in Acts uh chapter 11.

Jesus appeared to him after the resurrection.

He also moderated the church conference in Acts 15.

He received greetings and special love offerings from Paul upon his return to Jerusalem in Acts 21.

According to tradition, he was martyred in 62 AD.

Uh, tradition also uh says that he was known as Old Camelnes because of the fact that he prayed so much.

Uh what a tribute to an individual to be known that way, to be spending that much time praying.

Uh, a little bit of the background of the book, again, like we said, it was written by James, most likely in about 45 to 48 A.D., uh before the Jerusalem Council.

And uh one of the proofs for that is that there's no mention of Gentile believers in this book.

No, uh, it was not shaped by later church controversies.

So there's pretty good indicator that this is an early book.

And who was the book written to?

It was written to Messianic Jews, and we'll see that in a minute as we look at verse 1.

And these were Jews living outside of Palestine in an early diaspora.

James wrote this book uh again as a way after the Jews were scattered to Cyprus and Phoenicia and Antioch, essentially he was addressing the diaspora.

He gives instructions to these diaspora Jews to stay connected to the body of Christ, and as we'll see shortly, a major theme is faith.

James deals with practical issues more so than doctrinal issues.

So in some ways, it's interesting to examine the book from a different uh a different uh vantage point.

So let's actually just dive into the text now, and I have actually actually before we do that, let me quote one or two more things.

Uh a few responses to the book of James from some of the reformers, um, and just a little preface to that.

The book of James was somewhat disputed in the early church.

There are those who had issues with it, like Eusebius, Jerome had some issues with it.

Uh, even Martin Luther, of course, referred to as the Epistle of Straw.

But Martin Luther also wrote this though this epistle of St.

James was was rejected by the ancients, I praise it and consider it a good book because it sets up no doctrine of men, but vigorously promulgates the law of God.

Calvin said, the occasion of writing the epistle appears to have been the abuse made of the doctrine of free grace by professing Christians.

These are evils which have which have ever prevailed in the church.

So now let's well, let's slow down for one thing.

Um I'm I'm very concerned that we get through this.

Um I said to I think I said to Mike on the way over, I you know I think next time I'm gonna sign up for for Jude, you know, because it's only one chapter, you know, that I can handle.

Maybe Jude, maybe Philemon, you know.

Okay, so let's dive into it.

Chapter one, we're gonna call that faith is tested.

Verse one, James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes scattered among the nations.

Well, one of the things we see there is James's humility.

He doesn't say, I'm the brother of Jesus, by the way.

He doesn't remind everyone who he is.

He just says, I am a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ.

No indication from those words as to who he was.

Then he also says to the twelve tribes.

And what's interesting there to me is the fact that we often have heard that some of the tribes were lost.

Well, not according to James.

These these tribes uh do exist in his mind and they're they're still in existence now.

But there are some who would say that the ten tribes were lost when Israel was taken into captivity.

Uh so now let's talk about verses two through four, the joy in trials and temptations.

My gosh, I could oh, I could preach on some of these verses for hours, but I know everyone's gonna leave if we do that.

Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance.

Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

This patience, this perseverance results in our maturity and our completion, so that we might be fully developed like fruit on a tree and fully equipped to serve God.

Then there's also wisdom in the trial.

Verse 5 If any of you lack wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault.

Let me just stop right here.

How often do we ever think to ask God for wisdom for the littlest things that we face every day?

I I can tell you right now, I don't.

There are many times I don't.

And yet, what a what a promise we have right here that God will give us wisdom when we can't figure things out, we don't know what to do, don't know how to respond.

He will give us to us generously.

Not just a little bit, but generously.

He will supply us generously, but what's even more incredible here is that if we ask of God, he gives it generously without finding fault.

So, in other words, he will give to us without criticizing us, without scolding, without finding fault in the one asking.

That's it, that's a tremendous thought right there.

And then there's belief in the trial during the trial.

It says in verse 6, when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind.

That man should not think that he will receive anything from the Lord.

He is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.

What does this idea teach?

Well, the doubter is unstable like the sea.

Such a person is double-minded.

Double-minded means divided loyalty, having a heart that is pulled in two different directions.

And the idea is instability, and you'll often find that in Christians, instability and immaturity go together.

He goes on in verse 9 the brother in humble circumstances ought to take pride in his high position, but the one who is rich should take pride in his low position, because he will pass away like a wild flower.

For the sun rises with scorching heat, and without the plant, its blossom falls and its beauty is destroyed.

In the same way, the rich man will fade away even while he goes about his business.

So we have a contrast here between rich and poor.

In one sense, they can both rejoice.

Poverty, of course, was a very crushing trial for many believers.

And you'll find that when you study the uh the uh the ancient uh Christians, it really was no middle class back then.

It was really mostly very poor people and very wealthy people.

But the poor could rejoice in the fact that even though they were had a low status because of their poverty, they could still glory in the riches that they had in Christ.

The wealthy, by contrast, also faced a trial because they had to learn how not to trust wealth, but how to glory in being humble.

There's also a reward that's mentioned here for endurance in the trial.

And verse 12 to me sounds almost like a beatitude.

Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love it.

You know, an interesting study sometime is to look at the crowns that the believer may attain in Scripture.

There's various crowns that one can attain, but in this instance, the one who has persevered, the one who has endured a trial will receive the crown of life.

Then he moves on to a section in verse 13 through the rest of the chapter that deals with temptation.

We're gonna call that the goodness of God in temptation.

Verses, actually, verses 13 to 18.

And temptations are sent by Satan, whereas trials are sent by God.

So there's a whole section here that talks about that.

Don't say that it's God that is tempting you.

It is not God that is tempting you.

Temptations are sent by Satan and one's evil desires, he uses one's evil desires to drag someone away.

Now, verse 14, it says, the scripture says that he is dragged away.

And that word seems to imply the idea of being baited, baiting a track, a trap, so that the person is dragged away, the person is baited, if you will, and enticed.

And the idea there seems to be baiting a hook.

So we can almost think of it as a person who is dragged away by his desires.

He is baited and by a trap, and he is enticed almost like the way a fish would be enticed by what whatever is on the hook.

But, however, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin.

And sin, when it is full grown, gives birth to death.

We can think of it this way think of it as a almost like a human analogy.

So desire is is gets pregnant, if you will, with sin.

And when sin is born and matures, it grows up into an adult called death.

So think of that analogy.

But then by contrast, think of how God produces birth, not through an evil desire, but through the word of God.

This then grows up not into an adult called death, but an adult called life.

And into the first fruits of his creatures.

That is a new life in us, the new birth.

So the idea of first fruits was taken from the Torah.

If you remember back in places like Leviticus, places like uh Exodus, the first fruits were the first things that were offered to God.

And so the believers are contrasted here, or or compared here rather, to that first portion of harvest that was set aside for God.

And then verse 17 talks about good gifts.

Every good and perfect gift is from above and comes down from the Father, from the of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.

And other versions say, with no shadow of turning, no variableness.

And the idea there, which is really incredible, is this idea that God keeps giving.

Did you know that the verse there in verse 17 is the actually the word is the uh present participle in Greek.

And so the idea is not just that He that it comes down, the gift comes down from God, but that it keeps on coming.

It's in the present tense.

That means it continues, it's a continuous thing.

God's giving keeps on coming.

That's a tremendous idea that we have that we realize that God is always someone who's willing to give his good gifts.

And then what is the godly response to temptation?

We see that in verses 19 to 27.

Well, first of all, don't respond in anger, because it's very easy for us to respond in anger, isn't it?

And so many times we do it.

Verse 19, my dear brothers, take note of this.

Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry.

As someone once said, there's a reason why you have two ears and one mouth.

And so we are to listen, we are to not get angry, we are to not respond in anger.

We are to actively obey God.

And then it says in verse 20 for man's anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires.

Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word of God.

So that's the second response, to get rid of all moral filth.

This idea of that is used in verse 21 there, it says that the word is planted in you, which can save you.

That's an interesting word right there.

I think of it as the heart as a garden.

And if left to itself, the soil produces weeds.

And we should prepare that soil for the implanted word of God.

Allow God to plant his word.

Now, a really important verse is 22.

Do not merely listen to the word and so deceive yourselves.

Do what it says.

And that's really the heart of the book of James, if you want to cut to the chase of it.

It's not being a hearer, but also a doer.

So easy for us to let to know, isn't it?

But not to do.

It's so easy for us to listen.

I think about how many sermons I've heard in my life, and how many of them have I put into practice is another word.

How many of them do I even remember?

Is a better question.

Do what it says.

Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks in a mirror, and after looking at it, he goes away and immediately forgets what he looks at.

And that's exactly what it is.

The idea of looking into a mirror is similar to listening to the word but not obeying it, just completely forgetting about it.

Yeah, that sounds good.

We heard a good sermon in church.

Sunday, by Tuesday, who knows what we heard?

You know, that's that's the bottom line, right?

Isn't that how it is sometimes?

Yeah, we ought to look into the law of liberty, because the law of liberty, as it says in verse 24, after goes away, say no, immediately say, but the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it, he will be blessed in what he does.

And this isn't when I think about looking into the law of liberty, I think of like bending down and stooping and intently gazing into the divine law of God as perfected and as fulfilled in Christ.

And even this word perfect, which is in Greek is teleos, is a word that means complete, it means mature, it means whole.

And so James is talking about this law of liberty, and later on we'll talk about the law of faith.

And then finally, wrapping up this chapter, uh I'm gonna jump to verse 27.

Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

And so we have a negative and we also have a positive there.

The positive part is to look after orphans and widows.

And of course, in our day and age, that could even extend to other things.

It doesn't have to be orphans and widows per se.

But certainly in that day that was emphasized, and that's an important thing.

I myself was raised by a widow, and so this verse is particularly important to me, particularly relevant.

Then the negative side would be to keep oneself unpolluted, undefiled, if you will, from the world.

Then we're gonna move on to chapter two, and chapter two we're gonna call Faith is proven.

And this is a chapter that talks about how you prove your faith by not showing favoritism.

And that's this whole first section we're gonna talk about, verses one through nine.

I'm not gonna read every verse, again, for sake of time, but just to read a f a few choice verses, verse two of chapter two.

So a man comes into your meeting with a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man, and a poor man is is uh let's see, I missed it, and a poor man in shabby clothes also comes in.

If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say, here's a good seat for you, but say to the poor man, you stand here or sit on the floor by my feet, are you not discriminating and become judges with evil thoughts?

So in in that day, the synagogues were the assemblies.

And so this actually was an issue.

And you know, I actually know Jews today, and this is still an issue in some congregations where the rich are highly favored.

But what does James say?

Don't favor the rich in your congregation, don't favor them over the poor.

In verse 5, he goes on to say that the poor or more are more likely to be rich in faith.

And think of it, Jesus himself was poor.

We know that, but we often forget about the implications of that.

Jesus was born in a borrowed stable, he borrowed a boat to preach from, he borrowed bread from a small boy to make an illustration to provide food for the crowd.

He borrowed a coin also to make an illustration.

He also borrowed a donkey to ride into Jerusalem.

He borrowed a room to celebrate the Passover.

He even even a tomb was borrowed from Joseph of Arimathea to bury him.

So Jesus himself was poor.

And of course, he could relate more than anyone to the poor.

In verse 6, it says that the rich were seen as exploitive, and they would bring the poor into court and slander the name of Christ.

Now, by the way, let me just say that there's a big difference between unsaved rich people and saved rich people.

Never does the Bible condemn riches for the sake of riches themselves.

It's really do riches have you more so than do you have riches?

He goes on to say that you prove your faith by loving your neighbor.

This is verses eight and nine.

Showing favoritism makes you a lawbreaker.

Christian love is treating others the way that God has treated us.

And we prove our faith by obeying God's laws and showing mercy to others.

Now we're getting into verses 2 10 to 13.

And here in verse 10, uh I'm sorry, verse 11, the scripture says, For he who said, Do not commit adultery, also said, do not murder.

If you do not commit adultery, but do commit murder, you have become a lawbreaker.

And you know, the issue here is there are people who think that they haven't broken the law because it's something they didn't do.

The truth is we've all broken laws.

The truth is that every one of us has broken a commandment at one time or another.

And so if if you break one little aspect of the whole law, and that's what he's saying, you've broken the whole thing as far as God is concerned.

Verse 13, you will be judged by God if you don't show mercy to others.

And so that's a principle that we see over and over again in scripture.

Now, an important section in verses 14, going down to the end of the chapter.

And it's a section that's almost always confused by many because of the idea of faith and works being presented.

So let me just say at the outset by contrasting Paul and James, Paul combats legalism, but James combats dead orthodoxy.

So they come at it from two different angles.

Paul says, by grace you have been saved through faith, not of works.

But James says, faith without works is dead.

The difference is that Paul is concerned with people trying to earn salvation by the works of the law, but James is addressing people who are claiming faith but showing no evidence of faith in their lives.

And that's the big difference here.

Faith by itself is not a saving faith, it says in verse 14, right?

Sounds controversial, doesn't it?

And then in verse 17, faith by itself is a dead faith.

Calvin had a great quote on this, by the way.

I love this quote.

It is faith alone that justifies, but faith that justifies can never be alone.

Think about that one for a little bit.

Faith actually is accomplished by action.

So let's take an illustration, a homespun illustration.

If you have a tree, and let's say the roots represent faith, but the fruit and the leaves of that tree represent works, okay?

So got this illustration in your mind?

The roots are faith and the fruit and the uh fruit is works.

But you see a tree that doesn't bear any leaves or doesn't bear any fruit.

Is it not reasonable to conclude that that tree is dead?

Now the truth is the root might be alive, it might still be alive, but one could easily assume that it's dead.

That's what I believe is being spoken about here.

It's what is evidenced by that faith.

That's what James is talking about here.

He says in verse 20, you foolish man, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless?

Now, again, that's rendered in different uh different ways in different versions.

Actually, let me let me go back to 19 for a second because I want to touch on something there.

In verse 19, it's a great verse.

He says, You believe, huh?

That's great.

Well, guess what?

The demons believe too and and tremble and shudder.

So if you're gonna use belief as something to validate your faith, the bad news for you is the fact that the devils believe too.

That's not the point.

You know, the Jews used to uh uh have a daily affirmation of faith where they would say, you know, the Shema Shema Israel Adunai Elahaino Adunai Echad, you know, the Lord God is one God.

So they would utter this again and again and again.

So there was there was faith there, but the question is not, do you believe?

The question is, is there evidence of your belief?

Or is that faith useless, as it says in verse 20?

And that word useless, by the way, connotes the idea of barren.

Um it's almost akin to having an account where the money draws no interest.

So faith and works or faith and deeds, if you will, must work together.

And then illustrations are given that later in the chapter.

In verses 21 and 22, the illustration of Abraham.

Abraham was not saved by obeying God's difficult command, but rather his obedience demonstrated that he was saved.

And then, of course, Rahab illustrates her works, also are illustrated in verse 25.

And then finally, in verse 26, the scripture says, faith without deeds is like a body without the spirit of life in it.

You can have a body, the body is certainly there, and there's no doubt that the body is there, but if there's no spirit of life in it, it is a dead body.

An existent body, an existing body, but a dead body.

So now we move on to chapter three, faith is controlled.

And this is a chapter that's going to talk all about something that gets us all into trouble, the tongue.

And the very first verse says, Not many of you, not many of you should presume to be teachers, my brothers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly.

We also stumble and in many ways.

And that's kind of a convicting verse for those of us who actually preach and teach, that the burden is more on us than others because of the fact that we are held accountable for what we say.

Those that James was dealing with may have actually had a desire because of the prestige of the office to teach, and he might have been addressing it, the issue, because of that reason.

So then he jumps into this area of the tongue.

The tongue must be controlled or tamed because it's small yet powerful.

So three illustrations are given the horse's bit and the ship's rudder, and also a spark from a fire.

All three of them are small, but can do great, great damage, and also are very powerful, just like a bit in a horse's mouth can turn a horse, a rudder can turn a ship, a spark can set uh a forest on fire.

In verse 8, it says, the tongue is unsettled and never at peace.

It's responsible for hypocritical and destructive speech.

We're going to see in verses 9 through 12.

And then more illustrations are given in verse 10.

It says, Out of the same mouth comes praise and cursing.

My brothers, this ought not to be.

Can fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring?

My brothers, can a fig tree bear olives?

And so that's an interesting question.

What about that?

What about these fountains?

Fountains were very important to the Jews, to anyone living in a village.

I was in Italy this summer, and every town had a fountain.

And there was an interesting history given about the significance of each fountain and what they represented.

So fresh fountains were very precious.

And water itself can be either life-giving or it could be destructive, right?

There can be a tsunami of water coming at you.

But what Paul is saying here is that you cannot do both.

One cannot cannot uh give forth fresh water, but at the same time give forth bitter or salty water.

Then the next section talks about how the heart must be controlled and tamed as long as well as the tongue.

Verse 13 says, gosh, me a little.

Okay, verse 13.

Who is wise and understanding among you?

Let him show it by his good life, by his deeds, done in the humility that comes from wisdom.

So we've kind of moved from the tongue to the area of the heart.

And Paul and James emphasizes rather that the heart must be controlled and tamed as well.

The believer should be character by characterized by humility, and the believer should be without envy and without self-ambition.

And there's a bunch of other things listed here too.

Uh let's see, in verse 15, he says, let's see.

Such wisdom does not come down from heaven, but is earthly, unspiritual, and of the devil.

Yeah, sure, thanks.

Speaking of water, huh?

That's a good illustration right here.

I hope this is fresh and not bitter.

Very timely, yeah, exactly.

Verse 16 for where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and have evil practice.

But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure, then peace-loving, then considerate, submissive, full of mercy, and good fruit, impartial and sincere.

Again, there's a lot more we can say about it.

And I I I apologize for rushing.

It's just that um there's there's so much here.

So we're gonna just move on to verse to chapter four faith is submitted.

So first we have the problem in verses one through four.

And I'll just read a few of these verses.

What causes fights and quarrels among you?

Don't they come from your desires that baptism?

within you want something but you don't get it you kill and you covet but you cannot get what you want you quarrel and you fight you do not have because you do not ask God when you ask you do not receive because you ask with wrong motives that you may spend what you that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.

My gosh there's so much there that we could talk about.

I mean that is a a convicting verse uh there's so much that we can say about it but the question is when we pray do we do so with wrong motives he even goes on and says with even harsher language you turn to the world instead of turning to God therefore making yourself an enemy of God.

So the question is what is meant by being a friend of the world?

Here's a question we have to ask I believe what it's saying is that you're being approved by the world.

You're going to the world to obtain your needs to meet your needs.

What I don't believe it's saying is that you're you're you know listening to music or going you know playing cards you know there's a lot of things in the in the past that people have assumed uh was synonymous with worldliness worldliness but I don't believe that's what it's saying here.

Friendship with the world is actually just seeking approval trying to be like the world that's essentially what it is to make it simple.

It's compared further down with adultery.

And the Jews had heard this language before because the prophets had used the same illustrations and when rebuking Judah for her their her sins comparing what they were doing to a spiritual form of adultery if you will the spirit of the world is strife and envy.

Then God deeply desires our devotion like a husband it says in verse 5.

Let me just read that real quick or do you think scripture says without reason that the spirit he caused to live in us envies intensely and so it's a little bit of a tricky verse but I believe what it's saying is that God desires our devotion like a husband is jealous for his wife's faithfulness.

And this is why friendship with the world is spiritual adultery if you will.

It's committing adultery against God.

Not only is there a problem within but also a provision of grace we see that in verse six but he gives us more grace which is why the scripture says God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.

And then we move on to a section that I call the path to victory verses seven through ten.

Just a uh a number of uh ideas here verse seven submit yourselves then to God resist the devil and he will flee from you so this idea of submitting to God when I looked it up this word submit is a military term that means get into your proper rank.

So if you will get into your proper rank with God be in the position that God wants you to be humbly submitted before him.

Then he goes on resist the devil and God gives us strength to do that.

Come near to God and he will come near to you.

Wash your hands purify your hearts you double minded grieve mourn and wail change your laughter into mourning and your joy to gloom now that's an interesting verse right there.

So what is that talking about should Christians never laugh?

I'm in trouble if that's the case because I like to laugh.

I like to make people laugh as well but it says turn your laughter into mourning and your joy into heaviness well James is addressing people here that are smug that are self-satisfied and these were people that were treating sin lightly and they were ignoring God's holiness.

And that's what he's referring to here.

There's nothing wrong with Christians laughing but there should be a seriousness about sin rather than laughter about it.

And then there's a prohibition of slander in verses 11 and 12 brothers do not slander one another anyone who speaks against his brother or judges him speaks against the law and judges it.

When you judge the law you are not keeping it but sitting in judgment on it.

There's only one lawgiver and judge the one who was able to save and to destroy but you who are you to judge your neighbor boy doesn't that make it clear to summarize that there's only one lawgiver and judge and it's not you and it's not me.

Then we move on to the priority of God's will and this is in verses 13 through 17.

And again he talks about not presuming we shouldn't be presumptuous uh verse 13 and in verse 14 he talks about the verse that we all know what is your life we can we can't be presumptuous about tomorrow because we don't know what a day may bring I always had a hard time let me just say this off the cuff.

I always had a hard time with the question what is your five year plan?

My answer's always been I have no idea.

I don't even know what I'm doing next week honestly not to say that you shouldn't plan but I've never been good at being able to say that because I just don't know.

None of us know what's coming up.

And so we cannot be presumptuous about tomorrow because we just don't know what a day brings and the illustration is given of course about a vapor a life is a vapor it's a mist that is here today it's gone tomorrow it's here for a little while it's very it's disturbing to think of that but it's really true.

And then he says you boast and brag and also all such boasting is evil and so we're not to presume we're also not to boast we're also to avoid not to avoid doing the good which we have the ability to do.

Anyone who knows the good he ought to do and doesn't do it sins.

Let me read that verse because that's a really convict anyone then who knows the good he ought to do and doesn't do it sins.

That means if I know to do the right thing and I choose not to do it I'm sinning.

If you know to do the right thing if God's telling you to do something and you don't do it that's sin according to James I didn't say it he said it then we move on to chapter five and chapter five I'm gonna call Faith is patient.

And the chapter begins by again excoriating the rich and he talks about how and we're gonna see how the there is a connection between this section verses one through six to the following section which is talking about the poor essentially the rich were ex exploiting the poor and treating them terribly and they were withholding wages for example and they were not listening to the cries of those who were treated unjustly and these poor people here were day laborers and we see that actually in verses five and six and yet they were exploited yet they were treated poorly and yet God tells them he has warnings against them he says that you live in luxury while ignoring others but you're like someone who's fattening themselves for the day of slaughter you can fatten yourselves now but there's a day coming where you're going to be slaughtered and God will instead hear the cries of the poor he will instead hear the cries of those who have been treated poorly that you they held withheld wages and that was something that God didn't forget.

And so really this whole section is talking about patience.

So he's encouraging them despite how they've been treated to be patient.

In verse 7 be patient then brothers until the Lord comes and then he gives several illustrations the first being the farmer see how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop and how patient he is for the autumn and spring rains.

So when a farmer plants he has to wait there's a time of waiting you don't just get crops automatically there's a lot of patience that is needed.

Verse 9 don't grumble against each other brothers or you will be judged the the judge is standing at the door.

Then the second illustration of patience is in verse 10 brothers as an example of patience in the face of suffering take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord as you know we consider blessed those who were perse who who persevered and of course they are great examples of prophets who preached and preached and often saw no results for many many years and they were stoned and they were treated poorly and yet they're upheld here as an example of patience.

And a third example of patience is is the personage of Job.

Now I have to tell you when I first read that I said to myself you know I never really thought of Job as a particularly patient individual I've read the book of Job many times.

He seemed kind of impatient if you ask me but what I believe God is saying here is that initially Job was impatient but that he learned patience through everything he experienced he did learn patience.

And yes it is true that he did question God but he never forsook his faith and so Job is used here by James as an example of patience.

And then he goes to a section above all swear not by heaven or by earth as in verse 12 and then we get to verse 13 and this is a section that talks about praying and again some quick pithy sayings right here prayer in all circumstances is any one of you in trouble other verses other versions say afflicted or suffering he should pray very simple.

You have a problem pray can't get more simple than that is anyone happy let him sing songs of praise I would even add if anyone is unhappy sing songs of praise is any among you sick he should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord.

Now a little comment on that there are those who make an issue of this word anointed uh as if there's something magical about it.

But the Greek word is actually alepho and it just means to rub or to massage with oil if you will so there's no merit in the oil there's merit in the prayers.

I believe that the prayer offered here in faith uh it says it will it will make the person well but I also believe that it's saying that the context is sin.

And so that those here who were sick may have been so because of great sin that they committed that caused their situation.

And I get that from verse 15 where it says if he has sinned he will be forgiven let's just read the whole verse.

That prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well the Lord will raise him up if he has sinned he will be forgiven.

Just a thought.

Then verse 16 says therefore confess your now this version says confess your sins one to another and pray for each other so that you may be healed.

Now if I may dive into the Greek again this word for fault for or sins here is actually paratoma it's it's looked like paraptoma but the P is silent in there.

So the word is paratoma and it just means wrongdoing or slip or lapse.

It's not the stronger word hamartia which many of us who study theology know about Hamartyology.

And so what I think it's saying very simply is confess your faults one to another but confess your sins to God.

I don't think there's a need for us to confess our sins one to another but we should be openly open with our faults and acknowledge our faults and failures if we are in situations within the church body where our relationships may have been harmed.

So we are to confess our sins to God and confess our faults one to another and then an example is given of an effective prayer and that's Elijah.

Elijah is mentioned verses 17 and 18 he prayed that it would not rain and God answered his prayer and then he prayed that it would rain and the heavens responded.

And finally the verse the last two verses pursuing the wanderer my brother if any of any one of you should wander from the truth and someone should bring him back remember this whoever turns a sinner from the error of his way will save him and will cover a multitude of sins.

And so when we reach out when we actually confront someone who is sinning this that's a biblical concept it actually says that it will it will it will cover his sin.

And what that means is not that it will not that you're going to forgive his sin of course but it means that it will hide it will prevent future sins from taking place because it will stop him from that downward spiral of rebellion.

Conclusion James shows us that faith which works is faith that endures trials and temptations produces action controls the tongue submits humbly and waits patiently the question tonight is is your faith something that you profess or something that you practice?

And that's the question that all of us need to ask ourselves let's just close now with a word of prayer.

Father thank you for these very home hitting truths that affect all of us and that confront all of us and help us Lord to think about what's what's what's being said in your word some very simple but very profound words that James gives to us Lord help us to not be hypocritical help us Lord to be submissive and Father may we be people more so than anything else that don't just hear the word but actually do it as well.

We just pray these things in Jesus' name amen.