Faith in Action: Lessons from James 5

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Today, Pastor Jeff will wrap up our series from the book of James.

So grab your Bible and follow along as we walk through James chapter 5.

James 5 · chapter mention

And now here's today's message.

It is good to be back home. Thank you for those of you who were praying for us, Jen and I.

We were in California at the Send Network conference, and the Lord just really

spoke to us in some incredible ways.

And this morning, before we jump into our message, it's family day,

and I'm not going to preach for two hours. You guys are lucky.

I'm just glad you're here to hear the word of God. And I believe that God has a message.

God has a word for each one of us this morning.

And so I want us to just bow our heads and just do something.

We're just going to pray together.

And I just want you to take a moment and

you can either say it out loud or you can say it.

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In your heart but the first thing we're gonna say is God meet with me this morning

tell him right now that you want to meet with him God meet with us this morning

we pray we don't want to be here.

There's no reason for us to be here if you're not here with us.

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So tell him how much you need to meet with him.

Secondly, I want you to say this. God, speak to me this morning.

God, speak to me this morning.

We all come in here, different places, we've got different things going on in

our lives. Some of us are completely broken.

Some of us feel abandoned. Some of us feel alone. Some of us are confused.

Some of us feel lost. Some of us are discouraged. Encouraged,

wherever you're at, just pray, God, speak to me this morning.

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And as we've been studying over the past few weeks, we don't want to just hear

the word of God. We want to apply it.

So this morning the third thing that we're going to pray,

is help me to live out your word god help us to live out what we read we know.

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It's from you it is the holy god breathed inspired infallible word of god.

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D.A. Carson is a pastor and theologian, and he said it this way.

The Christian life embraces every facet of our existence, our living and doing.

Here we go. Those are easier, right? The living and doing.

What about these? our thinking and speaking is to be discharged in joyful submission

to God and to his son, our Savior.

That's hard. That's deep.

That our speaking, our thinking, our living, our doing is supposed to be lived

out in submission to Jesus Christ.

That means if it doesn't honor God, don't do it.

If it doesn't honor God, don't say it.

If it doesn't honor God, don't think it.

Our lives are to be lived out for the glory of Jesus Christ.

And we've talked about over the last few weeks that if we're truly Christians,

there should be evidence in our lives, not just our words, not just,

oh yeah, I'm a Christian.

Oh, I go to church once in a while. Oh no, it's every area of our lives should

be submitted joyfully to the word of God.

If you look at James 5, which is where we're going to be today,

we're going to give you, there's 20 verses.

And so open your Bibles. I want to encourage you, bring your Bibles because

we are here to meet with God. We're not here just to listen to me.

I'm just looking at the word of God and hopefully showing you some things from it.

But here in chapter five, you're gonna see that there's only 20 verses.

But within those verses, you're gonna see that chapter five is broken down into

at least three different sections.

A lot of Bibles will have little sections over a passage of verses.

Verses some of them might have three in this some

of them might have four just depends on what bible you're

you're reading from but we're going to break these down

and what i want to do is we're going to walk through these verses together and

i'm just going to pull out some takeaways you should have been handed some a

piece of paper so i would encourage you fill in the blanks if you don't have

one raise your hand we'll make sure to get you one back there in the back yeah so we're.

Thanks, Brenton. And what we want to do is we want to just talk about some takeaways.

Kids, you're in here for Family Sunday. I appreciate you being in here.

If you guys fill out your worksheets, color them, do whatever.

There's word finds, crossword puzzles, and things like that.

If you do that, you will get to get something out of the treasure box,

which has all kinds of, well, mostly sugar. Sorry, parents.

A lot of candy. A lot of candy bars.

That's right. So let's read this together. other. The first section in James

James 5 · chapter mention

chapter 5 is the section broken down into verses 1 through 6, and it says this,

come now, you rich people, weep and wail over the miseries that are coming on you.

Your wealth has rotted and your clothes are moth-eaten. That's encouraging.

Your gold and silver are corroded, and the corrosion will be a witness against you.

I would circle that in your Bible or underline it.

Will be a witness against you and will eat your flesh like fire.

You have stored up treasure in the last days.

Look, the pay that you withheld from the workers who mowed your fields cries

out, and the outcry of the harvesters has reached the ears of the Lord of armies.

Verse five, you have lived luxuriously on this earth and have indulged yourselves.

You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter.

You have condemned, you have murdered the righteous who does not resist you. You're like, what?

What in the world can we take from that? Well, I'm glad you asked.

The first one is pretty obvious, and it's this, what we do with our resources matter.

What you and I do with our resources matters.

James begins in verse 1 and he says, weep and wail.

It's interesting when I studied this, the Greek word for weep here is the same

word that's used back in Luke 22, 62.

Says there that Peter wept bitterly.

Why was he weeping? If you remember back to Luke 22.

Right before Jesus was crucified, what did Jesus come and what did he say to Peter?

He said, this night, Peter, you're going to deny me three times.

And what did Peter say? Not me, Lord.

Not me. I'm not ever going to deny you. I love you. I'm faithful to you.

I follow you to the ends of the earth. I got your back, Jesus.

I got you. And then suddenly the cock crows, and Peter is reminded about what

Jesus said, and he wept bitterly.

That's the same word, that bitter weeping, it's the same word that James is now using here.

It's a heaviness. It's a brokenness.

It's being devastated about your actions. I hope you, as you read this,

you'll feel the heaviness that Peter felt that he let Jesus down.

That's the brokenness and the devastation that we ought to feel.

We ought to have agony and remorse and regret when we don't manage God's resources

that he gives us properly.

It gets quiet when you talk about money. Verse 2 says, your wealth has rotted

and your clothes are moth-eaten.

Your gold and silver are corroded and they will be a witness against who? You.

Takeaway number two, we will be judged, judged for how we use our money.

I like how Eugene Peterson said in the message paraphrase in verse 3,

he said this, your greedy luxuries are a cancer in your gut,

destroying your life from within.

You thought you were piling up wealth, but what you've piled up is judgment.

So James is, here we go again, right? James is punching us in the face.

James isn't telling us what we want to hear. James is telling us what we need to hear, right?

Church, I know it's not popular to speak the word of God.

It's popular to, we want to go find a church or listen to a pastor on the radio

that's going to tell us, hey, if God, if you're doing things right,

you're going to be happy, be healthy and rich,

but that's not the word of God. It just isn't.

There's three things that are taught in this passage in this first section about money.

And before I give them to you, I just want you to know, this is not like,

I don't ever like talking about money.

Because when I grew up, the people who are outside the church would always come

in and they would say, all they ever talk about is money, money,

money, money, money, right?

How many have heard that? You've heard that, right? Churches,

they just want your money.

Well, churches require money to do ministry, but this isn't,

like, I didn't sit down and say, oh, I hope I get to talk about money and offend

people and make people mad at me.

Like, that's not ever what I'm doing. All I'm doing, and praise God,

exegetical preaching, you walk through scripture, and guess what?

The Word of God speaks for itself.

So I'm not adding anything. I'm just telling you what it says,

okay? And here's what it says.

Number one, money is temporary. It's temporary.

It rots, it corrodes, and it fades away. How true is that? It seems like,

man, every time we get paid.

How fast does it go, Jeff? It goes fast.

Even when we're doing Dave Ramsey, even when we're budgeting and telling our

money where to go, it goes fast.

It is fleeting and it flows through our hands.

I love this phrase, this sentence.

It was given and it's not in your notes. It's not in the slides.

I just put it in there this morning as I was praying and reading and I couldn't

remember what it was and then I found it, and I wanted you to be able to have

this. So write it down somewhere.

A missionary, and you've probably heard it if you grew up in church,

a missionary, his name was Charles Thomas Studd.

He said this, only one life will soon be passed.

Only what's done for Christ will last.

Let me say that again. Only one life will soon be passed. Only what's done for Christ will last.

He understood that life is fleeting. It's a breath. It's a midst.

This week, we were in LA, and we're sitting on the tram,

and we're headed back to the airport, and there's families, you know,

husband and wife and little kids, and Jen and I were like, man, I miss those times.

I miss when our kids were little. They were so sweet.

They loved us so much. And they called us mommy and daddy.

And now they're, we're like, now they don't even want to be in the same room.

And you're like, dude, what's your problem?

What happened to you? You were, you were such a great kid.

You're still a great kid. Love you, buddy. We still got one left.

Number one, money is temporary, but number two, its value doesn't last.

Its value doesn't last. Number three, money gives false security.

Now, don't get me wrong. There is a sense of security.

How many of you know? You feel a little bit better when you know that there's

some money in the bank, right?

You know that you're going to be able to pay your rent or to pay your mortgage.

You're going to pay your insurance.

We understand that.

There is a sense of security that we all get.

But if it's your source of security for how you feel and how you live and how

you act, it's a false security.

Not only will we be judged for how we use our money, but but verse four says

that we will be judged for what we withhold, with what we withhold.

Verse four says, look, the pay that you withheld from your workers who moved

your fields cries out, and the outcry of the harvesters has reached the ears of the Lord of armies.

When you cheat people who work for you.

When you don't leave a good tip for a waiter or waitress, man,

you're going to be judged for that.

It's not what I'm saying. It's what the Word of God says. So in everything you

do, especially with your money, as in this passage is talking about,

ask yourself this question.

If I know that I will be judged for how I use God's money, do I fear judgment

or do I look forward to it because I know I will be rewarded for my stewardship.

Use your money in that way. When the offering plate goes by and you haven't tithed, what is tithe?

It's very clear. Tithe means a tenth.

It's your first tenth, not your middle tenth, not your whatever's left over. No.

Jen gets her paycheck. I get my paycheck.

The first tenth before we do anything goes to God. That is biblical.

And if you're not doing that, my friends, you're going to be judged for it.

That's not Pastor Jeff. That's the word of God.

I can't wait to get to heaven because I'm trying to live in a way that I'm generous.

That when I see people in need, I go the extra Mr. Miles, to give to them.

Jen and I, we were overwhelmed. I mean, we have homelessness in Iowa,

but we were overwhelmed by the homelessness in California this week.

It was unbelievable.

I've seen it on the news. I've seen camps and all that stuff. But to see it firsthand.

We're in Long Beach where the homeless population is minimal.

And yet everywhere we went, in the middle of the day, It looks like a third

world country Guy without a shirt You see his ribs He's asleep in front of the bank.

And I was like, oh, God, what can we do? What can we do? How can we help them?

I know what some of you are thinking. The answer is not in the White House.

It's not who's in White House.

It's who reigns in the heart of the men and women of this country.

Matthew 6, Jesus talks about the same thing. He says, don't store up for yourselves

treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy, where thieves break in and steal,

especially those church benches, right, Bob?

But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust

destroys, where thieves don't break in and steal.

And so what we see here in James 5 is that James is echoing the teachings of

Jesus, and he implores us to stop living, and we can finally get off money.

Stop living for the temporary.

Live in such a way that you're storing your treasures in heaven.

Seek first his kingdom. You and I will be judged, and I hope that we are rewarded,

for the way we use God's resources.

Section two starts in verse 12, and it goes through verse 12,

starts in verse 7, and goes through verse 12.

And so let's read that together. Follow along. It'll be on the screens.

He says, therefore, pointing back to what we just read, because we're now building

up treasures in heaven, because we're doing that, brothers and sisters,

be patient until the Lord's coming.

See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth and is patient

with it until it receives the early and the late rains.

You must also be patient. Strengthen your hearts.

One of the greatest ways to strengthen your heart is to remember that God is

near, that Jesus is coming back, that this is temporary.

It's hard living in certain situations.

It becomes easier when we know it's temporary, right?

Strengthen your hearts because the Lord is coming near. Verse 9, brothers and sisters.

And I love how he's always saying brothers and sisters when he's punching people

in the face because he's trying to remind them, hey, I love you. We're family.

This is why I'm telling you this. Brothers and sisters, do not complain about

one another so that you will not be judged.

Look, the judge stands at the door. And let me pause for just a moment.

Don't you get this sense that James loves the people so much?

He loves them so much that he speaks the hard truth.

He speaks the hard truth. That's all I'm doing with you guys.

You may not like what I have to say. I want you to be rewarded instead of judged.

I want my kids, I speak hard truth to my kids because I don't want them to suffer

discipline and pain and consequences.

I want them to be blessed in their life. life

and sometimes the greatest blessing is living under

spiritual protection and not being chastised or

disciplined from the Lord because we will stand before him and we will give

an account for every word every thought every deed and I want you and I want

me and I want my kids I want my friends to be rewarded for their generosity

rewarded for the words that came

out of their mouth, not judged and punished.

And he goes on and he says, brothers and sisters, take the prophets who spoke

to the Lord's name. This is verse 10.

The Lord's name as an example of suffering and patience.

See, we count as blessed those who have endured.

Did you know that if you endure, if you rise up, if you endure through suffering,

God says you're blessed.

You're going to receive a blessing. You are blessed.

You're count as blessed.

You have heard of Job's endurance and have seen the outcome that the Lord brought about.

The Lord is compassionate and merciful. Above all, my brothers and sisters,

do not swear either by heaven or by earth or with any other oath,

but let your yes be yes and your no mean no so that you won't fall under judgment.

There's this continual theme. Do the right thing. I'm begging you,

please do the right thing because I don't want you to fall under judgment.

Students, kids, young, youth, young men and women, your words matter.

Lying matters. It doesn't matter what culture thinks.

When you say, yes, I'll be there on time, be there on time. When you say, yes, I'll do this, do it.

Words matter. Matter, character and integrity matter. A couple takeaways from this.

Be patient until the Lord's coming. Be patient.

I don't know about you, but the longer we're here, the worse this place seems to be.

Culture is absolutely crazy.

The world is out of control and we see the signs of times everywhere we look.

Look, and yes, Jesus is coming back and we want him to come back soon.

Be patient, he's coming.

Not only be patient until his coming, but be patient in the face of suffering.

Be patient in the face of suffering.

Remember James from week one, he's writing to a suffering church that's been

scattered, that's been persecuted.

They've been killed for their faith.

And he points us back to the Old Testament prophets and he points us back to

Job. and he says, remember what they went through?

They didn't see the final outcome either. Job didn't know the incredible blessing

that was on the other side of being faithful to the Lord.

You may not understand what you're going through today.

You may not understand the path that you're walking, but let me just give you

a little bit of encouragement.

There is something on the other side of this mountain that you're climbing right

now that you don't understand and that you don't see.

But God is good and God is faithful and you can trust him that he's working

all things together for good and he loves you.

And he loves you so much that he wants you to bear up under the suffering and hold fast.

James encourages us in our suffering to be patient.

It's not easy. No one says it is. It's definitely not fun. No one likes it.

No one likes walking through the trials of life.

No one. Yet God is good and God is working.

Third takeaway from this section, those who endure are blessed.

11 says, we count as blessed those who have endured.

You've heard about Job's endurance and have seen the outcome that the Lord brought about.

The Lord is compassionate and merciful.

You don't know the blessing on the other side of what you're walking through. Hold on.

Hold on. blessings are coming your

way one last takeaway from

section two we will be judged by

the character of our word the character of our words it's like we tell our kids

all the time say what you mean mean what you say we hear well i was just joking

no no words hurt and words speak volumes

about what's in your heart.

Be careful with your words. All right, section three.

You guys have made it. The final section of the book of James, and we'll hurry here.

Verses 13 through 18. Is any among you suffering?

He should pray. Is anyone cheerful? He should sing praises. By the way,

isn't singing praises, isn't like our worship time? Aren't we praying?

We're praying with with our talents we're praying and

talking to the lord we're playing drums it's a prayer to

god we're bringing down breaking down strongholds verse

14 is anyone among you sick he should call for the elders of the church and

they are to pray over him anointing him with oil in the name of the lord that's

something we practice verse 15 the prayer of faith will save Save the sick person

and the Lord will raise him up.

If he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.

Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another Man.

I wish we could hang on to these verses for a couple weeks. There's so much in here.

The prayer of a righteous person is very powerful in its effect.

And then he points back, always pointing back for examples. Elijah was a human

being as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain.

And for three years and six months, it did not rain on the land.

Verse 18, then he prayed again, and the sky gave rain, and the land produced its fruit.

Prayer is powerful. When we launched Generations Church, before we had services,

we met together, and we prayed and we prayed and we begged God to do something.

Conference we were at this week, there was three real main focuses.

Discipleship, the Word of God, and prayer.

They said, you want to have a lot of people? Put on a show.

Get the lights, get the band, get the fog, get everything going.

You'll draw a crowd, and you'll be a mile wide, but you'll be an inch deep.

You want to make disciples, which is what we're called to do, Two, go deep.

And when you go deep, you can't help but go wide.

Discipleship is going to be something we push into hard. And guess what?

Prayer is going to be something we're going to focus on a lot more.

We have to be a praying people. Let me give you some takeaways from from this

section, and we'll wrap up.

Pray in every circumstance.

Everything you go through, pray. Who should I date? Pray. Who should I marry? Pray.

Where should I work? Pray.

Now, there are some things you don't need to pray about. If it's in the Word

of God and God says, do it, you don't need to pray about it.

Should I go to church? You don't need to pray about it. He says do it.

Should I tithe? Don't need to pray about it. You can pray, God,

I don't know how the bills are going to get paid, but please,

I'm going to obey you. You take care of the rest.

You can pray about that. But pray in every circumstances, every circumstance.

When you're suffering, when you're cheerful, when you're sick, pray for healing.

Through prayer, we confess our sins to God. We confess our sins to God for forgiveness

and to each other to remain spiritually healthy.

That's accountability.

We confess to God and he grants us forgiveness.

And then we confess to one another our weaknesses and our struggles.

That's what C groups are for. Hey, man, I'm struggling. I'm not trusting the Lord.

I need help. Would you pray with me? Would you lift me up? That's what it's

for. We want to connect because we need accountability.

I know a couple in here that was walking through, actually two couples,

right across the aisle from each other. Rena was in the hospital last week.

Praise God, she's here today. That's a miracle. That's awesome. We're praying for her.

She needs people to come around her and support and love her and bring meals.

And people have done that.

Guy in here had knee surgery and they've rallied around it. Guess what? It's their C group.

So if you're like, nobody takes care of me. Nobody questioned.

Are you in a connection group?

Do you, are you walking with people? You got to put yourself out there.

Accountability. Takeaway three, there is power when a righteous person prays.

Maybe you're struggling why aren't my prayers getting answered i don't know

maybe it's not in line with god's will we're supposed to be praying according

to god's will maybe you're living in sin maybe you're doing things that are

are not in accordance with the word of god,

get things right in your own life and i promise you you will see an incredible

difference friends, when you go to the Lord in prayer,

the answers will start coming, and you'll see that the righteous prayer—now,

it's not yes every time. It's sometimes wait.

It's sometimes hold on. It's sometimes that's not the best for you,

but there is power through the righteous prayer.

Final two verses of James, and then we'll be through.

Verses 19 and 20. My brothers and sisters,

he addresses us again, if any among you strays from the truth and someone turns him back,

let that person know that whoever turns a sinner from the error of his way will

save his soul from death and cover a multitude of sins,

When I read that, I see a picture of the good shepherd. I see him going after the one.

You know, sometimes the one is sitting right next to you. Sometimes the one is outside. Outside.

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Final takeaway from this section here, these two verses, is this.

Christians should seek to rescue those who are lost.

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Is your life about seeking and saving the lost?

You've been listening to the generations church podcast be

sure to check back next week as pastor jeff begins a brand new four-week series

entitled back to the basics if you'd like more information about generations

church feel free to get in touch with us at info at generationschurch.us or

head over to our website,

generationschurch.us.

Thanks for listening.

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