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Richard Cimino – Route66 – 20160919_James

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ROUTE 66 Destination: James Well, I’m really –

glad that you’re here tonight,

and glad that, if you’re not in the building, you’re online watching.

And I’ve got to tell you,

I’ve absolutely loved making this drive through the 66 books of the Bible with you.

And up to tonight our road trip has taken us through –

the 39 books of the Old Testament – Genesis through Malachi,

and 19 of the 27 books of the New Testament.

And I was just thinking about that this afternoon.

The first four books of the New Testament, titled ‘Gospels’ – the Gospels –

they’re not spiritual advice for us;

they’re news;

they’re a report;

they’re the record of something that’s happened;

they tell us of what God has done for us in sending Jesus;

they’re the record of the redeeming life and mission of Jesus.

And we see in Jesus, we see in the Gospels, the heart of God.

We see the heart of God for fallen man.

He so loved this world that He joined Himself to our humanity.

We call it the Incarnation - into flesh.

God came into human flesh - fully God, yet fully man - beyond all comprehension.

And we see in Jesus the perfect man.

We see humanity as God intended it.

And for the believer, Jesus, He’s the model for our lives.


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In His life and in His ministry,

the perfect man depended upon the person and the power of the Holy Spirit.

We’ve been going through Luke’s Gospel on Sunday mornings.

And the mission of Jesus begins. He comes from the Judean wilderness.

And it said, “And He was led in the power of the Spirit into Galilee.”

In His life, in His ministry,

the perfect man depended upon the person and power of the Holy Spirit.

He valued prayer and alone time with His Father.

He valued the Scriptures.

He made them (the Scriptures) the focal point of His ministry.

It says He went everywhere teaching and preaching the Word.

And in His life and ministry, the perfect man –

He always honored His Father.

He always placed others before Himself.

He lived His life serving others.

What a mind-blowing reality given to us in the first four books of the New Testament! God

became man, not to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom, to ransom men

and women from the power and the penalty of sin. You see, having lived a perfect life, a sinless

life, Jesus offered Himself as the sacrifice for our sins. And we have that historical record given

to us in the Gospel accounts. He died the death we deserved. And then the Gospels give to us

the historical record of His bodily resurrection.

This morning, I’ve got to tell you, I was sitting in my little cave; and my heart was so flooded with

amazement, just thinking of what those four books, the first four books of the New Testament

tells us about Jesus. We could spend our lives walking through, reading those four books, just

those four books.


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But that’s not the end of the story of Jesus. The New Testament continues with the Holy Spirit

inspired selective history of the 1st century church. The author of Acts, Luke, tells us that the

book of Acts is the record of what the risen and ascended Jesus continued to do through the

agency of His church –

how Jesus poured out the Holy Spirit on the believers,

how the New Testament church was formed, birthed on the Day of Pentecost,

how they were empowered to love Jesus,

how they were empowered to live for Jesus, and even die for Jesus.

We have the record of how the Holy Spirit enabled so few with so little to accomplish so much

as they went into the whole world proclaiming the Gospel. In the book of Acts we see the

church empowered and directed in carrying out the Great Commission, invaluable for every

believer today, invaluable for the church today.

And following the book of Acts we have 21 Holy Spirit inspired letters –

letters written to 1st century Christians,

letters written, some of them, to 1st century pastors.

And these are the primary doctrinal portions of the New Testament.

They unpack the Gospels.

They explain the record of what Jesus did and taught.

They tell us how –

His sinless life,

His sacrificial death,

and victorious resurrection –

saves us,

transforms us.


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Guys, that’s going to be, everything you’re studying in the book of Romans – ladies and men –

this year. The Gospel is unpacked. Romans is probably the most powerful single New

Testament letter that –

unpacks the Gospel,

unpacks what Jesus did for us,

explains those things to us.

And these letters also, by inspiration of the Holy Spirit, show us how to live as Christians.

And, again, we’ve noted time and again, as we’ve gone through each of these letters,

how these letters are like our letters or our emails today, our electronic communications.

They were written to specific people for a specific reason, every one of them.

Now tonight our destination is the book of James –

the 20th book of the New Testament,

the 15th in the collection of 21 New Testament letters.

James, this book of James is –

part of a little subset of the epistles referred to as the Hebrew Christian epistles. That’s –

the book of Hebrews,

this letter of James,

then 1st and 2nd Peter,

1st, 2nd, and 3rd John,

and the little short letter of Jude.

And they’re called Hebrew epistles because they were addressed to primarily Jewish Christians.

Now as to when this book was written –

James is considered to be one of the earliest of the New Testament documents;

Some think penned as early as 49-50 A.D.


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The author of this book -

It says in James 1:1 – the author is identified immediately –

“1 James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, …”

Now the question for us is – is which James of the New Testament is this James?

We find the name James 40 times in the New Testament.

There are 4 guys named James for us to choose from.

1. James Number One – Just one brief mention – never mentioned again after it – it’s the father

of one of the 12 Apostles named Judas, not Judas Iscariot, but another Judas. This Judas

who wasn’t Judas Iscariot, his dad was named James. And his dad’s mentioned in the

Gospels. It was never considered - this James was never considered by the early church as

the author.

2. James Number Two – James the son of Alpheus, also known as James the Lessor.

3. James Number Three – is James the son of Zebedee, and the brother of the Apostle John.

Now this James is one of the most prominent of the 12 Apostles. We find him grouped with his

brother, John, and Peter on some of the most important moments, and in some of the most

important places in the ministry of Jesus. But this James, James Number Three, cannot be the

author of this letter because he died very early on in the book of Acts –

Acts 12: 1, 2 – “1 About that time Herod the king laid violent hands on some who belonged to the church. 2 He killed James the brother of John with the sword,” So that eliminates this very prominent James from the options.

4. And that leaves with James who was referred to commonly as the brother of our LORD.

And we find him listed in Matthew 13:55, where it says -

“55 Is not this the carpenter's son?

Is not his mother called Mary? Are not his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas?”


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So James was the half-brother of Jesus. James and Jesus shared the same mom. They both

had Mary as their mother. But they didn’t share the same dad, right? James was the son of

Joseph. Jesus was only thought to be the son of the carpenter. He was presumed to be the

son of Joseph. But the Gospels tell us – and that’s why the Gospels are so very, very important

for us – they’re the record of the life and mission of Jesus – the Gospels tell us that Mary

conceived Jesus before she ever had sex with Joseph. Prior to Luke 1:35 Mary says, “How is

this going to happen to me that I’m going to have this son; and his name’s going to be Jesus

because I haven’t had sex yet?”

“35 And the angel (this is Gabriel) answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God.” So James, the half-brother of Jesus –

Now this James, James Number Four –

he was not a believer until after the death and resurrection of Jesus.

According to the Apostle Paul Jesus appeared to this James personally in 1st Corinthians 9:5 –

“5 Do we not have the right to take along a believing wife,

as do the other apostles and the brothers of the Lord and Cephas?”. This James was present in the upper room when the Holy Spirit fell upon the group of first

believers that were gathered there in that upper room on the Day of Pentecost.

This James was also married - we read of him in 1st Corinthians 9:5 being married.

This James, though not one of the 12 Apostles, was referred to by the Apostle Paul himself,

as a pillar of the early church in Galatians 1:19 -

“19 But I saw none of the other apostles except James the Lord's brother.”

The Jewish historian Josephus tells us that this James was stoned to death around 62 A.D. by

orders from the Sadducees of the Sanhedrin. There’s another tradition that has him being


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thrown off the southern, the south-eastern wall of the Temple there. It was the pinnacle, the

highest part of the Temple Mount at that time.

This James, the half-brother of Jesus, is the one who was considered by the church fathers to

be the author of this book.

Now before I forget I want to make a comment on the tone of this letter. And I love how J.

Sidlow Baxter describes it. In his book, ‘Explore The Book’, he says this of James – he says –

“What a difference there is between –

the long rhetorical epistle to the Hebrews,

and this short staccato epistle of James.”

I love that – “this short staccato” - like staccato is like (clap), like that, right? - like a staccato

beat on the drum. There’s no sustain. It’s just ‘boom’; pull it off; and you’re done. It’s

something very tight, very short. And that is this epistle. James is just –

statement after statement after statement,

issue after issue,

very short,

very to the point,

very sustained.

And that tells us something very important, guys.

The Holy Spirit inspired humans, men, to write the books of the Bible –

every word that they penned,

every word in the pages of Scripture divinely-inspired –

not just ideas,

not just concepts –

every word inspired,

every word the very Word of God.


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And yet the Holy Spirit brings forth His Word –

through unique personalities,

through the unique character of the instrument,

that He has chosen to pen the particular books of the Bible.

This letter comes from –

someone who had tremendous credibility,

someone who could speak with a tone of authority to the church.

This letter has the tone of authority.

I’m pretty sure that all of us have at one time had somebody say to us, “Grow up!”

Anybody ever heard those words from? Yeah! Yeah! We’ve all heard them, right? – either from

a parent, mom, dad, big brother, big sister, or some authority figure outside of the home.

This letter has a definite theme. And that theme comes with a tone of authority.

It’s going to come in little staccato moments. But the theme is – “Grow up!”

It’s delivered with the force and tone of someone who has the right to say it.

Like when somebody tells you that when you’re a little kid, or when you’re an adolescent, or

maybe in your teens, late teens, and somebody tells you to grow up, unless they have some

authority to speak into your life, you kind of look at them, and go, ‘Whatever!’ – right? Because

you’re just thinking, ‘Who are you to tell me to grow up?’

No, the author of this book, this guy had the right to speak with the tone that he spoke with.

This James was a heavyweight in the 1st century church who could deliver this theme - “Grow

up!” – with the tone that he delivers it with.

I want you to check this out – the number of times that James, by inspiration of the Holy Spirit,

uses the imperative forms. The definition of the word ‘imperative’, the dictionary definition of

‘imperative’ means –


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absolute necessity,

requirement of a command.

In grammar the imperative form expresses a command –

rather than a statement,

or rather than posing a question.

James uses at least 54 imperatives in 5 chapters.

I’m not a great mathematician; but, guys, that’s –

more than 10 per chapter,

more than 10 commands per chapter.

I’m just going to drive through a handful of these guys. These are commands.

1. “Count it a joy when you meet trials” –

that’s not a suggestion;

that’s in the imperative;

it’s a command.

Like we’re just reading it; like, “Count it joy…”

And we’re thinking, ‘Oh, it’s kind of a suggestion. He’s thinking we should ….’

No, it’s not! When he wrote it his readers understood it. It was a command – “Count it joy…”

He says –

2. “Let patience work in your lives.” - That’s a command.

3. “Ask God for wisdom.” – That’s a command.

4. “Ask in faith.” – It’s a command.

5. “Don’t think doubt will get you anything from God.” – That’s an imperative.

6. “Don’t say God is tempting you.” – That’s an imperative.

7. “Don’t be deceived about God’s goodness.” – That’s an imperative.


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8. “Be quick to hear, and slow to speak.” – That’s the imperative.

9. “Receive the Word of God.” – It’s a command.

10. “Do the Word of God.” – It’s a command.

11. “Don’t show partiality based on the value system of fallen culture.” – It’s a command.

12. “Listen to God’s view, God’s estimation of those who are poor.” – It’s a command.

13. “Show your faith”;

14. “Not many should be teachers”;

15. “Look at ships to understand the human tongue”;

16. “Look at forest fires to understand the destructive power of words” -

Those are commands.

17. “Submit to God”;

18. “Resist the Devil”;

19. “Draw near to God” –

not suggestions, commands.

20. “Turn from sin”;

21. “Humble yourself”;

22. “Don’t speak evil of others”;

23. “Surrender to the will of God”;

24. “Weep, for judgment is coming”; -

Wow! It doesn’t stop there.

He says -

25. “See how farming illustrates waiting for Christ”;

26. “Establish your hearts”;

27. “Don’t grumble”;

28. “Look at the prophets as example”;

29. “Remain steadfast”;

30. “Let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes’, and your ‘No’ be ‘No’”;

31. “Pray”;


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32. “Sing”;

33. “Call elders and pray”;

34. “Confess sin to one another”;

35. “Know the value of bringing a sinner back to God” -

That is a lot of imperatives.

And he could speak that way because –

he had authority from God;

he had authority that was essentially unquestioned,

not in the sense of –

like Papal authority;

like he could never be wrong.

But they understood here is the hand of God on this man’s life.

Now having said that, the tone of authority is tempered with love.

The term, “my brothers” or “my beloved brothers” occurs more times in these five chapters

than in any other of the New Testament letters except for 1st Thessalonians -

authority and love meshed together.

When you read James –

it’s a heavy book;

it’s a heavy book;

it’s got a lot of hard stuff in it!

But remember that this weightiness comes from a heart of great love.

Eusebius, a very early church historian, he preserved this sketch of James’ character recorded

by a 2nd century writer. So this was written of James in the 2nd century. And remember it’s the

early 100s, right. So 1st century goes from 1 A.D. to 100. And then you break into 101 A.D.

That’s the 2nd century, right? So don’t think like this is 200 years later. This could be like 50

years, 40 some years after the death of James, right? This is what he said, “James, the brother


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of our LORD, who, as there were many of this name, was surnamed ‘The Just’ by all from the

days of our LORD until now. He was in the habit of entering into the Temple alone, and was

often found upon his bended knees, so that his knees became hard like a camel’s knees in

consequence of his habitual supplication and kneeling before God. And indeed on account of

his exceeding righteousness he was called ‘The Just’, also ‘Oblius’, which in the Greek is

‘Bulwark of the People’.”

So you can understand why the people would hear his voice, why they would be willing to go,

‘Whoa, you can speak with this tone of authority; you can fire these salvos of staccato things,

staccato truth at us that challenges us to the core, that just sheds light on everything that we’re

not doing right, and puts our eyes on the truth of who we ought to be, and what God wants us to

grow into. And we’re going to listen because you’re ‘The Bulwark of the People’. We know that

you’re a guy that spends most of his life on his knees, praying before you come and you tell us

these kinds of things.’ –

big stuff,

very important stuff for anybody who wants to lead, I think.

I think it’s really, really a challenge to leaders, like –

Do we come and just try to throw our authority on people because, after all –

we have a title;

and we have a position?

Or do we come from a position of like, “Hey, you know –

I’m coming from a position of just spending time before the LORD.

I’m coming from a position of being instructed by the LORD.

I’m coming as a guy who’s been –

undressed by the LORD,

and exposed by the LORD,

and humbled by the LORD,


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and want to deliver to you the things that God wants to say to you.”

It’s a big challenging thing for those who lead.

So the theme – we’ve already mentioned it – the theme – Grow up!

James wanted his readers –

and that would include you and me – isn’t that awesome -

we are still reading his letter;

we are still reading his letter some 2,000 years later -

James wanted his readers to grow up.

And in order to grow up, as followers of Jesus, you have to see that faith has feet.

James wants us to see that real faith in Jesus will always move the followers of Jesus to action.

And I love how the LORD –

He sets the pace for us in our study of Scripture, right?

He sets the pace when we’re studying Sunday mornings.

I haven’t set out, and said, “Here’s the calendar for teaching through the book of Luke.” I’m just

glad to make it from one Sunday to the next. And I can tell you this – It’s no coincidence that

God the Holy Spirit has helped us move through the Gospel According to Luke at the pace

that we did, because yesterday I quoted what James had to say –

about faith,

about what real faith is,

what real faith does.

And here we are in the book of James tonight.

I just want to remind you – when God repeats Himself let’s not miss it.

He’s repeating Himself;

He’s guiding us through our study of His Word –


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to inform us,

to define us,

and to direct us.

And so He wants to inform us –

that faith has feet,

that faith moves us;

and it moves us; faith moves us to live and think as citizens of Heaven in broken world.

In order for us to grow up we must understand the relationship between faith and works.

And this is a really important thing.

James isn’t arguing for good works as a means to salvation.

He’s arguing that good works are the product of salvation.

And, again, it meshes so well with yesterday’s study in Luke, and the previous study in Luke 6,

how God does an inside-out work in our lives,

working from the inside out.

Some argue that this is – Martin Luther was one of them – Martin Luther, because his whole

deal was justification by faith, right? - The book of Romans, the Holy Spirit opened that book up

to him, and showed him something that had been lost on the church for quite some time; and

that is that we’re saved by grace through faith – period; that’s the deal; justification by faith -

And so when James start talking about good works; and what are you talking about faith if you

have no good works, Martin Luther called this epistle – “wood, hay and stubble”. Martin Luther,

the great Reformer, was absolutely dead wrong! James isn’t arguing; like this isn’t a polemic

against Paul’s doctrine of justification by faith. It’s a ridiculous argument because neither the

book of Romans nor the book of Galatians had been penned when James was written. James

precedes them. He can’t be writing a polemic against something that doesn’t exist yet, right?

And secondly - good works are the essential proof for mature faith.


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So I want to challenge you in this, guys – Every day, and sometimes many times in a day, we

need to be put our professed faith to the test of the proofs that James puts out here in this book.

Why is this little book of James so incredibly important to us? Because –

the Bible says that, “This life we now live we live by faith in the Son of God, who

loved us and gave Himself for us”;

the Bible says, “Without faith it’s impossible to please God.”

And so if faith is where we meet God then, guys, we need to –

take what we say we believe, and take our professed faith,

and put it along something that says this is the proof of real faith.

Now side note – There are a lot of parallels between –

James and the Sermon on the Mount,

or even James and the Sermon on the Plain in Luke 6;

Because both the Sermon on the Mount and the Sermon on the Plain –

they’re a description of the character of the person who is the citizen of the kingdom of God;

they both give us a description of what life looks like in the kingdom of God.

What does faith in Jesus make us?

It not only brings us into His kingdom;

But there’s this inside-out work of God that makes us look like citizens of His kingdom.

And here’s some of the parallels. If you want to write these down – parallels of the Sermon on

the Mount and the teaching of Jesus in the Sermon on the Plain – I’m going to give them to

you; so write fast, okay?

James 1: “5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.” James 1: “22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.”


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James 3: “12 Can a fig tree, my brothers, bear olives, or a grapevine produce figs? Neither can a salt pond yield fresh water.” James 3: “18 And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.” James 4: “11 Do not speak evil against one another, brothers. The one who speaks against a brother or judges his brother, speaks evil against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge.” James 4: “13 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”—” James 5: “2 Your riches have rotted and your garments are moth-eaten.” James 5: “10 As an example of suffering and patience, brothers, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord.” James 5: “12 But above all, my brothers, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or by any other oath, but let your “yes” be yes and your “no” be no, so that you may not fall under condemnation.” And so we see that these works that he’s talking about, they’re the product of this inside-out

work of God that –

Jesus talks about in the Sermon on the Mount,

Jesus talks about in the Sermon on the Plain.

Again, these epistles unpack for us what it looks like, okay?

Now as we’ve said time and again, each of these letters are written for a reason. And from the

content of the letter we can see that James’ theme - the theme of ‘Grow up’ – was prompted by

a way of thinking, speaking and behaving that needed to be changed.

His readers were facing –

trials,

temptations,

internal conflicts with other believers.

They were struggling with understanding –


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their relationship between faith and works;

where does faith leave off, works begin?

They were flawed in their ability to discern the difference between –

the finite fallen wisdom of man,

and the perfect wisdom of God.

And so James speaks to those very things.

And the book of James is massive because it teaches us that real faith in Jesus –

directs us in the way that we process trials,

informs us about the nature of trials,

tells us the way we should live and think –

in the midst of trials,

and when faced with temptations;

it directs us in the way we should live and think in our relationships with one another.

It’s funny how –

people can come to church;

they can listen to Bible studies;

they can leave;

and then they can have a falling out with another Christian;

and not once will they even bring up the Bible as the basis for how to address the

problem.

Churches divide because of that. You’d be stunned at how many churches have divided and

dissolved because they never stopped to step back, and say, “Okay, so how are we going to live

and think in our relationship with one another?”

Real faith in Jesus should make an impact on the way we speak.


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It should shape our attitudes concerning the will of God.

It should shape the way we view the future, and make our decisions.

And so as we keep all those things in mind,

the letter flows along the lines of what mature faith in Jesus looks like.

And here’s a simple outline –

1. Chapter 1 – Mature Christians Are Patient In Testing

2. Chapter 2 – Mature Christians Practice Truth

3. Chapter 3 – Mature Christians Are Restrained

4. Chapter 4 – Mature Christians Are Reserved

5. Chapter 5 – Mature Christians Are Resigned To The Will Of God

So let’s just walk through them.

1. 1st Chapter – Mature Christians Are Patient In Testings

So if you want to look down at your Bibles there –

I’ll read sometimes. I’m just going to read from my Bible. It says –

“1 ...To the twelve tribes in the Dispersion: Greetings. 2 Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, 3 for

Circle that little word.

It’s a huge word.

It’s tied to the issue of joy.

And we’re going to get to that in a moment

“3 for” - here’s why you’re to - “Count it all joy when you meet trials of various kinds”

“3 for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.”

Now that alone says that James is reminding them of what they already know.

And do you know what I find is we need repetition, right? And God is the master educator.


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And as we’ve made our way through these 66 books of the Bible probably most of you who

have been here from the beginning or through a good part of it are going, ‘Man, we are hearing

the same truths a lot.’

It’s because God says a lot about a little.

He doesn’t say a little about a lot.

He says a lot about a little.

He says a lot about the important stuff.

He says -

“4 And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be –

perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”

So here’s a big deal about maturity.

Now for the most part the idea of Christian maturity in modern church culture is not thought

about in the terms set forth in the book of James. Today people are thought to be a mature

Christian, or they may think of themselves as a mature Christian if they’re –

reasonably consistent in attending church,

and reasonably consistent in giving,

and generally willing to serve -

with a little caveat - as long as none of that interferes with any of their other plans.

James is writing to Christians –

who’ve been scattered;

they’ve been dispersed.

He’s not writing to Christians who chose to move,

because that move would afford them upward economic and social mobility.

He’s writing to men and women who were scattered because people hated them.

And they were hated for no other reason than the fact that they loved Jesus.

They were scattered because they were being persecuted.


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They had to leave Jerusalem.

They had to leave Judea.

They had to find a home someplace else because they were being –

hassled,

and hounded,

and hunted,

simply because they loved Jesus.

Guys, American Christians know nothing of that. And do you know what?

We process our Christianity through the grid of what we experience here in our liberties.

And we think that we’re mature because, “Hey, I show up at church. I help out at church.”

No, that’s not maturity at all.

These were people who were troubled. They suffered a lot.

And that’s the focal point of this 1st chapter.

They were trying to process their suffering.

And apparently they were having a hard time reconciling their salvation with their suffering.

Anybody else ever done that? Have you ever said,

“LORD, why is this happening to me? Like, I don’t understand -

I’m saved.

I belong to you.

I’m a child of God.

It says that I’m the apple of your eye.

Why is this happening to me?”

Well, James speaks to that confusion.

And he tells them that there are a couple of different factors –

in Christian maturity,

in your faith actually becoming mature.


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And the deal is, is that in modern church culture,

the average church-goer doesn’t want to hear about them.

We’ve already read the first of them – “trials”.

And in that passage we read, we understand that trials are designed by God -

they’re His tools;

they’re His tools to mature us.

And remember that I made this observation –

James is not suggesting that they should –

“count it joy when they meet these various kinds of trials”.

He’s giving the imperative.

And notice –

he doesn’t say, “if you meet trials”;

he says, “when …”

Guys, please be assured you will meet trials.

And I find it so interesting, you know –

you read the Bible;

and then you read the Bible;

and you read the Bible;

and it doesn’t matter how many times you read a book of the Bible;

sometimes it’s just one word that just pops off the page at you.

And in the ESV where it reads, “when you meet various trials” -

isn’t it an interesting choice of words the Holy Spirit uses?

You meet a trial.

It’s like you bump into it.


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Guys, as we live between the already of our salvation and the not yet of Heaven –

we’re going to meet trials;

we’re going to bump into them;

they’re going to bump into us.

So James is helping them grow up by explaining to them the nature of the Christian life.

And the nature of the Christian life is –

and this is where a lot of American Christians want to get out –

it’s hard;

it is hard.

Again, I just shot a spit wad at it yesterday, this idea.

Like what would happen today in our church culture, just in this region, if we –

took away all the props,

took away all the production,

took away all the venues,

took away all the personalities;

and we were left with –

Jesus,

and His Word,

and a community of believers to survive?

What do you think would happen to 90% of professed Christians?

People count it joy when they get to –

go to a super venue,

have some super production,

have some super dynamic guy stand in front of them, entertain them.

They think that’s the Christian life.

James says, “No, the Christian life’s actually quite hard. It’s actually quite hard.”

And he says, “So count it all joy”.

He’s not suggesting it. He’s telling them, “When it’s hard, count it joy.”


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Why? Well, he wants them to know –

that the trial that’s just introduced itself to you – “Hi, I’m here”;

that trial is not the subject or the source of your joy.

The reason for your joy is rooted in –

what you know in light of God’s Word,

what God is going to accomplish by way of that Divinely appointed tool.

In verse 3 he says - “3 for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.”

Would you – whatever translation you’ve got in your hands –

the word “testing” - or whatever that word is in your translation - and “produces” –

You might want to circle them.

This is the reason for your joy – “for” - here’s why you’re commanded to “count it joy” -

“3 for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.”

“4 And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing” - that you’ll be grown up.

See, “perfect and complete” in the Bible – it’s teleonomic.

We think of “perfect and complete” - like –

this is the perfect thing;

this is as perfect as 2+2=4 is perfect.

No, no, no – perfection, lacking nothing – it’s a maturity issue –

You’re where you should be when you should be there.

You’re not all that you’re going to be.

But you’re tracking.

And you’re right where you ought to be right now.


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That’s the concept. And so this testing –

You should have joy when -

you bump into this trial;

and you’re suffering in the midst of this trial;

And you can have joy because God’s told you that the testing, this trial –

it’s something testing your faith;

and this testing is going to produce something;

and that something is steadfastness;

and that steadfastness is going to have its full effect.

You’re going to be mature.

That word “steadfastness” – it’s ‘hupomone’ – it means –

to be able to bear up under weight,

to endure,

to bear up under weight,

to endure.

We were driving to the airport on Saturday afternoon, coming home from New York.

And we went by this massive arch structure on the way to the airport. And it was massive.

And I commented to my son-in-law, I said,

“Isn’t it amazing that engineers figured out how arches can support so much weight?”

And there’s this weird thing – there’s nothing underneath the middle part of the arch.

But they understand the physics of it. They understand the math. They’ve got it all down.

And this thing is not only able to hold up itself; but it can bear tremendous weight above itself

‘hupomone’ – it can bear up under weight.

That is the point of a Divinely appointed trial.

Now here’s where the breakdown comes.


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We all want to be strong.

We all want to be solid, right?

We all want to be able to stand up under the weight of –

adversity,

and suffering,

trying circumstances

But, guys, you don’t get by reading the latest book on trials.

Everybody wants a ‘How-To …’ book in Christianity.

Everybody wants a ‘X-Number Of Steps To …’ in Christianity

No, God’s telling us the truth.

And there’s got to be a moment when His truth meets our lives.

And that’s that introduction of something that tests us.

This kind of stability, this ‘hupomone’ thing –

It’s the outcome of taking God at His Word in the midst of trials.

You look at the trial for what God said it is.

Now listen to me.

I’m not preaching to you as somebody who has this down.

I’m preaching to you because in my little cave today God preached this at me full force.

I’m thinking back on my little moment when I met shingles, right? - that little introduction.

One day it started to the right side of the back of my rib cage. And it just started.

I thought two days afterward, I thought I had bone cancer.

Man, my ribs, I felt like they were on fire. I thought I was going to die.

Trust me, my first thought was not what James was talking about here, not at all.

I wasn’t looking at my shingles for what God says this moment of trial is,

this moment of physical adversity was.


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James says look at the trial for what God says it is.

And you trust that this trial is a part of His infinitely wise and loving plan for you –

to grow up,

to become solid,

to become stable.

And then in that trial –

you trust God;

you trust in all of –

His promises in Scripture,

the promises that He says who He’ll be to you in those moments.

And that’s when you step there.

We sing that song, “I’m standing on the edge of me.”

And maybe up to this point –

Like the edge of this stage - this is as far as I’ve gone in my relationship with Jesus.

And I’m thinking, ‘What happens if I step off of the stage here?’ Only it’s reality; it’s real life.

And to step off in that moment means, ‘Jesus, I’m going to trust that you’re going to meet me

here. You said you’d meet me at this edge of where I am. All I’ve known of you is up to this

moment. But this trial is asking me to take another step towards you that I’ve never taken.’

Guys, immaturity, staying weak, is –

the failure to acknowledge and trust what God says about our trials,

and the failure to trust Him in them.

We don’t even look at them through the lens of Scripture.

We’re processing our life – We say, “I love Jesus.”


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Remember yesterday – Luke 6 – Jesus said, “You say to me, “LORD, LORD, but you don’t do

the things I say to do. You’re like a guy who builds his house on sand. There’s no foundation to

it. So when adversity comes you just collapse. Your life ruptures. And though you say, “LORD,

LORD”, though you say, “Yeah, Jesus is great; Man, I go to this church; and the worship rocks

there; And I go to this church; and, man, they have this great group here, all these various

interest groups, you know. And they’re so rad. And they’re so great” – and on and on and on

and on. But then when it comes to adversity in your life you don’t even think of what God says

about that moment. And you wonder why your life just collapses.

When you look at the coastal headlands, when you drive up and down PCH, or you go to a

beach, have you ever noticed that when you go to a beach that’s kind of in a quiet little cove

where there’s really not much surge action, or anything like that? Have you ever noticed that a

lot of the rocks that you can pull up off the bottom there – they’re kind of sharp; they’re jagged?

If you go to some place where that cove gets battered; it’s just incessantly; there’s surf coming

at it, and surf coming at it; and you pick up a rock, what do you have? You have a nice smooth

stone, because, man, for a long time, man, they have been hammered, rock against rock, surge

after surge after surge, constantly jostled, constantly turned over and over against other objects.

And you get something beautiful, smooth. That’s the process of trials.

Now here’s what’s interesting – in chapter 1, verse 5, James moves right out of trials. He says -

“5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. 6 But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. 7 For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; 8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all of his ways.” Context! Context! Context!

It’s so important to understand the full weight and the full application of a passage of Scripture.

This promise –

“5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God,

who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him” It’s in the context of trials.


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Here’s the deal – When you’re going through a trial, that’s the time to ask God for wisdom.

I don’t know about you – I’ll speak for myself –

My first request in a trial goes something like this:

“God, get me out of this!”

– or –

“God, please make this thing go away!”

My first prayer –

is not usually for wisdom;

it’s for escape.

James is saying, “Nope! You’re in a trial? Here’s what you ask for first – wisdom.”

James tells these people who –

had been scattered,

had to leave everything they had,

suffered because of their love for Jesus

He says – “When you meet these trials, ask God for wisdom. God promises He’ll give it to you.”

Instead of saying,

“LORD, please get me out of this”

– or –

“LORD, please make it go away”;

James says - don’t ask to get out of the trial.

James says that we’re supposed to ask God to help us –

to get out of this trial everything He wants to teach us,


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to get something out of the trial,

not to get the trial out from our lives.

We’re to say, “God, I want to learn everything you want me to learn about you in this trial.”

You see, one of the purposes of trials is to learn about God,

like He wants to reveal Himself to us.

I remember when we were living in Southern California. It was before I was on staff at Calvary

Costa Mesa. I was just going through this trial, just the way I was as a man. It wasn’t any sin

issue.

I just felt it was the biggest trial to not be able to be in full time ministry.

Now I think it’s some of the biggest trial to be in full time ministry.

But it was just this one thing. I thought there was no light at the end of this tunnel. And my dear

friend, Malcolm, he lived on the next street over. And he was talking to me; he goes, “Richard, I

could tell you, I could give you a bunch of Scriptures right now. But you know those Scriptures.”

He goes, “This is between you and Jesus. And when you come out on the other side of this

you’re going to know Jesus like you didn’t know Him before this trial. So I’m just going to pray

for you. And I’m going to love you. And I’m going to be here. But this is between you and

Jesus.”

You see, in trials it’s,

“LORD, I want wisdom. I want to know -

everything you want me to know about you in the midst of this trial.

God, I want to learn –

everything you want me to know about myself in this trial,

and what I need from you in light of who I am in the midst of this trial.”

Trials, they kind of show us who we are, right?

You know, it says, “If you faint in the day of adversity you’re of little strength.”

So we find out who we are in these trials.

And here’s the deal –


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God knows exactly when to take us out of the trial.

He knows exactly when to take us out of the heat of the trial.

God has the exact ingredients, the perfect time, the perfect temperature.

He knows the exact end.

And since He has it all figured out, we should ask Him to not let us waste a minute of it -

“LORD, maximize this. I want to know what you have for me.”

Timothy Keller said this - “God is so great that He works out a plan, a plan to work everything

out for your good if you belong to Him, and His glory, which takes into consideration your

choices, and still works His plan out infallibly.”

See, even when we don’t understand His wisdom, He’s still going to work it out.

And He doesn’t remove us from the equation. We’re in the midst of it.

So trials are Divinely appointed tools by which God grows us and matures us.

But there’s another place in which we grow up – and that’s in the face of temptation.

Look at verse 13 -

“13 Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,”

for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. 14 But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. 15 Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin,

and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.” That’s a massive Bible study in itself.

But the point here is that temptation is not from God.

Temptation is a trap designed by Satan to ensnare us.

Trials are Divinely appointed tools to grow us and mature us.

Temptation is a demonic trap designed to ensnare us.

It’s a bait that is set before the believer.

But you need to know this – and James makes it very clear – Sin is conceived in our heart.

Now you might ask, “Well, why is this explanation even necessary?”


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Well, here’s why – Because from Genesis 3 forward we see that we always want to blame shift.

Adam did it in the Garden, “LORD, it’s the woman you gave me.” He blamed God for the Fall.

And I have to tell you – as a pastor I’ve heard the same excuse in counselling before –

“Well, God let me be in this situation, you know. Why did God let me be there?”

Well, listen, when we’re not blaming God we’ll blame the Devil –

“Well, the Devil set me up. The Devil set this trap.”

Well, the Devil surely does place the bait; But it’s you and me that make a choice.

God makes it clear here in James 1 that –

temptation doesn’t cause us to sin;

our heart causes us to sin.

Victory over temptation –

is not going to be the result of changing our circumstances;

it’s going to be the result of a change within our hearts.

Our response to temptation reveals what matters most to our hearts.

Let me repeat that - Our response to temptation reveals what matters most to us.

And over time - response after response – it’s going to shape who we become.

So - Chapter 1 – Mature Christians Are Patient in Testing

2. Chapter 2 – Mature Christians Practice Truth

In other words –

Mature Christians are real.

And they’re real because they practice the truth.

Warren Wiersbe said this –

“Immature people talk about their beliefs.

The mature person lives out his faith.”


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James uses specific wrong behavior to point out how and where they needed to grow up.

And I’m going to read to you from James 2 – the 1st 10 verses –

“1 My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. 2 For if a man wearing a gold ring and fine clothing comes into your assembly, and a poor man in shabby clothing also comes in, 3 and if you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothing and say, “You sit here in a good place,” while you say to the poor man, “You stand over there,” or, “Sit down at my feet,” 4 have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? 5 Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him? 6 But you have dishonored the poor man. Are not the rich the ones who oppress you, and the ones who drag you into court? 7 Are they not the ones who blaspheme the honorable name by which you were called? 8 If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well. 9 But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. 10 For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it.” In Romans 5 we’re told about the reality of the Christianity. Paul says there –

“The love of God, God’s very love, has been shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit.”

And that means that we don’t merely receive love.

It means that we have great capacity to give love.

It is awesome that God would put His love into our hearts.

But that’s not the point, the end point of Romans 5, where it says –

“The love of God has been shed abroad into our hearts by the Holy Spirit.”

It also means that if it’s God’s love poured into our hearts we have great capacity to give love.

And that means that nobody around our lives should be starved for love.

Listen to this quote by – he’s in Heaven now – a guy named, Malcolm Muggeridge – he says –

“The biggest disease today is not leprosy, nor is it tuberculosis, but rather the feeling of being

unwanted, uncared for, and deserted by everybody. The greatest evil is the terrible indifference

towards one’s neighbor who lives at the roadside, assaulted by exploitation, corruption, poverty,

and diseased.”

James wants them to know that God’s love is not a respecter of persons.


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In the Old Testament it says,

“Man looks at the outward appearance;

But God looks on the heart.”

And God looks on the heart of a broken guy who might even be living on the streets;

And God loves him.

So James says, “Let me connect loving action with faith because that’s what mature faith does.”

He says –

“14 What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works?

Can that faith save him?”

Or can that kind of faith save him?

And then he goes on to define three types of faith.

1. He says there’s dead faith.

That would be merely intellectual or theological belief.

“I believe this; I believe this; I believe this.”

But that kind of faith isn’t really real.

It’s not alive. It doesn’t do anything. It’s just stuck in a head.

Somebody will argue points. They’ll debate points.

And they’ll say, “I believe this; and I believe this.”

But it’s dead faith.

2. Then there’s demonic faith.

And demonic faith is like believing all the right things.

You can have great deep convictions about all the right things; but you don’t obey them.

James says, “Even the devils believe”.

There is not one atheist devil. There’s not one atheist demon.

They believe in the true and living God.


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They just don’t want people to believe in the true and living God.

But though they believe, they were once in His presence, they don’t obey Him.

3. And then James says there’s this living faith.

It’s this faith in God that’s dynamic.

It’s the kind of trust in God and in His Word that moves us to live in a way –

that’s consistent with the saving, transforming power of the Gospel,

that’s consistent with the truth of God’s Word.

Again, that’s right out of yesterday’s study.

So mature Christians are patient in testing.

Mature Christians practice truth.

3. Thirdly – Chapter 3 – Mature Christians Are Restrained

And by inspiration of the Holy Spirit James chooses to use the tongue as the standard for –

this facet,

this element –

of Christian maturity,

of mature faith.

I read somewhere that the average person speaks enough to fill a 50-page book every day –

some people more. In one year, they say, the average person will speak enough to fill 132

volumes, each volume containing 400 pages. And that means that in a lifetime you’ll have like

3,000 volumes, each 400 pages long filled with the stuff you’ve said.

So James wants to start talking about the restraint of the tongue.

And he starts by addressing those who want to stand up and speak to the church.

And he points out the incredible responsibility for speaking as teachers in the church.

He says, “Don’t let there be many teachers.”

And then he tells us how destructive our words can be.

He says they can be like a forest fire.


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They can spread so quickly and destroy lives, destroy reputations.

More sins are committed with the tongue than any other single member of our bodies.

Think about it – profanity, lies, angry words, flattery, gossip, boasting.

All of them with one little member – the tongue.

And he challenges the Christians with this – Look at verse 9 –

“9 With it we bless our Lord and Father,

and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. 10 From the same mouth come blessing and cursing.

My brothers, these things ought not to be so. 11 Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and salt water?” And this is so in line with what Jesus said in the Sermon on the Plain. “12 Can a fig tree, my brothers, bear olives, or a grapevine produce figs?

Neither can a salt pond yield fresh water.” Guys, we should be fountains;

our lives should be an overflow of the fountains of living water

that the Holy Spirit causes to well up from within us.

And that means that it’s going to affect –

the things we say,

the things we talk about.

So -

Chapter 1 – Mature Christians Are Patient In Testing

Chapter 2 – Mature Christians Practice Truth

Chapter 3 – Mature Christians Are Restrained

4. Chapter 4 – Mature Christians Are Reserved

Look at verse 1 –

“1 What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you?

Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? 2 You desire and do not have, so you murder.


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You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel.” Conflicts, wars, fights – they’re a fact of life on this side of forever.

And no matter where you work,

no matter where you fellowship,

no matter who you live next to –

you and I are going to have conflicts;

we’re going to experience conflicts.

The question is –

What do we do about them?

How do you solve a conflict?

How do you cure a conflict?

And the answer, according to James, is – be a mature Christian.

He says – be a Christian.

Some of you have heard me tell this story before. One time in Grass Valley I was out in front of

the church there. And something was happening. And I can’t even remember what was going

on. And I was just getting ready to respond to it. And Valerie looked at me; and said,

“Richard, just be a Christian; just be a Christian.”

That’s what James says is how we resolve conflict. See, the mature believer is not quick to act.

And when they act – they do it with reservation; they do it with humility.

Conflict resolution is not to the end of self-gain and self-promotion, or getting your way.

Again in James 4:6-10 he says -

“6 But he gives more grace.

Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” Here’s one of those imperatives – “7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.


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Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Be wretched and mourn and weep.

Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.” You see, in God’s kingdom the way up is down.

It’s taking the lower place.

It’s being willing to say, “Okay, I’m willing to be on the bottom.”

The way you resolve a conflict is not to fight to win it, as you say, “I’ll take the lower seat.”

And you humble yourself. And God will raise you up.

You don’t have to be your own P.R. agent. Let God advance you.

It says in the Old Testament,

“Promotion comes from neither east nor west, but from the LORD.”

We diffuse conflict by drawing near to God, drawing near to Jesus who is meek.

Remember Jesus said, “Come unto me all you who labor and are heavy-burdened; and I

will give you rest.” He goes, “Come learn of me; for I am meek and lowly of heart.”

Draw near to Jesus.

A.W. Tozer said concerning being near to Jesus – “Nearness is likeness.”

5. Finally – In Chapter 5 – Mature Christians Are Resigned –

We’ll close here – Mature Christians Are resigned.

Real faith, mature faith rests in the sovereign plans and purposes of God.

Guys, real faith is actually living as though God is all-loving, and all-powerful, all-wise; that

everything He’s done for you in Jesus demonstrates how He is for you, not against you.

And in James 5, the first 8 verses -

“1 Come now, you rich, weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you. 2 Your riches have rotted and your garments are moth-eaten.3 Your gold and silver have corroded, and their corrosion will be evidence against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up treasure in the last days. 4 Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, are crying out against you, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts. 5 You have lived on the earth in luxury and in self-indulgence. You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter. 6 You have condemned and murdered the righteous person. He does not resist you.”


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And then he says this to the Christian – “7 Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives the early and the late rains. 8 You also, be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand.” Even all of the injustices, the very people who persecuted them, and drove them out, and made

their lives hard, he says, “Okay, here’s the deal, believers; you need to grow up. This is what

faith is going to look like. You know the end of the story. Don’t fret it. You know the end.”

Father, thank you for this amazing, this staccato, this authoritative book of James. Thank you

that you challenge our hearts to grow up. Thank you that you show us what mature faith looks

like, breathes like, walks like. And, LORD, we just lay our hearts out open before you. And I

pray that, LORD, by the work of the Holy Spirit tonight, LORD, you have been just fileting us,

just slicing open stuff that needs to be sliced open, cutting away things that need to be cut away,

challenging us to grow up.

Genesis Malachi the Gospels66/... · the 39 books of the Old Testament – Genesis through Malachi,...

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Transcript of Genesis Malachi the Gospels66/... · the 39 books of the Old Testament – Genesis through Malachi,...