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Transcript

James Session One 6.12.19 · HBCWestminster

• 0:00
  We are going to be in the book of James, and as I was sitting and listening to Dave's testimony, thank you, David, so much for sharing with us, for opening up with us. Man, there are so many things that come in our lives that create waves, that toss us around. And the need to be rooted and firm and mature in our faith is...
• 0:25
  so vitally important so that those waves do not affect us because they are going to come. One of the things that we're going to look at tonight as we jump into this book called James is the reality that we should expect difficult times. We should expect testing in our lives. And James, the book of James, we're going to look at this book as it relates to us as men and what it tells us, what it reveals to us.
• 0:54
  about how we can become mature men. Mature men of Christ. Mature Christians. James lines out five distinct marks or traits that a truly mature Christian or mature Christian man would have. He's patient in testing. He practices truth. He has power over his tongue. He's a peacemaker. And he's prayerful in troubled times.
• 1:21
  These are the overarching themes of our study as we look at this book this summer. And tonight we're going to look in on one of those. Namely, he is patient in testing. You know, there are countless slogans that are out there about, you know, you hear like, you know, that diamonds are created because of the pressure that it takes and that something beautiful comes out of that.
• 1:50
  Here, the most famous saying we have about testing and trials and stuff like that is that you make lemons out of lemonade, right? Something sweet out of something tart. But many of these leave out an important ingredient in the process of taking testing or trials or difficult times and making them into something good, and that is God, His path, His power, and His plan. And James is going to start off his letter with a focus.
• 2:20
  on the truth and certainty that trials are going to come. And connecting that reality with the beautiful truth that in Christ, the victim becomes the victor. He's going to give us a path to living this promise out. And he's going to give us some imperatives throughout the book. In fact, there's over 50 imperatives that James speaks in his book, in his letter. Things that we should...
• 2:52
  Do. We're going to look at a few of those tonight. We're going to look at count, know, let, ask, and consider. Consider where sin and temptation leads. James is going to tell us this in this first section as he sets the table for his letter, that the path towards maturity is clear, but not easy. It's simple, but not simplistic.
• 3:24
  And if we consider it all in connection with a perfect God who will judge, then we will act in accordance with these imperatives and become mature men. James does this as he speaks very directly, concisely, and with great conviction to us.
• 3:48
  As we consider this book and we consider the, I want to mention again our overarching guide for the men's ministry at Highland. 1 Corinthians chapter 16 verse 13 says this, Be watchful and stand firm in the faith. Act like men. Be strong. The men at Highland are called watchmen and it is because of this verse we must be watchful but we also must stand firm and be strong. As we consider
• 4:18
  how we can stand firm and be strong, I believe James is going to give us the path again in how we can stand firm. We must be mature in our faith. As I said, he talks in our passage tonight about immaturity as something that tosses us to and fro by the waves and the wind, like waves in the wind and the ocean. And there are so many things, brothers, in this life.
• 4:49
  that are going to try and toss us around. James is going to give us a way, a path to stand firm. Let's read chapter 1, verse 1 of James. We'll spend a really short time here in our introduction. James 1, verse 1 says this, James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ to the twelve tribes in dispersion.
• 5:25
  We're going to spend a short time on our author, our date, and our setting as we begin, because I really want to get into the meat of our passage. It's clear the author is named James, but we have to ask ourselves, which James? There are several options, but the most commonly ascribed is James, the brother of Christ. It is believed that he becomes a Christian later in life, probably post-resurrection of his brother Jesus, and wrote...
• 5:54
  this letter. The setting is that this is a letter written to the 12 tribes who are dispersed, those who are dispersed outside of Israel and Jerusalem and mainly in Rome who were poor and oppressed. And the book's date is somewhere between 45 and 50 AD. That date would make sense with much of the external evidence as well as the fact that James was martyred in 62 AD and so it had to be written before that if we ascribe him as
• 6:25
  James, the brother of Christ, the Jews dispersed, poor and oppressed, 45 to 50 AD. That is our brief introduction to the book of James. We're going to read verse 2 and get started. Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. Our first imperative that we're going to come to tonight is count.
• 6:54
  James tells us a couple things in this first verse. One is that we get our first word, count. Count it all joy. And then he tells us to expect trials. He said, count it all joys, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds. He doesn't say if you meet trials of various kinds. He doesn't say it's possible that you're going to meet trials of various kinds. He says when you meet trials of various kinds.
• 7:22
  count it all joy. Brothers, if we are looking for the American version of the good life and we are believers, we're looking in the wrong place. We're looking for the wrong thing. Jesus told his disciples that they would be hated by the world and Paul speaks directly to this as he told the Christians that they had to go through many tribulations before entering the kingdom of heaven. The good life as a Christian is...
• 7:56
  defined very differently than the good life of the non-believer. If we're a believer and we're surprised by trials and difficulties in this life, then we're not reading our Bibles. Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds. We should not be surprised that things are often hard. We should not be surprised when we struggle that relationships can be difficult.
• 8:30
  James tells us to expect them. They are as assured as death and taxes. Trials and difficulties will be part of this life. So the mark of a mature man then is to expect these trials to come and as James says, to count them all as joy. The key word that we want to look at again is count. This term is a term of finance. It means to evaluate.
• 8:59
  Paul used the same thing in Philippians chapter 3 verse 8 when he was talking about all of his credentials. Like he's saying that there's nobody else who could possibly have the same credentials as me. All of these things, I'm the Jew of Jews, and yet I count them all as loss. He evaluated them.
• 9:27
  And said that those things were not worthwhile because he counted them as loss in comparison to the cross. It's the same thing as trials. We can get distracted by them. We can allow them to pull our eyes away from the cross. But when viewed in relation to the cross as testifying to our faith and its validity, we can count it as joy. Paul knew.
• 10:06
  how to evaluate his priorities. He knew what mattered most. He knew what was beneficial and what was not. Many things he once viewed as important to him were now trash, garbage, things to be thrown away, but not trials. In spite of the fact that he had all that he could claim, he counted all that as trash in comparison to the cross. He viewed all through the cross. And here James...
• 10:38
  is going to cap our conversation in verse 12 and tell us why we ought to consider trials as joy, but we'll get to that at the end. Paul and James are telling us where our values should be. What is important to us will determine how we evaluate those things. The mature man lives for those things that matter the most, and we are able to do this because we count it all joy. Verse 3,
• 11:11
  Come to our next imperative. Verse 3 says, For you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. Here, James is going to build an argument through this section. We count it all joy because we know that our testing produces steadfastness. Now our evaluation of something becomes more deeply rooted as we gain a greater and deeper appreciation for it. As we consider...
• 11:42
  That we ought to counter all joy. We are able to if we know. If we know that it will produce steadfastness. If it will produce faith in us. James tells us in verse 3. For you know that faith will be tested. It will always be tested. The testing actually works for our good as it produces steadfastness. And that this then leads to rightly understanding trials. And thus leads to a more mature man.
• 12:14
  Throughout scripture we see God testing the faith of his people, giving them opportunity to display and grow through trials and tribulations. And as I think about the relation to count it all joy as we know that we'll experience trials, and I look at the fact that it will produce this steadfast faith, this firm, solid faith, I think about, I'm sure many of you guys here have shook Dale Jackson's hand.
• 12:45
  a time or two, if you've been here. And if you have, aside from noticing that the hand is much larger than everybody else's here, and that his fingers are like sausages, you'll also notice that his hands have a different feel than most everybody else's. Dale's hands have seen ropes, wrangling, calves. They've seen fencing. They've seen abuse.
• 13:14
  Throughout his life, they've seen trials and they've built up calluses. It's this way with our faith and trials. We can know that these trials will produce faith and steadfastness as we see and look back and see God's faithfulness in our lives and what it produces. And as we come in contact with these trials, our faith gets exercised.
• 13:53
  and thus produces a faith that is not easily blistered. It's not like my girly pastor hands that blister every time I go in the backyard and rake for a half an hour. That's not the faith that God promises us through these trials. That's not the steadfast faith that God offers to us. We can count it joy because we know that the testing will produce
• 14:23
  And our next imperative is let. James 4 tells us, and let steadfastness have its full effect that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. We ought to consider and know these two things, the first two things will fall short in producing steadfastness and patience in us if we don't let.
• 14:59
  We can be stubborn as men, can't we? Right? As we try to count it joy and we try to allow God to use that testing to produce in us a steadfast faith, our stubbornness can get in the way. We can think that we know a better way. We can think that we have a better plan. And we can not surrender to God. James tells us to let. To let.
• 15:34
  To let the steadfastness have its full effect, that we may be perfect and complete. The mature man doesn't argue with God. He will instead willingly and joyfully follow after God. As Ephesians 6.6 tells us, doing the will of God from the heart, not out of compulsion.
• 16:00
  Brothers, if we try to walk through trials without a surrendered will to God, we will fight Him the entire way. Look at Jonah. God chased Jonah all the way to near death, put him in the belly of a whale. Jonah confesses, goes and preaches, and then what does he do again? He argues with God again. He gets angry with God again because God showed grace. Never mind the fact that God had shown Jonah grace the entire time.
• 16:36
  We can so easily, if we do not surrender our will to God, argue with Him as He chastens us. And as Jonah did, argue with Him as He offers us grace upon grace. We can fight and pout under the tree that God has provided us. We must let the Lord produce this in us. Let's jump down to verse 9.
• 17:04
  through 11, and it says, Let, again, let the lowly brother boast in his exaltation and the rich in his humiliation, because like a flower of grass he will pass away, for the sun rises with its scorching heat and withers the grass. Its flower falls and its beauty perishes, so also will the rich man fade away in the midst of all his pursuits. In these verses, I believe James is pointing to the truth,
• 17:36
  of our need to surrender again, to let go, and not allow our social status define or be the resources with which we rely upon. James tells us that our material resources doesn't matter. It's not those or the lack thereof that will get us through these trials that are promised to come. It is your spiritual resources.
• 18:05
  which will bring about maturity. We've got to count, we've got to know, and we have to let, this is one of the hardest ones I think for us as men, is to let go, allow God to be the will that we follow and not our own. Back to verse 5 through 8, it says, If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given to him. But let him ask in faith,
• 18:43
  With no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. For the person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord. He is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways. Our next imperative, we have to let, then we have to ask. Ask. This one gets me. Because there's a reality here that actually connects.
• 19:18
  With, again, our pride as men, much like we don't ask for directions, we don't want to ask the Lord. We don't want to come to Him in prayer and ask for His help. The mature man, James makes it clear that the people whom he wrote to had some issues with praying. We'll see that later in the book. But that they ought to. James tells us,
• 19:51
  But as we go through these God-given trials, we ought to ask for one thing specifically. One thing will give us what we need as we come to these trials. What one thing is that? It connects with what Pastor Danny started on Sunday as we begin this book of Proverbs. Proverbs tells us to get wisdom. Verse 5 says, if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God.
• 20:25
  James tells us wisdom is what we ought to ask for. God will provide it. I don't know about you guys, but I often find myself in the middle of trials. I don't ask for wisdom from God and how not to squander the opportunity to learn. Rather, I often spend that time asking God to remove that trial from me. I so often, and I believe the Lord at times will grant me that request.
• 21:01
  and I miss out on an opportunity to know my Heavenly Father in a deeper and more meaningful way, I squander an opportunity because all I can think about is making it stop rather than allowing the Lord to reveal Himself to me and give me a greater understanding of Him. Brothers, the mature man asks the Lord in the midst of trials for the wisdom not to squander the opportunity.
• 21:35
  Because we know God will provide and then we can count it all joy. Because there is a reason and there is a purpose. Know, let, and then we're going to skip down to verses 13 through 16. And the word I want us to think about is consider. Verses 13 through 16 says this, Let no one say,
• 22:15
  When he is tempted, I am being tempted by God, for God cannot be tempted by evil. And he himself tempts no one. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire, when it has conceived, gives birth to sin. And sin, when it is fully grown, brings forth death. I believe James wants us to consider the results of our sinful desires.
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  in our portion of Scripture tonight, is reminding us both of the positive results of maturity, but he's also now going to remind us of the negative results if these things are not followed, and that is death. Brothers, death is always the result of sin. Always. Now, that can be a temporary death. That can be the temporary loss of a relationship.
• 23:25
  A blessing, an opportunity for faith to be firmed up and grow. But death is always the result when we get outside God's plan and stubbornly go our own way. James in this section talks about desire. We can desire. This section has often been talked about in terms of how it connects specifically with
• 24:02
  our own sinful desires and that it doesn't come from God. But I want to focus in on and connect this back to these first sections where it promises trials and talks about us going through them faithfully and then producing sin fastness. We can, I believe, desire for our trials to be removed. Sinfully desire for them to be removed from us. We can desire...
• 24:25
  that which God has not granted. We can spend more time wishing for them to be removed than asking for His wisdom not to waste them. This is a lie from Satan and it is a lie that he desires for us to believe that the removal from the trial will bring relief that will only bring temporary relief. It is not what God wants for us and thus is evil. The immature man will seek
• 24:57
  relief however he can get it. As we go through trials, as we go through difficult times, whether the relief we seek is being addicted to work. Maybe we don't want to be at home. We want to just work all the time because we don't want to be around because things at home are hard. Maybe it's lust. Maybe it's pride. Maybe it's anger. Maybe we get angry when we don't get our way. Maybe it's gluttony. Maybe we soothe ourselves with food.
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  We can fill the space meant to be filled by God's grace and faith in Him with a litany of things. And we can try to bring relief from the trials in many different ways. We can desire for them to be removed from us. But the mature man will offer this up to God prayerfully and ask Him to give him wisdom because he will consider. He'll consider the results that sin leads to, to death.
• 26:08
  Consider that and know what God has promised. For what God has promised to us through all of this, let's jump into verse 12, which is an absolutely beautiful verse and beautiful promise to us. Verse 12 tells us the results of these things. If we follow, if we count, if we know, if we let, if we ask, if we consider, verse 12 tells us,
• 26:42
  is the man who remains steadfast under trial. For when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love Him. The results. God's purpose in trials is blessing us with maturity, with steadfastness. Blessed.
• 27:17
  Blessed is the man who remains steadfast, it says. Blessed is the man who remains steadfast. James ends this verse and he says, which God has promised to those who love Him. Which God has promised to those who love Him. I know this is true of me. It is really easy for me to create lists.
• 27:56
  of things to do, to accomplish. It's easier for me to do that. If Carla gives me a honey-do list, right? Would you please do these things? It's easier for me. It's even easier when she puts a reminder in my phone and it pops up on my phone on a Monday when I'm off and I get to work and get started on it because it's a list of things to accomplish, to do.
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  And I know that if I do those things, that I express my love for her, right? Those are important things to her. And so me accomplishing those things, me setting aside my time and doing the things for her that are important to her, expresses love. Now, I'm really, this is confession, I'm really bad, guys, without a list. It's a lot.
• 28:58
  harder for me to just ask myself, what does my bride, whom I love, want from me? What can I do to express my love for her? As we go through James, and as we think about these things talked about tonight, it will be really easy for us, in fact, throughout history,
• 29:38
  James has been confused with a works gospel because he gives a lot of lists. He gives a lot of imperatives. He calls for us to live the mature life. Be really easy for us to sit here on Wednesdays and come away with a list of things that we should do and create legalistic relationship with our Heavenly Father. That would be the absolutely wrong way for us to approach this.
• 30:15
  And I believe James believes that as well as he says, the end of verse 12, to those who love Him. Love must be the motivating factor for us, an appreciation for who our Heavenly Father is and what He has done for us.
• 30:45
  must be the active ingredient, if you will. If you read the back of a label on something, it'll tell you the active ingredients, the thing that makes it work, right? The other things stabilize it and stuff like, especially on medicine, it'll tell you the active ingredients. Here, James tells us the active ingredient, the thing that activates these things, that should activate these things in us as believers, as Christians, is a love for God.
• 31:16
  Because we love God and we know that He loves us. Why do we surrender our will? Because we love Him and He loves us. Why can we ask expectantly? Because we love Him and He loves us. Why can we let go and allow God to have control? Because He loves us and we...
• 31:45
  Love Him. And why can we count it all joy, brothers? Because we love Him. Because, as the Bible tells us, He first loved us when there was nothing lovable about us. Warren Wiersbe, I think, caps this all off well as he says, Love is the spiritual force behind the imperatives.
• 32:16
  James gives us. If we love God, we will have no problem counting, knowing, letting, and asking because love keeps us faithful.