Latest / INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living / A Case for Practical Christianity │ Msg 116

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A Case for Practical Christianity │ Msg 116 · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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Speaker 1: The intense and often brutal persecution the early church had
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Speaker 1: to endure was creating a serious problem. Fear of suffering
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Speaker 1: had caused many to retreat to a faith that existed.
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Speaker 2: Only in words, not in deeds.
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Speaker 1: Real Christianity was vanishing, either from Christians being hunted down
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Speaker 1: and killed or scared into silence. And then God used
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Speaker 1: James to write a letter focusing on authentic Christianity. It
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Speaker 1: was a letter designed to prod real faith out of hiding.
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Speaker 1: A letter that even today champions the cause for the
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Speaker 1: preservation of the practical Christian. In this particular lesson, we
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Speaker 1: want to get more specific about the marks of a
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Speaker 1: genuine Christian. I'll do that by answering the question, what
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Speaker 1: does a practical Christian look like? Down through the centuries,
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Speaker 1: many religious groups and denominations have attempted to define the
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Speaker 1: image of a practical Christian with different lists of do's
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Speaker 1: and don'ts, bans and taboos and prohibitions. With such a
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Speaker 1: variety of conflicting information, How can any of us know
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Speaker 1: which list to go by? James' letter models a complete
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Speaker 1: wardrobe for Christian behavior. But it's not about hemlines or necklines.
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Speaker 1: It's a concise compendium of the practical characteristics that should
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Speaker 1: adorn all our lives as believers in Jesus Christ. Actually,
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Speaker 1: it reads like a dress code of Christian behavior. one
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Speaker 1: that we should all be able to agree on. When
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Speaker 1: we acknowledge Jesus Christ as our Savior, several things become
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Speaker 1: true in our lives. Some of them, admittedly, are related
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Speaker 1: to our eternal inheritance, but others are related to our
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Speaker 1: temporal experience right here on this planet. Our eternal inheritance
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Speaker 1: can be described like this. Once we are in Christ,
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Speaker 1: many new adjectives apply to our lives, whether we are
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Speaker 1: aware of that or not. These adjectives would be words
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Speaker 1: like forgiven, justified, accepted, regenerated, adopted, free, reconciled, secure. I mean,
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Speaker 1: the list is almost endless. In addition, this new eternal
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Speaker 1: inheritance carries with it some important characteristics. Five come to
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Speaker 1: my mind. First, it is given its salvation for all
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Speaker 1: time and eternity. Second, it never changes. Those adjectives I
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Speaker 1: mentioned and many others will always apply. And third, the
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Speaker 1: truths of the inheritance are not necessarily experienced emotionally. You
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Speaker 1: need to remember that. Fourth, the inheritance is established by
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Speaker 1: God alone. It requires nothing from any of us, no
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Speaker 1: amount of work on our part. And fifth and finally,
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Speaker 1: it is visible only to God, not to us. Now then,
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Speaker 1: in addition to all of that, at the moment of salvation,
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Speaker 1: our temporal experience of Christianity also begins with Christ in us,
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Speaker 1: dwelling within our hearts through the empowerment of the Holy Spirit.
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Speaker 1: As we give Christ control of our lives, we begin
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Speaker 1: to experience things like power in prayer, the production of
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Speaker 1: the fruit of the Spirit, a genuine hunger for the
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Speaker 1: Word of God, true worship, authentic obedience to the Lord,
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Speaker 1: spiritual growth, witnessing, and practical insight. Like our eternal inheritance,
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Speaker 1: our temporal experience also has five important characteristics.
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Speaker 2: Listen to each one of them.
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Speaker 1: First, each of these temporal experiences relates to our earthly
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Speaker 1: walk and determines the depth of our fellowship with God. Second,
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Speaker 1: these things develop and grow as we mature. Third, although
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Speaker 1: sin has no effect on our eternal inheritance, frankly, it
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Speaker 1: can hinder the development of Christ's image in us in
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Speaker 1: our temporal experience. Fourth, growth in each area of our
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Speaker 1: temporal experience will come only as we depend on the
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Speaker 1: Holy Spirit. Fifth and finally, all characteristics in this realm
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Speaker 1: are visible, both to God, to us and to others,
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Speaker 1: I might add. It's important to keep the differences between
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Speaker 1: our eternal inheritance, which could be called our position in Christ,
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Speaker 1: and our temporal experience, which has to do with our
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Speaker 1: earthly walk with Him. It's good to keep both of
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Speaker 1: these firmly in mind as we work through the book
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Speaker 1: of James. Remember, James is addressing issues related to the
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Speaker 1: temporal experience of our everyday spiritual life, not to our
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Speaker 1: eternal inheritance. It's important you never forget that. In this series,
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Speaker 1: which I'm calling Hands-On Christianity.
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Speaker 2: I want to take you through.
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Speaker 1: The New Testament letter of James, verse by verse, line
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Speaker 1: by line, I want to demonstrate for you the value
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Speaker 1: of developing a practical faith that helps you remain resilient
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Speaker 1: and effective as a believer, especially during tough times. An
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Speaker 1: honest and exacting study of this powerful and practical letter
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Speaker 1: has the potential literally of transforming our Christian life. I
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Speaker 1: cannot overemphasize that statement.
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Speaker 2: So let me repeat it.
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Speaker 1: An honest and exacting study of this powerful and practical
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Speaker 1: letter has the potential, literally, of transforming our Christian life.
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Speaker 1: So to begin, I'd like for you to open your
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Speaker 1: Bible to the beginning verses of James' letter. I'll be
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Speaker 1: reading James 1, 1 through 12. And my reading will
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Speaker 1: be from the New American Standard Version. Beginning with James 1,
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Speaker 1: verse 1, we read this. James, a bondservant of God
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Speaker 1: and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes
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Speaker 1: who are dispersed abroad, greetings. Consider it all joy, my brethren,
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Speaker 1: when you encounter various trials. knowing that the testing of
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Speaker 1: your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result,
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Speaker 1: so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
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Speaker 1: But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask
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Speaker 1: of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach,
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Speaker 1: and it will be given to him. ask in faith,
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Speaker 1: without any doubting. For the one who doubts is like
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Speaker 1: the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind.
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Speaker 1: For that man ought not to expect that he will
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Speaker 1: receive anything from the Lord, being a double-minded man, unstable
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Speaker 1: in all his ways. But the brother of humble circumstances
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Speaker 1: is is to glory in his high position, and the
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Speaker 1: rich man is to glory in his humiliation, because like
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Speaker 1: flowering grass he will pass away. For the sun rises
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Speaker 1: with a scorching wind and withers the grass, and its
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Speaker 1: flower falls off, and the beauty of its appearance is destroyed.
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Speaker 1: So too the rich man in the midst of his
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Speaker 1: pursuits will fade away. Blessed is a man who perseveres
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Speaker 1: under trial. For once he has been approved, he will
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Speaker 1: receive the crown of life, which the Lord has promised
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Speaker 1: to those who love him.
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Speaker 2: Now, this morning we began the book of James, and
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Speaker 2: I'd like to have you turn with me to the
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Speaker 2: beginning of this wonderful adventure. And as you turn, I
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Speaker 2: would like to begin by saying the Bible dwells on
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Speaker 2: two prominent themes all the way through the 66 books
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Speaker 2: within its covers. The two major themes in the Bible
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Speaker 2: are the way to God and the walk with God.
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Speaker 2: Whenever you pick up your Bible to read it seriously,
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Speaker 2: you should ask yourself, is this talking about the way
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Speaker 2: to God or Or is this telling me about how
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Speaker 2: to walk with God? The first major theme is directed
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Speaker 2: to the lost man called in Scripture, the one who
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Speaker 2: is dead. The dead sinner. And God alerts this dead
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Speaker 2: one with information on how to come to know him
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Speaker 2: through Jesus Christ. God tells him the way to God.
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Speaker 2: But surprising to many people, the greater part of the
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Speaker 2: Bible is directed to the one the Scripture calls the
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Speaker 2: saint or the Christian. And it tells him how to
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Speaker 2: walk with the God he has come to know. The
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Speaker 2: letters of the New Testament are especially filled with that
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Speaker 2: kind of information. So the better part of the New
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Speaker 2: Testament is directed not to the person who needs to
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Speaker 2: know God, but to the person who has already come
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Speaker 2: to know him and needs to know how to walk
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Speaker 2: with God. The book of James, as you expect, is
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Speaker 2: a book on the latter theme. It talks about the
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Speaker 2: walk with God. It's my opinion that it talks about
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Speaker 2: the walk with God like no other book of the Bible,
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Speaker 2: except perhaps the book of Proverbs. And some insightful sage
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Speaker 2: has called the book of James the Proverbs of the
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Speaker 2: New Testament. And if you want a task that will
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Speaker 2: keep you busy, try to outline the book of James.
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Speaker 2: And if you get that done, then you're ready to
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Speaker 2: outline the book of Proverbs. They're much alike. They are
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Speaker 2: filled with pithy, short exhortations, maxims. Proverbs that talk about
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Speaker 2: how to live for God in a way that is
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Speaker 2: altogether unique and rare. Now I want to make it
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Speaker 2: clear that the book of James is not a great
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Speaker 2: doctrinal masterpiece or treatise. You may be surprised to know
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Speaker 2: that the name of the Lord Jesus Christ appears only twice.
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Speaker 2: That his cross is never mentioned once. Nor his resurrection.
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Speaker 2: nor the Holy Spirit. And you might wonder, well, what
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Speaker 2: kind of book is that? Luther wondered the same thing,
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Speaker 2: and he called it an epistle of straw. A straw epistle.
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Speaker 2: But he missed the point. James was never written for
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Speaker 2: the purpose of establishing the doctrines of our faith. It
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Speaker 2: isn't even a defense of the truth. It is a
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Speaker 2: practical book that assumes you know the doctrines. And it
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Speaker 2: drives home the importance of living like you know the truth.
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Speaker 2: In other words, there is one great question in the
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Speaker 2: mind of James, and it's this. If you say that
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Speaker 2: you believe like you should, then why do you behave
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Speaker 2: like you shouldn't? That's the question all the way through James.
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Speaker 2: If you claim to be infected with the real disease,
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Speaker 2: where are the genuine germs? If you honestly believe you
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Speaker 2: are the recipient of the truth, why do you constantly
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Speaker 2: display the lie? That's what's concerning James all the way
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Speaker 2: through the book. And I want to describe to you
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Speaker 2: the reason why he looked at life like the man
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Speaker 2: from Missouri. who continually says, prove it to me. If
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Speaker 2: you will prove to me that you've really got the
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Speaker 2: genuine item, then I'm ready to buy it. But so far,
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Speaker 2: as I look at what you have on the counter,
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Speaker 2: I can't see sufficient proof. And so, with that in mind,
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Speaker 2: let's consider, first of all, the writer of the book. Well,
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Speaker 2: you notice in verse 1 his name appears, but if
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Speaker 2: you lived in century 1, it wouldn't help you very much,
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Speaker 2: for there were about five significant men by that name.
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Speaker 2: Chapter 1, verse 1, James, a bondservant of God and
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Speaker 2: of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the writer. He simply
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Speaker 2: identifies himself as the bondservant of God and of Jesus Christ.
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Speaker 2: Which James was it? It is the studied opinion of
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Speaker 2: most conservative New Testament men that the writer was literally
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Speaker 2: the half-brother of Jesus. He was born and raised in
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Speaker 2: the same family as Jesus of Nazareth. But I want
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Speaker 2: you to know that James was not like Jesus as
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Speaker 2: a boy. Let's turn back to Matthew chapter 13. Matthew
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Speaker 2: 13 tells us something that we need to know about
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Speaker 2: Mary and Joseph. There is the erroneous idea that Mary
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Speaker 2: had no other children besides Jesus. And it has been
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Speaker 2: extant for many centuries. The New Testament unequivocally declares that
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Speaker 2: that is not the truth. Mary and Joseph had a
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Speaker 2: number of children. The full number we aren't really sure of.
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Speaker 2: Matthew 13 verse 53 begins. And it came about that
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Speaker 2: when Jesus had finished these parables. He departed from there.
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Speaker 2: And coming to his hometown. He began teaching them in
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Speaker 2: their synagogue. Notice he came back home and he began
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Speaker 2: to teach in the synagogue so that they became astonished
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Speaker 2: and said, where did this man get this wisdom and
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Speaker 2: these miraculous powers? That's not too hard to figure out
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Speaker 2: if you're raised around an individual and suddenly he moves
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Speaker 2: into stardom or some great statesmanship position. You at times
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Speaker 2: say to yourself, how in the world did he get
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Speaker 2: to that position? And if a fellow had been raised
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Speaker 2: in your hometown and had come back into the city
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Speaker 2: working miracles and declaring that he was the Messiah, you
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Speaker 2: would probably wonder the same thing they wondered. He is
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Speaker 2: the son of the carpenter. He is the son of Mary.
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Speaker 2: That's all they knew. And so they wondered, how did
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Speaker 2: he get these kinds of powers? What kind of person
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Speaker 2: is this? Verse 55, is not this the carpenter's son?
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Speaker 2: Very helpful verse. Is not his mother called Mary? And
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Speaker 2: his brothers, James, Joseph, And Simon and Judas. Of course,
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Speaker 2: that is not Judas Iscariot. Judas is a very common
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Speaker 2: name in that first century. And his sisters, and it
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Speaker 2: doesn't name them for us. Are they not all with us?
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Speaker 2: Where then did this man get all these things? They
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Speaker 2: took offense at him, the next verse says. It bent
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Speaker 2: him out of shape, this upstart man. coming back into
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Speaker 2: the city, claiming that he was something more than just
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Speaker 2: a carpenter's son. Now, I want you to think about
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Speaker 2: the experience of James, and I take it that James
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Speaker 2: in verse 55 is the James, the writer of the
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Speaker 2: book we are beginning to study. I take it that
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Speaker 2: in the list, they are perhaps listed chronologically. So he
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Speaker 2: was the firstborn after Jesus. Jesus was his older brother. Okay.
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Speaker 2: Those of you that were raised in families of older
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Speaker 2: brothers don't have to have a whole lot of input
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Speaker 2: on what it's like to have an older brother. Some
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Speaker 2: of you were older brothers. Shame on you. My sister
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Speaker 2: and I had a very, well she had it and
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Speaker 2: then my being a model child I went along with
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Speaker 2: her feelings on it. She had a very affectionate name
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Speaker 2: for our older brother. Adolf Hitler is what she called him.
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Speaker 2: He didn't babysit. He guarded us. He didn't take us
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Speaker 2: to the show. He marched us. And that was the
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Speaker 2: sort of thing that it was like to live under
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Speaker 2: the rule of a big brother. James had as his
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Speaker 2: big brother the Lord Jesus he never sinned okay he
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Speaker 2: always came when his mother called him the first time
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Speaker 2: he always washed his hands before supper he always picked
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Speaker 2: up his socks and He always washed the ring out
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Speaker 2: of the tub. You know, he always went to bed
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Speaker 2: when she said it's time to go to bed. And
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Speaker 2: if you're James, that doesn't win a lot of points
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Speaker 2: for you already. You're a little brother and you've got
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Speaker 2: a big brother that never does anything wrong. You've got
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Speaker 2: a built in problem right there from the start. And
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Speaker 2: that big brother came back to the city saying, I'm
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Speaker 2: the Messiah. How do you think James felt toward his
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Speaker 2: big brother? Well, if you're still a little naive about it,
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Speaker 2: turn to Mark chapter 3, and I'll show you something else.
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Speaker 2: Mark chapter 3, verse 20. The consequence of being raised
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Speaker 2: in the home where the older brother is sinless is predictable.
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Speaker 2: And you will notice in Mark 3 that the opposition
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Speaker 2: has grown. It's more than a question now. Verse 20.
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Speaker 2: It says that he came home, the Lord Jesus, and
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Speaker 2: the multitude gathered again to such an extent they could
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Speaker 2: not even eat a meal, that is, Jesus and his men.
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Speaker 2: And when his own people heard, and the word means relatives,
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Speaker 2: when his own family heard of this, they went out
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Speaker 2: to take custody of him. Why? For they were saying,
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Speaker 2: he has lost his senses. The Living Bible says he's
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Speaker 2: out of his mind. The Berkeley says he is deranged.
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Speaker 2: Phillips paraphrase says he must be mad. The decided opinion
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Speaker 2: of his family was he's a nut. And that includes James.
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Speaker 2: And by the way, James held onto that opinion right
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Speaker 2: through young manhood. He came to the position where he
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Speaker 2: had to make a decision. And if you will take
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Speaker 2: the time to save us a little bit of time,
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Speaker 2: for John says that they didn't even believe in him.
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Speaker 2: John 7 verifies that. Will you take the little chart
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Speaker 2: that I gave you and look on the back, which
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Speaker 2: is not a chart of mine on the back. I've
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Speaker 2: clarified that. But on the top right, you'll notice periods
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Speaker 2: in James' life. You'll notice the period where he came
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Speaker 2: into spiritual confrontation. with his half-brother. This is an excellent
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Speaker 2: chart provided by Irving Jensen and if you will notice
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Speaker 2: the flow of chronology. First of all he was simply
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Speaker 2: in relation to Jesus as a brother. And then came
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Speaker 2: the second main period where he went into spiritual confrontation
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Speaker 2: with the Messiah. And then the cross, and we're not
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Speaker 2: told about James at the time of the cross, but
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Speaker 2: we have every reason to assume he was still an unbeliever.
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Speaker 2: But immediately after the cross, the Lord Jesus, according to
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Speaker 2: 1 Corinthians 15, 7, paid a visit to James, who
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Speaker 2: was his brother. And I take it at that point
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Speaker 2: or before or shortly thereafter, that brother, James, received his brother.
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Speaker 2: as his Lord and Savior. What an interesting experience that
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Speaker 2: must have been. And then James, as God only could
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Speaker 2: design it, moved into becoming one of the most significant
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Speaker 2: leaders in the early church, the latter part of his life.
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Speaker 2: He died by stoning in the year 62. The details
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Speaker 2: of his death are vivid and extremely sad. But James,
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Speaker 2: after he finally came around as an adult, went into orbit,
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Speaker 2: spiritually speaking. He never did come back to his position
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Speaker 2: earlier of a cynic and a skeptic. But what I
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Speaker 2: want you to remember, and you'll have to remember this
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Speaker 2: as we go through the book of James, is that
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Speaker 2: throughout the better part of his early thinking life, he
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Speaker 2: was an unbeliever. He had seen life in the raw
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Speaker 2: at home. He had watched Jesus grow and his anger
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Speaker 2: and hostility had intensified so that at the point of
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Speaker 2: Jesus declaring himself the Messiah, James, as an adult, thought
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Speaker 2: he was mad. Finally, he came around. God's work of
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Speaker 2: grace grabbed his heart. And for the first time, he
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Speaker 2: looked at Christianity in a whole new light. But all
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Speaker 2: of his thinking life had been from the viewpoint of
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Speaker 2: the skeptic. He had seen hypocrisy, not in Jesus, but
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Speaker 2: in these so-called Christians that followed his brother. He had
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Speaker 2: watched it, he had heard it, until he was up
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Speaker 2: to here with it. And he said, in effect, as
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Speaker 2: we would say today, I am not interested in Christianity
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Speaker 2: at all. And suddenly God saved him. And suddenly, before
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Speaker 2: any other New Testament book was written, he wrote a book.
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Speaker 2: His is the first piece of literature in all the
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Speaker 2: New Testament era, as the other chart on that sheet
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Speaker 2: will show you. Now, having no other book to follow after,
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Speaker 2: you would expect his book to be unique. Back to
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Speaker 2: James 1, and indeed it is. There's no other book
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Speaker 2: like James. And I am impressed with the first verse.
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Speaker 2: He says, I am James, the bondservant of God and
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Speaker 2: of the Lord Jesus Christ. What surprises you about that?
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Speaker 2: He doesn't say I'm his brother. But if you know James,
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Speaker 2: that doesn't surprise you. That would be the ultimate in name-dropping.
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Speaker 2: And that's one of the things that James attacks in
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Speaker 2: his book. He's sick of name-dropping. If you are a
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Speaker 2: cliched Christian poured in the concrete mold of cliched Christians,
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Speaker 2: you are in for a season of misery as we
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Speaker 2: go into the book of James. He attacks us in
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Speaker 2: every concrete area where there is any glimpse of phoniness.
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Speaker 2: And he grabs us by the spiritual shoulders and he
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Speaker 2: shakes us. And he says, stop that kind of thing.
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Speaker 2: Make it genuine or get out. That's quite an assignment.
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Speaker 2: But he's got it. And it says, I am a
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Speaker 2: bondservant of God and the Lord Jesus. Why does he
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Speaker 2: say that? Well, why doesn't he say I am the brother?
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Speaker 2: Because his real relationship to Jesus was not physical. It
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Speaker 2: was spiritual. His relationship to Jesus wasn't made possible by Mary,
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Speaker 2: the same mother. It was made possible by the grace
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Speaker 2: of God, the same Father. And so James turns us
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Speaker 2: around and says from the very beginning, this is going
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Speaker 2: to be different and I hope you're ready for it. Well,
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Speaker 2: what kind of people were they? You might think, my,
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Speaker 2: they must have been a group of unbelievers if they
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Speaker 2: lived like that. No, I know that because the passages
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Speaker 2: of this book are filled with the words brethren. Look
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Speaker 2: at chapter 1, verse 2. Consider it all joy, my brethren.
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Speaker 2: Those are words uniquely designed for the believer of the
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Speaker 2: New Testament. Look at chapter 2 and verse 1. My brethren,
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Speaker 2: do not hold your faith in our Lord Jesus Christ
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Speaker 2: with an attitude of personal favoritism. Verse 1 of chapter
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Speaker 2: 3 says, let not many of you become teachers, my brethren.
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Speaker 2: And you'll find it again and again. It's among the
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Speaker 2: major terms of the book. It's written to believers. But
28:13
Speaker 2: verse 1 of chapter 1 says that they were 12
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Speaker 2: tribes dispersed abroad. What does that mean? We've established who
28:22
Speaker 2: the writer was and we've established something of why he
28:25
Speaker 2: wrote the way he did. But let's look at it
28:27
Speaker 2: from the viewpoint of the recipients. Who were they? Well,
28:31
Speaker 2: they are called the 12 tribes, which tells you what? Well,
28:35
Speaker 2: it tells you they were Jews. So his letter is
28:38
Speaker 2: distinctly Jewish. He was a Jew writing to Jews in
28:43
Speaker 2: the first century who were dispersed abroad. The Greek word
28:49
Speaker 2: means scattered throughout. That's what the word means. To scatter
28:54
Speaker 2: as you would scatter seed all over. These Jews lived
28:59
Speaker 2: under Claudius, the Roman emperor, and under Claudius, the Jews
29:03
Speaker 2: were driven from Rome, which was at that time the
29:06
Speaker 2: hotbed of the world. It was the headquarters of the universe,
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Speaker 2: humanly speaking. And the Jews were driven out. Furthermore, those
29:15
Speaker 2: that were in business were boycotted. Children in school that
29:19
Speaker 2: were Jewish were mocked and finally kicked out of school.
29:24
Speaker 2: The Jew lived without roots and he traveled outside Palestine
29:28
Speaker 2: looking for a place to call home and could find none.
29:31
Speaker 2: He was dispersed abroad. He was scattered throughout. Now what
29:37
Speaker 2: kind of life is it that a person can live
29:40
Speaker 2: without roots? It's a life of misery. Someone has said
29:45
Speaker 2: that suffering purifies. And I agree. But constant suffering crushes.
29:57
Speaker 2: And that's apparently what had happened. Many of these Jews
30:01
Speaker 2: that James had begun to rub shoulders with had begun
30:04
Speaker 2: to defect. They had begun to claim in their lips
30:09
Speaker 2: that they believed the truth of God concerning the Lord Jesus.
30:13
Speaker 2: But because of the pressures of their day, they had
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Speaker 2: begun to live the lie. And so James says, stop that.
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Speaker 2: If your faith is genuine, then your works will be real.
30:29
Speaker 2: That's the theme of the book. And so to these recipients,
30:33
Speaker 2: he is addressing himself with great emotion. Let's look at
30:38
Speaker 2: the book as a whole right now. Shall we do that?
30:42
Speaker 2: We have sort of laid a background for it by
30:45
Speaker 2: looking at verses verse one together. We have seen that
30:49
Speaker 2: James has launched sort of a practical treatise toward Christianity,
30:53
Speaker 2: but we've not really looked through the book together. So
30:57
Speaker 2: With the help of a chart, I'd like to have
30:58
Speaker 2: you turn over on the other side, and you may
31:02
Speaker 2: find a few spots of my blood on that sheet
31:06
Speaker 2: of paper, because that's what it takes to come up
31:09
Speaker 2: with an outline on James. And frankly, I don't guarantee
31:13
Speaker 2: that it's infallible. You may come up with an altogether
31:17
Speaker 2: different chart or outline. That's great. I placed at the
31:22
Speaker 2: bottom of the chart some ABCs, and we've gone over
31:25
Speaker 2: a number of these things, but our concern now is
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Speaker 2: toward the top of the chart. Let's begin with the
31:31
Speaker 2: main theme of the book. As we have stated, the
31:35
Speaker 2: main theme is real faith produces genuine works. In other words,
31:43
Speaker 2: the person who has really found the way genuinely walks
31:47
Speaker 2: in it. That's what he's saying. If you are one
31:52
Speaker 2: that has claimed, I have come to Jesus Christ, He
31:55
Speaker 2: is my Lord and Savior, then James says, let your
32:00
Speaker 2: life show that that is true. Now there is a
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Speaker 2: main section in this book, and it's in chapter 2.
32:08
Speaker 2: I'd like to have you skip the first part of
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Speaker 2: chapter 1 and on into it. Go to chapter 2,
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Speaker 2: verse 14. Every New Testament book has a main section.
32:19
Speaker 2: And the central section of James is found in chapter 2.
32:24
Speaker 2: We'll review the overview of the book in a minute,
32:27
Speaker 2: but let's look at 2.14. What use is it, my brethren,
32:33
Speaker 2: there it is again, you that claim to be brothers
32:37
Speaker 2: and sisters in Christ, what use is it if a
32:40
Speaker 2: man says, and the emphasis is on that word, if
32:45
Speaker 2: a man says he has faith, but he has no works.
32:51
Speaker 2: Can that kind of faith save him? That's sort of
32:55
Speaker 2: a paraphrase of what he's meaning. In other words, are
32:59
Speaker 2: you telling me, readers, that if your faith is really genuine,
33:05
Speaker 2: there will be no need for works that follow? Quite
33:07
Speaker 2: the opposite, says James. He's not preaching salvation by works,
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Speaker 2: as some have criticized him for. James is preaching a
33:17
Speaker 2: genuine salvation that has works accompanying it. Faith is the root.
33:24
Speaker 2: Works are the fruit that come as a product of
33:30
Speaker 2: the root. James says, if you've got a root, then
33:34
Speaker 2: you've got the fruit. And then he attacks with an illustration.
33:39
Speaker 2: If a brother or sister is without clothing and in
33:42
Speaker 2: need of daily food, We'll go over this in detail
33:45
Speaker 2: in future time. But he uses it as an example.
33:48
Speaker 2: He says, one of you, one of whom? You that
33:51
Speaker 2: say you've got the real genuine faith. One of you
33:53
Speaker 2: says to them, go in peace. Be warmed. Be filled.
34:01
Speaker 2: And yet you do not give what is necessary for
34:05
Speaker 2: their body. What use is that? Those are empty words.
34:12
Speaker 2: Anyone can say to the hungry and to the poor,
34:16
Speaker 2: go and God bless you. But James says, let me
34:21
Speaker 2: say to you that the genuine Christian is moved to
34:26
Speaker 2: the point of response and involvement. Even so, verse 17 says,
34:33
Speaker 2: if faith has no works, it is dead, being by itself. Now,
34:42
Speaker 2: I have to confess to you that this book will
34:46
Speaker 2: really get down where we live. And in one side
34:51
Speaker 2: of it, it is an exciting adventure, but in another
34:54
Speaker 2: side of it, it is a painful encounter. It will
34:58
Speaker 2: hurt you. It will cut you. It won't simply rebuke.
35:04
Speaker 2: It will assault your life in areas where it is
35:09
Speaker 2: out of kilter or out of balance. with the standard
35:12
Speaker 2: of truth. Now, the main section is right there. In fact,
35:16
Speaker 2: he closes it with verse 20. But are you willing
35:19
Speaker 2: to recognize, you foolish fellow, that faith without works is useless?
35:30
Speaker 2: God is not interested in blessing you because you believe
35:34
Speaker 2: right only. God looks upon your life and sees your
35:40
Speaker 2: behavior and says, ah, that is where rewards come in.
35:45
Speaker 2: Now let's review the book. We've gotten the main section
35:48
Speaker 2: and the main theme and the terms are before us.
35:50
Speaker 2: Let's look at the book. Place your chart alongside your book,
35:53
Speaker 2: if you will, and let's just see how it's laid out,
35:57
Speaker 2: that is, as I see it. The first chapter is
36:01
Speaker 2: the first main section. The second main section is chapter two.
36:07
Speaker 2: The third main section covers two chapters, three and four.
36:12
Speaker 2: And then the fourth main part of the book is
36:14
Speaker 2: the last, the fifth chapter. All the way through these
36:19
Speaker 2: five chapters, the main theme is emphasized. Let me show
36:23
Speaker 2: you how to read the chart. Notice on the left,
36:26
Speaker 2: the word faith. Below it, the word works. Okay, read
36:32
Speaker 2: in chapter one, faith. When stretched... Doesn't break. Or what
36:39
Speaker 2: does it produce? It produces the work of genuine stability.
36:47
Speaker 2: That's the theme of chapter 1. When your faith is stretched,
36:53
Speaker 2: it doesn't break. It stands stable if it's genuine. I
37:03
Speaker 2: was looking at Lynn yesterday morning. My wife was sitting
37:07
Speaker 2: in the chair weeping with her, and I was with
37:11
Speaker 2: her and her family. And I looked into her eyes,
37:15
Speaker 2: and I saw her at perhaps a wife's most difficult moment.
37:24
Speaker 2: And she had only a few minutes before been told
37:26
Speaker 2: of the death of her young 27-year-old husband. And we
37:33
Speaker 2: caught our eyes together, her eyes and mine, And I
37:38
Speaker 2: heard from her lips and saw in her face all
37:41
Speaker 2: the stability you can imagine. Her trials are not over.
37:48
Speaker 2: Any widow here today could testify to that. But she
37:51
Speaker 2: passed the first test with flying colors. It wasn't that
37:55
Speaker 2: she wasn't weeping or broken down to the bone in
38:01
Speaker 2: her spirit. But undergirding her was a faith. that didn't
38:08
Speaker 2: break down because the faith is real. If faith is phony,
38:14
Speaker 2: it breaks down. If faith is real, it stands the test.
38:21
Speaker 2: That's the whole thrust of chapter one. I'll tell you,
38:23
Speaker 2: James will get you off the fence. If you love
38:27
Speaker 2: to ride the fence and sort of move with your emotions,
38:31
Speaker 2: You're going to very carefully, chapter by chapter, scissor out
38:35
Speaker 2: that part of the Bible and remove it from your
38:39
Speaker 2: visible sight. Because you can't stand it. James says, real faith,
38:46
Speaker 2: when it is stretched, stands strong. Doesn't give up. And
38:52
Speaker 2: he uses three examples. Trials of life in the first
38:55
Speaker 2: 12 verses. And then those areas of lust in the
39:01
Speaker 2: temptation areas, it'll stand fast. And the third area, when
39:06
Speaker 2: there is the scripture brought to the attention of the
39:09
Speaker 2: genuine saint, he responds to it. Teach me, Lord, I'm
39:14
Speaker 2: ready to alter my life as I see it in
39:17
Speaker 2: the mirror of your word. I'm assuming, of course, you understand,
39:21
Speaker 2: as James assumes, that the book is written with the
39:24
Speaker 2: spirit filled Christian in mind The Spirit of God fills
39:29
Speaker 2: and controls your life Then you are ready to applaud
39:33
Speaker 2: his every exhortation Because you know, it's the truth But
39:38
Speaker 2: when the flesh takes over you're not stable you yield
39:41
Speaker 2: to temptation scripture is just nothing but a miserable piece
39:45
Speaker 2: of literature and But when the Spirit of God comes
39:49
Speaker 2: and takes control, the Spirit of God says, hold up.
39:56
Speaker 2: You can do that. Look at chapter 2. Read it again.
40:01
Speaker 2: When your faith is pressed, it doesn't fail. Genuine love
40:08
Speaker 2: comes to the surface. In other words, a pressed faith.
40:13
Speaker 2: When you are pressed into the corner to make a decision.
40:16
Speaker 2: When you are pressed with the temptation to yield to
40:21
Speaker 2: the desires of your own flesh. In other words, as
40:25
Speaker 2: in the case of chapter 2, the case of partiality
40:28
Speaker 2: and prejudice. Or later on in the chapter, when you
40:32
Speaker 2: are tempted to be indifferent. When your faith is pressed,
40:36
Speaker 2: it hangs in there. If it's genuine. Love comes to
40:41
Speaker 2: the surface. And the latter part of the chapter has
40:44
Speaker 2: in it those two incredible illustrations of Abraham, who offered
40:49
Speaker 2: up his son Isaac, or almost took his life, as
40:52
Speaker 2: God asked, and Rahab the harlot, another amazing illustration. And
40:59
Speaker 2: we've talked about faith being stretched and faith being pressed.
41:05
Speaker 2: Chapters 3 and 4 talk about when faith is expressed.
41:09
Speaker 2: It doesn't explode. And if you will notice on the
41:13
Speaker 2: chart for the sake of time, we will not try
41:16
Speaker 2: to go through the verses. We'll do that later. When
41:19
Speaker 2: your faith that is genuine is expressed, then there is control.
41:25
Speaker 2: There is humility. That's why I said James didn't drop
41:30
Speaker 2: the name of Jesus in the beginning as his brother.
41:35
Speaker 2: Genuine humility. He saw himself as a bondservant of the brother,
41:39
Speaker 2: the Lord Jesus. And how do we express our faith? Well,
41:44
Speaker 2: there are three areas mentioned in verses 1 through 12.
41:48
Speaker 2: There are the expressions of words. And I suppose he
41:53
Speaker 2: brings a treatise on the tongue like no other writer
41:56
Speaker 2: of Scripture. I'll tell you, when you get through with
42:00
Speaker 2: chapter 3, you just feel like finding a door and
42:03
Speaker 2: just kind of slipping out underneath it without opening the door.
42:06
Speaker 2: That's the way you feel when he's through. When you
42:10
Speaker 2: and I see our tongues in Psalm 15 with all
42:15
Speaker 2: the poison that they can emit, then we're ready to
42:20
Speaker 2: see it from God's point of view. The spirit-filled saint
42:26
Speaker 2: that is with it in his expressions of attitudes comes
42:31
Speaker 2: out on top. And he talks about that in the
42:33
Speaker 2: last part of chapter 3 and the first part of
42:35
Speaker 2: chapter 4. And then the last part of chapter 4,
42:38
Speaker 2: he expresses the desires of the saint. When we look
42:42
Speaker 2: to the future and say, I'm going to do this,
42:44
Speaker 2: I will do that, I will do this. Now, James says,
42:48
Speaker 2: the saint says humbly, I want to do what God
42:53
Speaker 2: has planned. In the last chapter, when faith is distressed,
43:00
Speaker 2: and we talk about money matters and the matter of
43:03
Speaker 2: sickness and how sin is involved in it, and even
43:06
Speaker 2: dealing with a brother who was in carnality. James talks
43:14
Speaker 2: about the walk, not finding the way, but living the life.
43:23
Speaker 2: I will never forget in all my life my first
43:28
Speaker 2: week in boot camp. I had in my mind an
43:36
Speaker 2: idea about the Marine Corps that was altogether false. It
43:44
Speaker 2: took about 60 to 90 seconds to discover how wrong
43:50
Speaker 2: I was. In our first orientation class as a group
43:56
Speaker 2: of nobodies, sitting there with shaved heads, no self-confidence, and
44:03
Speaker 2: our life beaten halfway out of us, I remember the
44:05
Speaker 2: instructor saying, look on your right. Look on your left.
44:11
Speaker 2: In 14 weeks, one of those fellows won't be here.
44:15
Speaker 2: And I thought, man, are they going to shoot them?
44:17
Speaker 2: What are they going to do? I really didn't know.
44:20
Speaker 2: Scared half to death. And I thought as they looked,
44:23
Speaker 2: somebody's looking at me. You know, the guy on my
44:25
Speaker 2: right and on my left is looking at me. We
44:27
Speaker 2: started with 85 and we graduated 42. So he didn't
44:31
Speaker 2: miss it very far. What he was saying was, this
44:34
Speaker 2: training will thin the ranks. You that have some unrealistic
44:39
Speaker 2: idea of some wonderful arrangement of life where you will
44:43
Speaker 2: come out, you know, a rugged leatherneck, you better stop
44:48
Speaker 2: and think because you're not in for a bed of roses.
44:53
Speaker 2: The song wasn't written then, but I suppose he could
44:55
Speaker 2: have sung it for us. I never promised you a
44:57
Speaker 2: rose garden, and believe me, they didn't. Fourteen weeks later, 42...
45:03
Speaker 2: Guys with shaved heads graduated, realistically seeing what it was
45:09
Speaker 2: all about. James thins the ranks. I'm almost tempted to say,
45:15
Speaker 2: look on your right and look on your left, because
45:20
Speaker 2: some of these won't be here when we finish. But frankly,
45:29
Speaker 2: James says that's fine. We need to thin the ranks
45:36
Speaker 2: of the phonies. We're looking for a few good men,
45:43
Speaker 2: says James. And if we find a few, praise God.
45:49
Speaker 2: If we abruptly assault the phony so that he says, man,
45:55
Speaker 2: not for me. That's the job of the book. James
46:01
Speaker 2: is desirous of putting the genuine article back into our lives.
46:07
Speaker 2: And I hope you're not approaching the book unrealistically. Because
46:11
Speaker 2: if you are, the first few minutes of exhortation will
46:16
Speaker 2: show you that you've really lived in a fantasy world.
46:22
Speaker 2: Maybe you are a phony. I really believe if I
46:27
Speaker 2: sense the heartbeat of this man who was genuinely concerned
46:31
Speaker 2: for those calling themselves crack troops, I believe I'm hearing
46:39
Speaker 2: him say, why be phony any longer? Why just slip
46:45
Speaker 2: away and hide? Why not today give yourself for the
46:53
Speaker 2: very first time to Jesus Christ? Why not do that today?
47:04
Speaker 2: Will you bow your heads with me? James talks about
47:08
Speaker 2: the walk. I want to talk about the way. You've
47:13
Speaker 2: listened attentively, but the real test comes in response. God
47:21
Speaker 2: loves you. He sent His Son, Jesus Christ, because of
47:27
Speaker 2: His love. And his son died driven to the cross
47:33
Speaker 2: by love. And God says to you, I don't care
47:38
Speaker 2: whether you had a big brother or no brother. I
47:41
Speaker 2: don't care whether you've ever understood or you've heard all
47:44
Speaker 2: your life about Jesus. I want us to shore up
47:50
Speaker 2: the loose areas right now. God says, I want to
47:55
Speaker 2: talk to you about your home, about your thought life,
48:01
Speaker 2: I want to deal with you about your lust, your selfishness,
48:05
Speaker 2: your jealousy and strife, your pride, your tradition, your cantankerous spirit,
48:12
Speaker 2: your attitude, your unforgiveness. I want to talk to you
48:18
Speaker 2: about your tongue. But just to make things right, you
48:22
Speaker 2: need to be in my family. That's family talk. And
48:27
Speaker 2: so God says, if you will receive my son, The
48:31
Speaker 2: Lord Jesus. I'll invade your life. I'll take a permanent
48:36
Speaker 2: residence there. And I'll never leave. And I'll see this
48:42
Speaker 2: battle through. I'll show you how my Holy Spirit. Can fill.
48:48
Speaker 2: And control. Every loose area. If you've never received Jesus Christ.
48:57
Speaker 2: Young man. Young woman. Child. Child. businessman, homemaker, career woman, single, married, widowed, divorced.
49:12
Speaker 2: You've never let the Lord Jesus Christ come into your life.
49:17
Speaker 2: Respond positively to that invitation right now. You can pray
49:25
Speaker 2: something like, Lord, I acknowledge Jesus Christ as my Savior.
49:30
Speaker 2: I give him my life. Thank you for coming in.
49:37
Speaker 2: I believe Jesus died and rose from the dead for
49:39
Speaker 2: me I accept him today.
49:46
Speaker 1: Our Father, how thankful we are that you have not
49:48
Speaker 1: chosen to leave us to ourselves, to wallow in our
49:53
Speaker 1: self-serving devices and our devious ways. But you have graciously
50:00
Speaker 1: made yourself available and accessible to us in the person
50:06
Speaker 1: of your Son, Jesus Christ. How thankful we are. He's
50:11
Speaker 1: the one who emptied himself of the splendor of his
50:14
Speaker 1: dwelling place on high with you and was brought low
50:18
Speaker 1: to join us in our human frame, becoming flesh, taking
50:26
Speaker 1: the lowest position and being made in our likeness, only
50:32
Speaker 1: to be obedient to death, even death on an excruciating cross.
50:40
Speaker 1: When Jesus came, he gave to us a perfect and
50:44
Speaker 1: compelling example of surrender to you and an acceptance of
50:50
Speaker 1: your sovereign will. We openly confess our weaknesses and our
50:57
Speaker 1: continuing proneness to wander far away from you. So draw
51:03
Speaker 1: us back into an abiding relationship with you through the
51:08
Speaker 1: penetrating love life-giving truths of your word. Make us into
51:14
Speaker 1: the genuine item, stripped of the veneer of self-righteousness and
51:20
Speaker 1: stubborn pride. And make us real, Lord. Make us authentic
51:26
Speaker 1: followers of your Son. Thank you for James, for this
51:33
Speaker 1: practical living letter you've preserved for each of us. regardless
51:39
Speaker 1: of our circumstances. Do not allow us to be satisfied, Father,
51:44
Speaker 1: until we live in full compliance to its commands and
51:49
Speaker 1: full agreement with its counsel. For the glory of your
51:54
Speaker 1: great name, through Jesus Christ, I pray this.
51:59
Speaker 2: Amen.
52:02
Speaker 3: The preceding message, A Case for Practical Christianity was copyrighted
52:07
Speaker 3: in 1974, 2003, and 2016, and the sound recording was
52:13
Speaker 3: copyrighted in 2016 by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc. All rights
52:19
Speaker 3: are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for commercial use
52:25
Speaker 3: is strictly prohibited.