November 21, 2017
James encouraged a mutual accountability among believers in prayer. This level of fellowship is rare in the church today, but is much needed. Healing in body, soul and relationships is experienced when believers are honest about their needs, weaknesses, and sins in prayers together.
Do you have one or two close friends of the same gender that you share mutual accountability and prayers with? Do you meet regularly? Gathering together regularly and authentically is “effective.” And doing so fervently “avails much.”
November 20, 2017
Who did James accuse of adultery? Wasn’t it those who claimed to be Christians and therefore members of the Bride of Christ? Yet, they had not broken off “friendship with the world.” James used the same imagery that the Old Testament prophets used when accusing Israel of committing adultery against God because of their idolatry. The Lord was their husband, yet they were giving themselves to other gods of this world in worship.
What was this “friendship with the world” that James called adultery against Christ? Wasn’t it their tendency to covet and lust after the temporal things of this world, attempting to get them by any means? Even trying to use religion to gain worldly things (i.e. “you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures”).
The one who has truly become a member of the Bride of Christ will declare as Paul did, that the “the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world” (Gal 6:14). The believer’s love of God leaves no room for any other love, especially that of the world system, which is in rebellion against God. As the apostle John wrote, “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world” (1 John 2:15-16).
Let us bring our desires before the Lord today that they may be purified by His Word. What is causing anxiety in your soul? What are you over-desiring for, yet not getting, so that you are tempted to take shortcuts? Have you asked the Father to test your desires to see whether they are true? Or are you asking “amiss?” Let us break off our “friendship with the world” and focus all our desire on the Lord Jesus. For in Him all our needs are fully met.
November 17, 2017
The Greek word translated “desire” is “epithumia,” which literally means over-heated desire or lust. Desire in and of itself is not evil. God has desires. But God’s desires are under His control, while ours are not. We desire over-much and we become over-heated in wanting, so we take shortcuts and we overeat and we overindulge and we over-do-it in getting things, but our over-desire cannot be fully satisfied because it wants over-much. James is graphic in describing this over-desire as a womb conceiving and giving birth to sin. And sin, as a growing thing that when mature “brings forth death.”
God has given us “every good gift” (James 1:17), yet we desire the gift over the Giver. However, when we receive the “word of truth” (James 1:18), which is the gospel, we are born again of the Spirit of God. And His Spirit gives us His desires and grants us self-control over our “over-desires.” Being born again, we begin to desire the Giver more than the gift.
June 4, 2017
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James 4:6-10
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humility, submission
Are you “up” or “down” today? If you are feeling down today, guess what? God wants to teach you how to give that to Him today. He wants to show you how that actually puts you in a better position to hear from Him and get some things in order with Him. If you’re feeling up today, great! But is it based on circumstance or is it because God has lifted you up by His power? The paradoxical truth is this: In order to be at peace with God–– to experience His salvation and grace–– we must “bow down to be lifted up!” In God’s economy, we descend to greatness! In the book of James, he taught his hearers that God lifts up those that humble themselves before Him. We can experience how God lifts up those who humble themselves before Him.
May 21, 2017
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James 1:19-25
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listening
In a modern culture of self-promotion on social media and the constant chatter on our smart phones, texting and tweeting about every opinion that pops in our heads, the Bible says, “Be quick to hear and slow to speak.” That’s biblical wisdom, godly wisdom. Stop talking so much and start listening more. Even when we keep quiet, in our heads we’re already thinking of what we’re going to say. No wonder we’re having so much trouble in our society. Divisions within and without. Arguments everywhere. But no one is listening. And no one is really being heard.
What can be done? The book of James offers the paradoxical wisdom that we can actually talk less in order to say more. For real communication, real understanding to take place, we need less talk and more listening, and more appropriate action. The book of James is one of the most practical books of wisdom in the Bible. It is sometimes referred to as the New Testament’s book of proverbs. Written by James, the brother of Jesus, and the pastor of the first church of Jerusalem, it is also a very pastoral book, and a very practical one too.
In the first chapter of James, he told believers that the first place to apply this paradoxical principle of talking less to say more should be in rightly responding to God’s Word. We can learn to rightly respond to God’s Word.
November 21, 2015
An often overlooked resource in the modern church. Having available modern medicine, we forget the benefit of prayer and laying on of hands. Yet, the Bible says that having the elders in the church pray for you and anoint you is the proper response when you are sick. In our materialistic view of the world, we forget the spiritual component to health and wholeness. We forget that we are more than physical beings. However, real healing must involve the whole self. The church has always been deeply involved with caring for the sick. Throughout history, wherever the church has gone, it has built schools and hospitals because it recognizes that the need to care for the whole self, is to care for mind, soul, and body. So, keep going to the doctor, but don’t forget to have the church praying for you too.
November 19, 2015
Those who love talking beware! The tongue has great power. Power to bless and to curse. Yet, sin is on the tip of the tongue. Complaining, gossip, lying, filthy language, sarcastic joking and cursing are among the sins of the tongue. From where does this talk come? The heart. The tongue is a heart monitor. It reports the attitude of the heart. Only God can give us new hearts and tame our tongues.
November 17, 2015
James describes the spiritual mindset that the Christian should have when facing trials. What is this mindset? “All joy.” Not happiness, which is based on external happenings, but joy, which comes from within and is the fruit of the Spirit for the believer that abides in Christ. And not partial joy, but “all” joy. Pure and whole joy that comes from the knowledge that God is sovereign and that all things work together for good for those who love Him and are called according to His purpose (Rom.8:28). This mindset is a choice of the will, one that can be “counted.” The Greek verb here is in the imperative middle voice, meaning that one is to command oneself to choose joy. Like an accounting term, one can choose to move their emotional response to trials from the sad column to the glad column. Rather than seeing trials as a reason to be discouraged, count them as a reason to trust God all the more.
August 2, 2015
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James 1:19-21
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family
Pastor Gary Combs continues the sermon series “Faith and Family” with this message from James 1:19-21 on communication. In the epistle of James, he told believers how to communicate with one another in a way that pleased God. With Christ’s help, we can hear and follow God’s instruction on how to communicate with one another in a way that pleases Him and results in the righteousness and oneness in our relationships that God desires.
November 20, 2014
We may blame conflict on the external circumstances caused by another, but James said that the war actually originated within us. One of the early learnings that ministers discover is that “hurt people, hurt people.” Those who have hurts on the inside, act out of those hurts to hurt others. Then, there are those whose own self-love causes them to see offense at every turn, of which they keep record, and plan retaliation. Jealousy, greed, covetousness, these sinful desires and others like them, also cause wars within that lead to fights without. Christ is the only answer for peace on earth. Because true peace begins in the heart. What resides in your heart today? Peace or war?