It's Not a Money Problem...

This week’s passage in James (5:1-6) if you were to read it without context and without careful examination might lead you to believe that James is condemning those who are wealthy… 

But you must as always read the passage carefully and place it into context of what else he has said and how he has said it…

James in the first six verses of chapter five is declaring the fact that judgment is coming and lists off four “crimes” of the wealthy which were hoarded wealth (2-3); unpaid wages (4); self-indulgence (5); murder of innocent people (6).

This is big, but in reading this we need to recognize a few things…

There is very good reason to believe that the individuals that James is referring to are not believers. If you remember the book of James is written to the believer but here James does not refer to the rich as “brothers” as he does in other places in his letter, nor does he call on them to repent and change their ways. Rather they are instructed to “weep and wail” because of the judgment they will undergo.

Now we know well and good that there are wealthy people who love the Lord. This passage is however not speaking of them, though it should be a warning to them as it should be to all of us.

As we further examine what “rich men” are described as throughout the rest of scripture and overwhelmingly you find that the same judgment holds in both the Old and New Testament… Why?

Because it becomes a matter of trust… The rich man all too often trusts in his wealth to resolve his problems rather than trusting in the Lord to provide.

It becomes a matter of priority… The rich man’s priority all too often is to his fortune and to the increase of it…

Finally, and ultimately it becomes a matter of the heart… The rich men that James is describing have lost their hearts to their riches. They love their wealth more than they love God... This is why Jesus said it was easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into heaven (Luke 18). They are trusting in the wealth to save them, prioritizing their fortunes over God and will face eternal judgment in the end...

So that leaves the question only you can answer but that your fruit will show of where is your heart?

Hope to see you Sunday!

Doing Right Because It's Right...

This week James is going to be putting a bookend on the discussion that we began in chapter 3 regarding the tongue. 

Now I’m just going to put this out there this morning – James has some very difficult words for us to obey today. His words as we read them will sound very familiar alongside the other teachings we have heard over the past six weeks, they echo the teachings of Christ in the New Testament, of Paul in his letters and the lessons we have taught throughout our lives. I mean I know I can’t be the only one who was ever told if you can’t say something nice don’t say anything all?

Yet each day we are faced with this choice our words like a tiny spark that sets a raging fire if we fail to engage our filters we will fail. If we fail to engage in our actions we fail…

Check out what James says – (4:11-17)

“Don’t criticize one another, brothers. He who criticizes a brother or judges his brother criticizes the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge. There is one lawgiver and judge who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor?

Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will travel to such and such a city and spend a year there and do business and make a profit.”

You don’t even know what tomorrow will bring—what your life will be! For you are like smoke that appears for a little while, then vanishes.

Instead, you should say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” But as it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.

So it is a sin for the person who knows to do what is good and doesn’t do it.”

This passage is so full of meat we could spend months digging out the but there are a couple that I want to share with you this morning and you can join us Sunday morning at church or via Facebook to go deeper!

James is discussing with his flock about an issue that has erupted in the church… 

The problem? People inside the church who were seeking to perpetuate their own standing in the church…

Unfortunately, today’s church we are no less immune from this sort of thing than was the church that James was writing to so long ago.

It’s all too common to hear the news of churches that have split over secret meetings and false accusations…

When this passage begins in verse 11 this idea of speaking against one another we see is a very major offense. What James IS talking about slander, backbiting, backstabbing and evil criticism in the attempt to place undue, undeserved, unfounded, unfair judgement on a fellow Christian. 

What James IS NOT talking about is the biblical model we have from Matthew 18 of going to that person one on one to discuss a problem… This was a negative, sinful approach… This is the behind the back, secretive power plays that judges peoples motives…

James is saying (and saying it rather strongly) that this behavior is wrong…

James doesn’t just stop there by saying our words and use of can be deadly but finishes this passage by saying our lack of doing the right thing, whether by word or deed, is in fact sin…

And friends, it isn’t doing the right thing based on your opinion it is the right thing based on God’s Word! Just because you feel something should be a certain way, just because you believe with all your heart something is right (or wrong) if you are not in agreement with God’s Word then you are sinning!

Let’s be on the same page as God! Let’s engage our filters on our words, and engage our lives to do what’s right according to his word!

Hope to see you Sunday!!!

Pride Produces?

This week as we explore the first half of James 4 we are faced with a painful truth... 

That is that the source of all of our problems, the source of all of our wars, and all of our suffering, is not from an outside enemy rather from within us... 

James says: "What is the source of wars and fights among you? Don’t they come from the cravings that are at war within you? You desire and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. You do not have because you do not ask. You ask and don’t receive because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your evil desires."

Reading this I am drawn back to James 1 when he tells us that "each person is tempted when he is drawn away and enticed by his own evil desires. Then after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin, and when sin is fully grown, it gives birth to death." 

James is bringing his readers back to this principal he introduce earlier reminding them that the source of our temptations is our "own evil desires" here in chapter 4 James is expanding this concept to say that nothing less than our own sinful pride is what causes fights among us... 
Human nature is that we naturally want to shift the blame for our mistakes... We can do no wrong... It's always the other person... Always the other church... Often we wrongly even seek to blame Satan for our failures... 

But James is saying hold on a second... You don't have because you don't ask, and when you do ask you don't get what you are asking for not because God doesn't love you but because you are asking with the wrong motives... you are seeking to glorify yourself not God... 

We know that based on God's word world peace isn't going to happen till  Christ returns and sets things right but there can be peace among believers and we can be the instruments of peace in our families, churches, communities... 

How? By recognizing the principle in which James is teaching and applying it to our lives... 

We must avoid allowing pride to sneak in and destroy us from within!

Let's be peacemakers today! 

See ya Sunday!

Live Well, Live Wisely, Live Humbly...

Micah 6:8 says – “Mankind, He has told you what is good and what it is the Lord requires of you: to act justly, to love faithfulness, and to walk humbly with your God.” (HCSB)

We see that sentiment echoed here in James 3:13-18, where James is asking what I think is a rhetorical question of his flock James says:

“Do you want to be counted wise, to build a reputation for wisdom? Here’s what you do: Live well, live wisely, live humbly. It’s the way you live, not the way you talk, that counts. Mean-spirited ambition isn’t wisdom. Boasting that you are wise isn’t wisdom. Twisting the truth to make yourselves sound wise isn’t wisdom. It’s the furthest thing from wisdom—it’s animal cunning, devilish conniving. Whenever you’re trying to look better than others or get the better of others, things fall apart and everyone ends up at the others’ throats.

Real wisdom, God’s wisdom, begins with a holy life and is characterized by getting along with others. It is gentle and reasonable, overflowing with mercy and blessings, not hot one day and cold the next, not two-faced. You can develop a healthy, robust community that lives right with God and enjoy its results only if you do the hard work of getting along with each other, treating each other with dignity and honor.” (MSG)

These are some pretty powerful words from James –  he is telling us that wisdom isn’t of this earth that wisdom real wisdom only comes from one source and that the mark of real wisdom is that it is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere…

If you are looking at this list and thinking well I think can cover a few of these but the rest I’m not so sure of… I don’t think I am all that impartial or all that open to reason… or maybe I cover all of them but fall short on the purity… James says you will ONLY enjoy the results if you put in the work…

Let’s work together to see the kingdom of God prosper! Let’s work together to grow in our Christian walk!

See ya Sunday! 

The Power of a Single Word

As I studied our passage for this week (James 3:1-12)  study led me to reflect on what the Bible had to say about words... If you start in the beginning  in Genesis - as you read the creation account you find that God uses words to do some amazing things - Genesis 1:3 says "then God said..." God spoke... He used words and if you notice as you reading the rest of the chapter each time God created something we see these words "then God said..." 

God created the heavens and the earth the power of His words...  By the power of THE Word!

God also uses words to give us commands - Genesis 2:16-17 tells says "and the LORD God commanded the man..." here God was instructing Adam, his crowning creation, which trees from the garden he was free to eat of...

Genesis also reveals to us that God isn't the only one who can use words...

We see in Genesis 3 that Satan can use words as well... Genesis 3:1 "now the serpent was the most cunning of all the wild animals that the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God really say, "you can't eat from any tree in the garden?" 

It is important recognize the devious nature of Satan here, his very words distort and twist God's Word...

Words both good and evil are powerful and this brings us to James 3 where we are reminded of the powerful truth that God and Satan are not the only ones who use words...

We should choose our words carefully as they have the power to build up or tear down lives in a single breath...

Hope to see you Sunday!