Discipleship in the Book of James

The point of our series in looking at Discipleship in the New Testament is life change. That is what we are shooting for. That is the destination. That is the metric as to whether or not we are accomplishing our purpose. Are we allowing the word of God and things within it by the Spirit of God to change our hearts?

Discipleship

(Slide) When we say, “Yes” to Jesus… what we are saying is we want to be His disciple...

You are my master and I am your apprentice (authority)

My priorities will be reordered according to your priorities (mission)

My loves will be reordered according to your loves (posture)

Discipleship is continuing to be transformed as children of God who have allegiance to Jesus, His teachings, and who hold onto faith until He comes again.

I think you will find that as we journey through this series, Discipleship in the New Testament, it will be invaluable to be reading the books of the Bible each week.

Can I mention… unless we are reading our Bibles, our growth, maturity, our ability to understand God and His plan is greatly diminished. Constantly reading, studying, memorizing, taking in the Word of God is how God has chosen to reveal Himself. We can not know Him deeply and intimately apart from His revealed Word.

Helpful hint: Look at the book, take the chapters, and divide by 5 or 6 and commit to read that many each day if not the whole thing

As the weeks go on and we get past Acts and Corinthians, the chapters get less and less.

Join us at ReST each week as we will be discussing that Sundays book (9am downstairs) and glean from one another what you are finding and seeing.

Our text that will keep us anchored this morning is James 1:2-4; 12, if you are able would you please stand with me while I read God’s word this morning.

James 1:2-4 “Consider it a great joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you experience various trials, because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its full effect, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking nothing.”

James 1:12 “Blessed is the one who endures trials, because when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him.”

This is the word of the Lord. Let us pray. (please be seated)

Background: James is the half-brother of Jesus. We assume Joseph is his father and Mary, the mother of Jesus, is his mother. At one point in the gospels we see that James was not a believer that his half-brother was the Messiah/Christ… but somewhere, possibly at his resurrection, belief came. At the time of writing this letter, James is the pastor of the church in Jerusalem. It is thought he took over when Peter left to Samaria with John in Acts 8:14.

It’s thought that this is the earliest letter of the New Testament cannon. Written sometime in the 40’s. James is writing to a baby church. A growing church. A church in the process of maturing and figuring out how to live in this life all the while stay faithful to Jesus. Can you relate? I can.

This is our point: The testing and proving of our faith produces a faith that is mature, complete, and lacking nothing.

ME

Do you wish that sometimes you could take back words that came out of your mouth? Words that cut, words that were abusive… and you just, ugh, I wish I could have that back (words are toothpaste, once you get them out there you can’t get them back in)

Do you wish that somehow you what you know now you could tell yourself then? Taking Financial Peace University, getting a grip on our finances I remember sitting there in the classroom going, I’ve heard this before… oh yeah, my Dad tried to tell me.

I’ve had those ministry experiences where I didn’t listen to common sense or the Lord, and did things I deeply regret when making ministry decisions. No one died, there was no moral failure, but it deeply wounded others to which I had to apologize and ask for forgiveness.

Or the divided heart… you want to do one thing, but the Lord is calling you to be faithful to Him.

What about patience? There is something that doesn’t come easy it seems. If I could just be patient.

My daughter and I the other night were talking about what she learned that night in youth group when I picked her up. She was talking about creation and how God took 7 days to make it. God could have done all that He did in one day, one hour, one second, but He chose to do it in 7 days. Meaning, He takes delight in cultivating working in and through the process. It’s beautiful.

WE

Can you relate to any of those?

What about our wealth: In today’s society if we are living paycheck to paycheck, the reality of being one unforeseen accident away from losing everything is real.

GOD

YOU

US