James 1

(Sermon/ Sermon notes from 2014)

Verse 1:

The Bible is made up of 66 God breathed books. About 30 of those books are short books and could be read in about an hour.

The Book of James is that kind of Book. It is a small book and it could be easily read in one sitting. But, while the Book of James may be small, it contains a wealth of life-changing truths.

The Book of James is meant to help us put our faith into practice. James give us practical ways to apply saving faith to life. James wants us to put our Christian faith to work.

Many of the NT Epistles give us the truths about our faith; James is passionate about the practice of our faith.

The Apostle Paul most often deals with what we believe;

As you study the book of James, James is going to deal with how we behave.

Illustration: Dr. James —> Whenever you go to the doctor for a physical, what do they do? They examine you. Does a doctor usually just look at only your toe? No, the doctor usually will examine you all over to make sure that you are healthy.

James does the same thing. Dr. James will listen to our hearts, He is going to examine our tongues. He will examine deep inside us and even explore our hearts and our motives for doing the things that we do in life.

At the end of the examination, what does a doctor usually give you? A prescription. When you go to the doctor, they usually send you to the pharmacy to get some kind of treatment, some kind of medicine that is designed to help you get better.

The Book of James is no different. Throughout the book of James, he gives at least 54 different prescriptions for how we should apply saving faith, how we should put our faith to work as we are living the Christian life. Imagine going to the doctor and he gives you 54 prescriptions that if taken properly would change your life.

Does it do any good to go to the doctor, get a new prescription, know how to take it and what it is for but then never take it? Never internalize the medicine? How much good does your heart medicine do when it is still in the bottle sitting on the counter?

None — You have to take the medicine, let the medicine go inside you and go to work so that you can be healed. As you study the book of James you will see that he is saying the same thing. Simply knowing the truth does not benefit you, you have to put the truth to work.

James does not just want us to only have the right beliefs as Christians. James is primarily concerned about our behavior. James wants to see us turn belief into behavior.

One pastor wrote: “The problem of all problems is getting Christianity put into practice.”

While most physical exams are concerned with how we are growing old, James is concerned with whether or not we are growing up — in the faith.

It is not always easy to take the medicine that you need. That is why we all need to be willing to do something before we can really benefit from an in depth study of the book of James.

Before beginning to study the book of James, we all need to do something.

We need to say, Lord, we offer you the key to every door in our hearts and in our lives; we will not put up any signs anywhere that say, “Do not enter.” We know that you have the right to enter every corner and look everywhere in our lives and we ask that you not allow us to remain unchanged as a result of our study through this book. Change us Lord!

Take your Bible’s and turn to the book of James.

We are going to see that the first verse is very important. The first few words are the key to putting into practice the entire book of James.

Actually, applying to our lives what he says in verse 1 allows us to say and do what James says in verse 2. Unless you have a complete understanding of verse one, then you will have a hard time understanding and applying the rest of the book.

First of all, I want to show you James’ signature

Whenever any of us today write a letter we usually sign it at the end. Whenever you get a letter, you know who sent it to you because you see their name and signature at the end of the letter. The custom during the time when the Bible was being written was for people to sign the letter at the beginning. Most of the NT letters are signed this way (Paul, Peter, James, etc…)

Look at James 1:1 “James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, greeting.”

So we know that this letter, this book of the Bible is being written by who? Who has signed this letter in the very first sentence? James.

When you read the New Testament you will find five different men that are called James.

Only two of those five men really could have written this book that we are studying. One was the Apostle James, the brother of John. This James was killed in 44 AD by Herod, which was before this book was written so it could not have been him.

Most people believe that the writer of this book is none other than James, the half brother of Jesus; which means that something very dramatic had happened that had changed his life. Why do I say that? James and the rest of his brothers and sisters did not believe who Jesus was until after his death and resurrection. So, to take a man like James who did not believe that Jesus was who He claimed to be and then we see him writing one of the books of the Bible, something had to change in his life.

Matthew’s gospel tells us that when Jesus began His ministry, none of his brothers and sisters believed that He was the Messiah. Matthew 13:55-57 tells us that they were even offended that he would say such a thing.

“Is not this the carpenter’s son? is not his mother called Mary? and his brethren, James, and Joses (Joseph), and Simon, and Judas?  And his sisters, are they not all with us? Whence then hath this man all these things? And they were offended in him (And they took offense at him)…” (Matthew 13:55-57)

So Jesus’ own brothers and sisters are embarrassed by what He is saying.

The book of Mark tells us that when Christ’s own family heard that he had started HIs public ministry and that Jesus had called disciples to follow Him, Mark writes, “And when his friends (more accurately translated Kinsmen or Family) heard of it, they went out to lay hold on him: for they said, He is beside himself.” or “He has lost his senses!” (Mark 3:21)

Jesus’ own family thought he had lost his mind. They thought he was crazy. They were actually going out and interrupting the public ministry of Christ, telling people around them, “hey, we’re sorry about our brother, but he has gone crazy!”

John’s gospel adds that “For neither did his brethren believe in him.” (John 7:5)

In fact in John’s Gospel Jesus’ brothers accused him of doing what He was doing just to make a big name for Himself, just so that He could be someone who was big, important and famous.

—> Mary and Joseph had other children <— Mary was not always a virgin. (Roman Catholic Belief). We can study this another time. It is good to know about this though. Your friends who are Catholic are being taught that Mary was always a virgin and that Jesus had no brothers and sisters. The Bible says differently. This is an example of how people can take the Bible and twist it to mean what they want it to mean. When we study the Bible we don’t need to put our own idea inside. We just need to read and understand what God already has inside. <—

For years, this home was filled with conflict, arguing about who Jesus is. Most of Jesus’ family was against Him. Jesus did not have the comfort of having his family members understand or support him. He was made fun of and ostracized by his own brothers and sisters.

James, the half-brother of Jesus was one of the family that did not believe in Jesus, made fun of Him and even called Him crazy.

What do you think happened in James’ life to take him from not believing who Jesus is and calling Him crazy to writing the book of James and becoming the first pastor of the church of Jerusalem? James would even go on to die for His faith.

James wasn’t even at the cross when Christ died. None of the brothers and sisters were there, only Mary and a hand full of other people.

So, what happened to James?

One verse in I Corinthians 15 says it all.

For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures: And that he was seen of Cephas (Peter), then of the twelve: 6 After that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present (still alive at the time of James’ writing), but some are fallen asleep (died). 7 After that, he was seen of James; … (1 Cor. 15:3-7)

Then He appeared to James!!!

Can you imagine that meeting? James, who had not believed anything Jesus said about who He was and what He would do, meeting Jesus after He has risen from the dead. Imagine what Jesus said to James…”Hi brother… it’s true; everything I told you is true…”

From what we know about the rest of James’ life, he must have responded in faith to Jesus at that moment and never looked back. He saw and spoke with Jesus after He had been raised from the dead and James became a believer.

This is the James, who would write the very book of the Bible that we are looking at. We can learn from history that this very James would also go on to die for his faith and commitment to the truth that Jesus Christ was more than a carpenter’s son — He was God the Son.

The truth of Christ’s resurrection changed everything. James grew up laughing at his half-brother Jesus because he did not believe that Jesus was the Messiah. Now, James is praying to his half-brother he now knows is God, the Messiah, the Lord of all!

We cannot overlook the importance of this signature that begins James 1 and verse 1. It shows us the radical transformation of a man that had once laughed at Christ but now lived for Christ.

Next let’s look at James’ Status

James’ signature shows us who he is, his identity. His status reveals what his focus is on, his priority (what the most important thing is to James).

Look at verse 1, what does it say?

“James, the Lord’s half-brother!”

“James, the man who grew up in the same house with Jesus, the Messiah!”

“James, one of the few people who Jesus personally visited and spoke with after his resurrection!”

“James, the pastor of the largest church in the world!”

Everything I just said was true, but none of that is said in James 1:1.

“James, a servant (bond-servant or better translated as slave) of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ.” (James 1:1)

James is telling us something. He is telling us what the most important thing in his life is. What was his highest privilege in life? James says, I am a bondservant of God.

It is unfortunate that in our English Bibles this word is translated as “servant” because that makes the statement that James is making much weaker than he originally meant it to be.

The word in the original is “Doulos” which is usually translated as either “bondservant” or “slave”. If you use the word as a verb, it means “to bind”. To be the slave of someone is a much stronger statement to make than merely saying that you are a persons servant.

James is saying that he is bound (tied) to Christ as a slave is bound (tied) to his master.

To the people living during Bible times as well as our own world today, if you were called a slave, it would be like calling you a bad name. Most people believe that being successful in life means that you are served, not serving. But for the believer, the idea of success is different from the worlds.

Paul would say that both he and Timothy were slaves in Philippians 1. Both Peter and Jude would both call themselves “slaves”.

For the true believer the word “slave” or “doulos” in the original Greek, says it all.

Doulos communicates ownership, possession, loyalty, dependence, and submission.

The reason most Christians are not able to apply the truths found in the Book of James is because he has replaced the idea of the Christian surrendering to Jesus Christ as Master with the idea that if you come to Jesus, He will give you what you want.

I have heard people say that you should, “Just come to Jesus and He will fix all your problems!” “Jesus is working for you!!!” That’s the way people look at Jesus today. People want Jesus to be their servant, not their master.

Instead of being our Master, sadly Jesus has become just an acquaintance that we call on when we are in need, or when we have a problem that we can’t fix on our own.

This is one reason we see so many people who claim to be Christians falling away. When they were told the Gospel, they were told that “life with Jesus will be great! Jesus has a wonderful plan for your life!” So people try Jesus and then come to hard times and feel like they were tricked. As soon as people have some suffering in their life they decide that Jesus isn’t working for them.

Friends, being a Christian is an invitation to become a slave of God… and He will own you!

If you look at Scripture closely you will see that the ideas behind salvation come from the first century slave culture.

— You have been chosen (Ephesians 1)

— You have been bought out of the slave market and you no longer belong to yourself

(I Corinthians 6)

— You are subject to His will and control (Philippians 2)

— You are called to give an account (2 Corinthians 5)

— You are regularly disciplined or rewarded by Him (Hebrews 12)

— And one day you will hear the words, “Well done, good and faithful “doulos”/ “slave”/ servant (Matthew 25:21) (***Diakonos is the word for servant***)

Today, the gospel has become twisted to fit into our human idea of what it should be. The gospel that many people are preaching today is that we should “try Jesus, he will make your life better, He will give you what you want.”

The truth is, is that we need to preach the freedom from sin for those who are slaves to sin, but then we need to also preach that becoming a Christian is really becoming a different kind of slave.

Here’s the truth — whether you know it or not, everyone is a slave to something. Everyone serves some master. You will be either a slave to your sin, or a slave of God. (Paul gives us that idea in Romans 3:16-22.)

The question is, Whose slave are you?

As you study the book of James, (and I hope this message has sparked your interest in the book) we need to remember that the only thing that will ever make us decide to apply any of the truths in this book is that if we understand and remember from the beginning that we are not the masters of our own lives, if you are a believer, then you are the slave of God.

Why would you ever allow God to change the way you talk, spend your money, talk with other people, or go through suffering — why would you ever do any of that for God? You won’t … unless He owns you.

That does not fit the way our world works today. Everyone wants to be their own master.

But as Christians, we are slaves to God!

In verse 1 James says, ““James, a servant/ slave of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ”. James is telling us what the most important thing in his life is. He is saying, “I am not a free man! I am the slave of God…and He owns me!”

James has signed the letter so we know who he is. James has told us what the most important thing in his life is, so we know his status/ where he stands.

Now I want to show you his Savior

James 1:1 says, “James, the slave of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ.”

This verse has become one of the strongest verses that tells us about how the unity of God and that Jesus is God.

James calls Jesus, Lord and God. The Mormons and the Jehovah’s Witnesses say that Jesus was “a god”. This verse in James 1:1 clearly says that Jesus was and is Lord and God.

Don’t forget who is writing this letter. James grew up in the house with Jesus and watched him mature into a man. James knew without a doubt that Jesus was not just some ordinary man. James is so committed to his belief that Jesus is God that he says in verse 1; “I am a slave of Jesus Christ, who is God and Lord.”

We have talked a lot about verse 1 of James today. It is so important that we understand verse 1 and that we be ready to surrender to our Master’s plan before we start looking at verse 2.

I told you that in the book of James there are at least 54 prescriptions that James tells us to put into practice in our lives. We see one of them in verse 1. As believers we need to make sure we know who is the Master of our lives. Who’s slave are you? Are you a slave of your sin? Or, are you a slave of God?

Hudson Taylor was used uniquely and mightily by our Lord in taking the gospel into the interior of China in the 1800’s. He was a quiet, unassuming man who had walked with God and served God for 50 years in China. When he was in Australia, he was invited to speak at a large church and when he arrived, it was packed and with standing room only. The moderator introduced Hudson Taylor, now an old man, with eloquent, well chosen phrases as he referred to the mighty work and accomplishments of this missionary. He ended his introduction by referring to Taylor as “our illustrious guest.” Quietly Mr. Taylor stood there for a moment and then he said, “Dear friends, I am the servant of an illustrious Master.”

That sounds a lot like James… I hope it will sound a little more like us, as you study of the Book of James and see how you can take your faith and put it into practice.

Verses 2-4:

We are surrounded by suffering in the world.

Everyone suffers, even Christians. Everyone always asks, why do Christians suffer.

One Bible school teacher said, “God will never use you until he has hurt you.”

When you first hear that statement you might think, “wow, that guy has it all wrong”. Most people do not see suffering as a good thing.

As you grow and mature as a Christian, you learn that suffering and trials in you life can become a good thing, depending on how you respond to it. When we have times of suffering and trials in our life and we learn to respond in the right way, those times of suffering and trials can can help to produce something good in us.

The book of James is very concerned about helping us be able to put our faith to work. Practicalizing our faith has more to do with how you respond to trouble (suffering) than almost anything else in your life.

The original people that James was writing to were in trouble, they were suffering. The end of verse 1 tells us that James was writing to the Jewish people who were scattered abroad.

Because of the things that had happened in Israel’s history, many of the Jewish people were not living in Israel, but were living in the surrounding countries. More specifically the people James is writing this letter to have been scattered because of persecution. The Emperor in Rome at this time hated Jews. While He was ruler of Rome, he tried to make all the Jews to leave Rome and also their own homeland of Israel.

It was not safe to be a Jew.

But the Jews who had begun following Jesus Christ had it even worse. Being Jewish, they were hated and persecuted by the Gentiles; and being Jew, who were now Christians they were facing persecution from their own people.

These people found trouble everywhere they looked.

These people had been scattered, forced to leave their homes and run for their lives to other towns and villages.

What if you heard on the radio that anyone who believes in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior is no longer allowed to live in Bong County. Even more, anyone who is a Christian has one hour to leave homes and begin to leave the county. —> The people that James is writing to, this happened to them.

[Relate this to the the “exodus” from Gbarnga during the war & the war in general]

So, when we read verse 1 — We see that James, who is a slave of God who is the Lord Jesus Christ, is writing to people who knew what suffering and trouble is. They were living with suffering.

The people that James was writing to were asking the same question that you and I ask ourselves whenever we have suffering in our lives.

“What do you do when you’re surrounded by trouble/ suffering”?

“What does a Christian do when there is suffering in his life?”

We will see today that James gives us the answer.

Look at James 1:2

“Count (Consider) it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds (plenty trials of different different kinds),”

“My brothers, trials and suffering, they will come plenty, and when they come they will be looking different different, so add up all of the suffering and consider it as Joy.” (Liberian paraphrase)

Understand what James just said. He said, “when you meet trials”. He did not say “if suffering comes”, but when it does come.

At the very beginning of this book, James is telling us that we are to expect trouble. Trials and suffering will happen.

There are a lot of well meaning people who believe if you really have enough faith, then whatever trouble is humbugging you will go away. These people say that if you are really following Jesus, then the trouble you have and the suffering you have will go away and not come back. These people say that Jesus will make you rich and happy for the rest of your life.

But that is not what James says. He says, “When you meet up with plenty of suffering, consider add it up as Joy.”

It would sound a lot better to our ears if James would have said, “Count it all joy when you are able to run away plenty suffering”, right? That would sound sweeter to us.

James is saying something that sound strange to us. He is telling us that when we have plenty suffering in our lives we should respond with joy. Let’s talk about that word “joy”.

When most people think of Joy, they think of a life where they feel happy all of the time without anything bad inside it. People think that if they are serving Jesus, their Lord and Master then He should make their lives easy and suffering will not come again.

Jesus Christ said something very different from that. He said that believers would have plenty of suffering and hard times if they followed Him. (John 16:33, Matt. 6:34, Acts 14:22)

The world’s idea is that if suffering or trials come in your life then you Joy is gone because you do not feel happy any more. The worlds feeling of happiness is based on the human beings emotion.

The true believer can have Joy in his life even in the middle of suffering because his joy is not based on his emotions, but on the fact that God is doing something in his life.

True Joy does not come from our feelings and how we can be happy, true Joy comes from what God has done and is still doing in our lives. A true Christian can have Joy even if they are not feeling happy. James is telling the believers here that even though they are suffering plenty, they should add up all their suffering as Joy in their lives because God is working in their lives.

Suffering will come and you cannot escape it. We do not get to choose the suffering and hard times that come into our lives. They are out of our control. What we do get to choose is, how we respond to suffering when it does come. James is telling the true Christians that we should respond with Joy, when suffering comes in our lives.

The people James was writing to had been scattered because of their faith. They were God’s scattered people. Christians today, we are God’s scattered people — like seed from His hand, spread out throughout the world to serve Him as salt and light.

We are not His sheltered people, we are His scattered people.

James teaches us that trials and suffering will happen, but he also teaches us that when suffering comes, it will be plenty.

Verse 2 says, “encounter (meet) various trials.” —> su-kɔɔŋ-sii Támaa <—

The Greek word gives us the idea of different different colors or polka dots. (how many colors are there?)

The life of a Christian will have so many trials and times of suffering that you cannot even count them.

Trouble and suffering comes in all shapes, sizes: it might involve your health, your money, your relationships, your job, your status in the community, your children, etc…

James says that trouble will happen, it is unavoidable; it also will be plenty, looking different different.

James teaches us that trials and suffering will happen, when it comes the suffering will be plenty and looking different differnt. James also teaches us that trials and suffering will come when we are not looking for it.

James says, “Count it all joy when you encounter (meet) various trials.” —> sɔlɔ ɓɔ̂ <—

“Encounter or meet” sometimes is translated “fall into”. “Count it all joy when you fall into various trails.”

This gives us the idea of something happening that we did not expect. We were not looking for it.

In Luke 10 where the Lord is telling the parable of the man who was traveling to Jericho and he “fell among thieves” — he encountered thieves. (10:30) Suddenly and without warning, this man is surrounded by trouble and there is no way to escape. This is the idea of trials here in James 1.

Suffering will come, suffering will be plenty and suffering will come when you are not looking for it.

[Illustration about Pirates and Rogues: You are laying down in your house sleeping, minding your own business. When all of a sudden a shadow appears across your door. The door is bust in and you wake up. You look over at the door and you see the armed robber standing there with his single barrel pointed at you. Your not armed, your not prepared, you were not even expecting something like this to happen, but you find yourself suffering because of the Rogues.]

You think that James would give us advice about how to run away from trouble. But he doesn’t. James does not tell us how to run away from trouble, he tells us what to do when we fall into it.

You could read verse to this way: “My brothers, when you meet up with or fall into different different trials and suffering, add all of it up as joy.”

Make sure you do not misunderstand what James said. You need to understand this clearly.

James did not say that you were going to enjoy your trials and suffering; he didn’t say that we were to feel it all joy. James is not saying that you will feel happy about your suffering.

No, James said count it or consider it all joy. What does that mean to “consider it all joy”?

The word consider is a financial word that means to calculate or to evaluate, to add it up.

The Christian who understands he is the slave of God — as we saw in James 1:1 — can have joy even when surrounded by suffering because he is not living for Himself but for His Master.

The true believer understands that trials and suffering have value. God uses trials and suffering in our life to shape us and change us more into the character and image of Christ.

Satan wants to use suffering to defeat us — while God is using suffering in our lives to help us to grow and to help us to become spiritually mature.

A true slave of God knows that His Master God is always in control.

One man said, “Satan may make it hotter, but God always has His hand on the fire.”

The true believer trusts that God is in control of everything. Because he believes that God is in control and that God is allowing this time of suffering to help him to grow into a stronger Christian, then he is able to look at the times of suffering with a joyful spirit instead of a complaining, bitter, resentful spirit.

[Illustration of Joseph: I cannot think of a better illustration than Joseph; by the world’s thinking, he had every reason to be bitter and angry with his life. His brothers sold him into slavery, he was separated from his family, he was sold as a slave, he was accused of a crime he did not do, he was put into prison. Most people who end up in prison, end up becoming bitter and angry towards the people who put them there and they get angry with God. But, not Joseph. Joseph comes out of the prison with grace and love towards his brothers. Why? Because Joseph believed that God had allowed all of this suffering to happen for a reason. He knew that God was making something out of him.]

James has told us what we should do as believers when trouble and suffering comes into our lives —> Count it all joy, my brothers when you fall into different different kinds of suffering and troubles, why? —> Because God is making something out of you. God has an end product in mind.

God is using a time of suffering and trials to make you stronger as a believer. God is working in your life helping you to become more mature.

James helps us to understand that we do not get to choose how and when we suffer. But, we do get to choose how we respond to those times of trials and suffering.

You do not choose your suffering, but you do choose your responses.

James has told us that when suffering comes into our lives, the true Christian should be able to respond with Joy. Now let’s look more at why we can be able to respond to suffering with Joy.

God wants to produce something in the lives of every believer. What does God want to produce in us?

James 1:3-4

“for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness (endurance). And let steadfastness (endurance) have its full effect (perfect result), so that you may be perfect (mature) and complete, lacking in nothing.” (James 1:3-4)

“Endurance” means to be able to stay strong or remain stable under pressure.

James says, “I want you to know that when your faith is stretched and challenged, the end result is endurance.”

[Illustration: football player — running]

A Christian needs endurance so that they can be able to practically live our their faith.

James is encouraging the believers here by saying “let endurance have its perfect — or complete— result.”

In other words, don’t stop the work of God in your life by trying to run away from a trial or suffering. Let your endurance be developed until it’s perfect.

So what is that “perfect result”? James says —so that you may be perfect and complete lacking nothing.

Let’s talk about what the word “perfect” means.

The word perfect means to have an undivided/ pure relationship with Christ. A pure relationship with Him. Remember, you are Hiss slave and He is your Master. Nothing should be more important to you than your relationship with Him.

Trouble and suffering have a way of driving us closer to God and to Christ, don’t they? In the middle of a trial or in the middle of a time of suffering everything in your life that you thought was so important becomes nothing.

When you are going through trial or suffering, you stop looking at the world and you start looking at Christ and how He is in control.

James is saying here that, “trials produce a single minded love and need for Christ.”

James says that the true believer can respond to plenty suffering in his life with Joy because God is using that suffering to help him to grow stronger as a believer. God is helping the believer to become more mature and have a better more perfect relationship with Him.

Maturity is very important to James. Faith that matters in life — faith that makes a difference in life is a faith that is growing up.

God wants us to be mature Christians and learn how to practically live out our faith.

According to James, as believers we will have trouble and suffering in our lives. We cannot choose the suffering that comes to us but we can choose how we will respond when suffering and hard times do come.

Why do Christians have to suffer? James gives an answer to that questions.

The true believer will choose to respond in a way that will help him see the suffering in his life as an opportunity to grow closer to Christ and to become more spiritually mature. Christians suffer and go through trials so that we can become more spiritually mature and have a closer and stronger relationship with our Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.

The unbeliever will respond in a way that will make him to see suffering in his life as a reason to become bitter and angry and run away from God.

How do you respond when trouble comes into your life? Are you able to respond with Joy because you know that your Master is making something out of you?

God allow suffering in our lives so that we will have opportunities to grow closer to Him and more mature as believers.

Christian, God is working in your life. Do not waste the opportunities He gives you to grow up and become more mature and have a better relationship with Him.

Verses 5-8:

We have been studying the book of James.

James was the pastor of the church in Jerusalem. He was writing to people who had been chased away from their homes for their faith. These people were being put to death because they were both Jewish and Christian.

These people were suffering.

James, who is the half brother of Jesus, was writing to encourage them and to help them be able to practically put their faith into action. James wants to help the believers learn how to become spiritually mature and be able to practicalize their faith.

James taught us already that we cannot choose the suffering and hard times that come into our lives. But, we can choose how we respond to that suffering. James said that as believers we should respond with Joy because we know that God is using the suffering in our lives to help us to become spiritually mature. But…

What is usually the first thing we do when we are jammed or suffering? (We ask God to make it stop. We ask God to end the suffering or to get us out of the jam.)

Do we ever think to ask God for wisdom to help us learn something from our suffering? That sounds strange, but that is exactly what James is telling us to do today.

James said that as believers we are able to add up our suffering up to “Joy” because we know that we belong to God and He is using the suffering in our lives to help us to mature and to grow up spiritually.

The only way a person can have joy during suffering is because he knows that God is his master, and God is in full control of everything.

Many of us know all of that. But, still when we find ourselves in a jam or in the middle of suffering, what do we do? We ask God to make it stop.

The people in James’ day were suffering. They were being driven out of their homes and killed for their faith. I’m sure plenty of them were crying out to God for the suffering to stop.

James is showing us that there is a problem with that way of looking at things. The problem with the people during James’ day and the problem that many of us have is that we just do not understand. We don’t like suffering and we don’t want it.

The only way that someone will be able to look past the suffering and hard times, and see God’s hand at work in their lives, is if they have wisdom.

We need true wisdom to understand that just because we have suffering in our lives and we don’t think we can see God, does not mean that God has run away.

James knows that and in verse 5 of James chapter 1, he starts talking about how we can get the wisdom that we need.

We need help growing up in our faith. We cannot do it alone. That is why James tells us to “Ask God” for help.

Illustration: Young child wants to sleep with their parents. —> Put the child back on its own mat. A sign of physical and mental maturity is the ability for your child to go to sleep when they are alone. —> A sign of spiritual maturity is having the wisdom to know how to rest even when God seems like he is not here.

You can tell when someone is becoming more spiritually mature when they have the wisdom to know how to rest even when God seems absent.

Sometimes we feel like God has run away because we cannot see Him and we have a hard time seeing what He is doing in our lives. During those times when we feel like God has run away, the person who is spiritually mature will still be able to rest, they will have the wisdom to know that God is there, He has not run away even if you cannot see Him. We all need that kind of growth.

James knows that everyone of us need that kind of growth — but we don’t know how, and if we will admit that we don’t understand and don’t know how to grow but we really are interested in growing spiritually, then James says in verse 5, “Ask God!”

“If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously (plenty) to all without reproach (insult), and it will be given him.” (James 1:5)

If you need wisdom to be able to live through your problems and suffering in life with joy — and every believer will — then go ahead and ask God who gives to all —

Don’t you love that word, all?

God does not play favorites — He does not say “You are not one of my favorites, so you don’t get as much wisdom as this other man does.” No!

God gives to all — note this - generously (plenty) and without insult (without embarrassing you).

God will pour out wisdom plenty on those who ask, without meaning them, without abusing them, without embarrassing them.

Notice that James does not say, “If any man lacks knowledge, let him ask of God.” He says, if anyone lacks “wisdom”.

There is a big difference between wisdom and knowledge. Knowledge is facts, that you learn. Wisdom is knowing how to correctly use what you have learned. (Illustrate)

It is interesting that James tells us to ask God for wisdom. He does not tell us to ask God to deliver us from suffering or give us strength or grace. Why not? Because we need wisdom so we will not waste the opportunities God is giving us to grow up in the faith and move closer to where we will become spiritually mature.

Illustration: One pastor told the story of one time with his secretary was suffering. Her husband had a pressure problem and he had a stroke. Then while he was recovering from his pressure problem, he became very sick. He was in the hospital through out. Everything was just thinking that he would die soon. This pastor saw the lady at church one day and told her that he was praying for her. The lady asked the pastor, “What exactly are you asking God to do?” The pastor answered her and said, “Well, I’m asking God to help you and strengthen you.” The lady said thank you but I want you to pray about one more thing.? Please pray that I will have enough wisdom not to waste al of this suffering.” —> This woman knew the meaning of James 1:5 — asking God for wisdom so that her suffering would produce strength and help her become more mature and not be wasted.

James tells us this amazing thing in verse 5, “If you think you need wisdom, Just ask God!”, but then gives us a warning in verse 6.

“But let him ask in faith, without doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.” (James 1:6-8)

James is not talking about someone who has small doubt. He is talking about a wicked man.

The word double-minded, literally means “two souled”. A man with two souls, or in other words, two hearts going in two different directions. (two masters)

James is talking about someone who is constantly changing who they are loyal to. This is not just someone who has small doubt that God will answer their prayer. This is a person who has a very serious problem inside them that shows that they are not willing to live their life in God’s will.

It is as if the person is walking around with a civil war (Crisis) going on inside of them. The person is constantly battling with trusting and not trusting God.

So, James is not talking about someone who has small doubt that God will answer their prayer.

James is describing a person who says he wants God’s direction in life but really he wants to be his own master.

James is saying that, “No one will receive wisdom from God until they are committed to being obedient and submit to God.”

In verse 8, James says, “this man…is unstable in all his ways.”

The double-minded man is “unstable in all his ways.” Unstable means that someone is not able to settle down.

The word unstable gives us the idea of someone who is never willing to commit. He leans closer to God one day and then closer to the world the next day. This person is confused about who they are loyal to, God or the world.

So, if you want wisdom, then ask in faith — which means, you know that you need the wisdom of God and have made up your mind that you want the wisdom of God so that you can obey and live you life inside the will of God.

James is a pastor. He is a preacher. In his message that we are looking at today he gives us an illustration to help us to understand what he is talking about.

Illustration: James tells the story of two men, a rich man and a poor man. The poor man and the rich man are both believers. They both are given the same status in Christ and it is in Christ that they are to trust. These two men also understand that the ground is level in suffering. The poor man and the rich man both have suffering in their lives. Whether you are rich or poor, suffering still comes. Suffering and trials come to all people.

James is showing us in this story that suffering will come to everyone, we cannot stop it. What we can do is choose how we respond. We can choose what perspective we have. We can choose the way we look at that suffering.

The poor man needs to think about how high of a position he now has as a child of God, even when his life here on earth is telling him that he is a poor, small man. He needs to remember he is part of God’s high and holy family even if people treat him and he suffers like a beggar who lives on the street.

The rich believer needs to remember that his trust cannot be in his money or his plenty things because it can be taken away just as quickly as a flower can spoil when the sun gets hot.

The purpose for this story is to help us understand “perspective”. (How we look at things)

As believers we need to have the right perspective. We need to look at things a certain way. We need to see life and see the world the way God sees it, not that way that the sinful world sees it.

As believers we need to look at the times when we have suffering in our lives as opportunities to grow. We will not be able to grow by ourselves, and God knows this. That is why James says, “if you think you need wisdom, so that you can grow and mature, then ask God and He will give it plenty to anyone who is a true believer, committed to God.”

James ends his talk about how we should be responding to suffering by giving us a promise.

verse 12 “Blessed 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.”

Verse 12 finished us James’ discussion about trials, trouble and suffering.

Blessed is the man! Literally, Happy, or satisfied is the man who perseveres (does not give up).

James didn’t say, I hope you will be blessed or if God agrees you will be blessed…

He says, it will happen. You are blessed… you are satisfied

It is a statement. You are blessed — you are satisfied; now and later, when you receive the crown of life. The “crown of life” is talking about our ultimate reward, eternal life.

James is not saying that you can earn eternal life by going through suffering; he is saying that the believer can earn a crown — special rewards for having gone through suffering with joy.

You don’t choose your crosses… you choose your reposes…and one day you will be rewarded for ever time that you chose to respond with faith and wisdom and prayer and joy.

Illustration: —>Checkers<— One pastor was able to play an old man in town who happened to be the town’s best checkers player. This pastor was a young guy at the time and thought he was pretty good. He sat down to play. The old man told the young pastor that he could take the first move. After a few moves the old man puts one of his pieces so that it can be jumped (eaten) and says, “jump me”. The young pastor thought he was doing well so he jumped the old man’s piece and was happy. It happened again, and the old man said, “You’ll have to jump me again.” The young pastor took his piece again, feeling happy. Then it happened. The old man picked up one of his checkers and jump, jump, jump, jump! His checkers hopped down the board, taking 4 of this young pastors pieces. The old man’s checker landed at the end of the board and he said, “crown me.” After that the young pastor didn’t stand a chance. He lost all of his pieces and the old man, who was the best checkers player in town won the game. The young pastor had a point to his story and it was this…

“No good checker player minds losing an occasional piece, [and he can with joy], so long as he knows he’s heading for [a crown].”

You can’t choose your crosses…you choose your responses…and what better way to encourage us all at the end of this discussion, than to hear James say that one day your crosses will be exchanged for a crown.

So as we live our lives and see suffering come and go we need to remember that one day, the day will come when we will be with Christ and we will fully receive the rewards He has for us. The day when we will be with Christ is not too far away. Let’s make sure that when we have opportunities to suffer in our lives, lets ask God for the wisdom we need so that we can grow up and mature in our faith.

Verses 13-15:

A few years ago a group of scientists from Europe said that they found the cause for all of our bad behavior and wrong doing and guess what… They say that its not your fault. They said that they discovered that we do wrong things because there is something that we are all born with. They called it the “sin gene”. They say that every human being has something that is part of their body that causes them to be wicked. So relax, according to the scientists, we are not even able to not be wicked, it is our nature. So whenever you do something bad, its not your fault.

That is the same thing that Satan and the world have been telling people since the beginning. Whenever something bad happens, It’s always someone else's fault. (Humpty Dumpty didn’t fall, he was pushed!!!)

In a very real way, we can trace the problem back to our parents, can’t we. They didn’t make us sin, but we act just like them when we do…we’re just like Adam and Eve.

Both of them ate the forbidden fruit from the tree in the garden and God came along and demanded an explanation and Adam said, “Don’t blame me! It was her fault.” And Eve said, “Don’t blame me — it was the serpent’s fault.”

And to this day, we are just like them — sinners all — and one of the hardest things for a sinner to do is say, “I’m guilty…It was my fault…I’m the one who’s wrong!”

The Book of James teaches us about maturity — growing up in the faith — more than any other New Testament author.

Our faith needs to be demonstrated in life.

So far, we have learned that we can grow and become more mature when we do not give up when going through suffering. True believers are able to have joy in their lives when going through suffering because as believer we are slaves of God, we belong to Him, and trust Him with being in control of everything.

You don’t get to choose your suffering, but you do get to choose your responses, right?

Now James will go on to say that a sign of maturity is not only being able to have joy when you are going through suffering, but also being able to stay pure when facing temptation.

So far in our study, James taught us about how we need to respond to suffering…now he is going to teach us the truth about temptation.

James is going to talk about that three letter word, sin. And he’s going to make sure we understand that the real problem is in the middle letter, the letter I.

Read James 1:13-15

James begins this discussion by assuming you will face temptation. He doesn’t say “if”, but he says “when he is tempted.”

You’re going to face temptation every single day of your life.

Every day you get out of bed you will face a test of integrity that will try to chip away at your character and holy passion and humility while you have every intention of reinforcing them.

Illustration: Children testing their limits daily

Temptation is going to come back again and again to see if the gates are still closed and if the windows are still locked and if the front door will remain closed to its advances (attacks).

Temptation will never leave you alone.

James is saying, “You are going to be tempted and here’s how you’d better think if you want to pass the test.”

No Blame Shifting

vs. 13 —> “Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God.”

“Su-kɔɔŋ à pà núu da kelee pɔ, ve mo, nyɛɛ, Ɣâla ɓe ńzu kɔ̀ɔŋ;”

Remember, James is writing to Christians. Would a Christian ever blame God for something?

Maybe not openly…but how many Christians would be tempted to say, “If God had given me a better job, I wouldn’t be so greedy; if God had started working sooner then I would not be so angry; if God had just changed something about my life, I would be a better person.

The truth is, we as fallen human beings are all quick to sin and no sin is beyond our ability — because we are fallen sinners.

Some people say, “This is the way God made me”. That is another way of blaming God — which is exactly what Adam did, by the way.

Illustration: Adam blaming the woman —> “I was doing fine until you brought her into my life.”

Eve said, “It was the serpent who deceived me.” Meaning —> you created the serpent too, didn’t you? (blaming God)

Adam and Eve stood together, united in accusing God as the cause of the problem.

We are really no different than our father and mother, Adam and Eve.

James says what he says here because he knows the nature of mankind. God is either the main object of our blessing or the main object of our blame.

Are you blessing God today or blaming Him?

James goes on to say in verse 13, “for God cannot be tempted by evil and he Himself does not tempt anyone.”

“kpɛni fei, núu fa Ɣâla su kɔ̀ɔŋ a mɛni nyɔ́mɔɔ, nyaŋ Ɣâla ǹyaa kpîŋ fa núu su kɔ̀ɔŋ”

In other words, God does not have anything to do with tempting someone to sin.

James writes that God cannot be tempted by evil.

The words “cannot be tempted” gives us the idea of being without the ability for temptation — in other words, when tempted, He doesn’t have anything within His nature that would make Him attracted to it; you could render it “invincible”.

Literally understood, God is invincible to temptation. (temptation can never effect Him)

James says, God is invincible to sin and secondly God isn’t invisibly tempting people to sin.

Look at the next part of verse 13, “for God cannot be tempted by evil and He Himself does not tempt anyone.”

The word test and tempt (su-kɔɔŋ/ yee-laa-maa), in the original dialect, have the same root word. But here’s the difference.

Satan tempts us to defeat us, tear us down; God tests us to develop us, build us up.

You could translate it, “God never tries to get anyone to do what is morally wrong (not correct).”

One man said, “God allows the setting for temptation, but He does not ever makes anyone to sin. God will never lead you to commit sin, because that would be against who He is. He wants to have His [children] be changed into the image of [His Son].”

God does not cause you to give in to temptation, actually, Paul wrote to the Corinthians that God provides a way to escape it (I Corinthians 10:13).

So if God is not the blame for our temptation…and we cannot even really blame the devil when we choose to sin…

How does sin have such power and control in our lives???

We are going to learn from the next verse exactly how sin works.

James will tell us the main three pieces that are involved with temptation and sin: (You can take money and break it up into pieces, if you could break sin into smaller pieces, these are the three main pieces that you would have.

The first piece is desire

vs. 14: “But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust.”

The word for lust is the word for a strong desire toward any forbidden object. (You see something you can’t have and you really want it.)

James writes, “But each one is tempted.”

The original language literally means, “each one is uniquely tempted”; you could better understand what James is saying if you read verse 14 like this…”Each person is tempted by themselves in a way that is designed for that persons individual weaknesses and desires. ”

What that means is very stunning news. Temptation for you will be uniquely different than for your friend.

In other words, a person can be tempted by certain sins in a stronger way than another person. Some people are weaker in certain areas, against certain temptations than other people. (examples: Drinking/ Smoking/ Woman business/ Stealing/ lying/ etc…)

But even though some of us are weaker towards certain sins, does not change what God considers to be sinful behavior. Sin is still sin, whether we are weak towards it or not.

God’s standard remains the same for everyone — no matter how you’re wired, no matter what your personality is, no matter what your attitude is like.

This is important to understand because it will affect the way you will face temptation. The world, the flesh and the devil — have done their homework — know which way you bend.

Satan knowns who you are.. he knows what your weaknesses are. He has learned our weaknesses to sin. So he knows that if he can re-make the temptation that led us to sin before, then we will most likely fall for it again.

Here’s how James says it happens — verse 14 “He is carried away and enticed by his own lust.”

—> vs. 14: “kέlɛ, su-kɔɔŋ (test/temptation) a pâ núu kelee pɔ tãi gbîŋ (trap) tua-pere (behaviors/ habits/ ways) nyɔŋ-wɛliɛ (bad or evil desires) a ziɣe la bere mai ( ).”

James uses words that come right out of the hunting experience. James give us a picture to help us understand.

“Carried away” means to be lured by the scent of meat in a trap (illustrate); the word “enticed” refers to bait on a line, used by a fisherman.

In chapter 1, James does not say that Satan is directly involved in tempting us. But later in the book of James, in chapters 3 and 4, James tells us more about how Satan is involved in pushing us toward sinful behavior.

James says, “He is carried away by his own lust/ wicked habits.”

Satan is around trying to make the believers fall, but we provide him with all of the bait that he needs.

Don’t overlook the fact that we provide Satan with everything that is needed to make us fall into the trap.

Illustrate: The softly softly providing the bait and the trap so that he can be caught by the hunter./ Racoon and the trap/box.

It’s our lusts…it’s our desires… Satan just uses the wicked habits what we already are weak in and makes the right setting, he baits the hook with the bait that we give him, when we are tempted to sin, it is usually the wicked habit that we already want and that we already struggle with.

The idea in hunting is to hide the trap, but expose the bait; Satan has had a lot of practice at this and is very good at it. But don’t forget, James tells us that it is our own lust, our own wicked habits and things that we want that cause us to be tempted.

If you were able to break sin up into smaller pieces, the first piece is desire. We are tempted to sin by our own wicked habits and by the things that we want. the second piece of sin is disobedience

James writes in verse 15. “Then desire, when it has conceived gives birth to sin,…”

In other words, when the fish bites — when he sees the bait and moves to bite it— when his actions are put into motion to get the thing that he wants — James writes, that’s when sin happens.

James tells us, step by step how sin moves ahead in our lives.

James uses the picture of a couple having a baby to help us understand better. Desire is attracted to and finally decides to run away with disobedience… desire conceives by disobedience and then has a child; and the child’s name is sin.

When your will connects with your desire and you choose to think or act in disobedience, that ends up giving birth to sin.

James goes on to warn us that there will be more trouble ahead if sin isn’t dealt with decisively.

When desire is added to disobedience it leads to death

The third piece of sin is death

James goes on to write in verse 15. “…and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.”

James it talking about a sin that is kept — it’s loved — it’s followed and all the time allowed to become bigger, if sin is allowed to stay in your life, it will continue bringing one kind of destruction after another.

James isn’t talking about physical death — because sinners can live a long time before they die. James isn’t talking about spiritual death because Christians can sin.

I believe he is talking about a death-like existence. This is the self-destruction of David who wrote that he was literally being consumed by his unrepentant heart and life.

He wrote in Psalm 32, “When I kept silent about my sin, my body wasted away; my vitality was drained away as with the fever heat of summer.”

Even though sin brings relief or happiness or friendship or pleasure, James says, it’s temporary… and it ultimately leads to death.

James has told us about suffering and he has also told us about temptation.

Today James warned us, that we should not blame shift.

It’s our own desires that bait the hook; it’s our own disobedience that bites the hook.

When we are tempted to sin, the temptation comes from our own wicked habits and from the bad things that we already want.

We are born with a sin nature. We are born wanting to sin.

When we are tempted, who is to blame? We saw today in James that God is not the one tempting us to sin. God cannot and will not try to get someone to sin. That is against who God is and even against His very nature.

We learned to day that when we are tempted, we are temped by our own sinful desires. WE are tempted by our own wicked habits.

So, who is to blame for our temptations? We are…

We are tempted by the sinful habits that we already love and that we are already inside.

Satan also knows what our weakness are. He knows the areas that we are weak and used our own weaknesses to catch us in his trap. But don’t forget, as James told us, we give Satan all the bait that he needs to make us to fall into temptation and fall into the trap of sin.

James told us that when we keep that sin with us, loving it and allowing it to grow stronger, then as believers we will live a life that is almost like we are dead.

Just like David in Psalm 32, “When I kept silent about my sin, my body wasted away, my strength and energy was drained away…”

When you are suffering or find yourself in the middle of a temptation, who are you blaming? Are you saying, “God, if you would only have done that one…” Are you blaming God? Are you, like Adam, saying “God, the woman that you gave me…”

God is not to blame for the temptations in our life. Our own wicked desires are to blame for the temptations that we go through.

Remember, it is our own desires, when added to our own disobedience that brings forth sin in our lives. That sin in our lives will always lead to death in different different ways.

I want to challenge everyone to do something this week. Ask God for the strength and wisdom to not fall into any traps of sin. Ask God to open your eyes and let you see the sin inside the temptation. The way that we can keep from falling into sin and falling to temptation is to know our own hearts.

Remember, God is not to blame for the temptations and sin in our lives. We are to blame for our own sin. As human beings, we want to blame someone else.

One of the hardest things a person can do in their life is to admit, that it is your fault. No one else is to blame.

We need to make sure we are staying pure in all areas of our lives but especially those areas that can humbug us the most. Satan is laying out traps to make us fall and he is using our own weaknesses and sinful desires to trap us in our own sin.

As we stop our study for today, I want you to be encouraged that God has not left us without hope. As we continue our study in the Book of James, we are going to be given encouragement and hope. God wants all true believers to grow mature and he has given us all the help we need, if we will listen to Him and what He has said in His Word.

As we continue our study, we will learn more about God and who He is so that we will understand even more why God is not tempting us to sin and James will encourage us with several ways we can overcome the temptations and the sin in our lives.

Let’s look forward to the next time we can study together and see God’s plan for how we can become more mature as believers.

Verses 19-21:

In the book of Samuel, Samuel is a boy that is given by his mother to serve in the temple. Hannah cannot have children so when she does she brings Samuel to the temple and gives him back to God to serve in the temple with Eli. As Samuel grows, one night he hears someone calling his name. “Samuel”… It is not a very loud voice. Samuel has to be still and quiet and listen very carefully to hear it. He thinks it is Eli, so he runs to Eli and asks what he needs. Eli sends him back to bed saying that it was not him that called Samuel. But Eli does tell Samuel what to say the next time he hears the voice. Samuel goes back to bed. Later, the quiet voice calls to him again, “Samuel, Samuel…” Samuel sits up in bed and says, “Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.”

It is interesting that while Samuel heard the voice calling him, he was not really listening to it in the beginning. It was not until he was focusing on the voice that he was able to respond to it. We know from the story that it was God calling to Samuel. Samuel’s response gives us a great picture of how we should come to and respond to God’s Word. Samuel says, “Speak, Lord, for I am listening…” Samuel was patiently waiting for the voice to call him again, and when it called he was ready with his response. Samuel was still and quiet, waiting and listening very seriously so that he could hear the voice speak to Him.

Thinking of Samuel makes me think of us. When we are living our lives, how carefully are we listening for God? How much time do we take being still and waiting to hear from God? How good are we at listening? We are perfect at talking. We talk plenty, but how well do we listen for God and listen to God?

Today, in our world, everyone wants things quick, quick. People do not want to wait for anything, especially when it comes to hearing from God.

“Take time to be Holy” has been changed by our generation to “how to become Holy in a hurry.”

The Bible is not interested in hurrying. It does not work the same way as an SMS — it intends to transform you by the renewing of your mind — that is, literally changing the way you think (Rom. 12:1-2).

And if we are going to grow up in the faith, like God wants us to, then there are some things we need to make sure we understand.

So far, in our study of James, we have learned how we should respond to serval things. We were challenged in how we should respond to hard times and suffering. Then, we were challenged about how we should respond to temptation. Today as we study a few more verses in the book of James, we are going to be challenged with how we should come to, and respond to God’s Word.

Read James 1:19-21

The first two words James says is, “Know this…”. James is telling us that what he is about to say is very important and we should not miss it. He is saying, “Listen up!!! You need to hear what I am saying so that you can get it right!!!”

In the three verses we will look at today, James will tell us how we need to come to God’s Word if we want to be able to get the most out of it. We will learn today how we should come to and respond to God’s Word so that we will be able to grow the most, to become the most spiritually mature possible.

Come with your ears open

The first thing James wants us to understand today is that we need to come with our ears open.

James writes in verse 19. “let every person be quick to hear,”

A lot of people who read this verse will right away take this verse and pull it out of its context and turn it into a general statement. We cannot just pull a verse that sounds sweet to our ears out of the Bible and use it anyway we want. God had His Word written in a certain way. We need to understand the setting of each book and the context of each verse if we are really going to understand what God has said to us.

James is not telling us to be quick to listen to our wives, husbands, boss-man, or anyone else around us. There are other verses in the Bible that talk about respecting your spouse and obeying your boss-man, but this is not one of them. It is also a very good idea to be quick to listen to other people. That is a very good principle, but that is not what this verse is talking about either.

The Word of God is the main idea (mɛi ŋuŋ) of this passage. James is talking about what we should do when coming to and responding to God’s Word.

We have to read the Bible in context to understand it. If we just pull a verse out that sounds sweet to us and don’t pay attention to the verses around it, we will get a wrong understanding of what the verse is saying.

In verse 18, James told us that it was the word of truth that brought us to life. In the next verse — verse 21 — James will tell us to receive the word with humility and then in verse 22 to be doers of the word and not a hearer only.

While it is true that everyone should be quick to listen as a general rule in life — James is talking about being ready to listen and eager to understand the Word of God.

When you are suffering, going through hard times, when you’re facing plenty temptations to sin — Who are You Listening to????

Maybe the reason you are not passing the test or overcoming the temptations is because God’s Word is the last thing that you listen to.

We listen to everyone else and everything else — and finally, maybe, when we don’t have anywhere else to turn, we listen to the Word of God.

So you need to understand that James was commanding the people he was writing this letter to — and us— to literally listen to the Word of God.

[background illustration] Back when the book of James was written, the rest of the New Testament had not been finished yet. As the letters, which would later become books of the Bible, were written, they were passed around by the churches so that all of the believers would be able to read them or hear them read.

The early church services included public reading of scripture and the verbal instruction in the faith.

Because it was very rare that someone had a copy of any of the Scriptures, people had to listen well if they wanted to learn from God’s Word. Listening was very important. The people who were not disciplined in the skill of listening well, would not hear all of what God’s Word was saying and would not be able to grow more spiritually mature. Listening was and still is very important.

So when James says that the believer should be quick to listen, he is referring to an attitude as a person listens to the truth of the Word — quick to listen, meant the same thing as eager to listen. Be serious about listening, trying to understand what is being said.

James is saying, “If you’re not going to listen, how do you ever think you are going to grow up and become more mature?” You won’t!"

And here’s the point — if you want to grow up, don’t be eager to listen to everyone else; first and most importantly, listen to your Teacher — the Word of God which is able to equip you for life.

Your mouth closed

If you want to grow up (mature) in your faith then you have to approach God’s Word with your ears open and secondly, with your mouth closed.

Look back at verse 19 — “you need to know this — everyone must be quick to hear ,slow to speak.” The words, quick and slow are not talking about our actions but about our attitude.

In the setting of this passage, “slow to speak” means that you are slow to talk back.

When you come to God’s Word, open your ears and listen, close your mouth and don’t talk back.

You might not always like what God’s Word has to say. You might even want to argue with God’s Word — if not out loud, then in your mind and heart.

Keep in mind the setting of the original audience of James’ letter. The early church services were very relaxed. Listeners would speak up in the middle of the message and ask questions and even some times argue with the preacher.

While you might not be sitting here today arguing with me out loud, some of you might be doing it in your heart.

You hear something you don’t like from God’s Word and inside you say, “that isn’t true for me.” or “God can’t control me like this, I’m going to do my own thing.” If that is your attitude then you are talking back to God’s Word.

God’s words are inconvenient; they are uncomfortable; they are demanding. And we are tempted to talk back. “that is hard-O!!!” God’s Word offends us because we love our sin.

One way that you can tell that someone is not mature, is when they are not able to keep from talking when they think they have something to say.

Abraham Lincoln: “Better to be thought a fool then to open your mouth and remove all doubt.”

One way that we can tell if we are becoming more mature spiritually, is when we are able to not talk and focus on listening.

The setting of our passage today in the book of James is spiritual maturity. Spiritual maturity is demonstrated and allowed to grow when we are able to keep quite, instead of talking back to God’s Word.

When you are in the middle of suffering and temptations, a sign of growing maturity is learning not to talk back to your God’s Word.

James says in verse 19, keep your ears open and your mouth closed and then the third way to get the most out of the Word of God is to, …

Keep your spirit teachable

When we read verse 19, there is a downward progression (James is describing how things get worse and worse when you do not come to God’s Word in the right way). It begins with not listening; it moves to talking back and then finally, it explodes in anger and effectively shuts down the process of maturing or growing spiritually.

Verse 19: “let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger.”

The context is anger with God because of what His Word demands.

Most people get angry with God because they really weren’t listening in the first place. You heard a few small things that you did not understand or did not like from God’s Word and started talking back. Then, your life didn’t get any better. God did not end the suffering or give you what you wanted, when you wanted it. The temptations keep coming and finally you got so vexed at God that you got angry at Him. “Lord, what do you think you are doing?!”

In verse 20, James tells us to calm down and says, “For the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God.”

Anger with God does not bring about right living before God — it destroys the process.

When you are angry with God for the suffering and hard times in your life, you are actually moving away from God instead of closer to Him.

When you don’t get what you think you deserve or what you want, and get angry at God, you accomplish nothing. You only make things worse. James says, “Anger with God won’t help!”

Let’s review what happens when we move in the wrong direction and approach God’s Word in the wrong way. — you refuse to listen; you talk back to God’s divinely inspired word and then you get angry with God for not doing what you want Him to do — you do not fulfill the righteousness of God — you will not mature, but you will remain immature.

If you on purpose remain spiritually immature, there will be other consequences that will come from that.

Everything that James has said so far has not been easy to say and much harder to hear.

Here’s James’ point — an angry spirit is never a teachable spirit.

We approach God’s Word with open ears, a closed mouth, a teachable spirit, and we have to come to the Word of God with clean hands.

Clean hands

Verse 21 says, “Therefore put away all filthiness (tua-pere nyɔ̂ŋ) and rampant (all that remains of) wickedness (ŋwana-lɔɔ-sii) and receive with meekness (maa-yeŋ-pere) the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.

The Apostle Paul used the same idea of putting off sin as it it were like taking off dirty clothes. (Ephesians 4:22-23; Colossians 3:8-9)

The Bible names sin. The Bible is very specific about what sin is. The Bible does not try to hide sin or make excuses. It calls sin what it is.

The word “filthiness” in our English Bible’s comes from a word in the original dialect that means morally dirty.

Put aside the things and actions that are morally dirty or unclean. It is interesting that the root word in the Greek was used by people to talk about the wax that was in someone’s ears. This fits this context perfectly.

In other words, sin in our lives which we refuse to put off acts as wax in our ears, preventing the word of truth from reaching our hearts.

[Illustration:] Luke & his ear wax

The word James uses here for wickedness is a word that means corruption or evil actions. These things may be done outwardly but also, may be done in our hearts and kept as “hidden sins” that only God and you are aware of.

The words in verse 21, “and all that remains of wickedness” means to deal with the plenty sins that are still here, the sins that you have kept to yourself and have refused to repent of.

James is encouraging us to get rid of everything in our lives that is sinful and stop holding on to the sinful things we love too much, that no one else knows about. (Illustrate or make a point here about sins that no one else knows about still being wrong and still being sin)

God tells us that if we want to be spiritually mature then we need to get rid of and put away anything that is sinful or dirty in our lives. Get rid of anything that can make you unclean.

We are sinful human beings. Even when we are saved, we are saved from our sin, but we are still affected by it. As long as we are living we will struggle with sin. God knows that we will not be perfect, until we are with Him in Heaven, but He is telling us here that you we need to be willing to deal with all the extra sins that remain in you and around you.

As believers, we cannot be satisfied with sin staying in our lives. We need hate our sin and do everything we can to get rid of it.

James is saying that spiritual maturity means you are growing more and more intolerant of both external sins of the flesh and internal, hidden sins of the heart.

One of the major marks of maturing in the Lord is that you are growing more and more troubled over sins that never before bothered you.

The Bible speaks very straight to us here. We need to deal with sin. We need to clean house, we need to make no excuses for sin!

This is a command, we are to put aside all filthiness and wickedness as we come before God’s Word so that we can grow up, grow to be more spiritually mature. AS long as sin is still in our lives it will keep us from growing more mature through God’s Word.

God requires that we clean house. He does not want us to keep any sin in us, at all.

[Illustration: I read a story about a man that was in the church in a small town. He would attend prayer meeting every week. Every week, he would confess the same things and then he would say, “ O Lord, the cobwebs have come between you and me; please clear them away.” Every week he would confess the same sins and then say, “Lord, please clear away the cobwebs.” Finally an older Christian prayed right after him and said, “Lord, would you have him ill the spider.”]

Not a bad idea…Deal with sin— clean house. (as long as a spider is living it will make a web. If you want to get rid of the webs, then kill the spider. If you want to clean our your life and get closer to God, get rid of the sin. Kill the sin in your life and get rid of it.

A clean Christian is of great value and benefit to the church today. The world around us is in desperate need to see a living demonstration of a clean life, lived for God. The world needs to see someone with clean hands… a passion to be pure… someone who lives their lives in a God honoring correct way.

So, when we come to God’s Word, we need to come with open ears, a closed mouth, a teachable spirit, clean hands and finally, a humble heart.

A humble heart

Let’s finish up by looking at verse 21 again. “Therefore put away all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.” (ka ŋ̀óoi sɔlɔ ɓo a maa-yeŋ-pere nyii ziɛi kalíi sui, nyii pɔri káa mì a gɛɛ e kamɔ̂leŋ ɓáloi).”

“Receive the word implanted.” (ka ŋ̀óoi sɔlɔ ɓo a maa-yeŋ-pere)

What does that mean? How do you receive something that is already planted within you?

Back in verse 18, James told us that God brought us forth by the Word of Truth. We were saved because the Word of God impacted our lives and we embraced it. When a person is saved, The Living Word, the Holy Spirit comes to live inside of them. The “seed” of God’s truth is planted inside each believer at salvation.

When verse 21 says, “receive … the implanted word”, it means that as a believer we should welcome His Word, take care of it, help it to grow in our lives. James says, that this “implanted Word” will rescue our souls.

James isn’t talking about being saved again, but he is talking about being rescued from suffering and temptations throughout our lives.

If you want to be saved misery and guilt and more suffering because of disobedience and rebellion, then welcome God’s Word with the right heart attitude. Welcome God’s Word with a humble heart. Welcome God’s Word in your life so that you will be changed by it.

Someone who has a proud heart, is not going to be willing to allow God’s Word to change them.

Someone who comes to God’s Word with a humble heart will say, “I’m ready to grow more. I need to grow more. I’m ready for the Spirit of God to train my ears to hear from His Word.”

James here wants us whenever troubled, to listen to the Word.

When we are suffering, to go deep into God’s Word for comfort, encouragement and strength.

When we are confused, to look for wisdom in His Word.

When we are being tempted, to look at God’s standards of purity and righteousness for the power to resist the temptations.

We will not ever grow or become more spiritually mature, if we do not spend time with God through His Word. And, to really get the most out of God’s Word we need to come to it with the right attitude. With our ears open, mouths shut, a teachable spirit, clean hands and a humble heart.

If we come to God’s Word with a proud heart, dirty hands, closed ears and an open mouth then we will not ever grow more mature as Christians.

The next time you come to God’s Word, I hope you can be like Samuel in the OT, when God called him saying, “Speak, Lord, for your slave is ready to listen.”