Avoiding Confusion about God

Introduction:

We say goodbye to one year and enter into another.

Who knows what it will bring!

Chaos, war, deeper political division?

None of what we may face should affect the clarity we should have about God or his purpose for us in salvation.

Based upon the teaching of the Bible, we are not religious in the ancient sense of that word.

God wants more than ritual, sacrifice, or worship.

We are not trying to keep his anger abated through our worship.

The God revealed in the Bible, who claims to be our creator, differs in His essence, and He claims a purpose in salvation for us as His people.

There was a way human beings were supposed to live that remains unrecoverable apart from God’s own revelation.

Stop Being Deceived

In this letter, James writes to a troubled, confused congregation.

From the opening of the letter, he teaches them that their trials have spiritual value.

They result in maturity.

HIs audience has been influenced, perhaps through false doctrine, to confuse physical tribulation with temptations to sin.

Someone has told them that temptations to sin come from God.

At the heart of this deception is theological confusions.

James 1:13-15.

God is responsible for good gifts only. By these, James refers to:

Spiritual maturity.

Godly wisdom

Righteous attitudes.

Righteous behaviors

See the end of James 3.

What Is at Stake:

A fundamental change in God’s nature (James 1:17).

God’s purpose in salvation (James 1:18).

Salvation is not just to rescue us from eternal punishment but for us to be a people of God’s own possession.

We represent him and his nature in the world.

God’s Word and Our Growth

Fundamental to our purpose is salvation is our growth through the Word of God.

James calls their attention to the behaviors consistent with God’s righteousness.

He also instructs them about the importance of purity for additional spiritual growth.

Purity prepares us to receive the Word of God.

We hear the Word of God so we can put it into practice.