Sermon Tone Analysis

! Counsel From James

 

There are some very significant statements and instructions from the Lord for

 

*James 1:2-8*

2 My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, 3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience.

4 But let patience have /its/ perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.

5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.

6 But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind.

7 For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; 8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.

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When we are in a trial or any kind of trouble we must approach it with a positive expectation that God will help.

Faith is the confidence that God will certainly give help, because of his character and his promises.

Anything less than faith arises from either a false view of who God is, or unbelief, which is simply believing a lie about God and your situation.

Are you tossed by the waves, one minute believing, the next in doubt?

Choose to hold on to God’s character and promises, for /nothing /is too hard for him.

Note also the promise that God will give wisdom freely.

This is the divine insight into how to practically act in your situation.

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*James 1:12-25*

12 Blessed /is/ the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him. 13 Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone.

14 But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed.

15 Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.

16 Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren.

17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.

18 Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures.

There is much said in the New Testament about patience and endurance.

God deliberately lets us linger in our trouble because he knows that the process of dealing with it will strengthen faith and build character.

Thus we become Christ-like.

Never accuse God of treating you unfairly, or blaming him for the situation.

He only gives good gifts, so although he can use the situation for good, he is not the reason for it.

Did your trouble arise because you were tempted into foolish, sinful actions by your own selfish desires?

Admit it and ask for help.

19 So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath; 20 for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God.

This is crucial when our trouble seems to come from another person.

Be swift to listen to God; don’t pester him with complaints and accusations about the other person.

Be swift to listen to the other person and slow to accuse.

Bitterness, anger, unforgiveness and blame simply shift the focus away from the Lord being able to pinpoint our own problems.

As long as we focus on the fault of the other person, we cannot find freedom and well-being.

21 Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.

22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.

23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; 24 for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was.

25 But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues /in it,/ and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.

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When we have begun to listen, then we must also act.

Obey the Lord in whatever he shows you.

Hold on to it and do not allow your ingrained habits of thought to divert you back into accusation, unbelief and all those things.

Battle to keep focused on what God says.

He will give revelation, conviction, instructions on what to do, and promises to build faith.

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*James 2:8-13*

8 If you really fulfill /the/ royal law according to the Scripture, /“You shall love your neighbor as yourself,”/ you do well; 9 but if you show partiality, you commit sin, and are convicted by the law as transgressors.

10 For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one /point,/ he is guilty of all.

11 For He who said, /“Do not commit adultery,”/ also said, /“Do not murder.”/

Now if you do not commit adultery, but you do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law.

12 So speak and so do as those who will be judged by the law of liberty.

13 For judgment is without mercy to the one who has shown no mercy.

Mercy triumphs over judgment.

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Love is choosing to do what is best for another person.

Although James speaks in the context of the sin of favouritism, the principle is wider.

Have you transgressed just a little, (and the other person a lot)?

Your responsibility is to deal with your own sin.

Judge yourself under God; do not judge the other person.

What a beautiful thought that mercy triumphs over judgment.

Choose mercy and grace; it works miracles that judgment and accusation never can.

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*James 2:14-17*

14 What /does it/ profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works?

Can faith save him?

15 If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, “Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,” but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what /does it/ profit?

17 Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.

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Again, for emphasis, James says that faith must express itself in action.

There is a radical challenge here; in a conflict situation am I giving what my enemy needs or am I focused on my own need.

Do I look beyond my brother’s fault to see his need?

*James 3:2-12*

2 For we all stumble in many things.

If anyone does not stumble in word, he /is/ a perfect man, able also to bridle the whole body.

3 Indeed, we put bits in horses’ mouths that they may obey us, and we turn their whole body.

4 Look also at ships: although they are so large and are driven by fierce winds, they are turned by a very small rudder wherever the pilot desires.

5 Even so the tongue is a little member and boasts great things.

See how great a forest a little fire kindles! 6 And the tongue /is/ a fire, a world of iniquity.

The tongue is so set among our members that it defiles the whole body, and sets on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire by hell.

7 For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and creature of the sea, is tamed and has been tamed by mankind.

8 But no man can tame the tongue.

/It is/ an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.

9 With it we bless our God and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the similitude of God. 10 Out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing.

My brethren, these things ought not to be so.

11 Does a spring send forth fresh /water/ and bitter from the same opening?

12 Can a fig tree, my brethren, bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs?

Thus no spring yields both salt water and fresh.

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Now

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*James 3:13-18*

13 Who /is/ wise and understanding among you?

Let him show by good conduct /that/ his works /are done/ in the meekness of wisdom.

14 But if you have bitter envy and self-seeking in your hearts, do not boast and lie against the truth.

15 This wisdom does not descend from above, but /is/ earthly, sensual, demonic.

16 For where envy and self-seeking /exist,/ confusion and every evil thing /are/ there.

17 But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy.

18 Now the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.

“The meekness of wisdom” means the meekness that flows from wisdom.

Meekness in not weakness.

It is zealous for the honour of God and his desires, it is zealous for the rights and needs of others, but it does not assert itself, demanding its own rights and desires.

Meditate on the thought that “the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace”.

What is the /fruit/ of righteousness in your situation?

*James 4:1-10*

*4*     Where do wars and fights /come/ from among you?

Do /they/ not /come/ from your /desires for/ pleasure that war in your members? 2 You lust and do not have.