Who Are You Relying On?
Practical Christianity - The Book of James • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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· 13 viewsRely on Jesus, not yourself.
Notes
Transcript
Notes: James is going to address two different ways of living: Living with self-reliance, or living with Jesus-reliance.
James is addressing worldliness in the church. It is manifested in different ways.
So, as many of you know we recently went on a family vacation to South Dakota. It was a great trip. Filled with family and fun and recharging. However, have you ever had one of those kind of trips where you go “what is happening???” That was this kind of trip. First, I got a cold. Then, Katie ended up with a stomach flu that hit everyone except Jon and I. Now, when the four of us were recovered but Katie’s family was still not doing great, we decided to go out and about for a bit and get groceries, etc. I had been struggling with some anxiety over this sickness and stress, and had been frustrated with God.
We stopped off at this park, and as I went to back in the vehicle made an audible clunk. I flipped out and told Katie that was it, and we’re ditching this vehicle and that was that. Stupid truck. Anyway, we got out, walked around, and then came back to the truck as it started to rain. We piled in, I put the key in the ignition, turned it, and… nothing. It would turn over but that thing was not going to start. I couldn’t believe it! After everything we’d been through?! Why?!?
Needless to say, plan don’t always go our way. But God always has a plan. This could have happened anywhere, but it happened in Watertown, 10 minutes from my in-laws’. It could have been a big bill to fix it. It wasn’t too bad. And God sparred us from more sickness after that day.
Sometimes the temptation to rely on ourselves is great. That day, I was pretty wrapped up in myself. The truth was, while I was stressed and upset and struggling, God didn’t leave us alone, even when it was hard.
Sermon series.
Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”—
yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.
Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.”
As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.
So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.
Come now, you rich, weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you.
Your riches have rotted and your garments are moth-eaten.
Your gold and silver have corroded, and their corrosion will be evidence against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up treasure in the last days.
Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, are crying out against you, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts.
You have lived on the earth in luxury and in self-indulgence. You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter.
You have condemned and murdered the righteous person. He does not resist you.
Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives the early and the late rains.
You also, be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand.
Do not grumble against one another, brothers, so that you may not be judged; behold, the Judge is standing at the door.
As an example of suffering and patience, brothers, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord.
Behold, we consider those blessed who remained steadfast. You have heard of the steadfastness of Job, and you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful.
We must rely on Jesus, not ourselves.
James presents two perspectives on living life without Jesus. Both in our planning, and in the exercise of wealth and greed. Then, he calls upon us to continue on in patience - despite suffering - as we wait patiently for Jesus to return.
Plans Sans Jesus 4 13-17
Plans Sans Jesus 4 13-17
Have you ever made plans and then eventually stopped and questioned, “hey, did I ever actually ask God His thoughts on this?” I’m not really talking about breakfast this morning. What about the times when you’re making a bigger life decision, or a business deal, or a even decision regarding your kids, parents, or anything like that. Do you consult God in those moments?
This section and 11-12 share similarities. Namely, that the divine will had been left out of consideration. Both by taking God’s place as judge (11-12) and by not considering God or submitting to His will with their plans (4 13). (NAC). In this first part of our section - and the last part of chapter 4 - James addresses a problem with some of the merchants in the churches he is writing to. The problem centered around how they made those plans.
Now most of us make plans on a daily basis. Anything from what time we’ll get up to what we eat, to where we’ll go or what we’ll do. Naturally our brains are wired so that we can make plans. However, the trouble in this passage centered around the attitude with which plans were being made:
Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”—
yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.
Rich merchants within the church were making plans for business deals. “Oh, let’s go over here and do business.” “Bet there’s a good market in this place!”
Awesome, but did you bother to ask God what He thought of your plans?
It’s not bad to make plans - that’s a good thing! But these people had an arrogance and self-reliance that caused them to totally forget their God in their planning.
Remember our big idea:
We must rely on Jesus, not ourselves.
James makes something very clear: relying on yourself, boasting in yourself and what you will do is not right. Instead, consult God and ask for His direction and help as you make plans.
James harkens back to chapter 1:11, where he addressed the fleeting power of wealth and life itself. Here he asks “what is your life?” Essentially, James is asking “are you God? Do you know what tomorrow will look like?” Perhaps here we are presented with the uncomfortable reality that no matter what we plan for, no matter how sure it looks, truly the Author of Life is the only One who determines our tomorrows. Indeed, we are a mist - we live for a little while and then we are gone. Dust to dust, ashes to ashes.
How then do we live as those who are saved and set free in light of this reality? James gives the answer:
Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.”
Friends, it is in the Lord’s hands how we proceed in this life, and the next. I heard an amazing testimony this week from someone who knows grace, and knows what it means to have God actively involved in their life. The question we are presented with is: Are you living relying on Jesus, or are you boasting in your own will and plans?
Don’t give into the temptation that says you don’t need God in your daily life. This is arrogance, and as James says:
As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.
If we boast in our own plans, with no consideration for God’s will, we set ourselves up for disaster. Don’t allow this to happen, friends!
I will sometimes jokingly refer to Katie as “big boss” in our house. Why? Because especially when it come to the calendar she’s the boss. Mostly because she can keep it all straight!
God wants to be “big boss” in your life.
James finishes this with a warning:
So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.
There’s two categories of sin, both equally bad: Sins of commission, and sins of omission. Commission is as it sounds: we commit something. A wrong of some kind perhaps. Omission implies we omitted or failed to do something. Friends, we know the right way to handle life, especially in light of our fleeting, mist-like existence. All our plans must be submitted to God. We must rely on Jesus, not ourselves.
This first look at life without Jesus focuses on the temptation to make plans without thought towards the God who should be “big boss” in your life. In our arrogance, or even just forgetfulness, we forget to ask God His thoughts on our plans. Yet we must rely on Jesus, because His plan for our lives is best. We do not know the future, but we know the One who does. We need to walk close, submitting to Him our very lives.
Wealth Sans Jesus 5 1-6
Wealth Sans Jesus 5 1-6
James’s first point focused on planning without Jesus, the second focuses on wealth. But there’s a change of tone in the start of chapter 5. James begins addressing not Christians, but unbelievers. Those who have used their money for selfish gain, and to hurt those less fortunate.
James starts with “come now” which functions like a “hey, listen up!” And then listen to what he says next:
Come now, you rich, weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you.
Uh oh. James tells the rich to literally be in deep agony and grief, because of the judgement coming upon them. To howl implies a great pain or suffering. This warning is serious, so serious that it sounds much like the Old Testament prophets who pronounced judgement on Israel:
Therefore thus says the Lord, the God of hosts, the Lord: “In all the squares there shall be wailing, and in all the streets they shall say, ‘Alas! Alas!’ They shall call the farmers to mourning and to wailing those who are skilled in lamentation,
James then gives four sins for why judgement is both coming, and already started on these rich people. Let’s break it down:
Your riches have rotted and your garments are moth-eaten.
Your gold and silver have corroded, and their corrosion will be evidence against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up treasure in the last days.
Notice something: The great riches and wealth of these people, even their fine clothes, James says, are rotting and corroded. They cry out as evidence against them before the Great Judge - God. Now, gold especially cannot rust per-say, but the idea here is to show the astonishing image of how useless it is. All of that great wealth really as a stinking pile of evidence condemning those who hoard it. Moreover, these corroded riches actually consume those who hoard them. They “eat the flesh like fire.”
Consider Revelation 21:8:
But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.”
This firey torment, coupled with how James describes this hoarded wealth should be intimidating. This fire consuming the rich shows us that though at first their riches seem great, their hoarding of wealth actually causes their ultimate downfall. It becomes the thing that leads to their spot in hell.
And did you notice? James says they’ve laid up treasure in the last days. When are the last days? Right now! We are living in them! This means that their judgement is not just coming, but already started. Weep, wail, mourn, because your judgement is already here, and still coming.
The second sin is:
Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, are crying out against you, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts.
Apparently these wealthy people - most likely rich land owners and farmers - had cheated the poorer farmers out of their land, forcing them to work for their rich counterparts. Then, these rich cheated the poor out of their just payment.
Again, this evidence cries out against them too. Notice that now God is called the “Lord of heaven’s armies. It’s a way of showing the power of God. The Almighty God has noticed this injustice, and He isn’t pleased. It reminds me of the story of Cain and Able way back in Genesis. Cain killed his brother, and then God said to him, “Where is your brother Able?” Cain’s response was basically, “how should I know? Am I my brother’s keeper?” Then we read this:
And the Lord said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood is crying to me from the ground.
This is a cry for vengeance and justice (Cornerstone). See, our God see injustice and wrong doing. Consider Rom 12 19
Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.”
So make no mistake, God will bring justice. And for these wealthy, we’re already there.
The third sin is:
You have lived on the earth in luxury and in self-indulgence. You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter.
The sin here is not having wealth, but how it is used (Cornerstone). These folks have lived in a way that is about me, myself, and I. Their wealth is used for their own personal luxuries. It’s a gross self-indulgence that screams pride and selfishness. What is the result, just like the Christmas turkey they have fattened themselves for the day of judgement.
Finally the fourth sin:
You have condemned and murdered the righteous person. He does not resist you.
Remember last week how we read about people coveting and murdering others to get what they want? It wasn’t necessarily that they were physically taking lives, but were doing everything in their power to get ahead, no matter the cost to others. Here again this boils to a head. First, the wealthy land owners were most likely dragging the poor into court. The courts were rigged in the favor of the rich. This harkens back to James 2 6 where we read:
But you have dishonored the poor man. Are not the rich the ones who oppress you, and the ones who drag you into court?
Again, here we see the rich oppressing the poor. Defrauding them of whatever little material wealth they had. This is where murder comes in: most likely some of the poor had even experienced starvation! So in a sense, there is a type of murder happening here.
We could spend more time especially in the OT exploring God’s thoughts on injustice and the oppression of the poor. Needless to say, all of it condemns such behavior. This is idolatry, pure and simple. Something else lives on the throne of the hearts of these rich. Far from God, it is - as Paul puts it - the love of money:
For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.
The love of money never leads down a good path. Yet this is what has transpired in the lives of these wealthy. James writes to them with a warning of judgement. Judgement that is not just coming, but already here.
So, what do we do with this? Remember the big idea is that:
We must rely on Jesus, not ourselves.
This section shows us what happens when the love of money is allowed to grow. Greed, selfishness, pride are the causes of all sorts of evil in this world. Let’s check our hearts! Perhaps you are someone in a position of authority, power, or wealth. Use this for the good of others. Take care of those in your care. Your wealth was not given to you so you could be comfy. You have great power to do good, or evil. Choose to submit to the God who gave you what you have. Honor Him in how you use these resources.
Church, be careful not to allow the love of money to enter, dragging us away from Christ. When we are reliant on ourselves, or our own worldly wealth, we bring upon ourselves trouble, and judgement.
We must rely on Jesus. James has addressed several times the folly of allowing pride or riches to sit on the throne of our hearts. Do not be deceived, loving wealth and practicing greed only leads to judgement. Relying on and serving Jesus leads to life and hope. Choose life, and let God - not wealth - be the center of your pursuits.
Life with Jesus 5 7-11
Life with Jesus 5 7-11
Now for a question: How do you rely on Jesus? Particularly in the hard times? I think perhaps more than any others, it’s the challenging times that actually test whether a person is relying on Jesus or on themselves. James takes this on here.
OR “Patience is a virtue…”
So far, we’ve viewed two perspectives of how we ought not to live. Both of these perspectives - focusing on planning and wealth - present us with the consequences of trying to do things sans Jesus.
So, what’s the call instead?
Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives the early and the late rains.
You also, be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand.
James now turns back to the believers, and for the first time in a bit addresses them again as “brothers and sisters.” His encouragement to them is - especially in trial - to be patient. Using the image a farmer waiting for the crops, James helps us understand.
Critical “watering season” would have been the spring rains in September-October, and the late rains in April-May. These were absolutely necessary for growing the crop. And as a farmer must plant and then patiently wait for the crop to grow, so also the Christian must - especially in trial - wait upon the coming of the Lord.
Coming in Greek is parousia. This is a term used to describe the coming of Jesus Christ. Notice James says the coming of the Lord is at hand. Does that mean he figures it’s going to happen quite soon? Not necessarily. The NT is pretty clear that we need to be living with expectancy. Jesus could return at any time, and as Christians we need to live always ready for this! Remember Christ’s words in Rev 22 12:
“Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me, to repay each one for what he has done.
Why does this help us? That is the $1,000,000 question. Why does the Lord’s soon return make a difference in our suffering?
Because, although we are unjustly treated here; Although for many of James’ readers they were the oppressed poor, the Lord of Hosts is coming soon! He will bring justice and repay each for what they have done. “Waiting” is not passive - it’s active! Active trusting in God’s timing and in His promise to bring justice (Cornerstone). The coming of the Lord is at hand - any moment Jesus could come back! So, are you ready?
Salvation call?
James continues with a directive: Don’t argue! Because the Judge is standing at the door. Inasmuch as Christ’s return should bring us joy, we must realize that we are accountable to Him for how we speak. We saw last week that James’s readers were struggling with backbiting and arguing. Perhaps in part because of hard situations. There was certainly some “judging” going on. This pulls us back to last week, when James addressed judging others in James 4:11-12. We didn’t spend much time at all on it, but I’d like to now. This kind of judgment condemned others. Yet it is Christ alone who judges, not us. We do well to live with grace and mercy for others, as we have been shown. When we grumble and turn on others, or condemn them, we actually show contempt for God’s law. All of us need forgiveness, and here in chapter 5 we are reminded that we are accountable to Christ, and will be judged as we have judged.
Perhaps COVID is a good example. People were angry, hurting, scared, and simply not sure of the future. It was a hard time. But what happened inside the church? It became embroiled with conflict. So many people inside the church turned on each other. We argued and fought. Our wicks - already short - burnt to nothing. Instead of a building one another up, so often we tore each other down.
Is this who we are? A people full of infighting and division? I hope not. James says, don’t be that. Exercise some mercy, grace, and love for others! Exercise humility! It’s ok to disagree, but do it well, and don’t tear the other person down in the process. God has shown you great mercy and grace, do likewise.
So instead of infighting and turning on each other, wait patiently - active, trusting patience - for our soon coming King! James again turns to the positive of patience and uses the example of the prophets.
Many of them endured much persecution for God’s sake. They were beaten, killed, one was even thrown in a pit for a while. Elijah ran away into the desert to stave off the attack of the angry queen. Yet they persevered. So we are told:
Behold, we consider those blessed who remained steadfast. You have heard of the steadfastness of Job, and you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful.’
James uses Job as an illustration of unwavering commitment to God in the face of terrible trials. He never renounced God, no matter how bad it got. Our God does not leave us stuck. He will not leave us alone. He is compassionate, merciful.
Friends, there is a blessing in remaining steadfast.
James, 1 - 2 Peter, Jude & Revelation Commentary
God does not call [you] to a simple life of ease but to a good life of service.
Trials will come from outside and inside the church. Do not give up! When we walk through the fire, God does not leave us, even as He allows testing and trial in our lives.
Conclusion
Conclusion
We must rely on Jesus, not ourselves.
James addresses three things: Planning, wealth, and suffering. Firstly he talks about how all of our planning should be reliant on God. Why? Because He is the only One who knows the future. We need to be submitted to Him in all our plans. Moreover, James addresses wealth, and condemns the wicked who are rich and oppressive. James shows what happens when the love of money takes over one’s heart. Far from living relying on Jesus, these people rested on their wealth and greed. Instead, we ought to live as people who - at all times - count our material possessions as God’s! They are a gift from Him so that we might bless others.
Finally, James turns back to the churches he’s writing to and addresses the oppression they are experiencing. His encouragement is to wait with active patience for Jesus’ coming. Rather than infighting and causing divisions, wait for Christ to come back. Why? Because when He does He will both liberate His people and deal with injustice. This is His right, and He will exercise it!
So as we consider James today, how can we practically live out what James is saying?
Here are three ways:
Next time you need to make a big decision, stop and pray. “God, what would you have me do here?” The more we cultivate listening to God’s voice, the better we become at hearing it. So ask God to show you His will. Be ready to crack open your Bible - this is the primary way God speaks. Then listen.
How about wealth? If you have been blessed financially, how are you using that wealth? Do you use it to bless others, or to pad your own life. God has given you what you have so that you can shine a light for Christ. How can you move forward relying and trusting in Christ, and using your resources to build up someone else?
How will you handle the trying times? Church how do we handle the trying times? Do you live relying on Jesus, or do you live relying on yourself? Wait for God’s coming. When you go through the fire, ask God to help you hold onto Him. Ask God to give you strength to persevere.
We must rely on Jesus. We need to involve Him in every area of our lives. From planning, to finances and resources, to all the moments in life especially that test the mettle of our faith. Christ doesn’t let us down, and we are called to place our all before Him and trust Him with every area. Can we be encouraged today to live in this way?
