James - It’s Time to Grow Up Part 2

Part 2

Joke: A small child with a bad cough was taken by her parents to a hospital emergency room. A nurse, examining the child's lungs with a stethoscope, told the child, "I have to see if Barney is in there." "I have Jesus in my heart," the child replied. "Barney is on my underwear.”

Oh to have the faith of a child. We will again talk about mature Christian faith today as we study James 1:12-27

I. Intro

A. Review of James 1:1-12

B. It’s Time to Grow Up!

C. It's time for the body of Christ to grow up. It's great that we are saved. It's great that we are going to heaven.

D. But God wants to do a work in us so that we can live our best lives now and throughout all of eternity.

E. We learned in verses 2-4 that we all want perfection, but don’t want any problems. We want a million dollar solution and a nickel way to get there.

1. The testing of our faith produces endurance

F. We learned in verse 5 to seek God’s wisdom and not our own

1. Remember the model that God gave us in Luke 4:3-13 when Jesus was tempted. He responded with “It is Written”.

2. Do we respond to our problems with the word of God? We should

G. Verses 6-8 we discussed that the faith being discussed here is the trust that thou build in your relationship with God.

1. When you are in the trial, do you truly believe what Gods word says. Instead of worrying and trying to think your way out of a problem, do you have the faith and maturity of a Christian that says "It is written"? Or do you whine and wallow in your situation like the double minded man who is unstable in all his ways?

H. Verses 9-11

1. We discussed that the giant problem you are facing today is nothing in the face of eternity. I asked you to think of a problem you had 5 or 10 years ago that consumed you. Looking back on it, was it really that big or that bad?

2. As we mature as Christians, we learn that only the things that are done for the kingdoms purpose matter in the long term and that God sees us through the bumps in our lives.

II. Read Verses 12-26

English Standard Version Chapter 1

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. 13 Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. 14 But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. 15 Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.

16 Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers. 17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. 18 Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.

Hearing and Doing the Word

19 Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; 20 for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. 21 Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant 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 who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. 24 For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. 25 But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.

26 If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person’s religion is worthless. 27 Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.

III. Verse 12

A. Verse 12 shows us God's promise for seeing our way through the trial His way.

1. So not only does God show us a better way to go through a trial, he rewards us for doing it. How great is God's love!

2. 1 Corinthians 9:25 speaks to this saying And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible. Or the crown of life

IV. Verse 13

A. Again return to our model from earlier in the chapter. Who tempted Jesus in the wilderness in Luke 4? It was Satan, not God.

B. I hear people all the time complain about God doing bad things to them.

1. God is good! Read Psalm 136

2. Job 34:10-12 “Therefore, listen to me, you men of understanding. Far be it from God to do wickedness, And from the Almighty to do wrong. “For He pays a man according to his work, And makes [d]him find it according to his way. “Surely, God will not act wickedly, And the Almighty will not pervert justice.

3. God allows bad things to happen because of free will, but he does not do bad things!

V. Verses 14-15

A. Our desire for sin, our sin nature is what removes us from God’s will in our life and keeps us from living our best life.

B. If you want the best life you can possibly have, keep yourself in fellowship with God. Stay rooted in his word, stay rooted in his will.

Do you read his word every day?

Do you set aside time for prayer and to listen for God to speak?

C. We all think we know better and we all have times where we are led astray, but as we grow and mature as Christians, we need to understand that God’s plan and God’s ways are better than our ways.

VI. Verses 16-17

A. Do not be deceived, or translated another way, misled.

B. God does not change.

1. Malachi 3:6 “For I, the Lord, do not change; therefore you, O sons of Jacob, are not consumed.

2. “Are”written in the present. “have not come to an end”

3. God was, God is, God forever will be. No change

C. God was good, God is good, God will forever be good

D. Every good thing comes from God

E. Conversely, every bad thing comes from Satan.

F. The bad, the evil, the temptation. They are not from God. When you identify these things in your life and the times that these temptations come about in your life, that is the time to understand that you need to remove yourself from the situation and return to It is written, it is written, it is written and use the word of God to remove yourself from sin.

VII. Verse 18

A. We are God’s creation and the apple of his eye. God loves us more than we can imagine. God loves you more than you could possibly imagine. He wants the best for us. As Christians he has called us to mature in our faith, so that we may endure trials and temptations and live the life they he wants us to live, which is for him.

1. Colossians 1:10 so that you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God;

a) We find the same message as we find in James. Live our lives for the Lord, mature in our faith, and bear fruit as a mature believer.

2.

VIII.  Verses 19-25

A. Verse 19 - How many of us are better listeners than speakers?

B. Verse 20 - How many of us don’t overreact or react quickly in anger in a situation? Don’t point at your wife…

C. For most of us these skills take time and practice to master. - It takes maturing as a Christian. Dare I say growing up in your faith?

1. How do we master these skills?

2. By reading our bibles daily. Stretching your faith.

3. By using the bible in our responses. Again, does “It is written” come to your mind first before responding?

a) For the mature believer it does

D. Verse 21 tells us to use the word of God to remove the sin in our lives.

1. I look at the world today and see all types of sinful behaviors that are being overlooked. I expect it from the world, but the truth is we a Christians are also doing it in the church.

2. Why? How can this be?

a) I believe it is because many Christians have removed regular daily reading of the bible from our lives.

b) When the truth is not in our lives, what is it replaced with, darkness. And looking at the world around us, we are surrounded by darkness. We need to be filled with the truth.

c) Need an “it is written” for this? Check out 1 Peter 4:3 “For the time past of our life may suffice us to have wrought the will of the Gentiles, when we walked in lasciviousness, lusts, excess of wine, revellings, banquetings, and abominable idolatries:” Need another one? Just read 1 Corinthians 6 “Dare any of you, having a matter against another, go to law before the unjust, and not before the saints? Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? and if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters? Know ye not that we shall judge angels? how much more things that pertain to this life? If then ye have judgments of things pertaining to this life, set them to judge who are least esteemed in the church. I speak to your shame. Is it so, that there is not a wise man among you? no, not one that shall be able to judge between his brethren? But brother goeth to law with brother, and that before the unbelievers. Now therefore there is utterly a fault among you, because ye go to law one with another. Why do ye not rather take wrong? why do ye not rather suffer yourselves to be defrauded? Nay, ye do wrong, and defraud, and that your brethren. Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither…”

(1) Romans 10:17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.

E. Verses 22

1. Once you have filled yourself with the word, the next step is to allow the word to permeate your being, and live the word through your life.

2. Many people hear the word of God, some may even know the word of God, but they do not live the word of God.

a) I think of Matthew 7:23 when I think of these people which says, And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.’

3. Who are you? Verses 23 and 24 use a mirror to describe this person.

4. Allow me to use another analogy. He is like a man who attends church, but when he leaves the church he forgets the person he is.

5. Sadly America is full of these types of Christians.

IX. Verse 25

A. We need more Christians like the ones described in verse 25

1. He intently studies the word of God. He reads it and is sure to understand it.

2. He lives it and lives in it

3. He does it. This Christian lives out what he has learned from God’s word in every part of his life

4. For this the man is blessed.

5. Want to live the best life possible? Live as a mature Christian

X. Verses 26-27

A. We could have an entire message on verse 26 but the hour is late

1. Say what you mean. Live what you say. And and live your life for the Lord.

a) Paul summed this up in I Corinthians 10:31 Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

b) Are the things you say glorifying God?

c) We will talk much more about this in James 3

B. Verse 27

1. This verse can be summed up easily. Live as Christ lived. Matthew 22:37–40 “Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”

2. Did Jesus walk the other way when he saw a homeless person on the street?

a) We do in America

3. When that person who annoys you calls you on the phone, do you see the caller ID and send the call to voicemail? Would Jesus have done that?

4. God loved us, so love one another. That is what a mature Christian would do.

Conclusion:

I. God wants us to be mature Christians. He has called us to be salt and light to the world. When we are calm in the face of adversity, those around us see that. And when someone asks how you can be so calm in a tough situation, what a great time to share the gospel of Jesus Christ.

II. Now is the time to become more mature Christians. It's time to grow up!