James - 1:1-18 - 1/11/2025

Introduction

Hopefully over our few week winter break you all continued to attend church like normal on Sundays.

I know a few weeks off from youth can seem like a bummer, but I also like the break because it gives families an opportunity to be in worship together.

If you have been here, you know that last Sunday, our Senior Pastor, Bill Clark, began a new series going verse by verse through the book of James.

We don’t often cover the same topics or follow a series from adult service in youth, but I love the book of James and felt like we would be missing a great opportunity to be in this book with our whole church family.

I hope that as we study James down here and your parents study it upstairs, it opens doors to talk about scripture together in a way that maybe your family doesn’t often do!

Because of this, I am going to be putting a couple questions a week on our social media for you and your family to talk about after church on Sunday!

If you don’t already get to talk about the Bible with your family often, I hope this practice will open your eyes to the importance of talking about your faith with your family. It might even set it as a habit that you continue not only with your family now, but as you get older and have your own families.

Alright, we are about to jump into our first passage of this series. Because Bill started last week, we are going to read verses 1-4 like he did last week as well as verses 5-18 which he is leading our church through today. Which means we have 18 verses to cover today which will be the longest passage we cover in one Sunday.

Because of that, I am going to try to be really quick and do less teaching today than I might do some Sundays, so that you all have time to really dive in once we go to groups.

Text/Exposition

James 1:1–4 ESV

James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes in the Dispersion: Greetings. Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

Verse 1 - James, the oldest brother of Jesus. Not older than Jesus, but the oldest of Jesus’ younger brothers.

However, James doesn’t take this opportunity to say he is the brother of Jesus. Because there is a more important title for believers. A servant of God and the Lord Jesus Christ.

He is writing to a broadly Jewish audience but not a specific group of Jewish people.

Verses 2-4 - Here we get the first teaching from James. I am just going to read that again for us and let you all discuss the importance of it in your groups.

One thing that is really cool about James is that it is believed he is really inspired by the book of proverbs, which means there are a lot of nuggets of wisdom, challenge, and practical living advice in this book.

So sometimes, we can just head to groups, reread a text and talk about it without me having to spend too much time on it.

Because of the writing style of James, there are a lot of often quoted verses in the book of James. Just in what we are reading today I can say there are at least 8 I hear people refer to often. That’s almost half of our reading.

One of these is our next set of verses:

James 1:5–8 ESV

If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. But let him ask in faith, with no 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.

Verses 5-8 - We go to God as our source of wisdom. God gives His people His wisdom generously.

That is a big deal. The older I get the more I realize how valuable Godly wisdom is. I read God’s word for wisdom, I pray and ask God for wisdom, I surround myself with older Godly people to share God’s wisdom with me. It is vital.

And our God gives us as His people, His wisdom.

But we are told to ask with faith and without doubt.

Doubt doesn’t disqualify us from being believers, but it isn’t a good thing either. James says that the one who doubts the Lord is double minded and unstable.

I believe the point here is that if we are going to ask God for wisdom, we need to believe He can/will give it to us and that what He says is true and the most wise.

Not that we will take what God has to say and then see if it matches with what we want or like.

R. Kent Hughes says it this way…

James—Faith That Works Wisdom for the Believing (vv. 6-8)

“That man” is a believer. He has received eternal life. He is indwelt by the Spirit. But his doubting, unstable, vacillating life means he will get no wisdom to help handle his troubles. He will not ride his trials onward and upward to spiritual maturity. What a tragic waste!

Alright, let’s continue on to verses 9 through 15.

James 1:9–15 ESV

Let the lowly brother boast in his exaltation, and the rich in his humiliation, because like a flower of the grass he will pass away. For the sun rises with its scorching heat and withers the grass; its flower falls, and its beauty perishes. So also will the rich man fade away in the midst of his pursuits. 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. 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. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.

Verses 9-11 - The lowly brother verse the rich man.

The lowly brother is told to boast in his exaltation. See this lowly man is called a brother. He may not have much or he may be facing hardship, we do not know. But we know he is lowly, but that he is a brother. He is in the family of God and because of that he is exalted. This lowly man is being lifted up high because of his faith in God.

The rich man though. Appears to not be a brother. A man who has things, his height comes from him holding himself up. Chasing his own pursuits. This man will face humiliation as he passes away like a flower scorched by the sun.

The lowly are seated in a high position when placed in the family of God by our sovereign Lord.

Similarly in verses 12-15 - A man who remains steadfast. One who holds fast, is unwavering from the faith. This man will receive the crown of life, eternal life with God.

When do we hold steadfast? Always, but seemingly especially during temptation.

James goes onto say that we will be tempted, but we are not tempted by God. But instead tempted by our own desire. And when we do not hold steadfast, but give into our desires and temptations, then it becomes sin. And the wages of sin is of course death.

Now, our last section of verses for the day…

James 1:16–18 ESV

Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers. 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. Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.

Verses 16-18 - I believe James is saying don’t be deceived by the temptations of our own desires. Because we should know that every good and perfect gift, the things we can and should enjoy come from our heavenly father.

And like we talked about last month. God does not change, there is no variation in the goodness and grace of our God.

Our eternal, good, just, immutable/unchanging God has brought us to Himself through the word, the gospel, the good news of Jesus.

And us as believers become the harvest or the fruit of God’s actions to save us.

Conclusion

WOW - there is a lot there huh. We won’t have that much to cover every week, but I gotta say, I love it.

James is all killer no filler. Just pure truth after truth for us to go through.

And that is exactly what we are about to do.

In your groups, you’ll go through each of those sections of scripture together again answering just a question or two about each one.

The goal is that you leave today knowing more than you did when you came and that God would use that truth to continue to transform your life in a way that only He can.

Let’s pray for that now and then head to groups.

CLOSE IN PRAYER.