Single-Hearted Devotion - James 1:1-11

Welcome:

Announcements:

Hymn of Preparation: #

†CALL TO WORSHIP Matthew 11:28–29

Elder Steven Hoffer

Minister: Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

Congregation: Lord Jesus, we come to you. We take your yoke upon us and find rest for our souls.

†PRAYER OF ADORATION AND INVOCATION

†OPENING HYMN OF PRAISE #241

“O God Beyond All Praising”

†CONFESSION OF SIN AND ASSURANCE OF PARDON based on Isaiah 5:15-16; 1 Timothy 1:15; 1 Peter 2:24

Minister: Man is humbled, and each one is brought low, and the eyes of the haughty are brought low. But the Lord of hosts is exalted in justice, and the Holy God shows himself holy in righteousness.

Congregation: Forgive us our sins, O Lord. Forgive us the sins of our youth and the sins of our age, the sins of our hearts and the sins of our hands. Forgive our secret sins and our open sins, our careless sins and our deliberate sins. Forgive the sins we have done to please ourselves, and the sins we have done to please others. Forgive us the sins we know and the sins we know not. Forgive them, O Lord. Forgive them all, through the atoning work of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. Amen.

Minister: Hear the assurance of the gospel: The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.

Congregation: Thanks be to God!

CONTINUAL READING OF SCRIPTURE Ephesians 5 Pastor Austin Prince

Ephesians 5 ESV

1 Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. 2 And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. 3 But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints. 4 Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving. 5 For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. 6 Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. 7 Therefore do not become partners with them; 8 for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light 9 (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true), 10 and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. 11 Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. 12 For it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret. 13 But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible, 14 for anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says, “Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.” 15 Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, 16 making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. 17 Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. 18 And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, 19 addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, 20 giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, 21 submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ. 22 Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. 24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands. 25 Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, 26 that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 27 so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. 28 In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29 For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, 30 because we are members of his body. 31 “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” 32 This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. 33 However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.

THE OFFERING OF TITHES AND OUR GIFTS

“Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.” (Hebrews 13:16, ESV)

PASTORAL PRAYER & THE LORD’S PRAYER

Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.

†HYMN OF PREPARATION #391

“Come, O Come, Thou Quickening Spirit”

SERMON James 1:1-11 // Single-Minded Devotion

PRAYER OF ILLUMINATION

As we now give attention to your word, open our eyes, that we might behold wonderful things from your law through our Lord Jesus Christ.

TEXT: JAMES 1:1-11

James 1:1–11 ESV

1 James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes in the Dispersion: Greetings. 2 Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, 3 for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. 4 And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. 5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. 6 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. 7 For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; 8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways. 9 Let the lowly brother boast in his exaltation, 10 and the rich in his humiliation, because like a flower of the grass he will pass away. 11 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.

AFTER SCRIPTURE:

Teach me your way, O Lord and I will walk in your truth. Give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name.

Introduction: The Tone Is Set by a Servant

James begins this letter in a way that quietly sets the tone for everything that follows. In James 1:1 he introduces himself simply as “a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ.” He does not begin by identifying himself as the brother of Jesus, though he could have. He does not appeal to his influence in the Jerusalem church, though he certainly had it. Instead he calls himself a servant — or more literally, a slave — of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ.

That is not just a humble greeting. It tells us something fundamental about James. He is a man with one master, one allegiance, one controlling center. His life belongs to Christ.

But only a few verses later James introduces another kind of person. In verse 8 he describes “a double-minded man,” a man divided within himself, pulled in competing directions, unstable in all his ways.

Right at the beginning of the letter we are confronted with two kinds of people. There is the servant with one master, and there is the double-minded person with a divided heart.

And the rest of this passage shows us how trials reveal which kind of person we really are.

James writes this letter “to the twelve tribes in the Dispersion.” These are scattered believers, Christians whose lives have been disrupted and unsettled. They are living under pressure. Their circumstances are unstable.

And into that pressure James says something striking. In verse 2 he writes,

“Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds.”

At first hearing that sounds almost jarring. Why is that what he chooses to say to suffering believers?

Because trials do something very important. They reveal the true condition of the heart.

Trials have a way of exposing whether our lives are truly gathered under Christ as our one Master, or whether we are divided within ourselves, pulled by competing loyalties.

In other words, trials do not simply hurt us. That’s not the only things going on in a trial. Trials also uncover us.

They show whether we are single-hearted servants of Christ, or whether we are double-minded people trying to serve more than one master.

And that is the burden of this passage.

Because Christ is our one Master, trials become God’s means of exposing divided hearts and training His people into a more whole, steady, and single-hearted life under Him. The Christian life is not merely imitation of Christ from a distance; it is life lived in union with Him. And the Lord to whom we belong uses trials to form His servants into people whose allegiance is no longer divided.

James shows us this in three movements.

First, trials train us to endure under one Master — the Endurance Test.

Second, trials teach us to seek wisdom from one Master — the Wisdom Test.

And third, trials reveal whether we rest in one Master or in worldly securities — the Security Test.

Underneath all three movements runs the same question:

Will we live as servants of the Lord Jesus Christ with one heart under one Master?

Or will we be exposed as double-minded and unstable in all our ways?

That is what God is doing in trials.

He is teaching His servants to live with one heart under one Master.

We need to ask not only what Christ requires of His servants, but what kind of Master He is. Why would anyone gladly remain under Him? James’s answer is not that the single-minded man is held together by sheer willpower. The single-minded man is being gathered together by the worth of Christ.

I. The Endurance Test — Trials Train Us to Endure Under One Master

James 1:2–4

James begins in James 1:2 by saying, “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds.” The first thing to notice is that James says “when,” not “if.” Trials are not unusual in the Christian life. They are not proof that something has gone wrong. They are not evidence that God has abandoned His people. They are part of the ordinary path of discipleship in a fallen world. And trials come in various kinds: affliction, disappointment, family sorrow, bodily weakness, financial strain, chronic uncertainty, and spiritual heaviness.

Into that reality James says, “Count it all joy.” He is not commanding emotional denial. He is not telling Christians to enjoy pain as pain. He is not saying that mature believers never weep or groan. The key word is “count.” It is a word of reckoning. James is not mainly telling us what emotion to manufacture. He is telling them how to interpret their trials. Christian joy in suffering is not superficial cheerfulness. It is not a forced smile and pretending in real grief that ‘this is fun.’ It is the settled confidence that because we belong to Christ, this, too, will not be wasted.

The trial is not sovereign. Christ is sovereign. Trial is not the master—Christ is.

We need to remember what kind of Master He is. He is not indifferent. He is the crucified and risen Lord who loved His people and gave Himself for them. He is gentle where we are bruised. The Christian does not endure trial by gritting his teeth before an impersonal authority. He endures by remembering that he belongs to a Master whose heart is good. The issue is not merely, “Will I stay under authority?” but, “Will I remain under the care of this good and glorious Master?”

James is calling us to interpret suffering through the lordship of Christ. The deepest question in every trial is not merely whether I can get through this. The deeper question is whether I will remain under Christ’s rule.

That is why James continues in James 1:3, “For you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.” The trial is the outward pressure. The testing is what happens to faith under that pressure. And what God produces through that testing is steadfastness. That word speaks of endurance, perseverance, staying power. Yet we need to say carefully what steadfastness is.

This steadfastness is not a natural toughness. In James, steadfastness is this: when the Master’s path becomes painful, faith does not go looking for another master.

That is what trials expose. In suffering, the heart wants relief, and often it wants relief on its own terms. It wants escape and clarity – some measure of control and quick deliverance. And when those things are withheld, we are tempted to reach elsewhere through self-protection, cynicism, numbing habits. Because the divided heart wants Christ as Savior, but not always Christ as Master. It wants comfort without submission, relief without dependence or obedience.

But James tells us that the testing of faith produces steadfastness. In other words, under the pressure of trial, Christ is teaching His servants to remain under His rule. That is where peace is. Peace is not found in getting our preferred outcome as quickly as possible. Peace is found in belonging to the steady reign of Christ.

And that is why anyone would remain under Him in suffering: because He is a faithful Master. He is not only sovereign over the trial; He is faithful in the trial. He does not send His servants into pain and then watch from a distance. He walks with them. He upholds them. He intercedes for them. The single-minded believer is not saying, “I am strong enough to hold on.” He is saying, “My Master is faithful enough to keep me.” Like Jesus telling Peter to keep his eyes fixed on him as he walks across the stormy water –he can only stay up if his eyes are fixed in the right place.

Then James says in James 1:4, “And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” The word “perfect” does not mean sinless perfection. It means mature, whole—you’ve grown up. James is describing a Christian whose life is being brought together under one ruling center, becoming the opposite of the double-minded man. He is becoming the whole man, the mature man, the single-hearted man.

God is not merely helping us survive trials. He is using trials to form a life increasingly gathered up under Christ. He is teaching His people to belong wholly to Jesus Christ. That is why James can speak of joy. Not because trials are pleasant, but because trials in the hand of Christ are purposeful.

The call here is not simply to hang on. It is to let endurance finish its work. Do not short-circuit the trial through sinful escapes. Do not run to compromise or bitterness. Instead, remain under your Master. Keep praying. Keep obeying Him. Keep repenting. Keep forgiving. Keep worshiping. That ordinary, unglamorous faithfulness is how Christ forms steadfastness in His servants.

II. The Wisdom Test — Trials Teach Us to Seek Wisdom from One Master

James 1:5–8

James then moves naturally from endurance to wisdom. That makes sense because trials do not only hurt us; they also confuse us. In trial we ask not only, “How do I survive this?” but also, “What does obedience look like here? How do I respond faithfully? What am I supposed to do?” That is why James says in James 1:5, “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God.”

This too is mercy. James assumes that in trial we will feel our lack. One of the sanctifying effects of suffering is that it strips away the illusion of self-sufficiency. Trials show us how little we see and how little we understand. They humble us. They teach us that we do not instinctively know how to suffer well. So what should we do? We should ask God.

Wisdom here is not mere intelligence. It is the God-given ability to see our circumstances truthfully and to walk in obedient fidelity to Christ within them. It is the skill of living faithfully under God. James says that if any of us lacks this wisdom, and of course we do, we should ask God, “who gives generously to all without reproach.”

This is not a verse to be understood without its context. It’s not about asking which color sweater to buy, though we can ask God about anything in prayer This verse is about asking for wisdom in a trial. The promise here is that God gives wisdom for suffering.

James wants suffering believers to remember what God is like. He is the giving God. He is not reluctant. He is not irritated by needy children. He does not shame us for coming again and again with our lack. He gives generously and without reproach. When a believer in trial comes and says, “Lord, I do not know what to do. I do not know how to think. I do not know how to obey as I ought,” God does not despise that prayer. He welcomes it.

And we know the giving heart of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Our Master is not merely one who issues commands from afar; He is one who came near to us, took on flesh, bore our griefs, and laid down His life for His servants. He does not only tell us the right road; He is Himself the wisdom of God and the shepherd who leads His people in it. So when James tells us to ask in faith, he is not telling us to approach a reluctant God and hope for a favorable answer. He is telling us to come to a generous Lord, a Master so full of wisdom that He never misleads His people, and so full of mercy that He does not despise them when they come needy, confused, and afraid. Why would we look in two directions when such a Master bids us come?

And our confidence is deeper still because the Father has already given His Son. If He has given Christ, He is not suddenly ungenerous with wisdom. Catholic posture would teach you to come with doubt and insecurity as a way to show your humility and piety. But we must pay attention to how the scripture teach us to approach God in prayer. We must come to Him confidently, knowing who He is and our access to Him in Christ. Come boldly.

But then James gives a warning in James 1:6–8. He says, “But let him ask in faith, with no doubting.” He goes on to say that the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind, and that such a person is “a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.” James is not rebuking every trembling believer. He is not condemning the bruised Christian who comes through tears. He is addressing divided allegiance.

He asks God for wisdom, but he does not come with a heart yielded to God’s rule. He wants God’s counsel as one option among many. He wants heaven’s wisdom while reserving the right to follow the world’s wisdom if it seems more attractive. He wants direction from God without surrender to God. That is why James calls him double-minded. He wants God and something else. God and control. God and self-rule. God and worldly security.

James says that such a man is unstable in all his ways. Of course he is. If Christ is not your one Master, then trial will toss you in every direction. If obedience is negotiable, then every hard providence becomes an occasion for drifting. If God’s wisdom is just one voice among many, then the heart will be governed by whichever voice feels strongest in the moment.

But the single-hearted believer is different. He is not the one who feels no pressure. He is the one who, in the midst of pressure, knows where to go. He goes to God, not merely because God has better information, but because God is his Lord. He asks as a servant seeking direction from his Master.

How can we know that we are asking in faith? One very helpful way is to learn to pray the Scriptures. We have promises from God that we can turn into prayers. When we know His promises, we learn what God is doing in our trials. We learn from His Word what we could never figure out on our own.

So the question in trial is not merely whether I need wisdom. Of course I do. The deeper question is from whom I will receive my direction, whose voice will govern me, and whether I will come to God with a whole heart prepared to obey. That is what Christ is exposing in trial. He is teaching His people to stop looking in two directions at once.

Go to the Master in trial. This is the wisdom test.

III. The Security Test — Trials Reveal Whether We Rest in One Master or in Worldly Securities

James 1:9–11

Some teachers divide this section as though the subject has shifted. But we should not see it that way. James 1:9–11 is a concrete example of what divided-heartedness looks like in real life. Up to this point one could hear the passage somewhat abstractly: whole versus divided, steadfast versus unstable, faith versus doubting. But now James grounds the matter in lived experience. He says, “Let the lowly brother boast in his exaltation, and the rich in his humiliation,” and then he explains that earthly beauty and prosperity pass away. Here James shows us that trials expose where we look for identity and security.

Some believers are tested by poverty. Others are tested by prosperity. Both are trials. Both expose the heart. Both can become arenas of divided allegiance. The lowly brother is the believer in humble circumstances, easily tempted to think that low circumstances mean low worth. And James says, “boast in his exaltation.” That’s because the lowly believer must not interpret himself by earthly condition alone. He must interpret himself by his relationship to Christ.

The world says that significance is measured by what you possess, what you can afford, where you live, and how impressive you appear. James is saying here that if you belong to Christ, your life is not defined by that present humiliation. You must boast in the exaltation that is yours in Christ. You are united to the risen Lord and mere circumstances are not ultimate. That is single-mindedness. It is learning not to read your entire identity primarily through your lack, but through your belonging to Jesus Christ. Haven’t we all subtly had the thought that if only our circumstances would change (got that job, received the promotion, got married, got into that school), then we would have the peace that we dream of.

Then James turns to the rich and says that the rich man is to boast in his humiliation. Why? Because wealth is spiritually dangerous. Wealth can tell the heart that it is secure, insulated, in control, and significant. It offers itself as an alternate lord. It can promise security without the need for trust, comfort without dependence, identity without Christ, and power without prayer. That is why James says the rich believer must learn to boast in humiliation. He must learn to rejoice in every providence by which God teaches him that riches cannot save him, cannot stabilize him, and cannot make him whole.

James gives the image in James 1:10–11 of grass and flowers under the scorching heat of the sun. The flower is beautiful for a moment. Then the sun rises, the heat comes, the grass withers, the flower falls, and its beauty perishes. So also, James says, the rich man fades away in the midst of his pursuits. That phrase “in the midst” is especially striking. James is not merely saying that wealth disappears eventually. He is saying that a man can spend his whole life building, planning, achieving, and pursuing, and still be moving toward fading. An entire life can be spent chasing what cannot last.

That is the point. Riches are not stable. Status is not stable. Beauty is not stable. Human strength is not stable. Only Christ is stable.

And what a stability this is. Christ is not stable in the cold sense that a stone is stable. He is the living, reigning, unchanging Lord who does not fade, does not wither, does not fluctuate, and does not fail. He is the same yesterday and today and forever. He does not wilt in the heat. His promises do not collapse under pressure. So the call of this passage is not merely, “Stop loving the world.” It is, “See how much more solid, more lasting, more glorious Christ is than everything you are tempted to build your identity upon.” The single-minded man is not simply a man who has denied himself lesser loves. He is a man who has found in Christ a better treasure.

The Unifying Thread: One Passage, One Burden

James is not giving us three disconnected pieces of advice. He is describing one Christian life under pressure. Trials test whether Christ truly is our Master. They train us to endure under Him, teach us to seek wisdom from Him, and force us to measure life by Him rather than by the world’s standards.

Conclusion: The Only Truly Whole Man

At this point James has exposed all of us. Who among us is not divided? Who among us has not confessed Christ as Lord and yet, under pressure, reached for other masters? Who among us has not wanted relief without obedience, wisdom without surrender, security without dependence, comfort without trust, or status without humility? James is showing us what trials reveal. And that means that if this passage were only a demand to be steadfast, wise, unwavering, undivided, and whole, it would crush us.

By nature we are not whole. By nature we are divided. We want to trust God, yet we still want control. We want Christ, yet we still crave the world’s securities. We want obedience, yet we still make bargains with sin.

So our hope cannot finally be in becoming single-minded by our own effort. Our hope is in Jesus Christ, the only truly whole man. He is the true servant. He is the truly steadfast man. He is the one who remained undivided in perfect obedience to His Father. Where we are divided, Christ was faithful. Where we seek escape, Christ endured. Where we grasp for status, Christ humbled Himself. Where we waver under trial, Christ set His face toward the cross. Where we fail in wisdom, Christ has become wisdom for us from God.

At the cross Jesus entered the ultimate trial. He endured judgment for double-minded people. He bore the guilt of divided hearts. He died for servants who have not served their Master faithfully. And He rose again to secure not only our forgiveness, but our final wholeness.

In Christ, your divided heart is forgiven. In Christ, your standing is secure. In Christ, your trial is not wasted. In Christ, you are not abandoned in the testing. In Christ, you are being remade. The same Savior who justifies His people also forms them. He does not merely pardon instability. He patiently, faithfully, lovingly trains His people into steadfastness. He uses trials not to destroy His servants, but to make them more wholly His.

And this is why the Christian life is not finally an exercise in self-conquest. It is the Spirit’s work of fastening our hearts more firmly to a lovely Christ. He is worthy of endurance because He Himself endured for us. He is worthy of trust because He is never false. He is worthy of obedience because His wisdom is perfect. He is worthy of losing worldly securities because in Him we lose nothing that we were made to keep. The call to be single-minded is not a call to admire our own devotion. It is a call to behold the beauty of the Master until rival loyalties begin to lose their charm.

So when trials come, count it joy, because Christ is producing endurance. Ask for wisdom, because God gives generously. Rest in Christ, not in circumstance, wealth, or status. And live as what James calls himself at the beginning of this letter: a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ.

†PSALM OF RESPONSE #121A

“I Lift My Eyes Up to the Hills”

THE MINISTRY OF THE LORD’S SUPPER

Minister: Lift up your hearts!

Congregation: We lift them up to the Lord.

Minister: Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.

Congregation: It is right for us to give thanks and praise!

CONFESSION OF FAITH Heidelberg Catechism, Q&A’s 32, 34

Each week we gather to confess that our faith is in Jesus Christ. The creeds and confessions are careful, clear, and deeply articulate. We return to them again and again because they call us back to a truth Scripture presses upon us: broad is the way that leads to destruction, but narrow is the path that leads to life. Christ Himself is that narrow way, and there is salvation in no other name but the name of Jesus.

That narrow path does not mean it is a path devoid of love. We would never say that the one and only medicine that can cure a fatal illness is oppressive or divisive. We would rejoice that hope had been given. In the same way, the broad road, with all its promises and propaganda of love and freedom, is the path of destruction, while the narrow path of Christ is a crimson road paved by the blood of love. Today, we confess again our one and only hope.

Minister: Christians, confess your faith in Christ!

Congregation: I am called Christian because by faith I am a member of Christ and so share in His anointing. I am anointed to confess His name, to present myself to Him as a living sacrifice of thanks, to strive with a good conscience against sin and the devil in this life, and afterward to reign with Christ over all creation for all eternity.

We call Him ‘our Lord’ because - not with gold or silver, but with His precious blood He has set us free from sin and from the tyranny of the devil, and has bought us, body and soul, to be His very own.

INVITATION TO THE LORD’S TABLE

This table is for those who know they are not whole in themselves, but who rest in Christ, the only truly whole man. Trials expose our divided hearts, but this supper sets before us a faithful Master who gave Himself for us and who is making His people whole. Come trusting not your grip on Christ, but Christ’s grip on you. He is the faithful Master who gave Himself for us, the generous Master who welcomes needy sinners, and the unchanging Master who holds His people fast.

This meal is for those who are sorry for their sin and hate it. This table welcomes all who belong to Christ through repentance, faith, baptism, and continuing union with his Church. If you do not repent of your sin, you must not come. If you do not believe you have sinned, you must not come. But if you know your sin, and confess it, he is faithful and just to forgive and to cleanse you from all unrighteousness and this table is for you. Come, touch, taste and see the faithfulness of God.

PRAYER

DISTRIBUTION OF THE ELEMENTS

After elements are distributed read the WOI while congregation is partaking.

WORDS OF INSTITUTION AND SHARING OF THE LORD’S SUPPER

Minister: The Lord Jesus, on the night when he was betrayed, took bread,

and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said,

"This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me."

In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying,

"This cup is the new covenant in my blood.

Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me."

†OUR RESPONSE #567

Praise God from whom all blessings flow;

Praise him, all creatures here below;

Praise him above, ye heavenly host;

Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen.

†BENEDICTION: GOD’S BLESSING FOR HIS PEOPLE

The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in the knowledge and love of God and of God’s son, Jesus Christ our Lord; and the blessing of God almighty, the father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit remain with you always. Phil. 4:7.

Grace Notes Reflection:

James opens by calling himself a servant and soon warns us about being double-minded. That is the issue: is Christ truly Lord to us, or only part of what holds us up? Trials expose the answer. They tear at our false supports and teach us to put the full weight of faith on Christ alone. What looks like loss is often mercy, because in the shaking we find that Christ is nearer, more generous, and more sufficient than we knew. The double-minded man wants Christ and backup plans. James calls us instead to a whole-hearted life in which Christ is not part of our stability, but the whole of it.