Patience and Prayer
Notes
Transcript
Therefor!
Therefor!
A most powerful word!
Everything shared until now!
A juxtaposition of “the world”; and “brothers and sisters”
The “Brothers and sisters” passages:
2 Consider it a great joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you experience various trials,
12 Blessed is the one who endures trials, because when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him.
and then
16 Don’t be deceived, my dear brothers and sisters.
17 Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.
18 By his own choice, he gave us birth by the word of truth so that we would be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.
In chapter 1, verse 19, James may have struck a raw nerve … (I know it did for me …)
19 My dear brothers and sisters, understand this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to anger,
This verse held my attention captive for a long time.
Probably, because I am deeply aware of the human inclination
to be slow to listen
quick to talk
and quick to be angry.
Which is the direct opposite of what James says “brothers and sisters” should be like:
19 My dear brothers and sisters, understand this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to anger,
Everyone! (Meaning, all Christians; all “brothers and sisters”!
All Christians, should be different to “the world” (those who are not true believers, as can be seen from the way they talk and act).
That is indicated by verse 20:-
20 for human anger does not accomplish God’s righteousness.
But Christians, in Jesus, have been re-made to stand against human anger!
Human! … anger (Worldly … anger!)
Therefore! (There’s that pesky word again!)
Therefore, having been -remade!
((We know that this is so by coming to terms with James 1:18
18 By his own choice, he gave us birth by the word of truth so that we would be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.
We have been made new (first fruits!), B&S!
dead for sin and death
alive in the risen Christ
and THEREFORE able to … James 1:21:
21 Therefore, ridding yourselves of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent, humbly receive the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.
How????
By humbly … receiving ... the implanted word
“which is able to save your souls!
Being now emboldened by the Holy Spirit, no doubt, James continues in this letter
to point out a few clear and present indicators
of what it looks like,
to be a real Christian (those who have the indwelling word in them):
1 My brothers and sisters, do not show favoritism as you hold on to the faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ.
He drives the point home in verse 5:
5 Listen, my dear brothers and sisters: Didn’t God choose the poor in this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom that he has promised to those who love him?
Now, in quick succession, James adds:
14 What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but does not have works? Can such faith save him?
And then, chapter 3
10 Blessing and cursing come out of the same mouth. My brothers and sisters, these things should not be this way.
This is not the way Christians talk, says James!
And as our words are routinely the audible expression of our thoughts ...
11 Don’t criticize one another, brothers and sisters. Anyone who defames or judges a fellow believer defames and judges the law. If you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge.
Words of lies; defamatory talk; gossip
// not … words of loving admonition; warning; false forgiveness
Then, last week ...
1 Come now, you rich people, weep and wail over the miseries that are coming on you.
Note, not B&S! (The world!)
With their trust in their wealth and their personal success!
who sing out, shout out, “money makes the world go round!”
Please note, B&S - this is the opposite of you … or it should be
if you truly are a Christian!
Not opposite because you are poor
(some loving, humble Christians are very very rich!)!
But, who sin out, and shout out, when called to do so:
“Have your/thine own way, Lord, have Your own way
You are the potter // I am the clay!”
With other words:
It is GOD who makes the world go around // not money!
Money (if you have it) is a blessing - and you will know it; and your life will show it! Rich as you are!
or… it is a curse … because you have made it into an idol
and have, or will, find it to be a false god! Unworthy of your trust!
This morning, as we speak 9 and listen) ((quick to listen … slow to speak))
Denise is in Adelaide; lovingly supporting a friend - whose 21 year old daughter died in a car crash last Sunday!
Hannekie is in hospital, Ivo by her side, recovering from a spine operation
Thys and Susan, are with their children, at peace, looking in awe at the passage of time and remembering God’s faithfulness
And you, friends? - What is foremost in your minds this morning?
I hope it is the words of the song: “Here I am to worship” (read)
The clear and present opposite, I pray, to those who James addresses in James 5!
They, sometimes in similar circumstances
to which Denise and Hannekie, and Thys and Susan find themselves. will wake up and think of ...
Money?
The false peace that some think money can buy?
The worries that come with finding out that money is untrustworthy!
Verse 7!
7 Therefore, brothers and sisters, be patient until the Lord’s coming. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth and is patient with it until it receives the early and the late rains.
exposition vv 8-11
12 Above all, my brothers and sisters, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or with any other oath. But let your “yes” mean “yes,” and your “no” mean “no,” so that you won’t fall under judgment.
I swear! (Self centred!)
And then James ends as if in summary… almost in a sentence … in a word!!
He again holds up a mirror to us
and asks: so …
who are you really?
are you a Christian?
… a brother, a sister?
or are you Rich and independent and self made
What is the sentence James pronounces?
13 Is anyone among you suffering? He should pray. Is anyone cheerful? He should sing praises.
In a word: Pray!
Well?
How is your prayer life?
(Would it be too much to bear to hear: as your prayer life is, so you are!)
Are you?
Praying, when you are suffering?
… and Singing praises when to the Lord, when you are cheerful?
Loved ones,
This little book, James, has changed - and continues to change my life!
Yes, even this late in my life, I am being changed!
And it is most disconcerting!
James turns us back to the Truth!
And it is most confronting! To Ourselves … and to our friends, and even family!)
James shows us what true Christian love and compassion looks like
And it reveals in ourselves, to ourselves ... that we are by nature selfish, ambitious, jealous ...
And it scares one half to death, when you finally see yourself in that mirror!
Will James, continue to change us, then:
19 My brothers and sisters, if any among you strays from the truth, and someone turns him back,
20 let that person know that whoever turns a sinner from the error of his way will save his soul from death and cover a multitude of sins.
May James, by the work of the Holy Spirit, in the love of God
… continue to change us!
Because then we will be ready when the Lord returns - as He surely will!
So … may this new week … bring change in your life in mine!
For the sake of Jesus, who changed us from walking corpses,
to being alive in Christ
and He paid with His life for it!
May our lives reflect that we understand what that means! - Like james clearly did!
Amen