Part 5 JAMES, EPISTLE to the Jews.

“STRONG WINDS & SMALL RUDDERS”: The book of James.

James 2:14-17 “What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.”

Title: Strong Winds & Small Rudders - The Epistle of James (Jacob)

PRAY

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(Series Recap: Galatians, Corinthians, Thessalonians, Peter’s, John’s…… Hope youve GOT Something OUT of the series & you’ve seen the way the letters helped the church THEN, but also how they help the church NOW. I pray this series has stirred up your faith to dig a little deeper and knowing some things about these authors, cities, churches and letters YOU’LL be blessed as you study and are FEd by Gods word - Amen?)

WHO LIKES A STRAIGHT TALKER? SOMEONE WHO GIVES IT TO YOU STRAIGHT???? WELL YOUR GONNA LIKE JAMES! OR SHOULD ISAY JACOB

The book of James reminds me a lot of the book of proverbs, Its packed full of wisdom, insight and challenge. … From perseverance to true faith to controlling one’s tongue, submitting to God’s will, and having patience, this EPISTLE aids all of us in living authentically and wisely for Christ. This book is often put at odds with Pauls writing about justfication by faith alone… And We will get to that but this definitely an amazing LETTER written to THE church Early in its FORMATION.

wow! This is an AMAZING EPISTLE for You & I to study.. to absorb… to be challenged by

OK LETS DIG IN:

Key Verses & Key Themes: JAMES

Faith under pressure: The power of Steadfastness in God & Remaining in your place - James will talk about and address the tests and the trials of this life. James 1:2 “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds,”

Faith in Action: Treating People equally - James 2:1 “My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory.” James will head on address the fact that teh church should not show ANY partiality towards the people of this world. And the people who come into the church.

The Power of the toungue: James 3:4-5 “Look at the ships also: though they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs. So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things. How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire!”

Warnings to the Rich: James 5:1-3 “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.”

When was This EPISTLE written? About 40-50 AD.

Who was it written to? Probably some of the earliest Christian’s at the time: mostly likely run out of Jerusalem and were walking out their faith somewhere foreign to them. They were persecuted, they were pressed & they were behaving in a way that didn’t line up to JAMES.

So what about James: Well james was the half brother of Jesus. When he writes this letter he leaves THAT OUT! (i mean if I was the half brother of Jesus - id be telling the whole world, id be instagramming and selling all his stuff on EBay and millking it for ALL its worth! But not james. He leaves that OUT. Why? Because of his humility and his character and his reverence for God and how Holy God is….He was a powerful figure because of his close relationship to Jesus: I want you to think of the close proximity he had to Jesus over his life. His ministry. His observation of his life and then his reflection of life after Jesus resurrection. He wouldyet he (like peter) did not wield it like it was some kind of Authority. What’s amazing tho is these are the final words of James. He was martyred soon after writing this book. We should read james and we should pay close attention to them. Its like when we read John 14,15,16 and we see the final words of Jesus life. The things that he said right before he would die For us. We should pay attention to these words because they were his final encouragements and his final directions and charges to a church that was spread out that as persecuted, confused and seeking COMFORT and DIRECTION.

Takeaways: What did the book of James say to believers THEN.. and what DOES God say through it to US NOW: (three simple handles today)

1.STICK IT OUT / This is the trials that believers face. And if youre in a trial rightnow this is gonna help you - and were going to pray for you at the end.

Testing & perseverance is a big theme for the believer in James writing.

What does testing and facing trials mean for us as believers? And what do we do when they come into our lives? James says that trials provides a work to be done in us that is miraculous - and it means a type of “completion of our faith” and a fruition and a holiness that only sticking it out will achieve.

James jumps right in - James 1:2-4 “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.”

WRITE THIS WORD DOWN: “TELEIOS”

This is what Gods will is for us

τέλειος (teleios). adj. perfect, mature, complete, initiated, fully developed (Who would like some fully developed faith?). Describes something complete, mature believers, and the perfection of God.

>>>>>>>

This is the same words Jesus used in Matthew 5:43-48 ““You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? You therefore must be perfect (Telios), as your heavenly Father is perfect (Telios).”

WE ARE BEING MADE PERFECT SO WE ARE TO ALLOW THIS TO BE PERFECT,… BE TELEIOS ——-SO HOW WE BECOME TELIO’s?

James gives us the insight here in vs 12.

But LET ME ASK YOU SOMETHING: When things are hard in your life -or tough things happens to you…Do you run? When things get hard? Do you look for a way out? Do you stop trusting God when the pressure comes? When trial come our way - WILL YOU RUN OR WILL YOU STAY? When pressure comes….this is when we need to be STAYING. This is when we need to be REMAINING. This is when we need to STAY UNDER THE COVERING OF THE WILL OF GOD FOR OUR LIVES

James continues what he’s talking about & gives us the answer here in the orginnial language when you study it

James 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.”

Remaining —

Steadfast UNDER TRIAL.

This is the WORD : “hypomenō”

LETS GET GREEK FOR A MOMENT

IF YOU WANNA BE TELIOUS YOU ARE GOING TO NEED SOME HYPOMENO!!! (Did you get that).

IF YOU WANNA BE PERFECT. STAY.

STAY UNDER. STAY AND REMAIN - BE WILLING TO STICK WITH GOD & HE WILL MAKE YOU COMPLEYE!vb.; ≡ Str 5278—1. LN 39.20 resist, stand firm by holding one’s ground (Mt 10:22; 24:13; Mk 13:13; 2Ti 2:12; Jas 1:12+; Ro 8:24 v.r.), for another interp, see below; 2. LN 85.57 stay behind, remain longer than (Lk 2:43; Ac 17:14+); 3. LN 68.17 continue, stand firm, endure despite opposition (Jas 1:12+), for another interp, see above; 4. LN 25.175 endure, persevere in spite of difficulty (2Ti 2:10)

Onward to a SOLID… PERFECT completion — And this is the WILL of the BELIEVER.

SO JAMES TELLS THE VERY EARLY CHURCH: STAY AT YOUR POST: KEEP PERSISTING IN YOUR FAITH ITS GOING TO PRODUCE IN YOU A PERFECTION IN THE SIGHT OF GOD.

2.TALK IT OUT / The speech of a believer.

What you say, how you say it and the way you use your toungue matters. Be careful of the power of the

James says the toungue is a small thing but it has the ability to take down the WHOLE THING: Watch the toungue!

James 3:4-8 “Look at the ships also: though they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs. So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things. How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire! And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell. For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by mankind, but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.”

The TOUNGUE can STEER YOUR LIFE - IT CAN TURN THE WHOLE SHIP AROUND.. But here is the warning: The toungue can also run the ship aground! You can LITERALLY destroy your life with what you say to the people around you. How you speak it matters in this WORLD becaause out of the ABUNDANCE OF THE HEART, THE MOUTH SPEAKS:

Luke 6:45 “The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.”

HERE IS WHAT JAMES IS SAYING: What you say matters and you need to be careful to attend to what you say, be careful with what you say. This is where James and Proverbs collide: Check this out!

proverbs 17:28 “Even a fool who keeps silent is considered wise; when he closes his lips, he is deemed intelligent.”

Our speech matters!

The older ive gotten the more ive been amazed that the WAY I saw it matters just as much as WHAT IT is that im saying!

3.WORK IT OUT.

WHY IS IT WHEN THE APOSTLE PAUL SAYS WERE JUSTIFIED BY FAITH ALONE THAT WE ALSO HAVE JAMES SAYING THAT WITHOUT FAITH OUR WORKS ARE DEAD:

WHY IS THAT?

They actually are NOT opposed to each other / But Rather they complement one another:

Write this down: “WHAT I BELIEVE IN MY HEART MAKES ITS WAY TO MY HANDS”

My Faith justifies me, My Works Show that im …… and I have faith (they actually work together in a beautiful tandem way)

Here is a really simple way to say it and I dont mean to be mean but you’ll get it:

IF YOU SAY YOUR A CHRISTIAN THEN ACT LIKE IT.……

And James is saying to the earliest believers, Jewish Christians, People who SAY they ARE FOLLOWERS of THE WAY (JESUS)

If Jesus is LORD: Your Belief should make you work.

IF I BELIEVE IN JESUS THEN ILL ACT LIKE HE IS MY LORD.

WHAT I BELIEVE IN MY HEART MAKES ITS WAY TO MY HANDS

This is the STORY of ALL the PEople we KNOW LOVE AND READ ABOUT IN OUR BIBLES

Noah Believed…. But he built at ark

Abraham believed God… and WENT to a land he didn’t know

David believed God would deliver him from Goliath - but he RAN and Killed him for the people of ISRAEL

Rahab Believed - and did a great work of Faith……

This is the STORY of our FAITH.

When you give, When you share the gospel, when you help someone who needs help, when you go on that missions trip, when you buy groceries for another person……. WHEN YOU DO THESE WORKS. God salvation will WORK THROUGH YOU.

MINISTRY / PRAY: ARE YOU IN A TRIAL?

The outworking of your FAITH is what TELLS the WORLD that YOU Have FAITH.

You and i can Outwork our Faith by what we know in your heart is ACTUALLY HIS WORK.

THIS IS THE TENSION BETWEEN SALVATION IN OUR HEARTS, AND LIVING THAT OUT IN OUR HANDS.

Salvation & Sanctifiation will produce fruit in the life of a believer.

You’ve been saved to live a holy life. But without your expression of that Faith through the works you do for others you faith is meaningless.

THE WAY YOU WALK MATTERS

THE WAY YOU TALK MATTERS

THE WAY YOU ACT MATTERS

IF YOU GET TESTED, REMAIN

TREAT EVERYONE THE SAME

WHEN YOU SPEAK SPEAK SPEAK KNOWING THAT POWEFUL RUDDER CALLED OUR TOUNGUES CAN STEER THE SHIP OF OUR LIVES

Faith & Doubt

Treating people equally

Notes: Thoughts here.

5 Chapters

Faith & perseverance

Sin of Partiality

Right Speech

Dont be like the world

Warnings to people who have riches

Patience in suffering

The prayer of faith.