James 1:1-11 theme verse James 1:2-4
The praise and honor and glory be to our heavenly Father who seeks true worshipers who worship Him with the Spirit and truth.
In this twenty first Sunday after the Pentecost, I pray that His grace of the application of all the benefits which Jesus earned for our salvation and also the glorious ministry of the proclamation of His kingdom by the power of the Holy Spirit may be full in our life. Last week, we learned that we also have to share in Jesus’ remaining suffering for the gospel and His church, as Paul dedicated his whole life for the gospel and commanded to Timothy, his spiritual son, to suffer for the gospel as his testament. And this week, through the Epistle of James, we would like to meditate on what the mature Christian life is.
1) Th Epistle of James which is the first epistle among general epistles of the New Testament was written by Jame, the brother of the Lord, to those who scattered not only to Judea and Samaria, but also to Phoenicia, Cyprus and Antioch in Syria due to the persecution in Jerusalem.
2) The context of this Epistle of James was as follows; as described in Acts 8, after the first martyrdom of Stephen, a great persecution arose in the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria. And according to Acts 11:19, they were scattered not only to Samaria, but also to Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch of Syria along the Mediterranean coast, and preached the gospel. However, the lives of those who left Jerusalem were truly impoverished. And when they were facing up with many challenges in life both internally and externally, they showed the characteristics of little children as follows, I mean,
- Impatience in difficulties (1:1-4),
- Talking but not living the truth (2:14ff),
- No control of the tongue (3:1ff),
- Fighting and coveting (4:1ff),
- Pursuing worldly wealth (5:1ff).
3) So, James, who remained in Jerusalem as the first leader of Jerusalme church, wrote this letter around AD 45-48, to encourage believers who were going through trials, after being scattered in Samaria, Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch, and to explain that the wisdom received from God should always bear good fruit, and also to explain God's perspective on wealth and poverty.
4) In response to these challenges, James tries to teach them by using three themes, I mean, the testing theme, the wisdom theme and the wealth theme as you can see in the screen. While repeating them in his letter, sometimes James develops them more or sometimes he merges them together after introducing them in the beginning.
5) First using the testing theme, James tried to teach them that the purpose of testing was to make them being matured spiritually and receiving the crown of life in the end so that James exhorted them to endure testing even with joy. And secondly by the wisdom theme, James exhorted them to ask for wisdom to God in prayer since wisdom could not only make them understand the meaning of their suffering, but also heal their anger and lead them to the life of pure and wise words. And finally, regarding the poverty issue, James exhorted them to care for the poor as their obedience to God’s law since true faith works in love, in other words, in generosity to the poor based on God’s mercy. That’s why James said in 2:15-17 that “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” and then he ended his letter with the exhortation to pray.
6) As summary, James said that since the sufferings in the trials that the Jewish Christians were experiencing finally would make them more mature if they endure it with patience. And the maturity would result in doing good deeds and living a wise life, while caring for the poor are good deeds and a wise life would ultimately lead to purity and peace in their life. But, here the trial in verse 2 and the testing in verse 3 actually use different words in Greek. I mean, the trial in verse 2 is using πειρασμός (peirasmos) in Greek, which means internal temptation or external suffering, and the testing in verse 3 is using δοκίμιον (dokimion), in Greek which means the process of refining silver or gold in fire. Therefore, James intended by these that suffering is a means by which faith, tested in the fires of adversity, can be purified of any dross and thereby strengthened. So he tried to say that endurance is the result of the testing and will achieve τέλειος (teleios) I mean, the maturity of Christians.
7) By the way, James in chapter 4 says that there are three enemies that hinder this spiritual maturity, I mean, the world, the flesh, and the devil. In other words, friendship with the world is the spiritual adultery, in which we are double-minded and which makes us unstable in all things, so he says that such people should not expect to receive anything good from the Lord. And secondly our flesh, which still remains in us even after being born again, tries to tempt us through the lust and greed so that it makes us jealousy, strife, and lie against the truth which makes the Holy Spirit within us grieve. And thirdly, the devil, who is the father of lies, makes us turn away from the truth and also become arrogant. So, James says that if we obey God, oppose the devil, do not be friends with the world, but draw near to God, and humble ourselves before God, God will give us grace and exalt us in due time.
8) And also, in chapter 1, he says the way to spiritual maturity is that first, we must be born again by the word of truth, second, we must discern God's will, third, we must act according to God's will spoken in His word, fourth, we must endure the trials of faith with patience, and then finally we will reach spiritual maturity which is equipped with the patience, wisdom, and humility.
9) And also James who said to ask God if we lack wisdom in todays’ text, in chapter 4, he also exhorted to humbly ask for God’s grace, and in the final conclusion, he exhorted those who are suffering to pray and also when they were sick, he exhorted them to confess their sins to one another and pray for one another so that they might be healed, since every good gift and every perfect gift comes from above, from the Father of lights.
10) And then finally, he ended the letter with his exhortation to be patient and strengthen one’s heart, as the Lord’s coming is near. I think we who are living in the end era have to pay attention to this exhortation also. As Richard Foster said in his book “Celebration of Discipline” that “in contemporary society our Adversary (the devil) majors in three things: noise, hurry, and crowds,” we, Christians, have to be patient and establish our heart not following contemporary people who are impatient and do not endure them. Therefore I pray that all of us here will be able to endure in the midst of the trials and tribulations that challenge us, after receiving wisdom from above, which leads us holy, peaceful, tolerant, gentile, full of mercy, and good fruits, free from prejudice and falsehood, to become mature Christians to overcome the world in this end era with humility before the Lord.
Key Questions as Small Group Activity
Q1 According to today’s text, James says that trials make us endure, being humble and clothing with God’s wisdom so that we can become mature Christians. So after reminding our life whether we are suffering and we endure it with patience, I hope we could share our thought and experience with our team members together to learn few lessons.
Q2 And also in today’s text, James also exhorted his people to pray. I think prayer is also very important to us who live in the end era. So after reflecting our life of prayer, I hope we could share our thought and experience with each other to learn few lessons from each other.
Love you. Thank you. God bless you.
Prayer Note
Dear ( God’s attribute which you found Today ) God!
Thanks for ( something you received through the sermon or even during the week )
Praise, gratitude and glory be to You, Lord!
Today, I realized my sin (pains) that ( the sin God reminded through the sermon ),
please forgive (or heal) me and help me not to repeat ( the sins you recognized ).
I learned that ( something you learned through the sermon )
Please help me to live in that ( learned way of life )
I pray in ( Jesus’ attribute you find ) Jesus’ name. Amen.
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