The Bible from 30,000 Feet,
soaring through the Scripture from Genesis to Revelation. Turn in your Bibles to the Book
of James, please, five chapters in this short Book of James. Let's pray together. Father, you know the condition
of-- our hearts are weak. You know what we are thinking,
what we've gone through, what anxieties are present. As David said, try me
and know my anxieties. See if there's something in me
that is wicked or displeasing and lead me in the
way everlasting. We make that our opening prayer. We pray, Lord, that you
would use this overview of the Book of James. Some of us know it so well. For some of us, it is
the favorite, or at least one of our favorites. Thank you for his
life and ministry and for using him to
record these words. Speak to us and then
work through us, we pray, in Jesus' name, Amen. Book of James--
my oldest brother is named James, Jim,
Jimmy, depending on who was talking to
him and for what reason they were talking to him. And he, as my
oldest brother, felt that he should be the one to
sound the need for the younger brothers to become mature. So one of his favorite lines
to us, but more to me, was, grow up! He'd say, Skip, grow up. Well, I was growing up. That's just part of life. You can't help but grow up. But I know what
he meant by that. He thought I should
take certain things more seriously than I did. And so his message
was, become more mature in the way you deal
with things and handle things. Grow up. Well, that happens to be the
theme of this Book of James. It's that we would become more
mature believers, that we would grow in the grace and knowledge
of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Those were Peter's words. But that really is a
theme of this book. He wants his
audience to continue to grow in practical ways. A maternity ward is one of
the most exciting places in a hospital because new
life is happening there. And then when that
child comes home, that child starts
growing up and starts taking on certain features,
at first you look at the baby and you think, I don't know
who that baby looks like. But as time goes
on, he or she starts picking up characteristics of
mom, dad, grandpa, uncles, et cetera. And you notice that, and
then even character traits. And one of the
most exciting days is when a child utters
his or her first words. They're usually
indiscernible, though you swear they just spoke your
name or said dada or mama. But even if they say,
lala, it's like, wow! Did you hear that? That is so exciting! And even though it's
not greatly articulated, and even if the
child were to spit up before or after those
meaningless articulations, it's still a great day. However, if that child is
5 or 10 or 25 years old and says dada, now
it's not that exciting because by that mile
marker, you would certainly expect much more maturity than
just an inarticulate mumbling of words. So growth is necessary,
and growth is expected, same with salvation. I love seeing people
come to Christ. We get excited around here
when somebody raises their hand or walks forward, and we
have had all alter calls. And hopefully soon,
when all this is over, we'll be able to do
more and more of that. But as excited as we get about
watching a conversion take place, I wonder why we don't
get more excited about growth, as if, they're saved
now, next, when that is just the beginning. There is so much more
ahead potentially in that person's life, where
that person could become a great tool to be used by God. The discipleship that
takes place, that is what is paramount on the mind of
James when he writes his book. Now, we get into what is
called the general epistles, or what are called
the general epistles. The Book of James, first Peter,
second Peter, first John, second John, third John,
and Jude, those seven books are called general
epistles, general letters, meaning they're not written
to a particular person or a particular church group. They are written to a
general population of people. It was circulated, nonetheless. But it has no address
of group or person, like so many of the other books. What's interesting
about the book of James is that it is not
a doctrinal book. It is a practical book. Now, I'm not saying
doctrine isn't practical. If you know me, you know
I believe that it is. But the way Paul
would generally write is he would be doctrine heavy
at the beginning of his letters, and then he would have a
transitional section, usually a therefore section. And he would take and
apply the doctrine of the previous chapters
and get very practical. James just is practical
all the way through. It's not doctrinal. It's practical. Now, let me underscore
that a little bit. In the Book of
James, Jesus Christ, the name Jesus
only appears twice. And the doctrine of
the cross, the doctrine of the Resurrection-- these
are principle doctrines-- and the doctrine
of the Holy Spirit aren't even mentioned,
only because that's not the intent of the book. The intent of the book is to
take people who already believe that and know that into a place
of living out what they know. So the theme of
the Book of James is that genuine faith
produces genuine proof. Or better put, genuine
faith produces genuine proof of faith. If you have faith, it will show. If you have doctrine,
you'll see it in duty, in what a person
is doing with their lives. So there are a
couple of verses that sum up the entire Book of
James along those lines. Chapter 1, verse 22, look at it. "But be doers of
the word and not hearers only
deceiving yourselves." And then he gives
an illustration. Over in chapter 2, verse
26 is another key verse. "For as the body without
the spirit is dead, so faith without
works is dead also." If you're looking for an
Old Testament book that is like the Book
of James, I suppose it would be the
Book of Proverbs. Proverbs has short, pithy,
punchy, spicy sayings. So does the Book of James. It's just sort of in
your face, in your grill. Here's the truth. Live this out. Do this. And it's highly exhortive, not
much plowing deeper than that. Now, it says, as we begin
James, "a bond servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ." So the author has stated James. Now, the problem we
have is well, James who? Because in the New
Testament, there are four different individuals
by the name of James. The most famous is James
the brother of John, the son of Zebedee. And he was in that
inner circle with Jesus. There was always
Peter, James, and John. So he would be the
most likely candidate. The only problem is, by the
time this book is written, he's dead. We know how he died. Acts, chapter 12 tells us a
persecution arose in the church by Herod Agrippa, I. And he
had James, the brother of John, killed during that time. So that pushes him aside. There's another James
in the New Testament who is an apostle
of Jesus called James the son of
Alphaeus called, in Mark, chapter 15, James the Less. Not because he was
less of a person, but he was less famous
than the first James that I just mentioned. So he is called in Mark
15, James the Less. We don't know much about him. He was an apostle of Jesus. But this doesn't fit
that he wrote that. Well, let's move
on to the third. I don't want to explain
too much because I realize I start getting
into these books, and I start approaching
them like I'm doing my verse by verse through the Bible. And I have to realize I'm doing
a whole book of the Bible, so I don't want to
get bogged down. A third James is James,
the Father of Judas. Now, James, the
father of Judas, was somebody who is known in the
early church in Jerusalem because he's mentioned
in Acts chapter 1. The Judas that was his son
was not Judas Iscariot. He's called Judas, not Iscariot. [LAUGHTER] That's how he appears
in the Book of John. Judas, not Iscariot, because
Judas was a very common name. And it was one of the
disciples of Jesus, not just Judas Iscariot, but
this other guy named Judas. His dad happened
to be named James. But there's a fourth. And the general consensus
is that this fourth person is the one who authored
the Book of James. And that is James,
the brother of Jesus, the half brother of Jesus,
the sibling of Jesus, the oldest half
brother of Jesus. We know from reading
the New Testament, though I didn't know,
growing up in the church that I grew up in. I always thought that Mary
was perpetually a virgin because they told me she
was until I read my Bible and found out, oops,
they were wrong, that Joseph and Mary,
after Jesus was born-- Jesus had a virgin birth. Joseph and Mary had normal
physical relationships and produced a number of
children, brothers, and sisters to Jesus. And they're named, even, the
brothers are, in the gospels. Number one was James,
the oldest half brother, followed by Joseph,
or Joses, depending on which version of
the Bible you read, followed by Judas, not Iscariot
and not the other Judas who's not Iscariot. [LAUGHTER] Let's call him Jude because
that's how his name appears in the Book of Jude. And then finally, Simon,
not Simon Peter-- again, these are common names-- but
a guy by the name of Simon, all half brothers of Jesus,
besides having half sisters. So the author of the Book of
James grew up in the same home with Jesus. Just imagine, if you can,
living with an older brother who's perfect. How annoying would that be? How difficult would that be? How untenable would that be? Something goes wrong. Well, whose fault is it? Well, it's not Jesus. [LAUGHTER] Who didn't take out the trash? Obviously, Jesus wasn't around,
or he would have, right? So this oldest half brother-- and again, I wish I had
more time to explain it. I'm just trusting that you'll
chase these things down on your own. But James is even
recorded as mocking Jesus. His words are recorded. But the short story is that
these half brothers did not believe Jesus was the Messiah,
did not believe in His mission, had no faith in Him at all
until after His Resurrection. After the Resurrection, Jesus
made a special appearance to them. They came to not only
believe, but they came to be part of the early church. James appears in chapter
1 in the upper room in the Book of Acts
with the other apostles. And Mary, the mother of
Jesus, she's there too. But later on, James
becomes the leader in the church at Jerusalem. He becomes the primary leader. So this is that James. And notice he
doesn't say anything except he's a bond servant. So this is interesting. And again, I'm sorry if
I'm plowing too deeply. I'll try to speed
up after this point. Paul will often say Paul, an
apostle and a bond servant. What's interesting is
James, the half brother, and Jude, the half brother of
Jesus, just say bond servant. I've got to commend
them for that. Because if I were writing this
book, I would want to make sure my audience knew
that I was related to Jesus, Skip, a half brother
of the Lord Jesus Christ and a bond servant. But he just goes--
he just leaves that out, because what's
important is that he's a servant of Jesus Christ. He is a bond servant of
God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, "to the 12 tribes
that are diaspora." Have you ever heard that
term before, the diaspora? They're scattered abroad. And they were scattered
abroad because of what happened in the Book
of Acts, chapter 12. I'm just going to read you this. Now, about that time--
this is Acts 12, verse 1. About that time,
"Herod, the King, stretched out his hand to
harass some of the church. And he killed James, the
brother of John, with a sword. And because he saw that
it pleased the Jews, he proceeded further
to seize Peter also." Now, it was during the
days of unleavened bread. So James, the brother
of John, is dead. The church gets scattered
because of persecution. They are all throughout Judea,
all throughout different parts of the world. And James, the half
brother of Jesus, writes this letter to those
dispersed Jewish believers to tell them to hold
fast, basically, grow up. Stick this one out. Grow in Jesus Christ. Don't stop. So he gives this
general epistle to them, to the 12 tribes that
are scattered abroad. "My brethren, count
it all joy when you fall into various trials." Now, I didn't give you
the outline of the book. And I'm not going to
give it to you at first. But I'm going to give it
to you as we go through. There's five chapters. And each chapter has
its own emphasis. And the emphasis of
all five chapters is maturity, growing up. So chapter 1, I would
title it this way, Mature Christians are Robust. They're robust. They don't fold. They don't quit. They don't give up easily. They keep pressing on. They are patient through trials. So he says, "brethren--
my brethren, count it all joy when you fall
into various trials, knowing that the
testing of your faith produces patience,
steadfastness, endurance. But let patience have
its perfect work, that you may be perfect and
complete, lacking nothing." So mature Christians are robust. They're patient through trials. Now, there are two
factors in life that will bring you pressure,
trials and temptations. And they're very different. God allows trials. Trials come because
you're alive. You breathe air. You live in a fallen world. It can come from a
number of places. But trials are allowed by God
and used by God to mature you. Trials are a tool that
God uses to mature you. Temptations don't come
from God, James will say. Temptations are used
by Satan to entrap you. One is to mature you. The other's to entrap you. But if you are patient, even
the temptations that Satan uses or tries to use against
you, God can use for you. The very temptation
can become a trial that God uses to purify
you, because God promised He won't allow you to be
tempted above what you're able but always give you an escape. So the bottom line
is God manages those, and we should be
patient during trials. Now, a word about patience. The trials of your faith
will produce patience. But you need patience
to go through the trial. And so the reason you
go through the trial is to produce more
patience so that when you go through the next
trial you'll have even more. And so it is a cycle. You need it to be
able to handle it. But the only way to get it
is to go through a trial. So when the high-schooler came
to the pastor and said, Pastor, I'm such an impatient person. Pray that God will
give me patience. He said, OK, Father, send this
young man trials, tribulations, heartache, hardship. And the kid said,
wait, a minute, Pastor. Why would you pray that? I prayed for patience. He said, well, Paul said
tribulation works patience. It produces it. That's James' point as well. And look at verse 5, following
on the heels of that. "If any of you lack wisdom--"
I'll put my hand up there. I so often do. "Let him ask of God, who
gives to all liberally, freely, generously,
and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But let him ask in
faith with no doubting. For he who doubts is like a wave
of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man suppose
he will receive anything from the Lord." The asking God for wisdom
is in the context of trials. Of course you can ask
God for wisdom anytime. But I would venture to say
you're going through a trial frequently, probably daily. And so probably you're
asking for patience. When you do, it's
probably because you're going through a difficult time,
and that is the context here. It's asking God for wisdom
while you are facing a trial. For example, God forbid
you lose your job. You have no employment. COVID wiped out your company. Now you're jobless. But your boss let you go
first, and you've always felt your boss
had it out for you or had it in for you, however
you want to look at it. And so you're mad
at your boss now. And you're thinking of ways
to retaliate, get back at him, write him nasty, vapid, stupid
things on Instagram or Twitter. I'm sorry for all
those adjectives. It's just sort of what sums
up the platform, generally. Or you're going to threaten him. Now, that's your flesh. Once you stop and
pray for wisdom-- God, what do you want
to show me through this? That's where this
comes into view. Warren Wiersbe told a great
story when he was a pastor. He had a secretary who got sick. She had a stroke, had to be
admitted to the hospital. Right around the same
time, her husband also was admitted to the
hospital and almost died. And Pastor Wiersbe said to
her when he saw her, he goes, I've been praying
for you through this. And she looked at him and
said, what are you praying? He said, I'm praying
that God will help you. I'm praying that God
will strengthen you. And she said, thank you, Pastor. But would you pray
one more thing? Would you pray that God gives
me the wisdom not to waste this. That's insightful. And that is the thought here. Lord, what is it
you are doing why? Are you allowing this? I don't want to
waste this lesson because I don't want to go
through this lesson again, right? The worst thing in
the world is you get put back a grade because
you didn't graduate well from that grade. And so it's like, I want
to learn the lesson. And let's have graduation. Go down to verse 12, "blessed is
the man who endures temptation. For when he has
been approved, he will receive the crown of
life, which the Lord has promised to those who love Him. Let no one say when he is
tempted, I am tempted by God. For God cannot be
tempted by evil. Nor does He himself
tempt anyone." Do you see those two
factors, those two components of the pressures of life? Trials of life he writes
about in the first part of the chapter. the temptations in life. He says, don't blame
the temptations on God. God can't be tempted, nor
does God tempt anyone. But verse 14, "each one is
tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then when desire has conceived,
it gives birth to sin. And sin, when it is full
grown, brings forth death." Why did James have
to write all that? I think because James
understood human nature. And he understands
that we humans don't like to be responsible
for our own junk, our own mess, our own sin. We like to shift the blame. Well, it's not my fault.
It's somebody else's fault. Or I was born this way. I can't be held responsible. It's the way I was born. I was reading an
article some time ago how that in genetic
research, some scientists have tried to say
that you might have a genetic propensity
for a number of things, including adultery,
including anger. So you might be a
promiscuous person, but it's not your fault.
You were born that way. And so in our culture, we
have elevated the victim to the patron saint of humanity. Oh, you're a victim. Oh, God bless you. Awesome. That's what we all
aspire, to be a victim. So James understood
this about humans. And he says, when you
get tempted, don't you blame this on God. It starts within you. The problem is endemic
to human nature. And you are in a
world that has fallen that takes advantage of that. So chapter 1, mature
Christians are robust. They're patient in trials. And they manage
through temptation. Chapter 2 is mature
Christians are real. Mature Christians are real. That is they practice the truth. They just don't know it. They practice it. They live it. And he gives an example. "My brethren, do
not hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the
Lord of glory, with partiality. For if there should come
into your assembly--" the word assembly, by the
way, is the Greek word "sin-a-go-gay," synagogue. James was Jewish,
writing to the diaspora, dispersed Jewish
believers throughout Judea and other regions. But when they would
gather together, they're gathering-togethers
were called synagogues. So if somebody comes
into your synagogue, "there's a man with gold
rings and fine apparel. And there should also come in
a poor man in filthy clothes. And you pay attention to
the one wearing fine clothes and say to him, you sit
here in a good place. And you say to the poor
man, you stand there, or sit here by my footstool. Have you not shown
partiality among yourselves and become judges
with evil thoughts?" So don't play favorites if
you have these two visitors. Now, I'm going to take
you down to verse 8. "If you really fulfill
the royal law-- according to the scripture,
you shall love your neighbor as yourself-- you do well. But if you show
partiality, you commit sin and are convicted by the
law as transgressors." I like that he calls this the
royal law, not the Mosaic law, not the good law
or standard law. He calls it the royal law. Why is that? Because it's given by a king. And the king has a kingdom. And the king is
saying, in my kingdom, the prevailing law
is the law of love. Jesus said that is what fulfills
all of the commandments. Love God with your heart,
mind, soul, and strength and love your
neighbor as yourself. So its royal law. The king has given that as the
mandate for his kingdom, love. Let love mark the believer. Love marks a mature believer. How do I know if I'm
really growing in Christ? How much do you love? How loving are you? How patient are you in trials? How do you put up
with temptations? And how do you love people? These are very basic,
simple, practical tests, the law of love. Malcolm Muggeridge,
who's an author that I've come to
admire, greatly said the biggest disease,
the biggest epidemic, let's say the biggest
pandemic, just for the sake of modern
times, in our modern culture, and he listed several diseases. He said the biggest problem
aren't those diseases. It's an epidemic of
lovelessness, lack of love, people feeling unwanted,
uncared for, unloved. In the Book of Romans,
Paul said the love of God has been poured
out in our hearts or shed abroad in our hearts, if
you follow the old King James. I like poured out. So God pours out His
love in our hearts. Just think of God with
a big bucket of love. And here you are. And He's just guzzling,
boom, boom, boom, boom, pouring as much love into you. Now you're full of what? Love, which means when
you're around people, no one should be love starved
because you've got so much. Oh, I'm just-- I'm tapped out, man. I got no more love. It's impossible. If God is pouring out
His love in your hearts, you always have
plenty to go around. Oh, but I feel-- no, but let
God do it through you, then. Admit Lord, I need
wisdom in this. I lack wisdom. Help me out here. And allow the Lord to
flow His love through you. If God's love flows in
you, then God's love should flow through you. And when you run out,
He'll pour in more. So that's the royal law. Down to verse 14, "what
does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith
but does not have works? Can faith save him?" Now, if you were to isolate
that last four-letter question, you would have to answer
it in the affirmative. Can faith save him? Yes, faith can save him. But this translation is
not as good as what is I think a better translation. Can that kind of faith save him? So what does it
profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith
but does not have works? He's not proving
it by what he does. Can that kind of faith save him? "If a brother or sister is naked
and destitute of daily food and one says, depart
in peace, be warmed and filled, but don't
give him the things which are needed for the body,
what does it profit? Thus, also, faith by itself,
if it does not have works, is dead." The Book of James has suffered
because of this chapter, these verses over the years. People have not liked it. People have felt, some have
felt that James contradicts Paul, the apostle, in his great
treatise in the Book of Romans, which is salvation by
grace through faith alone. And they see James
as a contradiction to the teachings of Paul. Martin Luther at a difficult
time with the Book of James. He didn't like it because he
was struggling with a theology that when he read this, he
felt like it was going back to his salvation of works. And he called the Epistle of
James, the Epistle of Straw. He didn't like it. There was no meat, no substance
to it, like the Book of Romans. But I submit this is
not a contradiction. This is a complement. He is complementing. He's giving the same truth,
but flipping the coin. Heads, that's Paul. Tails, that's James. Same coin, but
you're approaching it from two different angles. You see, Paul talks
about the root of salvation, which is faith. James talks about the fruit
of salvation, which is works. Now, if you have the root,
you'll have the fruit. If you don't have the root,
you won't have the fruit. And he's saying, if
I can't see no fruit, you ain't got no root. [LAUGHTER] That's James in the NSV,
the New Skip Version. [LAUGHTER] "Can that kind of
faith save him?" So he's not denouncing
salvation by faith, because, well, back in chapter
1, he says in verse 17, "every good gift and every
perfect gift is from above," comes down from God. Verse 18, "of His own
will He brought us forth by the word of truth that we
might be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures." So he acknowledges that
even the gift of salvation is a gift from God. You don't earn it. So when he says, can that
kind of faith save him, he's simply just
saying that real faith has accompanying proof. You're able to see it. So he's giving here, as
he did at the beginning of this chapter, little tests to
see if your faith is authentic. Because you can
have faith in God-- because a lot of people,
I believe in God, man. I believe in Jesus. He's my homey. He's my best friend. He's my-- we're like this. But you can have faith
that's dead faith. You can also have faith
that's demonic faith. The devils believe and tremble. James says you should have not
dead faith, not demonic faith, but dynamic faith, real, active,
powerful, life-changing faith. That's also "faith by itself,
if it does not have works--" root and fruit-- "is dead. You have faith--" or
verse 18, "someone will say you have
faith, and I have works. Show me your faith
without your works. I will show you my
faith by my works. You believe that
there is one God. You do well. Even the demons
believe and tremble." He's saying, big deal. So what? Ooh. You have faith in God. Yay! Next. Because the devil is
doing the same thing. Every demon in hell believes
there's a God in heaven, believes the doctrine
of the Trinity, believes the deity
of Christ, believes all the cardinal
doctrines of the faith. They are not saved. It's not a real, active,
life-changing faith. "But do you want to
know, oh, foolish man, that faith without
works is dead." Simply put, your
response to truth shows your relationship
to the truth. Response reveals relationship. So maturity, that's
the theme of the book. Chapter 1, maturity is-- a mature Christian is robust. Chapter 2, a mature
Christian is real. Chapter 3, a mature
Christian is restrained. What do I mean "restrained?" He watches what he says with his
lips or tweets with his thumbs. "My brethren, let
not many of you become teachers, knowing that
we shall receive a stricter judgment, for we all
stumble in many things. If someone does not
stumble in word, he is a perfect man, able
also to bridle the whole body. Indeed we put bits in horses
mouths that they may obey us. And we turn their whole body. Look also at ships. Although they are so large and
are driven by fierce winds, they are turned by
a very small rudder wherever the pilot desires. Even so, the tongue is a little
member and boasts great things. See how little or see how great
a forest a little fire kindles. And the tongue is a fire,
a world of iniquity. The tongue is so set
among our members that it defiles the whole
body and sets on fire the course of nature and
is set on fire by hell." Wow. Why such a big deal? Well, I think more sins
are committed by our mouths than probably just about any
other part of our bodies. It's so easy to do. It's so effortless. You don't even have
to be intelligent. Usually it reveals a
lack of intelligence. In Proverbs 6, Solomon has
a list of things God hates. Do you ever look at that list? It bears a reminder because as I
read it, three out of the seven things God hates is a
misuse of the human tongue. Six things the Lord hates. Seven are an abomination to Him,
"a proud look, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent
blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that are
swift in running to evil, a false witness who speaks
lies and one who sows discord among the brethren." You will spend a total of
1/5 of your life talking. Some of you will do more. Some will do less. But you will average 1/5
of your life talking. You will generate in
words a 50-page document every single day, or the
equivalent of, in your words. It equals to be about
132 volumes per year of about 200 to 400
pages per volume and over a course of a lifetime,
over 3,000 of those volumes. That's how much you will speak. But notice how easy it is
to sin in this area, how a little fire so is easily set. It's very, very picturesque,
as James puts it. Back in World War II,
there was a poster that was quite famous
in the United States. It showed a boat going
down in the water, and it said, "loose
lips sink ships." It was famous all over Europe,
famous in the United States. And the idea is that
be careful what news you tell to neighbors because
there could be spies that are among us who
are listening to you and will tell powers that
be in other countries. So loose lips sink ships. And James is
basically saying that. Loose lips can destroy lives,
can ruin a person's life. Sort of a humorous tombstone
in England that was found. On the tombstone are
the words inscribed, "beneath this stone,
a lump of clay, lies Arabella Young,
who on the 24th of May began to hold her tongue." You get it? She died on May 24. It took her death
before she could get her tongue under control. OK, James, thanks for that. Verse 7, "for every
kind of beast and bird, of reptile and
creature of the sea is tamed and has been
tamed by mankind. But no man can tame the tongue. It is an unruly, evil
full of deadly poison. With it we bless
our God and Father. And with it we
curse men who have been made in the likeness
or the similitude of God. Out of the same mouth
perceived blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things
ought not to be so. Does a spring send
forth fresh water and bitter from
the same opening? Can a fig tree, my brethren,
bear olives or a grape vine bear figs? Thus, no spring yields
both salt and freshwater. Who is wise and
understanding among you? Let him show by good
conduct that his works are done in meekness of wisdom." The ancient Greeks had a
god by the name of Proteus. And what made Proteus unique
is that he was a shapeshifter. He could change identities. He could be a stone. Then he could be a person. Then he could be a ship. He could just be a
number of things. So the idea is that he could
always escape punishment. You couldn't corner him. The gods couldn't get
a hold of this guy because he always shifted
into something else. Some people are like
that with their mouths. They say one thing
to one other person. But they're very, very
different with another, and it just depends on
what company they have. They're like Proteus. Their tongues shifts
into different forms. I was on the radio one time. And I had a caller
call in and wanted to give me an earful about the
problems in the modern church. And this was a charismatic
Christian who said, the problem with
the Church today is more Christians
don't speak in tongues. And I said, well, I don't
know that that's the biggest problem in the church today. I would say that one of the
biggest problems in the church today is there are a number of
Christians who can't control the tongue they have. [LAUGHTER] It's not that they can't
speak in other tongues. They just need to keep their
tongue tamed, under control. Now, no man can tame
the tongue, James says. The inference is
only God can do it. And so that's the
thrust of this chapter. Mature Christians are
robust, real, and restrained. Number four brings
us to chapter 4. Mature Christians are reserved. Look at how it begins. "Where do wars and fights
come from among you? " He's writing to believers
who have an assembly. They gather together, chapter 2. And he's writing
about wars and fights. The chapter opens
on the battlefield. Wars and fights appear
five times in two versus, so wars, fights,
wars, fights, wars. "Where do wars and fights
come from among you, believers in Christ,
brothers and sisters? Did they not come from
your desires for pleasure that war in your members? You lust and you do not have. You murder and covet
and cannot obtain. You fight in war. You do not have
because you do not ask. You ask, and you do
not receive because you ask amiss that you might spend
it on your own pleasures." Conflict is a fact of life. Am I right? Yes. Conflict is the fact of all
aspects of life, married life. That's why you say vows at the
altar, till death do us part. Come on. Let's make this pact in
front of God and men, but till death do us
part, because there's going to be conflict. I was reading earlier
this afternoon actually that in
medieval Germany, husbands and wives were allowed
to settle disputes physically. So if they had a
disagreement, they'd go outside, and they'd duke
it out, husband or wife. You say, well, that's not fair. The man's stronger. So because of that, there
were certain parameters. The man had to be in a
hole, with one arm tied behind his back. And his wife could have a sack
of stones to pelt him with. And then they would duke
it out, and they would settle their argument that way. Of course, things have changed. We don't quite do that
the same, or we shouldn't. But notice that he says-- he's speaking of believers
not getting along. Let me just give you,
so I can move on-- here's the short
answer to conflict. Proverbs, 15:1, you know it. You know it. Speak it out. A soft answer. You got it. A soft answer turns away wrath. Somebody comes at
you just yelling at you, just talk to them like
this, (QUIETLY) pardon me. Excuse me. Well, I've thought
about that, and/or I'm sorry if you feel that way. You'll just de-escalate. [VOCALIZING DESCENDING SOUND] And police, God
bless them, they're skilled in de-escalation. I've watched some
of our security guys with law enforcement
backgrounds. They're just so good at taking
high-amp situations and just with a soft answer, making
the person just tame. Skill-- it's like,
wow, it's really good. Go down to verse 6,
chapter 4, same theme. "But he gives more grace. Therefore, he says, God resists
the proud but gives grace to the humble." Now, he just said, where
do wars come from, battles? And then look at verse
6, the word resists. That could be translated
literally battles against. God battles against the proud. So where do wars and
fights come from among you? Well, they come from
your own desires. But you want God to
fight against you? So if you're in a battle, and
you want God to be against you, just be a proud person. As soon as you are
proud, God mounts a resistance against you. You want to get God on
your side, humble yourself. Soft answer, humility. You want God as your enemy? And nobody that I know
with a rational mind does. God resists the proud and
gives grace to the humble. "Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil. And he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and He
will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners. And purify your hearts,
you double minded." It was AW Tozer who used to
say, nearness is likeness. Now, it says here,
"draw near to God, and He will draw near to you." Nearness his likeness. He gives an illustration. You could have a husband
sitting on a couch in the living room next to his dog. His wife is 25 feet
away in the kitchen. He is near to his wife, even
though he is in proximity to the dog, because he has
more in common with his wife than he does his dog. So draw close to God. Get in near proximity to God. Nearness his likeness. Draw near to God. He will draw near to you. Verse 10, "humble yourselves
in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up." Verse 13, "come now, you,
who say today or tomorrow. We will go to such and
such a city spend a year, there buy and sell
and make a profit. Whereas you don't know
what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? It is even a vapor that appears
for a time then vanishes away. Instead you ought to
say, if the Lord wills, we shall live and
do this or that. But now you boast." There's the pride again. "You boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil." Pride took Lucifer
out of heaven. Pride took Adam and Eve out
of the Garden of Paradise. Pride took Nebuchadnezzar
out of the Babylonian court. Pride took Haman out
of the Persian court. Pride turns friends
into enemies. Humility is the great
counterbalance to that. You say, well, I
don't feel humble. It'll be hypocrisy
if I humble myself. Do it anyway. Just try it out. Try to speak a soft answer
because what's going to happen is you might not feel
humble right now. But as you humble yourself,
you'll start feeling it as you make a decision to do so. Humility is better
than humiliation. You humble yourself. If you don't humble
yourself, humiliation comes from an outside source. So you take your choice. So mature Christians are robust,
real, restrained, and reserved. In chapter 5, mature
Christians are resigned. That is they are fully resigned,
no matter what comes their way. Conflicts, trials, temptations,
whatever it might be, any kind of trouble,
they're resigned and steadfast and patient. So he returns now in chapter
5 to where he started the book in chapter 1, with the
trials and troubles of life, the pressures of life. If you look at
verse 7, "therefore, be patient, brethren, until
the coming of the Lord." Now, we've been
waiting for the coming of the Lord for 2,000 years. That's being patient. The churches had to be
patient for two millennia. And every generation has
to hear the same message. The Lord is coming. But until He does, be
patient, endure, be steadfast. I believe the Lord
is coming soon. I do. And I could state a
number of reasons why. But have 7 minutes, 28
seconds left, so I won't. [LAUGHTER] Just say, until He does come,
be patient, be steadfast. "See how the farmer waits
for the precious fruit of the earth, waiting patiently
for it until he receives the early and latter rain? You also be patient. Establish your hearts. For the coming of
the Lord is at hand." He likens our experience
to that of a farmer. There's a lot of circumstances
a farmer cannot control. The farmer can't
control the weather. A farmer can
observe the weather, can plan for the weather, can
strategize with the weather, but can't control it. Verse 10, "my brethren,
take the prophets who spoke in the
name of the Lord as an example of
suffering and patience. Indeed, we count them
blessed to endure. You have heard of the
perseverance of Job. And you have seen the
end intended by the Lord, that the Lord is very
compassionate and merciful. But above all, my
brethren, do not swear either by heaven
or earth, with any oath. But let your yes be
yes, no be no lest you fall into judgment." Verse 13, "if any one among
you is suffering--" here's how practical James is. Is there anybody
among you suffering? Some would say, yeah, I am. Yeah, I am. Yeah, I am. What do we do? Let him pray. Practical. Is anyone cheerful? Yeah, I'm cheerful. I'm happy. Let him sing songs. You sing. You guys pray, depending
on the situation. He's just highly pragmatic. Verse 16, "confess
your trespasses one to another and pray for one
another that you may be healed. The effective, fervent
prayer of a righteous man gets a lot done or avails much. Elijah was a man with
a nature like ours. And he prayed earnestly
that it would not rain. And it did not rain on the land
for three years and six months. And he prayed again, and
the heaven gave rain, and the earth
produced its fruit." I challenge you to
go back at some point and count the number of
words in Elijah's prayer in 1 Kings, Chapter 18. Not very many. Could do it in about 20
or 30 seconds, his prayer. Take that very short
prayer compared to the prayer of the prophets
of Baal, which was from morning, the text says, till noon. Four hours they prayed. It didn't work. 20 or 30 seconds he prayed. It worked. Why? It's the fervent, effectual,
or effective prayer of a righteous man, a man in
relationship to the living God gets a lot done. And Elijah, interestingly,
becomes the example for that. Let's close out the book. Look at us. We did it! [LAUGHTER] Verse 19, "brethren,
if anyone among you wanders from the truth and
someone turns him back, let him know that he who
turns a sinner from the error of his way will save
a soul from death and cover a multitude of sins." He was speaking to brothers. He's speaking in the context
of a church assembly. But he acknowledges another
group will be present, and that is professing believers
who are unsaved, unregenerate. They come to church. They're in their assembly. But notice he calls him
in verse 20, "a sinner." That's a New Testament term
for not just everybody who has sinned and fallen
short of the glory of God, but a category of person
as opposed to a saint, one who lives that lifestyle. Let him know that he turns
a sinner from his error. So he is acknowledging there
are unregenerate people, false believers among true. So if somebody makes
a profession of faith but then seems to backslide,
do everything you can. You could say, well, it proves
that they weren't saved. OK, you can look at
it theologically. Or you could look at it
practically and go after them and try to turn them
back and bring them back to a place of real repentance
and acknowledgment of their sin and a faith in Jesus Christ. And if you do that,
you turn a sinner from the error of
his way, and you save a soul from death,
that is spiritual death, and cover a multitude of sins,
because now his sins are atoned for by the blood of the lamb. So the Book of James, mature
Christianity, spiritual growth. As we close, let me
give you a few tidbits about spiritual growth. Number one, spiritual
growth is expected. Spiritual growth should happen. It's the normal course of life. Baby is born. You feed the baby,
You burp the baby. You change the baby's diaper. You don't have to do much. You don't have to take
it to special classes. It's going to grow
into an adult. Growth should happen. Christian growth is expected. It should happen. Discipleship should be a
normal part of our life. Second, spiritual maturity
has nothing to do with age. We would like to think that
there is a correspondence, that the older a person gets, that
the more mature they become, but not necessarily so. Charles Haddon Spurgeon
said, in some churches, you have children
who are 70 years old. Babies, he called them. They're just being
weaned from the bottle. And then you have
mature men and women, who are of a relatively young
age, but mature in other ways, in spiritual ways. So it doesn't have really
anything to do with age. Third, maturity is a
process, not a performance. It takes time. It's not a light switch. It's not like, well, I got
filled with the Holy Ghost last night. Now I'm sanctified,
wholly sanctified. Yeah. Good thought. But it takes a lifetime
to get sanctified. And even when you die, if
you are growing and becoming robust and real all these other
Rs we said tonight, by the time you kick the bucket
and they bury you, they're still room
for you to grow. It's a process. It's not a performance. Number four, and I close
with this, best part, ready? You can grow as
much as you want. As much as you want. It's not like there's
a favored few. Your growth is directly
proportional to your desire. If a person wants to grow
strong, you'd probably say, well, you need the right diet,
and you need exercise, right? It always boils down
to those two things. I don't care what fancy
title you're after and much money you spend
on some fancy diet. It comes down to food
intake and exercise, right? Same in the spiritual life. Diet-- what are you eating? What are you feeding on? What are you reading? What are you meditating on? And exercise-- are you praying? Are you sharing your faith? Are you discipling others? So input and output, you can
grow as much as you want. I close with this story. There is over in Europe
in the Alps, a tombstone, not like the one in England
about Arabella Young. But this is a
tombstone to a guide who died while trying to rescue
a tourist for a noble reason. He died in rescuing
a tourist, a hiker. And what I love is
the epitaph that is written on the tombstone. It has his name. And then it says this,
"he died climbing." He died climbing. He died doing what
he loved to be doing. But he died making
progress, going higher. James was written as
a tribute to those who are climbing, going higher. And James says, no matter where
you're at, keep going higher. Keep growing up. So whether it's James, my
brother, or James, our brother, same message. Skip, grow up. Father, thank you for the
growth that is possible. Thank you for the salvation
that is given as a free gift. Thank you for all the ways you
are committed to our growth through the pressures of
life, the trials of life, even the temptations
that come from Satan that you can co-opt
for your own purpose to strengthen us so that we come
out the other end better for it and able to instruct
others who are going through similar circumstances. Thank you for this
practical Book of James. It has been a companion to so
many of us for so many years. And no matter how
long we've read it, it's always convicting
to read it afresh. Thank you for your
spirit working through it in Jesus' name, Amen. [APPLAUSE] Let's all stand. For more resources,
visit calvarynm.church. Thank you for joining us for
this teaching from The Bible From 30,000 Feet.
