Study of James Pt. 5 - Men's Bible Study by Rick Burgess - Jan. 16, 2019

alright guys welcome in for this week's Bible study and thanks to all of you there here in the room and others that are listening around the country and in some cases even around the world through the technology of podcast and and also on our YouTube channel and and just on our SoundCloud and soon to be omni we'll do a little switch there but I shouldn't affect anybody or if you're some of the people my age in the room that are not with us today but I have to text it to you every week thank you guys thank you guys for being here with us today we are going to finish the book of James today we'll finish in James chapter 5 that'll wrap up the book of James and then next week I think I'm going to go ahead and do the introduction to what we're going to do next because our turnover in here is not all that big man church is coming up on the 27th of January for those you that can be in town that is there's no tickets you have to buy or anything like that at 6 o'clock on the 27th Patrick Nicks will be our speaker he'll be challenging us and then we'll go from that into the next round of Bible studies this Bible study will continue oh like it always has but we will be going into Steve Farrar's book finishing strong we're gonna kind of we've gone through three books of the Bible we're going to go and try to do some application with this very convicting book about what it looks like for us to actually do what needs to be done to actually finish strong and I'll do an introduction to that book coming up next Wednesday and kind of what we're going to be covering and then we'll do man church on the 27th and then after that we'll roll right into that book you can get that book on Amazon if you'd like if you don't want to go to copy the book that's fine I hope Steve 4rs not listening to this because we will walk through that also some things you want to do here among the family I know that the Greg Burgess Lee watches you know we do sell some some of our boxes over here to watch the Bible study and Greg when we when we get a crowd has that Greg is a first-time granddaddy we had a a new Burgess coming to the world on on Friday born in Atlanta Ellis William Burgess 7 pounds 10 ounces and 20 inches long so Greg congratulations a new granddaddy and what a great celebration that was it was so funny to watch this young couple that that look on their face we're combination of joy and fear so it was great to see that listen let's open up into word of Prayer Lord thank you for today Lord be with us as we unpack this this incredibly convicting chapter of the Bible through through James and Lord I pray we take you today and apply it to ourselves Lord that the first thing we always have on our minds when we come into any type any type of Bible study where we unpack your word is how does this apply to me and that we lose the attitude of how is applying to someone else that I wish was here how about we apply to ourselves those of us who are actually here and have the the proper attitude as we're working out our salvation with fear and trembling or maybe we're unsure about our salvation that maybe today we solidify the most important decision that we'll ever make in the name of Jesus we pray amen all right so James is going to wrap it up and he's gonna he's gonna start out to James chapter 5 and he's gonna keep in mind don't lose sight of what the book of James is all about this is James who's pastoring what we would say the the first Christian Church in Jerusalem and so this letter is not written to the Lost now everything of the Bible applies to the loss but but what he's talking about is what's going on in his congregation in this group of believers and if you remember if you were with us last week or you've had a chance to listen to that last week he was unpacking the fact that he said many of you are you're an adulterous people meaning inside this congregation we have people who have declared that you're in the authority of Christ but you are unfaithful to Christ and you've committed spiritual adultery against Christ because of the open sin that's in the church so what you need to do is reconcile yourself back into the authority of Christ and we talked about that and resist the devil meaning to totally submit to Christ must include rejecting his arch enemy as well and we did the very convicting analogy or at least it was for me that if your wife came to you or if you're listening and you are a married woman on some of our our social media platforms if it was your husband and he came back to you and said I'm ready to reconcile so only gonna see this other person every now and then that would not be complete reconciliation if they said I'm gonna stop cheating on you as much that is not reconciliation so so he takes it out well now he wants to first start off in chapter 5 talking about the wealthy people that are there in the church now first of all we have to be crystal clear don't let anybody teach you anything otherwise there's nothing sinful in and of itself about being wealthy and we know that because the Bible teaches us that we know that Abraham was incredibly wealthy and it talks about how he walked with God and how God promised that he would bless the nation's through Abraham and and of course Abraham was justified by faith just like the rest of us but he was extremely wealthy person we know that job was we were talking about job today because James does but we the job's was a man of incredible wealth and it said that he was you know that he was upright he was beyond reproach that he was the example compared to the other people in the end that God took him through testing and then after the testing was done he restored even more wealth to him so there's no indicator of whether someone is lost or someone is in sin based on their wealth what he wants to talk about is how did you get the wealth is that sinful what are you doing with the wealth and do you have a sinful attitude about your wealth and that is where because look we learned this in the dallas willard bible study we did here if you were with us here and he took on a truth some of the some of the most wicked people i've ever encountered are poor and and i've encountered wicked people that are rich and i've encountered wicked people that are somewhere in between because and there are some people that love money more than that i've ever met that don't have any but all they ever care about is somehow getting it playing that laudatory gamblin what this anything they can do to somehow get rich so it's the wealth end of itself is not the problem it's it's how it was acquired and he's gonna talk about some things about what they're doing so listen let's read the first few verses here and we'll unpack this come now you rich weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you look at verse 2 your riches have rotted and your garments are moth-eaten your gold and silver silver have corroded and their corrosion will be evidence against you and will eat your flesh like fire you have laid up treasures in the last days behold the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields which you have kept back by fraud are crying out against you and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of Hosts you have lived on the earth in luxury and self-indulgence don't miss that you have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter you have you have condemned and murdered the righteous person he does not resist you okay so once again James doesn't beat around the bush no it's just not that's not the way God made him he does not go the long way home and so let's unpack some of the first part of what James is addressing is that that he's addressing the rich men in the church and again we've already established riches and of itself were not sinful it's it's how they were using their wealth for selfish purposes and we're persecuting the poor in the process and meant again James not saying it was a sin to be rich and we talked about Abraham and job James is concerned James is concerned about the selfishness of the rich and advised them to weep and to howl so he says all of you that are wealthy in this congregation and he's gonna talk about why you don't need to be so full of yourself because of your wealth what you really should be doing is weeping and howling about the state that you are that we now find you and you really don't have anything to be proud of as a matter of fact you should be ashamed of the way that you are living and then he starts talking about through various verses and I put it down in three categories on the problem with these particular rich people first of all he said you're holding back wages Deuteronomy 24:14 and 15 if you have that or have something with your Bible owner you want to make some notes make that one Deuteronomy 24:14 and 15 here's what God had to say about the very thing that he's talking about he says you shall not oppress a hired servant who is poor in whether he is one of your brothers are one of the sojourners who are in your land within your towns you shall give him his wages on the same day before the Sun sets for he's poor and he's countin on it lest he crowd against you to the Lord and you be guilty of sin this is exactly what James is talking about because he talks about that he says I there's a real problem because in these days God had given definite instructions concerning the labouring men and why he was protecting them from oppressive employers hey there wasn't any unions during this time you know you were pretty much at the mercy of an employer or whoever you're working for so God said if you claim to be one of mine and you're an employer I'm gonna be very specific about the way I expect you to treat the people who are working for you and one thing I don't want you to do is to promise them they're gonna be paid something then you not pay them either at all or in a timely manner don't tell the guy he's got to check on Friday and then he's sitting there all week going telling his wife that he's gonna have money on Friday and all of a sudden you go well I didn't get around to that today I'll pay you I'll try to pay you by Tuesday he said he's not rich like you he was waiting on that check on the day you said to give it to him and what he's really talking about here some of these men were letting people working not paying them at all but they were keeping it for themselves Jeremiah 22 13 woe to the man that build with his house by unrighteousness and his chambers by wrong that uses his neighbor's service without wages and gives him nothing for his work so Jeremiah and if you remember who was Jeremiah talking to God's people and and God loved him he never got the same thing positive and and so you know once again here is James talking to a group of mainly that we do know that there's some Gentiles in this congregation now but he's talking to them these are instructions that God gave us and you're God's people you should know this and he's calling them out he said these rich men were hiring labor promising to pay them a specific amount and they were either not paid on what they said they were pay are they're not paying them at all as a matter of fact if you look at the word in the original Greek that you hear James talked about your your keeping the money back you're holding it back this is where it goes further if you look at the original Greek word I looked at some of the commentary it really meant they weren't just keeping some for themselves or shortchanging them they weren't paying them at all and you know what they say after the guys finished the work what you do about yes I've got what I wanted and you have no recourse against me and so he's saying you guys are coming in here to the church and you guys are wealthy and you're employing people and you're treating them like garbage and you know what you should be weeping and you should be howling and you should be begging God for mercy for the way you're treating the people who work for you and I will tell you I don't know how many people in here have people that work for them there's nothing that makes me sicker then and you see how God's anger burns against these people is for people who claim to be you know Christians and followers of Christ and there's some of the worst employers you'd everyone work for they're constantly that you know constantly trying to keep the employers down they they don't they don't serve those that they're in charge of they're always trying to cheat people out of something they're cheap in general you know that they don't want to pay people a living wage they're always how to shortchange people that work for them and then they roll up go to church on Sundays if there's some great person you know one of the things you want to hear about a man of God if people work for you then the thing you want to hear is that when they work for you they actually see Jesus in you they're not confused when you tell them what church you go to you go to church by the way you treat us and and so that's exactly what James is talking about the next thing you talked about and this kind of goes back to a little bit from before he says if you read on there controlling the courts you know you guys are now the laborers get mad at you and they try to take you before the judge but you've got money so you've already bought the judge you're paying off the courts and this was happening a lot in in Jerusalem at that time and and James was taking this on with his own congregation and one of the things I saw I don't know if you remember the old cartoon it was on a comic strip and I can't matter which one it was and and it was talking one guy's talking to the other guy he says are you familiar with the Golden Rule and he said yes I am whoever has the gold makes the rules and so that's exactly what was going on is anytime somebody rose up and said we got where's our recourse we're going to take this employer before the court with that employer and in the church these men to church that were wealthy they just go pay the judge oh and so he says this was going on too and the courts were very easy to control if you had money and if you look back and you remember we talked about in chapter 4 verse 2 when he's angry what's going on when he talked about you know whenever somebody comes against you he's talked about murder and killing he said really the some of the comforters said James was may been referring to this very thing in chapter 4-2 because if you wanted to destroy somebody you know you go in there pay the right judge oftaking for the judge judge not only would not rule in their favor the judge would put them in jail I mean you could just destroy anybody you wanted to if you had the the court under your control by paying off people and he says so not only were the laborers you know getting mistreated because you're now going and paying the only recourse that they have they got no way to come against you but I Got News for you it's not getting past God you may be paying off the course but you've not paid off the ultimate judge and that is your Creator and that's your father and that's your Lord and that's your Savior you didn't pay them off they see how you're behaving which is why he's saying you should be howling and you should be weeping he also addressed the way that they made their wealth not only did they make it in sinful ways they used it in sinful ways the Bible again does not discourage you know saving or even investing but but it also does condemn hoarding and you can see is there's look again there's nothing wrong with planning nothing wrong with saving we see the Bible telling us why that we should actually save some sort of inheritance to give to our children and we should take care of our family anybody who does take care of their family you know it's worse than a pagan with all this is in the Bible however the Bible says it is a problem though if you're not saving money you're hoarding it meaning you've got enough you've got enough to say and it you're just your despite remember that the the when Jesus talking about the guy who just kept putting all that he had so much stuff he put Storehouse it there was so much it was gonna ruin before he could ever use it that's what he's speaking to you men in this church have so much you're beyond saving it you're hoarding it and there's needs everywhere and you're not using the wealth that God gave you to help anybody you're completely indulging yourself with it no one in here if you look at verse 4 you're keeping others from benefiting from your wealth I've got news for you hey look all of us that have been that have been been given much they think about what the Bible says you know we always try to dumb the Bible down to make it more palatable I used to say that the God said too much is given much is hoped by God's ever going to hope he does something good with it know what the Bible says is too much I to those I've given much much is required not not expected not hoped for required that's the proper interpretation it's required meaning that if I've given you much I expect you to do much with it to advance the kingdom and and I'm not saying that you can't live comfortably I'm not saying you can't take care of your family but I do not I didn't give it to you for you to be a glutton with it and to and to hoard it and and when there's there's because we we are even members of a church those of us in here the member of the same church do y'all realize there shouldn't be one thing not one thing that the church will we live in the amount of wealth we live in there shouldn't be one thing that our church ever brings up that is not meant immediately not one there's more than enough money to meet everything that comes across the church's desk but man sometimes I feel like we're up there begging for it you know it ought to be handled the our church does well I'm not down here but there should never be a need that the churches in the wealthy part of town can't meet not one and you know I remember one time I was certainly fine because you want the youth to get involved but I came here one time we were passing the Hat for a missionary that needed a computer I said for the love of God get the bad computer we're asking the youth to raise that thing to try to find a dollar and put it in this hat how much is a computer give the give the missionary computer my gosh bring it over here how much y'all her computer I mean get it done you know and you know hey he doesn't have he doesn't have any transportation my good can we get him a car how much is it to get a car he didn't want a new one you know wherever he's serving in a third-world country we can find a nice car for 5 grand can we not get him a car you know that's what he's talking about God has given you more than enough to take care of the needs of the people in our community and you're hoarding it for yourself verse 5 he talks about what they were living in luxury certain certainly nothing wrong with having some stuff as long as you have it in the proper place Paul said if you got possessions just have an open hand with them meaning you don't care whether you have them or not it doesn't define you like we said today if you everyone know if your kid is too indulgent and their smartphone and their tablet if you take it away from them they act like you've taken away oxygen you probably want to fix that they probably hang it on too tight if you've got any possession that means that much to you it's a problem any possession nothing wrong with having it but if you care whether you have it or not it's probably a problem if you think you're fulfilled by it I mean how about this it's like Paul talked about Paul said what Philippians he said I've had a lot I've had a little I've had somewhere in between and what I've learned in Christ is be content content wherever I'm at if I have stuff thank you lord if I don't have it thank you Lord you know and remember this and this is something I had learned in my own life because I'd never I you know I did I came up you know very average never I didn't know we didn't have a lot of stuff you know till I got older and said oh so people had stuff I didn't even not only do we not have a lot of stuff I didn't know about who did so I didn't try to compare myself Tina but we all would say and but but what I remember is this and this is important sometimes the very thing that we call a blessing is a distraction it's not blessing at all I tell you what I'm working on right now and and that I can't wait to get there simplifying my life hey yeah I got something else and what comes with that a bunch of a bunch of handles a bunch of hassles you know I'm thankful for it would be disrespectful about it but you know every new thing you got before you know it's gotta be fixed hey something's going on over here if you got down to so-and-so heavens last time you would you know I can remember when life was a lot simpler and I was a lot more effective when it was a lot more simple simpler and I remember we kind of had to make a commitment after we got ahead how about this one we just start doing and having less we certainly are not you know some poppers we're living in a luxurious life and there's nothing wrong with living in luxury compared to the rest of the world everybody in this room's living in luxury I mean the lowest person in this room on the economic scale is living in massive luxury compared to the rest of the world and what he's saying is this there's nothing wrong with with with the living in luxury unless it's a top of luxury that has become wasteful wasteful and gluttonous and everybody talks about and certainly I came in a commission about this about being gluttonous about food and I've struggled with that and finally quit justifying it and dealt with it but you know gluttony goes beyond food it's certainly part of it but it goes beyond that it's wasteful just like we look at say well you're eating so much you're gorging yourself and and there was plenty for everybody else you're just gorging gorging Goergen to the point there's food laying everywhere you had to throw it away nobody remember your mama saying there's people could have used that food well this is the same thing when it talks about the type of luxury these men were living he goes you guys are wealthy and there's certain nothing wrong being wealthy that in and of itself is not sinful but look how gluttonous you are you've taken luxury to a place hey how many cars do you need how many how many houses do you need how many boats do you need how many guns do you need well I need more of those but anyway but but but I mean I was talk about hunting fishing but but but what but what I was well I mean you got it you got to know what the times you living in but but but what I'm saying is this when you get to the point that's you know why are you not content yet why's it always got to be more why is it never enough and he says if that's the attitude it's probably a sinful attitude in the way that you're treating your wealth he goes on to to go beyond that he says remember in Luke 12 v 1215 he said also what you're becoming self-indulgent this stuff's not going to mean anything jesus said in Luke 12:15 he says beware and be on guard against every form of greed for even when one has abandoned I mean has abundance in this life and his life consist of his possessions he says it's not going to mean anything in eternity he said every form of grace that he said he said so not even when one has abundance does his life consist of his possessions Jesus jesus said you can have all the stuff you want to on earth when you die these possessions want to find you at all your life does not consist of your possessions because they're not going to mean anything when you stand before me and I separate the sheep from the goats if you read Matthew 25 he said here's the things I'm gonna be looking for what did you do with it I'm not going to be impressed with your house that won't define you I'm gonna be impressed with what did you do with your house did you host people did you help people that did what did you do with it I'm not gonna be you're not going to impress the King of Kings and the Lord of lords and before Abraham I am we're gonna do - what are you gonna do to impress the beginning and the end nothing you know job got that resume and job felt real silly for a minute to think you know I love when job tries to interrupt him about halfway and God said I'm not finished I'm gonna tell you everything about me who you to grumble against me hey you're not going to impress God what God is going to be impressed with is what did you do with the grace and the mercy and the things I for did you would you do with them did I get a return too much for those who much is given much is required on what I allowed you your platform your vocation your money your things and if you just hoarding them to try to create heaven on earth that is likely a sinful attitude and then James clarifies on what these riches will do and we've hit on that a little bit and verses two and three says there these are gonna vanish Paul wrote this to Timothy instruct those who are rich in this present world not to be conceited or fix hope on the uncertainty of riches that this is Paul writing Timothy said hey one thing you want to cover when I when I hand the Ministry of tuitions you can move my pastors hey in Ephesus I want you to be clear let the rich people know not to get too full of themselves about what they have and for the love of all this good and kind not to fix their hope on the uncertainty of riches because I take it away just like that I mean I think about all the time you do realize that is as quick or as slow as it might have happened it kind of goes into this what I say about when I try to work worried about my physical health you know I found that it is so much easier to to completely go downhill on my weight and on my health and it takes so much longer to try to get ahead of it you know you have things like fractured hips I mean but you know I mean you you I mean it takes such it's a sense a long time of just trying to get this body to come under this but I tell you one thing if you decide to let yourself go it goes away quick and so what he's saying is I know it may have taken you a lot of time and hard work to acquire wealth but you can lose it like that if you don't believe that go go back to just 2008 there are a lot of people that woke up wealthy and went to bed poor when everything's tied up in the market and tied up into real estate and tied up in the housing market I mean it can be gone just like this so what Paul says hey Timothy tell the rich people that better not be where their hope is found the hope better be found in something a little more certain like my promises my covenant my grace my forgiveness and so James lets him know that don't let it to find them because these things are gonna vanish this other thing he talked about he said the misuse of riches will erode character there in verse 3 you know of course we know that Paul also wrote to Timothy about the you know the how money and there it can be the root of all evil the desire for money money isn't evil in and of itself remember like you know this currency is neutral there's nothing evil about currency but what is evil is the love of money and how how'd the desire you'll do anything for money first Timothy 6:10 is where Paul talks about this but this is what James said and we'll finish on riches which I thought was really really good James said that the the the rich the riches they had saved and what they've done is they tried to save it and hoard it because they were scared it or else they were just pride for they were gluttonous they were saving their wealth to help themselves but ironically when he starts talking about the day of judgment James tells them this same wealth that you've worked so hard to keep and you've hoarded for yourself will be used against you on the day of judgment will you don't you done you you basically have hung on to something that's detrimental to you on Judgment Day because Jesus talks about there's nothing wrong with wealthy he said the problem on to the wealthy is they don't think they need me so they really have a hard time most of their lives in their relationship with me now they don't have a hard time in the world because money can buy you out a lot of trouble he said but the problem is their eternity it really kind of gets in the way of them ever written not that not that none can do it we know we mentioned someone who did he said but really they're hanging on to something that's one of the biggest obstacles they can ever have on Judgment Day now keep in mind James tells you pretty quick he says what the day of the Lord is to him all of all of our heroes from the Bible they didn't know any different they thought that Jesus gonna come back for they died he really thought that Jesus could come back at any moment and he says that's reason why y'all need to deal with this right now he said this attitude don't hey don't let the Lord show up and y'all haven't resolved this situation all these things I've talked about concerning you well because if you do the day he arrives the very thing you just had to hang on to and you had to consume to the point of gluttony and luxury beyond something that is reasonable this very thing you couldn't do without it's gonna be used against you and that's something to remember on the return of Christ now now we move on to verse 7 and this is this is the power of patience James 5 7 through 12 be patient therefore brothers and to the coming of the Lord see how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth be patient about it until it receives the earth the early and the late rains you also be patient establish your hearts for the coming of the Lord is at hand again James really was felt strongly that they would see the coming of the Lord do not grumble against one another brothers so that you may not be judged behold the judge is standing at the door and as an example of suffering and patience brothers take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord behold we consider those blessed who remained stead fast you have heard of the steadfastness of job so there's job and you have seen the purpose of the Lord on how the Lord is compassionate and merciful but above all my brothers do not swear either by heaven or by earth about any other oath but let your yes be yes and your no be no that you so you may not fall under condemnation Wow so first of all we see James using the analogy of the farmer and they were all very familiar with that in this culture he and he says you know no crop is gonna appear overnight and I love this I looked at one of the commentaries and it was a nice commentary on this James doesn't say it but it's something to remember those you that have been you know agriculture at all you know this or even if your wife just has a flower garden you know the only thing that grows overnight is what weeds now they do pop up overnight but he said the kind of crop that you're looking for is something you got to be patient about and he says so so these seeds when they go into the ground it takes some time so so so be so be patient about this Jame pictures the Christian as a spiritual farmer looking for a spiritual harvest he said be patient in your hearts I love this here's what James is saying the seed is the word of God and the soil is our hearts and God that seed the Word of God goes as a seed into our heart and then over time God's producing a harvest in our lives but see he's warning us about trying to make this happen overnight with he's really talking about a mountaintop experience you know these are people that you know he talked about when Jesus does his parable he said some of y'all it's gonna be like the you know the sower of the seed you're throwing the seeds out and some of you gonna get really excited but you got no roots you're trying to pull it all together and declare you got it all figured out overnight then y'all fade away and James has given instruction he said really look to the prophets you need to look to them and he said about patience and in verse 10 and he says what an example from the Prophet prophets he said they were in the will of God and they suffered so keep in mind this is a persecuted church in Jerusalem and he's saying you know y'all are waiting for the Lord to come get us you're waiting for the suffering to end you're waiting for the persecution to end but you got to take the mentality of a farmer this isn't going to happen overnight what you need to be thinking about is all the hardships you're having to go to with those seeds that are in the soil you're saying why didn't it rain today now it's rained at the wrong stuff you know if you ever talk to farmers I mean they're at the mercy of the weather and he says it can be very frustrating he said what you have to understand is if you want that seed to be produced and you want a spiritual harvest you're gonna have to be patient and be patient even in your suffering the Lord will deliver us but it's not going to be overnight and he said now look he said look at the prophets and he starts calling things that they knew they were certainly in the will of God they certainly were in the will of God but they suffered greatly because they were they were giving the messages from God to the people that the people didn't want they didn't want to hear they were preaching in the name of the Lord and they were persecuted for doing so 2nd Timothy 3:12 we've talked about that a lot over the 4 years and I want us to dial it in 2nd Timothy 3:12 Paul says to young Timothy everybody anyone who chooses to live a godly life if you say I'm gonna stand with God I'm gonna be under his authority I'm a preach in the name of the Lord I'm not gonna compromise Jesus he said all those people not some will be persecuted if you choose to live a godly life you will be persecuted think about Jeremiah y'all for everything y'all know what I'm gonna do old school guys here say oh here he goes on Jeremiah because I'm gonna tell you something Jeremiah you talk about somebody had to wait on a harvest I mean I've used now G cuz I've had the honor of being part of some been on some boards for a ministry and and you know just like we had the state of the church last Sunday you know when people are tithing our people are giving they want to know how is it going what y'all doing with their money in this fair they shipped up you know you know this so you try to watch show them what it's doing Jeremiah never had any good news none Jeremiah you know we're support your ministry we're all here the board like to hear how it's going tell me how many people have listened to the word of the Lord that b0 I got none so tell me tell me have you won over the local to earn the right to share you don't like the ones who put me in jail who keep beating me and punching me and stoning me is out here you're talking about I've got no success and he even gets to the point where he's put out with he's not seeing the success now think about what Jeremiah didn't know he is being used by God to disciple us for generations now he didn't know that at the time he thought he was supposed to see a turn by these people and he finally gets the ball which is what I'm out I'm out I don't want to talk about you anymore I don't have anymore patience every time I speak of you it doesn't do anything but cause me trouble which uses a sign that you're right be sure it's trouble because you're committed to Christ like I said before not because we're jerks and I think I've been victim of both in all honesty sometimes I think it is because I'm standing for Jesus and other times it's because I didn't handle some well and I'm just a jerk and we want to be sure though it's the word Jesus has been persecuted to us not we're being persecuted because we are not handling it right but anyway in this case Jeremiah did not have my problem Jeremiah was doing it exactly right and he said I'm saying exact what you tell me say the way you said to say it and it's misery for me I I don't even want to talk about you anymore because it didn't do anything to bring me trouble but there's a fire that is shut up in my bones I'm so in sync with you you're such a part of me that I'm all-in but even when I don't want to talk about you it happens anyway because I don't have to set up and pretend I can't even stop it now have you have you and I got to the point in Christ that if we made a decision today I will not talk about Jesus but we do anyway because I Got News for you brothers and sisters who may be listening or watching we do talk about everything we care about uncontrollably yeah you know anybody that has to talk about their kids and I just really had to put a lot of effort into that anybody have talked about your football team anybody have to talk about hunting and fishing golf whatever whatever you really love hopefully your wife if you're married you can't help it I've even tried to really and bragging on my wife so much because I think you make it on peoples nerves I can't stop it because I really think she's that awesome I think she's incredible well I hope I'm the same way about Jesus and that's what James is saying Jeremiah never saw his harvest to what he was in heaven you know now God's saying see now just be patient just do what I said to do and then trust that the harvest is coming and you may not see it not on this side of him and he says so I want you to look to the prophets as our example and then he goes on to bring up the biggie Joe won't look out here comes Jobe verse 11 12 all one of the most disturbing stories in the Bible if we're honest when the most disturbing stories in the Bible there's certainly a lot of hope there but there's a part of God in this that we don't like if we were honest yeah I've even had people try to bypass it well a devil did that to him well you're right but guess who let him god and guess who determined what the devil couldn't couldn't do he limited him Satan even comes back one time says I think I'm too limited can you ease up on me a little bit I want it I want to touch him I want to make him miserable see the first time you couldn't he made Jobe miserable physically he said I've killed his kids which by the way with the weather so be careful about looking for signs and wonders too much because guess who else can do and he says but he had let me put my hand on him he started I'm gonna draw another line you can't kill it he even got got even decided of his own will he said I'm gonna give you a little more rope so you torch him a little more because he's not gonna turn on me and I'm also teaching job that even though that and at the start of the book of Job we see that he is a man that is upright and blessed and upright that was just compared to the other people well God had a tension compared to me though you're still quite sinful you're still quite sinful compared to me now compared to the other people in your and your time here on earth you doing pretty good you member you look awesome but we know that the job had to go and pray for his kids a lot even his kids weren't really behaving you know he was constantly having to go make sacrifices on what it sounds like party and that they were doing and so what Jobe says after he gets the resume from God is is is that I love that when when job is saying you know even though he's slaving I still my hope only in him and he said before I'd heard you with my ears but now I see you and what he's saying is hey Lord thank you he says when he sees him what'd he say he said so I repent and ashes and dust for compared to you how sinful I really am now this is a man that that gets a pretty good act late at the beginning of the chapter but that was just compared to other people what job was shows through his suffering was just how sinful he really still was and how wonderful God was and how merciful and gracious God was even to somebody who was pretty good by earthly standards job but job is an example in Jeremiah's an example of what steadfast even when you wife says why don't you just curse God and die I mean can you imagine I don't like my wife to be against me it disrupts my whole life and that's one things jobs have built with - his wife wasn't with him she was by into these friends and said you've done something wrong you must be hiding something and jokes I'm not had anything but then God said but I just showing you who I am and who you are and you and you've you passed the test 1st Peter chapter 1 verse 6 and 7 you know in this you rejoice that for now for a little while you may have to be grieved by various trials if necessary now don't miss this guys because that's what he's telling the church you need to get this this is big and I and I haven't learned this in a harsh way and the anniversary that's coming up Saturday is sometimes when you're going through something horrible you have to get to the point where you are not afraid to say to the Lord I guess this is necessary to test the genuineness of my faith to refine me so that I can be trusted that I'm faithful or steadfast I won't announce you and I've noticed in the intimacy of this suffering I found you to be more wonderful than all my abundance and affluence ever taught me and this for a little while you rejoice she may be grieved by various trials if necessary so that when we pass the test to test the genius of our faith it results in what the glory of Jesus and James are saying I know we're getting persecuted but don't let it ruin you be patient and continue to be steadfast and glorify the Lord and look to Jobe and the other prophets God humbles Jobe but then he honors Joe God permits statement to test us but he always limits to the extent of the enemy's power so then he goes on in this it's kind of weird in verse 12 why in the world is James throwing in Earth's right here you got us down worse we're quiet in the room James you got us all pondering and all of a sudden you just jump out and you start saying above all my brothers did not swear either by heaven or earth or by any other oath but let your yes be yes and your no be no so that you may not fall into comedy nation well that seems gotta come out of nowhere is Jones some some random James just said oh by the way it's almost like he meant to say it earlier he's like oh I'm wrapping up I will talk to you about Oz for just a minute no let me tell you why it's there I didn't understand this either so I didn't come up with this I started studying some of the commentary and I thought this was beautiful the reason why James is covering this after suffering is when do we make deals with God when we're suffering hey be careful when he's got you down you don't start making all kinds of promises and deals with God you know Lord if you'll just take me out of this I'll never do this again I swear I swear on your name I'll never do this again he says so remember let this build you to your character you know why people that always have to swear it's because they have some kind of reputation that they don't always tell true you can't depend on them so somebody you can't dependent like I know people in this room it's gonna be positive don't panic I know people in this room that if they were going out that door and I said will you go by and and pick that up for me and take it to Sherry and they said yes then it's worth it cuz I know they're gonna do it I know there be some people they would say I'll do it I swear I will which means you usually don't so you had to go to a different level to make me think I can depend on and what he says is true people of God if they say yes it's yes and if they say no it's no and don't get into suffering and start making all kinds of deals and swearing and all this just be obedient to the Lord into subject and if somebody says yes I'm gonna do something they do it and if you say no you don't into subject my people don't need all this other stuff and that was popular in the Jewish culture for them to do all these oats and swearing on their mother and other and you know James say look house cut all that now under the New Covenant the Church of Jesus those of us aren't authority we say yes it's yes we say no it's no that's kind of that's how you live your life is that you does that mean I mean is your word under the authority of Christ people said if he said it it's done now certainly they can be circumstances you didn't count on I'm just talking about you say you're gonna do something how about this okay now if you walk out the door right now look at me and say you're gonna pray for me can I depend on that let me tell you something I know my own weaknesses if you come to me and say I need you to pray for me we're gonna pray right now you know why because I don't want to just innocently forget you know I'm not gonna do that yes sir knowing that that may not be a given I'd like for it to be my bond to say I'm gonna pray for you but I really could get caught up in other things today suddenly get up to more be driving and say oh my gosh that interview is already over I've never prayed about that so if I could give you just a pointer from another fallen man who's working on sanctification but I haven't arrived yet if somebody asks you pray about something and you're standing there just pray for him right then you know but now be the kind of people you know what that yes they know really depends on to him if you're going off on a business trip and your wife is looking at you as you leave and you say I'll be faithful to you I won't watch porn I won't be going to dinner with that person is one of our partners or a salesperson and and when you leave she didn't even worry about it because she lived such a life under the authority of Christ if you said that wasn't gonna happen it won't now if you have to stand on the door and start having to swear are you gonna do it or not do it James says that's usually a flaw with your character why are you making such a fuss about it just do it just be dependable just be honest because those under Christ are then heroes into a prayer of faith let us pray James 5:13 through 20 and I love this and this is this is this is one of the problems honestly it just been on especially the Western Church we're a little bit uncomfortable with but it looks like this is not a new problem because James is talking about in the first Christian Church in Jerusalem and that is what do we do with those who are members of the church but they stray in the sin but he's using an example why don't we just treat the same way we do the sick and the afflicted he says this he says if anyone among you is suffering let him pray is anyone cheerful let him sing praise is anyone among you sick let him call for the elders of the church and let them pray over him anointing him with oil and in the name of the Lord and the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick and the Lord will raise him up and if he committed sins he'll be forgiven therefore confess your sins to one another and pray for one another that you may be healed the prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working Elijah was a man with a nature like ours and he prayed fervently that it may not rain for three years and six months and it didn't rain on the earth but then he turned around he prayed and heaven gave rain and the earth more fruit we all know that story of Elijah my brothers if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins now some people taking this and misused it and some of the health wealth and prosperity stuff they think James just talked about being physically sick and if you get together you'll get the elders and you'll anoint them and you'll pray it if you're true men of faith this person will be healed from the physical sickness certainly that's happened but it don't happen every time I do have good news one of our brothers in here that struggling with cancer the doctors are already kind of shocked that they just ready for the operation to take it out here in the next few days and they went to check how the tumors doing and it's gone you know now now does that mean that he's going to live and it's not be a problem I didn't say that I'm just saying right now doctors went to see if the tumor had been shrunk and they can't find it now they're still gonna go in and there may be stuff they still got to look at and cancerous tissue I'm not declaring some miraculous healing I'm just telling you that the lot of y'all been praying for this guy and he's been praying he's in the authority of the Lord but he would he would praise God's name if they found that the tumor had tripled in size it's not about that but I'm just telling you that's one to put here but this is not really what James is talking about what he's saying is how do we treat sick people here we try to bring them up we all try to pray over them he goes what I'm using this though is an analogy why don't we have that same attitude about our brothers or our sisters who are sick and syn they've wondered from the truth he even talks about this they're here in the congregation and they've wondered from the truth and he's saying we pray for the afflicted in the sick we need to pray for our brothers who wanders he said the sinner here remember this is a church congregation he is not talking about the lost he's talking about that we have people as members of our church that claim to have been reconciled back to God and justified in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and they're living in open sin among the congregation they have wondered from the truth and he says this is actually worse than a lost person why God doesn't expect lost people to act in a way than what lost but we do know that the especially if you look in those letters to the church at Corinth we know in first Corinthians 11:30 now this is doesn't mean these people went to hell but God was so troubled by the confusion and the problem of people in the church congregation living he opened sin he killed them I know a friend of mine who had a daddy who was wild as a buck and he gave his life to Jesus and was reconciling back to his family and died within the first few weeks of that happening and I remember him saying to me he said God knew my daddy pretty well it was better go and kill him now he said because at that time you know he said he said I think God really knew my daddy was gonna have a hard time sticking you know living in this fallen creation in this sinful world but he reconciled itself to God he asked forgiveness of his sin he asked for forgiveness from his family and then God killed it and so in this particular case this has become so erroneous and so detrimental to God's church so we always talked about how the sin that somebody's committing how to fix their family and we should how to fix them and we should but James says don't forget also how to fix the church and sometimes we can be so gracious and wonderful and merciful about this that we're not we're not taking on we need to deal with this if we truly love this person and if we love God's church 1st Corinthians 5 believe they're not dealing with the sky who's living in sin he said this is what he's doing sexually it's so heinous that the pagans don't even do this if what we can gather from what he said that he was basically sleeping with his daddy's new wife like with his stepmom and he said the pagans don't do this and he goes in you're letting this guy just you're thinking I'm paraphrasing but you you think you're being so gracious by letting this guy just remain in the church body hey the church doors are open for the loss please come they're not claiming anything other than we're lost but the church deals differently when people said oh I'm not lost I'm one of the church and they live and open sin I stumbles I'm talking about just defiantly living and open sin and they're like he's come to incident know about this and they don't change hey there's some more people Matthew they think hey I don't know about this and they don't change he says at one point you got to bring it before the church and if they don't repent you guys throw them out and Paul said I'm praying if I could get there I'd throw him out he said but I'm too far away but I'm praying that that Satan that God let Satan have him and that he will take him out of that church body and that he would probably save his life and it also purifies the church money now that doesn't mean we're not gracious it doesn't mean we're not merciful and it doesn't mean we're sanctimonious and self-righteous but there is a moment that we stand on the authority of the church and the authority of Christ and we don't allow people to go out and confuse people by claiming that somehow they're the member of a church body but nothing's been changed about them they live just like the lost world and I'm not talking about lost people neither is the Bible we can certainly apply this to lost people but what he's saying here he says we need to go out and we need to to take care of the sin that is going on in the church and he says if you bring this person back you're actually loving them but you're gonna have to say this sin cannot stand according to Scripture and he said that that is don't let this go on because I'm telling you and and I know you and we've seen it a thousand times if we allow open sin to take place among believers it doesn't mean that I'm not saying that you know I'm not a I'm not a fall from grace guy that somehow their salvation is in jail like ice I believe the people that that God killed in Corinth of all accounts they probably went to heaven he just stopped the damage they were doing there in the church I'm not gonna sit there and say that you know there's some kind of weight that if you have this much ceiling with it I'm not talking about that but the the scriptures and James is talking about we must deal with open sin in the church and we can't allow it just to go on because of our love for Christ in our love for them because goes back to the analogy I gave you and we've talked that meantime about lot ball counts lot is in heaven but the way lot lived his life in Sodom and Gomorrah cost his wife and his son in loss and his daughters greatly you know there were some hope for the daughters but the son in law and the wife and why couldn't they get turned they looked at law and said well he said we're all good did here man ago he said he said we're fine he'd have any credibility when he said the sleeve why did his wife look back because her husband and always that's like Sodom and gomorrah's great so see whether you think your salvation is in jeopardy or not I'm not the judge of that the damage that open sin does for the loss and for the the credibility of the church is enormous and James is saying we we can't take this lightly he says we need to be praying a prayer of faith not just to heal somebody from being physically sick or what to heal him from being spiritually sick we can't allow this to go on inside God's church and he says and anyone who brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and we're cover think about this a multitude of sins I'm thinking about Ezekiel when I think about this I think I could be wrong it may be an 18 I think it is Anna's EQ 18 brazuca saying look he talks about lost people and people they're supposed to be part of at that time the chosen people of God he said if you go to a person who's living a wicked life and you tell them that it's wickedness and you tell them that God offers justification by faith and they don't do it then their Bloods not on your hand it's not that's their decision he said but if they're living in wickedness and you know it and you don't tell them their bloods gonna be on your hand well then you think okay we've sent about lost people that's a big responsibility understood nobody goes further he says and if you see a believer if you see one of us that's living in open sin and you go tell them hey this is a problem and they reject you and that's not only I want to hold that against you he said but if you see it and you don't deal with it i'ma hold you accountable for the damage in this person's life in the damage they caused because you should have said something and if we don't do it for any other reason do it because we're devoted to it to the look through our Lord and to our God and he says so so this is important there's a way to do it don't miss it there's a way to do it but I think sometimes we're so concerned about not coming off the wrong way which that's fine unless you take to the point that you just don't do anything here's an idea don't just not do it concentrate on doing it right and then if that person if you do it exactly the way the Bible says to do it and that person still talks about how mean and evil you are and how sanctimonious and self-righteous you are let it happen but at least you can go to the Lord say I did what you told me to do the way you told me to do it and that that's important I just had to deal with that myself and and I know that I'm probably gonna get pummeled on this one but what I did was right and the way I did it was right and if I get pummeled by the person I don't care I just don't want to stand before God he goes not tell you how to handle that and you didn't do it now that person is caught not it's because when we're talking about in the church that person doesn't just cause damage to himself or herself because it's damage to the whole church body and you want you want to see a church split you'll probably find open sin was not dealt with it dealt with it just about every time so we finished the book of James and we're gonna we're going to move into finishing strong by Steve for our coming up next week and then we'll row through that let me close us in prayer lord thank you for these incredible words of challenge and conviction from the book of James thank you Lord for the Holy Spirit thank you for your presence in our lives and what I pray that everybody within the sound of the voice today in the study today that all of us if we're being prompted by the Holy Spirit to deal with anything in our lives or in the lives of someone we love or we know or maybe we just come to inclusion day I don't think I don't think I'm a member of this church or talking about I don't I don't I don't know gee I can't give you a story or see any evidence that I've ever made any move other than believing in Jesus and I'd like to change that today and then we've covered that all through this book you just simply say lord I confess and I'm a sinner I acknowledge you with my mouth and I believe in my heart that you are my Lord and Savior and I repent of my sins and I turn to you you know the Bible says I don't know the sincerity villains heart but if you're sincere in your heart you can be justified by faith and receive God's grace of mercy if that's happening with you today you need some help with that or maybe you've been playing games and you thought that you were a member of the Church of Jesus Christ and you realize hey maybe I'm not I don't see any evidence of that in my life remember if your life is riddled with sin if it's just riddled with sin and you somehow think you're still right with Jesus that don't say much about Jesus and I know from firsthand experience that he radically changes lives and we pray it in the name of Jesus amen thanks guys thank y'all for being here don't forget man cherish next Sunday night you

Channel: Rick & Bubba

Views: 2,636

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Keywords: burgess, bussey, live, comedy, james, bible, wealth, eye, camel

Id: 14UiI9tb9h0

Length: 59min 38sec (3578 seconds)

Published: Wed Jan 16 2019