The evidence of earthly wisdom, James 4:11-17

James has been continuously referring to two dominant themes in his epistle.  Pretty much everything he has said up to this point stems from one or both of these themes.  And I would say that both themes are closely related.  Those themes are wisdom and what he calls our tongue, or to put it in our common vernacular, our speech. Wisdom and speech are related in that our speech is the evidence of wisdom.  Now he has taught us early on in this epistle that wisdom is from God.  Wisdom is the  knowledge and application of spiritual life which comes

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The source of conflict, James 4:1-10

I remember when I was about 27 years old or so, going to France on vacation, alone. I didn’t know the language, didn’t know anyone there, and had no real idea where to go. But being young and foolish, I didn’t see not knowing the language as a big problem. I thought it would be an adventure. It was, I suppose, a great adventure that I still remember. But if I am honest, not knowing the language made the trip a lot more difficult than it should have been. It cost me quite a bit more than it should have

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Earthly vs Heavenly Wisdom, James 3:13-18

At the beginning of a new year, a lot of people come up with a new year’s resolution that they intend to accomplish during the upcoming year.  Most of them don’t stick with it too long. I thought about a new year’s resolution quite a bit.  I plan on starting a new exercise program.  And I’ve already gotten started on my resolution. I’ve watched a lot of video’s about different workout plans.  But to tell you the truth, that’s probably about as far as I want to go with it.  Just watching all those video’s was exhausting. It would be

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Taming the tongue, James 3:1-12

I think that one of the greatest distinguishing features that separates man from the animal kingdom, besides having a soul, is man’s ability to speak, to communicate.  I’ve always been amazed at the inherent desire in people to talk.  I remember very well many years ago I used to work part time in the mornings as a lifeguard for the pool at the YMCA.  And they would have these exercise classes during certain times on certain days when all these old people would put on their floaties and then supposedly start exercising.  But the teacher was pretty lax.  She would

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The case for faith that works, James 2:14-26

The theme of chapter three is that of faith.  James began by speaking about being rich in faith, as opposed to being poor in faith.  Ironically, he says the poor man is rich in faith, and the rich are poor in faith.  But it was evident that James was speaking of a kind of faith that produces love.  Love being the evidence of faith.  And love that is partial to certain people or shows favoritism is not the love which we are to have as Christians.  But we are to love like Christ loved us, which means that our faith

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Loving your neighbor, James 2:1-13

James is a teacher who is concerned with practicality.  He doesn’t spend a lot of time dealing with lofty theological principles, though he does address them in his letter.  But he spends a great deal of effort to teach us how we are to apply such principles in every day situations. As a result, James is rather blunt and to the point. If Paul is the general that deals with overall principles and strategies, James is the sergeant who brings them down to the level of the grunt soldier and gets them done. And he doesn’t waste a lot of

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Practical instructions for fruitful living, James 1:19-27

Last time we finished up with verse 18 in which James said we were brought forth by the word of truth that we might be the first fruits among His creatures. He is speaking there in the phrase “brought forth” about our new birth, our spiritual birth. We are saved by grace, through faith, given new life in Christ, a new heart, new desires, a new way of living. Then he says that we might be the first fruits among His creatures. That refers to our new life now that we are saved. He uses the analogy of a plant,

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The path of sin and the protection from it, James 1:13-18

James has been talking about trials which everyone faces in life. He calls them various trials.  That indicates that trials come in a variety of ways, in all sorts of difficulties.  James says that a trial is a test of your faith.  And we learned that God uses trials to refine our faith, to strengthen our faith, to prove our faith.  He uses trials to conform us through suffering to the image of Jesus Christ.  He uses trials to mature our faith and sanctify us. But we have a response in trials. And there are two possible responses that we

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Rich man, poor man; James 1:9-12

James started off his letter speaking about the need for enduring faith in the midst of trials. Trials are an inescapable part of life.  And James says rather than seeking immediate relief from them, we need to endure them with persevering faith, knowing that God uses trials to refine our faith, so that our faith might be complete, lacking in nothing. Then he adds to that process the need for divine wisdom, so that we might understand God’s purposes and plan for our salvation, that we might have hope and confidence in God’s plan for our lives.  Today then, as

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Seeking Wisdom, James 1:5-8

James is full of these pithy passages which some have called imperatives of the faith. And it’s tempting to take these simple imperatives at face value but somewhat superficially and usually out of context, and expect to use them sort of like a formula, whereby if we do x plus y, we will get z.  And perhaps that is possible, on occasion.  But I don’t think that is James’ intention.  I imagine that I am not alone in applying such a template to this passage before us today.  There have been a few situations in my life where I have

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