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James 1:1-8 Basic Christian Living a. It sort of funny how we are looking at the book of James… we are looking at it backwards… we started near the end just a couple of weeks ago and now here we are looking at the first verses in James. i. I just read a book by G.K. Chesterton called “The Man Called Thursday.” In it one of the characters screams out this statement in the midst of utter confusion, “Listen to me! Shall I tell you the secret of the whole world? It is that we have only known the back of the world. We see everything from behind, and it looks brutal. That is not a tree, but the back of a tree. That is not a cloud, but the back of a cloud. Cannot you see that everything is stooping and hiding a face? If we could only get around in front-----“ ii. Don’t you want to get around front? To understand what is going on… and yet we are caught up in the clamor of living. iii. Some of us might even say that you are to busy to even know the good that you ought to do. 1. James calls us to basic Christian living. 2. Jesus did the same with a simple statement, “take up you cross and follow me.” 3. And yet life feels so complicated! This is why I love Jesus, he simplifies life… and its why I love the book of James, Basic Christian life is distilled. b. And interestingly in the book of James a clear and systematic progression of thought is difficult to find. He prefers to move from topic to topic, sometimes joining them with a loose connection in subject matter, sometimes using a play on words to make the transition…[i] I love this! This is the way life is! i. Do you ever feel like you get to connect all the dots? ii. In 1:1-18, James covers a lot of territory... and each of them threatens the integrity of a person's Christian life. c. The Big Question… “Where do you put your faith?” i. Being human isn’t a question of whether you have faith ii. It is a question of where you put it. iii. James, the brother of Jesus put it one place, in his step brother, in his savior, in Jesus. “1 James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes scattered among the nations: Greetings.” James put his faith in Jesus/God/and his half brother. 2. A New View of Problems (1:2-4) a. (1:2) Consider it pure joy, my brothers, , b. Consider it Pure Joy! i. Now I really like this verse so far! I like JOY! Don’t you? ii. And pure joy! WOW! 1. How many of you want more joy in your life? 2. How many of you want to make time for more joy! Want real, undiluted, pure joy… 3. The sense here is to count it all joy… to be supremely happy! Sounds pretty good don’t it? c. Ok… let’s continue… We are to consider it pure joy… What is it? whenever you face trials of many kinds i. Maybe you’re saying, “Hold on one moment… Joy and Trials… I can’t hold them in the same hand… ii. They don’t make sense together! But this is a command! Not a suggestion… James doesn’t offer many “suggestions” in this book! iii. So maybe we need to think about this…We know trials will come… so does James… he doesn't say "if," he says "whenever." And you see this is true… life is full of trials! Say it ain’t so… but it is…Trials slam into us all the time… that’s the picture that James presents in the Greek… what gets translated as face in the NIV really means running into immediate / shocking trials (like a boat hitting a reef) 1. And the word that’s rendered trials really covers the gamut, from temptation to adversity to persecution, but the sense probable is stuff hitting us from the outside. 2. In the context of James this includes financial issues, health issues, persecution issues, the basic stressors of life and the horrible events of tragedy. 3. I know we’ve got a few of these in this room, stop and think about the things that are keeping you from Considering Life Pure Joy… 4. And our attitude in the midst of this is to be JOY! Pure Joy! How can this be? d. (1:3) because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance (steadfastness) (1:4) Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. i. Trials come for a purpose… they are meant to perfect our faith! To help us get life right… to understand things better… 1. So often though we duck for cover when trials come! We go fetal! Or postal! 2. The word that is translated as testing is dokimion… it’s a rare word in the Bible… a. Found only in 1 Peter 1:7 KJV That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ: These verses reference the process by which silver or gold is refined by fire… suffering, trials, are a means by which our faith is made more pure! It’s not used to determine whether a person has faith or not… but it’s the way to a purer faith… AND PURE JOY! See it’s a matter of figuring out where you are going to put your faith… e. What’s important is not the absence of trials but the presence of God in your life. 3. A True View of Wisdom (1:5-8) (1:5) If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. a. Where does wisdom come from? It comes from God... and it comes generously and without guilt trip! When we ask… we get it! b. (1:6) But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. (1:7) That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; (1:8) he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does. i. People love to use this verse incorrectly… they say that the reason things aren’t working out for you is because you aren’t thinking positively enough… they use faith words… but what they believe really comes down to a heretical use of the idea of positive thinking… If I believe enough it will happen! ii. But wisdom starts with GOD! Proverbs 9:10 "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. iii. It is a matter of faith… and faith is the combination of belief, trust, and action, 1. Faith most often transcends the situation… if it didn’t it wouldn’t be faith! 2. It comes down to where you are going to put your faith? Yourself or God? 3. We’ve seen this in stupid ways on “who wants to be a millionaire?” as people work through their “lifelines.” 4. I love the far side comic strip that shows God playing Jeopardy… He’s got like five billion dollars and no one else has scored…. iv. And the reason I was drawn to this verse was that sense in my life of being bashed around by the situations of life. Not knowing the specifics of where I am going. A wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind seems to describe my life right now… 1. But I am not floundering like a wave! I am in the boat! And Jesus is in the boat with me! Mark 4-35-41 35 That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, "Let us go over to the other side." 36 Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat. There were also other boats with him. 37 A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. 38 Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, "Teacher, don't you care if we drown?" 39 He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, "Quiet! Be still!" Then the wind died down and it was completely calm. 40 He said to his disciples, "Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?" 41 They were terrified and asked each other, "Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!" 2. Today we know who this Jesus is, He is God. He controls the wind and the waves in our lives, one question remains… c. Will we find joy in trusting ourselves… or in trusting God… the Greek word is di-psychos, literally double souled… This is the only place in Greek literature that this word is found… some believe that James coined it… i. But it describes us so well. When the wind and waves of life are still, trusting in God is easy. ii. When the minor storms of life come up, we take care of them ourselves. iii. When all is lost… we cry out to God iv. Jesus wants to walk with us in the midst of each moment of our lives. v. Jesus calls us to a life of “pure joy.” A life that transcends the light and momentary. vi. One that allows us to take up our cross and follow Him, knowing that “pure joy” is found in the process. Hebrews 12:2,3 2 Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
3 Consider
him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary
and lose heart.
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