BiblicalMastery Buddy's bible blog

Lesson 2

After Faith Comes Works

James 1:19-27

June 7, 2015

It is so easy to get our relationship with God twisted. What I mean by that statement has to do with putting a greater emphasis on works than grace. Like many people I have often started my testimony with the thought that I was not ever really a bad person as a kid. To say that means that looking at the way I perceived myself had nothing to do with my spiritual condition but was totally about behavior. When compared with what God wants in our lives, I certainly was not as good as I thought. There is no need to go into detail but my life, like all of our lives, is full of examples of missing the mark. Even after I was saved it took years before I began to understand that my life must reflect what is written in God’s word. The reason that it took so long was that for years I was on cruise control and did not study or even consistently read God’s word. Of course ignorance is no excuse in the eyes of God.

After being out of church for a while, I went totally in the opposite direction. I was involved in enough activities to be away from home almost every night of the week. In my mind all of those activities showed the world what a good church person I was. In reality all I was doing was wearing myself out and my faith took a back seat. It was as the saying goes an inch deep and a mile wide. It was only after the study of God’s word became the driving force in my life did I understand the difference between grace and works.

Churches can certainly get caught up in the same mentality. Some call what they believe as a social ideology. They are so concerned with taking care of society that they forget that the work they do must be as a result of a deep-seated faith. Paul wrote in Colossians that the way to be presented by Jesus blameless before God is to “Continue in the faith firmly established and steadfast, and not moved away from the hope of the gospel that your have heard, which was proclaimed in all creation under heaven.” (Colossians 1:23) Our works are to be built on that foundation and nothing else. Thom Rainer wrote a book called “Simple Church.” In it he laid out the idea of how a church can resist the temptation of trying to do too much. A body that is too busy can easily find itself burned out. I will speak more of the Simple Church at the end of the lesson.

James 1:19-20

Before James continued on he made a very important point. The people to whom he was writing should have known the things about which he was about to share with them. They were to understand they were to be those who listened more than they spoke. There are exercises that have been held in conferences for a long time to help the participants to learn the art of truly listening. In it a person makes a statement his partner would then be asked to repeat what he had heard. One soon discovered that man’s tendency is to be preparing his answer or stating his ideas before the other person has had a chance to finish. Perhaps the majority of people have played the game of gossip. A word or sentence is started in a circle. By the time it makes it around the circle there is no resemblance to what was initially said.   James said by listening a man will hear new ideas and grow in his understanding of what he is being taught. One of the attributes of an introvert that is to be admired is the way he processes data. Before speaking the introvert will think about what he is going to say before responding.

There were to be two characteristics that each person was to have. It was to be slow in speaking and slow to lose one’s temper. There was no way that one who lost his temper and lashed out at others would be able to please God.

1. What were the brethren to know? (God’s word and how they were to live. See verse 18.)
2. Why is it important to learn the quality of listening?
3. Why did God give man two ears and one mouth?
4. What lessons can we learn from those are introverts?
5. What is the consequence of those who have a quick temper?
6. How do we learn to control our temper?

James 1:21

The believer was to shed any filthiness in his life. It was like one taking off dirty clothes and putting on those that have been washed and are very clean. The term used is derived from the Greek word rupos, which means to have wax in one’s ears. The idea is to remove anything in life that would get in the way of hearing and keeping God’s word. James then gives a warning to not get tangled up in a life of wickedness. Jesus spoke of this in the parable of the soils when he described the seed that was choked out by the thorns. (Matthew 13:7)

After giving the warning James supplied the remedy for overcoming those obstacles in a life. Showing self-control they were to receive the innate or inborn concept of good and evil implanted by God in the human spirit. It is equivalent to the idea of conscience with which each person is born. The word that God has put into a person’s hearts is the source of a man’s salvation.

1. Why did James use the term of shedding all filthiness? (One cannot just put something onto his life without getting rid of what keeps him from being clean.)
2. What does the word rupos mean in your life?
3. What are some of the things you have shed or believe you need to destroy in your life to have the relationship you need to have with Jesus Christ?
4. What are some of the things that can entangle you in a way that you step away from fellowship with God?
5. What has Satan done to make them attractive to us?
6. What do you think James meant by the word implanted? (God has placed a void in our lives that only He can fill with His goodness and understanding of what is right and wrong.)
7. What will be the result of heeding the implanted word?

James 1:22

The purpose of God for every man is to not just make him a life long learner. There are those who continually receive the word and never do any thing with it. The most observable proof of what God has done in life is the service one renders in the name of the Lord. Care must be taken here that what is perceived as service is not for one’s own glory, but is based on the deep-seated faith in Christ Jesus. Man is to serve, but only in the name of his Lord. Not only can those who are content to soak up God’s word live a delusion, but also those who serve to boost their own self worth. Doing must be for the right reasons.

1. What is the misconception under which so many in the church live? (It only the activities in which one participates inside the walls of the church that that have any meaning.)
2. What are some of the activities that are misdirected?
3. What is to be the source of all we do?
4. What difference will that make in the ways we serve?
5. How do we make sure that we are not serving for ourselves and not Christ?

James 1:23-24

Secondly James gave an example of the person who only listens and does nothing. In his day mirrors were made out of polished metal and gave a distorted view at best. A person could look into that type of mirror and not notice the imperfections in his appearance and walk away, either forgetting what he looked like or do anything to correct them. Man may listen to the truth of God’s word for a long time and sees the problems in his life but chooses to remain just as he is. All of his hearing has basically gone to waste.

1. What do you see when you look in the mirror?
2. What do you do about the image you see there?
3. What kind of mirror is James talking about?
4. How do we show that we are a hearer only?
5. What does God really call us to be? (Faithful hearer who then puts the words into practice.)

James 1:25

This is one of the verses that have caused critics of James to question what he meant. It appeared that he was leaning toward the Old Testament picture of adhering to the Levitical law. As a follower of Christ one knows that the only freedom a man has in the teachings of Jesus. There are three possibilities in describing the law of God as fulfilled in Christ. It was:

• It is God’s law
• Perfect and cannot be made better
• Given that those who obey it serve the purposes of God.

The one who continues to study and meditate on that perfect law lives by what he has discovered. He is not a forgetful hearer but one who serves according to that word. That man will find peace and happiness in the things that he does.

1. Why did the critics have trouble with this verse? (It appears that James was leaning towards a faith based on works and following the Law of Moses.)
2. What did he mean by the perfect law of liberty? (Obeying the laws of God as fulfilled by Jesus will bring freedom to a person.)
3. How can we describe the law of God? (They are God’s, perfect and in obeying them one is serving God.)
4. What happens to the person who is truly a hearer of the word?
5. How do you work at being a true hearer of the word?

James 1:26

The worse form of not controlling what is said is to bring disrespect to God. One who thinks that he is religious but whose conversation does not bring glory to God is only deceiving himself in thinking that he has a relationship with Christ.

1. What does it mean to blaspheme God?
2. How do we control what we say?
3. How do we honor God with our conversation?
4. What is one way we deceive ourselves even if a member of a church?
5. What are some examples you have experience when a person has shown who they really are by the way they talk?

James 1:27

According to James one who practices truth faith is the person who provides for the helpless. In his day the most vulnerable in society were the orphans and widows. Neither of those two groups could depend on the government or other entities to provide for them. One of the great testimonies of the church was the way it took care of both the widows and orphans.

James shared one last attribute of a true worshipper. It was to keep oneself separated and unaffected by the ways of the world. It would have included having nothing to do with false gods and keeping oneself morally pure.

1. What are some examples of those for whom the church should provide support both physical and spiritual? (Widows, orphans, single mothers, those who have lost a job etc.)
2. Why has the church not done very well in these areas? (Too much dependence on the government programs.)
3. How do we keep ourselves unstained by the world?
4. Why is this so important in today’s world?
5. How has the world crept into the church? (By our failure to follow James’s instructions.)

• Develop the habit of truly listening with comprehension what is being taught in the church.
• Learn to speak in a way that is edifying to the body and not just talking.
• Put what you have learned into practice by being not just hearers but doers of the word.
• Search the Bible for ways that people have effectively served God.
• Truly look into the mirror to see who you are and then do whatever is in your power to change those areas that need to be addressed.
• Treat those in need in the same way you would want to be treated.

I mentioned in the beginning about the book “Simple Church.” The reason I am returning to it at the close of this lesson is that it has ideas that will help a church be effective in the way it serves its community. It starts by telling us to develop a clear vision. Once that it is done the church should decide the ministries that fit that vision and to focus on them. Too many churches today try to do everything that anyone suggests. The end result, quite often, is the members get burned out and nothing ever really gets done. Our vision for Bethany Place is very clear. It is about making disciples who make disciples. If done correctly, this one idea will affect each of us and the community around us. Disciples then live out the life of which James wrote about. Not do we take care of the way we live but reach out to those in need of what we have to offer.

Lesson 1

Testing or Temptation

James 1:1-18

I do not know about you but I have been tempted far more times than I have been tested. Testing is those external things thrown at us, many over which we have no control. For instance I cannot determine what a person thinks of me when we first meet. Things like diseases, although they are within the body, come upon us because we live in a broken and fallen world. I have been in situations where there has been a personality conflict with someone at work. It may be my doing but quite often, rather than being able to have an open dialogue, the other party just decides that I am not one with whom he or she can work and one of us has to make drastic changes or move on to another position. There has been a few times when my faith has been stretched to the limit because of being put into a situation brought on by the actions of someone I love. The inevitable question that I want to ask is “Why” instead of how God can receive the glory by the way I handle myself. If we are hurt very badly we act out those feelings that do not make us a good witness for Christ.

All of the resources I read in preparing the lesson to follow used Job as a primary example of one who suffered in a way that he did not understand. He had no way of knowing that God was allowing Satan to cause him all kinds of problems. God allowed trials in his life that led Job to have a greater understanding of what He wanted to do in his life.

Acting on temptation is another matter. Although the stimulus for them may be external it is our own desires that if cultivated turn into rebellion against God. The word we all too often ignore calls our thoughts and actions what they truly are sin. I may have mentioned before that I once made a list of the sins I could find in the Bible. I was overwhelmed by the number of instances that are in the pages of the sixty-six books. We hear the advice that we should always be prayed up because temptation and the resulting sin are ever with us.

The church today is facing many challenges. We have seen one of the major issues in our study of the letters of John, Timothy, Titus and Jude. There is so much false teachings prevalent in congregations that those on the inside quite often do not know what to believe. Those holding to the truth have trouble surviving while others that compromise the teachings of the Bible seem to be thriving and growing. It is our calling to stay firm no matter what the world throws at us. We will see how James calls on the church to deal with the trials that face us today.

James 1:1

Although not mentioned in the initial greeting, the vast majority of theologians believe the James of this book was the half-brother of Jesus. He described himself only as a bond-servant, in Greek doulos, of both the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ. Like so many of the others he considered himself a slave, without rights, and totally committed to God.

The recipients of his letter were probably, what today are called Messianic Jews. They were those who had become believers of Christ as early as Pentecost and taken that new found faith back to the places from which they had travelled to be in Jerusalem to celebrate the feast following fifty days after Passover. Even though they were believers of Christ they maintained their commitment to the traditions and rituals of the Jewish religion. Many believed that James used the term twelve tribes as a picture of the new Israel who, unlike those living under the old covenant, had accepted Jesus as the Messiah. The Jews on the other hand had given up, for a period of time, their rights to be called the chosen people. His salutation was brief indicating that it was a circular letter to be read by many churches unlike the more personal greetings found in the letter of Paul.

1. What did we learn from the opening sentences of James’s letter?
2. Who was the James who is the author?
3. Why did he not explain his relationship with Jesus? (It was not his purpose to claim something that probably would not mean much to the readers of the letter.)
4. What gave him the right to send this letter? (He was considered an apostle and the primary leader of the church in Jerusalem.)

James 1:2-4

Knowing the challenges that the churches were facing he wanted them to have a sense of peace and feel blessed when they were dealing with the trials that were affecting their everyday lives. It would be easier if what was happening was the same thing over and over again. James wrote that they could expect the testing to be diverse and various. In other words they did not know what each new day would bring.

He wanted them to know as they were victorious in each situation, they would have the ability to handle and endure the next one. The steadfastness and living in a constant way in the faith would do three things in the person’s life. God was in the process of developing a man’s character. To do so God would:

• Bring him to the point of maturity or completion. They were to move beyond just knowing the ABC’s of the faith and are ready to teach and lead others.
• Make him complete. It was the process of removing the blemishes from a man’s life and taking away his weaknesses to make him fit to serve God and his fellowman.
• Make sure he was lacking in nothing. There would come a time when he was not deficient in any area of his life and would come closer and closer to being like his Savior and Lord.

1. In what ways do you feel that you have been tested or faced trials in your life?
2. How do you find peace and a blessing in the midst of testing?
3. What is God trying to do by allowing testing in your life?
4. In what ways have you blamed God for the trials that have come to you?
5. Who is really to blame?
6. What is Satan trying to do by bringing trials and testing upon you?
7. How can you defeat the devil?

James 1:5-8

According to James there is no reason that a man should lack wisdom. Wisdom is the ability to take what one has learned and put it to practical use. To get that practical knowledge all a man has to do is ask God and it will be given to him. God will not give a person just a little bit of wisdom, but will give generously and graciously all that a person needs. It is a powerful thing to understand that God will not criticize or rebuke for asking. There are those who will never be wise because they do not believe God will provide wisdom for them. The man who does not believe is like the water driven in all types of directions by the wind never coming to the shore the same way twice. A man who doubts and is inconsistent in his belief cannot expect to receive anything from God.

1. What is wisdom?
2. To whom is it available?
3. How does God act toward the man who seeks wisdom?
4. Who is the man who will not receive wisdom?
5. What is his nature?
6. What will be the results of his life?

James 1:9-11

As in all churches there is a diversity of people. James specifically spoke to two classes of people found in the early church. There would be the poor and throughout the Roman Empire those individuals were also possibly slaves. At the other end of the spectrum there would be those who were wealthy and in many cases slave owners of those in attendance at the church. James indicated they the poor should rejoice in the fact that Jesus had made them people of value and worth. In some cases they may have risen to positions of leadership in the church. On the other hand the rich was to rejoice because he had learned that it was not his wealth that brought him into a relationship with Christ. He had to repent and be forgiven in the same way as the poor. One lesson that the rich and poor alike learned was that the things of this world are not permanent and could be lost in the same way that the sun can burn up vegetation.

1. What was to be the attitude of the poor in the church? (Rejoice that God had given them worth when the world treated them as nothing.)
2. What was to be the attitude of the rich?
3. What has Christ done for everyman? (Made us equal at the foot of the cross.)
4. What are the lessons we can learn from these verses about physical possessions?
5. What is permanent that we should want in our lives?

James 1:12

Once again James returned to the thought of how a man was to handle adversity. He wanted a man to find joy and peace as he bore up under the trial courageously that might be taking place. It was not the idea of letting the testing weigh a person down but to be overjoyed that God will see one through the trial. The overcomer will receive the crown of life that signifies a life of abundant living for Christ. God has promised this crown to all who love Him.

1. How can you find happiness in testing?
2. What kind of attitude does God want us to have?
3. What is the outcome of enduring with joy?
4. What does endurance truly mean? (Living through a trial with courage.)
5. Who are the only ones who can receive the crown of life?

James 1:13-15

James quickly moved from the topic of trials and testing to what should be understood about temptation. He concludes that it was within man where the problem existed. Jesus spoke of the issue in Matthew 15:19-20. It was from the heart, the seat of man’s will, that every evil thought came resulting in the commission of sinful acts. John also spoke of the fact that sin comes from man as he wrote, “For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but from the world.” (1 John 2:16)

James spoke of the process of temptation to sin and death. It is

• All are tempted but temptation is not a sin in itself. One can quickly turn away from those situations.
• Man is carried away by the temptation. He or she continues to dwell on or fantasize about it. Temptation becomes sin at this point.
• Being enticed to commit the act of sinning
• Once the sin is committed spiritual death is the result.

For an example of this process read the account of David and Bathsheba in 2 Samuel.

1. What is the biggest difference between testing and temptation? (Testing does not begin in the heart but generally from outside the person.)
2. How does Jesus in Matthew 15:19-20 deal with this issue?
3. What is the process of temptation leading to death?
4. How can you avoid getting yourselves into situations that lead to sin?
5. Why is the result of sin spiritual death? (Sin is rebellion against God and must be punished.)
6. What is the remedy for sin?
7. What would happen if God could be tempted? (He would no longer be perfect and could no longer be the righteous judge for what we do.)

James 1:17-18

In contrast to what happens in the heart of man everything he receives from God is good. Man can rely on that statement because God never changes. He is not like the creation he made that varies every day. The Bible says, God, as seen in His Son, is the same yesterday and today and forever.” (Hebrews 15:8). Out of His will He had declared truth to mankind. His word stated that He would make man new through this rebirth in Jesus Christ. Those who were of James’s generation were the first born of many to follow.

1. What are some of the good things that you believe you have received from God?
2. How do you know they are good? (James emphasizes the truthfulness of God’s promises.)
3. What guarantee do we have that God never changes? (His word for one thing.)
4. How different is He than His creation? (The universe is changing everyday according the studies made byu reputable scientists.)
5. What is the greatest gift that God has given to man?
6. What indication is there that it is true in your own life?

• Knowing that you belong to God learn to face trials and testing with peace and courage.
• Grow in the knowledge that it is God’s desire for you to mature and become complete in your faith.
• If you do not believe you are a wise person ask God who is more than happy to give you wisdom.
• Be careful that you do not let the temptations you face lead you into sin.
• Understand that the love of God is manifested to us through the gift of grace found in His Son.

Every time we are exposed to any kind of media today, we realize the great challenges that face the church today. It is so easy to compromise our beliefs and fall into lock step with the world. God calls us to be different. Rather than giving up we are to see the trials and testing that are coming to us belong we belong to Him as causing joy in our lives. We know that those who endure will find an eternal home with Him. The Bible tells us that God’s word is true and He will fulfill every promise made to us. His Word tells us that He truly has a future for those who have received the new birth.