Lessons for Life Through James

When the ancient scribes used to copy the text of scripture, some devoted their lives to day in, day out copying the text. we got some insight from what that kind of life was like by little notes the scribes would sometimes write in the margin of the copies they were making.

So they'd be writing and they'd be tired. They'd make a little note in the margin. And we can go back and read some of those notes and get a sense of what it was like to be a scribe. And one scribe, for example, after copying a whole book.

and the typical practice for many scribes was when they got finished, they counted all the words in the document from which they were copying and counted all the words in the copy they had made and if they were off one word, they tore up the copy and started over. They even counted the letters, some of them, to make sure the letters were the same and if they were off even one letter, they would tear up the copy and start over. Pretty tedious task. but one scribe after copying one book at the end of the book says the end of the book thanks be to God

and some of you may have that sense about the book of James the end of the book we're finally done with that study thanks be to God

in the year 2000 we did an extended study of the book of John in the year 2001 study of the book of Romans. And this year, today is the 14th and final summary lesson on the book of James. And I know from talking to some of you that James has been one of those books that is so pointed in what he teaches that it really penetrates our hearts and minds and we see often how far short we fall of what scripture teaches. But I want to submit something to you. There is great value in the careful, almost verse-by-verse study of Scripture. When you do that kind of study, the kind of study we've done in James, you don't get to pick and choose, you know? You don't get to jump over those parts you would like to avoid. This sort of verse-by-verse review makes you deal with the topics that James, through the inspiration of was compelled to write about.

And Scripture is like a mirror. The more we read it and the more closely we read it, the more it reflects back to us what we are truly like. We see ourselves in it and we see how far short we fall of its commands. So I would urge us, not only in this class, but in our personal study, don't avoid the tough parts of Scripture. be wary of those preachers and teachers who get to tough passages and then just jump over it because they don't want to have to deal with it.

Those are the passages we need to wrestle with. The ones we don't like are the ones we probably most need to read and study. So I hope even if this study of the book of James has at times been difficult in the sense that the subject matter really hit home, I hope you will see that maybe that's why this book is such a valuable book for our study. But I want to encourage us about something. It's very easy in the Christian life to sort of whip ourselves about how far short we fall of what Scripture teaches we should be and how we should behave.

And Christians spend a lot of time sort of bemoaning the fact that they fall far short of what they should be. and there's merit in that in recognizing our shortcomings. But I want to suggest something. I want to suggest maybe instead of spending so much time talking about how we fall short, why don't we just do it? Why don't we just do it?

Sometimes I wonder if all the energy we spend bemoaning what we haven't done was spent in just doing what we should do in the first place, wouldn't life just be better? Wouldn't it be more simple? Why don't we just be what God wants us to be?

Just start doing it.

Don't wait. Don't wait for another series. Don't wait for something magical to happen. Just start doing it. If you're wealthy, James would say, if you haven't been generous, just start being generous.

You can start today. You can start in church this morning. No problem. If you haven't been praying, instead of flagellating yourself about how much you should be praying, why don't you just start?

Just pray. If you have been a person who has talked a lot about your faith but hasn't done much about it, why don't you just start? Just do it.

i have a dream that we will be the way god wants us to be that we will be people who say god said do it this way that's the way i'm going to do it life's just simpler and easier when we have that sort of attitude i would also encourage us as we think about the book of james and for me I will say it's probably been personally one of the most useful studies I've done in probably several years because I think this book really hits home in so many areas of our lives. But it helps me to know that the person who wrote the book, the human author, was a man who practiced what he preached. If you go back to the very first lesson we had on the book of James, you remember that this James is the Lord's brother. He was such a righteous man, he was known as James the Just. And we know from the historical record that he was a man who prayed.

And in fact, if you remember our first lesson, Eusebius, the church historian of the 4th century A.D., said that James was a man whose knees were hard like those of a camel because he spent so much time on his knees in prayer. And if you remember, James was a martyr for Christ. Do you remember from the temple parapet?

The Pharisees and the Sadducees, those who opposed the things of Christ, had told James they wanted him to stand before the crowd, the Jews, and to tell the Jews that Jesus was really not who he claimed to be, that Jesus was not really the Savior of the world. and they tell James, they're threatening him, you're going to get on the balcony of the temple and from there you're going to proclaim to the people that Jesus is not who he claimed to be. And so they put James up on the balcony of the temple and when they call on James to give his speech, he says among other things, let me tell you about this Jesus, I tell you he is sitting in heaven at the right hand of the great power and he will come on the clouds of heaven. That's a man who even in the threat of death would not recant his faith and said you better beware he's sitting on the throne in heaven and he's coming back. He's coming back.

If you recall the story when he gave that testimony about Jesus they threw him off the temple landed on the ground. He was still alive when he hit the ground to stone him. And as they stoned him, he prayed, Father, forgive them. They know not what they do. After the stoning, he was still alive, and then a gentleman took a club and clubbed him to death.

We don't know what happened in the lives of those who participated in that execution, but would you not hate to be the man who the club when you stood before the judge one day and the judge says he was my brother

well i've tried to do something hopefully that i think will be helpful for you i've given you some lessons for life from james and i just want to highlight these 10 lessons and i've given you just some summary scriptures some of these scriptures would be great memory verses but here's some lessons for life from james lessons about trials if you recall james taught us that trials in life are inevitable and the reality is they are helpful to us in developing christian character because it's in the trials of life that we learn to lean most heavily on Lord and we develop endurance in the midst of difficulty. So I know trials are often tough and I know some of you are facing difficult ones. But hear me, God will use the trial to develop in you a deeper and reacher Christian character than you had before the trial if you will trust him and lean on him. Another lesson for life, God's word. You want true freedom?

You want true blessing in life? Then be obedient to God's word. Do not be led astray by those who would teach you otherwise. That somehow this Christian life is just a cage in which people with little minds and small ambitions participate. you tell them you want true freedom?

It's found in Christ who liberates us from our sin and all of these things that our culture is imprisoned by, its own lusts and desires. It's Christ that sets us free. If we are in Christ, we should be people who show no favoritism based on wealth or status. the poor person in this church should get the same kind and generous treatment as the wealthiest of people and those who are on the highest rungs of social status. Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of this world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him?

If there is a one central theme verse for the whole book, I think it's James 2.17. Faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. For some of you who know it from the King James, faith without works is dead.

Are you a person of faith? Show me. Let me see in what you do. The proof is in the pudding. we are people who will say all sorts of things we are easy with our words we're easy with what we profess James says I don't want to just hear words words are okay but I want to see more I want to see proof I want to see action and if we have been people of inaction people without works demonstrating our faith we need to re-examine our faith first and then if we are truly committed to Christ we need to become obedient people doing what he has commanded how about that lesson on the tongue if there was one that got more response from people in the class it was the one about our speech how we talk and that one day we will account for every word we have spoken and we took a lot of pains to show that that accounting applies even to believers

who will certainly inherit eternal life but will still account for their actions before the Master. With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father and with it we curse men who have been made in Christ's likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. Brothers, sisters, this should not be.

The tongue that praises God should not curse men.

wisdom we all need it seek heavenly wisdom James urges us not the wisdom of the world but the wisdom that is from above that is pure and peace-loving considerate and kind

and James says and you can see that it was true in his life as he stood on the parapet of the temple when it comes to our loyalty to Christ no wobbling no double-mindedness no shifting back and forth from being loyal to Christ at one moment and then loyal to something else at the other we are to submit to God and be completely loyal to him and James makes it clear you can't try this game of being loyal to the world and loyal to God. Because James says loyalty to God is to be exclusive. And if we attempt to be loyal to the world, we are in fact enemies of God. So where do your loyalties lie? James would say make sure they are with Christ.

And when they are with Christ, never wobble. Be constant.

And he says planning for the future. You know, and most of us by our ages, somewhere in the broad or something range, we know, do we not? Some of us have experienced it. Life is fleeting. Life is fragile.

So let's live wisely with the time the Lord has given us. Let's make our plans for the future loosely, knowing the Lord may have a different plan. He is in control. Let's be sure we live with that recognition. If you're rich and if you're wealthy, don't live in self-indulgent luxury, but help those in need.

James was big on helping widows and orphans, those who are without.

And particularly for those who may be materially blessed, let your wealth just be spent on self. Be sure it's spent on others. And James would be one who would encourage us to always remember, the Lord is coming, the Lord is coming. But until He returns, let's be patient, and let's persevere,

and let's pray to our Father.

over the last couple of weeks I've been at two graduations of seminarians from Gordon-Conwell one in Boston and one in Charlotte and I've heard stories or been involved with stories that I think James would have liked I told you the story about the Gordon-Conwell effort to raise money for the building in Charlotte we were $880,000 short. I learned more about that story this past week. There was a couple who two months before the deadline to raise three million dollars to get a matching grant so we could build a building for Gordon Commonwealth Seminary in Charlotte. Two months before that a couple, a husband and a wife had committed together that they would give whatever was left at the end of the campaign so that the building could be built. The wife had encouraged the husband two months before the give whatever's left right now.

The husband said, how much is that? She said, $2.3 million. His response was, why don't we wait until they finish their campaign?

So they did. This was not a business family that had been pursued for a contribution, but they were keeping tabs on what was happening. The person who was receiving the funds at Gordon-Conwell,

was talking to this business person about another matter, and the business person said, Well, where are you in your campaign? He said, Well, we just got the last word from the last possible donor we thought might really help us meet our goal, and that donor said, No. So we have no other donors on our list. We're done, and it does not appear, you know, that the Lord wanted us to raise this money. and the gentleman says, you'll have a check in the mail for $880,000 very shortly.

Praise God. I think James would have liked that story because he would have liked to know for us to see how God answers prayer. He would have also liked the story about the young lady who graduated with a master's degree in Christian counseling from Gordon-Conwell, Charlotte, who is a social worker. she was one of two student speakers at graduation. The practice in Charlotte is to have the female student with the highest grade give a talk and the male student with the highest grade give a talk.

To give a talk. Did I say that right? The female with the highest grade and the male with the highest grade each give a talk. We do that to be sure a man gets to speak occasionally at graduation.

But this female student stood up, and she started out something like this. I'm a social worker, and last week I opened the file on a 12-year-old boy who had suffered every tragedy a 12-year-old can imagine.

abandonment, abuse that 12 year old boy came to meet with me as his social worker and before I could say a word to the 12 year old boy he said this he said I know you're going to want to give me medicine everybody wants to give me medicine for what they think is my depression but I want to tell you I don't need medicine for depression that's not my problem I have a problem that no medicine can cure he said you know what my problem is and she said what is that He said, my problem is I have a broken heart. Do you have medicine for a broken heart? And she said, yes, I do. Yes, I do. And his name is Jesus Christ.

James would have liked that story. And I think James would have liked the story of Samuel Ome. Do some of you remember Sam Om? How many of you remember Sam? He came about four or five years ago and spoke to our class.

Since many of you don't, let me give you a brief background about Sam. Sam is Cambodian by background. He lived during the era of the killing fields in Cambodia in the late 70s. He was Buddhist. Many of his family members were executed during that period.

Sam is a Buddhist, ended up in a refugee camp on the border of Cambodia and Thailand. While in that refugee camp, he heard that if you were a Christian, there were Christian organizations that would attempt to get you into the United States out of the refugee camp. He wanted out of the refugee camp badly. He was living on a diet of rats and other less tasty foods. So he wanted to the U.S.

So Sam is the head of the family at this point. His parents were now both dead. both of whom were also Buddhist, you are now Christian. Go find the Christian missionaries and figure out how to get us to the U.S. So he sends his sisters off.

Of course, they're not Christian, but they go talk to the Christian missionaries. And they come back and they tell Sam, well, we talked with them. They're going to see if they can do something, but all they gave us at this point was this book. And it was a Cambodian Bible. Sam was completely disgusted.

He had no use for this book.

have anything but a plane ticket to get to the U.S. So he did the only thing he thought the book was good for. He used it to roll cigarettes. So he started at the back of the book, and he smoked some Revelation, and he smoked some Jude, and he smoked some James, and he smoked a little Hebrews. One day he tore out a page, and this is a completely true story.

I've heard it from Sam's mouth himself. He tore out a page, and on this day, before he rolled his cigarette, he read it. And in his language, he read these words. For God so loved the world that he sent his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life. It was such a foreign concept to him that there was a God who would love one so much that he would send his Son to die.

And Sam went to ask the Christian missionaries about this God, in Christ, ultimately got to the U.S. and is now a pastor of a Cambodian church in Charlotte, North Carolina. And James would have liked that story, but he would have liked to have been there last Sunday when Sam Ohm, after 10 years in seminary, graduated. He said, David, they just finally got tired of me. They just said, take it and you graduate.

but Sam had a lot to overcome financially it was very difficult for him the language was very difficult but James would like the notion of patient perseverance until the Lord's coming and if there is one who has exhibited patient perseverance it is Sam from the killing fields of Cambodia to a graduation stage some 20 plus years later in Gordon-Conwell in Charlotte. He's going back to Cambodia tomorrow for a three-week mission to train pastors in that country. So folks, there's a lot to be done in God's kingdom. And he wants people committed to the task who understand that faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. I want a faith that is alive and is evidently alive by what I do.

Let's join together. Let's be all God wants us to be. In the cause of Christ, there is no journey too far. There is no battle too great. There is no difficulty that we cannot endure.

but he's looking for the hearts of men and women who are solely, completely, and totally loyal and committed to him. May we be that kind of people. Let's pray.

Lord, you are great and good. You have showered so many blessings upon us. And even in the midst of difficulty, you are the good shepherd. who walks with us even through dark, dark valleys. I pray, I hope, it is my desire that we as your people gathered here today will be a people whose praises come quickly to your name, whose feet move swiftly to do your task, and whose hearts are pure and submitted totally to you.

Where we have fallen short, we ask for your forgiveness. But we pray, Lord, that you will give us an attitude and a mindset that we're going to do it. We're going to do it for you. We're going to get started if we haven't been started already and faithfully serve you patiently with perseverance until that great day when we are in your presence. For it's in Christ's name we pray.

Amen.