James (part 3)

And for Mr. Laskin, he'll be back in a little over a month or so.

Hopefully it's each Tuesday.

What was that?

Hopefully he'll be back to teach Tuesday.

Yeah, that's right, you guys are on every week. All right, so yeah, we're going to finish off Chapter 1 today. I didn't want to span, you know, 1 and 2. So I think we have, based on the time, you know, last week I thought we had a really good discussion.

So thanks, you know, for everybody pitching in. And I thought we had a good discussion last week. So we're going to do James 1, 19 through 27 today. And so I have a bunch of questions. And I'm always surprised at how when it's always easy when people participate, you know, and you have a good conversation.

And I remember looking at the clock and being like, wow, I'm not even halfway through my questions. And we're, like, coming on, like, 20 minutes left to go. So if someone's saying they want to throw us a prayer, then we'll dive in.

Heavenly Father, thank you for just being here, all of us, to dig into your word and James. And even this morning, not like last Sunday, it's a little on the chilly side, cold. But you are the maker of all things.

This is your creation.

And we're thankful for your beautiful creation to give us, even when it's cold. And for those that are cold, Lord, need a little warmth, we just lift them up to you. But this morning, let us pray that you would be with Eric as he leads us into the discussion of James.

Open up our hearts, our minds, our thoughts to you, Lord, that we can be deeply ingrained in your word and to understand it and to be drawn closer to you. In all that we think and learn here this morning, we pray this in your name, amen.

Amen.

Hearing and Doing the Word in James 1

Alright, so like I said, we're going to do 19 through 27. And kind of as I was going through the week, I was really trying to... It's funny, as you look at notes and you look at some commentaries and, you know, everything is always, you know, we want to...

How can we practically apply this to our lives today? But, Kim, I was really encouraged by your challenge to John on our first Sunday. But we also need to remember the context of who's the letter addressed to and what is James trying to say to these scattered believers.

And we need to really try to get into their sandals and kind of think about what they were experiencing. So I'm trying to make sure that my questions are kind of both. Like, let's think about how this affected them and how they were reacting to the situation.

But then also we want to practically apply this to us and, you know, what if is relevant or not in the passage to us today. So hopefully I did a... I think last week was a little bit too much on us. I'll hopefully try to balance it out a little bit this week.

Because that was one of my... I took an Old Testament class. And that was the one thing that Dr. Hulbert had said. It's like you need to... He always said we want to get into their sandals. You know, like what were they specifically doing?

Where were they? The geography? And he was really big on knowing exactly what was going on in that situation. Because it was helpful for us to understand what they were going through. And then be able to, you know, hopefully relate it to us today.

So last week we were going over... We kind of reviewed the first part of it again. We talked about, you know, if we lack wisdom to go to God. We talked about how God doesn't tempt us. That there are things within each one of us that draw us away into sin.

And today we're going to be focusing on hearing and doing. And then what James defines religion as. So hopefully some good conversation today. So if we could read 19 through 27 and then we'll open up our discussion.

So if anybody wants to start off and take a couple verses or read the whole passage.

Know this, my beloved brothers. Let everyone be quick to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger. That says it right there. For the anger of a man does not produce the righteousness of God. Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness.

And receive with meekness the implanted Word, which is able to save your soul. Anyone else want to read it?

Do not merely listen to the Word and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the Word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror. And after looking at himself goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like.

But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom and continues to do this. Not forgetting what he has heard but doing it. He will be blessed in what he does. If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue.

He deceives himself. And his religion is worthless. Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this. To look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

Thanks.

So last week we also talked about the most quoted command was do not fear. It's in there 365 times. So we have a verse for every day of the year. And in our small group two weeks ago in our discussion we had also mentioned that a lot of times the commands that we see in there are because it's not what we're bent towards.

We tend to fear so God reminds us very often that we shouldn't fear. We should put our trust in him. So as we think about the first part of this passage. So why is James, so James is telling us to be quick to hear and slow to speak.

So let's think about why would he be addressing that to this particular group of believers at this time. But then also how can we think about that in our own lives. And just to throw it out there, I know I'm guilty of this.

How many times have you found yourself in a situation where you're doing the opposite. That you are ready to speak and you're not even really listening. Like you've already, you're chomping at the bit for the mouth to stop.

For you to throw in your own two cents and you kind of, you're not even listening. So we can open up with that today.

Well the original readers as we talked about last couple weeks were facing persecution. They were scattered. So they were feeling a lot of pressure to deny their faith in the way that they lived. To not live out their faith.

So as these various pressures and difficulties are coming their way. It would be very easy for them to get angry. And do the opposite of what James here is telling them. So I find it encouraging that he starts with my dear brothers.

So he's not coming, he's not hammering this on them. He's saying, he's coming alongside of them and saying you're scattered, you're persecuted. This is hard. And he's just talked about every good and perfect gift coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights.

And how God chose to give us birth through the word of truth. That we might be a kind of first roots of all we've created. And then coming alongside of them and saying, dear brothers,. So it's encouraging to see him coming alongside of the people that he's writing to.

Not in a heavy handed authoritarian kind of way. But as an encouragement to come alongside of them in the midst of their difficulty. As they're facing persecution.

Yeah, and I think we see that with a lot of the authors. There are times when they need to be very forthcoming and firm with the churches or the cities that they're writing to. But there's other times where they need to have a little bit more tenderness to their writing.

So that's a great observation.

Overall too, we tend to be defensive and self-justifying. And the overall message is that you're going to win a lot more people for your actions. Helping other people and loving them rather than by self-justification.

This is also a period of time when the Christians were being scattered. And then the Jews along with that accepted Christ as their Savior. Now they're scattered, they're in a net of synagogues. And their brothers are looking at them like they're crazy.

We don't accept that. And now James has come along and given the word. You know, your actions. Listen, listen, listen. And your actions will do more good for you than trying to speak, speak, speak, speak, speak, speak.

So there was a big conflict going on among their own people. Because of us being scattered. Now James is trying to come along and say, hey, quit trying to speak so much. They don't see it through your actions, through your love.

Helping one another.

I think also there's probably, if you're thinking back to them, some frustration too. As to, like they're trying to navigate this new, this Jesus guy. And we're talking to Luke, like, who is this man?

He keeps revealing himself to them. And now he's been crucified and raised again. And there's this new following, the way. And you find out about it and you hear about it, a message, or you read one of these letters.

And you're breaking away from your old traditions. And we see in some of the other books where they're like, well, you still need to be circumcised for this. And you need to do this, and you need to do that.

And they're like, no, we've got a new law that we're following. And it's not that way. And I could see that being really frustrating and causing a lot of heated arguments. And I think too back then with polytheism was very rampant or evident in those cultures.

So they were very accepting of what was going on. They probably had healthy dialogues about that. But now we're saying this is the one true way. And maybe people are getting offended by that. And I think back then too, and it's probably true with some people today, but I don't think you don't have that much conflict.

You're like, well, it's okay if you believe that. I believe this.

And maybe you rub someone the wrong way and you'll get someone who's a little bit more fired up about what they believe in. And they'll be in your face. I don't like what you're saying to me. But maybe we don't have those kinds of conversations where we're ready to stand up and fight for what we believe in.

Like what was going on back then. It's just something I was thinking about.

We do in a sense, because I've run into that. And I'm not telling anybody under the bus. When you're talking to a rabbi or a Jewish person very heavily involved into their faith and their worship of the Old Testament, and you bring into the New Testament with them, there's conflict.

I mean, I've run into that very heavily. And finally, you have to say to them, wait a minute. You believe in God, the Father Almighty. Well, so do I. What are we arguing about? Something that's been written after the Old Testament that I haven't picked up.

But I still believe in God, the Father Almighty, His Son. And then they go, yeah, we are fighting. And I mean, we were fighting. They were defending the Old Testament. And they're very adamant about that.

And here comes James along. He says, you know, faith and works will work together. You'll see that. But they don't see that.

So who are we supposed to hear? He's talking about being quick to hear. So who should we be listening to? Who is he talking about in this passage?

We should be quick to listen to what James is saying. Like Stan was saying, these are Hebrews that are adhering to the Old Way and saying there's so much in the Old Way. But he's saying, no, be quick to hear what I have to tell you.

Not the Old Way.

Be slow to speak.

Be quick to hear. Be quick to learn is basically, I think, what he's saying. It's hard to break off from the Old Way if you're a Hebrew Christian like Stan said.

I think it could be that, but it could be just generally. You know, when you're interacting with your family, with people, with community, don't be so quick to speak, speak, speak. One mouth, two ears.

I say that to my students all the time. Two eyes and two ears for a reason and only one mouth. The other two should be working twice as hard. I think, too, he's also encouraging them to remember that they've been indwelled.

So as a new believer, you have the Holy Spirit within you now. You need to be quiet and listen to the leading of the Spirit. John 14, 26 says, But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and bring you your remembrance all that I have said to you.

So I think that they need to, like you said, take time and meditate on what they're learning in their worship services or what was going on with them, but they need to listen to that person. And also remember to be a good representative.

Like Jesus said, my sheep hear my voice, and they're not going to be able to hear my voice if you're talking all the time. How do you quiet and listen and learn?

Not only that, I think it emphasizes implicitly the importance of asking a good question on our part. And then be willing to listen to their answer, and then maybe discern from that where they stand.

Right, and I think, too, when you take the time to listen to a person's argument or belief system, you're showing them respect, but you're also giving you an insight to their heart and where they stand.

And I tried to—Julian had gotten in an argument once with a classmate, and he was like, well, I know I'm right because I know Jesus, he's the way.

And I'm like, you are correct.

I said, but you have to remember that they think they're right, too. But you have to know that you know the truth and that they're being deceived and blinded by the devil, but you have to do it in a loving way.

You can't come and punch them. You can't say that because then you're cutting off that relationship. That person may say, I don't want anything to do with that girl anymore because she offended me,.

Even though you're right.

So that was one of the things that just spires when we first started coming here. We were talking about apologetics, about how when you listen to someone, they are opening up and telling you what they believe, and then you know how to engage them and ask them.

I think I mentioned last week this guy, Michael Ramson. It was this conversational apologetics. So by following what Jesus did with the Pharisees, asking them questions, you begin to let them open up and share what they believe.

And then you could say, so on some of the hot topics like abortion or evolution, evolution is a huge span of scope of, well, was it this part or that part or this bad, big bang, whatever. And you can narrow those things down by asking them questions and be like, okay, now I know where to direct the question, the conversation, and not be messing around with things that maybe aren't pertinent to them.

And you don't have to, I don't think you have to do it all at one shot. If it's a person that you know and you're going to see very often, little bits and pieces, you find a way to work in the gospel to them or just understand them and build that trust with them.

So I think then you can have those more deeper conversations. So I think that's another thing, too. So when we're too quick to speak and we're very passionate, sometimes we can come off as being offensive.

Or God sounds, we misrepresent him the way he truly is. I did look up the word, so I'm getting ahead of myself, I'm thinking about anger. There was another verse in Proverbs that talked about why we should be slow to speak, and it was like, a fool takes no pleasure in understanding but only expressing his own opinion.

So I think we need to be careful to not just overreact too fast.

You know, along with that, slow to speak. We have right here, he wants us to get into the Word. If I can get into the Word, the Word, the Spirit will speak to you. If you're not into the Word and you're going just on your own, mumbling or whatever it is, you're not really helping yourself or helping others.

Get into the Word. Let God speak to you. And then when the opportunity arises, in a very nice, subtle way, as a friend, you can very nicely say to someone, you know, I've been reading God's Word and this is what God's Word said to me.

An example of that is on Thursday night at the prison ministry. These guys, there's 16 guys, randomly alarmed, you know, with anger and hate and everything else, and they're trying to get their lives back together.

And they go on for maybe 10, 12 minutes, and John or myself will give them a verse. We listen to them and we get a reference. And I give a word, and they all stop, and they listen. What we're doing here is we got to, when you know the Word of God, when He speaks to you, and you have that opportunity not to be boastful or...

I know it. No, very gentle, you just let them know, and they listen. And when that happens, then all of a sudden, you got 16 guys going around the Word of God, they're, yeah, yeah, you're right, we should be doing this.

Well, it's the same way in life itself. When you talk to your neighbor, your friend, your relative, when you have that opportunity, if you're into the Word of God, then you can speak in a gentle way.

Our word may return void, but His word will never return void.

And I see that in action.

And I think, too, like back in verse 5 where he talks about, you know, if you're lacking wisdom, to pray and ask God and He gives generously. And the wisdom we have is His word. So we pray for that, we read it, and talk about being double-minded, like we need to be careful of the wisdom that we hear from the world.

And also, we need to rely on His word as we discern our own lives and as we have conversations. So I was thinking, too, like I have found over the last few years as I read, I'm very skeptical of even works of literature or even in the Christian world.

I want to know, like, who's the author? Like, I've never heard of this guy. So I'll ask Jeff, like, what do you think of this? Do you know anything about this guy? Because I want to make sure that I'm not being deceived or they're twisting something.

Yeah, it's like, even, because you see it all the time in research studies or things like that. They twist the data or they leave a few things out or they try to make the study, you know, find out who's, well, soda is really actually good for you.

Well, who's researching funding that study? Coca-Cola and Pepsi. It's like, well, they won't push their product. Maybe it's not the corn syrup, you know, the high fructose corn syrup that's so bad for you.

You know, so I've found that I'm more and more skeptical. Even when I find, when I meet people and they say that they're a Christian, I was like, all right, well, I want to know, well, what does that mean to you?

You know, are you studying the Bible? Do you go to church? You know, I start asking questions because I want to figure out what am I dealing with? Am I dealing with a true believer or am I believing, or is this just a person who celebrates Christmas?

And that's how they label themselves as Christian as opposed to. I remember in, it was maybe my second or third year of teaching, I had, my school district at the time was pretty much all white kids, but it was Christian and Jewish, very, very heavy on Jewish.

And the kids were sitting there, Mr. Meyer, are you a Christian or a Jew?

Are you Jewish?

And I'm thinking, like, this is amazing. Like, they're asking me what I believe in. And it really boiled down to, do you celebrate Hanukkah or Christmas? Because we were coming into December. And they wanted to know whether I was on this side or that side.

And it turned out to be a really good discussion because I'm like, well, I'm not Jewish, but. And then I said, well, you know, technically because I'm a Christian, I am brought into the.

And then the kids are like, Santa Claus? And they're like, Moses?

And I'm like, you know what, I have to decide. Moses is definitely better than Santa.

And they're like, what do you mean? And I'm like, he doesn't give us presents.

I'm like, well, he gave us the first five books of the Bible. So we had this kind of fun discussion with the kids. And I'm like, I'd take Moses over Santa any day. And so it's a little unto the devil, a little bit off the path.

Eric, you asked a question at the start of this department. Who should we be listening to? What's the answer? We kind of talked around it, but who should we be listening to according to what he's saying here?

Is it to each other? What's he trying to imply here?

I mean, I think both. You know, as the author of the letter, as Rich pointed out, I think he's encouraging them. He's saying like he wants to draw them back in and say, listen to what I have to teach you.

But I think ultimately we're to be listening to the Word and to God and to the Holy Spirit that's dwelling within us. Because that's where we're going to get all of our. Our paths are going to be made straight by him.

But I would also encompass in the other believers. Because that's what we've been. We've been given that responsibility that we're all ministers of the Word and we all need to encourage each other.

I was very thankful that I was talking to Jeff before we started about how. You know, when I shared from the pulpit last week about the circumstances that we had been in. He came back right away and said that he was so encouraged to see.

To know that he was coming into a church that had been without a pastor for two years. And people that were in here were willing to take up the roles that were given to us and to serve. And we were able to survive through that period of time without a pastor.

Like we didn't just flounder and all fall away and dissolve and shut the doors. I think for him he was saying that he was so strongly encouraged to know that. I'm coming into a church with people that want to lead, that love Jesus, that love each other.

And that kept MLFC up and running for the two plus years that we had without him. But he strongly encouraged us that morning too. That we all have this. We're all commanded to do this.

It's good that you mentioned being skeptical about some of the teaching. Because Paul says in 2 Timothy 4 .3 that in these last days. Or the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching.

But having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions. And that's the age we're living in. So we have to take it to God in prayer. You know, and search the scriptures for ourselves like the Bereans.

See whether or not these things are from God. Or just the opinion of a man.

Right, and I think you also go back to the garden. You know, how did the devil do it? How did Satan do it? Just a subtle change of some words. Everything is very subtle. You know, the way that he works in the world.

It's always very blatant.

Really, I learned a guy's word. But God has spoken to man. Moses, Abraham, David. Okay, we go on to the prophet. God spoke to them. Even today, God speaks to certain individuals that are just filled with the Holy Spirit.

Those are the men that you really want to get close to. Like, oh, God is really working through this individual. I'd love to sit under somebody's ministry like that. We have one here, Jeff. When you can see God working through him, you listen.

And you take notes to him. That's the same thing. God spoke to him through his word, and now he's relaying it to us.

The Anger of Man and Righteous Anger

All right, so what does James say about anger? Time is flying by. We've got a lot to still cover. So we've talked a lot about hearing and being slow to speak, and that's one part of this passage. There's also the doing part, which we need to get to.

But I think it's important for us to touch on what is James talking about anger.

Anger does not produce the righteous.

Man's anger.

Specifically man's anger, because there is good anger also.

Yeah, so I did look up the Greek word for this. It's ogre. When I first looked at it, I was like, ogre? I'm not sure. It's ogre, I guess you would pronounce it. But that word is violent passion. And it's like, as I was reading that, I was thinking of, you know, these people were fired up and they were offended by what was going on to the point where they were ready to punch someone.

So how do we, and it's not just a casual, like, that guy over there is always annoying me. This is like, get right up in your face, you're mad. So as him encouraging, so there must have been a real problem going on with these believers.

I think that's more a sign of pride. I'm right, you're wrong.

Yeah.

And that does nothing to help the situation.

It's probably connected to verse 21 where he then says, Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent, and humbly accept the work of the claims of any Englishman's savior. So I think probably the moral filth and evil that is so prevalent is connected to man's anger.

Yeah.

And as we go through the sanctification process, we all mature at different speeds and levels. We all, and we talked last week about the temptations that, each of us have different temptations that draw us back into sin.

And some of us go from the milk to the meat quicker. Some of us need the milk a little longer. And that's why I think it's important for us to continue to encourage each other, help each other out. I think that's why we're told to confess our sins, to go to a brother and say, hey, I need help.

Can you speak some wisdom into my life? Maybe God can use you as a vessel to help me as I've been praying to him as well.

As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another. We should constantly be in communion with each other, to love each other, to encourage each other, to build each other up. You know, it's no good if you keep it to yourself.

What did John say at the beginning? The gifts of God have been given, first of all, for God's glory, but second of all, to edify one another.

So, Kim, you brought up the point that anger, I was going to ask, is anger a sin? But I think you brought up that.

Yeah, there's righteous, righteous anger is a good thing, and that it can be very constructive and be reflective of God's anger towards sin. But then there's also man's anger, which is a good thing.

Right, so how do we walk the line on that? When does our righteous anger become, do we tip back to our own man's wrath as opposed to staying on God's side?

I think the reference of the anger is important. So, I think righteous anger reflects when something is morally wrong or abhorrent to God, whereas man's anger is more self-referent, that says, I don't like that, and it has more to do with me than it does to do with God, or the good of those who are being harmed, or those who are suffering as a result of the evil that's being done.

It seems, too, that Jesus' righteous anger was often directed towards the religious types rather than enemies. And our righteous anger might be directed more to believers because we have supposedly common beliefs, but we wouldn't judge non-Christians according to our standards so much.

I think, too, if you're in the frame of mind, as Kim was describing, you are calm, you have your wits amongst you. I think abortion would be a good example. We could be very angry with that law being passed and what it does to women, the lies that are told about it.

But if you're in this other one where this violent, passionate thing, you lose your sense. Growing up to comics, there are certain comic characters, like Wolverine comes to mind, or the Hulk. These guys are just like, they're angry all the time, and they're violent and they're nasty.

They think about being green.

I used that in a sermon once where he talked in that Avengers movie where Captain America's like, don't I need to do something like punch you or something to get you mad? And he's just like, I'm always angry.

Just turn away and boom, there he is. But they function on rage. Look at New York City after the Hulk walks through. It's a mess. He's not thinking about the consequences.

I get angry when I hear about ISIS chopping off heads or killing Christians. That gives me, I believe, a righteous indignation. I hate what they're doing. I hate it. So I pray to God, Lord, you be just.

They hate your people. They're committing evil sins. Destroy them, Lord God. Destroy their evil.

Am I wrong in praying for that?

I pray for their salvation, first of all, but if they continue to resist and defy God, I pray that he eliminates them. I think we're to stand up to evil. We're called to stand up to evil.

The Ikes, they were just totally against him. So he said, go ahead and wipe them out. What's wrong with us today doing the same thing, fighting evil? They're really destroying what we have today in Christianity, but yet they are totally against Christianity, against God.

We're not to be walked over. Some people think as Christians, we're just...

We're under the dispensation of grace. We're not under the law of Moses. So what Jesus told us to do is pray for those who persecute you. So I see where you're going with that. Look, in the Old Testament, God said, wipe them out.

That was true for those people at that time. Now, being in the church, in the age of grace, Jesus has given us a new law, a new command, which is love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.

So personally, I wouldn't say that we should be asking God to judge those. I would absolutely pray for their salvation, pray that they would come to know the love and the grace and mercy and kindness of God, not that he would wipe them out to send them to eternal judgment, but that he would save them by his grace, just like he has done for us.

But what does Hebrews say? If they continue to blaspheme and treat as unholy the righteous blood of Christ, what will God do to them?

That's up to God. It's not for us to say, you've crossed that line of sinning too much. Now I'm going to pray that God smites you. Our hearts should be breaking for them because they're separated from God.

Yeah, that's true. But of course, like Stan says, they're killing Christians, brothers and sisters that we love and care for. We pray for their protection, but I also pray to destroy those that are killing the people I love over there.

Look at the...

Apostle Paul.

Saul.

Saul Thabal.

Wasn't he doing the same thing? And what happened to him? He all became one of the greatest apostles and authors in the New Testament. So I would bring that point up.

Plus our own sin that we commit is worth it of our own death. You know, the wages of sin is death. But we've been given the gift of life. We've been offered forgiveness. I would agree. We need to pray for those people.

And God uses their deaths in the martyrdom to, as sad as it is to lose a brother like that, but God will use those for his purpose, you know, to glorify his name, to further his kingdom over there. Yeah, I think it's up to God to judge those people.