Studies in James

1. Studies in James Presentation 15

2. The Structure of the Book Introduction and Trials in the Christian Life (1: 1-8) Happiness in our Circumstances(1: 9-11) Trial, Temptation and Gift (1: 12-18) Hindrances to Fruitfulness(1: 19-21) Doers and Hearers (1: 22-25) True Religion (1: 26-27) Favouritism (2: 1-7) The Royal Law (2: 8-12a) Showing Mercy (2.12b-13] Faith and Works (2:14-26) Teachers and the Tongue (3: 1-12) True and False Wisdom, (3: 13-17) Peacemakers (3: 18) Defeat Through Lack of Submission(4: 1-6) Victory Through Submission(4: 7—10) Judging One Another (4: 11-12) Boasting of Tomorrow (4: 13-17) The Misuse of Wealth(5: 1-6) The Need of Patience (5: 7-12) Appropriate Responses (5:13-16) Restoring the Wanderer (5:17-20) Presentation 15

3. Victory through Submission Chap 4v7-10 Presentation 15

4. Introduction The most miserable person you're ever likely to meet is an unhappy Christian. Someone who once enjoyed the smile of God on his life but now finds that God’s smile has been withdrawn. Someone who remembers the joy of personal communion with God but now God seems millions of miles away. In their hearts they can echo the line of Cowper’s hymn, "Where is the blessedness I knew when first I saw the Lord?" That blessedness has gone, and sadly, that’s the experience of a great many Christians Presentation 15

5. Introduction James has shown us in v1-6 what can cause the joy of fellowship to disappear. He has described Christians who have not taken seriously the spiritual battle within their hearts. They have chosen self-gratification rather than obedience to God. They have flirted with the world. They'd become a people with a divided heart, for they had also given the world their hearts. Are we surprised that God had withdrawn his smile? Were they surprised that backsliding and spiritual adultery had distanced them from God? What a frightening discovery to make! Against that black backcloth James magnified God's grace. In verses 7-10 James maps out a way back to God. Presentation 15

6. Submission to God The first step back to God involves submission v7. a fresh acceptance of God’s rule in our lives. What does that involve? First, it involves submission to his authoritative teaching. On one occasion, after a period of instruction, some of Jesus’ disciples complained, "This is a hard teaching who can accept it". [Jn. 6.60]. His teaching had challenged their view of discipleship. Two choices were open to them, they could either submit to his teaching or reject it. And we read in Jn. 6.66 "From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him". They wanted to be disciples but they had also set limits on what they were prepared to accept and believe. By doing so they set themselves above God and the authority of his Word. Presentation 15

7. Submission to God In Jn. 8.31 Jesus says, "If you hold to my teaching you are really my disciples". Many Christians find themselves in a spiritual desert because they've failed to submit to the authority of God's Word. Whenever they face a passage that challenges their lifestyle, exposes their sinfulness or disturbs their conscience they take out a pair of scissors. They snip away at God’s Word and say, "I refuse to accept this!" Luther, the great Reformer once explained the reason for God's blessing in his life. He said, "I have made my conscience captive to the Word of God." Submitting ourselves to the searching examination of God's word can be painful but it is the only pathway to spiritual blessing. Presentation 15

8. Submission to God Submission to God also involves submission to God's disciplines. There are no accidents in God’s dealings with us. The Bible teaches that God often uses the hard things of life, pain, deprivation and sorrow, to bring about his glory and his people's good. Cf. Heb 12v5 "My son do not make light of the Lord's discipline and do not lose heart when he rebukes you because the Lord disciplines those whom he loves." Submitting to God's discipline is a recognition of his right to deal with us as he wishes. Consider the example of Job, who was a blameless and upright man who feared God and shunned evil. Yet in one terrible day Job lost his great wealth and his ten children. Presentation 15

9. Submission to God Job's response was staggering. We read, “Job got up and tore his robe and shaved his head. Then he fell to the ground in worship and said, "Naked, I came from my mothers womb and naked I will depart. The Lord has given and the Lord has taken away may the name of the Lord be praised." [Job 1.20] And then we read in v 22,"In all this Job did not sin by charging God with wrong doing." Job submitted to God's disciplines even to the very point where he could mingle his praises with his tears. What an example! Often we are happy to bless God when things are going well but when the difficulties come, we complain and grow bitter at times even doubting if God is in control? By so doing we fail to submit to the disciplines of God. Presentation 15

10. Resisting the Devil The second step on our way back to God is described in v7 as ‘resisting the Devil’. The word ‘resist’ is a Greek military term for ‘standing up to the enemy’. The greater our determination to submit to God the greater will be the intensity of the enemy opposition. Note the relationship in the New Testament between Jesus’ baptism and his temptation. In his baptism Jesus was saying publicly, ‘I intend to follow a course of obedience to my Father's will which will end on a cross. I have come to be God's redeemer’. He made his single-minded determination quite clear! Presentation 15

11. Resisting the Devil Now IMMEDIATELY after that public statement of submission and determination to do God’s will, Jesus experienced a massive assault by Satan in the wilderness. Now that is a pattern, which is often repeated in the life of the Christian. Whenever he determines to consecrate his life afresh to God, he should not be surprised if he is almost immediately assaulted by the enemies temptations. The constant goal of God's enemy is to produce unsubmissive hearts and to incite revolt against God's rule. In this way Satan limits our usefulness to God. He wants to try to hurt God by stealing our loyalty. E.g. Job. Presentation 15

12. Resisting the Devil How do we resist the Devil? It involves resisting his temptations, which can be very persuasive. When we yield to temptation it is because we choose not to be caught up in the struggle of resisting it. Oscar Wilde once said, "The only way to get rid of temptation is to yield to it". His foolish approach inevitably led to further temptations being met with weaker and weaker resistance. Of course we need to be able to identify temptations for what they are. This is not always easy for the devil often ‘masquerades as an angel of light’ [2Cor.11v14]. It is easy to be deceived e.g. his promises of liberty in the realm of morals and ethics only lead to slavery and corruption. Presentation 15

13. Resisting the Devil How then do we resist the devil ? We need to learn what tactics he employs. He is not very original. And as we study the Bible we learn the ways in which he has sought to tempt the people of God. This will give us an increasingly clearer picture of how he works. We need to store his strategies in the filing cabinets of our minds. Paul did this and writes, ‘We are not ignorant of Satan’s devices’ [2 Cor.2v11]. In other words he had begun to recognise how Satan operates. How well do we know our enemy? Presentation 15

14. Resisting the Devil But not only do we need to know our enemy we need to know our own weaknesses. Each of us has an Achilles heel; an area where WE are particularly vulnerable. Once we can know where that is we can be on our guard. The devil is looking for a landing strip in our lives from which to launch successive assaults. Resisting the devil involves refusing to give him that foothold cf. Eph 4.26-27... Where Satan is not given a foothold he is put to flight. "Resist the devil and he will flee from you". Of course he doesn't go away for good. He is a persistent creature and will return again and again but, "each victory helps you some other to win". Presentation 15

15. Forsaking our Sin The third step back to God, outlined by James involves "taking sin seriously". Those who had drifted from God had failed to do so. James calls upon them to draw near to God by ‘washing their hands and purifying their hearts’ v8. In the Old Testament the High Priest, before approaching God, would wash his hands, a visual aid that said, ‘I can only approach God by being cleansed of my sin’. Think of the Psalmist's question in Ps 24.3, "Who may ascend the hill of the Lord? Who may stand in his holy place?’ and his answer, ‘He who has clean hands and a pure heart.’ For communion to be re-established, we need clean hands, our sin needs to be confessed, cleansed and forsaken.

16. Forsaking our Sin But how do we confess our sin? Do we treat confession with a kind of slot machine formality; you feed in a confession at one end pull the handle and out comes forgiveness? Look James’ language v9.... He is saying allow the grim horror of your spiritual adultery to grip your heart. Be truly and deeply repentant. Many years ago a famous Czech gymnast was snatched from her guards and brought to the USA. She announced that she intended to live with her rescuer. Asked if she knew he was already married man, she callously replied, "So what!" We are not to be as blasé about our spiritual adultery. When confronted with our sinful behaviour we should be grieving and wailing instead of laughing about it. God is not laughing. Presentation 15

17. Forsaking our Sin The only way back to God is along the road of genuine repentance. By humbling yourself before God. Have we ever wept over our sin and if so when was the last time? James does not encourage us to turn on crocodile tears or whip up superficial emotions. Rather to sit down and ask, “What does it mean to me that I have offended the God who has gone to such great lengths to make me his own?” Presentation 15

18. Conclusion When we submit ourselves before God, when we determine in our hearts that we will take seriously the battle against sin, when we confess and forsake our past sin, humbling ourselves before the God we have offended, then something very wonderful is guaranteed. God will draw near. God will restore the sunshine of his smile and overwhelm us with the assurance of his love. For some the joy of salvation may be no more than a distant memory. No matter how far from God you may consider yourself to be, the glorious message of this epistle is that there is a way back. The first step is the hardest to make. ‘Humble yourself before the Lord and he will lift you up.’ v10 Presentation 15