James' Examples

James 1:9 “Let the brother of low degree rejoice in that he is exalted:
The brother of low degree is a poor man. James brings status into the situation because trials will come no matter how much money they have. During the time of James’ writings, ALL professing Christians were being persecuted. Money didn’t make a difference. We might think that having money will solve all of our problems but we never know how much debt people with money are in or how much their family is suffering due to the lack of their presence on a daily basis. Everyone is vulnerable to trials.

In that he is exalted: Although the man with little money might not have many earthly things to be glorious in, he can glorify knowing that God values him with great worth. Jeremiah 9:23-24 describes the emphasis on how little monetary status really means. We might not have much, but we are rich in Christ. James 2:5 confirms this. In James 1:4 he said that as long as we persevere and keep the faith, we will want for nothing. James gives us a challenge to see beyond our physical status and look beyond to our eternal lives. If we are living for Christ, we are richer than many others in this world. We have hope.

James 1:10 “But the rich, in that he is made low: because as the flower of the grass he shall pass away.”
James mentions the rich because he gives them a warning. He reminds them not to measure their worth by possessions for security and joy because these won’t last. They need to heed God’s advice on wealth and money so they will use it humbly and productively for God’s kingdom. If you think about it, the rich are at a greater risk for going away from God because they have more money for drugs, alcohol, excessive spending, and fulfilling many other carnal desires due to the fund needed to have those things.

In his humiliation: Just because they were wealthy didn’t mean that they were exempt from religious persecutions. This was the one thing that leveled both rich and poor. It equals them. The words that James says means that the poor are low in this world, they are high in God’s eyes. While the rich are high in this world, they are brought low in God’s eyes, and both can teach one another. The rich should be humbled because:

They no longer need the riches of life for security
They have been accepted in the family of Christ
They have an identity with Christ in suffering (Philippians 3:10)
Their humility for the present will be rewarded in the future (Matthew 23:12)

James reminds us that no matter what our finances are, our only secure thing in life is our salvation. Don’t put your trust in earthly things or you will be highly disappointed. In the second part of the verse James begins quoting Isaiah 40:6-8. He finishes the quoting of the verses in James 1:11.

Verse 11: “For the sun is no sooner risen with a burning heat, but it withereth the grass, and the flower thereof falleth, and the grace of the fashion of it perisheth: so also shall the rich man fade away in his ways.”

This verse is a continuation of the quoted verses in Isaiah 40:6-8. We don’t like to think about death. Wealth brings a false sense of security to people. This verse/phrase compares grass and flowers. In the desert, a rain shower will cause the grasses and flowers to sprout almost instantly, but as soon as the sun hits them, they wither and die. The feeling of comfort and security can be here one moment and gone the next.

The verse wraps up with saying that the rich man will fade away in his ways. Many times we are shocked at the death of a celebrity or well-known person. It shouldn’t make any difference to us what their social or economic status was. We are all guaranteed death at some point in our lives. That decision is up to God. James began his letter by making sure that believers, both poor and rich, see themselves in the same light before Christ. There is no difference. A soul is a soul; it’s lost or it’s saved. That is the only difference.

Being Double Minded

James 1:8 “A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.”

Again, this goes to the subject of doubt. Being double-minded is similar to the phrase “trying to be in two places at once.” If you are struggling or wavering back and forth between two things, you are double-minded. This is the simplest definition of a hypocrite. Here’s a good way to see if you’re double-minded:

• In your personal life…if you proclaim diet and exercise and condone those who don’t follow dietary guides yet you stuff your face with cheeseburgers and never move, you’re double-minded.
• In your business life…demanding that someone be disciplined for taking something from your desk, yet you are sneaking out office supplies, you are double-minded.
• In your social life…are you acting one way around one group of people and another way around a different group? If so, you are double-minded.
• In your spiritual life…are you trying to serve God while doing things of the world? If so, you are double-minded.

Romans 8:5-6 tells us the dangers of having our minds in the wrong place. A double-minded person is unstable because they can’t make a choice. They can’t stand firm on one decision.

The Danger of Being Unsure

James 1:6 “But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.”

Ask in faith: What is faith? The biblical definition can be found in Hebrews 11:1. God only gives us one condition when we come to him. WE MUST ASK IN FAITH. Our prayers and requests won’t get a response if we don’t believe that God can do what we ask of him. We were told in our lesson from last week that these trials will test our faith. Faith is our complete trust in God. Hebrews 11:6 says “But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.”

Nothing wavering: Wavering means to go back and forth. Being divided. Doubt. Doubting is trusting more in one’s self than in God. In order to calm those wavering moments, we must be fully committed to Christ. Our trust must be in Him.  While preparing for this lesson, the song “In Christ Alone” came on. The first verse says this: “In Christ alone my hope is found, He is my light, my strength, my song. This cornerstone, this solid ground, firm through the fiercest drought and storm. What heights of love, what depths of peace, when fears are stilled, when strivings cease! My comforter, my all in all, here in the love of Christ I stand.” Someone who doubts can’t say these words and mean them. He is our hope, light, love, cornerstone, solid ground, firm through drought and storm. This is complete unwavering. There is no back and forth with what Christ did for us. He struck through everything so we could have life and have it more abundantly. All he asks of us is that we choose him in all aspects of our lives. He hasn’t let us down yet…

James 1:7 “For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord.”

We are given a harsh reality in this verse. If we don’t go to God completely trusting him, don’t expect an answer. God knows our hearts and will answer us accordingly. If you’ve been praying for something and it seems like your prayers are going nowhere, you might need to step back and take a real good look at yourself. It’s called self-examination.

Seeking Wisdom

This lesson is entitled “Dealing with Difficulty” for a good reason. We need to be ready for troubles and trials because we know they are coming. We discussed that last week. The main thought for this week is: It’s too late to gain spiritual stability when we are in the middle of a trial. Ignorance will make any situation worse, so God’s cure for anxiety is knowledge and faith. Again, this week we will look at two similar words with two entirely different meanings (last week was joy and happiness). To begin, we will look at the word wisdom. What does it mean? When you google the word wisdom, you get this definition: the soundness of an action or decision with regard to the application of experience, knowledge, and good judgment. In the Greek, the original word used is “Sophia” meaning broad and full of intelligence. Think back to the last lesson in James 1:2, he said to count it all JOY. In order to do this we must have wisdom.

James 1:5 “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.”

He says if any of you lack wisdom. This means if you DO NOT have it. The wisdom we need during situations has three characteristics:

• It’s practical: God’s wisdom relates to life in trying times. A smart person might have ideas, but wise puts them in action.
• It’s divine: It goes beyond common sense. It’s having respect for God knowing that his directions are best.
• It is Christ like: Asking for wisdom is ultimately asking to be like Christ.

Ask of God: It’s not fun to be in a situation where you don’t have the answers you need to get through it. What do you do when you are driving or get lost? You either turn on the GPS, turn to the map, or ask for directions. This is what James is advising us to do. You have to get to the point where you know nothing can be accomplished by your actions so you turn to God asking for his guidance to go in the right direction.

God gives to us liberally (generously) and without any strings attached: He welcomes us and our requests. All he asks is that we come boldly before him and ask for the answers we need. The word “upbraideth” means to find fault in. He will give without scolding us for decisions and choices we might have made on our own trying to fix our problems.

It will be given: This it isn’t just anything – it is wisdom. The wisdom is God’s guidance, not for us to be removed from our problems. We should be asking for guidance and wisdom to remain in His will, not to go about doing what we think should be done.

Becoming Complete

James 1:4 “But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.”

When we endure our trials as God intends, this rounds out or faith making us a complete being in Christ. Our completeness is recognized by three characteristics (we gain these by endurance):

• Maturity (Perfect): seasoned. Fit for the tasks God sends us to do. It is a quality based on the knowledge we have gained from those experiences. This does not relate to age. If you’re 40 and still making the same mistakes as you did in your 20’s, you haven’t learned anything, therefore you aren’t maturing. Maturity and experience are two different things. Experience is when we recognize a mistake when we make it again. Maturity is realizing the mistake before we make it again. Maturity makes time.
• Complete (Entire): Fully trained. To become complete means that we have become mature in many areas of life. God doesn’t want cheap substitutes. He want’s thoroughly developed Christians.
• Lacking Nothing: Mirroring Christ himself. Life skills are developed and ready to use. This is knowing that God has what we need, when we need it. Fully believing in God’s faithfulness.

A tested faith brings on many things:

•     Depth of Character: Romans 5:3-5
•     Enables us to comfort and encourage others: I Corinthians 1:3-5
•     Increases dependence on God for wisdom: James 1:5; 3:17-18
•     Encourages us to lead a productive and effective life: 2 Peter 1:5-9
•     Helps us to identify with Christ: Matthew 4:1-11; Hebrews 5:7-10
•     Shows us to focus on our future hope in Christ: Romans 8:18-24

Where there is testing, there are failures. It is possible to go through trials and learn absolutely nothing. Growth is not guaranteed. James fully expects us to respond with joy because we understand that the process is producing a deeper, more established faith.

The last part of verse 4 says “wanting nothing.” If I asked you to make a list of everything you wanted, how long would it take? What if you were in a situation where you wanted nothing? What would it feel like to be content, having everything you ever wanted? Our God is a generous God. He will make sure all our needs are met and will fulfill our desires – just not in our timing. It will be in his. Over time we may realize that we don’t want everything we might have wanted at one time in our lives. We might gain things that we never thought we’d have. In God’s time, we should be completely satisfied.

James could have written to the persecuted Christians in a completely different way. He could have told them to turn their backs on God and wallow in in self-pity. James was an influential man and could have said anything he wanted. This was all a matter of his attitude. We don’t get to pick and choose our situations but we can decide how we react to them. You can do this one of two ways. You can either:

• Become bitter and mean spirited
• See the trials as strengthening your faith

Testing Our Patience

James 1:3 “Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.”

The trying of our faith is a test. A test is a measurement of what we have learned over a period of time. The word test is positive although it has negative connotations. The Greek root word is the same word used in I Peter 1:6-7 meaning “proved genuine”. Trials and tests do not determine whether or not believers have faith. The trials strengthen believers by adding perseverance to the faith that is already present.

The word patience that is used here means the same thing as endurance. In our everyday lives we hear about endurance when runners or athletes are mentioned. They have to train to build their endurance in order for their bodies to remain strong throughout the duration of their events. Spiritual endurance is the same thing. It is faith that becomes stretched out. It involves trusting God for a long duration (see Hebrews 12:1-4). What makes it so hard to endure trials? Most times we get ourselves all worked up about how to get out of them rather than stick them out to find out the blessings during the trial. There are three main reactions to a trial:

• Escape: This is generally our first line of defense. Avoid, deny, or escape. James gives us the answer to these unescapable trials. What do we do during times of trouble that we can’t escape? COUNT THEM JOY.
• Explain: Why me? What did I do? We begin demanding answers from God because we feel like we are being punished unjustly. Some trials are just unavoidable and unexplainable. What does James have to say about these times? COUNT THEM JOY.
• Exit: We’ll do anything we can to get away from a trial. Shortcuts, negotiations, cutting deals. We have to remember that God’s timing isn’t ours. Our trials are on his time. There might not be a quick fix or a speedy exit. We must still COUNT THEM JOY.

Count it All Joy

Were we promised when we got saved that we would have an easy life?

No.

Jesus knew that we would face troubles and trials in our lives. James wrote his book during the Roman persecution era of the church. The needed some good information how to handle their situations. This is why the book of James is often called the most practical book in the Bible (see James 1:1). Our troubles and trials are never an “if” they are a “when”.

How are we supposed to deal with difficulties (because we know they are coming)? With a good attitude.Where does that good attitude come from? Our relationship with Jesus. The resources we need to deal with difficulties are spiritual, so our spirits must be right with God.

James 1:2 “My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations:”

Divers temptations are troubles and trials. James says to count these as joy. Joy is different than happiness. James is not encouraging believers to pretend to be happy during rough times. Joy goes beyond happiness. Happiness is based on earthly circumstances and joy is based on our presence with God.

What does it mean to count? Think of an accountant. They balance numbers, they count things. They sort numbers into two columns. A positive and a negative. Debts and assets. It is up to an accountant to place the numbers in the right columns.

We are accountants with our situations and experiences. Things that hurt are our debts. We avoid them. Something positive or a good experience is what we look forward to and count as a blessing. As we become more experienced with life we realize that this method becomes more complicated. Things that cause us to suffer may become blessings in the end. On the other hand, things might appear to be blessings and we find that they cause us pain.

During these times of uncertainty of not knowing which category to file our situations in, James says to add them to your joy column. Most times we’d rather put them away and avoid them. But when we overcome them, we gain strength. They can help us grow in grace and can bring us closer to Jesus. Nothing that brings us close to God is bad. We might not enjoy it during, but the end will be joy.

It’s not a matter of what happens to us; it’s a matter of how we deal with what happens to us.