We Are In The Same Boat
by Jasmine Lynch; 11/22/2014
James 1: 9-16
Today we will continue the study of the book of James. At the end of the study of Verses 1-8 we prayed and asked God to give us the wisdom to overcome our specific situation, the patience and perseverance that we need and the faith to believe without wavering that He will grant our request. .
Today we are going to look at some of the believer’s characteristics. The first thing we are going to discover is that we are all in the same boat, rich and poor alike and we all need to depend on God if we are going to be successful. We all face the same situations in life though some more severe than others, and there are certain things we can each do to pull ourselves up.
James 1: 9Believers in humble circumstances ought to take pride in their high position. 10 But the rich should take pride in their humiliation—since they will pass away like a wild flower. (NIV) The opposite of poor is rich, but nobody likes to be called poor, so James uses the word humble to describe those who are opposite to being rich. Notice that both the rich and the poor or the humble will pass away like a wild flower. You are up today, feeling well and in a split second, you have a heart attack, meet in an accident, a plane crash in your house, two terrorists rush in the church and kill you. These things can happen to anyone of us. It doesn’t matter what our standing is in life. So what is James saying?
1. Take pride in whatever you are doing. Even though you fade away, whatever you do for Christ will last. Your deed is the only thing that goes with you into eternity. If you do good deeds, you will be rewarded and you get to spend eternity with God, Jesus, the patriarchs, your beloved Christian relatives and friends. If you do evil deeds, you get to spend eternity with the devil and his angels. One poet puts it this way: “One hundred years from now, it will not matter what kind of car I drove, what kind of house I lived in, how much was in my bank account, nor what my clothes looked like. But the world may be a little better because I was important in the life of a child.” I would not even say 100 years from now, I would say 10 or 20 yrs. from now, who is going to remember me? But if I take pride in what I am doing my work is a legacy I can leave behind.
V.11-12 “Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him
2. Exhibits Endurance: endurance according to the dictionary is to experienceexertion, pain, or hardshipwithoutgiving up. It requires Perseverance. Did you know that the main difference between a rich person and a poor person, an A student and a F student, a backslider and a devote Christian is endurance or perseverance. Talk to rich people and they will tell you how many times they tried an idea or different ideas before they become successful. Thomas Edison failed 1000 times before he developed the light bulb, but he said I did not fail, “The development of the light bulb had 1000 steps.” He had endurance. Ford failed twice before he developed Ford Motor Company in 1903. Poor people give up after the first time they experience failure. Very few people are born rich. Talk to “A” students and they will tell you how many hours they spend doing homework, how many individuals they go to for help and how many teacher conferences they have or their parents have. Talk to “F” students and many of them give up after their first “F”. Talk to backsliders, and they will tell you that God didn’t do what they expected, or the church didn’t meet their needs, or they could not kick a certain habit so they just gave up on the church and on God. I remember one young man that we had worked with who could not find work, and he started coming to church with his children, then he gave up after he had been coming a couple months and did not get a job. He lacked endurance. He did not endure hardship; he gave up.
What is James saying about endurance? If you endure temptation, you will be blessed with a crown of life. The crown of life is given to those who love God.
3. Believers love God. John 14:15 Jesus was speaking to His followers and He said, “If you love me keep my commandments.” God loves us with an everlasting love, and our love has to endure. You can’t demonstrate your love when times are bad to appease Him, and not when it is good like Israel did. You know how we call upon His name when we are in trouble, when we are in despair, when we need help, when we lose our job, or a loved one, or when we are sick and then when God sends us help or lift us out of our despair we forget about Him. Love must endure through the good times and in the bad times.
James is saying we need to endure temptation because temptation is not of God. It comes about because of our desires and then what we conceive is sinful and when we act fully on what we conceive, it brings about death. You die spiritually first then you experience physical death with no hope of eternal life. Giving up is not an option if you want to be blessed with a crown of life, which is eternal life. Jesus said in Matthew 24:13, “But he who endures to the end shall be saved.” There goes that word endure again.
James said don’t let anyone fool you and tell you that your temptation is of God. God can’t tempt anyone with evil. We should know that. God and evil cannot co-exist. V. 13-15. 13 Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. 14 But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. 15 Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.”
4. Not easily deceived: V. 16—17 16 Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. 17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning God only give good gifts and only perfect gifts and He gives us these gifts so that we as Christians, as first fruits, will spread the gospel message so He can harvest many more believers. . 18 Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth, that we might be a kind of first fruits of His creatures.
Conclusion:The question for us is, what are we doing to spread the gospel message so that God will reap a bountiful harvest? We are the first fruits. He called us out of darkness into His marvelous light for that purpose. To be His witness. As believers we must do a self-examination to see if our faith matches our work. James is the one who said, faith without works is dead. As believers we
1. Take pride in whatever we are doing, not only in the spiritual but also in the temporal
2. Exhibit Endurance not only in our beliefs but in our work
3. Love God by keeping His commandments
4. Are Not easily deceived; believers know the truth. Jesus said my word is Truth
by Jasmine Lynch; 11/22/2014
James 1: 9-16
Today we will continue the study of the book of James. At the end of the study of Verses 1-8 we prayed and asked God to give us the wisdom to overcome our specific situation, the patience and perseverance that we need and the faith to believe without wavering that He will grant our request. .
Today we are going to look at some of the believer’s characteristics. The first thing we are going to discover is that we are all in the same boat, rich and poor alike and we all need to depend on God if we are going to be successful. We all face the same situations in life though some more severe than others, and there are certain things we can each do to pull ourselves up.
James 1: 9Believers in humble circumstances ought to take pride in their high position. 10 But the rich should take pride in their humiliation—since they will pass away like a wild flower. (NIV) The opposite of poor is rich, but nobody likes to be called poor, so James uses the word humble to describe those who are opposite to being rich. Notice that both the rich and the poor or the humble will pass away like a wild flower. You are up today, feeling well and in a split second, you have a heart attack, meet in an accident, a plane crash in your house, two terrorists rush in the church and kill you. These things can happen to anyone of us. It doesn’t matter what our standing is in life. So what is James saying?
1. Take pride in whatever you are doing. Even though you fade away, whatever you do for Christ will last. Your deed is the only thing that goes with you into eternity. If you do good deeds, you will be rewarded and you get to spend eternity with God, Jesus, the patriarchs, your beloved Christian relatives and friends. If you do evil deeds, you get to spend eternity with the devil and his angels. One poet puts it this way: “One hundred years from now, it will not matter what kind of car I drove, what kind of house I lived in, how much was in my bank account, nor what my clothes looked like. But the world may be a little better because I was important in the life of a child.” I would not even say 100 years from now, I would say 10 or 20 yrs. from now, who is going to remember me? But if I take pride in what I am doing my work is a legacy I can leave behind.
V.11-12 “Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him
2. Exhibits Endurance: endurance according to the dictionary is to experienceexertion, pain, or hardshipwithoutgiving up. It requires Perseverance. Did you know that the main difference between a rich person and a poor person, an A student and a F student, a backslider and a devote Christian is endurance or perseverance. Talk to rich people and they will tell you how many times they tried an idea or different ideas before they become successful. Thomas Edison failed 1000 times before he developed the light bulb, but he said I did not fail, “The development of the light bulb had 1000 steps.” He had endurance. Ford failed twice before he developed Ford Motor Company in 1903. Poor people give up after the first time they experience failure. Very few people are born rich. Talk to “A” students and they will tell you how many hours they spend doing homework, how many individuals they go to for help and how many teacher conferences they have or their parents have. Talk to “F” students and many of them give up after their first “F”. Talk to backsliders, and they will tell you that God didn’t do what they expected, or the church didn’t meet their needs, or they could not kick a certain habit so they just gave up on the church and on God. I remember one young man that we had worked with who could not find work, and he started coming to church with his children, then he gave up after he had been coming a couple months and did not get a job. He lacked endurance. He did not endure hardship; he gave up.
What is James saying about endurance? If you endure temptation, you will be blessed with a crown of life. The crown of life is given to those who love God.
3. Believers love God. John 14:15 Jesus was speaking to His followers and He said, “If you love me keep my commandments.” God loves us with an everlasting love, and our love has to endure. You can’t demonstrate your love when times are bad to appease Him, and not when it is good like Israel did. You know how we call upon His name when we are in trouble, when we are in despair, when we need help, when we lose our job, or a loved one, or when we are sick and then when God sends us help or lift us out of our despair we forget about Him. Love must endure through the good times and in the bad times.
James is saying we need to endure temptation because temptation is not of God. It comes about because of our desires and then what we conceive is sinful and when we act fully on what we conceive, it brings about death. You die spiritually first then you experience physical death with no hope of eternal life. Giving up is not an option if you want to be blessed with a crown of life, which is eternal life. Jesus said in Matthew 24:13, “But he who endures to the end shall be saved.” There goes that word endure again.
James said don’t let anyone fool you and tell you that your temptation is of God. God can’t tempt anyone with evil. We should know that. God and evil cannot co-exist. V. 13-15. 13 Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. 14 But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. 15 Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.”
4. Not easily deceived: V. 16—17 16 Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. 17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning God only give good gifts and only perfect gifts and He gives us these gifts so that we as Christians, as first fruits, will spread the gospel message so He can harvest many more believers. . 18 Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth, that we might be a kind of first fruits of His creatures.
Conclusion:The question for us is, what are we doing to spread the gospel message so that God will reap a bountiful harvest? We are the first fruits. He called us out of darkness into His marvelous light for that purpose. To be His witness. As believers we must do a self-examination to see if our faith matches our work. James is the one who said, faith without works is dead. As believers we
1. Take pride in whatever we are doing, not only in the spiritual but also in the temporal
2. Exhibit Endurance not only in our beliefs but in our work
3. Love God by keeping His commandments
4. Are Not easily deceived; believers know the truth. Jesus said my word is Truth