Concluding Exhortations (James 5:12-20)

James does not conclude his letter like other apostles who conclude their letters with greetings, benedictions, or passing greetings along to churches from fellow saints.  James tells us not to take oaths, anoint with oil, and exhorting us to bring back the wandering one.  Is it really true that we are not to take an oath?  Are we to anoint all the sick with oil?  How do we bring someone back who has wandered from the truth?  These are the questions that we seek to answer in our last sermon on James.

Established in Heaven (James 5:7-11)

James greets the church as sojourners through this world as James greets us as saints in the dispersion.  We are a people who are to see ourselves as a guaranteed a land, but we are not in that land.  There is no doubt that living life under the sun is challenging, and we can be tempted to give up on the sojourn.  We, like Israel, might wonder if the Lord is coming to fulfill his promises.  How do we know that the Lord is fulfilling His promises?  How do we know that the Lord will bring us into the promised land?  How does this impact our lives today?

Affirming the Sovereign God (James 4:11-17)

James wants us to consider our lives in light of who we are in the Lord.  We might think that this is obvious and something that we should all be doing.  However, the reality is that our temptation is to look at the areas in our lives that we think are ordered properly and then judge others in the community in light of our walk.  Why is this such a problem?  How does such an attitude remove God from the equation?  How are we then acting as if we are not even Christians when we judge one another?

Humbled Before God (James 4:1-10)

We can be very frustrated at times because it seems like the Lord is not hearing our prayers.  We might be asking for something that we desire, but the Lord might not be giving us what we want.  Why would the Lord withhold good things from his children?  How can we find contentment in times of want?  How can we have an attitude before the Lord that is pleasing and honorable to Him?

The Way of Wisdom (James 3:13-18)

t is easy to claim that one is wise provided that we do not ground wisdom to a proper and good standard.  So, how do we know if we are really wise?  Where do we learn and discern wisdom?

Guarding the Rudder (James 3:1-12)

We might think that we are in control of our tongues and able to be very disciplined in what we say.  We might also think that maybe a few careless words are not that serious in the grand scheme of things.  We might think this, but James would not agree.  Why are a few careless words so serious?

Judging Wisely (James 2:14-26)

The reality is that we desire to make the Lord’s standard something that will comply to our standard.  It is not an easy thing to realize that we are a sinful people in need of the Lord’s redemption.  His redemption has to cleanse us from the core of our being so that we see the fruit of His power.  So, how are these fruits manifested?  What figures in covenant history have demonstrated a life ordered by the principles of the Lord?

Impartial to God’s Law (James 2:1-13)

One of the challenges of the Christian life is not allowing our earthly perspective to get in the way of our heavenly perspective.  We are people called to arrive at heaven.  We are people called to have the orientation of heaven ever before us as we sojourn through this age.  So, how is this worked out?  On the one hand we are struggling sinners called to honor the Lord and on the other hand we are called by a perfect God.  So, how are we to live our the righteous requirements of the law in light of our sinful struggle?

Being a Doer (James 1:19-27)

The law of God is one of those difficult things to address.  On the one hand we can go down the road of being self righteous where we reduce the meaning of the law down to a few outward things that are easy to keep.  We can also become a people who dismiss the seriousness of wanting to conform to the law.  We can claim that this law is not binding.  We can also go to a place where we claim that our works are needed for our entrance into heaven.  So, when James exhorts us to be doers of the law what can he possibly mean?  How can we be a doer of the law without minimizing Christ’s one time completed work?

The Perfect Giver (James 1:12-18)

James desires us to see and believe that God is the giver of all good things.  This might sound strange considering that James just talked about the suffering that we will endure in this life.  Why is it so important to see that God is good?  Do we vainly hope that God is good or is there another issue and problem that we need to own which prevents us from seeing God’s goodness?

Joyful Suffering? (James 1:2-11)

James tells us that we are to be joyful in the midst of our suffering.  What kind of system of belief is Christianity?  Is it possible to find joy in the midst of suffering?  Is this something that is optional where maybe we find joy 10 percent of the time and the rest of the time we claim an injustice?  What does James mean and how can we possibly have a perspective of “joy” in the midst of suffering?

Diaspora People (James 1:1)

We might think that we cannot relate to what it must have been like for Israel to be in exile.  The reality is that James greets the church as a group of people who are in exile.  We might think that this life is a waste because it does not measure up to what we want.  We need to listen to James who is laying out for us that this life probably will not meet our expectations because it is not supposed to meet our expectations.  So, why follow our God then if this life will not give us all that we think it should?

Why Trust in One God? (James 1:17 (LD 34))

There is a famous statement that you do not want to put all your eggs in one basket.  The point is that if you drop that basket it breaks all the eggs leaving you with nothing.  So, it is wiser to distribute your wealth across different baskets.  If this is true then why worship one God?  It would seem to make sense to worship a variety of gods to cover all basis?  Why is it wise to worship one God and live your life in light of HIs promises?

Is Wisdom Really the Answer? (James 1:5-8; LD 45)

When we face trials in this age the last word we think to describe them is, “joy.”  When we face those trials we generally pray for strength, healing, grace, or any of the above.  However, James tells us to ask for wisdom.  Why would we want wisdom to get through a trial?  I thought wisdom was the thing that you gained after a trial.