Last updated on December 8th, 2018 at 10:11 am

THE BOOK OF JAMES

“Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds.”

I. Exhortation to steadfastness and joy in trials, through wisdom (James 1:1-18)

– The Trial: Is it a Temptation for evil (the flesh’s agenda) or a Test for righteousness (God’s Spirit’s agenda)?

II. Wisdom in Thinking (James 1:19-27)

– Listening and receiving (believing) God’s Word

– Doing what God’s Word says, resulting in my soul’s (mind’s) salvation

III. Wisdom in Practice –Nine case study examples (In each case, identify the Trial, the Temptation, and the Test), followed by Biblical principles involved

1. Social prejudice (James 2:1-13)
• Trial: Partiality – when the rich and poor men walk in (James 2:2)
• Temptation: to pay attention to the rich man and place the poor man in the corner (James 2:3); to make distinctions based on worldly view (James 2:4); to show partiality (James 2:9); to claim righteousness of our actions (James 2:11)
• Test: to love our neighbor as ourself (James 2:8); to speak and act with the Spirit (James 2:12); to show no partiality (James 2:1O); to see others through God’s eyes (James 2:5)
2. Need and compassion (James 2:14-26)
• Trial: seeing a brother or sister in need (e.g., food, clothing) (James 2:15)
• Temptation: to say “go” … “without giving”, to not fulfill their need, to separate our faith from our works (James 2:16-17)
• Test: faith completed (made perfect) by our works (James 2:22)
3. Your tongue and its speech (James 3:1-12)

• Trial: we all have a mouth and tongue
• Temptation: unbridled tongue
• Test: bridled tongue

4. Selfish ambition (James 3:13-4:12)
• Trial: desires to be: right, important, have control, dominate, be respected, be loved, possesive
• Temptation: murder, covet, fight, jealousy, speaking evil
• Test: submit to God, purify your heart, humble yourself
5. Autonomy from God in everyday things (James 4:13-17)
• Trial: planning in the face of uncertainty regarding the future (James 4:14)
• Temptation: I make my plans, and I expect God to go along (James 4:13)
• Test: I ask God to direct both my plan and His execution (James 4:15)
6. Worldly wealth and riches (James 5:1-6)
• Trial: having temporary worldly riches ::= having enought to be generous vs. poor ::= having unmet needs
• Temptation: hoard, stingy, self-indulgence ⇒ death, miseries, weeping, howling, moth destruction, decay, theft, loss
• Test: generous, using to honor God, benefit others ⇒ life, no miseries, rewards in heaven
• Principles:
  Recognize we have temporary stewardship over wealth.
  Be Faithful in unrighteous (worldly) wealth and God will give us true wealth
7. Impatience (James 5:7-12)
• Trial: waiting for the Lord’s return
• Temptation: grumbling against each other ⇒ Judgement
• Test: patience, longsuffering, establishing your hearts ⇒ blessed (happy), see the purpose of the Lord (merciful, compassionate)
• Principles:
  The best antidote for grumbling is to know and recognize the Lord may return any minute.
  Learn to wait on the Lord.
  Have mercy and complassion on others as we wait to see God’s mercy and compassion in our lives.
8. Suffering (James 5:13-18)
• Trial: promise, commitment, “you give your word”
• Temptation: make an oath (promise with appeal to higher authority to validate) ⇒ Fall under condemnation (loss of confidence and trust)
• Test: keep your word ⇒ no condemnation (confidence and trust of others, self-respect, reputation)
• Principles:
  Take time to pray and think about every commitment before determining if and how to respond.
  Recognize the Spirit speaks through us and understand how important it is for our words and actions to be consistent.
  We can deceive ourselves, but not everyone around us; they recognize our level of integrity before we do.
  Be careful about setting expectations/commitments for others; it is their word that’s important, not commitments you make for them.
  Our integrity is our most valuable asset due to our amount of control over it; will we let the flesh or the Spirit control it?
  How we do or don’t keep our word demonstrates to others how connected we are with the Spirit
  
9. The Prayer of Faith (James 5:13-18)
• Trial: individual “everyday” suffering (James 5:13), severe affliction (sickness)(James 5:14-15), sin (James 5:14-16)
• Temptation: to not pray ⇒ Not saved, raised up, healed, or forgiven
• Test: pray individually and with others ⇒ saved, raised up, healed, and forgiven
• Principles:
  Recognize well all need saving in this life from physical and spiritual illinois.
  Pray so God will save us and raise us up.

IV. A Concluding Challenge (James 5:19-20)

• Principles:
  We can be an effectual priest in other peoples lives because of the trials we have experienced.
  God has given us the Word to save our soulds, and the Spirit to allow us to do it.
  We are to choose life for ourselves and for others around us.
• Actions to save others around us:
  1. We need to get to know them – we can’t save those who we haven’t come to know
  2. As we interact with others, learn to discern issues in the things we hear – critically evaluate against God’s Word
  3. Relate what we hear to our own trials we have experienced
  4. Pray and intercede for each other for both physical and spiritual healing
  5. Council, exhort, rebuke and encourage each other