Dennis Farro: Am I on?
Dennis Farro: Uh I don't hear anything.
Dennis Farro: I am on.
Dennis Farro: Okay.
Dennis Farro: All right.
Dennis Farro: Can't hear a thing.
Dennis Farro: Well, it's good to be here.
Dennis Farro: I was gonna say good to be back, but um it's not like I'm not here.
Dennis Farro: Um I can definitely relate to what Doug said about uh the steely silence.
Dennis Farro: There are times I've spoken in places, and I have absolutely no idea whether anyone's listening.
Dennis Farro: But you know, you you come to that point, and maybe Doug and Micah, you can relate to this, where right before you speak, you you make that covenant with the Lord and you say, no matter if anyone listens or not, I'm gonna I'm gonna preach your word and I'm gonna obey you, and I'm gonna give your word no matter whether anyone's here or not, whether anyone listens or not, and you have to actually have to come to that point because you're not doing it for others, you're doing it for Him.
Dennis Farro: So we're gonna hopefully move pretty quickly tonight through the book of James.
Dennis Farro: And let me just briefly begin with a word of prayer again.
Dennis Farro: Father, thank you so much for this opportunity to preach.
Dennis Farro: Thank you, Lord, for the practicality of this book, and thank you, God, for how this book has changed me by studying it.
Dennis Farro: Um, the great truths, the wonderful pithy sayings that are contained in this book.
Dennis Farro: We just pray that you'd be with us now during these next few minutes.
Dennis Farro: Amen.
Dennis Farro: So, just a brief introduction since we have to start somewhere.
Dennis Farro: The book of James is often called the Proverbs of the New Testament because of its practical wisdom.
Dennis Farro: It's also compared to the Sermon on the Mount in other instances.
Dennis Farro: Uh, at first glance, it could look like just a set of practical suggestions or prohibitions, but in actuality, it's a full-length illustration of what life in Christ really looks like.
Dennis Farro: So, just a little background, uh, in terms of who is James, there's a bit of a debate that goes on.
Dennis Farro: I think it's largely been settled, but just to review some of the Jameses that we know of.
Dennis Farro: First, of course, there's James, the son of Zebedee rather, the brother of John.
Dennis Farro: That's James the greater, some call him.
Dennis Farro: Then, of course, there's James, the son of Alpheus, who is likely the brother to Matthew, and he's called James the Less in some circles.
Dennis Farro: Then there's a l another James that we don't hear about much, James, the father of Judas, seen in Luke chapter 6, 16.
Dennis Farro: And this is Judas, not Iscariot.
Dennis Farro: Neither one of these Jameses, do we believe, the one is the one who authored this book.
Dennis Farro: This would be James, the brother of the Lord.
Dennis Farro: Uh, we see James in the upper room praying in Acts uh chapter 11.
Dennis Farro: Jesus appeared to him after the resurrection.
Dennis Farro: He also moderated the church conference in Acts 15.
Dennis Farro: He received greetings and special love offerings from Paul upon his return to Jerusalem in Acts 21.
Dennis Farro: According to tradition, he was martyred in 62 AD.
Dennis Farro: Uh, tradition also uh says that he was known as Old Camelnes because of the fact that he prayed so much.
Dennis Farro: Uh what a tribute to an individual to be known that way, to be spending that much time praying.
Dennis Farro: Uh, a little bit of the background of the book, again, like we said, it was written by James, most likely in about 45 to 48 A.D., uh before the Jerusalem Council.
Dennis Farro: And uh one of the proofs for that is that there's no mention of Gentile believers in this book.
Dennis Farro: No, uh, it was not shaped by later church controversies.
Dennis Farro: So there's pretty good indicator that this is an early book.
Dennis Farro: And who was the book written to?
Dennis Farro: It was written to Messianic Jews, and we'll see that in a minute as we look at verse 1.
Dennis Farro: And these were Jews living outside of Palestine in an early diaspora.
Dennis Farro: James wrote this book uh again as a way after the Jews were scattered to Cyprus and Phoenicia and Antioch, essentially he was addressing the diaspora.
Dennis Farro: He gives instructions to these diaspora Jews to stay connected to the body of Christ, and as we'll see shortly, a major theme is faith.
Dennis Farro: James deals with practical issues more so than doctrinal issues.
Dennis Farro: So in some ways, it's interesting to examine the book from a different uh a different uh vantage point.
Dennis Farro: So let's actually just dive into the text now, and I have actually actually before we do that, let me quote one or two more things.
Dennis Farro: Uh a few responses to the book of James from some of the reformers, um, and just a little preface to that.
Dennis Farro: The book of James was somewhat disputed in the early church.
Dennis Farro: There are those who had issues with it, like Eusebius, Jerome had some issues with it.
Dennis Farro: Uh, even Martin Luther, of course, referred to as the Epistle of Straw.
Dennis Farro: But Martin Luther also wrote this though this epistle of St.
Dennis Farro: James was was rejected by the ancients, I praise it and consider it a good book because it sets up no doctrine of men, but vigorously promulgates the law of God.
Dennis Farro: Calvin said, the occasion of writing the epistle appears to have been the abuse made of the doctrine of free grace by professing Christians.
Dennis Farro: These are evils which have which have ever prevailed in the church.
Dennis Farro: So now let's well, let's slow down for one thing.
Dennis Farro: Um I'm I'm very concerned that we get through this.
Dennis Farro: Um I said to I think I said to Mike on the way over, I you know I think next time I'm gonna sign up for for Jude, you know, because it's only one chapter, you know, that I can handle.
Dennis Farro: Maybe Jude, maybe Philemon, you know.
Dennis Farro: Okay, so let's dive into it.
Dennis Farro: Chapter one, we're gonna call that faith is tested.
Dennis Farro: Verse one, James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes scattered among the nations.
Dennis Farro: Well, one of the things we see there is James's humility.
Dennis Farro: He doesn't say, I'm the brother of Jesus, by the way.
Dennis Farro: He doesn't remind everyone who he is.
Dennis Farro: He just says, I am a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Dennis Farro: No indication from those words as to who he was.
Dennis Farro: Then he also says to the twelve tribes.
Dennis Farro: And what's interesting there to me is the fact that we often have heard that some of the tribes were lost.
Dennis Farro: Well, not according to James.
Dennis Farro: These these tribes uh do exist in his mind and they're they're still in existence now.
Dennis Farro: But there are some who would say that the ten tribes were lost when Israel was taken into captivity.
Dennis Farro: Uh so now let's talk about verses two through four, the joy in trials and temptations.
Dennis Farro: My gosh, I could oh, I could preach on some of these verses for hours, but I know everyone's gonna leave if we do that.
Dennis Farro: Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance.
Dennis Farro: Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.
Dennis Farro: This patience, this perseverance results in our maturity and our completion, so that we might be fully developed like fruit on a tree and fully equipped to serve God.
Dennis Farro: Then there's also wisdom in the trial.
Dennis Farro: Verse 5 If any of you lack wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault.
Dennis Farro: Let me just stop right here.
Dennis Farro: How often do we ever think to ask God for wisdom for the littlest things that we face every day?
Dennis Farro: I I can tell you right now, I don't.
Dennis Farro: There are many times I don't.
Dennis Farro: And yet, what a what a promise we have right here that God will give us wisdom when we can't figure things out, we don't know what to do, don't know how to respond.
Dennis Farro: He will give us to us generously.
Dennis Farro: Not just a little bit, but generously.
Dennis Farro: He will supply us generously, but what's even more incredible here is that if we ask of God, he gives it generously without finding fault.
Dennis Farro: So, in other words, he will give to us without criticizing us, without scolding, without finding fault in the one asking.
Dennis Farro: That's it, that's a tremendous thought right there.
Dennis Farro: And then there's belief in the trial during the trial.
Dennis Farro: It says in verse 6, when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind.
Dennis Farro: That man should not think that he will receive anything from the Lord.
Dennis Farro: He is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.
Dennis Farro: What does this idea teach?
Dennis Farro: Well, the doubter is unstable like the sea.
Dennis Farro: Such a person is double-minded.
Dennis Farro: Double-minded means divided loyalty, having a heart that is pulled in two different directions.
Dennis Farro: And the idea is instability, and you'll often find that in Christians, instability and immaturity go together.
Dennis Farro: He goes on in verse 9 the brother in humble circumstances ought to take pride in his high position, but the one who is rich should take pride in his low position, because he will pass away like a wild flower.
Dennis Farro: For the sun rises with scorching heat, and without the plant, its blossom falls and its beauty is destroyed.
Dennis Farro: In the same way, the rich man will fade away even while he goes about his business.
Dennis Farro: So we have a contrast here between rich and poor.
Dennis Farro: In one sense, they can both rejoice.
Dennis Farro: Poverty, of course, was a very crushing trial for many believers.
Dennis Farro: And you'll find that when you study the uh the uh the ancient uh Christians, it really was no middle class back then.
Dennis Farro: It was really mostly very poor people and very wealthy people.
Dennis Farro: But the poor could rejoice in the fact that even though they were had a low status because of their poverty, they could still glory in the riches that they had in Christ.
Dennis Farro: The wealthy, by contrast, also faced a trial because they had to learn how not to trust wealth, but how to glory in being humble.
Dennis Farro: There's also a reward that's mentioned here for endurance in the trial.
Dennis Farro: And verse 12 to me sounds almost like a beatitude.
Dennis Farro: Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love it.
Dennis Farro: You know, an interesting study sometime is to look at the crowns that the believer may attain in Scripture.
Dennis Farro: There's various crowns that one can attain, but in this instance, the one who has persevered, the one who has endured a trial will receive the crown of life.
Dennis Farro: Then he moves on to a section in verse 13 through the rest of the chapter that deals with temptation.
Dennis Farro: We're gonna call that the goodness of God in temptation.
Dennis Farro: Verses, actually, verses 13 to 18.
Dennis Farro: And temptations are sent by Satan, whereas trials are sent by God.
Dennis Farro: So there's a whole section here that talks about that.
Dennis Farro: Don't say that it's God that is tempting you.
Dennis Farro: It is not God that is tempting you.
Dennis Farro: Temptations are sent by Satan and one's evil desires, he uses one's evil desires to drag someone away.
Dennis Farro: Now, verse 14, it says, the scripture says that he is dragged away.
Dennis Farro: And that word seems to imply the idea of being baited, baiting a track, a trap, so that the person is dragged away, the person is baited, if you will, and enticed.
Dennis Farro: And the idea there seems to be baiting a hook.
Dennis Farro: So we can almost think of it as a person who is dragged away by his desires.
Dennis Farro: He is baited and by a trap, and he is enticed almost like the way a fish would be enticed by what whatever is on the hook.
Dennis Farro: But, however, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin.
Dennis Farro: And sin, when it is full grown, gives birth to death.
Dennis Farro: We can think of it this way think of it as a almost like a human analogy.
Dennis Farro: So desire is is gets pregnant, if you will, with sin.
Dennis Farro: And when sin is born and matures, it grows up into an adult called death.
Dennis Farro: So think of that analogy.
Dennis Farro: But then by contrast, think of how God produces birth, not through an evil desire, but through the word of God.
Dennis Farro: This then grows up not into an adult called death, but an adult called life.
Dennis Farro: And into the first fruits of his creatures.
Dennis Farro: That is a new life in us, the new birth.
Dennis Farro: So the idea of first fruits was taken from the Torah.
Dennis Farro: If you remember back in places like Leviticus, places like uh Exodus, the first fruits were the first things that were offered to God.
Dennis Farro: And so the believers are contrasted here, or or compared here rather, to that first portion of harvest that was set aside for God.
Dennis Farro: And then verse 17 talks about good gifts.
Dennis Farro: Every good and perfect gift is from above and comes down from the Father, from the of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.
Dennis Farro: And other versions say, with no shadow of turning, no variableness.
Dennis Farro: And the idea there, which is really incredible, is this idea that God keeps giving.
Dennis Farro: Did you know that the verse there in verse 17 is the actually the word is the uh present participle in Greek.
Dennis Farro: And so the idea is not just that He that it comes down, the gift comes down from God, but that it keeps on coming.
Dennis Farro: It's in the present tense.
Dennis Farro: That means it continues, it's a continuous thing.
Dennis Farro: God's giving keeps on coming.
Dennis Farro: That's a tremendous idea that we have that we realize that God is always someone who's willing to give his good gifts.
Dennis Farro: And then what is the godly response to temptation?
Dennis Farro: We see that in verses 19 to 27.
Dennis Farro: Well, first of all, don't respond in anger, because it's very easy for us to respond in anger, isn't it?
Dennis Farro: And so many times we do it.
Dennis Farro: Verse 19, my dear brothers, take note of this.
Dennis Farro: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry.
Dennis Farro: As someone once said, there's a reason why you have two ears and one mouth.
Dennis Farro: And so we are to listen, we are to not get angry, we are to not respond in anger.
Dennis Farro: We are to actively obey God.
Dennis Farro: And then it says in verse 20 for man's anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires.
Dennis Farro: Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word of God.
Dennis Farro: So that's the second response, to get rid of all moral filth.
Dennis Farro: This idea of that is used in verse 21 there, it says that the word is planted in you, which can save you.
Dennis Farro: That's an interesting word right there.
Dennis Farro: I think of it as the heart as a garden.
Dennis Farro: And if left to itself, the soil produces weeds.
Dennis Farro: And we should prepare that soil for the implanted word of God.
Dennis Farro: Allow God to plant his word.
Dennis Farro: Now, a really important verse is 22.
Dennis Farro: Do not merely listen to the word and so deceive yourselves.
Dennis Farro: Do what it says.
Dennis Farro: And that's really the heart of the book of James, if you want to cut to the chase of it.
Dennis Farro: It's not being a hearer, but also a doer.
Dennis Farro: So easy for us to let to know, isn't it?
Dennis Farro: But not to do.
Dennis Farro: It's so easy for us to listen.
Dennis Farro: I think about how many sermons I've heard in my life, and how many of them have I put into practice is another word.
Dennis Farro: How many of them do I even remember?
Dennis Farro: Is a better question.
Dennis Farro: Do what it says.
Dennis Farro: Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks in a mirror, and after looking at it, he goes away and immediately forgets what he looks at.
Dennis Farro: And that's exactly what it is.
Dennis Farro: The idea of looking into a mirror is similar to listening to the word but not obeying it, just completely forgetting about it.
Dennis Farro: Yeah, that sounds good.
Dennis Farro: We heard a good sermon in church.
Dennis Farro: Sunday, by Tuesday, who knows what we heard?
Dennis Farro: You know, that's that's the bottom line, right?
Dennis Farro: Isn't that how it is sometimes?
Dennis Farro: Yeah, we ought to look into the law of liberty, because the law of liberty, as it says in verse 24, after goes away, say no, immediately say, but the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it, he will be blessed in what he does.
Dennis Farro: And this isn't when I think about looking into the law of liberty, I think of like bending down and stooping and intently gazing into the divine law of God as perfected and as fulfilled in Christ.
Dennis Farro: And even this word perfect, which is in Greek is teleos, is a word that means complete, it means mature, it means whole.
Dennis Farro: And so James is talking about this law of liberty, and later on we'll talk about the law of faith.
Dennis Farro: And then finally, wrapping up this chapter, uh I'm gonna jump to verse 27.
Dennis Farro: Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.
Dennis Farro: And so we have a negative and we also have a positive there.
Dennis Farro: The positive part is to look after orphans and widows.
Dennis Farro: And of course, in our day and age, that could even extend to other things.
Dennis Farro: It doesn't have to be orphans and widows per se.
Dennis Farro: But certainly in that day that was emphasized, and that's an important thing.
Dennis Farro: I myself was raised by a widow, and so this verse is particularly important to me, particularly relevant.
Dennis Farro: Then the negative side would be to keep oneself unpolluted, undefiled, if you will, from the world.
Dennis Farro: Then we're gonna move on to chapter two, and chapter two we're gonna call Faith is proven.
Dennis Farro: And this is a chapter that talks about how you prove your faith by not showing favoritism.
Dennis Farro: And that's this whole first section we're gonna talk about, verses one through nine.
Dennis Farro: I'm not gonna read every verse, again, for sake of time, but just to read a f a few choice verses, verse two of chapter two.
Dennis Farro: So a man comes into your meeting with a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man, and a poor man is is uh let's see, I missed it, and a poor man in shabby clothes also comes in.
Dennis Farro: If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say, here's a good seat for you, but say to the poor man, you stand here or sit on the floor by my feet, are you not discriminating and become judges with evil thoughts?
Dennis Farro: So in in that day, the synagogues were the assemblies.
Dennis Farro: And so this actually was an issue.
Dennis Farro: And you know, I actually know Jews today, and this is still an issue in some congregations where the rich are highly favored.
Dennis Farro: But what does James say?
Dennis Farro: Don't favor the rich in your congregation, don't favor them over the poor.
Dennis Farro: In verse 5, he goes on to say that the poor or more are more likely to be rich in faith.
Dennis Farro: And think of it, Jesus himself was poor.
Dennis Farro: We know that, but we often forget about the implications of that.
Dennis Farro: Jesus was born in a borrowed stable, he borrowed a boat to preach from, he borrowed bread from a small boy to make an illustration to provide food for the crowd.
Dennis Farro: He borrowed a coin also to make an illustration.
Dennis Farro: He also borrowed a donkey to ride into Jerusalem.
Dennis Farro: He borrowed a room to celebrate the Passover.
Dennis Farro: He even even a tomb was borrowed from Joseph of Arimathea to bury him.
Dennis Farro: So Jesus himself was poor.
Dennis Farro: And of course, he could relate more than anyone to the poor.
Dennis Farro: In verse 6, it says that the rich were seen as exploitive, and they would bring the poor into court and slander the name of Christ.
Dennis Farro: Now, by the way, let me just say that there's a big difference between unsaved rich people and saved rich people.
Dennis Farro: Never does the Bible condemn riches for the sake of riches themselves.
Dennis Farro: It's really do riches have you more so than do you have riches?
Dennis Farro: He goes on to say that you prove your faith by loving your neighbor.
Dennis Farro: This is verses eight and nine.
Dennis Farro: Showing favoritism makes you a lawbreaker.
Dennis Farro: Christian love is treating others the way that God has treated us.
Dennis Farro: And we prove our faith by obeying God's laws and showing mercy to others.
Dennis Farro: Now we're getting into verses 2 10 to 13.
Dennis Farro: And here in verse 10, uh I'm sorry, verse 11, the scripture says, For he who said, Do not commit adultery, also said, do not murder.
Dennis Farro: If you do not commit adultery, but do commit murder, you have become a lawbreaker.
Dennis Farro: And you know, the issue here is there are people who think that they haven't broken the law because it's something they didn't do.
Dennis Farro: The truth is we've all broken laws.
Dennis Farro: The truth is that every one of us has broken a commandment at one time or another.
Dennis Farro: And so if if you break one little aspect of the whole law, and that's what he's saying, you've broken the whole thing as far as God is concerned.
Dennis Farro: Verse 13, you will be judged by God if you don't show mercy to others.
Dennis Farro: And so that's a principle that we see over and over again in scripture.
Dennis Farro: Now, an important section in verses 14, going down to the end of the chapter.
Dennis Farro: And it's a section that's almost always confused by many because of the idea of faith and works being presented.
Dennis Farro: So let me just say at the outset by contrasting Paul and James, Paul combats legalism, but James combats dead orthodoxy.
Dennis Farro: So they come at it from two different angles.
Dennis Farro: Paul says, by grace you have been saved through faith, not of works.
Dennis Farro: But James says, faith without works is dead.
Dennis Farro: The difference is that Paul is concerned with people trying to earn salvation by the works of the law, but James is addressing people who are claiming faith but showing no evidence of faith in their lives.
Dennis Farro: And that's the big difference here.
Dennis Farro: Faith by itself is not a saving faith, it says in verse 14, right?
Dennis Farro: Sounds controversial, doesn't it?
Dennis Farro: And then in verse 17, faith by itself is a dead faith.
Dennis Farro: Calvin had a great quote on this, by the way.
Dennis Farro: I love this quote.
Dennis Farro: It is faith alone that justifies, but faith that justifies can never be alone.
Dennis Farro: Think about that one for a little bit.
Dennis Farro: Faith actually is accomplished by action.
Dennis Farro: So let's take an illustration, a homespun illustration.
Dennis Farro: If you have a tree, and let's say the roots represent faith, but the fruit and the leaves of that tree represent works, okay?
Dennis Farro: So got this illustration in your mind?
Dennis Farro: The roots are faith and the fruit and the uh fruit is works.
Dennis Farro: But you see a tree that doesn't bear any leaves or doesn't bear any fruit.
Dennis Farro: Is it not reasonable to conclude that that tree is dead?
Dennis Farro: Now the truth is the root might be alive, it might still be alive, but one could easily assume that it's dead.
Dennis Farro: That's what I believe is being spoken about here.
Dennis Farro: It's what is evidenced by that faith.
Dennis Farro: That's what James is talking about here.
Dennis Farro: He says in verse 20, you foolish man, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless?
Dennis Farro: Now, again, that's rendered in different uh different ways in different versions.
Dennis Farro: Actually, let me let me go back to 19 for a second because I want to touch on something there.
Dennis Farro: In verse 19, it's a great verse.
Dennis Farro: He says, You believe, huh?
Dennis Farro: That's great.
Dennis Farro: Well, guess what?
Dennis Farro: The demons believe too and and tremble and shudder.
Dennis Farro: So if you're gonna use belief as something to validate your faith, the bad news for you is the fact that the devils believe too.
Dennis Farro: That's not the point.
Dennis Farro: You know, the Jews used to uh uh have a daily affirmation of faith where they would say, you know, the Shema Shema Israel Adunai Elahaino Adunai Echad, you know, the Lord God is one God.
Dennis Farro: So they would utter this again and again and again.
Dennis Farro: So there was there was faith there, but the question is not, do you believe?
Dennis Farro: The question is, is there evidence of your belief?
Dennis Farro: Or is that faith useless, as it says in verse 20?
Dennis Farro: And that word useless, by the way, connotes the idea of barren.
Dennis Farro: Um it's almost akin to having an account where the money draws no interest.
Dennis Farro: So faith and works or faith and deeds, if you will, must work together.
Dennis Farro: And then illustrations are given that later in the chapter.
Dennis Farro: In verses 21 and 22, the illustration of Abraham.
Dennis Farro: Abraham was not saved by obeying God's difficult command, but rather his obedience demonstrated that he was saved.
Dennis Farro: And then, of course, Rahab illustrates her works, also are illustrated in verse 25.
Dennis Farro: And then finally, in verse 26, the scripture says, faith without deeds is like a body without the spirit of life in it.
Dennis Farro: You can have a body, the body is certainly there, and there's no doubt that the body is there, but if there's no spirit of life in it, it is a dead body.
Dennis Farro: An existent body, an existing body, but a dead body.
Dennis Farro: So now we move on to chapter three, faith is controlled.
Dennis Farro: And this is a chapter that's going to talk all about something that gets us all into trouble, the tongue.
Dennis Farro: And the very first verse says, Not many of you, not many of you should presume to be teachers, my brothers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly.
Dennis Farro: We also stumble and in many ways.
Dennis Farro: And that's kind of a convicting verse for those of us who actually preach and teach, that the burden is more on us than others because of the fact that we are held accountable for what we say.
Dennis Farro: Those that James was dealing with may have actually had a desire because of the prestige of the office to teach, and he might have been addressing it, the issue, because of that reason.
Dennis Farro: So then he jumps into this area of the tongue.
Dennis Farro: The tongue must be controlled or tamed because it's small yet powerful.
Dennis Farro: So three illustrations are given the horse's bit and the ship's rudder, and also a spark from a fire.
Dennis Farro: All three of them are small, but can do great, great damage, and also are very powerful, just like a bit in a horse's mouth can turn a horse, a rudder can turn a ship, a spark can set uh a forest on fire.
Dennis Farro: In verse 8, it says, the tongue is unsettled and never at peace.
Dennis Farro: It's responsible for hypocritical and destructive speech.
Dennis Farro: We're going to see in verses 9 through 12.
Dennis Farro: And then more illustrations are given in verse 10.
Dennis Farro: It says, Out of the same mouth comes praise and cursing.
Dennis Farro: My brothers, this ought not to be.
Dennis Farro: Can fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring?
Dennis Farro: My brothers, can a fig tree bear olives?
Dennis Farro: And so that's an interesting question.
Dennis Farro: What about that?
Dennis Farro: What about these fountains?
Dennis Farro: Fountains were very important to the Jews, to anyone living in a village.
Dennis Farro: I was in Italy this summer, and every town had a fountain.
Dennis Farro: And there was an interesting history given about the significance of each fountain and what they represented.
Dennis Farro: So fresh fountains were very precious.
Dennis Farro: And water itself can be either life-giving or it could be destructive, right?
Dennis Farro: There can be a tsunami of water coming at you.
Dennis Farro: But what Paul is saying here is that you cannot do both.
Dennis Farro: One cannot cannot uh give forth fresh water, but at the same time give forth bitter or salty water.
Dennis Farro: Then the next section talks about how the heart must be controlled and tamed as long as well as the tongue.
Dennis Farro: Verse 13 says, gosh, me a little.
Dennis Farro: Okay, verse 13.
Dennis Farro: Who is wise and understanding among you?
Dennis Farro: Let him show it by his good life, by his deeds, done in the humility that comes from wisdom.
Dennis Farro: So we've kind of moved from the tongue to the area of the heart.
Dennis Farro: And Paul and James emphasizes rather that the heart must be controlled and tamed as well.
Dennis Farro: The believer should be character by characterized by humility, and the believer should be without envy and without self-ambition.
Dennis Farro: And there's a bunch of other things listed here too.
Dennis Farro: Uh let's see, in verse 15, he says, let's see.
Dennis Farro: Such wisdom does not come down from heaven, but is earthly, unspiritual, and of the devil.
Dennis Farro: Yeah, sure, thanks.
Dennis Farro: Speaking of water, huh?
Dennis Farro: That's a good illustration right here.
Dennis Farro: I hope this is fresh and not bitter.
Dennis Farro: Very timely, yeah, exactly.
Dennis Farro: Verse 16 for where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and have evil practice.
Dennis Farro: But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure, then peace-loving, then considerate, submissive, full of mercy, and good fruit, impartial and sincere.
Dennis Farro: Again, there's a lot more we can say about it.
Dennis Farro: And I I I apologize for rushing.
Dennis Farro: It's just that um there's there's so much here.
Dennis Farro: So we're gonna just move on to verse to chapter four faith is submitted.
Dennis Farro: So first we have the problem in verses one through four.
Dennis Farro: And I'll just read a few of these verses.
Dennis Farro: What causes fights and quarrels among you?
Dennis Farro: Don't they come from your desires that baptism?
Dennis Farro: within you want something but you don't get it you kill and you covet but you cannot get what you want you quarrel and you fight you do not have because you do not ask God when you ask you do not receive because you ask with wrong motives that you may spend what you that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.
Dennis Farro: My gosh there's so much there that we could talk about.
Dennis Farro: I mean that is a a convicting verse uh there's so much that we can say about it but the question is when we pray do we do so with wrong motives he even goes on and says with even harsher language you turn to the world instead of turning to God therefore making yourself an enemy of God.
Dennis Farro: So the question is what is meant by being a friend of the world?
Dennis Farro: Here's a question we have to ask I believe what it's saying is that you're being approved by the world.
Dennis Farro: You're going to the world to obtain your needs to meet your needs.
Dennis Farro: What I don't believe it's saying is that you're you're you know listening to music or going you know playing cards you know there's a lot of things in the in the past that people have assumed uh was synonymous with worldliness worldliness but I don't believe that's what it's saying here.
Dennis Farro: Friendship with the world is actually just seeking approval trying to be like the world that's essentially what it is to make it simple.
Dennis Farro: It's compared further down with adultery.
Dennis Farro: And the Jews had heard this language before because the prophets had used the same illustrations and when rebuking Judah for her their her sins comparing what they were doing to a spiritual form of adultery if you will the spirit of the world is strife and envy.
Dennis Farro: Then God deeply desires our devotion like a husband it says in verse 5.
Dennis Farro: Let me just read that real quick or do you think scripture says without reason that the spirit he caused to live in us envies intensely and so it's a little bit of a tricky verse but I believe what it's saying is that God desires our devotion like a husband is jealous for his wife's faithfulness.
Dennis Farro: And this is why friendship with the world is spiritual adultery if you will.
Dennis Farro: It's committing adultery against God.
Dennis Farro: Not only is there a problem within but also a provision of grace we see that in verse six but he gives us more grace which is why the scripture says God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.
Dennis Farro: And then we move on to a section that I call the path to victory verses seven through ten.
Dennis Farro: Just a uh a number of uh ideas here verse seven submit yourselves then to God resist the devil and he will flee from you so this idea of submitting to God when I looked it up this word submit is a military term that means get into your proper rank.
Dennis Farro: So if you will get into your proper rank with God be in the position that God wants you to be humbly submitted before him.
Dennis Farro: Then he goes on resist the devil and God gives us strength to do that.
Dennis Farro: Come near to God and he will come near to you.
Dennis Farro: Wash your hands purify your hearts you double minded grieve mourn and wail change your laughter into mourning and your joy to gloom now that's an interesting verse right there.
Dennis Farro: So what is that talking about should Christians never laugh?
Dennis Farro: I'm in trouble if that's the case because I like to laugh.
Dennis Farro: I like to make people laugh as well but it says turn your laughter into mourning and your joy into heaviness well James is addressing people here that are smug that are self-satisfied and these were people that were treating sin lightly and they were ignoring God's holiness.
Dennis Farro: And that's what he's referring to here.
Dennis Farro: There's nothing wrong with Christians laughing but there should be a seriousness about sin rather than laughter about it.
Dennis Farro: And then there's a prohibition of slander in verses 11 and 12 brothers do not slander one another anyone who speaks against his brother or judges him speaks against the law and judges it.
Dennis Farro: When you judge the law you are not keeping it but sitting in judgment on it.
Dennis Farro: There's only one lawgiver and judge the one who was able to save and to destroy but you who are you to judge your neighbor boy doesn't that make it clear to summarize that there's only one lawgiver and judge and it's not you and it's not me.
Dennis Farro: Then we move on to the priority of God's will and this is in verses 13 through 17.
Dennis Farro: And again he talks about not presuming we shouldn't be presumptuous uh verse 13 and in verse 14 he talks about the verse that we all know what is your life we can we can't be presumptuous about tomorrow because we don't know what a day may bring I always had a hard time let me just say this off the cuff.
Dennis Farro: I always had a hard time with the question what is your five year plan?
Dennis Farro: My answer's always been I have no idea.
Dennis Farro: I don't even know what I'm doing next week honestly not to say that you shouldn't plan but I've never been good at being able to say that because I just don't know.
Dennis Farro: None of us know what's coming up.
Dennis Farro: And so we cannot be presumptuous about tomorrow because we just don't know what a day brings and the illustration is given of course about a vapor a life is a vapor it's a mist that is here today it's gone tomorrow it's here for a little while it's very it's disturbing to think of that but it's really true.
Dennis Farro: And then he says you boast and brag and also all such boasting is evil and so we're not to presume we're also not to boast we're also to avoid not to avoid doing the good which we have the ability to do.
Dennis Farro: Anyone who knows the good he ought to do and doesn't do it sins.
Dennis Farro: Let me read that verse because that's a really convict anyone then who knows the good he ought to do and doesn't do it sins.
Dennis Farro: That means if I know to do the right thing and I choose not to do it I'm sinning.
Dennis Farro: If you know to do the right thing if God's telling you to do something and you don't do it that's sin according to James I didn't say it he said it then we move on to chapter five and chapter five I'm gonna call Faith is patient.
Dennis Farro: And the chapter begins by again excoriating the rich and he talks about how and we're gonna see how the there is a connection between this section verses one through six to the following section which is talking about the poor essentially the rich were ex exploiting the poor and treating them terribly and they were withholding wages for example and they were not listening to the cries of those who were treated unjustly and these poor people here were day laborers and we see that actually in verses five and six and yet they were exploited yet they were treated poorly and yet God tells them he has warnings against them he says that you live in luxury while ignoring others but you're like someone who's fattening themselves for the day of slaughter you can fatten yourselves now but there's a day coming where you're going to be slaughtered and God will instead hear the cries of the poor he will instead hear the cries of those who have been treated poorly that you they held withheld wages and that was something that God didn't forget.
Dennis Farro: And so really this whole section is talking about patience.
Dennis Farro: So he's encouraging them despite how they've been treated to be patient.
Dennis Farro: In verse 7 be patient then brothers until the Lord comes and then he gives several illustrations the first being the farmer see how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop and how patient he is for the autumn and spring rains.
Dennis Farro: So when a farmer plants he has to wait there's a time of waiting you don't just get crops automatically there's a lot of patience that is needed.
Dennis Farro: Verse 9 don't grumble against each other brothers or you will be judged the the judge is standing at the door.
Dennis Farro: Then the second illustration of patience is in verse 10 brothers as an example of patience in the face of suffering take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord as you know we consider blessed those who were perse who who persevered and of course they are great examples of prophets who preached and preached and often saw no results for many many years and they were stoned and they were treated poorly and yet they're upheld here as an example of patience.
Dennis Farro: And a third example of patience is is the personage of Job.
Dennis Farro: Now I have to tell you when I first read that I said to myself you know I never really thought of Job as a particularly patient individual I've read the book of Job many times.
Dennis Farro: He seemed kind of impatient if you ask me but what I believe God is saying here is that initially Job was impatient but that he learned patience through everything he experienced he did learn patience.
Dennis Farro: And yes it is true that he did question God but he never forsook his faith and so Job is used here by James as an example of patience.
Dennis Farro: And then he goes to a section above all swear not by heaven or by earth as in verse 12 and then we get to verse 13 and this is a section that talks about praying and again some quick pithy sayings right here prayer in all circumstances is any one of you in trouble other verses other versions say afflicted or suffering he should pray very simple.
Dennis Farro: You have a problem pray can't get more simple than that is anyone happy let him sing songs of praise I would even add if anyone is unhappy sing songs of praise is any among you sick he should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord.
Dennis Farro: Now a little comment on that there are those who make an issue of this word anointed uh as if there's something magical about it.
Dennis Farro: But the Greek word is actually alepho and it just means to rub or to massage with oil if you will so there's no merit in the oil there's merit in the prayers.
Dennis Farro: I believe that the prayer offered here in faith uh it says it will it will make the person well but I also believe that it's saying that the context is sin.
Dennis Farro: And so that those here who were sick may have been so because of great sin that they committed that caused their situation.
Dennis Farro: And I get that from verse 15 where it says if he has sinned he will be forgiven let's just read the whole verse.
Dennis Farro: That prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well the Lord will raise him up if he has sinned he will be forgiven.
Dennis Farro: Just a thought.
Dennis Farro: Then verse 16 says therefore confess your now this version says confess your sins one to another and pray for each other so that you may be healed.
Dennis Farro: Now if I may dive into the Greek again this word for fault for or sins here is actually paratoma it's it's looked like paraptoma but the P is silent in there.
Dennis Farro: So the word is paratoma and it just means wrongdoing or slip or lapse.
Dennis Farro: It's not the stronger word hamartia which many of us who study theology know about Hamartyology.
Dennis Farro: And so what I think it's saying very simply is confess your faults one to another but confess your sins to God.
Dennis Farro: I don't think there's a need for us to confess our sins one to another but we should be openly open with our faults and acknowledge our faults and failures if we are in situations within the church body where our relationships may have been harmed.
Dennis Farro: So we are to confess our sins to God and confess our faults one to another and then an example is given of an effective prayer and that's Elijah.
Dennis Farro: Elijah is mentioned verses 17 and 18 he prayed that it would not rain and God answered his prayer and then he prayed that it would rain and the heavens responded.
Dennis Farro: And finally the verse the last two verses pursuing the wanderer my brother if any of any one of you should wander from the truth and someone should bring him back remember this whoever turns a sinner from the error of his way will save him and will cover a multitude of sins.
Dennis Farro: And so when we reach out when we actually confront someone who is sinning this that's a biblical concept it actually says that it will it will it will cover his sin.
Dennis Farro: And what that means is not that it will not that you're going to forgive his sin of course but it means that it will hide it will prevent future sins from taking place because it will stop him from that downward spiral of rebellion.
Dennis Farro: Conclusion James shows us that faith which works is faith that endures trials and temptations produces action controls the tongue submits humbly and waits patiently the question tonight is is your faith something that you profess or something that you practice?
Dennis Farro: And that's the question that all of us need to ask ourselves let's just close now with a word of prayer.
Dennis Farro: Father thank you for these very home hitting truths that affect all of us and that confront all of us and help us Lord to think about what's what's what's being said in your word some very simple but very profound words that James gives to us Lord help us to not be hypocritical help us Lord to be submissive and Father may we be people more so than anything else that don't just hear the word but actually do it as well.
Dennis Farro: We just pray these things in Jesus' name amen.