Remaining Under (James 1)

Once upon a time I participated in a study over the book of James by Beth Moore. In the first session she challenged us to memorize the entire book of James. I thought that sounded like a pretty good challenge so I got busy memorizing. I finished chapter one and never got any farther and that was probably five years ago. Of course the verses I repeated the most were the ones at the beginning of the book.

One day I was at the dentist – I hate the dentist – and I was very nervous as they prepared me for the drill. I laid there in the chair trying desperately to think of any Bible verse I could recite to bring me peace and comfort. Immediately my mind went to the book of James – surely there was peace and comfort there! Unfortunately, all I could remember was verse one – James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes scattered among the nations, Greetings. James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes scattered among the nations, Greetings.

Now while that verse didn’t necessarily bring peace to my heart, it did bring peace to my body as I recited it over and over and over again. God’s word will not ever return void!

I love that our study of James directly follows our study of the book of Job. They go hand in hand! All of the lessons and truths that we learned in Job are affirmed in the book of James. James is a practical book for godly living – some even call it the Proverbs of the New Testament. James skips from topic to topic, giving believers instructions for how to live out their faith every day.

The first topic he tackles is suffering, trials and perseverance. The Greek word for steadfastness literally means “to remain under”. I have some beautiful notes written in my Bible from 2015 when I battled chronic hives for most of that year. I wrote, “Trials develop perseverance and wisdom, making me more like Jesus. When I am more like Jesus, people will see HIM in me! I have had hives for six months so far and I am asking God to allow me to remain under them for as long as it takes to make me more like Jesus!” That note was dated 3/3/15. Another note just after that simply says “Hives gone” 7/15. What a beautiful reminder to me of the beauty that comes to a heart surrendered to God, a heart that remains under a trial until it has produced steadfastness and maturity. If you are under a trial right now, friend, can I encourage you to fully submit to God in it as you remain under it? He may not remove it from you quickly, but you can be sure that he is creating completion in you.

The next section of chapter one deals with brothers who are poor and those who are rich. I just love how God gives me good practical examples to help me understand what he’s teaching me in Scripture. Just yesterday I spoke with two separate believers. One shared with me about seeking the Lord and serving Him in their poverty, trying to trust Him to provide for their needs. Just a few hours later another person came to me to share about how they are trying to trust God in their wealth, seeking ways to serve Him and know Him more without getting lured by the temptation to love their money and possessions. I think that’s what this passage is getting at – no matter your financial situation, seeking to overcome it to the praise and glory of God!

James 1:12-18 takes us back to the trials – Face it, trials were a common, ever-present fact for believers in the first century church, just like they are for us in 2017! James says that the one who remains under those trials will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those that love Him! Again, God doesn’t take the trial away! The person remains under it. When you’re faced with a trial, do you willingly take your place under it or do you beg God to take it? The next time you are faced with a trial, I challenge you to look at it through the lens of the gospel and choose to seek Him in remaining under in it instead of pleading with Him to remove it from you!

But then James goes into temptation, clarifying that God does not tempt anyone. Interestingly enough, he doesn’t say that Satan is the tempter here. Of course we know that Satan is the father of lies and he does tempt us, but here the temptation James mentions comes from a source that we don’t often acknowledge – our own evil desires. When you’re tempted, recognize that sometimes that temptation is from your own sinful flesh and refuse to give in to it. It will only lead to death.

James brings up a topic that hits close to home for all of us next. In verse 19 he tells us that we should be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger. If there was ever any advice to help you in your marriage or in your relationship with your parents or your children or your fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, this is it. Listen more. Talk less. Don’t jump to anger.

To follow this up, James tells us that it’s not enough to just hear the word of God – we have to do what it says. Hearing it does nothing. Doing what it says is evidence of a change in our hearts. We look into Scripture, we persevere and we are blessed!

And last but not least, James confronts the concept of religion. He tells us that if you think you’re religious but you’re running your mouth all the time you’ve missed the point of religion. It’s not that religion is bad like our society has tried to tell us. In fact, it’s the opposite. Religion is good – taking care of orphans and widows and keeping yourself pure. All of these things are evidence of a change of heart. When your heart changes because of the gospel of Jesus Christ, you become less and less concerned with the things of this world: constant gossip, money, trials, anger, etc. You become more and more concerned with living out your faith, letting there be evidence in your life of a change in your heart.

James isn’t going to stop here. This whole book is full of ways that we can make little changes in our lives to honor God more and change our lives to be a better reflection of the change he has brought in our hearts. Stay tuned for more, but be careful not to look into the perfect law that gives freedom and then forget what you’ve seen. Don’t be a hearer who forgets. Be a doer who acts!

Finishing Up the Book of Job

As we wrap up our study of the book of Job, one of our questions was “Do you think God ever explained to Job why he had suffered?” Of course this one is a hypothetical question because there’s just no way to know whether God did or he didn’t. But if there’s one thing we learn from the book of Job, it’s the character of God. In fact, we can learn about the character of God all over Scripture, through story after story, on page after page.

Hebrews 11 gives us a bunch of examples all in one place of great men and women of the faith. If we look at these stories in our search for the character of God, we will quickly find our answer to the question posed in our homework about whether or not God ever explained to Job why he had suffered. We have to ask “Is God the kind of god that tells us the reasons for everything?” Let’s look at Hebrews 11.

Hebrews 11:1 tells us that faith is the assurance of things hoped for and the conviction of things not seen. The answer to our question is given right here in this first verse. If God were the kind of god that tells us the reasons for everything, this whole concept of faith wouldn't even be an issue. We wouldn't have to believe because we'd already see. But God wants use to be sure of who He is without seeing the full picture. He gives us lots of examples in this chapter of people who did just that. Take a minute to read through chapter 11 if you haven't lately. 

We read of Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham and Sarah. In verse 13, we find that all of these died in faith - they didn't receive the things that were promised to them and still they persevered in the faith! We have the privilege of seeing all of the promises made to them fulfilled, but they didn't get to see it. We can be confident that God's promises to us will be fulfilled in the same way, even though we won't get to see it happen. 

Then we read more of the faith of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Rahab and so many more. These people didn't see the promises fulfilled either but persevered in their faith that God would do what He said He would do. Hebrews 11:39-40 says 

And all these, though commended through their faith, did not receive what was promised, since God had provided something better for us, that apart from us they should not be made perfect.

Do you know what the "something better" is? JESUS. You see, these heroes of the faith had to walk through trials and tribulations without seeing the fulfillment of God's promises to them. That's because God had something so much bigger in mind than the simple answers to the questions I'm sure they asked. Hebrews 11:36 -37 says that many were mocked and flogged and imprisoned and stoned and killed. I'm sure they wondered why. After all, they were human, just like us. But the answer to their question was that God had provided something better - He would send his son to be the answer to every one of the "Why" questions we ask.

Isaiah 55:8-9 sums it up perfectly:

For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.

So why is our natural inclination to ask “WHY?” every time something bad happens? Well, as much as it pains me to say such a simple answer, it’s because we’re human. We want answers. We feel like we need answers. And sometimes we even feel like we deserve answers. But in truth, we will almost certainly never get that answer this side of heaven. And in even greater truth, once we get to heaven, we will almost certainly not care about the answer anyway because we will be face to face with the PROMISE himself, the sovereign Creator, Almighty God.

As we finish our study of Job, take a minute to read 2 Corinthians 4:16-18. How I wish that our friend Job had been able to open his Bible and read these words to find comfort in his affliction. We can rest assured that our pain is not for nothing. God is working all the time to bring about His perfect will and to accomplish things that are far greater than all we could ever ask or imagine.

Thanks for studying Job with me.

"Where Were You?" God Puts Us In Our Place

These are the chapters we’ve been waiting for! (Job 38:1-40:5) Throughout our study of Job we have had to wade through the murky waters of chapters 1-37. The story of Job is one that doesn’t make a lot of sense to our human understanding, except that most of us can relate to him on some level. We’ve all experienced grief and tragedy and suffering and pain. Beyond that, we’ve all experienced those times when it feels like God is so far away. We know in our heads that he has not moved, but our hearts sometimes feel so far away from him and he just seems so silent.

But He doesn’t remain silent forever. Here in Job, God has let the drama continue long enough. Job and his friends have been spinning round and round debating the cause of Job’s suffering. They’ve been accusing Job and Job has been defending himself, over and over again. Now it’s God’s turn to speak and when he does, Job is left speechless.

Now is a good time to remind you that this is definitely not a portion of Scripture that we can read selfishly. Remember, this is a book ABOUT GOD. These chapters will drive that point home, potentially more than any other portion of Scripture.

Read Job 38:1-11. All the way through verse 15 God questions Job about Creation. Of course the answer to every one of these questions is that Job was not there at all. And it’s a rhetorical question anyway – God knew this. He is sovereign over all.

God continues this round of questioning in Job 38:16-38 by asking Job questions about the weather. Read Job 38:22-27. We get such beautiful pictures of places we know nothing about. Of course God knew that we would discover many things in our scientific quest for understanding. So he gave us verse 36 in there to remind us that even the things we know, we understand because of the wisdom and understanding he has given to us.

Once you consider all of creation, the fact that God made it all and controls it all, you’d think that would be enough to put us properly in our places. But no, God continues with this questioning and Job remains silent. Next he asks Job to consider the animal kingdom in Job 38:39-39:30. Read Job 39:1-4 and 26-30. God reveals his sovereignty over all of the animals – the fact that he knows when the mountain goat gives birth is amazing! Have you been following the story of April, the giraffe that everyone has been watching? They’ve installed a camera in her pen at the zoo to show us all the exact moment when she gives birth, but the problem is that she hasn’t yet and it's been several weeks. They keep saying it’s coming soon and the whole world wants to see, but it’s obvious that none of us are in control of any of that because people have been watching and waiting for days and have found absolutely nothing!

But here’s the most interesting part to me. This is the part where God asks Job about the lion’s prey and the hawk feeding its young. We like to focus on the fact that God is tenderly taking care of his animals, but we can miss the fact that he’s using some of them for food! The lion’s prey most likely did not die of “natural causes”, but was viciously attacked and eaten up by a pride of hungry lions! Does that mean that God is not a good, good father? Of course not! The little eagle babies that are high in the nest waiting for their daddy to bring them some food are delighted to suck up the blood of their prey! That blood came from an animal that God created, an animal that God was watching with the same amount of care as he watched those eaglets. From this we learn the truth that the suffering that we experience does not change the very nature of God. He is still good. He is still sovereign. Sometimes we’re the predator and sometimes we’re the prey and either way God is still very much sovereign on his throne and his love for us has not changed. Beautiful.

After this in Job 40:1-5 God gives Job a chance to speak. But again Job remains speechless. He’s gotten the point that after all this debating who’s right and who’s wrong and who’s sinful and who’s righteous, he is left with the answer that he can never be wise or righteous enough to God. God is so sovereign, omniscient, omnipotent and omnipresent that to even consider saying anything “right” about himself is just silly. Job is properly put in his place.

So I want us to end this session just thinking about how awesome God is and how little we are, even on our best days.

Read Colossians 1:15-23.

Now watch this: Laminin

And now watch this: 

Stars and Whales

How great is our God!!!