James says, “Come now, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit…’” This way of talking is problematic for James, but it is not ultimately the problem. This way of talking is more like a symptom of the real problem. He explains the real problem further down in verse 16. James calls this kind of talk about tomorrow boasting and he says that this boasting is evil because it is rooted in arrogance and that’s the real problem.

Because we are relational beings, sin creates collateral damage. You do not sin in isolation. These wayward desires may originate inside of us, but they come out, and when they do, the results for those around us are often tragic. James says specifically that they cause quarrels, fights, and even murder.

If you think about it, peace is both a quality and a result. As a quality, we can be peaceable, verse 17, and then out of being peaceable we can do peaceful things — we can sow in peace (verse 18). And when we do that — peaceable people doing peaceful things — it will lead all kinds of good.

James, like Jesus is warning leaders:

1 ) The heart overflows into all of life.
2) The heart refuses to be silenced.

The resurrection means that what the Father has said about Jesus, and what Jesus has claimed for himself, is confirmed. Jesus is the eternal Son of God, fully God and fully man. He is the promised Messiah that the Hebrew Scriptures talk about. He is the King who has come. He is the Lord of all. He is the Savior of all the ends of the earth.

One way to describe the difference between demonic faith and real faith is that demonic faith believes that something is true, whereas genuine faith experiences the beauty and goodness of the truth. It’s like the difference between knowing that honey is sweet because you read it in a book, and knowing the sweetness of honey because you’ve actually tasted it.

The first thing to say is that your motives will be mixed. Those of us who have been brought forth by the word of truth still wrestle with sin and selfishness. That’s why we have to put aside filthiness and wickedness and continue to humbly receive the implanted word that saves our souls. There’s a fight in your soul between the firstfruits of God’s new world, and the remnants of the old world. So mixed motives are simply going to be a part of our lives in our pilgrim condition. And we can’t let mixed and impure motives paralyze us.

God’s plan in the new creation overall is the remake the whole world in righteousness and peace filled with his presence — that’s what heaven is. And God has made us, made Christians, to be the firstfruits of that on this earth right now.

One of our hopes as a church is to bring together two things which seem, in actual practice, to constantly repel one another. Bringing them together, holding them together is difficult, and many churches have fallen into one ditch or the other. The two things are practical help in living the Christian life and theological depth in understanding the character and works of God.

The great test of any world religion, any philosophy of life, any system of beliefs, and any individual person is pain and suffering. When we suffer, we find out what’s really inside, who we truly are, and how powerful, or weak, is the foundation on which we’re building our lives.