Patience is hard. Naturally, we don’t like to wait for things, whether it be waiting for our food in the drive-thru, waiting for test results, waiting for an online purchase to arrive, or waiting for justice. The original readers of James’ letter were suffering at the hands of rich unbelievers. They wanted their suffering to end! But the Lord tells them to be patient, and gives several important reasons why they should be patient. As John Calvin wrote, “There is no place for faith if we expect God to fulfill immediately what He promises.” May we learn to exercise faith by patiently waiting for the Lord, trusting His good and wise purposes.

In this next section of James’ letter, following the pattern of Old Testament prophets, he addresses the rich. While James addressed rich believers earlier in the letter (1:10-11), here he addresses rich unbelievers. Of course, there is much for Christians to learn from this passage by way of implication. One truth comes as a warning against the selfish accumulation of wealth. The questions we must honestly wrestle with are these: “When do we have too much?” “At what point are we being stingy instead of generous?”

Making plans is a very ordinary and frequent part of life. We plan an evening with family, or a business trip, or a move across the country; we plan a date or a party, or a wedding; we plan a career path, or a house project, or an exercise routine; we plan our weekend, or a vacation or a meal. We plan things big and small and if we're not careful, when our plans come to pass, we may begin to live with the assumption that our planning is decisive. But James confronts us with the truth that over all of our plans is the sovereign hand of God; so that if our plans come to pass, it is only because they were in God's plans

J.C. Ryle said it well: "Lies and false reports are among Satan's choicest weapons." We have already encountered teaching on the tongue multiple times in the letter of James, but here in chapter four he returns to the subject yet again. This time he commands believers to avoid speaking evil against one another. Satan delights when believers engage in this sinful use of the tongue because it causes division in the body and much other harm. May we carefully heed God's Word to us in this passage.

People today declare that “God,” whoever or whatever “God” may be, loves everyone the same and most people, maybe everybody (except for a few REALLY bad people), will go to “a better place” when they die … unless, of course, they are reincarnated … or simple cease to exist … As you can see, there is not agreement on what or who God is, or whether there is a heaven and ahell, or who will be in either place, or what the criteria is for entrance into this “better place.” It is all quite confusing … unless you actually believe what the Bible says about these things. God reveals the truth in His Word, and those who are born again by His Spirit receive wisdom to understand these things so that WE, of ALL people, can and will live our lives for the glory of the God who saves us from His coming judgment through the blood of His Son Jesus Christand the work of His Spirit within US. Learn why it means to be CHOSEN, and how knowing who you are in Christ and why you are here determines the course of your life in this world … and BEYOND!

Are you wise? Some would say yes, others would say no. But this leads to a further question: which kind of wisdom do you have? In 1 Corinthians 1:26-27a we read, “For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful not many were of noble birth, But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise;” Clearly, the Scripture contains a category of wisdom that is worldly, and if there is a worldly wisdomthere must be a heavenly wisdom. This is exactly what James teaches in 3:13-18, where he very helpfully gives the evidences for both worldly wisdom and heavenly wisdom. By looking at the evidence you can ensure you are striving for the right kind of wisdom.

If you aren’t careful, our tongue can create some awkward situations. A man named Tony shared an example when he put his foot in his mouth: “Once, while working customer service at the meat counter, I asked a mother with a toddler and a rather protruding stomach area, ‘When is the baby due?’ She informed me she wasn’t pregnant. Catching my mistake, I countered with, ‘No, I mean, when is the baby due for kindergarten?’ Referring to the toddler. By her expression she didn’t buy it.From then on I learned to listen more before opening my mouth.” We may laugh at this story, but the reality is that oftentimes our words do far worse than create awkward situations (as bad as that is!). As James writes, “the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness.” Strong language is used to teach us important things about our smallest, most powerful member.

📖 Main Text: James 2:18-26

In C.S. Lewis' book, The Screwtape Letters, he brilliantly portrays a senior demon (Screwtape) advising his inexperienced nephew (Wormwood) who is seeking to lead a 'patient' away from God. Through a series of carefully crafted letters, Lewis seeks to show the spiritual warfare going on continually in the unseen realm. Readers will observe that demons believe many orthodox truths, and yet their belief does not lead them to honor and worship the Lord. James implies that the faith of many people is no better than the faith of demons: "Even the demons believe - and shudder!"

📖 Main Text: James 2:14-17

You may as well separate weight from lead or heat from fire as works from faith,” said the Puritan Thomas Watson. This illustrates the point James makes in the next section of his letter: a true and living faith is always accompanied by good works. Anyone who claims to be a Christian but does not live a life of good works has reason to seriously doubt the authenticity of their profession. As has been said many times: we are saved by faith alone, but the faith that saves is never alone!

As mentioned last week, in chapter one James exposes three areas where we are in danger of deceiving ourselves: the first is with regard to temptation (v. 16); the second is when we hear the Word without acting on it (v. 22); and the third is when we do not control our speech (v. 26). Our Lord is not interested in our accumulation of Bible knowledge if it doesn’t transfer from our heads to our hands. He desires obedience, and in this text He tells us how to do the Word as opposed to merely hearing it.