Reformed & Expository Preaching

Jacob is an elderly man on his death bed. His favored son Joseph makes it easy for Jacob to bless his grand children by arranging them in their proper place. Joseph knows that the older is to receive the greater blessing and the younger is to receive the inferior blessing. Jacob, a supplanter schemer, places his right hand on the younger and his left on the older. Why does this offend Joseph? What does this communicate about Jacob’s heart condition?

James does not conclude his letter like other apostles who conclude their letters with greetings, benedictions, or passing greetings along to churches from fellow saints. James tells us not to take oaths, anoint with oil, and exhorting us to bring back the wandering one. Is it really true that we are not to take an oath? Are we to anoint all the sick with oil? How do we bring someone back who has wandered from the truth? These are the questions that we seek to answer in our last sermon on James.

This is the first part of our consideration of Jacob blessing his grandsons. The family of God has not performed so well in terms of morality. There are a lot of discrepancies within this family in terms of their calling before the Lord. The rivalry between Cain and Abel is repeated, there is outright immorality, the Lord strikes dead some of the covenant children because of their wickedness, and Jacob fails to lead the family consistently in a Godly direction. What do we do with this? What are God’s people beginning to realize about the Lord’s Sabbath?

We can so easily fall into a trap where we think that our works, our service, or our input is what drives something forward. You can see in Jacob’s life where Jacob schemes and fights to get ahead again and again. It would seem that this scheming is working as Jacob has two wives, many children, and has acquired great wealth from his uncle. What is Jacob missing? How does all this result to Jacob engaged in a supernatural wrestling match? What is the purpose of such a bout?

James greets the church as sojourners through this world as James greets us as saints in the dispersion. We are a people who are to see ourselves as a guaranteed a land, but we are not in that land. There is no doubt that living life under the sun is challenging, and we can be tempted to give up on the sojourn. We, like Israel, might wonder if the Lord is coming to fulfill his promises. How do we know that the Lord is fulfilling His promises? How do we know that the Lord will bring us into the promised land? How does this impact our lives today?

Jacob has sinned against his family, his covenant identity, and worst of all the Lord. He is banished from his home and exiled like Adam from Eden. Is there any hope for this man? Can the Lord still work through such a sinner? How does the Lord make explicit that His Sabbath will be established?

When James is warning the rich it is easy for us to say that it is the other people who have to worry. We might think that we are not on the Fortune 500 list so in reality we are not that rich. The truth is that as Americans we are very rich, very blessed, and among some of the most wealth in the world. Can we be Christians then? How can we have a joy in the Christian life when James tells the rich to “weep and howl”? Are these verses for all Christians or just a select few Christians?

Please enjoy this exhortation from Mr. James Ogle while Pastor Paul Lindemulder enjoys vacation.

Please enjoy this exhortation from Mr. James Ogle who filled our pulpit while Pastor Paul Lindemulder was on vacation.

Please enjoy this exhortation from Mr. James Ogle who filled our pulpit while Pastor Paul Lindemulder was on vacation.