Faith that Works Day 9

James 4:13–5:6

Plan Loosely and Trust Tightly

¹³ 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”— ¹⁴ yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. ¹⁵ Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” ¹⁶ As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. ¹⁷ So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.

¹ Come now, you rich, weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you. ² Your riches have rotted and your garments are moth-eaten. ³ Your gold and silver have corroded, and their corrosion will be evidence against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up treasure in the last days. ⁴ Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, are crying out against you, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts. ⁵ You have lived on the earth in luxury and in self-indulgence. You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter. ⁶ You have condemned and murdered the righteous person. He does not resist you.

What did you think, feel, or see as you read?

James sets up a picture of a merchant who is making plans. Douglas Moo points out the presumptions of the merchant: He is in control of time—“Today or tomorrow I will…”; he is in control of location—“to such and such a town”; he is in control of duration—“for a year”; he is in control of success—“trade and make a profit!” The merchant has a plan and knows how it will work out! He is in complete control.

What is the issue here? Arrogance! The merchant has no thought of God in any of his plans. He is completely confident in his ability not only to plan but to enact the plan—and is even confident in the success of the plan.

Furthermore, James is addressing our unholy preoccupation with things of the world. We are consumed by what we can accomplish and achieve, so much so that we are tempted to lie, cheat, and steal to acquire them.

I leave you with this: When wealth becomes what we trust, it quietly becomes what we serve. Serving wealth leads to selfishness, not love!

Where are you arrogantly living without God? What are you trusting in to satisfy your life?

Faith that Works Day 8

James 4:1-12

A Godly Perspective

4 What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? 2 You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. 3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. 4 You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. 5 Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, “He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us”? 6 But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” 7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.

11 Do not speak evil against one another, brothers. The one who speaks against a brother or judges his brother, speaks evil against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge. 12 There is only one lawgiver and judge, he who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor?

What did you think, feel, or see as you read?

Empty Results

“You do not have because you do not ask.” In the hymn “What a Friend We Have in Jesus,” the line reads: “O what peace we often forfeit, O what needless pain we bear, all because we do not carry everything to God in prayer.” Is this you? Are you disappointed with God but have not asked Him to act? Or could it be that you have prayed and prayed for something and it hasn’t happened? Maybe you need to consider what you are praying for. Does it align with His character and His will? Have you asked while still accepting “not my will but Yours be done”?

God desires to do good for those who love Him. Sometimes we do not get what we want, but we must trust that God always gives us what we need! That is not a cliché—that is built into His character!

Expected Actions

James ends by giving us instructions on how to live: Submit to God. Resist the enemy. Outwardly cleanse and inwardly purify the things that are not of God. Lay your whole life at His feet and trust Him to work on your behalf! This is what God expects.

Faith that Works Day 7

James 3:13-18

God’s Wisdom is Different

13 Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom. 14 But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. 15 This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. 16 For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice. 17 But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. 18 And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.

What did you think, feel, or see as you read?

Often when I think of sin, I think of the outward things I do. Sometimes I think of the things I fail to do. Rarely do I think of the things I allow in my heart and dwell on. James is addressing these here. Jealousy and selfish ambition have become norms that we allow to live unencumbered in our hearts. These are dangerous and vile. Rather than allowing these harmful thoughts to reside, we must seek to have pure, peaceable, gentle thoughts.

How can you combat the selfish desires within you? How can you cultivate selfless attitudes like peace, purity, and gentleness?

Faith that Works Day 6

James 3:1-12

Words Matter

3 Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness. 2 For we all stumble in many ways. And if anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle his whole body. 3 If we put bits into the mouths of horses so that they obey us, we guide their whole bodies as well. 4 Look at the ships also: though they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs. 5 So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things.

How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire! 6 And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell. 7 For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by mankind, 8 but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. 9 With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. 10 From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so. 11 Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and salt water? 12 Can a fig tree, my brothers, bear olives, or a grapevine produce figs? Neither can a salt pond yield fresh water.

What did you think, feel, or see as you read?

What if every word you said today was recorded and played for all in the church to hear?

Would you be embarrassed?

What would embarrass you?

Slander?

Gossip?

Filthy discussions?

Lying?

Deception?

Filthy words?

Coarse joking?

Sarcasm?

Where do you feel your words are failing to align with your commitment to Christ? What do you need to do today to seek to tame your tongue?

Faith that Works Day 5

James 2:14-26

Faith Acts

14 What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? 17 So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.

18 But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. 19 You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder! 20 Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless? 21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? 22 You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works; 23 and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”—and he was called a friend of God. 24 You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. 25 And in the same way was not also Rahab the prostitute justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way? 26 For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.

What did you think, feel, or see as you read? What verse stood out to you today?

I feel like today’s text was pretty self-explanatory, so I am simply going to add some thoughts from a sermon I preached last year on this passage.

Faith that is void of works is not saving faith. James isn’t saying we’re saved by our effort—he’s warning us not to settle for a belief that never moves the heart or hands. Faith works. The test of faith is the works of the believer. Works do not save. Faith saves, but faith works. Faith is not static or stationary.

Even Martin Luther struggled with this passage—he once called James “an epistle of straw”—but later admitted that true faith always moves us to good works. Listen to this quote: “O it is a living, busy, active, mighty thing, this faith. It is impossible for it to not be doing good things incessantly.”