Live the Word Bible Studies

Study Three: James 4:1-5:20

Dear Student of the Word,

Greetings from Nigeria! I am here to teach a graduate level class on Contemporary Communication and participate in a believers' convention next week. While I am here, I had some time to update my latest and last study from James' epistle. After this, I will begin to edit and post the last book of the New Testament that will complete my online study, and that book is Revelation. Before we go there, however, let me give you a sample of what I wrote in this week's seven-part study that focuses on the last two chapters in James' letter (you can download the entire seven-part study below):

Study Three, Part Three

¹³Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” ¹⁴Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. ¹⁵Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.” ¹⁶As it is, you boast in your arrogant schemes. All such boasting is evil. ¹⁷If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them.

4:13-15 – What a great analogy! We are like a mist, here for a little while and then gone. James had a way with words, just like his brother. I don’t think these verses instruct us not to plan, or do they? My impression is that we are to always keep God in mind when we do plan. As we go about our business, we must be aware that we don’t control the conditions and we don’t have perfect knowledge of God’s will. Proverbs has many other helpful insights into the concept of planning and God’s role in it as we do.

The plans of the righteous are just, but the advice of the wicked is deceitful (Proverbs 12:5).

To humans belong the plans of the heart, but from the Lord comes the proper answer of the tongue. All a person’s ways seem pure to them, but motives are weighed by the Lord. Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and he will establish your plans. The Lord works out everything to its proper end—even the wicked for a day of disaster. The Lord detests all the proud of heart. Be sure of this: They will not go unpunished. Through love and faithfulness sin is atoned for; through the fear of the Lord evil is avoided. When the Lord takes pleasure in anyone’s way, he causes their enemies to make peace with them. Better a little with righteousness than much gain with injustice. In their hearts humans plan their course, but the Lord establishes their steps (Proverbs 16:1-9).

Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails (Proverbs 19:21).

The plans of the diligent lead to profit as surely as haste leads to poverty (Proverbs 21:5).

What did you notice and learn from these verses from Proverbs where planning is concerned?

4:16 – James was saying that not including the “God element” in our plans is boastful. We should keep in mind as we plan the phrase “Lord willing,” not as a superstition but as an awareness that our times are in his hands. As we plan for tomorrow, today may be our last day and we should keep that mind. 

4:17 – This seems to be another abrupt topic shift in this verse. I usually think of sin as something I do, but the Greek word for sin means “missing the mark.” I can not do something I know I am supposed to do and “miss the mark” Not doing something, historically referred to as a sin of omission, is harder to quantify than something that is more public. Are you guilty of knowing that God wants you to do something and not doing it? What are you prepared to do about it?

As always, I welcome your comments to this week's study. For additional Bible studies, check out my website archive, which contains a complete collection of all my verse-by-verse New Testament studies, along with the daily devotional entitled Your Life Matters: Daily Reflections from the Book of Psalms. Thank you and soon I will begin sending you my edited studies from James' epistle. After that, we will only have the book of Revelation to complete before the entire New Testament is on the site where this study is posted.

Download James Study 3

Study Two: James 1:26 to 3:18

Dear Student of the Word,

It's time for us to move on to the next installment of our study of James' epistle. There are two predominant themes in this epistle and those are wisdom and words or the tongue. In this week's seven-part study, we look at what James had to say about the tongue. This is what I wrote in part five, and the entire study is available to download below:

Study Two, Part Five

3 Not many of you should become teachers, my fellow believers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly. ²We all stumble in many ways. Anyone who is never at fault in what they say is perfect, able to keep their whole body in check.³When we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we can turn the whole animal. ⁴Or take ships as an example. Although they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot wants to go. ⁵Likewise, the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark.

3:1 - James now moved on to his next major theme: the tongue. This is why I am “in trouble” with the Lord when He directs me to read James. Usually I have not been using my mouth in an appropriate manner. 

First, he addressed the issue of teachers. Obviously, teaching was an important part of Judaism and this importance would have been carried over to Christianity, so James warned that teachers incur a stricter judgment. Teachers must be careful what they say and teach. People open their hearts to teachers, and thus teachers have great influence.  I have been guilty of teaching my opinions as “fact” or “God’s word.” 

I have also had to go back and apologize on occasion for something I said publicly.  A teacher must be willing to do that.

3:2 – James makes a connection between what I say and my ability to discipline my body in other ways. Do you see the connection?  He called the person who can rule the tongue a “perfect” man. This word means complete or mature, not someone who has achieved moral perfection. We will never be perfected this side of heaven. 

3:3-5 – James used two graphic examples of how something small in size can control something much bigger:  a bit in the mouth of a horse and the rudder of a ship. What simple examples, yet how powerful was the message. You don’t have to be complicated to be a good teacher; in fact, good teachers reduce complex things to something simple that can be grasped. James watched his brother Jesus teach and emulated his style.

As I write, I am convicted of how unruly my tongue is, and how many things I say that I should not. James used one final example of the power of the tongue and that is a small spark setting a forest on fire. (They had forest fires in Jesus’ times!)  I’ve burned down my share of trees in my lifetime with my tongue!  Why would James have made the tongue such a major issue?  Because His brother Jesus did! Jesus had something to say about the tongue:

“You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of” (Matthew 12:34)

“But the things that come out of a person’s mouth come from the heart, and these defile them” (Matthew 15:18).

“A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of” (Luke 6:45).

“For I did not speak on my own, but the Father who sent me commanded me to say all that I have spoken” (John 12:49).

Is God saying something to you about your tongue? What is it? What are you prepared to do about it?

As always, I welcome your comments to this week's study. For additional Bible studies, check out my website archive, which contains a complete collection of all my verse-by-verse New Testament studies, along with the daily devotional entitled Your Life Matters: Daily Reflections from the Book of Psalms. Thank you and soon I will begin sending you my edited studies from James' epistle. After that, we will only have the book of Revelation to complete before the entire New Testament is on the site where this study is posted.

Download James Study 2

Start of a New Study: James' Epistle

Dear Student of the Word,

There are only two books missing from my online New Testament study: Revelation and James. As I finish, let's start with the epistle of James, the shortest. In this first study, I include some information about James (at least what we think we know about him) and a general overview of the epistle itself. Then I go on to comment on the first chapter, which discusses perseverance, trials, listening, and wisdom. Here is sample of what is included in this installment, which can be downloaded in its entirety below:

Study One, Part Five

¹²Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him. ¹³When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; ¹⁴ but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. ¹⁵Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death. ¹⁶Don’t be deceived, my dear brothers and sisters. ¹⁷Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. ¹⁸He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created.

1:12 – It is sometimes hard to imagine that someone who perseveres under trial and goes through a hard situation that has no definitive end is blessed. It seems more like a curse than a blessing. The ways of God, however, are not the ways of men. For example, Jesus said, “All men will hate you because of me, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved” (Mark 13:13). Jesus did not promise that this hatred would be removed or lessened; He promised that those who endured the hatred would receive a blessing, or as James put it, “a crown of life.”

1:13 – The trials that James was referring to were actually temptations as explained in this verse. God does not tempt, but God does allow temptation. This sometimes surprises people, and sometimes people equate temptation with sin. An evil thought is not sin until you act on or continue to entertain that thought. God does allow temptation to once again prove the reality of what is inside you. His objective is two-fold:  to either help you face the reality of what you don’t have or to prove the reality of what you do have. 

Consider Joseph in the Old Testament. Potiphar’s wife continually tried to seduce him and that was temptation, which Joseph steadfastly resisted. He was proved to be righteous not because he had no temptation, but because he knew how to deal with temptation. Paul wrote: “No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it” (1 Corinthians 10:13)

1:14 – Our problem with temptation is that it may find something in our lives and hearts that is ready to welcome the possibilities that the temptation represents. As soon as we do that, James described the process as being “dragged away and enticed” by the temptation. For example, when the thought of doing wrong against my brother comes, I can nourish and cherish that thought. Then maybe I say something to someone else and gossip. I keep that thought as an internal pet, cleaning, grooming and feeding it. When I act on it, I am in sin and it wasn’t the temptation’s fault. The temptation simply showed me the reality of my heart.

Paul listed some of the sins that all start with temptation:

The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God (Galatians 5:19-21). 

I can understand the first part of the list, for those sins are serious and external. Then Paul’s list shifts to attitudes and heart conditions like envy, anger and selfishness. You and I may never be tempted with idolatry, but we may face a daily struggle with pride, and it is no less serious than any of the other more “public” or socially unacceptable sins.

1:15 – When temptation leads to sin, it produces death. The end result of sin is always death, but there is a period of some measure of enjoyment before this death process. The writer of Hebrews referred to it as the enjoying of “the pleasures of sin for a short time” (Hebrews 11:25). Paul described it differently: “The wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). 

1:16 – I heard a pastor say once, “The thing about being deceived is that you don’t know you’re being deceived. It’s the very nature of deception for you not to be aware that you have it.”  So how can you avoid it? James commanded his readers not to be deceived, so that means that it is possible to avoid. We must work to avoid it before it ever comes, however, for once we open ourselves to it, it is almost impossible to break free. I pray regularly, “Lord, keep me from deception, from doctrinal weirdness. Help me to see the truth about myself and my motives.” I try to stay open to criticism, both constructive and destructive. Are you working to stay out of deception? 

1:17 – James was reiterating that only perfect and good things come from above, and temptation is not one of those things. Don’t blame God for your problems. If you think God is the source, however, hiding your feelings won’t help. You must face ane express those feelings or face being deceived about what is in your heart. God is consistent; there is no shifting shadow in Him. He is light and truth. He is for you and not against you but you must face the reality not only of who He is, but of who you are. If you doubt God’s goodness, you must resolve that issue.

1:18 – We have been “born again” through the word of truth and are firstfruits of God’s new creation. The firstfruits were presented to the priests in the Old Testament, symbolic that all the harvest belonged to God, and that He would see the harvest to its successful culmination.  We are representative of God’s legal claim to all His creatures, though many of those creatures are currently objects of God’s wrath – but they still belong to Him as Creator.

As always, I welcome your comments to this week's study. For additional Bible studies, check out my website archive, which contains a complete collection of all my verse-by-verse New Testament studies, along with the daily devotional entitled Your Life Matters: Daily Reflections from the Book of Psalms. Thank you and soon I will begin sending you my edited studies from James' epistle. After that, we will only have the book of Revelation to complete before the entire New Testament is on the site where this study is posted.

Download James Study 1