Praying prayers of faith rather than fighting in the flesh
James finishes his letter by exhorting his readers to remain steadfast in suffering and to pray in faith and to expect the Lord’s blessing.
James 4: Warning Against Worldliness
1 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 neighbour?
Boasting About Tomorrow
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.
James 5: Warning to the Rich
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 labourers 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.
Patience in Suffering
7 Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives the early and the late rains.
8 You also, be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand.
9 Do not grumble against one another, brothers, so that you may not be judged; behold, the Judge is standing at the door.
10 As an example of suffering and patience, brothers, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord.
11 Behold, we consider those blessed who remained steadfast. You have heard of the steadfastness of Job, and you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful.
12 But above all, my brothers, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or by any other oath, but let your "yes" be yes and your "no" be no, so that you may not fall under condemnation.
The Prayer of Faith
13 Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise.
14 Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.
15 And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.
16 Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.
17 Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth.
18 Then he prayed again, and heaven gave rain, and the earth bore its fruit.
19 My brothers, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back,
20 let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.
Things to think about…
1. James makes some interesting comments. He says “you desire and do not have, so you murder”, Jam 4:2. One can only hope that he is speaking figuratively and not literally, after all it is Christians he is addressing. But his brother Jesus once said having hatred towards a brother is the same as murder, Mt 5:21, 22 and worthy of judgement. Fleshly desires crush and squeeze out the work of the Spirit on the heart. If these things affect us and we have worldly desires and carnal attitudes James says we are at “enmity with God”, Jam 4:4. The devil wants to take our grace. As this is the case James says humility before the Lord is the only answer –vs 10. God is the Lawgiver and our obedience to Him should be reflected in our love for our brothers in Christ who James calls our neighbours, vs 12.
2. Hey Christian businessman, do you want to know the secret to God’s blessing over your business? It’s pretty simple, before you make any decisions, ask God first and then don’t do anything until you receive an answer from Him, Jam 4:15. This always involves confirmation from His word as well as the Lord orchestrating circumstances that confirm His leading. Anything else you do is based on human strength and pride. James says such boasting is evil, Jam 4:16.
3. The sin of omission is described in Jam 4:17. If you know what you should do before the Lord and the power is within your hand to do it – go and do it. James says not doing so is sin.
4. James doesn’t mince his words does he. He really has a go at those who are wealthy in this present age. Mind you, these people are also fairly corrupt. James says they hold back wages, Jam 5:4, they are self- indulgent vs 5 and he even charges them with murder, vs 6. As we said yesterday it is difficult to know whether James is speaking literally or figuratively. Either way he is condemning their character. James is hearing reports from the dispersed Christian Jews throughout the Roman Empire and their witness does not meet with the faith they say they now profess in Christ. James is appalled by their hypocrisy. May we constantly purge out a self-indulgent hypocritical spirit from the church. It’s a tragedy when the church looks like the world…or worse.
5. Patience is a virtue that many of us in the west struggle to fully attain in our instant fast food, ‘give it to me now’ and ‘buy now, pay later’ society. James uses the common analogy of the patient farmer waiting to receive his crop after the early and later rains. So also we must be patient with all the wrongs in this world against God and His people. James says there is one Judge and as the prophets were patient and steadfast, like Job who remained faithful, the Lord eventually proved His character; being one of compassion and mercy. Let’s never try and worm our way out of difficult situations or promise things that we have no ability or intention to fulfil. James simply says ‘Let your “yes” be yes and your “no”, no, Jam 5:12. In the same way his brother, Jesus had said that anything else is of the devil, Mt 5:37.
6. James finishes with some wonderful practical advice for the Christian. Are you suffering? Pray. Are you cheerful? Sing praise. Are you sick? Call for the Elders of the church to pray and anoint with oil, Jam 5:13, 14. God promises a blessing and a healing. Let’s never doubt the goodness of God. If we are not healed, let’s be like the widow and keep praying, get the Elders back again if you need to. We will be more than happy to pray with you. We want the Lord to get the glory from our prayers. James’ example is Elijah, who kept praying. Note it says ‘he prayed again’, Jam 5:18. He did indeed. We know the story in 1st Kings that he actually prayed seven times for rain, 1Kings 18:44. Let’s keep coming back to the Lord until we receive an answer. Never lose hope, never give up. We have not finished our race yet.
7. The biggest blessing anyone can give to another Christian is to restore them back to fellowship with God and Christ’s body, the church. What a blessing it is when there is healing within the fellowship, Jam 5:19, 20. May we see this in abundance at CBC. Pray that as a church we can be used to transform the community by seeing healing and peace in their lives also.
Vision statement for CBC
CBC’s Vision :- To be a growing biblical church community, significantly influencing our city and beyond, through intentional outreach, fulfilling our mission.
Sunday’s message – “A sign of the times” – 1Tim 4:1-4, 2Tim 4:1-8
a. Are we nearing the end times as described in the bible in your opinion, what do you think? What is your evidence of belief?
b. Are 2 major signs that point to the timing of Christ’s return 1. Lawless will abound and there will be a great falling away from the faith and 2. The gospel will be preached to every nation, Mt 24:10-14. Discuss these 2 things.
c. People in general are happy to talk about spiritual things in this generation, why do you think this is the case? How should this aid our witnessing?
d. How do you know if you are part of the group that will fall away or not? Discuss what a bible based church looks like. In your answer discuss the sheep and the goats.
Prayer Points
1. Pray the CBC reaches our into our community and we see many coming to Christ and added to the church. Please come along and invite others to the Palm Sunday outreach.
2. That our Kids@Church and Chuwar Youth group grow beyond anyone’s expectations.
3. Pray for Chuwar Youth and Jarrod for Friday’s. Pray as he meets with youth at Westside, Ipswich and Bundamba high schools.
4. How you can serve in ministry this year.
5. Growth, conversions, joy in the Word and Spirit to remain and increase.
Praise Points
1. Had almost 60 people there on Sunday. Pray this increases over time.
2. Kids@Church and Youth ministries are a great blessing. Keep praying for Rosie and Jarrod.
3. Turf laid in the café area – pray we can continue to finish off this area.
4. Thankyou Paul and worship team. Thanks Bec, Tim and Iman. Thankyou to all those who serve – you are appreciated and essential for Christ’s work at CBC.
5. Joy, peace and grace we see at CBC. Thankyou Lord
Announcements
1. Chuwar Youth Friday nights – 6:30-8:30pm. Grades 7 to 12. Chat to the Youth Pastor Jarrod for more details 0478 845 123.
2. Palm Sunday outreach on the 2nd April. Potjie and food, rises and fun for the kids.
3. Sign up for a cell group or welcoming team.
4. Remember to check your duty rosters.
5. Church bank details bsb:- 704 913 and Acc number:- 4000 4388 1
6. Tune in again this week on our youtube page. Subscribe to the CBC channel Chuwar Baptist YouTube channel.
Catechism questions for March...
Q. 7. In how many persons does this one God exist? A. In three persons.
