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 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 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.
2. 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.
3. James finishes with some wonderful practical advice for the Christian. Are your 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.
4. 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. We are seeing this at CBC presently. Pray that we can also be used to transform the community to see healing and peace in their lives also.
Vision Point for cell groups
CBC’s Vision :- To be a growing biblical church community, significantly influencing our city and beyond, through intentional outreach, fulfilling our mission.
The reading this week was from 1 Timothy 6
Paul had taught in Ephesus to 2 years every day to instruct new believers in Christ, Acts 19:9, 10. That was quite a few years prior to Paul’s letter to Timothy. Paul tells Timothy to wait in Ephesus and instruct certain people in sound doctrine 1 Tim 1:3. Chapter 6 is the conclusion of Paul’s instructions to Timothy.
1. Jay asked what your drivers are in life and what you live for. The opposite question may give a more defined conclusion. I.E What/Who would you die for? If you were to answer as honestly as possible what would your answer be? Explain your answer.
2. An accurate assessment of our answer in question 1 was explained on Sunday as being evident by 1. What you spend your time on and 2. What you spend your money on. Are these 2 things evident in your faith in Christ? Discuss.
3. The third identifier that was mentioned on Sunday with respect to assessing what our true drivers in life are concerns what we say and our character that is on display before others. This is also the toughest one to assess by ourselves. Time and money are easily defined as to whether our faith is our main driver in life, but assessing our character is more elusive. How do you think you are tracking? Discuss
4. Pray for the prayer points and as a cell group.
Prayer Points
1. John (Angelo’s son) who faithfully serves in the café every Sunday and is part of Recharge youth has had a bad accident at school. Both his arms are broken and he suffered head injuries. He is out of hospital but it will take many weeks before he is 100%. Please pray for healing and peace. Pray for Angelo and John’s mother who have had to deal with the stress of it all.
2. Pray for the turmoil presently going on in South Africa. Pray for peace, calm and order to be restored. On top of this Covid has been at 40, 000 cases per day. Pray for healing and wisdom w.r.t this disease.
3. Pray for testimonies that people will be doing every second week. Please consider when you would like to do yours when the pastor asks you to share yours 😉
4. Pray for ministries as they start up this week – especially Sunday School, PlayPatch and Recharge. Pray for Maddison and Melinda as they lead these ministries.
5. Pray for other building projects – café roof, the repair of the house roof and solar.
6. Growth, conversions, joy in the Word and Spirit to remain and increase.
Praise Points.
1. 2 New baby girls and 2 new sets of granparents. Congratulations to the Hornes and the Dennings on the birth of their first grandchildren.
2. Graham’s testimony. Thank God for the grace of Christ evident in his life and the blessing this man is as an elder of CBC.
3. New cell groups.
4. Praise and worship – thanks Rod, Molly, Riley, Tim, Suzy and Fi.
5. The freedom to gather, albeit with masks on Sunday. Next Sunday no masks.
Announcements
1. Masks unfortunately have to remain on for another week.
2. PlayPatch starting Friday 23rd July for toddlers at church. Please get the word out. See Maddison for details.
3. Church bank details bsb:- 704 913 and Acc number:- 4000 4388 1
