James 1 | Faith in Action – The Ultimate Guide to Living for God

James 1 calls believers to a resilient and active faith rooted in trust and obedience to God. It opens with a powerful reminder to consider trials as opportunities for growth, as testing produces steadfastness and spiritual maturity. The chapter encourages readers to ask God for wisdom without doubting, trusting His generous and faithful nature. Doubting, James warns, leads to instability, making it difficult to navigate life’s challenges or receive God’s guidance. This lesson is a call to unwavering confidence in God’s provision and promises.

James emphasizes that true faith manifests in actions, not just words. Hearing God’s Word without application is likened to forgetting one’s reflection after seeing it in a mirror. Genuine faith compels believers to act with compassion and integrity, particularly through caring for those in need, such as orphans and widows. James underscores the importance of living a life unstained by worldly corruption, reflecting a pure and undefiled religion.

The chapter also warns against the dangers of anger, highlighting that human anger does not produce the righteousness God desires. Believers are called to be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to anger, promoting peace and wisdom in their interactions. This practical wisdom serves as a guide for living in harmony with others and honoring God.

James boldly addresses temptation, clarifying that God does not tempt anyone. Instead, temptation arises from our own desires, which can lead to sin and spiritual death. By drawing near to God and submitting to His will, believers can overcome these challenges and experience His steadfast love and goodness in their lives.

In conclusion, James 1 challenges believers to pursue a faith that is both enduring and active. Through trials, obedience, and compassionate action, Christians can reflect their love for God while remaining steadfast in their walk. This chapter is a foundational guide for practical Christian living, encouraging believers to align their lives with God’s truth and His call to holiness.

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Transcript

 James 1

James 1

[00:00:00] Hey everyone, welcome to God's plan. Your part year two, where this year we're reading through and studying the entire new Testament one chapter at a time. Thanks again for joining us in discovering God's plan and your part in it. Welcome to James chapter one. We're starting a whole new book today. Uh, James is.

Probably one of my favorites. I don't know. There's some other ones that are uh, gonna take its place I think the more the more I read the bible more often. Um, James is is super direct. I think that's why I like him There's there's not much nuance to what James has to say. He's just straight to the point He gives you some real tangible takeaways And it's it's going to be fun to track through this um What do you think of James?

I think it's, it's like what you said. It's very to the point, which is hilarious. As soon as you said that, I was like, Oh, of course you like this. Yeah, right. Exactly. But I did really appreciate this first part about, um, testing your faith. Um, because it's actually a reminder to the reader, to [00:01:00] us, testing of your faith is actually a way for God to show his goodness to you.

So I don't know. I feel like it's, It's hard to hear sometimes and it's like hard things to do. However, I think it's all worth it. And again, a way to show God's goodness. All right. So before we do like a deep dive into what's going on here in the book, I do want to just give you a little bit of background.

Um, this book was written by Jesus brother. Some people that really want to be factual. They'll say Jesus half brother What's really powerful about that is that the one of the first lines is actually the first line James a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ to the twelve tribes in the dispersion If you have a sibling, just consider if you would be willing to write a letter proclaiming that they are God.

If you have a brother, if you have a sister, um, what would it take for you to sit down and write a letter and proclaim to all the people that read the letter that your sibling is the God of the universe? Um, most [00:02:00] likely you're not willing to do that. James was willing to do that. So one of the ways that people make a case that we can trust that Jesus actually was the Christ is that his family members eventually attested that he was in fact the Christ.

And that would be a pretty tough, um, place to arrive with a sibling. The other thing to know is that James ended up leading the Jerusalem church. And when he refers to the dispersion, he's most likely talking about people who live outside of the church. Area that would have been Israel in that day. And so he's just trying to encourage Christians that he can reach with his letter and he wants to teach them what it means to Walk in the faith and what it means to persevere in the faith.

And so I think I think this was written like Yeah, I think this was written like 40 to 45 AD. So 15, 20 years after Christ, after Jesus was doing his ministry. Um, so we get this letter from James. Just give you a little bit of background and then let's go for it. Thank you for all that background. I did not love the background.

I don't [00:03:00] know. It's fine. I just didn't know any of that. Um, so kind of back to what we're talking about. James opens up with this little short greeting, but then it talks about testing your faith. And so I would say the majority of the chapter is probably about that. But two verses that really stuck out to me concerning testing your faith, uh, verse six and seven talk about doubting.

Yeah. Um, and It reminded me of Hebrews when we read the other day, um, that chapter where it kept saying by faith, this person from the Old Testament did this, this, this, this, this, this person by faith did this. Uh, verse six says, but let him ask in faith with no doubting for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind for that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord.

He is a double minded man, unstable in all his ways. And I think that actually. That actually hits really hard because how often do I find myself doubting or like thinking about God's word and what it tells [00:04:00] me and what it promises me of like, God is always with you. He's not surprised by any of these things that are happening.

Um, reminding myself that, Okay, all this is for His goodness, for His glory. And then two seconds later, I'm super concerned with all my doubts, all my worries, all my things that, I don't know, that I think about that are not of, of God and His plan and His, His promises to be with me. Our study Bible mentions, uh, that, that being tossed back and forth is like being torn between God.

And the world. And so I think a lot of us can probably relate to that, but it is, it's just funny to me how I can feel so like strung out, like for the Lord, like I'm going to, you know, I just feel like I'm so dedicated to what he says. And then it's not too long after that, that I'm like spiraling out of control because I'm so fixated on my anxieties or worries or whatever.

It's, it's important to call out when, um, verse three, So verse six, I think, let him ask in faith [00:05:00] without doubting. Um, that is qualified by verse five, that if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God. So when you like it's specifically applied to the situation that is asking for wisdom. So if you ask God for wisdom in how to handle a situation, you should be asking in a way where you're trusting that God is going to deliver you wisdom to deal with that situation.

And I know, um, Just to dig into Ryan Zook's personal life, um, I know that there are times when I ask God for wisdom and he gives me wisdom and I think about it for a little bit too long and I decide, well, I don't actually, that's not what I want to do. I want to do it this way. Well, I oftentimes, you used to fuss at me all the time and I think I've I've given it back to you quite a few times more recently, but, um, your one big thing that you used to say in our early marriage was, Jenny, we don't deal in hypotheticals.

Um, so we like conjure up all these things in our brains of what could happen, what could be the result and [00:06:00] how do I resist that in any possible way? I used to say that in my classroom a lot too, even with our own kids sometimes. Well, what if this, um, and it's, it's easy to go there and it's easy to try to forecast your future, but you don't know.

Because ultimately it is God working out His plan, not us manipulating it to what we want or how to stay away from things we don't want. So I think that the important thing there is, yeah, like, you might be dealing with something right now, you might come into something today that you need to deal with.

Uh, ask God for wisdom, but don't just ask Him for wisdom and then say, Stop thinking about what God's calling you to do like believe that he's gonna give you wisdom and act on that wisdom but be careful that it's not your own wisdom because you want to be acting in a way that's honoring the Lord and Dealing with the situation in front of you.

So the other verse that stuck out In this section, and maybe you want to speak to some of the verses that stuck out to you, I don't know. But this one also stuck out to me, verse 12. Blesses the man who remains steadfast under trial. For when he has [00:07:00] stood the test, he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him.

So, I, I kind of like that this, it seems like it, Kind of rounds out that, that first part of, of doubting of being insecure of what God wants to, hey, remain steadfast. And ultimately you'll receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him. And I think showing love sometimes doesn't just mean like, Oh God, I love you so much.

It's trusting him in those hard times and those trials and those moments of insecurity or unknowns. And what you'll see with James is James is going to say, Hey, trusting God is actually doing what he says. So there's a lot of things that we can see that God has already revealed. God's very clear about a lot of things.

James is full of lots of those kinds of things. And so the case that James is going to make is, Hey, you already. Um, can easily find out what kind of life God's calling you to live. So live it. Um, that's, that's why I like James. He's super pointed. Uh, fun fact, Martin Luther did not like James, um, because he didn't seem like he didn't, he didn't feel like James was very [00:08:00] grace minded.

He felt like he was a little bit too works driven. Um, and I mean, as we read James, you'll see that he's very focused on things that we do to honor God and it's not to earn his grace. It's to, um, Show that we are thankful for his grace. You know, we don't earn it by the things that we do, but the things that we do reflect that we have in fact, enjoyed grace from God.

And how about, uh, verse 14 as well, so this is like an add on, I think. Uh, but each person is tempted. So it's talking about how God does not tempt us. Right. Like it's impossible for him to lead us into sin. Um, but it says in verse 14, but each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire.

Um, when you find yourself in situations where, You're being tempted by something or perhaps even tempted to, to sin out of your anxiety or to, to draw closer to whatever your sin is instead of drawing closer to God. Um, that is, that comes about by our [00:09:00] own desires. Right. God's not doing that to you. Right.

So crazy. So that, I've heard, I've actually probably even thought my own, My own situations through like God, why are you allowing me to be tempted in this way? Like and he's not I'm allowing myself to be drawn away from him. So that's an interesting verse stuck out to me, too. Okay, so another verse I want to just highlight know this my beloved brothers Let every person be quick to hear slow to speak and slow to anger.

That's probably one You may have heard before. It gets quite a lot. Could onto the next section here, but the next piece I like a lot for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. Mm. Think that is super important. 'cause I have myself felt it and I've seen other people fall into this where we think we can like rage people into the kingdom.

Like if, if we just show that we are angry enough. It will finally get people's attention and they'll finally listen to us. And James here is saying like, Hey, you can't out anger somebody into loving God. It's not going to happen. And this was, I worked, I worked at this boy's camp when, when I was very [00:10:00] young and there were many, many situations.

Where I would get frustrated. Um, I think rightfully so. I mean, like somebody tries to fight you or cuss you out or whatever. Like there were many opportunities to get frustrated. And I just remember, I remember I had this verse, uh, on a note card on my footlocker, um, so that I would just always be reminded, you know what?

Like every time I'm tempted to be angry, I need to know that's not actually going to produce the righteousness of God. And, um, it was helpful to me. Uh, probably, probably I need to write this down and put it on something again and just continue to be reminded of, you know what? Like. It, it's very easy to get very angry and a lot of times when you're very angry, you're not going to produce the righteousness of God.

It's just not going to happen. And so because of that, we do want to be quick to listen, we want to be slow to speak and slow to become angry. We just want to be wise. And again, like we want to trust that God's going to give us wisdom to deal with any given situation. So, I mean, you kind of jumped right into this next section speaking about, um, uh, [00:11:00] Hearing God's word and actually showing it through your actions.

Yeah, yeah. Um, so I think that part speaks to it about your anger for sure. Not your specifically anger, but it's okay sometimes it is about my anger. You general. Um, but is there anything else that stuck out to you in this last part of the chapter? Cause I resonated much more with the first. As James lands this.

This first movement in chapter one, um, he's going to make the case that like, Hey, listen, like, if you think you're religious and you don't live like you're religious, like you're not religious. He said, like, if anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue, but he, but deceives his heart, this person's religion is worthless religion.

That is pure and undefiled before God. The father is this to visit orphans and widows in their affliction and to keep oneself unstained from the world. So again, James would be super pointed. He's basically saying, Hey, if you're not doing these couple of things. You're not serious about your faith. And you can imagine that if James was a pastor today, not many people would want to listen to him.

Um, but he's saying some really good things and he's [00:12:00] saying some things that cause us to reflect on how we live our lives even today. Um, I just, I think they're really valuable things. And I think they're, they're things that I want to be reminded of. And there are things that I want to continue to keep in practice.

So that's what I invite you all to do today as we start this journey through James. Um, look at your life, like, are, are there, are there places where you need to just really trust that God is revealing wisdom to you and you can trust him? Um, is, is there places where you're becoming angry where actually you just need to pause and you need to bring it to the Lord and ask him to act?

Uh, and, and are there ways where, you know, perhaps to just be really pointed, like, are there ways you could be caring for orphans and widows in a, in a more effective way? Are you even doing that? Um, you know, And, and how can you keep yourself unstained from the world? That's just like a wide open thing.

Again, not to earn God's favor, but to show that you do have God's favor. It's, it's a very important distinction. These are not things that we're doing to get God to love us. These are things that we're doing to show that we actually love God so [00:13:00] much. We live the way that he's asked us to live. So I would say that's the, your part for today.

We'll be back again tomorrow with James chapter two. We'll see you then. Hey guys. If you enjoyed the episode today and are enjoying God's plan your part, we would love it if you could help us in two ways. First, if you would give us a rating and review for our podcast, we would really appreciate that. And second, tell your friends, tell all your people that you rub shoulders with every day to listen to the podcast and also give us ratings and reviews as well.

That being said, here is the reading for today. James chapter one. James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the Twelve Tribes in the Dispersion. Greetings. Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds. For you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.

And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given to him. [00:14:00] But let him ask in faith, with no doubting. For the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind.

For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord. He is a double minded man, unstable in all his ways. Let the lowly brother boast in his exaltation and the rich in his humiliation, because like a flower of the grass he will pass away. For the sun rises with its scorching heat and withers the grass, its flower falls and its beauty perishes.

So also will the rich man fade away in the midst of his pursuits. Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him. Let no one say when he is tempted, I'm being tempted by God, for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one.

But each person is tempted when he's lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire, when it has conceived, gives birth to sin, and sin, when it is fully grown, brings forth death. Do [00:15:00] not be deceived, my beloved brothers. Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of Lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.

Of His own will He brought us from the Word of Truth, that we should be a kind of first fruits of His creatures. Know this, my beloved brothers. Let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger, for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. Therefore, put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.

But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being not a hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.

If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle [00:16:00] his tongue but deceives his heart, this person's religion is worthless. Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this, to visit orphans and widows in their affliction and to keep one's self unstained from the world. Thank you so much for listening to today's episode of God's Plan, Your Part.

Don't forget, you can find us on just about every social media platform and YouTube. Let us know what you thought of today's episode, and if you have any questions, go ahead and post them there. You can also reach out to us directly at godsplanyourpart at gmail. com. As always. If you don't have a Bible, or if you'd like to use the one that we use, uh, reach out to us via email and we'll be happy to send one to you.

Thanks again for listening. We'll see you again [00:17:00] tomorrow.