James 4:13-17 (NASB)

13 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit.” 14 Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. For you are just a vapor that appears for a little while, and then vanishes away. 15 Instead, you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that.” 16 But as it is, you boast in your arrogance; all such boasting is evil. 17 So for one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, for him it is sin.

Two big problems with making plans & decisions apart from seeking God’s will:

1) It is foolish to act like you are in control of the future (4:13-14)

2) It is arrogance and evil to neglect God’s will (4:16-17)

How to make plans & decisions in honor of Christ:

3) Seek the Lord’s will in everything you do (4:15)

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James 4:11-12 (NASB)

11 Do not speak against one another, brothers and sisters. The one who speaks against a brother or sister, or judges his brother or sister, speaks against the law and judges the law; but if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge of it. 12 There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the One who is able to save and to destroy; but who are you, judging your neighbor?

It is serious sin against God to speak against or stand in judgement over others.

1) The Command(s) – 4:11a (& b)

2) The Reasons for the Command(s) – 4:11b-12

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John 14:19 (NASB)

19 After a little while, the world no longer is going to see Me, but you are going to see Me; because I live, you also will live.

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James 4:7-10 (NASB)

7 Submit therefore to God. But resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Come close to God and He will come close to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Be miserable, and mourn, and weep; let your laughter be turned into mourning, and your joy into gloom. 10 Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you.

Being in close(r) relationship with God involves dealing with your pride and sin in much humility.

1) Some Pointers for closer closeness to God (4:7)

2) The Importance of real repentance (4:8-9)

3) A Promise to the wholly humble (4:10)

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James 4:4-6 (NASB)

4 You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. 5 Or do you think that the Scripture says to no purpose, “He jealously desires the Spirit whom He has made to dwell in us”? 6 But He gives a greater grace. Therefore it says, “God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”

God calls us to be faithful to follow Him and His Word above the ways of the world.

1) The Rebuke of Worldliness (4:4)

2) The Reference to the Word (4:5)

3) The Reminder of the Way Forward (4:6)

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James 4:1-3 (NASB)

1 What is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you? Is the source not your pleasures that wage war in your body’s parts? 2 You lust and do not have, so you commit murder. And you are envious 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 with the wrong motives, so that you may spend what you request on your pleasures.

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Hebrews 10:24-25 (NASB)

24 and let’s consider how to encourage one another in love and good deeds, 25 not abandoning our own meeting together, as is the habit of some people, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near.

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James 3:1-12 (NASB)

1 Do not become teachers in large numbers, my brothers, since you know that we who are teachers will incur a stricter judgment. 2 For we all stumble in many ways. If anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to rein in the whole body as well. 3 Now if we put the bits into the horses’ mouths so that they will obey us, we direct their whole body as well. 4 Look at the ships too: though they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are nevertheless directed by a very small rudder wherever the inclination of the pilot determines. 5 So also the tongue is a small part of the body, and yet it boasts of great things.

See how great a forest is set aflame by such a small fire! 6 And the tongue is a fire, the very world of unrighteousness; the tongue is set among our body’s parts as that which defiles the whole body and sets on fire the course of our life, and is set on fire by hell. 7 For every species of beasts and birds, of reptiles and creatures of the sea, is tamed and has been tamed by the human race. 8 But no one among mankind 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 have been made in the likeness of God; 10 from the same mouth come both blessing and cursing. My brothers and sisters, these things should not be this way. 11 Does a spring send out from the same opening both fresh and bitter water? 12 Can a figure tree, my brothers and sisters, bear olives, or a vine bear figures? Nor cans salt water produce fresh.

Four Helps in controlling our tongues to honor Christ

1) Realize that God holds you accountable for your tongue (3:1-2)

2) Recognize the potentially destructive power of your tongue (3:3-5)

3) Acknowledge that your tongue is (humanly) untamable (3:6-8)

4) Know the source of your tongue’s inconsistencies (3:9-12)

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James 3:1-12 (NASB)

1 Do not become teachers in large numbers, my brothers, since you know that we who are teachers will incur a stricter judgment. 2 For we all stumble in many ways. If anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to rein in the whole body as well. 3 Now if we put the bits into the horses’ mouths so that they will obey us, we direct their whole body as well. 4 Look at the ships too: though they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are nevertheless directed by a very small rudder wherever the inclination of the pilot determines. 5 So also the tongue is a small part of the body, and yet it boasts of great things.

See how great a forest is set aflame by such a small fire! 6 And the tongue is a fire, the very world of unrighteousness; the tongue is set among our body’s parts as that which defiles the whole body and sets on fire the course of our life, and is set on fire by hell. 7 For every species of beasts and birds, of reptiles and creatures of the sea, is tamed and has been tamed by the human race. 8 But no one among mankind 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 have been made in the likeness of God; 10 from the same mouth come both blessing and cursing. My brothers and sisters, these things should not be this way. 11 Does a spring send out from the same opening both fresh and bitter water? 12 Can a figure tree, my brothers and sisters, bear olives, or a vine bear figures? Nor cans salt water produce fresh.

Four Helps in controlling our tongues to honor Christ

1) Realize that God holds you accountable for your tongue (3:1-2)

2) Recognize the potentially destructive power of your tongue (3:3-5)

(To be continued next week.)

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James 2:20-26 (NASB)

20 But are you willing to acknowledge, you foolish person, that faith without works is useless? 21 Was our father Abraham not justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? 22 You see that faith was working with his works, and as a result of the works, faith was perfected; 23 and the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “And Abraham believed God, and it was credited 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 In the same way, was Rahab the prostitute not justified by works also when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way? 26 For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.

The genuineness of your faith in Jesus Christ is proven by your works.

1) It is foolish to believe that a faith without works is saving faith (2:20-25)

Real Faith Example #1 – Abraham

Real Faith Example #2 – Rahab

2) Faith without works is dead faith (2:26)

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