Christ Is King Baptist Church

Psalm 119-25-32

Sunday AM Service-Philippians 1-27-30

Philippians 1-18b-26

Philippians 1-9-11

Philippians 1-12-18

Philippians 1-3-8

Philippians 1-1-2 - Acts 16

Mark 4-35-41 - Psalm 46

With the opening, -But above all brethren,- James introduces the closing section of his letter, listing various exhortations in a row. The first of which is sinful swearing and illegitimate oaths.--Because the Bible has several examples of permissible oaths, including several made by God Himself, we know that James is only forbidding sinful oaths. He commands us to avoid rash oaths that are made deceptively. In their place, we should have such integrity of speech that nobody would ever question our words, and we would have no need to swear to confirm the truth of our statements. This can only happen as the Spirit of Truth indwells us.--We must avoid the mindset that swearing by things other than God -e.g. heaven or earth- gets us off the hook. To swear by holy things is to still swear by God's name, and our deceit drags God's reputation through the mud. God is jealous for the glory of His name and will not leave unpunished those who use His name in vain.

James continues discussing the patient endurance believers are to exercise in the face of suffering in light of Christ's soon return. Having brought up farmers in the previous section as an illustration of patience he now moves on to Old Testament examples from accounts with which his Jewish audience would have been familiar.--Job and the prophets endured all sorts of trials from persecution to natural disasters, and emotional anguish of all sorts. In addition, God's blessing was manifest in the latter years of Job's life, and in the prophets' joy in heaven.--God has left us example after example of patient endurance for us to follow, so we know we are not alone but surrounded by a cloud of witnesses. In each case, God demonstrated His immense compassion and mercy through His pity upon our misery. God offers this same mercy in our lives as He alleviates us from our plight.

The word -therefore- at the beginning of this section shows the logical connection between this passage and the previous oracle. Having preached several indictments against the oppressive, unbelieving rich, he now turns to his suffering, afflicted brethren, offering hope.--Patient endurance in light of the soon return of Christ is the theme of the passage. The coming of our Lord will mean judgment for the wicked -vv. 1-6-, but rescue for believers -vv. 7-11-.--In verses 7-8, James twice commands us to be patient, with an illustration of the average farmer sandwiched between to depict for us what this patience looks like. He then turns from individual endurance to the Church community in verse 9 by commanding us to be patient with one another.

James moves on to rebuke yet another group of rich people in this next oracle. He calls out these rich land owners for their hoarding, fraud, indulgence, and murder, bringing up several witnesses that will be used against them on Judgment Day.--Following the pattern of Old Testament prophetic oracles, this passage is meant to be an encouragement for believers who are undergoing oppression and ill-treatment under the heavy hand of these rich people. The nearness of the Lord's return to destroy the wicked means that relief is coming soon.--Yet at the same time, this is a call for us who may not have a lot of money to search our hearts and crucify any greed or covetousness.

In this passage Paul unpacks the doctrine of Original Sin -or better, Original Death- from 5 different angles as he compares and contrasts universal death through Adam's sin and superabundant grace through Christ's obedience.--The differences between Adam's sin and Christ's righteousness, and how they affect their people, are explained in verses 15-17- the similarities are highlighted in verses 18-19.--Both Adam and Christ represented others before God. That is where the similarity ends. But Christ cleans up after Adam. He succeeded where Adam failed. His obedience resulted in life for all who are -in Christ,- whereas Adam's disobedience resulted in death for all -in Adam-.--The free gift of righteousness and life in Christ is freely offered and freely bestowed upon all who simply -receive- it.

James discusses a new form of pride- presumptuous planning. We cannot plan our lives as though God does not exist. Instead, under the theological conviction of the absolute sovereignty of God, and that our lives are short and fleeting, we should be willing to accept unexpected, abrupt changes in our course. We must follow God and do His will whether things go our way or not.

In this audio sermon from Christ is King, Pastor Jon Speed presents a few lessons on pastoral ministry.

James continues his discussion of speech ethics, humility, and interpersonal relationships in the church with an exhortation against slanderous judgment.--He is not prohibiting any and all judgment altogether, but only the loveless kind that seeks to harm the brother. Instead of this, we should simply be doers of the Law.--We must keep in mind the attributes of God, and that He can do a fine job judging the world without us.

Having discussed the wars and conflicts in the church, James now engages in strong prophetic preaching, calling the prideful to humbly repent.

Having discussed wisdom from below at the end of Chapter 3, James moves on to the fruit of the jealousy that comes from worldly, demonic wisdom. If we wish to avoid fights in the church, we need to cleanse our hearts.