James 1: 1-4

Part 1:

The Author – vv1b [Part 1]

Part 2:

The Recipient – vv1b [Part 2]
The Command – vv2

 

This Week in Part 3:

The Reason for The Command – vv3
The Purpose of The Command – vv4

Every day when you watch TV… I don’t think news has anything… or it is the intention of the news anymore to just give us good news. I don’t know when was the last time any of you just saw a good news story. on…. on the news, either listening to it or watching it. When you hear the news these days, it’s all about who killed who, who raped who, who stole what! And it’s all about people that are going through difficult times. People that are going to things that when you think of your own problems and you look at theirs, you think, mine is much, much better. There are people who find themselves in situations that we would not even comprehend. People that are being displaced by wars. People who live under the fear of being killed because they are Christians. People who live under the fear of their own children, because these children are on drugs. They steal everything in the house. They take everything in the house. They even threaten the parents. Teachers who can no longer, discipline children at school, or even teach them. In fact, nowadays it is the teachers that are scared of the children. I remember, we were the ones that were scared of the teachers.

I remember, when the teacher walked through the streets, you hid yourself in case that teacher then sees you and decides to walk into the yard then says to your parents, this is what your son or your daughter is doing! I remember those days when a parent, outside, had given you a hiding for doing something wrong bet them not to tell your parents because if they told your parents, you got another hiding!

I remember I got a hiding for nothing four or five times for the same thing on the same day! And this is how it went…. My grandmother gave me a hiding. And as she was busy giving me a hiding, which I deserved, by-the-way! Ek was net stout! My uncle walked in, and as I was being given this hiding by my beloved grandmother, my uncle heard what I did – he got cross and joined into that thing! And now, he was really strong and the punishment, your mother… when your mom and your grandmother gives you a hiding, there’s always love in it. But when your uncle gives it to you, there’s “net pak!” There’s nothing lovely about that “pak!” “Jy voel hom!” And then my mother got home…. and when she heard of this, she also felt they didn’t do enough! And then I got angry after my mother’s hiding, my grandmother beat me up for being angry because I was beaten up and so just four times on the same day!

Disciplining children was not a trial! It was a necessity! It was necessary! I needed it!

I am thankful of all the scars… that I got! For during that time, I was getting the hiding- it was painful… obviously! But the long-term results of that, hopefully, helped me to turn out the way I turned out. Although my wife can have a thing or two to say about that! But generally, I turned out well! And it’s only because of the hiding.

Also, the fear of going to jail. I knew that the police would arrest me. I knew that I would go to jail. I knew that there was punishment for disobeying the law. And where I grew up, you would rather please the police shoot you because it was better than what they do to you – if they don’t shoot you! The punishment that they gave you… you went in a criminal; you came out a pastor! You never wanted to do that thing again in your life! That was good! It sounds bad now, but looking at some of my friends, they… they were helped by that! But it is because when it happens, we think it’s cruel. We think it’s bad. But the end results, are so beneficial, that we have a society that has respect, that has discipline, that has the fear of God in them!

But today is completely different. We see bad things when children are disciplined. We see it as a very bad thing! We don’t see it as beneficial in the long term. Although good, although sounding painful, at the time, and this is what God says in Hebrews 12 that He also disciplines us. And He only disciplines His children. He says if He doesn’t discipline you, you are, and I quote God, an illegitimate child! So, if you go on a road, that is, besides that road that you should be going, and the Lord allows you to go there and does not discipline you – you are not His child! You are not His child! But if you are His child, boy, are you gonna get a hiding! But when you get a hiding, God says you’re not gonna enjoy it. It’s gonna be difficult. But that hiding… grows you… guides you… directs you. And God uses trials… difficult times, to either discipline us, or to grow us, or both. And it is in James that we find, from the very 1st verse, that James describes himself as a slave of Christ, and we’ve gone through this. We’ve… we’ve explained it. I’m not going to go through it again! This is James, the lost brother, the same James who did not believe that Jesus was who He said He was! Yet when he penned this letter, He called Him his master! And he called himself a slave of Christ, which all of us should call ourselves, by-the-way! Because if Jesus is Lord, if Jesus is Master, then we have a slave master relationship. There is no democracy in christiandom. You do as Jesus says full stop! Finish and klaar! Punt!

So, after he, says he is a slave of Christ, he begins to address his readers, who were poor, who were suffering at the hands of the rich and suffering from society, for being Christians. Although, at that time, it was not as bad as it was coming during Nero’s time.

He’s writing to them, and he knows that why are these people suffering? We’ve already gone through this. These are Jew Jewish Christians who fled Jerusalem during their persecution that led to the death of Stephen. They were forced to leave. Jesus told them to leave anyway. They were just hanging around… you know, doing things that they wanted. And Jesus said, OK, nou julle sal uit gaan!

And that was the means that God used to get them out into the world where they were supposed to go and preach the gospel. So now, the way they left! Running… you know… they left everything at the back and now they were poor. They had nothing and they were.going through tremendous pain and suffering. And this too, we talked about it! James begins by saying to them: Listen! These trials and these sufferings and these difficult times that you are going through. That occasion of encountering them, or when they come into your life, consider it all joy! Consider that time when difficult times come into your life, it’s a time for rejoice.

Now, if you are not a Chris… not the Christian, this makes no sense to you. Even as a Christian, it doesn’t make sense and James will explain why today. He says that. He says… he’s not…. he’s not saying, by-the-way, that trials or difficult times in of themselves are joyful – that’s not what he’s saying. He’s saying when you encounter them, that moment of encountering them and going through them, that whole process consider it joyful! A time to rejoice. Not of the trial, but of the fact that the trial has come into your life. So, he’s not saying that when you go through difficult times, we should have a braai! That’s not what he’s saying!

He simply saying when trials… difficult times come into your life, consider that occasion as a time for joy. And this is a very difficult concept and it’s very easy for me to stand here and preach it! But it’s not easy to implement. And that’s where Amazing Grace comes in. But you need to know from James why? Why James, do you want us to consider difficult as occasions for joy? This is what James is going to tell us this morning. This sermon was divided… or is still divided into 5 points:

The Author, the Recipient, the Command, the Reason, and the Purpose.

And we’ve already dealt with the 1st three. We will be dealing with the last 2 today.

Let us read the passage…. James1: 1-4