We have begun a series on the New Testament book of James. As I began studying for this series I found a striking similarity between the type of wisdom found in James and the Old Testament book of Proverbs (written by Solomon - -the wisest man to ever live).
It is believed that James was Jesus' oldest brother. So, he had a lifetime to learn from Jesus himself; through His teaching and His actions. I think this gives James a distinct advantage over many of the other early church leaders.
In the first week we looked at the first 8 verses of chapter one and found at least three profound words of wisdom -- perseverance is a sign of maturity and path to abundance (v 1-4), we can ask God for wisdom and He gives it -- even if the reason we need wisdom is because of our own foolish mistakes (v 5) and that when we ask from God we need to avoid being double minded (v 6-8). When we are truly in faith we must act like we actually believe it.
Then in the second week we looked at the rest of Chapter 1. We looked at learning top place our trust in God and not our riches. Those riches can be monetary but they can also be our own skills and abilities. Money, talent and abilities are not bad things in and of themselves. But we have to remember that they are all just tools. Our trust is in God and His perfect plan for us.
This led us to verse 17 where we are told to remember that all truly good things come from God and that we are God's first fruits -- His best. After He made all of creation, He made us and made us the best. Despite what the world tries to say -- we are not equal with all the animals. We are greater than and have dominion over all the rest of creation.
Finally we talkd about the idea of getting rid of the filth and humbly accepting God's plan for us (v 21). It takes humility to accept that God knows what is best for us. We need to learn that the world will fill us with filth and self-righteousness that tells us we are "all that". But we will be so much more than that if we humbly accept God's will for us which is way bigger than anything we could even imagine.
Next week we will begin to look at James Chapter 2.
