On Reality TV there’s no end of programmes that let you see the dysfunctionality of different families, like “Keeping Up With the Kardashians”.  I think these programmes are so popular because they help us feel better about our families: none are perfect, or normal!  A fascinating Reality TV programme would have been “Keeping Up With Jesus”.

Jesus was part of a family while on earth: “Isn’t this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James, Joseph, Jude, and Simon? And aren’t his sisters here with us?” (Mark 6:3).

Have you ever imagined what it must have been like to grow up with Jesus, as your older brother?  He was never the one who got in trouble with Joseph and Mary, because He didn’t do anything wrong – and He showed up just how bad you were in contrast.  It must have been so frustrating, indeed perhaps there was some dislike and jealousy.  Maybe that’s why the gospels candidly tell us: “For even his own brothers did not believe in him” (John 7:5).  At one point we’re told: “And when his family heard it, they went out to seize him, for they were saying, ‘He is out of his mind’,” (Mark 3:21).

The James who wrote this letter is almost certainly one of these unbelieving half-brothers of Jesus.  James’ conversion came after the resurrection of Jesus, when he received a personal visit from his half-brother: “Then he appeared to James” (1 Corinthians 15:7).  Later, we are told that James is one of the key leaders of the church in Jerusalem (Galatians 1:19, 2:9; Acts 15:13-21).

His letter is probably one of the very first writings in the whole New Testament.  And James’ writes with one aim in mind, to challenge us “to follow more wholeheartedly, James’ brother – the Lord Jesus” (Alberry).  To put our faith (in our heads) into action (in our lives) ... “James urges disciples to let what they have learned to move like leaven throughout their whole person – mind, heart, speech, action” (DeSilva).

Particularly, James is going to explore the realities of being a Christian – the different challenges that come on the inside and on the outside against our faith in Christ.  These are opportunities to become more whole-heartedly a follower of Jesus!

BIBLE STUDY

What does this passage teach us about:

↑ God: His Person, His Character, His Works?

• 1: James says he’s jointly a servant of “God” and the “Lord Jesus” – affirming the deity of Jesus
• 5: God wants us to ask His help to navigate the trials of this life wisely. He will do so gladly, because He’s “generous” (No Scrooge) and shows “no reproach” (No Oliver Twist workhouse master)

→ Life in this World: Hardships, Trials?

• 3 there are “various trials”: light and heavy… personal and circumstantial, sudden and unexpected, gradual and impending, pain, anxiety, failure, disappointment
• 3-4: Trials and hardships aren’t destructive, they can be productive: they “produce steadfastness” with the end of “full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing”. God doesn’t waste these things in our lives. “James’ plea to us, whatever our situation, is not to let such times finish us as Christians.  In fact, just a few verses later, he offers us the prospect not just of scraping through trials, but of actually growing as Christians in our trials” (Alberry)…
• “pure joy” “perfect” - Picture of the refiner’s fire for purifying silver. The silversmith has to heat up the silver ore to a high temperature, in order to scrape off the top the impurities and dross, repeating this process multiple times.  He knows his work is complete when he can see his reflection in the molten silver – so it is with how our heavenly Father refines and purifies us!
• 5: We aren’t expected to cope on our own, instead we’re invited to ask for wisdom, because trials are complex and confusing! “We should not pray so much for the removal of affliction, as for wisdom to make a right use of it” (Henry)

↓ Us: How we can respond in Thoughts, Feelings, Actions?

• Thinking: we’re to have faith and not to doubt God. We’re not to be two-souled, or divided in heart.  James says that only leads to instability – like being tossed around like a wave in a storm – and inability to receive answers to our prayers.
• Feeling: we’re to pursue joy, not despair or dejection in trials. “Miseries can be bitter or sweet depending on how we choose to look at it” (Manton).  We’re to “count” or “consider” (think about it contrary to how it feels) as “all joy” because God tells us that He has a purpose for the trials of life.  Illustration of Joni Eriksen Tada: when someone asks to pray for her healing, she graciously accepts, but specifically asks them to pray for God to be healing her of her bad attitude, etc.  She sees her quadriplegic condition in the light of eternity and in the light of God’s work in her life today, fitting her for that future life.
• Choosing: we’re to pray and ask God for wisdom and help

 ҉  Any new insights you have discovered?

• How much the words of Jesus stand behind James’ thinking:
  • 2 joy under trial: Matthew 5:11-12 “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven”
  • 3 goal of perfection: Matthew 5:48 “You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”
  • 5 asking and receiving from God: Matthew 7:7 “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you”
  • 6 asking and not doubting: Matthew 21:21-22 “Truly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what has been done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ it will happen.And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith.”
  • 8 on the double minded man: Matthew 9:25-27 “I believe, help my unbelief”. “This father was not oscillating between belief and unbelief. He desired to believe—and even asserted his belief—but because he felt keenly the inadequacy of his faith, he asked for help in believing. He was not facing both directions at the same time like the “double-minded man” of Jas 1:8. In spite of his conscious weakness, he had set his heart to believe”

DISCUSSION AND RESPONSE

The Christian life is marked by trials, which are meant to drive us to God.

AS YOU ENCOUNTER CHALLENGES AS A CHRISTIAN:

(1) Remember God is going to use this! (Read 1 Peter 1:3-7, Romans 8:18)

Think about times when you’ve done something very difficult or experienced a very hard situation – share how you saw growth or how you saw God bring good out of it?

(2) Pray for wisdom! (Read Colossians 2:2-3, Proverbs 3:5-6)

As you enter into a new season of study or work, in what ways do you need wisdom and help from God?

Pray together at tables

Trials marked the life of the Lord Jesus, He has walked this road before us, and we His servants must follow in His footsteps, knowing that this is the road that leads to glory. We’re to ask for Him to graciously strengthen, sustain, guide, and protect us.