We live at a time when problems are multiplying and morphing. We have the world problem of the Coronavirus pandemic. We have the church problem of trying to maintain worship and witness in a lockdown. We have personal problems such as loss of jobs, income, mental health. All these are serious problems with serious consequences.

However I want to speak to you today about the greatest problem the world, the church, and we personally is facing. It’s a more serious problem than coronavirus and it has more serious consequences. It’s this: What if Christ is not risen from the dead?

That may not seem to be a serious problem to you. But in 1 Corinthians 15:12-20, the Apostle Paul explains how serious a problem it is for the world, for the church, and for ourselves. He focuses on the consequences of this “if.” As we look at it, we’ll see it is the worst “if” not only in the Bible but in the world.

But I want to assure you that we will also be looking at the best “but” in the Bible, a but that solves this problem, changes the consequences for good, and gives us all hope. So, let’s look at the worst “if” in the Bible and see what a problem this is if this “if” is true. Follow me for a few minutes into a dark hole.

For more, see my sermon notes.  Scroll down a bit further and you’ll find a one-page sermon summary infographic.

Sermon Notes

Infographic

In chapter 5, verses 1-6, James condemned the wealthy who abuse their wealth and power by oppressing the poor and the weak. In verses 7-12, he addresses the oppressed sufferers who were becoming impatient in suffering. He says, “Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord” (7).

Why did he advocate patience in suffering? Because when we are impatient in suffering:

• We lose hope
• We lose faithfulness
• We lose blessing

James therefore gives his readers three good examples to help them be patient in suffering

BE PATIENT LIKE A HOPEFUL FARMER (7-8)

• The farmer waits for a rewarding harvest (7): “Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives the early and the late rains.”

• Wait for the rewarding return of Christ (8): “You also, be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand.”

• Wait without grumbling (9): “Do not grumble against one another, brothers, so that you may not be judged; behold, the Judge is standing at the door.”

As the farmer waits patiently and hopefully for his crops coming, so wait patiently and hopefully for Christ’s coming. If you grumble, you’ll be judged, but if you’re patient, you’ll be rewarded.

I’m waiting patiently for his return, but what should I do in the meantime?

BE PATIENT LIKE A FAITHFUL PROPHET (9-10)

• The patient prophets spoke in God’s name (10): “Prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord.”

• Follow the example of the prophets (10): As an example of suffering and patience, brothers, take the prophets.”

Suffering makes us speak against the Lord, but patience helps us to speak for the Lord.

What’s the point of all this? Can any good come of it?

BE PATIENT LIKE BLESSED JOB (11-12)

• Like Job be steadfast in suffering (11a): “Behold, we consider those blessed who remained steadfast.”

• Like Job, show God’s purpose/character (11b): “You have heard of the steadfastness of Job, and you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful.”

• Like Job, don’t curse God (12): “But above all, my brothers, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or by any other oath, but let your “yes” be yes and your “no” be no, so that you may not fall under condemnation.” 

Don’t curse in suffering, if you want blessed in suffering.

Do you see how much good can come out of suffering?

LIVING THE BIBLE

Be patient like a hopeful farmer, the faithful prophets, and blessed Job.

PRAYING THE BIBLE

God of patience, you are so long-suffering and slow to anger. We see this especially in the life and sufferings of your Son, Jesus Christ.

While suffering in unimaginable ways at the hands of the rich and powerful, he was patient like a hopeful farmer, patient like the faithful prophets, and patient like blessed Job.

We confess that impatience in suffering often makes us lose hope, lose faithfulness, and lose blessing.

Help us, therefore, to be patient like a hopeful farmer, like a faithful prophet,  like blessed Job, and, above all, like your perfect Son. Amen

Listen to this episode on Living the Bible podcast. You can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes and Spotify. Index to Living Faith in Testing Times series.

This world confronts us with two painful sights. On the one hand, the wealthy have so much unused wealth; on the other hand, many of the wealthy abuse the poor financially and physically.

This is not only painful, but tests our faith in God. James 5:1-6 helps ease the pain and comfort our hearts by showing us God’s view of the situation. Let’s see what God sees, and hear what God hears.

NB: Before we do so, though, it’s important to note that this passage addresses only the sinful use and abuse of wealth. There are many wealthy people who are godly and use their wealth in God-honoring and people-helping ways. Also, we don’t need to be wealthy to abuse what we do have and those under us!

GOD SEES THE UNUSED RICHES

In verse 1, God calls wealthy oppressors to “weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you.” Why? Three reasons:

• Your unused riches have corroded (2-3a): “Your riches have rotted and your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver have corroded.” 

• Your unused riches will witness against you (3b): “Their corrosion will be evidence against you and will eat your flesh like fire.”

• Your unused riches will corrode you (3c): They “will eat your flesh like fire.”

Our riches may help us eat well, but they may eventually eat us.

“But it’s not just that they don’t use their money well, they don’t pay their workers well.”

GOD HEARS THE UNPAID WAGES

Yes, God sees the unused riches and hears the unpaid wages.

• You didn’t pay your workers for work (4a): “Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud.”

• The unpaid wages cry out against you (4b): “The wages are crying out against you.”

Unpaid wages may lift you high, but their cry goes to the Most High.

“But they do worse than fail to pay wages. Wealthy oppressors also abuse their workers.”

GOD HEARS THE ABUSED WORKERS (4C-6)

God sees the unused riches, and hears the unpaid wages and the abused workers.

• You’ve pampered yourselves (5): “You have lived on the earth in luxury and in self-indulgence. You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter.”

• You’ve abused your powerless workers (6): ^“You have condemned and murdered the righteous person. He does not resist you.”

• God hears the workers’ cries (4b): “The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts.

While we’re partying and joking, God may be preparing judgment.

God has a very different perspective on the abuse of wealth. Do you see and hear what God sees and hears?

LIVING THE BIBLE

Be comforted by what God hears and sees and by what he says to wealthy oppressors.

PRAYING THE BIBLE

Infinitely rich God, you see the way we are oppressed and the way we can oppress others.

Encourage the oppressed that you see, hear, and will take action to defend them.

Warn the oppressors that you see, hear, and will take action to judge them.

If we are oppressed, help us to look to you for judgment rather than do it ourselves.

If we are wealthy, help us to use our wealth to lift others up rather than put them down.

We worship you, O God, because you are the richest person in the universe, and because you are just and merciful in the way you use your wealth for the good of others. Amen.

Listen to this episode on Living the Bible podcast. You can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes and Spotify. Index to Living Faith in Testing Times series.

We miss valuable opportunities for worship in everyday life with the result that:

• We miss God’s purpose for our life
• We miss out on God’s friendship in our life
• We miss out on God’s joy in our life

But there is a way to increase our worship of God in everyday life and so fulfill our purpose, experience Gods friendship, and enjoy God’s joy. James highlights two ways we can increase worship in everyday life.

WE CAN WORSHIP GOD AS THE JUDGE (11-12)

• You act like a judge of the law (11): “Do not speak evil against one another, brothers. The one who speaks against a brother or judges his brother, speaks evil against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge

• Worship the only judge of the law (12): There is only one lawgiver and judge, he who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor?

Every time you are tempted to put someone down, lift God up. That will increase your worship

Are there any other ways I miss opportunities to worship God in everyday life?

WE CAN WORSHIP GOD AS THE PLANNER (13-17)

• Plans without God are arrogant boasting (13-14, 16): Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”—  yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes… As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.

• Worship God by submitting plans to him (15): Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.”

Every time you say “Let’s do this,” say, “Let’s submit this.” That will increase your worship.

Can you remember the last time you submitted your plans to God?

LIVING THE BIBLE
Worship God as Judge and Planner in everyday life and you will worship God a lot more.

PRAYING THE BIBLE

Judge and Planner, you are worthy of a lot more worship than we give you. We confess, that we often limit worship to church worship, family worship, or personal worship. Help us to worship you in everyday life too.

When we want to put others down, help us to want to put you up. When we want to make our plans, help us to ask for your plan. And so help us to worship you in everyday life.

Help us to realize this is a serious matter, not an optional extra. As verse seventeen puts it, “Whoever knows the right thing to do, and fails to do it, for him it is sin.” We now know worship is the right thing to do when judging or planning. So help us to worship you every day in everyday life. Amen.

Listen to this episode on Living the Bible podcast. You can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes and Spotify. Index to Living Faith in Testing Times series.

People trace the cause of all their problems to other people putting them down.

• The problem is always out there never in here.
• The problem is always them and never me
• If the problem is never my problem, I cannot fix it

Are we blaming the right person? Are we so helpless and hopeless? I want to show you that blaming yourself is not only more truthful but more helpful and more hopeful. Let’s turn to James 4:1-10 to see how this works.

ME-FIRST PASSIONS RUIN RELATIONSHIP WITH SELF (1-2A)

• “Your passions are at war within you” (1a)    

• Your passions go unsatisfied (2a): “You desire and do not have….”

That’s bad. I see my me-first passion is dragging me down How do I fix this? What should I do? Before we look at the fix, I want you to see your situation is even worse than you think.

ME-FIRST PASSIONS RUIN RELATIONSHIPS WITH OTHERS (1-2A)

• You’re at war with others (1a): “What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you?”

• These wars ruin your relationships (2b):  ^“You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel.”

That’s really bad. I see my me-first passion is dragging me down How do I fix this? What should I do? Before we look at the fix, I want you to see your situation is even worse than you think.

ME-FIRST PASSIONS RUIN RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD (2B-6)

• You’re at war with God (2c): “You do not have, because you do not ask.”
• You pray for self-satisfaction (3): “You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.”
• You’ve become a friend of the world (4a): “You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God?”
• You’ve become an enemy of God (4-6): “Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, “He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us”? …God opposes the proud.”

That’s really, really bad. It’s far worse than I thought. Please tell me how to put this right.

GOD-FIRST SUBMISSION WILL ELEVATE YOU (7-10)

• God-first submission looks like this (7-9): “God…gives grace to the humble.” Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom”

• God-first submission will exalt you (10): “Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.”

Does that not motivate you to pursue a God-first life rather than a me-first life?

LIVING THE BIBLE

Replace me-first passions with God-first passion and you’ll experience relational health and happiness.

PRAYING THE BIBLE

Supreme God, I want to lift you up and make you first in my life.

I acknowledge that’s not always the case. Although I try to blame others for my problems, the vast majority of them are not caused by other people but by my selfish passions.  

I see the damage this does to me, to others, and to my relationship with you. Therefore dethrone me-first passions and enthrone you-first passions.

I see how Jesus did this when he said, “Not my will but your will be done.” And so I make that my prayer knowing that as you have highly exalted your Son and Servant, you will lift me up too, even when others put me down. Amen.

Listen to this episode on Living the Bible podcast. You can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes and Spotify. Index to Living Faith in Testing Times series.

Know-it-alls don’t love-at-all.

How can I say that? Because the Apostle James does. In James 3:13 he asks, “Who is wise and understanding among you?” and answers, “By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom.”

The Apostle links a wise and humble mind with good works. This implies the opposite, that a proud know-it-all mind will be evidenced in bad works. That’s made explicit in the following verses.

I’m sure many of us don’t need much persuasion that know-it-alls don’t love-at-all. We see it all around us in the lives of proud academics, arrogant new atheists, and our political and media elites.

Surely, none of us want to know like that or live like that, I hope. Instead we want to live a beautiful loving life. James shows us how in verses 14-18.

IF WE THINK LIKE HELL WE WILL LIVE LIKE HELL

Look at how James links proud knowledge with hate-filled living.

But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice (14-16).

Pride in our knowledge is from hell and fills us with the contents of hell: hate, jealousy, selfishness, war, and sin. Proud knowledge gives us a sight of hell on earth.

That’s a terrifying prospect isn’t it? Can we change that? God can.

IF WE THINK LIKE HEAVEN WE WILL LIVE LIKE HEAVEN

Look at how James links humble wisdom with love-filled living.

But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace (17-18).

When heaven teaches us, we are filled with heaven: purity, peace, gentleness, reasonableness, mercy, fruit, impartiality, sincerity, righteousness. Humble wisdom gives us a glimpse of heaven on earth.

Wouldn’t you like to be this beautiful and see such beauty?

LIVING THE BIBLE

Get heavenly wisdom from heaven to live a heavenly life. Know Christ to bring heaven to earth.

PRAYING THE BIBLE

Lord Jesus, you are perfect Wisdom and you are perfect humility. You attract us to your teaching by your humility. We hear you saying, “Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” And so we come to learn from you.

We confess we are, at times, know-it-alls who do not love-at-all. We confess that we sometimes think like hell and therefore live like hell. Help us to think like heaven and so live like heaven. We come to you to get heavenly wisdom to live a heavenly life and so bring you to earth. Amen.

Listen to this episode on Living the Bible podcast. You can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes and Spotify. Index to Living Faith in Testing Times series.