Hidden Blessings from a HARD Passage

Hidden Blessings from a Hard Passage

Ever been blessed from an unexpected source? Chastisement? Someone harsh?

Illustration: My first job was working for the Hollywood Bowl. Couple came up, happy, giddy excitement. I was joking with them. After they left, my boss came and said a couple things to me about how to treat a customer. I was blessed by it. I also can’t repeat it.

We naturally build our lives on a wrong assumption: What I have belongs to me. My stuff belongs to me. Money. LIFE. Time. Body. James is confronting the view that we are here to consume what we have.

James 4:13-4:17, James 5:1-6

• James 4:13-14, does not belong to us.
• James 4:13-16, does not belong to me. We “appear,” that is, we did not create ourselves. We showed up! And we “vanish.” Or, we don’t choose when it’s time to go.
• James 4:17, do not belong to me. I don’t get to decide what’s right and what’s wrong. I am blessed to get to know it.
• James 5:1-4, does not belong to me. James would tell us, “Don’t hold on to stuff. Don’t think it will make you happy. Things will not make you happy, either here or in eternity. Get rid of wealth.”

James 5:2, he notes that we have so much stuff, the stuff is rotting! Garments: Back then people kept clothes all their life, so valuable. Rich: They don’t even wear them. Get eaten by moths! You have so much tuff, you don’t even have time to consume it.

I bought a health/wealth preachers commentary on James. I bought it just wondering, what do you do with James 5, if you’re a prosperity teacher? The teacher argued that portion of James was not written to Christians – it is addressing unbelievers. So this teacher argues that it’s okay for Christians to hoard wealth, but it brings about divine wrath for the unbeliever? It’s wrong for the unbeliever – But if your sparkly TV preacher… bring on the gold rings, hotels, cars, mansions. Jesus died so we can hoard wealth? Is that Christianity? It’s not. The Jesus makes you wealthy movement is nothing more than a sales pitch from an unauthorized telemarketer taking Jesus name and blood in vein.

• James 5:5-7, does not belong to me.

James’ accusation is that they not only lived like no tomorrow, they lived like there was no judgment. No accounting for life. We did what we wanted as if we would never have to give account.

James 5:5, “Slaughter” – You fatten a calf for slaughter. James: You’re so dumb to just consume and consume and consume… what if you’re fattening yourself for slaughter? Don’t just keep it all for yourself!

James’ point, we never seem to think we’ll have to answer to God for what we did today.

I am so blessed by that passage!

Unseen Blessings:

1. The Blessing of =

• We live craving more. Money, CD’s, MP3’s, food, clothes, shoes, cars. When we are driven by the need for more stuff, we are saying less to some other things. Less family, less time, less purpose, less love, less service.
• James says we are a vapor! And he gives this warning, we cannot plan our lives. Because we don’t hold the future. He advises us that when we make plans, to keep the Lord in mind.
• Enjoy the things God has given you without needing more. Enjoy your kids, your spouse, your church, your city. Take joy in the goodness of God, because like a vapor, life is short.

2. The Blessing of =

• James 4:15 emphasizes that we should be looking for what God is doing in each situation.
• Perspective is that God is at work all around me. I may not see it. I may accidently plan things that do not conform to what God is doing.

When Your Plans Go Wrong.

-God has not abandoned you.

-God did not stop being God.

-God is still moving in our world.

• The wicked have no perspective, no understanding that God is at work in our world.
• James is not against us planning. He’s not against us enjoying life! But realize, life has a larger direction.
• Constantly be asking God: What are you doing? God is up to things on earth, he invites us to join Him.
• Ultimately, my life does not belong to me. Time does not belong to me.
• We are tempted when God invites us to join him, to tell God how busy we are. However busy you are – God’s more busy!

3. The blessing of =

• James is saying: You cannot expend everything God has given you on yourself. You don’t need it all. We buy things, food, clothes we don’t even need. Try to give the cloths away.
• If James was speaking to unbelievers about how they handle Gold, how they treat the poor: How much more the people of God?! Think God is like: Go ahead and live worse than the unbelievers?

What I do protect me: Give purpose to Gold: I learned this as a child.

• I start at I sacrificially give God the first 10^th. I’m concerned how angry this gets some believers. The early church didn’t tithe – they gave all! To use a simple starting point of the law should remind us that grace always exceeds the law.
• I give It’s a ministry I trust. There are huge needs in this poor town. Thank God for deacon who oversees that. There are needs I know nothing about. My church does things with my money I can’t. Helps women in serious crisis. Helps needy I don’t even know about! The truth is, I sit in a chair where I see more in the church than most do. I know more than most people do about how money is spent. And I am blessed (so blessed) to see Godly Deacons generous to the poor. We don’t’ get up and announce when we help a widow, send someone home to take care of a need, pay someone’s rent or provide. But I can tell you with integrity, this ministry is pretty amazing.
• I am ready I know once a year my church will take special offering to missions. Usually in February.
• I try to pay attention when Just tithing or giving to missions doesn’t mean God won’t ask for much more! Sometimes he is going to put things right in front of me that he wants me to take care of. He doesn’t want the church to do it – he wants me to see to it. It’s like being slapped by the Lord. “Do something about that!” You can feel his passion. Intensity. The great thing is, when you obey him, the next time he doesn’t have to hit as hard. Soon, he can just nudge, and you know what He wants.

4. The blessing of =

• (Or we could say the blessing of prophecy.) It is a blessing when God tells us people ahead of time what’s going to happen. We say: Hindsight is 20/20. For a believer, foresight should be 20/20. A warning is a blessing! (Check phone before leave on a trip: Looking for warnings.)
• James sounds so hard. But he’s setting us up for success. Someone to say: Look, we’re just vapors. Really soon, we are going to be standing before God. That’s good to know! Do well.

James: One day you will have a conversation with God about how we used what he gave us.

1. What did you do with the gifts I gave you?

2. How did you treat the poor?

3. How did you handle the gold I gave you?

4. The most important question of life: What did you do with Jesus?