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Call to worship: Jeremiah 32:36-41
Text: James 1:1-4
Summary:
James introduces himself to dispersed but gathered Christians. As is required to serve them well, James is first a servant of God and the Lord Jesus Christ. The Gospel is underneath him as he launches into deeply practical Christianity---heavenly wisdom for living faith. He deals initially with their approach to the trials they're facing. The main imperative is to count it all joy when they face them. This heavenly calculus demands applying what they know to be true about (1) God's goal with Christ's people, (2) the nature of true faith, (3) the result of testing of it, and (4) the cumulative effect and/or gain of steadfastness. Joy is in likeness to Jesus and, insofar as trials produce that, we can count it all joy when we meet them.
Sermon Outline:
- James, and what to know of him. (1:1)
- Trials, and how to meet them. (1:2-4)
Prepare
Discussion Questions:
- Read James 1:1-4.
- How does James introduce himself? Martin Luther called James an epistle of straw for its apparent lack of Gospel. Why is it significant then that James calls himself a servant of 'the Lord Jesus Christ'? Consider that title in light of Acts 2:36.
- To whom does James address himself? Why have these 'twelve tribes' been dispersed? What do we gain by the fact that those dispersed are the same that James greets? What's the difference between a hired hand and a Christian shepherd (John 10)?
- What does James admit about trials that goes with the grain of expectation? What does James teach about trials that goes with the grain of a heavenly worldview and wisdom? What's the controlling imperative or command in 1:2?
- How does James inform and/or shape our understanding of trials such that we're enabled to count it all joy when they meet us? In lieu of suffering, does James' counsel to privatize one's Christianity? If not, what is it, and how is it? What do these short verses teach us about God's design by our trials, the nature of true faith, and the final goal of endurance?