James
James 1:1-12
When Troubles Pile Up Note: Most of this series was preached in Wichita; this sermon, however, was delivered in St. Louis. Introduction: For the next several months, Lord willing, we will be mining one of the mother lodes of practical Christianity, the Epistle of James. Some in the early church questioned whether this book was up to par with the rest of Scripture, and Martin Luther was quite sure it wasn’t, but the dominant view of the church has always been that while…
James 1:13-18
When Temptation Overpowers You Last Lord’s Day we took the first step in our summer journey through the Epistle of James, introducing the book and sharing some practical and encouraging answers about what to do when troubles pile up. Today we are going to examine a closely related topic–what to do when temptation overpowers you. I can’t think of any area in which we need to “walk the talk” more than in regard to temptation. Let’s read James 1:13-18: When tempted, no one…
James 1:19-27
When Religion Is Worthless (or, I Believe in Christian Living) I have given two titles to my sermon today. The first is When Religion Is Worthless, the reason for which title will become clear as we go through the text. The second is I Believe in Christian Living. I want to explain where the second comes from. As you will recall, we did a two-month series in April and May on our proposed new EFCA Statement of Faith, called This We Believe. I took the eight major topics…
James 2:1-13
When Favoritism and Prejudice Come to Church Racism in the church today is not as bad as it used to be. Forty years ago Jan and I were members of a Bible Church in Arlington, Texas, pastored by a graduate of Dallas Seminary, where blacks were unwelcome and the whites in the church made no bones about it. They would literally get up and move if an African American sat down next to them. Needless to say, there weren’t many who visited, and…
James 2:14-26
Faith Without Works Doesn’t Work! This is such a special Sunday that I purposely limited my preaching time to 25 minutes. Some of you don’t think I can do it. You’re probably right, but I’ll try. It has been so good to honor Trudy Burkholder this morning on the occasion of her retirement after forty years as our choir director. Pastor Tom Macy, Steve Blasdel and I have had the privilege of working with Trudy for a combined 42 years (some overlap there, of…
James 3:1-12
Tongue in Check Introduction: When I was a kid and my mom took me to the doctor, the first thing he would say, no matter what the problem, was “Stick out your tongue!” Then he would gag me with a little stick. I believe Dr. James would say the same thing if we went to him concerning some problem with our spiritual health—stick out your tongue! According to a recent study the average person speaks 18,000 words a day. That is the equivalent of…
James 4:1-10
Conflict in the Church Note: This sermon was preached in 1991. James 3:13-18 was covered by Associate Pastor Brad Harper, but the manuscript is not available. Introduction: A father heard a commotion in his yard and looked outside to see his daughter and several playmates in a heated quarrel. When he reprimanded her his daughter explained, “We’re just playing church!” Actually, that’s not too hard a scenario to believe. One of my favorite books is entitled Great Church Fights. It was written by a Conservative Baptist pastor named…
James 4:11-17
When Christians Play God It’s great to have our families all together in one service today. I applaud the decision to give our children’s workers, youth leaders, and adult ABF teachers a break for the month before school starts. But even more importantly, I think it’s wonderful to have our families worshiping together. We have a tendency to split families up when we come to church, and there are some good educational benefits to that. But it’s also great for children to sit with…
James 5:1-6
A Word to the Wealthy “Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming upon you. Your wealth has rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes. Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire. You have hoarded wealth in the last days.” Surely James isn’t speaking to us – we who have eaten at least three meals in the last 24 hours, who enjoyed…
James 5:7-12
Lord, Give me Patience–Now! Last Sunday James offered us a “word to the wealthy,” rebuking the wicked who misuse riches in flagrant disregard of godly principles of stewardship. Pastor Phil did a really good job sharing that theme with us. Today our Scripture passage considers the other side of the coin: what about those who get the short end of the stick–the poor, the downtrodden and the suffering? There is a theological movement that has developed in many liberal denominations over the past…
James 5:13-20
Handle With Prayer Today we will conclude our study of the Book of James as we turn our attention to chapter 5:13-20. Good, decent, and godly scholars differ greatly in their interpretation of these verses, and that always makes it a bit disconcerting when one tries to deliver a clear and unambiguous message from God. But let’s study it together and see what we can learn. Is any one of you in trouble? He should pray. Is anyone happy? Let him sing…