Theme: Live it

Reading: James 1 & 2

1 Greetings from James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ.

To God’s people^[a] who are scattered all over the world.

Faith and Wisdom

² My brothers and sisters, you will have many kinds of trouble. But this gives you a reason to be very happy. ³ You know that when your faith is tested, you learn to be patient in suffering. ⁴ If you let that patience work in you, the end result will be good. You will be mature and complete. You will be all that God wants you to be.

⁵ Do any of you need wisdom? Ask God for it. He is generous and enjoys giving to everyone. So he will give you wisdom. ⁶ But when you ask God, you must believe. Don’t doubt him. Whoever doubts is like a wave in the sea that is blown up and down by the wind. ^7-8 People like that are thinking two different things at the same time. They can never decide what to do. So they should not think they will receive anything from the Lord.

True Riches

⁹ Believers who are poor should be glad that God considers them so important. ¹⁰ Believers who are rich should be glad when bad things happen that humble them. Their riches won’t keep them from disappearing as quickly as wildflowers. ¹¹ As the sun rises and gets hotter, its heat dries up the plants, and the flowers fall off. The flowers that were so beautiful are now dead. That’s how it is with the rich. While they are still making plans for their business, they will die.

Temptation Does Not Come From God

¹² Great blessings belong to those who are tempted and remain faithful! After they have proved their faith, God will give them the reward^[b] of eternal life. God promised this to all people who love him. ¹³ Whenever you feel tempted to do something bad, you should not say, “God is tempting me.” Evil cannot tempt God, and God himself does not tempt anyone. ¹⁴ You are tempted by the evil things you want. Your own desire leads you away and traps you. ¹⁵ Your desire grows inside you until it results in sin. Then the sin grows bigger and bigger and finally ends in death.

¹⁶ My dear brothers and sisters, don’t be fooled about this. ¹⁷ Everything good comes from God. Every perfect gift is from him. These good gifts come down from the Father who made all the lights in the sky. But God never changes like the shadows from those lights. He is always the same. ¹⁸ God decided to give us life through the true message he sent to us. He wanted us to be the most important of all that he created.

Listening and Obeying

¹⁹ My dear brothers and sisters, always be more willing to listen than to speak. Keep control of your anger. ²⁰ Anger does not help you live the way God wants. ²¹ So get rid of everything evil in your lives—every kind of wrong you do. Be humble and accept God’s teaching that is planted in your hearts. This teaching can save you.

²² Do what God’s teaching says; don’t just listen and do nothing. When you only sit and listen, you are fooling yourselves. ²³ Hearing God’s teaching and doing nothing is like looking at your face in the mirror ²⁴ and doing nothing about what you saw. You go away and immediately forget how bad you looked. ²⁵ But when you look into God’s perfect law that sets people free, pay attention to it. If you do what it says, you will have God’s blessing. Never just listen to his teaching and forget what you heard.

The True Way to Worship God

²⁶ You might think you are a very religious person. But if your tongue is out of control, you are fooling yourself. Your careless talk makes your offerings to God worthless. ²⁷ The worship that God wants is this: caring for orphans or widows who need help and keeping yourself free from the world’s evil influence. This is the kind of worship that God accepts as pure and good.

Love All People

2 My dear brothers and sisters, you are believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ. So don’t treat some people better than others. ² Suppose someone comes into your meeting wearing very nice clothes and a gold ring. At the same time a poor person comes in wearing old, dirty clothes. ³ You show special attention to the person wearing nice clothes. You say, “Sit here in this good seat.” But you say to the poor person, “Stand there!” or “Sit on the floor by our feet!” ⁴ Doesn’t this show that you think some people are more important than others? You set yourselves up as judges—judges who make bad decisions.

⁵ Listen, my dear brothers and sisters. God chose the poor people in the world to be rich in faith. He chose them to receive the kingdom God promised to those who love him. ⁶ But you show no respect to those who are poor. And you know that the rich are the ones who always try to control your lives. And they are the ones who take you to court. ⁷ And the rich are the ones who insult the wonderful name of Christ, the name by which you are known.

⁸ One law rules over all other laws. This royal law is found in the Scriptures: “Love your neighbor^[3] the same as you love yourself.”^[4] If you obey this law, you are doing right. ⁹ But if you are treating one person as more important than another, you are sinning. You are guilty of breaking God’s law.

¹⁰ You might follow all of God’s law. But if you fail to obey only one command, you are guilty of breaking all the commands in that law. ¹¹ God said, “Don’t commit adultery.”^[5] The same God also said, “Don’t kill.”^[6] So if you don’t commit adultery, but you kill someone, you are guilty of breaking all of God’s law.

¹² You will be judged by the law that makes people free. You should remember this in everything you say and do. ¹³ Yes, you must show mercy to others. If you do not show mercy, then God will not show mercy to you when he judges you. But the one who shows mercy can stand without fear before the Judge.

Faith and Good Works

¹⁴ My brothers and sisters, if a person claims to have faith but does nothing, that faith is worth nothing. Faith like that cannot save anyone. ¹⁵ Suppose a brother or sister in Christ comes to you in need of clothes or something to eat. ¹⁶ And you say to them, “God be with you! I hope you stay warm and get plenty to eat,” but you don’t give them the things they need. If you don’t help them, your words are worthless. ¹⁷ It is the same with faith. If it is just faith and nothing more—if it doesn’t do anything—it is dead.

¹⁸ But someone might argue, “Some people have faith, and others have good works.” My answer would be that you can’t show me your faith if you don’t do anything. But I will show you my faith by the good I do. ¹⁹ You believe there is one God. That’s good, but even the demons believe that! And they shake with fear.

²⁰ You fool! Faith that does nothing is worth nothing. Do you want me to prove this to you? ²¹ Our father Abraham was made right with God by what he did. He offered his son Isaac to God on the altar. ²² So you see that Abraham’s faith and what he did worked together. His faith was made perfect by what he did. ²³ This shows the full meaning of the Scriptures that say, “Abraham believed God, and because of this faith he was accepted as one who is right with God.”^[7] Abraham was called “God’s friend.”^[8] 24 So you see that people are made right with God by what they do. They cannot be made right by faith alone.

²⁵ Another example is Rahab. She was a prostitute, but she was made right with God by something she did. She helped those who were spying for God’s people. She welcomed them into her home and helped them escape by a different road.^[9]

²⁶ A person’s body that does not have a spirit is dead. It is the same with faith—faith that does nothing is dead!

Footnotes

1. James 1:1 God’s people Literally, “the twelve tribes.” Believers in Christ are like the tribes of Israel, God’s chosen people in the Old Testament.
2. James 1:12 reward Literally, “wreath,” a ring of leaves or branches that was placed on the head of the winners of athletic contests to honor them. It was a symbol of victory and reward
3. James 2:8 your neighbor Or “others.” Jesus’ teaching in Lk. 10:25-37 makes clear that this includes anyone in need.
4. James 2:8 Quote from Lev. 19:18.
5. James 2:11 Quote from Ex. 20:14; Deut. 5:18.
6. James 2:11 Quote from Ex. 20:13; Deut. 5:17.
7. James 2:23 Quote from Gen. 15:6.
8. James 2:23 Quote from 2 Chron. 20:7; Isa. 41:8.
9. James 2:25 She helped … road The story about Rahab is found in Josh. 2:1-21.

 

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