Lesson
14 June 13
James
Chapter One
Application:
First, need to recognize the importance of obedience and its relationship to
overcoming the temptation of the indwelling Sin nature with its passions and
lusts.
By understanding the facts presented in verses 1-10,
[understanding of our position] we are to know
for certain that we are dead to the power and rule of sin and alive in the
power of Christ.
This means we have the resources necessary for obedience to
God or as Paul puts it here, to present ourselves to God as those alive from
the dead, and your members as instruments of
righteousness to God. (
So what has
Paul emphasized with Rom 6:
* First its imperative that we know
the facts of our identification with Christ
(vs. 1-10).
* Then we must count on them as
spiritual realities, by faith [believing them] (cf. vs. 11 with vs. 8).
* Third, knowing and believing in
our new identification, we are to choose
to present ourselves to God for obedience (vs. 12-18).
* This presentation is ultimately carried out through walking by faith
empowered by the Spirit who dwells within each of us (
Conclusion
Since as believers we are complete in Christ, there is
nothing we can add to gain salvation, or to maintain their salvation (Titus
3:5; Eph. 2:8-9; Rom.
We are saved by the record of the Savior, not ours.
Likewise, there is nothing believers can add to the work of
Christ or to their new life in Christ in order to walk with God and experience
true spirituality.
To trust in anything other than God's full provision for us
in Jesus Christ is to be faithless in our position and futile in dealing with
the circumstances of life we might be facing.
As a result of our union with or being in Christ, the believer's life
is hidden permanently in God through this union and identification with Jesus
Christ. Col. 3:1-3
Understanding
this truth results in two strong implications:
* Security: Believers are
doubly safe with Christ in God (cf. John. 10:28-29; Rom.
* Provision: The believer's life is nourished and supplied by hidden
resources which the world cannot know nor give.
Bottom Line:
The Spirit of God, whose responsibility it is to glorify
Christ and mediate His life, Christ's
life, to you and me, will never engender spiritual power or bring change
into any life that is not resting in the merit, significance, and sufficiency
of Christ as the source and ground of their life.
Back to James 1:10
And let the rich man (glory) in his
humiliation
rich man
= plousios - used here to describe one who has much
of this world's goods / possessions; an affluent person; one who doesn't have
to work for a living.
The sphere in which this rich man is
to operate:
in his humiliation
- adj. tapeinwsij (...sij = action or process) to be made low;
What is his humiliation?? Does he loose his wealth? Has he been
ostracized by his friends and associates for his faith and application and
therefore now a social outcast?
With all his wealth, tests and
suffering are still a part of his life.
The wealth does not insulate him from them, may be differing types is
all.
In fact the rich believer has no
advantage over the poor believer spiritually. This is very humbling to the rich brother.
Principle of Doctrine that the rich
brother must orient to, to be an adjusted well balanced believer, one with
impact is seen in the next phrase.
because like flowering grass he will pass away.
Reason I believe that he does this
is that for the rich brother it is so easy for him to fall into the trap of
relying on his material possessions, wealth & social position for his
security and happiness, when they are not the basis of true security or
happiness.
he will pass away - pare,rcomai - come to an end, to pass away
- Emphasis is not on
the wealth coming to an end but the individual, he is not immortal; death will
eventually overtake him