Where do you find all of these?
A withered flower
A stormy sea
Your face in a mirror
The bit in a horse’s mouth
The rudder of a ship
A raging forest fire
Water from a clear spring
An arrogant businessman
Rusty metal
Moth eaten clothes
Answer: In the Epistle of James! This is probably one of the most popular books in the New Testament. James’ main concern is that professing Christians give themselves wholly to the Lord. In his day, he obviously saw the danger of nominal Christianity creeping into the church and people deceiving themselves (1:22) about their spiritual status. Nominal Christianity is an oxymoron. James wanted his readers to understand the only adjective you could put before Christianity is “wholehearted”. Although his letter covers a wide range of subjects, his concern throughout is that his readers move into wholeheartedness.
James was the brother of Jesus, and much of his language is similar to the teaching of Jesus in the gospels. He never quotes Jesus, but his main concern could be summed up in the words of Jesus in Matthew 6:33 “Seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness”. This “seeking first” and giving yourself “wholly” to the Lord will be a constant concern through the letter as we study it together.
Anyone looking for guidance in their Christian life will benefit enormously from studying James. Believers often quote the James across the world. James’ lavish use of illustrations makes the teaching easy to understand and remember. It’s a vibrant colourful book to read.
We will start looking at the book of James together Saturday 13th October at 10am in King’s House.
James is an intensely practical book to study. It is sometimes called “the proverbs of the New Testament”. It’s full of concise exhortations, encouragement and warnings. There are no long arguments to follow. James wants ordinary believers to grow to maturity, act wisely and live out the faith they profess. He wants them to move into spiritual “wholeheartedness”.
The range of what is covered is more diverse than what is found in Paul’s epistles. Yet there is the constant concern of spiritual wholeness. In our study of James we will look at living wholeheartedly for the Lord and covering the following topics:
Trials and temptations
Hearing and doing
Favouritism forbidden
Faith and deeds
Taming the tongue
Wisdom: earthly and heavenly
Boasting about tomorrow
Warning the rich
The need for patience
The prayer of faith
James is the sixth New Testament book we will be studying on a Second Saturday. So far we have studied Galatians, 1 Corinthians, Philemon, Ephesians and just finished Romans. Wonderful books to study! They were all written by the Apostle Paul and were all inspired by God the Holy Spirit; we believe them to be the infallible written Word of God and totally relevant to 21st century Christians living in Manchester. You can download any of the teaching from these books by clicking “more” on the audio player and selecting the book (from the drop down menu) you want to hear being taught.
