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James 5:1 - Come now - absolute imperative that the reader pay attention to what James is saying.

Hello again my friends,

James is often call "the proverbs of the New Testament".  Men's group discussed Proverbs 5:1-8 and 10:10-32 this past Saturday.  We tend to see proverbs as short, pithy statements of how to live a better life.  But as long as we view them as external rules to impose on ourselves, we go astray.  When God writes the law (and proverbs) on our hearts, they become internal means for the Spirit to guide us.  

If you find yourself feeling bound by and to external requirements so as to escape punishment, I encourage you to turn to the Lord so that the veil on your heart may be removed.  Please leave a comment or contact Jonathan via the church website so that he or I can point the way to the narrow gate.

Blessings

Jeff

It would be nice if James was warning society in general about the miseries coming due to wealth.  But this letter is to "the twelve tribes in the Dispersion" (1:1).  So James, the brother of Jesus, was aware of this problem within at least Jewish converts.  And it was not just "income inequality" but active fraud by holding back the wages of workers.  Just thinking about a church where the well to do members were defrauding other people in the church who worked for them.   So James does not have the Bill Gates of the ancient world in mind.  the church is to be a witness to the world of how people are to treat each other.  This is to be an example of  "I will show you my faith by my works".  Also goes back to "show no partiality".

And this in a world where "luxury and self-indulgence" is hard for me to really understand in comparison to our world.  How would James describe my lifestyle?  

Another indication that this is written to believers is the type of misery.  "rotted riches and moth eaten garments" is not temporal judgment by civil authorities.  This is a warning that God will judge them at the last day.  The rich person in the church may avoid temporal losses, but not divine justice.

Instruction - What does God expect of me? - Marked contrast between economics and relationships in the church and economics and relationships in the world.  This is not easy. But it is necessary.  This is not class warfare advocated by secular social justice activists of our day.  The life in the Spirit is always in stark contrast to life in the law.

Thanksgiving - Making faith practical but always based on principle.  The new covenant written on tablets of human hearts and not stone.

Confession - Allowing the "God is a cosmic killjoy" concept to go unchallenged in the minds of unbelievers.

Petition - My life and the lives of fellow believers would demonstrate that the fruit of the Spirit cannot be produced by the effort of the flesh.

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