Introduction
Trusting in God rather than riches.
Verses
1Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries that are coming on you.
2Your riches are corrupted and your garments are moth-eaten.
3Your gold and your silver are corroded, and their corrosion will be for a testimony against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up your treasure in the last days.
4Behold, the wages of the labourers who mowed your fields, which you have kept back by fraud, cry out, and the cries of those who reaped have entered into the ears of the Lord of Armies.
5You have lived in luxury on the earth, and taken your pleasure. You have nourished your hearts as in a day of slaughter.
6You have condemned and you have murdered the righteous one. He doesn’t resist you.
7Be patient therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. Behold, the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient over it, until it receives the early and late rain.
8You also be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand.
9Don’t grumble, brothers, against one another, so that you won’t be judged. Behold, the judge stands at the door.
10Take, brothers, for an example of suffering and of perseverance, the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord.
11Behold, we call them blessed who endured. You have heard of the perseverance of Job, and have seen the Lord in the outcome, and how the Lord is full of compassion and mercy.
12But above all things, my brothers, don’t swear— not by heaven, or by the earth, or by any other oath; but let your “yes” be “yes”, and your “no”, “no”, so that you don’t fall into hypocrisy.
13Is any amongst you suffering? Let him pray. Is any cheerful? Let him sing praises.
14Is any amongst you sick? Let him call for the elders of the assembly, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord,
15and the prayer of faith will heal him who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. If he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.
16Confess your offences to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The insistent prayer of a righteous person is powerfully effective.
17Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain, and it didn’t rain on the earth for three years and six months.
18He prayed again, and the sky gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit.
19Brothers, if any amongst you wanders from the truth and someone turns him back,
20let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save a soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.
Questions
1. What does James say has happened to the riches of his readers?
v 2 and 3 Your riches are corrupted and your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and your silver are corroded, ...
2. How does James say we can avoid being judged?
v 9 Don’t grumble, brothers, against one another, so that you won’t be judged. ...
3. What does the perseverance of Job show us?
v 11 ... You have heard of the perseverance of Job, and have seen the Lord in the outcome, and how the Lord is full of compassion and mercy.
Summary Points
- v 1 to 6 Being rich can tempt us to behave wickedly
- v 7 to 12 We should wait patiently for the Lord's coming. We should also be patient with each other and endure suffering like those in the past
- v 13 to 20 Prayer can achieve much
Audio