Lent for the Needs of the World
James 5:1-11
Come now, you rich, weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you. Your riches have rotted and your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver have corroded, and their corrosion will be evidence against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up treasure in the last days. Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, are crying out against you, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts. You have lived on the earth in luxury and in self-indulgence. You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter. You have condemned and murdered the righteous person. He does not resist you. Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives the early and the late rains. You also, be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand. Do not grumble against one another, brothers, so that you may not be judged; behold, the Judge is standing at the door. As an example of suffering and patience, brothers, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. Behold, we consider those blessed who remained steadfast. You have heard of the steadfastness of Job, and you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful.
Job was a man whose identity was tested.
"God never gives us discernment in order that we may criticize, but that we may intercede."
- Oswald Chambers
Here James was not attempting to condemn the rich or pit the rich against the poor, but to give both the rich and poor instruction in their situation. As many of the Jewish Christians were displaced refugees in the Roman world, they would have found themselves in disadvantageous positions as they lived as the Diaspora. Thus, James was instructing the Christian of means as to how they should live generously with their brethren while exhorting those in trying circumstances to persevere and take heart. It is the same eternal focus of which God would remind us during Lent and have us live with today.
We have all things and abound; not because I have a good store of money in the bank, not because I have skill and wit with which to win my bread, but because the Lord is my shepherd.
-Charles Haddon Spurgeon
2 Corinthians 8:9
For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich.
Lent for A Changing of Seasons
James 5:12-18
But above all, my brothers, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or by any other oath, but let your “yes” be yes and your “no” be no, so that you may not fall under condemnation. Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise. Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working. Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth. Then he prayed again, and heaven gave rain, and the earth bore its fruit.
Elijah was a prophet whose insistence for God to show Himself strong was tested.
We are creatures of habit. Don't quit doing what's right even when you don't feel it. If you quit, it will become easier and easier to do so each subsequent time so that your life drifts out to sea with no sight of the shoreline. Conversely the same is true of right habits, which God calls faithfulness. Commit to this virtue and the joy that's entangled in the fruit of the Holy Spirit will manifest itself in you.
Until you know that life is war, you cannot know what prayer is for.
- John Piper
Lent for the Lost
Lent is a season to find God's wandering and lost sheep.
James 5:19-20
My brothers, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back, let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.
We're all in a place where our intentions are tested.
Second City Church: Lent Sermon Series 2017