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Dr. Douglas Peake breaks down some of the big themes in the 1st chapter of James in today's podcast.
Just like Matthew 5:13 says, Christians are the salt of the earth so join us as we find our saltiness on our journey through life together. Listen as Dr. Douglas Peake dives deep into the topics of his sermons each week, breaking down content, discussing evidence, telling stories and speaking into current events using biblical truths and principals.
[00:00:00] Doug: Yep. Waiting for our true selves are waiting for us in Jesus. And so we discover who we are when we are in Jesus. And that's why our spiritual growth plan is so important.
[00:00:19] Jesse: Ladies and Gentlemen, the Salty Pastor is here. Our mission is to give you all the tools you need to grow a powerful and dynamic faith. What you believe is one of the most important things about you, what you, when you know what you believe, why you believe it, then your faith can really grow strong and powerful.
[00:00:37] Jesse: My name is Jess Maher. I'll be your host and let's welcome our guide, our coach, our Sage, and our all around, good guy, our very own Salty Pastor Dr. Douglas Peake.
[00:00:46] Doug: Welcome! Boy, I'm excited about this new series and it's really, it's really going to be good.
[00:00:51] Jesse: It's so exciting. Um, I really enjoyed the time on Sunday with you and Dana onstage, talking about why spiritual growth [00:01:00] plans are so important. Why community is so important.
[00:01:02] Jesse: Um, we want to start this new year off, strong, back on track to living and becoming the person Jesus is growing us to be. Absolutely. I'm remembering CS Lewis. He said our true selves are waiting for us in him. Capital H him, right?
[00:01:20] Doug: Yep. Waiting for our two selves are waiting for us in Jesus. And so we discover who we are when we are in Jesus.
[00:01:29] Doug: And that's why spiritual growth plan is so important.
[00:01:32] Jesse: Um, we need to awaken and refocus that ambition to become who we're meant to be yes. And become them through Jesus and in Jesus.
[00:01:41] Doug: Right? So we're going to start 2022 with a study of the book of James. Uh, the purpose of this study is to help you develop your own spiritual growth plan.
[00:01:50] Doug: In other words, you need to kind of take some intentional steps to discover that true. You, the real you that is waiting for you in [00:02:00] Jesus. And so it's not about making resolutions, it's not about, uh, dreaming of a new you. It's about routines. Pastor Harv, uh, introduced us to a book called Atomic Habits,
[00:02:13] Doug: last year. He started this year off saying that the good life is not about resolutions. It's about routines. Routines are the things that are going to really help you become and discover who you are in Christ. It's the habits. That produced the greatest change in our lives.
[00:02:31] Jesse: So last week we did an introduction to the book of James.
[00:02:35] Jesse: Let's jump into the first chapter. Let me read the opening verses of chapter one. Okay. So James, a bond servant of God, and of the Lord Jesus Christ to the 12 tribes who are dispersed around, abroad. Greetings. Consider it all joy, my brothers and sisters, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance and let endurance have its perfect result so that you may be perfect and complete [00:03:00] lacking in nothing.
[00:03:01] Jesse: But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God who gives to all generously and without reproach. It will be given to him, but he must ask in faith without any doubting for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea driven and tossed by the one. For that person ought not to expect that he will receive anything from the Lord being a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.
[00:03:27] Doug: Um, well there's the word of the Lord, uh, by the way of James. So one of the things we do is we challenge everybody to read the book of James as many days as possible. So if you can do it for, you know, three to five days a week, Throughout our entire six weeks series. And the reason why is because these words are power packed with truth.
[00:03:47] Doug: And if you hear them just once you can kind of brush over them and miss their powerful influence in your life. Now let's kind of exegete this and that basically means I'm going to go kind of a little bit line by [00:04:00] line and tell you what each line means. First of all, is James is addressing the church, the new church that was just birthed.
[00:04:08] Doug: Uh, and probably in the recent, you know, 20, 25 years, 30 years on the day of Pentecost, which was 50 days after Jesus Christ rose from the dead. The reference to the 12 tribes dispersed abroad shows us that the early church in Jerusalem was dominated by Jewish people. Right. So it was very Jewish in its flavor.
[00:04:31] Doug: And it was this way until the fall of Jerusalem after the, three year siege by Titus. Who was sent there by his father Vespasian and then, uh, to kind of get rid of the final rebellion. And then right after this is where they went to Masada, you know, and they had the, they camped out there and then eventually they committed suicide.
[00:04:53] Doug: So they wouldn't get caught. So,
[00:04:56] Jesse: This is a whole story within itself.
[00:04:58] Doug: It's a huge story within [00:05:00] itself. And as a matter of fact, it's really interesting. Cause you can go to Rome today and you can see the arch, arch of Titus, which is right next to the Coliseum. And in it there's engravings of the Romans after the fall of Jerusalem, eh, taking away the, the,
[00:05:18] Doug: elements within the Holy of Holies, they destroyed the temple, the spacing and told his son don't leave a single stone standing on top. So they destroyed the temple. They took all of this stuff and there's actual a grave in there. So it's really interesting to see real life history that from 2000 years ago when it happened. But what,
[00:05:36] Doug: but prior to that, it's really important to understand is that, uh, there was a great persecution. Uh, some people think Saul was a part of it, and it's called the great Diaspora in acts chapter seven, where the early church, uh, started in Jerusalem. It grew, they had great favor with the people is doing really, really great.
[00:05:56] Doug: Then the Jewish leadership started to persecute the church. And [00:06:00] as we know, Saul, who became, Paul was very aggressive. And so what happened is, all of these people who were at Jerusalem left and went home. Went back to their, where they were from. And so, that's called the Great Diaspora. And this church was very influential because in acts chapter 15, this is where Paul and Barnabas met with the apostles.
[00:06:22] Doug: Okay. And for the very first council and in acts 15, they talked about how do we adopt the Gentiles into the faith? Are we going to require them to convert to Judaism or not? And the conclusion was, no, we are not going to do that. So after the Diaspora, we think after this council, James. Uh, writes his book to this early church.
[00:06:44] Doug: He says, this is to the 12 tribes. So meaning to the church, right? And this was this notion in their mind that the church had become the New Nation of Israel. Right. So, and of course, to Jewish people, that was a really big deal. We don't [00:07:00] see that as Gentiles is such a big deal, but back then it was a really big deal.
[00:07:05] Doug: The first thing he does is he says, the number one thing is that life is difficult. All right. It's hard. And secondly, being a follower of Jesus in a world that does not want Jesus is difficult. And so he says in that, uh, second verse, he says, when you encounter various trials. So he says, when not if. All right.
[00:07:33] Doug: That's very important. Number two. He says you will encounter trials. Okay. So we know that there will be difficult times. Life is going to be difficult and following Jesus on top of that is going to be difficult. And then he says, you're going to encounter. The word encounters really fascinating, because what it does, is it saying, is that:
[00:07:53] Doug: as you live as you go through each day, guess what? You're going to [00:08:00] encounter trials. Okay. They pop up unexpectedly, right? Right. No one gets up and says, well,
[00:08:07] Jesse: I'm today. I'm going to go and there's
[00:08:09] Doug: gotta be a fire. Yeah. There's, I'm going to have a fire, dumpster fire at my place of work, or there's going to be this.
[00:08:16] Doug: You never know you're going to encounter it. And it happens in your daily routine, your daily. As you are moving through your week or day or month, you're going to have trials. And so he says then that they are various. Okay. So they come in all shapes and sizes that you can have low intensity trials.
[00:08:37] Doug: You're going to have high intensity. You can have low stress, you can have big stress. They can be. Um, a trial within yourself, it can be a temptation or it can be a difficulty or a struggle or a conviction, or it could be a trial or treatment, uh, various, uh, trial in the relationships, your, your circle of closest relationships.
[00:08:57] Doug: If you're married with your spouse, or if you're [00:09:00] not with somebody, a significant person that you're dating, or it could be with your boss, it could be at work or at a career, uh, orientation. It could be a transition. It could be in your health, you know. Get something, you know, you get COVID. You d, you, so in other words, what, we don't know what the trials are.
[00:09:17] Doug: They happen through our daily living and guess what, they are various of all kinds. So the reason you need a spiritual growth plan, I think he starts off right up front is because your life will encounter all kinds of various trials.
[00:09:37] Jesse: So when we think about how and why our personal growth, uh, in our life happens the way it is, we're basically preparing ourselves for life for life, right?
[00:09:49] Jesse: We're strengthening ourselves for whatever we're going to face. I I've noticed when I faced difficulties or I'm struggling in life, I moved the, I moved through them quickly when [00:10:00] I expect them to happen. It's when you don't expect them that you kind of, linger there. And it kind of turns into a lot of self pity and things are really hard and you freeze and you freeze and you just don't know what to do and you get stuck.
[00:10:16] Jesse: But when you're like, okay, I know that, you know, this potential thing is coming. Okay. And I kind of have a, I have a mindset of how I'm going to deal with it.
[00:10:25] Doug: And pilot training is really focusing on that, you know, they teach you to fly the plane, right? And then your CFI, your certified flight instructor is constantly making things go wrong, you know?
[00:10:35] Doug: And, and the reason why is they're trying to get you to expect it, right. So that, because if you're flying, you know, when something goes wrong, your first reaction. I'm dead, right? Yeah. It's panic. And so what, what James is doing is he's saying I'm going to prepare you for this. A spiritual growth plan is critical to preparing you for everything you're going to face in life so that when it happens, you don't panic or you don't [00:11:00] freeze, or you don't become,
[00:11:02] Doug: right. Like, I don't know what to do. So James is giving us a massive gift teaching us not to only expect difficulties in life, but how to prepare for them. He says, look, if anyone lacks wisdom, notice how that next verse, if he says, look, the difficult times will produce perseverance. And perseverance or endurance will
[00:11:24] Doug: make you mature and complete, not lacking anything. And then he immediately says, but if any of you lacks wisdom now, why does he make this transition? Like, well, I thought endurance. You know, produces maturity. So I'm complete. Not lacking anything, but if you lack wisdom, so notice what he's doing is he saying, is that just because you go through stuff doesn't necessarily mean you become a better person or wise yeah.
[00:11:52] Doug: Or wise. And that is, is because you can have the wrong attitude. You know, some people go through things and they become. Right. They don't become better. Some [00:12:00] people go through problems and difficulties and they don't learn anything from them at all. And so you saying, if you, and the reason why is notice what he says.
[00:12:09] Doug: Lack wisdom, ask, and God who gives freely and without reproach, meaning that he's not going to well, you know, you didn't earn it, you can't have it. Right. And so what he's really doing is he's not trying to say that wisdom is this, uh, this, uh, scented, uh, gift that is held in a spiritual realm. And then God divvies it up.
[00:12:35] Doug: You know, like treats, he's not what he's saying, what he's saying. We discover wisdom because wisdom is perspective. It's seeing what is happening in true reality. And so the only way we'll ever know true reality is by knowing God. So we ask God, what's really going. What's really happening here [00:13:00] in this situation.
[00:13:01] Doug: And, and when you ask, give me wisdom about this situation, when that happens, you move, as you said, out of panic or fro, being frozen into, this area of growth and wisdom so much more quickly. And so that's, what's really, really important to understand is that God knows the reality, the true reality of the world in which we live, therefore he understands and can share and give us perspective on everything that's actually happening to us.
[00:13:33] Doug: And that's important to note.
[00:13:34] Jesse: So what's this meaning, uh, what's the meaning of this phrase? Let me look at it again, but he must ask in faith without any doubting for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. That's a bit of an odd phrase, pastor.
[00:13:50] Doug: Well, we not only ask God for wisdom because we're trying to see the situation from God's perspective.
[00:13:56] Doug: Correct. But it's how we ask. So [00:14:00] w he's saying, if you ask in doubt, what he's saying is that you'll never see it from God's perspective. So you don't, you don't have a trust. Number one, that God will show you it from his perspective, or you don't believe, in the reality of God. He says, so if a person is in doubt, they're actually saying, I don't believe God really knows.
[00:14:27] Doug: Okay. Or God wouldn't tell me even if he did. So, uh, the old adage, when you straddle the fence, you only get splinters in one place. And that's not good, right? The way in which you ask, for wisdom from God is what grows your faith and puts you on solid ground. Or if you ask it with like, I want to keep all my options open.
[00:14:55] Doug: I want to, you know, before I make a decision, I want to know all the possibilities. Well, that's [00:15:00] actually unstable. You know, I think what people don't realize is that when bad things happen, you're on an ice flow that's cracking up. And the pieces are starting to separate, you know, and you got to decide I'm going to be on this one or that one, right?
[00:15:15] Doug: You can't straddle an ice flow that's cracking. And you're going in the drink, you know, I mean, you're going to be wet and you're going to die of hypothermia. So you got to make a decision. And so what he's saying is you should always choose God because God is the God of wisdom. Okay. And God's going to give it to you.
[00:15:32] Doug: There's no guarantee that if you go through this on your own, you're going to become a better person. There's no guarantee that you're going to become more wise when you do it on your own. And that includes listening to your friends over listening to God. So Jane, what James is saying is that make sure your spiritual growth plan.
[00:15:46] Doug: Always has Jesus at the top on how to learn from every single trial that you're going to encounter throughout your life.
[00:15:56] Jesse: So let's, we'll move on to the next theme that he kind of addresses in verse nine. [00:16:00] He goes on and says, now the brother or sister of humble circumstances is to glory in his high position. But the rich person is to glory in his humiliation because like flowering, gorilla, flowering grass, he will pass away for the sun, rises with its scorching heat and Withers the grass and its flowers fall off.
[00:16:19] Jesse: And the beauty of its appearance is destroyed. So also the rich person in the midst of his pursuits will die out.
[00:16:27] Doug: Well, and here's what he's doing. See his, I think he started off with the main theme saying, consider it joy when you encounter various trials. Right. And so then the next thing he says, because this something will happen.
[00:16:39] Doug: Then the next thing he says, yeah, You need to realize is that God is the one who's going to give you the wisdom to persevere through the trial. Right? And he's going to be the one to give you the capacity to find joy in the midst of the trial. And then he says this now be careful that you don't put your trust in [00:17:00] wealth or comfort to get you through the trial.
[00:17:03] Doug: Because sometimes what we do is we think the strength is in our earthly wealth, to get us through something. Right. And, uh, there's nothing like a pandemic to pop up and remind us that no matter how much wealth we have, we're not in control. You know? And I just look at, uh, we've had two different administrations, right?
[00:17:26] Doug: We had a, uh, the Donald Trump administration, and now we have the Joe Biden administration. Both of them addressed the, uh, pandemic very aggressively. And regardless of your politics, everybody has to admit one thing. And that is no matter how much they did. Right. We didn't really slow it down. We didn't control it.
[00:17:51] Doug: We didn't stop it. And we still maxed out on all these things. And the bottom [00:18:00] line there is that the wealthiest country in the world, in the history of the world, right. Can't stop a pandemic. I remember speaking to a leading epidemiologist in the state of Idaho and I asked him, I said, well, what can we do? And he said, well, in the end, you can't do anything because it's a virus.
[00:18:20] Doug: Every buddy's going to get. It's just a matter of when. And so the issue there for has been, you know, even in our wealth, we have to be careful that our strength doesn't come from our wealth. He says it, what does it do? It's like a flowering grass. It passes away. So if you want to find joy, In life in the capacity to face any trial or tribulation in your life, then don't depend on wealth or success to make you strong and joyful in the midst of it.
[00:18:55] Doug: Okay. He says, that's a little bit of deception. The brother or sister [00:19:00] of humble circumstance has a high position. They don't have that option. They don't have that option. They are, their option is just to trust God. I was listening to a Tim Keller. Talk about something that's fascinating of doing ministry in New York city. And he tells a story, he says, in New York city, you have all of these NGOs, right?
[00:19:22] Doug: These are all these organizations that are, tend to be led by highly accomplished wealthy people who want to do good, you know, water projects and clean air projects and, and environmental projects and all of these kinds of things. He said, and what's fascinating with about all of these people is they have no time for God.
[00:19:43] Doug: He goes, he goes, these people on a Sunday morning are at brunch, you know, building relationships. He says, but the people who work in those offices, the people who clean those offices, the people that, that, uh, clean the streets, the people, he goes, those [00:20:00] people fill up the churches on weekends and sing praises to God.
[00:20:05] Doug: And he said, that's the, one of the most fascinating things about Christianity. Is that people who don't have the option to be arrogant aren't. Um, and he said, so, so if you have the option to be that way, the key is how do I not, not become that? Fall into that. Don't fall into that because you cause the danger is that I actually, even though I may have a lot of wealth, I can become a weak person spiritually.
[00:20:31] Doug: And then. It doesn't matter how much wealth I have. I am what unhappy and I have no joy. I still have problems. I still have issues and I have no joy and I have no perseverance. And so what he's saying is don't put your faith or trust in that because it is fleeting. So just remember that. So. I think that, you know, in order to understand that on a deeper level, we could dig into the history of that, but we'll have to do that at [00:21:00] another time.
[00:21:01] Jesse: So let's keep going. I want to talk about verses 12 through 17. Okay. Does that work? Did you have any
[00:21:10] Doug: other thoughts on the, no, I think we had a stick stick with that to kind of keep it moving along. And I think one of the things too is that we probably won't be able to get through the entire chapter, you know, because there's even more after this, but let's keep going and see how far we get.
[00:21:22] Jesse: Okay.
[00:21:23] Jesse: So verse 12 continues on and says, bless it. As a man who perseveres under trial. For once he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life, which the Lord has promised to those who love him. No one is to say, when he is tempted, I am being tempted by God. For God cannot be tempted by evil and he does not tempt anyone, but each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust.
[00:21:49] Jesse: Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin and sin. When it has run, its course brings forth death. Do not be deceived my beloved brothers and [00:22:00] sisters, every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above coming down from the father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow.
[00:22:09] Jesse: In the exercise of his will. He gave us birth by the word of truth so that we would be a kind of first fruits among his creatures.
[00:22:19] Doug: Now here's why a personal spiritual growth plan is so important. Cause first it prepares you for the difficulties in life that you face. And second, it helps you determine where your strength comes from Jesus, not wealth.
[00:22:31] Doug: And then finally it clarifies what is actually happening in the world. And so this is really, really important because it's our expectations of God that are false, that creates so many problems in our life. And he says, bless it. As the man who perseveres under trial, because he has been approved, what are you persevering for now?
[00:22:58] Doug: We tend to, [00:23:00] interpret that as well, bad things happened and I survived. I had cancer and now I'm in remission. Right. Uh, I went through a divorce, but now I'm fine. Right. But, um, this passage of scripture is not referencing that. It's not referencing a healing from a d, what he's referencing is your faith.
[00:23:22] Doug: Right. So if you persevere under a trial and your faith remains intact, that's what it means to be approved by God. And you receive the crown of life, which the Lord has promised. And we see this thing crop up with Paul all the time. When he says, you know, I fought the fight, I ran the race and I finished, you know?
[00:23:48] Doug: And so now the crown of life, is waiting for me. And so see what he's talking about is persevering under trial and in a way that you [00:24:00] maintain your faith, that strengthens you and you gain more wisdom. So the number one way in which we tend to not grow in faith or maintain our faith or grow in wisdom is we blame God for the trial.
[00:24:15] Doug: Um, there's many people who think they're committed followers of Jesus who get cancer and say, why did God give me cancer? Right. And you know, I have this temptation, why is God allowing me to be tempted? Right. And so what James is saying here is that, look, God, doesn't tempt you at all. Okay. Cause he's not attempted by evil.
[00:24:41] Doug: In the other implication of this is that God does not exacerbate evil. God does not tempt people and he doesn't put evil into their lives. Okay. It says we are tempted when we carried away by our [00:25:00] own lust. So what is he saying? Where does temptation come from? Where does evil come from? It comes from within the heart of human beings.
[00:25:07] Doug: You see? And so what's really fascinating here is like, this is why you need a spiritual growth plan. It prepares you for the difficulties in life. It helps you determine where your strength comes from to get through the difficulties. And it clarifies what is happening instead of blaming God, you blame evil.
[00:25:27] Doug: You know, I went and, uh, I've met with a family many years ago and they had a child, a young child who was diagnosed with a massive geoblastoma, which is a brain tumor. And it was in, uh, you know, the worst spot ever. And, and they were going to try to mediate this. And so, so went and talked to them. And they were the sibling, you know, of this young child was like, you know, why did God give it?
[00:25:57] Doug: I said, God, didn't give her this. You know, cancer is [00:26:00] evil. Cancer is evil. I said, God, doesn't do evil. Satan does evil. So we're going to pray against the evil of Satan. We're going to pray against the cancer. And, and you could see that young siblings mind shift, right. To a totally different perspective and like, oh, Oh, and, and so, so I think this is really, really important, and I've done a lot of funerals, uh, over the years where someone dies tragically in a car wreck or, or a young child gets cancer and dies, or, you know, when children die, babies die.
[00:26:38] Doug: Oh, it's so hard. It's so difficult. And the one thing I always tell the family and counseling is I say, let's just remember, let's not say God took your child away. Okay. Don't say that because little kids don't understand that. Right? They don't, they think, oh, well, You know, this is God's fault. [00:27:00] Right? Right. What you should say is that, uh, evil, we live in an evil world.
[00:27:06] Doug: You know, an evil kills people, evil destroys people, evil, taints people, and, and sometimes evil touches us. And that's why tragic things happen is because of evil is in the world. And the only salvation we have from it is God. And we thank God that he saved and gave a place of refuge. You know, heaven is a place of refuge as well as a place of healing and joy.
[00:27:33] Doug: And so I think that's really important to understand is that we should always put blame where blame belongs. Belongs in. And it's not with God. It's with Satan, it's with evil. Okay. And that's what he's talking about here. God's not tempting you, God's not putting evil in your life. You're doing fine on your own.
[00:27:57] Jesse: Well, you're leaving us with some very deep thoughts today, [00:28:00] Pastor. Um, I'm excited to spend more time in James. James is such a practical book to spend time in. So the fact that we get to spend the beginning of the year and looking at practical ways to develop our spiritual growth plan and move forward, I think is just so
[00:28:14] Jesse: fitting as a new year new, um, routine building opportunities.
[00:28:19] Doug: Yeah. And one of the things we're going to do is I think at verse 19 through the end of the chapter, which is verse 27, is he talks a lot about, uh, being a doer of the word, you know, but then he talks about faith in deeds in chapter two, and those are both really linked closely.
[00:28:38] Doug: And so I think it's really important to talk about kind of keep them together. So we'll do that.
[00:28:43] Jesse: Cool. Well, thank you guys so much for joining us today. Um, we are going to pick up and talk about the practical applications of what we've just read today on Thursday, and we hope that you'll join us here on the Salty Pastor Podcast.
[00:28:56] Doug: Blessings to you, everyone.[00:29:00]