Sweat Equity With Brother James…
James 1:2-4 Consider it all joy, my brethren, 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, lacking in nothing.
I always thought the apostle James was talking about suffering from catastrophic events that happen on this earth. Events that we have no control of… “Yea though I walk through the valley of the Shadow of Death”… events that test the mettle of our faith walk with Christ as He leads us through, without the guarantee of happiness, health, wealth, and wisdom. Events that give us a share (albeit a very small one in comparison) of the suffering He endured on the cross.
Though I still believe these life shattering events are used for good (to perfect, complete, so we are lacking in nothing) results in our lives, this morning, I realized James wrote this book with the idea that the DAILY EXERCISE of FAITH is required to grow a healthy body (the Body of Christ), and is not to be thought of as easy peasy, without necessity of a great deal of Holy Spirit nutrition, exercise and PUMPING the HOLY IRON of God’s commands!
James 4:7-10 Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be miserable and mourn and weep; let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you.
Unfortunately some of us have been taught that God’s gym is the church building where we go in our “pretty clothes” with smiles and masks of “perfect makeup” hiding all of our weak muscles and stomachs full of unbridled feasts of jealousy and selfish ambition (James 3:14)
Faith on display – all dressed up and looking good but… What use is it, my brethren, if someone SAYS he has faith but he has no works? (James 2:14) If no action or sweat equity is produced, if no visible and life changing evidence of Christ LIVING IN YOU begins to be desired and pursued since being BORN AGAIN. Faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself. (James 2:17)… someone may well say, “You have faith and I have works; show me your faith without works, and I will show you my faith by my works.” (James 2:18)
Verse 19 – You believe (and can quote Scripture to boast with the best) that God is one (Deuteronomy 6:4 “Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one!). You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder.
Verse 21 – BUT are you willing to recognize that faith without works is useless? Take Abraham for example… God asked him to offer up his son Isaac on the altar… faith is great but will you show WHAT IT MEANS TO YOU? I can only imagine what this “GYM WORKOUT” was like! Talk about sweat, and grief, and self-discipline… talk about putting EVERYTHING of VALUE on the line to TRUST GOD and what He has promised.
Talk about “Show me the MONEY!” (“Jerry Maguire” Tom Cruise – 1996 movie)
Hebrews 11:6 And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.
In verse 23 – the result of Abraham’s works – a spiritual body to crave… he was called a friend of God.
Without the sweat equity of works, Brother James tells us, James 2:26… just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead. Sounds like what my doctor tells me often – a healthy body requires sound nutrition but also must have sweat producing, daily, committed EXERCISE. (Yeah! I don’t like it any better when he tells me, either!)
Got some ugly body parts in need changing? Solution will always be… becoming God’s gym rat
NUTRITION – the Word of God and EXERCISE – the works/practice the Word commands and inspires.
Got temptation? James 1:14-15 But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death.
Got bitterness/jealousy? James 3:14-16 But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, do not be arrogant and so lie against the truth. This wisdom is not that which comes down from above, but is earthly, natural, demonic. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every evil thing.
Got an untamed tongue? James 3:8-10 But no one can tame the tongue; it is a restless evil and full of deadly poison. With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the likeness of God; from the same mouth come both blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be this way.
Got relationship problems? James 4:1-3 What is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you? Is not the source your pleasures that wage war in your members? You lust and do not have; so you commit murder. You are envious and cannot obtain; so you fight and quarrel. You do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures.
Get to God’s gym NOW! He is in the business oftraining up His children in the way they should go, (Proverbs 22:6)… even when you are old you will not depart from it.
James is right… Sweat Equity is absolutely necessary! Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be miserable and mourn and weep; let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you.
Sweat Equity with Brother James not your first choice of gym training?
James 1:5-7 But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and 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 wind. For that man ought not to expect that he will receive anything from the Lord,
Like Brother James says:
James 1:19-21 everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger; for the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God. Therefore, putting aside all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness, in humility receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls.
Let this be our number 1 priority; to prove ourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves. (James 1:22)
For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror; for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was. But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man will be blessed in what he does. (James 1:23-25)
Blessed with SWEAT EQUITY!
James 1:12 Blessed is 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.
Consider it all joy and become God’s little, but determined gym rat!
**All Scripture quoted comes from the “Bible Gateway” app and is the NASB version of the Bible unless otherwise noted.