STAND STRONG
STAND STRONG
7.13 - James 5, Seeing God
Reading James 5 reveals a God of faithfulness, compassion, and justice. Join us as we dive into the final chapter of James!
Fill out our Listener Survey or Submit a Question.
Paul and Noah both preach and teach with the Cedar Park church of Christ in Cedar Park, TX. You can visit our site at: https://www.cedarparkchurchofchrist.org/
Well, good morning and welcome today to those who are following with us in our podcast as we're journeying through. James, welcome to you, Noah. Glad you're here in the studio this morning. We're in James chapter five. We're getting a fresh start now into chapter five. This book ends with chapter five, so this journey is getting close to an end, but we're doing what we've done with the other four chapters. We wanna start by seeing God and then the next podcast will. See ourselves. So today we're in James five. We just want to see God in James chapter five. Welcome, Noah.
Noah:Oh yeah, good to be here. And glad to be a part of this discussion as always, James chapter five. You know, this is where chapter breaks sometimes get us because man, it's feels like James is coming, you know, coming out, swinging right at the beginning of chapter five, and. And in some ways he is but it's not disconnected from the previous context. And no, it's, it's tempting to just come in and be like, James, chapter five is, this is its own unit. And it's not really, it's, it's, it's not at all separate from chapter four. I. But if we're trying to see God this episode, and that's what we're trying to do I think it's important when we get into this first section of James chapter five, when James is saying things like, you know, weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you, speaking to the, to the rich. You get to verse three and you have this idea that, he says, your gold and silver have corroded, their corrosion will be evidence against you and will eat your flesh like fire. And then there's this phrase, you have laid up treasure in the last days. Mm-hmm. You know saying you've, you've built up wealth right in time for judgment, basically. And when we get to verse four and verse five. That's where we see where God fits into this picture. The wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, are crying out against you, and the cries have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts. What we see in verses four and verse five in James, kind of denunciation here of of the unjustly. Unjust acting among the wealthy is that God is aware of that.
Paul:Mm-hmm.
Noah:The God that, that we serve sees the injustice. He sees the impression. And he cares. He has compassion on those who are being oppressed,
Paul:right? I mean, you start out and you think, oh my, he's using some strong language and he's going after rich folks, and he is may talk more about that in this podcast or the second podcast. For those who are listening, I. What he's has to say about rich people. Mm-hmm. And their wealth. But I'd like that you bring up there in verse four, the Lord of hosts, the new King James that I've got has sabi the Lord of Sabi. That you know, you don't hear that you hardly ever hear that. I just wanna say it again. Lord of Sabi off. But if you look at that, the reason other translations have host, it's, it's describing the Lord of immense power and strength.
Noah:Mm-hmm.
Paul:And he's reminding them that he is aware, fully aware, and also able to defend. He is the Lord of hosts. Right. And, you know, if we were to see him as the Lord of hosts that that would be a good thing. As long as we understand. He chooses how he uses and wields his power, how he defends his people. But that would be something that you would want to hear if you were being oppressed by wealthy people. Right? And taking advantage of the Lord sees he cares and he has the power to take care of this,
Noah:right? No matter how wealthy, no matter how powerful. Anyone in this world is whether they are righteous or or unrighteous and unjust and oppressors. The Lord is more mighty, is more powerful has more at his disposal than even the most powerful person that we could think of. And I think that where you're getting at as well, this idea that this can be a comforting thing. That's where James ends up taking this. When we get into verses seven and following, he says, be patient. Therefore, there's, he's saying because of this, be patient until the coming of the Lord. And that the idea that he's getting across is exactly what you're talking about. There are people who are facing the injustice and the oppression and the persecution of people who are more powerful than them. And James is saying, there's the Lord is coming. The Lord of hosts is powerful, and God judges on his own time. I think it's interesting because there's this tension here of God's judgment is near, but it's not necessarily immediate. Right, right. That, that's kind of the picture that's being painted here about, about God's judgment. It's near, but that doesn't mean it's gonna be right away.
Paul:Right. You know, you've got the coming of the Lord in verse seven, the coming of the Lord in verse eight. And that's interesting language that is used. But like you say, it's, it's near it's, it's coming. So he just, he's calling upon them to be patient. The judge. Verse nine, how the Lord is described as a judge standing at the door, I. The new King James in verse nine. All of that is connected to the Lord. Being aware the Lord is gonna take care of this, but he's asking his people to wait patiently. That is hard for us to do.
Noah:Mm-hmm.
Paul:That is hard for us to do. And so, you know, for someone to tell you, stay in your lane and trust God to take care of this, that's hard for me to hear, especially if I'm being oppressed or taken advantage of.
Noah:Yeah, I mean, you think about how much trouble we have being patient in much more trivial things than the the resolution of injustice. You know, we, we get impatient when our internet isn't loading quickly enough. Or, you know, an ad in something we're watching takes longer than 10 seconds. You know, those kinds of things. We get impatient in those circumstances. How much more are we gonna struggle with patients when we're trying to deal with. God's time and God's deliverance and injustice, and quite frankly, much weightier matters. If we can't handle being patient in frivolous things, we're gonna have a really hard time being patient in more important areas.
Paul:Yeah. And, and so what, when, whenever, what works for me and James is aware of that, what works for me is when I'm being asked to do something. That may be hard for me to do, like Paul, be patient and wait on the Lord. To be honest, that's hard at times. Mm-hmm. Then, okay, encourage me by giving me an example of others who have done it and what he does is, okay, my brethren, verse 10, take the prophets.
Noah:Mm-hmm.
Paul:The prophe who spoke in the name of the Lord. Who, who were, who were speaking as representatives of the Lord defending the Lord's glory and honor. Take them as an example of suffering and patience. And then of course, he brings up Job and when he brings up the prophets and he brings up Job as a wonderful example, I think he's doing that to encourage these people who were being mistreated and abused to, to do the very thing he's asking them to do, to be be patient. To to be long suffering. Yeah. It's kinda hard for me to stay away from seeing ourselves in this, but I like how Noah, he moves into verse 11 when he talks about having talked about the prophets. Who speak in the name of the Lord and Job as a great example of perseverance. He says, you have heard of the perseverance, verse 11 of Job seeing the end. This is a new King James version intended by the Lord. And then he speaks to the Lord as being new King James. Very compassionate and merciful. Mm-hmm. That's like, to me, the key passage here, since we're making it about God and seeing God. He is the God yes Lord of host, but he is the God who is merciful and compassionate.
Noah:Yeah. Verse 11 is. The key verse here, even more so than the examples that he brings up in the prophets in job, because ultimately, the foundation of waiting on the Lord, being patient, waiting for the, for the coming of the Lord or the appearance of the Lord that we, we can gain strength from looking at positive examples, but ultimately our, our fortitude in this has to be based on. The, the purpose of God and the character of God, and he touches on both of those things. Mm-hmm. You read from the new King James in the, in the ESV verse 11 says you've heard of the steadfastness of Job and you have seen the purpose of the Lord. I think yours said something about the end result, the end intended by the Lord. Mm-hmm. So the idea that, that's a really incredible thing to, to try to wrap our minds around the idea that. There is an intention that God has a purpose that God has, and it aligns with his compassion and his mercy. So it's not just that, well, God's got some bigger plan and we may get smooshed in the process, but hey, you know, it aligns with God's bigger plan. No, it aligns with God's compassion and his mercy, and that is a part of his purpose. And so we can rely on that, that that confidence. And who God is and the fact that he is accomplishing something.
Paul:Right. Right. We, we referenced, we referenced the power of the Lord back earlier in Noah when we were referring to him as the Lord of hosts. Mm-hmm. That had its context there, but I, I want to just key in again on the power of the Lord, so as Joe or Joe as James ends. Chapter five, and there, there is a lot there that I think we'll get into in, in a later podcast, but he's just asking the questions about are, okay, those who are suffering, then you need to pray. Those who are cheerful, you need to sing Psalms those of you who are sick. Then he tells'em what to do in verse 14. Then he brings up this, this concept, this idea of. Praying or prayer. And it's prayer in the name of the Lord. It's the praying in faith, but he makes this promise, he says, and the Lord verse 15, will raise up the sick. Mm-hmm. Now all I'm keying in on is where is the power?
Noah:Yeah.
Paul:In the raising up. Where is the power in the healing? Where is the power? It's in the Lord.
Noah:Yep.
Paul:Our faith that is saying, I'm asking, I'm, I'm intriguing in faith in the name of, but the power is not in us. Power is in the Lord.
Noah:Yeah, yeah. Yeah. I had a very similar thought when I got to verse 15. There, there's this concept of this, this saving, this, raising up this, the this healing of sorts. And you can't get past verse 15 without realizing God is the one who saves. Mm-hmm. God is the one who is the source of that power. And if we, if we ever get that flipped around. We're, we're missing, we're missing the boat. Right? The, the fact is that our faith to be of any worth, our faith has to be in the God whose power saves. Right. Whose power raises up.
Paul:Right. I, I've heard this before that in fact I just tell you'cause we've, we've had him, him here before and we even did some podcasting with him. Ed Edwin Crozier does some teaching on, on praying, and I remember hearing him years ago, and he made the point from James five that the power in prayer is not. In us, in our praying, the power is in God.
Noah:Yeah.
Paul:And I think that's important to make. You know, when, when people say, well, the more people praying for us, the better. I wouldn't argue that I respect that. I'm not trying to be overly critical of people who have said that, but I don't want someone to take away from that. That if we've got a hundred people praying rather than one person praying, there's more power, right? The power is not in the people. Yeah. Or the number of people who are praying, the effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man has power. Why? Because the power in prayer is in God. Right. And so I just, I wanted to make that point since we were, it's all about seeing God here in chapter five.
Noah:Yeah, absolutely. Well, I think something that's connected to that idea that God is the one who raises up, excuse me. That God is the one who raises up. When we get to the very end of this chapter, in the very end of James he says, 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. I mean, that's, that's strong language. To say that the person who who brings this person back is saving his soul, cover a multitude of sins. Those are things that we attribute to God, and ultimately that's because, just like the raising up that we talked about, they are, that's God's territory. But James is emphasizing how God works through us. In order to, to rescue his people. But ultimately what this also communicates is God cares about those people who have, who have wandered from the truth. As James says in verse 19, God desires that those who have wandered from the truth wander no more. God desires that those who have wandered from the truth. Are, are touched, are, are, are communicated with, are, are brought back in. And that's verse 20, that whoever brings back this sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death. God desires that he cares, he wants that. We can go obviously elsewhere in the New Testament and see that emphasized as well. But we can't miss that here at the end of James chapter five. God cares right. I love it. Turns him back.
Paul:Yeah. Turns him back. Back to who? Yeah. Back where? And I, I made this point very recently in an appeal at the end of one of my messages. That before we're asking people to come back to the church. It's first come back to God.
Noah:Yeah.
Paul:They wonder from the truth, come back to the truth that, that is very biblical. But I don't want someone to hear in that, that it's simply a return to something out there that's, it's, it's, it's a coming back home to God. It's a return to God.
Noah:Yeah, absolutely. Well, and truth, like faith is one of those things that we sometimes, or, or like Grace, I. It's sometimes something that we talk about in a disembodied way. Disconnected from God and what we, what we can see throughout the book of James and throughout scripture is that those things are only are only valuable in relation to God. They're only powerful in relation to God. Faith is only meaningful if it's faith in God. Mm-hmm. Grace is only, is only something that saves. For instance, if we go to Ephesians. If it's God's grace, it's not because grace is some, you know, star Wars esque force. And, and the same is true of truth. Truth only exists because of the character and the person of God. It flows from who he is. And so if we try to make our own truth, if we try to say that we're coming back to the truth, but we're not coming back to the person of God through Jesus, well then that's not, we're not actually coming back to the truth.
Paul:Right.
Noah:Well,
Paul:you, you, you started preaching. Now that's, sorry. No, I love, I love it. Okay, we've got just a little bit of time. I'm going back to verse 11. So I've got the new King James. You've heard of the perseverance of job you've seen the end intended by the Lord. I. How is the ESV read there, Noah? The, the end intended by the Lord is the new King James.
Noah:Yeah. So that is, as I
Paul:mentioned earlier, was the purpose of the Lord. Okay? The purpose of the Lord. So the Lord is all over this. We, you started preaching about faith and you started preaching about faith in, in, in the Lord, and understanding this is since this is all about God. And how we see God before we move into, like we've done in this podcast, how we see ourselves. The Lord has a purpose. He had a purpose in mind with all that job was allowed to go through, through the whole process. See, we read the Book of Job. We know the end intended by the Lord. At the point that Job was going through it, he did not. Right. And he was wrestling with that and there wasn't a, a person more righteous on the earth than job at the time. So I think the reason James is bringing this up for those people in his day, and I know for us today in 2025, we're not gonna always understand why the Lord allows what he lo, what he allows, and why he works. The way in which he works in this world. Why he allows things into my life to test my faith, to purify me, to grow me. But what? What do we know about the Lord? His purpose is always intended for good in our life to accomplish. Good. And what do I know? He is the Lord of immense power and strength. He can never do wrong, and he is the God who is full of compassion and mercy. When you think about compassion and mercy, when you're suffering unjustly and you don't know how, why is the Lord allowing this for the righteous to suffer so bad and be oppressed so poorly? Well, the Lord's in control. The Lord is sovereign. He's gonna take care of this. He has a purpose and he has a plan. Be patient and trust him.
Noah:Mm-hmm.
Paul:So we don't always understand the purpose of the Lord. Yeah.
Noah:Yeah. And that's a humbling thing. Going back to a theme of James, that we have to, we have to be able to. Remove our pride from the situation and oftentimes that means our desire to, to understand completely right now.
Paul:Mm-hmm.
Noah:You know what's going on. We have to humble ourselves and trust in the person and the purpose of God. And I think that's a great place to, to. Kind of end, because that's gonna segue into I, I mean even just the next verse in verse 12, the do not swear either by heaven or by earth. That's flowing from that same idea where we're, because God is trustworthy, here's how we can act, here's how we ought to act, and how we ought to interact with other people. All of that's gonna start coming out really quick. If we go any further, I think this is a good point to, to pause in James five. We've. We've seen the richness of God here, even under the surface of some of these texts, and next episode when we come back, is gonna be our opportunity to see ourselves and make some personal application because God and because of his purpose. What does that mean for
Paul:us? What does that mean for us? Well, thank you for all who are listening today. We're enjoying this, have enjoyed this journey. Thank you for tuning in. Between now and next week we pray that your intent is to serve God and that together we can stand strong.
.jpg)
