Verse 16 belongs to the above verses
Vs. 16-18 So don’t be misled, my dear brothers and sisters. (17) Whatever is good and perfect comes to us from God above, who created all heaven’s lights. Unlike them, he never changes or casts shifting shadows. (18) In his goodness he chose to make us his own children by giving us his true word. And we, out of all creation, became his choice possession.
The subject is still temptation, it hasn’t changed. He starts off by saying, ‘don’t be misled – or deceived’.
(1)Only what is good comes from God. 1 John 1:5 “no darkness in him”
John 8:12 Jesus- ‘I am the light of the world’.
(2) God is different from his creation. Other lights cast shadows, God does not.
(3) God chose us, because of his goodness (not because we deserved it), NASB-’in the exercise of His will’, to make us his children. “His choice possession.” Called first fruits in most translations. Ex. 23:16 ‘the first of your labors’.
What do you think ‘first fruits’ means in its application to us?
1:19-5:6 Characteristics of faith
FAITH OBEYS THE WORD vs. 19-27
Vs. 19-20 My dear brothers and sisters, be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry. (20) Your anger can never make things right in God’s sight.
Psalm 103:8 one characteristic of God, he is slow to get angry. (Aren’t you glad?)
Proverbs 10:19 Solomon warns against talking too much, it leads to sin.
Ecclesiastes 5:3 (New Living), Solomon says, “being a fool makes you a blabbermouth” – That’s a good modern translation.
Ecclesiastes 7:9 Solomon says “anger is a friend of fools.”
We have 2 ears and 1 mouth. That should tell you something.
Vs. 21 So get rid of all the filth (moral) and evil in your lives and humbly accept the message God has planted in your hearts, for it is strong enough to save your souls.
Immediately he says ’so get rid of ALL the filth and evil in your lives.</b>
The NIV says moral filth. The key word is ALL. What does ALL mean? All means ALL – that’s all, all means!
The Word of God never tells us to get rid of anything without giving us something to replace it with. That’s a little gem of truth that you will find every time.
Look at the last part of v.21 What are we to replace the garbage with?
Some time back on 60 Minutes they ran a segment on a Christian program that took homosexual men and women and helped them through Scriptural methods to overcome their sin. They highlighted a young man and woman who had overcome and went on to become ministers helping others. Then they showed another young man who had been raised in a Christian home and had also gone through their program and had not been able to overcome the problem. His conclusion was that no program could help everyone overcome this problem (actually he did not recognize it as a problem), he claimed to have been born this way, thus it was God’s problem – He had made him this way.
What is the answer to someone like this?
1. Actually he did the same as Adam did, he blamed someone else.
2. They deny the power of God. God changes lives every day.
Verse 21 says the word has the power to save our souls.
Vs. 22 And remember, it is a message to obey, not just to listen to. If you don’t obey, you are only fooling yourself.
We are warned in Scripture not to have favorite teachers. We all do, but the warning is not to believe everything without checking it out.
We are told in Mark 6:20 that Herod liked to listen to John the Baptist. Yet he still murdered him. Human nature is to listen without making the changes being taught.
Vs. 22 mentions listening to the word. Where do most people listen to the word? Answer: The church. Most non-Christians would not purchase a Bible on tape, or even listen to one if you bought them one, so this is a warning to people who “like to go to church”, the religious but not born again, because it makes them feel good.
Vs. 23-25 (23)For if you just listen and don’t obey, it is like looking at your face in a mirror but doing nothing to improve your appearance. (24) You see yourself, walk away, and forget what you look like. (25) But if you keep looking steadily into God’s perfect law-the law that sets you free-and if you do what it says and don’t forget what you heard, then God will bless you for doing it.
What is he referring to as God’s perfect law?
Colossians 2 (freedom)
John 8:31-32; the truth sets you free
Romans 8:2; free from the power of sin
Galations 2:4; we have freedom in Christ
Matthew 7:26; says what the person who hears Christ’s teaching and doesn’t listen – like a person who built on sand.
How does God’s law set you free? Free to love unconditional. If you love someone or something you won’t be judgmental.
Vs. 26-27 (26) If you claim to be religious but don’t control your tongue, you are just fooling yourself, and your religion is worthless. (27) Pure and lasting religion in the sight of God our Father means that we must care for orphans and widows in their troubles, and refuse to let the world corrupt us.
What is the test of a religion from God’s point of view? Control of the tongue.
What does James say is the second test? How you treat the helpless.
Widows and orphans are about as helpless as you can get, especially if the widow has no family and is an older person.
Deuteronomy 14:28-29 This is a God’s law concerning tithing. Interestingly God puts the widows and orphans in the same category as the Levites.
Hi thanks for a great post. I’ll be back