| By Andy Moyle | 1 min 19 secs | 0 Comments
James now turns his sights towards the dangers of being rich. Possessions rot and decay and the insinuation here is that rich people often exploit others; in their greed condemning or murdering people who don’t resist. Money is not evil, having lots of it is not evil. How you get it and what you do […]
| By Andy Moyle | 1 min 17 secs | 0 Comments
The moment we respond to the gospel we are born again (John 3:3), our spirit that used to be dead because of sin, comes alive (Ephesians 2:4,5), our old nature is dead and gone, replaced by a new nature (2 Corinthians 5:17). But we don’t wake up the next morning with a new mind. It […]
| By Andy Moyle | 58 secs | 0 Comments
Keeping control of what comes out of your mouth is one of the hardest parts of living the holy life! James uses three illustrations to make the point: A horse needs a bit in its mouth to allow the reins to bring it under control; A ship has a tiny rudder to steer the whole […]
| By Andy Moyle | 4 mins 4 secs | 0 Comments
Luther called the book of James ‘an epistle of straw’ because of the way James talks about justification, faith and works. He was wrong, because James is using the second of two meanings of “justified” and is actually saying the same thing as Paul in the book of Romans. We will get to that. Firstly […]
| By Andy Moyle | 1 min 33 secs | 0 Comments
The book of James is a very practical letter that Martin Luther disliked, calling it an epistle of straw. That was because James uses the words justified, faith and works in different ways than Paul, and Luther was fighting to regain Paul’s teaching to the whole church. It reads like a sermon with a careful […]
| By Andy Moyle | 1 min 21 secs | 0 Comments
The end of New Testament letters typically comes with staccato instructions, boom, boom, boom, about living out the good of the doctrine that has come before. Jesus has given us the best way, grace, so…. Be welcoming The first two sentences employ a Greek wordplay: Brotherly love = philadelphia, which means love the brothers, love […]
| By Andy Moyle | 1 min 11 secs | 0 Comments
Therefore, because of all that has been written before, don’t give up on Christianity. Jesus is the best. Lift your drooping hands, strengthen your weak knees, make straight paths. Keep going! Strive for peace with everyone – Mr & Mrs sandpaper weren’t sent by the devil, they were sent by Jesus to rub off your […]
| By Andy Moyle | 3 mins 3 secs | 0 Comments
I love the picture at the start of this passage. Imagine you are an athlete in a stadium. The stadium is full of ‘a great cloud of witnesses’ – those heroes of faith who have already run their race well, cheering us (athletes) on. Now, to run the race well, what do you need? Well […]
| By Andy Moyle | 1 min 36 secs | 0 Comments
The greatest model of faith is Abraham and the story of Genesis 22. Abraham was tested before he got the greatest blessing of his life. The test involved a threat to the promises he had been given. The nation that was to come from him was only one Son to that point – Isaac. Sometimes […]