Highlight:

James 4:1-4

What is causing the quarrels and fights among you? Don’t they come from the evil desires at war within you? You want what you don’t have, so you scheme and kill to get it. You are jealous of what others have, but you can’t get it, so you fight and wage war to take it away from them. Yet you don’t have what you want because you don’t ask God for it. And even when you ask, you don’t get it because your motives are all wrong—you want only what will give you pleasure. You adulterers! Don’t you realize that friendship with the world makes you an enemy of God? I say it again: If you want to be a friend of the world, you make yourself an enemy of God. 

Explain:

James gives a clear description of the cause of strife in the church. He says that our fights come from our desires that are at war in us. What are those desires:

Desire for possessions

Desire to be our own source.

Desire for pleasure

Desire for the world’s approval.

All these things block the kind of prayer that brings His blessing into our lives. We can be a friend of God of a friend of the world, but we cannot be both.

The answer to this is found in v 5: We must humble ourselves before the Lord.

Apply:

(See Above)

Respond:

I will look for these four desires in my own life today.

Highlight:

James 3:17-8

But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy. Now the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.

Explain:

James writes chapter 3 to warn teachers about the responsibility of their job. They are to guard carefully what they say and they are to have God’s wisdom to guide them. In these verses, James describes what God’s wisdom is like:

Pure – To have no faults. There is nothing in the teacher’s life that can legitimately be criticized. It is from the word for “holy,” and means that they teacher is to be focused on God and set apart for God.

Peaceable  – peaceful (whole) adj. — characterized by or promoting a state of wholeness, well-being, and happiness.

Gentle  lenient adjs. — merciful or tolerant of slight deviations from moral or legal rectitude.

Yielding- persuadable adj. — willing and open to adopting another position, belief, or course of action (with sufficient reason or evidence).

Merciful – mercy n. — leniency and compassion shown toward offenders by a person or agency of authority; often penal-related.

Fruitful – This speaks of outcomes from their behavior that are morally preferred.

Impartial – non-divisive adjs. — not tending to cause factions or divisions within a group.

Unhypocritical – sincerely felt or expressed – Transparent.

Apply:

You could say it like this: When I am acting within God’s wisdom, I seek complete devotion to Him and am set apart for Him (pure). I am merciful to others who may offend me or even be “off” spiritually (Gentle). I am willing to adopt another position on any matter if there is sufficient evidence to do so (Yielding). I am merciful; I am fruitful, producing new outcomes based on their morally preferred behavior. I am impartial, willing to receive and love others who are different from me. Last, I am transparent (unhypocritical), without any hidden motives or hidden agendas. These kind of people create a culture in which real spiritual growth can take place.

Respond:

I ask God for His Wisdom today!

Highlight:

James 2:8–13 (NKJV) 

⁸If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you do well; ⁹but if you show partiality, you commit sin, and are convicted by the law as transgressors. ¹⁰For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all. ¹¹For He who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not murder.” Now if you do not commit adultery, but you do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. ¹²So speak and so do as those who will be judged by the law of liberty. ¹³For judgment is without mercy to the one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment. 

Explain:

James is attacking the evident prejudice shown by some to those who were wealthy in the church. He tells them that prejudice is sin and that failure in this area was not a small thing. God will judge prejudiced people. If we show mercy to others, God will show mercy to us.

Apply:

Prejudice is insidious and cannot be handled by trying to stamp it out. Instead it must be handled by drawing close to God and having Him fill your heart with His love. 

Respond:

I will draw close today!

James 1:19–25(NKJV)

¹⁹So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath; ²⁰for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God.²¹Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.²²But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. ²³For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; ²⁴for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. ²⁵But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it,and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.

Explain: 

James is writing to the Jewish believers scattered by persecution. He begins by telling them to recognize within their persecution an opportunity for maturity. God is not sending the evil upon them, but He is using the evil to develop them. In the middle of that persecution, then, it is important for disciples to exercise self-control. V19 reveals the correct response in the middle of persecution: We are to

• LISTEN CAREFULLY – Quick to listen. Listen to whom? Well, I believe we are to be quick to listen to:
• The voice of the Spirit.
• The words of those who would persecution.
• MEDITATE BIBLICALLY – Having heard our opponents, we are to think through what we have heard. I take this from the fact that we are to be slow to speak. We consider carefully what we say.
• SPEAK WISELY – The idea is not that we NEVER speak but that we speak deliberately and deliberatively. 
• RESPOND CAUTIOUSLY – We are to be slow to wrath

These measured responses are made possible by a few actions:

• We dump “filthiness” and the “overflow of wickedness”. This pictures a heart that is focused on self and sinful desires. What will come out of that heart will be evil because out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.
• We implant and embrace with humility the Word of God. We focus on the Word of God instead of on the slights of men.
• We act on the word of God.

Apply:(See above)

Respond:Today, I will meditate on, implant and embrace God’s word.

Highlight: 

Hebrews 13:15-16 – “Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name. Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.”

Explain: 

The writer is giving out final instructions as he closes out the book of Hebrews.  Here he is telling them to continually give God a sacrifice of praise.  Our words should be words that lift up the name of Jesus and glorify him.  He tells them that they should continually do good to others and share what they have with them.  Sacrifices like this are pleasing to God.

Apply: 

My life should be characterized like this.  When people are around me, they should hear praises being offered to God.  It is easy to become selfish and self-centered, so I must keep myself in check.  One way to protect myself from being self-centered is to do good to others and share what I have with them.  Everything’s not about me, and my things are really God’s things, so I should use them to give Him glory.

Respond:

Lord, help me to love others today, and to consciously do something good for someone today.

Brad Perry

Highlight: Hebrews 12:22-24 No, you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to countless thousands of angels in a joyful gathering. You have come to the assembly of God’s firstborn children, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God himself, who is the judge over all things. You have come to the spirits of the righteous ones in heaven who have now been made perfect. You have come to Jesus, the one who mediates the new covenant between God and people, and to the sprinkled blood, which speaks of forgiveness instead of crying out for vengeance like the blood of Abel. 

Explain:  The writer tells us that, since we have such a great crowd of witnesses who were faithful (listed in chapter 11) we should be willing to let go of anything that keeps us from completing our race as they did. Ultimately, Jesus, Himself is the example we look to. He endured and so should we.  We also remember the encouraging words God spoke: We should remember that our difficulty is used by God to discipline us and help us to develop spiritually. So, instead of being discouraged by trouble, we must let God use it to bring good things to us and help us to share in His holiness. Sharing His holiness means guarding our relationships. We live at peace with others and don’t allow bitterness against others nor immorality with them to draw us from God. The motivation for living this kind of life comes from our realization of our blessings. This brings us to vv22-24. Instead of coming to God as the Israelites did—to an earthly mountain that shook and caused fear in the Jews—because of Christ’s sacrifice, we have come to the heavenly mountain (Zion) and a heavenly Jerusalem. We are a part of God’s firstborn children who have their names written in Heaven. We are part of those who have been made perfect because Jesus has sprinkled His own blood on God’s altar for our sin. Because of this, we have to be very careful not to ignore what God would say to us. Since we are receiving such a blessing, we dare not take it lightly. We should worship God with holy fear.

Apply:My problem with living the implications of this passage is faith. If I really believe what is said in vv 22-24, I will have to give it all to God. I have to do what v 28 says: Be thankful and please God by worshiping Him with holy fear and awe.

Respond:I will try to stop at least once today and meditate on all that vv 22-24 say so that I may be thankful and worship God.

Highlight: 

 Hebrews 11:39–40 (NKJV) ³⁹And all these, having obtained a good testimony through faith, did not receive the promise, ⁴⁰God having provided something better for us, that they should not be made perfect apart from us. 

Explain: 

Hebrews 11 is this writer’s extended illustration of what he has been saying throughout this book. He has been making the case that Jesus’s sacrifice is the once for all fulfillment of all the law was teaching and that our justification is received through faith in His finished work. In this chapter, He illustrates how we are now called on to put our faith in Christ just like those who have come before us had to do.The concluding verses show us that all that has happened was the calculated plan of God instituted so that we could receive salvation by grace through faith. This way of faith is the “better” thing God had in mind.

Apply:I see in these verses that this faith we are called on to possess is an active thing. We are called on to live as these heroes did, with our complete trust in God. 

Respond:I will listen to God today as He calls me to step out in faith. God help me!

Highlight: 

For by that one offering he forever made perfect those who are being made holy. ^[1]Heb 10:14 – NLT

Explain: 

The writer is again describing the one sacrifice of Himself made by Christ which, once and for all, takes away our sin. The writer will go on to say that turning from the reality of that sacrifice brings judgment.V14 lays this out in a profound summary: By His offering of Himself, Jesus made us PERFECT forever. This offering, however, was not the end, but the beginning. Now those who have been made perfect (in their standing with God) are being made HOLY in their decisions and manner of living.

Apply:I can be confident because I am made perfect in Christ. I will never be more sinless than I am right now in the eyes of God because I stand in Christ’s righteousness. I am practically, however, being made holy—set apart for God.

Respond:I will rest in His righteousness and strive for His holiness in my life.

Highlight:  Hebrews 9:9 – For the gifts and sacrifices that the priests offer are not able to cleanse the consciences of the people who bring them

Explain: 

The Hebrew writer continues with his comparison of the earthly sacrifice and temple with the heavenly one mediated by Christ:

The earthly tabernacle had two rooms, the second being the Holy of Holies with the Ark of the Covenant. The priests could only enter once per year to offer blood for his own and the people’s sins. The Holy Spirit revealed that the Holy of Holies was not freely open as long as the old system was in place. This is because these sacrifices are not able to “cleanse the consciences” of the people bringing them, they were only symbolic ceremonies that were waiting until a better system could be established.

Christ is the High Priest of that better system. He entered the Heavenly temple, not the earthly. With His own blood He entered the Heavenly Tabernacle and atoned for our sins once for all, forever. It is Christ’s blood that purifies our consciences from evil deeds. The old covenant was confirmed constantly with the blood of animals; the new covenant once for all with the blood of Christ. He is coming again, not to offer another sacrifice, but to bring salvation to those of us who wait for Him.V9 Shows that the old system could cover our sin, but it could not cleanse our conscience and truly make us free. It took Christ’s sacrifice to do that.

Apply:Since we have a new covenant, we have a clean conscience. That means that all of my sin placed under the blood is removed and I do not have to feel guilty.

Respond:Thank Christ for His sacrifice.

Highlight: 

 Hebrews 8:10–13 (NKJV) ¹⁰For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. ¹¹None of them shall teach his neighbor, and none his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them. ¹²For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.” ¹³In that He says, “A new covenant,” He has made the first obsolete. Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away. 

Explain: 

The main point of what preceded is made here: Jesus is the High Priest in Heaven with God who ministers in the Heavenly temple. He makes an offering in heaven in the real temple. Earthly priests make offerings in the earthly temple which is only a copy of the real Tabernacle in heaven. We know that because Moses was told to make everything in the tabernacle according to the pattern he had been givenBut now, as our heavenly High Priest, Jesus has been given a superior ministry with a superior covenant. Now this covenant is written on the heart and not on stone. Now the new covenant has replaced the old.

Apply:

The Bible says that the new covenant is written by the Holy Spirit on my heart. This means:

• I have a new sanctified awareness. Since the new covenant has been put into my mind, I know the right and wrong. I do not seek to keep every little command. I know that I am to “love the Lord with all my heart mind and strength and to love my neighbor as myself.” 
• I have new power. I am not trying, in my flesh, to “live up to” the covenant. It has been written on my heart, meaning that I now have the DESIRE to keep it.

Respond:I will seek to tangibly love the Lord and my neighbor today