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In our first lesson, we established that the book of James was written by James the half-brother of Jesus Christ who became a main leader of the early church. The epistle is the earliest written book of the New Testament and was written when the early church was still primarily Jewish and had not yet won many Gentile converts. God had caused severe persecution on the church and the Jewish believers to which James is writing are literally running for their lives. James is writing from Jerusalem and, as we will see, is addressing real problems that they were having in the early church. Biblically the book of James was probably written between Acts chapter 12 and 15, so the church was still in it's infant stages as far as maturity. James addresses issues that all Christians face as they mature in God and that's why it seems to hit a little close to home!

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As we closed our last lesson, James was attempting to correct many years of false teaching by the Pharisees. In addition to adding around 365 extra laws to the 613 commandments of Moses, the Pharisees also erred by misinterpreting many scriptures. One of the worst was the taking of all the scriptures about the promised land and how much better that it would be than Egypt and using those to preach a "prosperity gospel." These Jewish Christians had been taught all of their life that physical and mental defects were a sign of sin and God's disfavor. They had also been taught that any trial or money trouble was a sign of God's disfavor. If a person was rich, then they were considered to be right in God's eyes because they were "blessed." If a person was poor then they were considered to have sinned or have hidden sin in their life. These Christians had been forced away from their homes, families, jobs, and savings by persecution and had lost everything. Because of the false teaching of the Pharisees, many were becoming disheartened and giving up in that they thought the persecution was a result of some sin in their life. James took care of that false impression when he told them in verse 2 to "count it all joy," or rejoice when they go through a trial! James now joins with Jesus in debunking the myth that rich people are saved and poor people are sinners automatically. This is not a startling revelation today, but many Christians still have trouble realizing that God may not want them to have great riches. These Christians had lost everything and they were in the perfect will of God. God will always provide the necessities of life if a man is willing to work. The necessities of life are food, shelter, and clothing. But your comfort on earth is not God's primary concern. God does everything with His ultimate will in mind! A job making more money is not necessarily the will of God. But before I pursue that thought farther, let me point out the similarities of American culture and the Jewish culture that the Pharisees had created:

Because riches were supposedly a sign of "doing right," money, riches, and social status were everything to the Pharisees. So it is in America: we try to keep up with our neighbors, we'll miss church to work two jobs and lose our kids because mother can't spend enough time with them because she's working a job, and all because we are heavily in debt over things -- not necessities. And if the preacher teaches the Biblical concept of paying tithes (10% of your total income) plus offerings, then some people get bristled and offended. But who is your God? You are paying almost 20% to the government in taxes. You are paying more than that to your hobbies or interests, and people gripe about paying somewhere around 15% to God? If I'm aggravating you by talking about money in church then you are just proving to yourself that money is your God. If you want a real eye opener, then sit down with your checking ledger and figure up how much of your money goes to necessities: food, shelter, and clothing. When you do don't figure in all the eating out that you have to do because you don't have time to sit down with your family and eat. Don't figure in the second mortgage that you had to take out to buy the extra toy, and don't include the designer shirt that you just had to have.

Jesus fought against money being God most of all. He said "No man can serve two masters, ye cannot serve God and Mammon (riches)." Jesus taught on money four times more than heaven and hell combined. Why? Because He knew that the one thing that could keep everybody from getting to heaven was the love of money and things! In the story of the Rich man and Lazarus, the poor guy was righteous and the rich man was sinful. That contradicted the Pharisee's teaching and it contradicts America's teaching today. We somehow think that sin is okay as long as the person has money, but that's not true! Money should have nothing to do with our relationship with God. Yet many Christians can't live for God with money, and some can't live for God without money. Neither is correct. It may be that God does not desire you to ever have a nice home and a million dollars. If that is so, are you going to trust Him and still live for Him? Are you still going to be faithful to His financial plan of tithes and offerings? Too many Christians have a problem with coveting.

When I chose to come to San Antonio, I had many places that I could have chosen to go. I had already had one job offer from Orlando, Florida. They offered me more money, less responsibility, they would build me a house, and give me insurance benefits. I had 10 or so more churches lined up to go to after San Antonio. Bro. Wallace offered me less money, less benefits, and required more work than anybody that I visited. When I prayed, I did not do so with money as a factor. God said to come here, so I cancelled all of my other clinics and moved. At the time, I had never heard of Castroville and didn't know that God would call me there. I now make about the same money that I did in San Antonio but with less bills. If God blesses me with a nice house one day or a higher salary, then I will gladly receive it if it His will, but it has NOTHING to do with my walk with God! I've already made up in my mind that I'm going to serve God, I'll be faithful in my tithes and offerings, I'll be faithful in my lifestyle!

If I go through some financial hardships or bad times, I'm still going to serve God! Because it's not financial reward or earthly goals that I have in mind! I want to receive the Crown of life, live forever with Jesus Christ! Rule and reign with Him, and I have a promise! It is my reason for living! I believe in Jesus, I believe in eternity!

The temptation here is different than the temptation in verse 2. Here it refers to the temptation to sin. James has left the trials and has moved on to overcoming sin! Sin does give a good time for a season, but always leaves you cold and hard in the end. Sin is much harder to overcome than trials for some people because there is some satisfaction at first. But 5 minutes of pleasure is not worth an eternity of torment! You've got to have one goal in mind and that is getting the crown of life!

God does bring trials and tests, but God does not tempt you to sin. I've heard some people say that well if God didn't want me to drink, then He wouldn't have invented alcohol. If God didn't want me to smoke weed, then He wouldn't have created it or wouldn't have created tobacco. But wait a minute? God doesn't tempt any man! It's not God tempting you to misuse and abuse and get hooked on those things, it's your own lusts! EVERY man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust. You are battling your sinful nature that man took on when Adam sinned. The Holy Ghost gives you the ability to overcome it if you will ALLOW the Holy Ghost to help you. Too many people will not allow the Holy Ghost to help them overcome the lusts of their flesh. When they feel a little tinge of conscience over something they really want to do, they will ignore it until that little tinge of conscience has passed. Just because you don't feel like it's wrong now doesn't mean it's not wrong. If God's Word or Spirit has convicted you in even a little way of something and you go on and ignore it, you are not ALLOWING the Holy Spirit to reprove you of sin, and that is Grieving the Holy Spirit and is a sin in itself (Ephesians 4:30).

We don't like to admit that if we sin, it was because of our own lusts and desires, but it's true! Don't blame it on God. There is a war going on inside of you. Flesh versus Spirit. Everyday you've got to decide am going to listen to what my flesh is telling me is right or the Spirit and Word of God is telling me is right? Whether or not you willfully sin that day is a direct sign of which side you fed and nourished. If you didn't sin that day, chances are you fed the Spirit side. If you did fall and sin, then it was because you fed the flesh and reaped the results. I'm amazed at how people can sow carnality and are surprised when Carnality comes up! Why are you amazed? What did you plant?

Reaping sin is a natural effect of lust! When you feed your flesh, it conceives (gives birth to) sin. It starts a process of producing sin in your life! It's just like planting a seed or a woman giving birth to a kid. It's a long process but the seed being planted resulted in a new life. However when you plant the seed of lust, it joins with your will in the womb of your mind and begins to grow and develop into sin. Then, after a period of time, it gives birth to spiritual DEATH! It's a natural process. What we plant in our mind, we reap in our actions and spirit. As a Christian, feeding the flesh can be a matter of life and death!

I've heard it said that in America, the movie stars, athletes, and music groups are the idols. I disagree, because if a movie star, or athlete, or music group isn't making a ton of money, then they quickly fade away. In truth we exalt in America whoever is rich! Something about their sinful lifestyles appeals to our flesh. The actors and actresses, ballplayers, music groups, and politicians that we worship are the epitome of immoral behaviour. They are adulterers, liars, thieves, fornicators, homosexuals, vile, strikers, workers of iniquity and all other manner of sin. Does anyone agree? Yet we exalt them. We bring them into our home and place them in front of our kids and watch them commit their immoral acts and call it okay just because it is common place! Ask someone to name the twelve disciples and they go blank, ask someone to name 6 movies that Tom Cruise played in and they can name them with details and quote lines from the script, and yet when asked about Jesus' name baptism most Christians can't give you but two or three scriptures and sure can't quote them! Where's our priorities?!? Oh, preacher it's just PG-13. Well why is rated that way? It just has a little cussing in it, just a little violence, just a little nudity or suggestive language, it won't hurt them. And then we wonder why they don't live for God, and why they are sleeping with their boyfriend or girlfriend or reacting violently. Why? Because when Mother and Father allowed them to watch that, they said in their minds "this must be an okay way to act!"

Since I'm here, I might as well teach a little. Open your Bibles to Romans chapter 1. And I want to explain to you why I do not have a television in my home. I do not believe that all things on television are wrong; I do not believe that the technology itself is sin. If everything on television were to line up with God's Word, then I would not have a problem with television. Unfortunately what could be a great tool in the hands of God has been turned into a cess pool of evil. Paul in Romans described what happened to Gentiles when they rejected God and listed the sins. It reads like a social map of America's moral decline.

If people only watched the news, then I would not have a problem with television, but people watch more than the news. If you were just watching a football game then I would not have a problem with television, but you can't watch it without seeing a scantily-clad cheerleader parade across the screen. You can't help watch the commercial advertising a sitcom coming on later that features a man that just came out of the closet in his lifestyle. My wife and I had to pick up my parents late one night from the airport and Saturday Night Live was showing on the television screens and people were howling with laughter when we walked up to the gate. My wife asked me what was going on, and I replied that they are watching a "comedy show." I looked at her and said "come here, let me show you what they call funny." We went and sat down and watched about 20 minutes of it. Within that 20 minutes we had witnessed hundreds of cuss words and worst than that they would take God's name in vain over and over again. The woman had taken her clothes off and was parading around in her underwear. A man was doing drugs and drunk. And a woman and a man were simulating a sexual relationship in a car while her husband watched and the jokes were so suggestive that I cannot repeat them in mixed company. The people around us were sitting there with their kids and laughing and I even saw a little girl get up and begin to dance like the immodest woman was dancing on the screen. My wife and I were grieved in our spirits. I got up and walked off and felt dirty, and out of touch with God.

Nobody in their right mind would allow a woman to strip down to her underwear in front of their kids. Nobody in their right mind would sit by and laugh while their wife cheated on them in their car. You would be called a pervert to bring a couple into your house and watch them have a physical relationship in front of you while the family sat on the couch and watched, but that's exactly what we do when we allow television in our homes. What's the difference?

People have trouble reading well enough to comprehend the Bible. Because they have been raised on television. People have trouble paying attention in church for more than 30 minutes and that is a scientifically proven fact that comes from watching television. The attention span of America is much shorter than that of 70 years ago. The average kid's vocabulary in America is almost a fourth of what it was 50 years ago. We have time to watch our favorite shows every night but often have trouble finding time to pray and study God's Word. I have internet access, and I have complete control over everything that I view and what information that I take in. I have filters, etc... A person cannot sit mindlessly in front of the internet and just watch filth and plots roll by. If a person wants to go to perverted sight, then they must go to a search engine or click the browser and cause their screen to go to that site. In addition to the safety features, my wife and I only get on the internet when the door is open and both of us know how to check the history and see where each other has been. We don't have to, neither of us is abusing it, but we have the safeguards there because we don't want even the chance of it destroying us. I use the internet for research for my sermons and hobbies. I keep in contact with my presbyter through email and share sermons and bible studies and music all over the world. I can tell you that the internet can be harnessed in ways that television cannot. You can be watching a wholesome program on penguin fishing and they will have a commercial for a horribly explicit program coming up. I read but I am careful even to the point of what magazines I read and what novels I read. There are some novels that I won't read because of explicit sex, language, and uncleanness. There are a lot of magazines that are pornographic in nature while pretending to be about fashion. To bring them into my homes, I have to go, purchase them, and carry them. Like the internet, I have to go through quite a bit of premeditation to sin. But with television, it's simply there. You have brought the filth of the world into your homes, and expect God to bless it.

I do not think television is a sin. I think watching the programs will lead you to sin. I want you to try something with me. I would prefer that all of you throw your televisions away. You would have a lot less carnal problems and would be so much more productive for the kingdom of God if you weren't feasting on television and Hollywood continually. You would get to know God in a mighty way and on a very personal basis if you would. But don't just go home and throw them away because the preacher said to do so. My word means nothing. If you've felt the least little conviction in what I've taught from God's WORD tonight. Do this. Whether or not you realize it, you are desensitized to sin right now because of your continual absorption of it. For the rest of the week, turn your television, VCR, and DVD player off (Thursday through Sunday). Don't watch it. Now if that though makes you horrified, then you are hooked on it anyway and need to fast it! Go four days without it and without reading magazines and novels. What are you going to do? Read the Bible. Read a spiritual book and see if they are really teaching truth. Spend time with your family and kids, prepare a sit down meal, play a game together, do a nightly devotion with them and pray together as a family. Then after you have spent four days off of the influence of the filth. Then I want you on Monday to watch it -- whatever you would normally watch. But this time I want you to do it with Bible in hand open to Romans chapter 1. See if you can find a show or shows that interests you that does not break God's Word. Remember that if it breaks God's Word and you are enjoying watching them do it, then you are having pleasure in them that break God's Word and you are worthy of the same judgment that they deserve. If you will allow God to talk, then you will be amazed at how much filth you really have been bringing into your home. If you think that I'm crazy for asking you to not watch television for 4 days, then you need to ask yourself why you are under the control of this thing, and remember that Christians are not to be under the control of anything other than God. As you sit there ask yourself, if Jesus were sitting here would He think that this was funny? Would Jesus enjoy this program or movie? Then remember that He IS sitting there! And He's also supposed to be INSIDE YOU and Lord of ALL that mind that is taking in that filth. If you are having trouble with lust and sin, then what are you feeding everyday? If you don't think that you are having trouble with lust and sin then you really are deceived and that brings us to our next scripture.

Err here means to be deceived (Greek root word - planao). When a person thinks that they can feed the flesh constantly and live a pure, Godly lifestyle, then they are deceived! The word is used over and over again in scripture to denote that Satan is trying to deceive Christians into "acceptable sin." The word is used when Paul was dealing with Christians who thought that they could be saved and live in sin (I Corinthians 6:9 "be not deceived"). It is used in I Corinthians 15:33 when some were not believing in a literal resurrection. It is used many times by Paul to express the same concept as James:

Notice that James uses the term "beloved brethren." He has been reading their mail, and then uses the word "agape" to denote his great love for them. Agape love is unselfish love that Paul talked about when he wrote I Corinthians 13. Agape love is what God showed us by coming down and paying the price for sin even while we were yet sinners. It means true love, and James wanted them to realize that he was correcting some things in the church for their benefit in the long run! He was correcting them because He did not want them to be deceived and go astray before they got a crown of life. My instruction is of the same type. I am trying to get you to heaven. But I know that a man reaps what he sows. You cannot sow carnality and fleshly things and reap spiritual ones. We cannot spend great hours in enjoying sin and expect a few hours of church to counteract that! Beloved brethren, do not err: Sow and reap spiritual blessings to yourselves!