HUMILITY IS THE WAY

James 1:17-27 The Road Less Traveled: Humility Is the Way Introduction: The letter of James is a very poetic book. It says one thing at the same time referring to something else, or it can say something that leaves you asking, “Why would the author say that?” or “What am I supposed to do with this?”. A good example is James 1:18, which reads, “We are like the first crop from the harvest of everything he created”. Preparing this sermon, I asked myself, why should we be likened to crops? Does it mean we are already harvested? And in context, what is the meaning of harvest? Or perhaps the author was simply observing the crops at a time of harvest and understood the full meaning of it, matching it to the situation of the letter’s recipients. I sometimes do that as a poet-ha ha ha. In other words, I was inspired to understand that we were created by God for a specific purpose, God is with us, God will never leave us nor forsake us, God will see our lives through to completion, and it is a great joy and honor to be in such a relationship with God. The letter of James is categorized under wisdom literature, and the author was simplifying everything in a way of making the reader and the listener, understand, “How we come to have this or that? Or what is this or that?”. For example, right now in the 21st Century, if someone wanted to download the “North Carolina Conference of The UMC” application on their phone, how would they do that? The quickest answer might be, “Just download it”. But for you to download it, there are several things involved, and I can list a few: a) You need to know what a phone is and how to operate it. b) You need enough money to buy the phone and pay for the monthly subscription, or even be connected to Wi-Fi. c) You need power and know how to charge your phone, so it doesn’t switch off before you download your Conference application d) You need to know how to navigate the iTunes App Store or Google Play Store, to download the app. e) You need to understand English or the operating language of your phone f) And remember to wear your contact lenses or glasses-amongst other things-just to finally, finally download the Conference application on your phone, so you can use it! This is exactly what James, the author was doing: explaining where gifts come from, the power and character of God, what we should pay attention to, the benefits of paying attention, the small but important things we sometimes overlook in our Christian journey, the unknown facts about ourselves, how we can be fulfilled, what not to do, how we end up in trouble, how we can improve, what needs to be done, the benefits of pleasing God, what it means to love God, and how to love God. All this information is richly found in the verses we just read, and it also deeply explains that something unusual was going on in the early Church. Body Point 1: God’s Perfect Gifts (James 1:17-21) 1.a) Indeed, something was wrong amongst the recipients of this letter from James. An unusual behavior had taken center stage in that community. Some people were not rational enough to accommodate all believers. Who were those people? That becomes the question! From reading in-between the lines of our given verses, these were gifted people who had a relationship with God, knew the word of God, but didn’t fully practice it. They had oscillating characters and behavior. They were slow to listen to others, quick to speak out, and anger was becoming their way of life. Moral decay and wickedness were starting to swallow them. They became very pompous, forgetting the true meaning of the word, their purpose in life, and losing their identity. As a matter of fact, they were misleading others and ignoring the cries of orphans, widows, and the needy-missing the whole point of being a Christian. ....ETC SERMON 2: Christ United Methodist Church October 6, 2024| 11am. Worship Pastor Takudzwa Chikepe https://www.youtube.com/live/uE6EHNsjqjI?si=C6K9Gipm1umivtJn THE END.