"Who I Am in Christ" James 1 - January 27, 2023 - Michael Heaton

Read Here: https://www.bible.com/en-GB/bible/111/JAS.1.NIV

. Welcome to the Daily Soap from New Hope. My name is Michael Heaton your guest host for today. We will be reading from the book of James Chapter 1 verses 1 through 18. I will be reading from the New Living translation I encourage you to read the whole chapter. I encourage you to read the whole book.

Before I read the selected verses, I want to ask you a couple of questions. Who are you? How do you define yourself? Would you respond with your name, your age, your grade level? Do you define yourself by gender, race, hair color, your profession, the region where you come from, your family system? What about your identity in Jesus Christ?

Let’s read, James 1:1-18. Greetings from James 1 This letter is from James, a slave of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ. I am writing to the “twelve tribes”—Jewish believers scattered abroad. Greetings!

Faith and Endurance 2 Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. 3 For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. 4 So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing. 5 If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking. 6 But when you ask him, be sure that your faith is in God alone. Do not waver, for a person with divided loyalty is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is blown and tossed by the wind.

7 Such people should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. 8 Their loyalty is divided between God and the world, and they are unstable in everything they do. 9 Believers who are poor have something to boast about, for God has honored them. 10 And those who are rich should boast that God has humbled them. They will fade away like a little flower in the field. 11 The hot sun rises and the grass withers; the little flower droops and falls, and its beauty fades away. In the same way, the rich will fade away with all of their achievements.

12 God blesses those who patiently endure testing and temptation. Afterward they will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him. 13 And remember, when you are being tempted, do not say, “God is tempting me.” God is never tempted to do wrong,[c] and he never tempts anyone else. 14 Temptation comes from our own desires, which entice us and drag us away.

15 These desires give birth to sinful actions. And when sin is allowed to grow, it gives birth to death. 16 So don’t be misled, my dear brothers and sisters. 17 Whatever is good and perfect is a gift coming down to us from God our Father, who created all the lights in the heavens. He never changes or casts a shifting shadow. 18 He chose to give birth to us by giving us his true word. And we, out of all creation, became his prized possession.

So, what is the scripture all about? More importantly, what does this text teach us about our identity in Jesus Christ? The book of James is authored none other than James. There are several men named James mentioned in the New Testament, but reliable tradition assigns this book to the one called James the Just, the half-brother of Jesus (Matthew 13:55) and the brother of Jude (Jude 1), who led the church in Jerusalem (Acts 15:13).

Yet the writer of this letter is the same James who received a special resurrection appearance of Jesus (1 Corinthians 15:7). This was probably the cause of his conversion, because up to that time the brothers of Jesus seemed unsupportive of His message and mission (John 7:5). The scripture we read begins by describing who James was…he describes himself as a slave of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ and that he was writing to the scattered believers.

For you see the church was under attack and many believers were being persecuted. So, he writes to encourage them in their challenging times. James wrote an epistle to the scattered house of Israel, encouraging them to be patient in their afflictions and to seek wisdom from their Heavenly Father. James also taught them to resist temptation, to be doers of the word, to serve others, and to stay spiritually clean.

This may supply information to how we are known. If you have accepted Jesus Christ as your Savior, then you have an identity in Christ. We are no longer a part of this world soaked in sin, We are a child of God Let our hardships be an opportunity for joy as God shapes us. Every day we have an opportunity to grow in our identity in Christ.

Let’s pray. Lord, I pray that you would help me that I might be fully alive to my identity in you. I thank you that I am your child, that I am your friend, that I am forgiven, that I am a new creation. Help me to live out this truth in my life every day. In Jesus name, amen. .

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