Men's Workout #44 - May 12, 2018

OPENING SONG AND PRAYER

We started our time together by singing hymn #102, "Jesus is Lord."

 

MEMORY PASSAGE

We reviewed James 4:1-8, spending:

·        4 minutes to memorize verses 1-3;

·        3 minutes to memorize verses 4-5;

·        4 minutes to memorize verses 6-8

 

MEMORY PASSAGE DISCUSSION

James 4:1-3

·        James focuses on one’s own pleasures. This is where we deal with our own sin. We might instinctually reason that it is “the other person’s fault” that there might be conflicts, fighting, and sin amongst us. But in reality, the source of sin is our own pleasures. This is emphasized in verse 3, where James urges us to humbly realize that we sin because of our own selfish pleasures.

James 4:4-5

·        You can’t have intimacy with God and yet also be simultaneously committed to worldly desires. God wants our hearts to be committed and devoted to Him alone. Our love should be solely given to God, not to the world.

·        Practically, a sinful love for the world can be manifested in both subtle and non-subtle ways. For example, it can be found in a pursuit of professional accolades or notoriety, in seeking acceptance from the world, or in wrongly assigning excessively high value to possessions or personal life goals. These examples remind us of the parable of the seed (e.g. Luke 8), where Jesus tells us that the worries, riches, and pleasures of this life choke us away from faithfulness and growth in the Lord, resulting in a fruitless life.

·        God desires genuine righteousness from our hearts. Isaiah 1:10-20 is a passage that clearly tells us that God wants our hearts, not lip service or empty rituals (Psalm 51:16-17). God desires for us to be committed and faithful to Him.

James 4:6-8

·        God is willing to give us grace, even though we have sinned against Him in these ways. God gives grace to the humble.

·        The first sign of humility is submission (“submit therefore to God”). This means to place yourself under the authority God. We can’t stick our noses up to God in pride and also stick our hands out expecting to receive His grace. We must have a posture of surrender and submission to God. “God gives grace to the humble.”

·        James brings up the devil in verse 7. It is obvious that the devil is at war with God’s people, trying to bring them down by drawing them away from humble submission to God. The devil is in the habit of focusing on man’s desires and not God’s (e.g. Matthew 16:21-23). We must stand against the devil, resisting his temptations and lures, not giving him any opportunities to lead us astray from drawing near to God.

·        In contrast, God does not push us away from Himself. Quite the opposite: God desires us to draw near to Him (verse 8)! James tell us that when we do, He draws near to us.

Men's Workout #43 - May 5, 2018

OPENING SONG AND PRAYER

We started our time by singing "At the Name of Jesus" (Hymn #140).

 

DISCUSSION

·        James 4:1-3

o   "Waging war in your members." This is not referring to internal conflict within an individual, but rather interpersonal conflict between individual members. The source of the conflicts between members is one's own pleasures that we tightly hold onto. We ought to let go of our own personal desires and preferences, and rather cling onto Christ. Oftentimes, the quarrels we go through are symptomatic of some other deeper self-centered heart issue that may not have been previously surfaced or identified.

o   "We don't have because we don't ask." When we come to God in prayer, our own selfish pleasures are exposed. When we realize that sometimes we pray to God for things that stem from selfish motives and pleasures, then it is obvious that God won't give  those things because God is not interested in fulfilling our pleasures apart from His own will and glory.  Perhaps a better way to pray is to pray for the ends and not the means. Pray for the objective to be fulfilled in submission to whatever God's will may be, not according to our own will or expectations of fulfillment. Other times, we may mean well in our prayers, but God may not answer in the way we expected. We shouldn't be disappointed in God, but rather be humble in accepting God's will and outcome.

·        James 4:4-8

o   "Friendship with the world." James is not introducing a new context of relationships with unbelievers. This is continuing the topic of dealing with your own pleasures. When we hold onto our own pleasures and worldliness, we become hostile enemies of God. We must pursue holiness and not be like the world.

o   "He jealously desires the spirit which He has made to dwell in us." God jealously desires us and who we are on the inside. This deals very directly with religious hypocrisy. God is not interested in a mere outward display of righteousness and religion. God doesn't care about our tithes, our record of faithfulness, or other acts of service if our hearts are rotten and selfish. What God wants is our entire being with a pure heart that loves and worships God in obedience and devotion.

o   "Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you." Oftentimes when we feel distant from God, it is because we have stepped away from Him, not because He's pushed us away. God wants us to draw near to Him. We need to be contrite and also practically submit to God in repentance and obedience. We need to humble ourselves before God and be actively remorseful of our sins.

o   "Be miserable and mourn and weep." Sin is a serious offense to God, and we should properly react to it with grieving and mourning. Repentance is both a remorseful attitude and active changing of behavior and action.

Men's Workout #41 - April 14, 2018

Opening Hymn

We started our time by together singing hymn #7, "Sing Praise to the Lord"

Memory Passage

Then we reviewed James 3:11-16, spending 3 minutes to review/memorize vv11-13, then another 3 minutes to review/memorize vv14-16.

Memory Passage Discussion

The theme of interaction with others continues from the previous section. 

James challenges us in verses 11 and 12 - if you speak ill of other people, what's in your heart? If you are a true worshipper of God, you should speak edifying words, not cut others down. Recalling from vv9 (from last time), cursing is a total inconsistency of how we use our tongues - we started our time together today praising God! Fig trees don't produce olives - if you're cursing other men the worship of God is not in your heart.

The focus changes in vv13 to wisdom, specifically, wisdom related to how you interact with those around you (applicational wisdom), not just philosophical wisdom. True wisdom will produce right behavior; similarly the opposite (jealousy, selfish ambition) shows itself as well (vv16)

In vv14 we see a prohibition - "do not be arrogant…" In our sinfulness we try to justify our jealousy and ambition, saying things like, "why does so-and-so get this blessing, that I don't get?" While you may feel justified, you are dealing with something that is not from God, but is earthly, natural, demonic. The use of the words natural and  demonic (vv15) point to the nature of this sin-cursed earth, and remind us that sin is not just earthly and natural, but is what evil demons do.

Have you had times when you've experienced jealousy and selfish ambition in your own heart?

  • Material things
    • Using the example of a nice house, if someone has blessed someone with a great house, to praise God along with them, we should rejoice with those who rejoice!
    • Reflect on what we truly deserve, and to praise God for what we have
    • Be confident in God's care for you
    • God has blessed each person in a different way
  • Self-worth, or Respect
    • For example, when someone you see as a peer is treated better than you, or maybe a peer was promoted over you, you can be jealous of their treatment or status.
    • In these cases, confess your own sin
    • Congratulate the other person, but only after having dealt with your own heart first - there's no use in congratulating the other person if you still have bitterness and jealousy in your heart.
    • God's ways are higher than our ways - In His sovereignty, God could be holding you back from pride, or from getting over your head and ruining yourself.
  • How others Wives treat them
    • As married men, there is no room for us to look at another person's wife and ask why can't our wife be like that?
    • Praise God for that other person's wife!
    • When you see how another wife treats their husband, don't ever leave room for you to think anything else, as that can lead to all manner of sin
  • When we see God's blessing on others, we can be so sinful - we need to simply praise God and be content in Him, who gives to us everything we need

Jealousy can drive you to say things, do things that are irrational (vv16). We also have to be careful that we don't fall into the trap of being driven to do good things, but ultimately not being God-oriented.

Desiring things aren't wrong, but we need to check whether our ambition is selfish vs. ambition for the glory of God. We should all be ambitious to bless other people.

The opposite would be laziness, or apathy; not working very hard, having a very laissez-faire attitude, coming to church when you want to come, if you come at all. Even with this attitude, at the end of the day, you're seeking something for yourself (comfort).

Memory Passage Intro

The memory passage for next week is James 3:17-18, 4:1-3

James 3:17-18 completes the prior section. 

Note that "gentle" in vv17 is the same word that we find in Philippians, meaning sweet reasonableness. People who produce righteousness = people who are pursuing peace. It is only from heavenly wisdom that we can making peace with others, and know how to live in harmony with others. What a stark contrast from vv16!

Stating the opposite of vv18, if you keep sowing the wrong thing, it will lead to chaos in your life and result in the ruin of your soul. We have to recognize it, call it out for what it is, and yank the jealousy and ambition so that you can then fill your heart with the right things.

 

Men's Workout #40 - April 7, 2018

OPENING SONG AND PRAYER
We started our time by singing Hymn #111, We Come, O Christ, to You and praying together.

MEMORIZATION
Then we spent time reciting James 3:6-10, in our typical fashion (spend a couple minutes to review, then recite together)

DISCUSSION

Discussion of James 3:6-10
First, looking at vv6-7, "set on fire" - the tongue is very destructive.
We need to exercise much self-control, recognizing that our tongues are very capable to hurt others.
James points out that the tongue is uniquely capable of defiling the entire body. It's not that it specifically defiles your big toe, for example, but that it can lead the entire body somewhere.
Vv7 points to the creation time period (Adam) - the point is that taming the tongue is that difficult.
Looking at vv8-10, we never graduate from taming the tongue, it is a life-long battle
It's obvious that God gave you this mouth to bless people, but we use it to curse people
What are some ways that we can curse others?
Gossip, and slander are obvious ways.
Malice - if we see someone doing something wrong, we may wish ill upon them, and when something happens rejoice in something bad happening to them. This is not right.
Ridicule - there's a sinful part of us that feels good about ourselves when we put others down and degrade others
But every human was made in the likeness of God (Adam in God's likeness in Gen 1:26, then through procreation mankind in God's likeness Gen 5:3) has great dignity in the eyes of God.
As a side note, tasteful self-deprecation is good humor!

When we hear people curse others, we should stop it. Even better, we should use it as an opportunity to the gospel.
It's one thing to point out that it's not good, but it's even better to point out that It's not just our own virtue, but it's from God. The more we include God, the better.
We should always be ready to talk about the gospel, and make a defense (1 Pet 3:15).
We should be ready to encourage others, while recognizing that we are not the police, and shouldn't have the mindset of waiting for someone to sin.
If someone persists, you want to be the kind of brother that musters up courage and brings it up in someone's life, but don't pounce on others.

Discussion of James 3:11-16
Next, we looked at vv11-12. Continuing from the previous verses, since every person has been made in the likeness of God, we should use our tongues in the way that God has made them for.

Vv13 begins a new section
If you're truly wise, it will manifest itself in your lifestyle and conduct
But bitter jealousy and arrogance completely opposite of true wisdom, and is not that which comes down from above
We have to recognize that it's all for the glory of God
What are some ways that jealousy and self-ambition can creep in?

  • Career goals
  • Prizes
  • Recognition
  • Entitlement, feeling like you deserve something

Men's Workout #39 - March 24, 2018

We were glad that Juan and Aris (Sassoun's dad) joined us today!

HYMN

We started off by singing Hymn #6, "The God of Abraham Praise"

MEMORY PASSAGE REVIEW

James 3:1-5

Then we spent some time to recite the passage we went through last time we met 2 weeks ago, James 3:1-5. First, we recited James 3:1-3 after 5 minutes of review, then recited James 3:1-5 after another 5 minutes of review.

There is a theme in this passage of small objects (bit, rudder) directing much larger objects (horse, ship). Our tongues are so small, but can do so much damage. Tying back to verse 1, those who teach need to have especially good control of their tongue.

Question: looking at verse 2, will controlling your tongue lead to perfection? Is there a causation here?

James points out that everyone stumbles, and that there will be sin in every believer's life, so we won't be perfect on this side of eternity. Looking at 1 John 1:5-10, for those who walk in Jesus, there is a continual cleansing (vv7), in spite of the vestiges of our sin (vv8) so long as we confess our sins to Him (vv9), and because God sees us for who we really are, will not only forgive us for the sins we confess, but cleanses us of all unrighteousness. This isn't a license to hold onto sin, because John is writing these things so that we may not sin (1 John 2:1), but continually stamp sin out of our lives.

Your control over your mouth has a lot to say about your control over the rest of your body. Your control of your mouth is a litmus test of your level of sanctification (ex: how do you talk about other people?)

Answering the question, it's not causation, but a demonstration of maturity.

NEW MEMORY PASSAGE

James 3:6-10

Verses 6-10 picks up from what James just said in the previous passage - the tongue can not only defile our entire body, but can also defile the course of our life. The imperfect is used in "is set on fire", pointing to a continual stoking by hell. "Set on fire by hell", points to the destructiveness of the tongue (it is not saying that the tongue will always send you to hell)

Gehenna (Gehinnom in Hebrew) was a place of destruction (place where trash was burned, associated with constant destruction). It was a physical location that the audience (Jews) are familiar with, so don't read anything else into it

"Sets on fire the course of our life" - In life, we can think about how our words set off a domino effect. There was a movie titled "Soul man", where a white man pretends to be black. One lie leads to the other, and before he knows it he's in too deep. Similarly, you can quickly find yourself in a very difficult situation because of your sin.

Looking at Matt 15:17-20, the way we use our tongues really shows what's in our hearts. Our mouths are a gateway for the defilement of our hearts to come out. Reading Matt 15:8, "this people honors Me with their lips, but their heart is far away from Me" - there ought to be a connection between the mouth and heart.

Thinking about verses 8-9, we all use our voices to sing praises to God during our time of corporate singing on Sunday, but we can use those same vocal chords to speak bigotry, slander, or any other way to speak ill of other people, human beings who are made in the likeness of God. Jesus taught us to bless those who curse us (Lk. 6:27-29). Instead of cursing others, we bless, always doing good.

 

Men's Workout #38 - March 10, 2018

HYMN

We opened up our time together by singing "O Father, You Are Sovereign" (hymn #17).

MEMORIZATION & DISCUSSION

As a group, we spent some time reviewing James 2:24-26 by memorizing, reciting, and reflecting as a group.

James 2:26

Faith without works is dead, just as the body without the spirit is dead.

Faith is ultimately hearing, believing, and trusting.

"When did you hear what God said and start to believe in it?"

Preview of James 3:1-5

  • Many people desire to become teachers in the church, but James discourages it because teachers will certainly incur a strict judgment that will come in the future.
    • This judgment and accountability is before God, not men. In 1 Corinthians 4, Paul says that the one who examines him as a steward of God's word is God alone.
    • Everyone is accountable before God, but those who are teachers have a higher and stricter accountability before Him. For example, in 2 Timothy 4, Paul charges Timothy to preach the word in season and out of season.
    • This accountability before God has to do with whether the handling of the Word is being done faithfully and accurately. Are teachers being faithful to teach what Scripture says?
      • In 2 Timothy 2:15, Paul charges Timothy to "be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth."
      • Faithful teaching of the Word has nothing to do with personal charisma or attractive presentation - it has everything to do with whether you are accurately handling the Word.
    • Does the church need teachers? Absolutely! But those who embrace the role of teacher must take it seriously, for they handle the very Word of God and teach others in the church to understand and obey it.
  • Question: Is James addressing incumbent teachers, or prospective teachers?
    • Both, but primarily those who are already teaching in the church in some capacity.
  • Question: Is James specifically addressing those who hold the office of pastor?
    • The way James refers to teachers does not seem to be limited to pastors only.
    • 1 Corinthians 12 points out teaching as a spiritual gift, and so it is not limited only to those who are in the role of pastor-teacher. There are capacities other than those of the pastor-teacher that can involve a teaching responsibility.
  • If you can control your mouth, you can bridle and control your own body.
    • This ability demonstrates an obtaining of a level of maturity. For example, words of anger that are staved and suppressed can calm down anger and avoid potential opportunities for sin.
    • Horses are large, powerful, and intimidating creatures. But when we place a small bit in the mouth, we are able to direct the horse to wherever we want it to go. In a similar analogy, ships are also large and powerful, yet they are directed by the captain of the ship by a small rudder. These analogies help us comprehend the fact that although the tongue is but a small part of the body, it is able to boast of and accomplish great things. Our words can be a great source of good and encouragement for others, but they can also be a cause of great damage, even from unintended slip-ups.
      • In Ephesians 4:29, Paul commands us to speak words that are good for edification according to the need of the moment so that they will give grace to those who hear.
    • Let us use our tongues rightly and have our speech be seasoned with grace, rather than letting our tongues be causes of great strife and damage.
  • Question: What are some ways that our tongues can cause great damage?
    • Lying
    • Gossip & slander
      • Before we feel compelled to speak about others, we should train ourselves to ask, "If I say this, and the other person found out, how would they feel? If I were that person and someone said that about me, how would I feel?"
    • Defiance
    • Criticism
    • Ridicule
    • Hateful assault
    • Partiality
    • Boasting
    • False promises
    • Approval of evil
    • Retaliation
    • Reviling

Men's Workout #37 - March 3, 2018

HYMN

We opened up our time together by singing "It Is Well with My Soul" (#407).

MEMORIZATION & DISCUSSION

As a group, we spent a few minutes reading through, reciting, and discussing small portions of James 2:19-23.

James 2:19-20

  • We can be the kind of people that are unwilling to recognize that faith without works is dead.
  • There is a real tendency and desire to bifurcate faith and good works. This can be a real struggle for God's people. Are we really willing to recognize the fact that faith without works is useless?
  • Genuine saving faith is demonstrated in an ongoing manner with good works. The faith that we have in Christ is meant to produce consistent obedience in our lives.

James 2:21-23

  • James brings up the example of Abraham. Cross reference texts are found in Genesis 15 and Genesis 22. Through Abraham's example, we see that faith is always accompanied with obedience and a proving out of the faith.
    • Genesis 15 - The Lord told Abraham that he would be a blessing to the world by making him a father of many nations. Although he was old and had no children, Abraham believed in the Lord that what He said would come to pass, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness.
    • Genesis 22 - Abraham (almost) sacrifices Isaac in obedience to the Lord, and the Lord blesses Abraham because he obeyed His voice.
  • When we have the knowledge of the Word of God, we are often faced with opportunities and situations in our lives that test our faith and whether we will obey what we know and have been told. Some examples of how we can be tested in our faith today:
    • Loving others as ourselves vs. loving the self only
    • Obeying parents vs. obeying the Lord
  • Considering the example of Abraham, he chose to obey and love the Lord above the safety and even the life of his own child. Although we are not also called to sacrifice our own children, we can be challenged to consider our own priorities and relationships in our pursuit of an obedient life. We should remember that our command is to love God first and worship Him alone, and so we ought to consider the costs of our discipleship and our willingness to let everything go in obedience and love for the Lord and His commands if and when it is called for (see Matthew 10:32-39, Luke 14:25-33).

Preview of James 2:24-26

  • Man is justified by works and not by faith alone. Taken out of context, this text might lead someone to conclude that faith and works can be separated. However, they are not separated, but they are two sides of the same coin that operate together.
  • For example, Rahab exhibited a working faith, as we can observe from the account in Joshua 2. She did not have the revelation of God, but she exercised faith in the best way she knew how from what she knew about God. She demonstrated her faith by her works. She didn't just take her knowledge, but took action to side with God and His people. She demonstrated her faith in God and her commitment to take action according to her faith.