Miscellanies | CJ's View from the Cheap Seats

The Risk of Wandering and the Reward of Rescuing

August 10, 2016

The letter of James ends abruptly with a verse you can’t read without immediately thinking of someone you love, care about, and pray for. This verse evokes an immediate emotional reaction. “My brothers, if anyone among you wanders from the truth…” James 5:19 Most of us know someone who at one time shared our passion for the Savior and love for his church. Someone we sat next to at church, sang with, prayed with, served with, laughed with, cried with, and then…

Prayer

August 4, 2016

“Is anyone suffering? Let him pray.” “Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise.” James 5:13 “James uses questions frequently. Thus the style is a lively discourse” writes Peter Davids in his commentary. Lively indeed. And relevant. At least one of James’s questions is relevant to each of us, each and every day. And sometimes both in a given day. So here is wisdom from above for every circumstance of life. And that wisdom is sweetly summed up by John Calvin when he…

Patience in Suffering

July 27, 2016

“It is one thing to wait for the Lord’s coming; it is another to wait well.” Don Carson If you are a Christian this is what you are waiting for the most: the Lord’s coming. But what does it mean to “wait well”? James tells us when he writes: “Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord.” James 5:7 To wait well is to wait patiently. In his commentary on the letter of James, Alec Motyer informs us,…

A Sobering Surprise

July 20, 2016

James 5:1-6 is like no other text in this short letter. Think I’m exaggerating? Go ahead and read it right now. I think you’ll be surprised by both the tone and the content. So, just who is James addressing in this passage? Surprisingly, it appears he is addressing non-Christians. Why would James speak to non-Christians here? Why write this condemnation of certain non-Christians in a letter to the church? Craig Blomberg helpfully enlightens us why when he writes, “He speaks…

He Gives More Grace

June 15, 2016

“But he gives more grace.” James 4:6 Tucked away in the letter of James is one of the most comforting verses in all of Scripture. This verse reveals the graciousness and generosity of God to the original readers, even though James just addressed them as “You adulterous people!” (4:4). To them (and to us) God does indeed give more grace. He gives the grace we need to repent from worldliness and the grace we need to grow in godliness as…