As we worked our way through the book of Nehemiah, we have seen how Nehemiah believed that he was doing God’s work. And he did not see the work of God as something optional that he will embark on after he has accomplished his own work and secured his own standing.
Nehemiah knew the promises of God and was concerned with how the promise of GOd becomes the blessing of God. The work of God has everything to do with the people of God, the presence of God as a fulfilment of the fulfilment of God so the blessing of God can come.
Because this work matters, there is opposition to it.
Nehemiah wrote this book in the first person and there is purpose to this. Throughout this book, we see that God has a purpose for His people and displays His power through them.
Nehemiah lists names in this chapter. Now, he is not a royal scribe that is seeking to chronicle everything in great detail. He is not trying to give us as much information just because. He does so intentionally, and we will examine why this is so.
We continue our study in the book of Nehemiah and in this chapter, Nehemiah is in Jerusalem. What does he do or not do? What lessons can we learn from his approach?
What is evidence of God with you? Health? Wealth?
How would you know if God’s good hand is on you? In a world where we cannot touch or see God, we find ourselves asking where and how God is seen. Also, whose agenda? Success on whose terms?
On the one hand, Nehemiah had the blessing of the king, and this was the secret of his success. Having the blessing of the king though, was not enough to make it entirely smooth sailing. This passage will show us that there were obstacles and opposition that came up against him as he sought the welfare of the people.
Nehemiah will say that he succeeded because God’s hand is on him. What would that look like for you, as you pursue God’s good agenda?
Nehemiah is a historical book and by this point in Israel’s history two prior waves had returned — Zerubabbel led one to rebuild the temple and Ezra led another to reteach the people. Nehemiah records for us the return of the third wave.
What comes out of this man when he hears troubling news?
Does history matter? Why does it matter? How should we approach a historical text like the one we have in Nehemiah?
Christians believe in God and this changes the way we approach history. We believe in a God who is meaningfully involved in a sovereign way. He intervenes in history, redeems His people through history and also works through history and historical events. History, rightly understood, should help us to recognise God’s faithfulness of God.
Christians read history to know their God.
We come to the end of Jame and might find this a strange way to end a letter. After all, Paul often ends his letters with a blessing or benediction. But James does not end with a blessing. Instead, he ends with a practical word of restoration.
As we reach the end of James’ epistle, we see James call for patience in suffering. He started his letter in James 1 with a call for believers to be steadfast in faith, to be those who remain steadfast under trial, before he launched into the meat of James on godly living. Here he returns to the application of being patient — “be patient, therefore, brothers” ties this application directly to everything we’ve heard in James thus far. The call to patience here and the call to steadfastness in James 1 are bookends.
In this section of James, we look at what it means to be patient as a believer, why it’s important, and how we can be patient practically.
Who are the rich? People don’t think they are rich! We always think that we are middle class. Thus, when we read this text, we may have assumed that this is not us! But this is also for us. We are rich, relative to global and historical peers.
Thus, it will do us well to pay attention to what James says in these verses. James speaks honestly about the spiritual danger being rich means for us, and respond rightly.
“If the Lord wills” - what comes to mind when we hear this phrase? What do we ourselves think of when we say it? This study deals with two main things — the often prideful posture of our hearts, and the sovereignty of God.
In this section of James, we will be considering the issue of conflict. James highlights 3 dimensions about conflict — heart, spiritual and verbal (how we use our words).
God's word is here to tell us that there are two kinds of wisdom. What do you see when you seek for wisdom? As we come before God's word, ask that He would humble our hearts and help us to know rightly which of the two wisdoms that He describes in James 3 that we are actually pursuing.
In this section, James will help us see how the gospel transforms our words and how we can live it out practically.
Christians believe that we have a hope because God has made Himself known to us through His word. What does it look like to work out our faith before this God? This is what James is showing us today.
After addressing favouritism within the church community, James continues to address his readers by speaking about relationships with others.
In this section, we will see James’ command to not show partiality in church.
But how does James go from suffering, trials and tribulation to partiality?
James has been dealing with trials and sufferings in the Christian’s life. Here, he continues to lay out a lifestyle and a people that deals with trials and sufferings in a way that’s different from the world.
James gives us practical handles for godliness. Last week, we saw that the Christian will face trials of various kinds, and the call to turn to God and ask Him for wisdom.
In every trial, everyone is twice tested. Firstly, in the trial itself. Secondly, in the inward trial. There is a temptation to self-pity.
As we read in the previous study, James is writing to the 12 tribes in the Dispersion in this epistle (Jas 1:1). In this study, we continue to see what James wanted to exhort the Christians to cling on to and pursue.
We begin a new study in the book of James, In this study, we will take a look at the opening verse to understand who is wrote the book, and the centrality of the gospel through the chapters.
