A great reminder for Charles Swindoll:

In 1923, an elite group of businessmen met at the luxurious Edgewater Beach Hotel in Chicago. The roster included some of the most influential, famous, and wealthy moguls of the early twentieth century. These men were among them:

• Charles M. Schwab—president of Bethlehem Steel Corporation
• Richard Whitney—president of the New York Stock Exchange
• Albert Fall—Secretary of the Interior under President Harding
• Jesse Livermore—Wall Street tycoon
• Ivar Kreuger—head of a global monopoly of match manufacturers

These heavy hitters controlled more wealth than the total assets of the United States Treasury at the time. Surely these men would become models of the entrepreneurial spirit and stellar examples of financial success. But fast-forward about twenty-five years or so and look back on the courses of their lives:

• Schwab—died $300,000 in debt in 1939
• Whitney—served time at Sing Sing prison for embezzlement
• Fall—served time for misconduct in office, leaving behind a ruined reputation
• Livermore—committed suicide in 1940, describing himself as “a failure”
• Kreuger—shot himself in 1932 after his global monopoly collapsed

Buried beneath the rubble of humiliation, defeat, crime, sickness, and financial collapse, these men—along with a number of their colleagues—died in a depressing, pitiable condition. Their wealth, power, and prestige did nothing to soothe the personal anxiety and guilt they suffered in life. The reality is that great intelligence and hard work can make a person wealthy. But it takes God-given wisdom and supernatural humility to be able to manage wealth and influence.

In 3:13–5:6, James develops the theme that real faith produces genuine humility. We’ve already heard James remind us that our goodness comes from God-given wisdom, not our own (3:13-18). He called us to turn to God, not ourselves, for peaceful relationships (4:1-10). And he warned us against playing God instead of submitting to God’s sovereignty (4:11-17). Now, James rails against the pride that so easily deludes the wealthy of this world (5:1-6). In each case, James encourages God-enabled humility.

Insights On James, 1 & 2 Peter: 13 (Swindoll’s Living Insights New Testament Commentary, Charles Swindoll

Daniel Doriani shares this analogy in his commentary for James 2:15-17:

It is easy to see analogies to James’s scene today. If a friend is unemployed, false faith says, “Hang in there; the Lord will provide.” If a single mother with small children is sick, false faith says: “Take it easy. Don’t do too much; we are thinking of you.”

James does not require believers to do everything, but we must do something when we see a brother in need. For example, when someone is sick, a “How are you doing” phone call may be a burden more than an encouragement. If a sister is ill, it is better to bring a meal and say the encouraging words at the door as you deliver it.

There is a missions-minded seminary professor who teaches at an understaffed Romanian seminary each spring and fall. In the fall, he adds a trip for a training conference in Khartoum, the capital of Sudan. Before a recent trip, a member of his church gave a thousand dollars so that each of that year’s graduates could have a Greek New Testament. For Romanians, such a Bible might cost two weeks’ salary. A second person slipped him fifty dollars to give to someone really needy in Sudan. In Khartoum it is relatively safe to be a Christian, but elsewhere Christians have been beaten, killed, enslaved, starved, and shoved off the land so the Muslim government can control the oil-laden regions many Christians inhabit. The professor gave the money to a man who was on crutches. He had professed Christ, and Muslims had broken his leg, so that he was disabled for a long time. In Sudan, fifty dollars can go a long way. Both gifts followed the spirit of James. The church members gave what they could to brothers with needs.

These individual acts are truly commendable, but the Christian community must also seek ways to collaborate both to train those who have a desire to engage in deeds of mercy and to marshal resources for larger projects. Sadly, many churches fail to support ministries of mercy as they should. They give preeminence to individual needs over social dimensions of the gospel. They fail to build bridges to their community and to like-minded partner churches. They let the needs of a few drain too much energy. It is a ministry in itself to recruit, train, and organize those who feel called to ministries of mercy.

But the idle wish “keep warm and well fed” fails the tests of true religion (James 1:26-27). Idle wishes indulge the tongue, rather than controlling it. Mere talk does nothing for the poor. And it is thoroughly worldly to let sentimental talk supplant loving deeds. Warm sentiments, without action, mark false, vain religion. Indeed, spurious faith is ineffective manward. James says, “So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead” (2:17 ESV). The phrase “by itself” is crucial. Genuine, living faith is never by itself. A “faith” that has no deeds is lifeless. Such faith is inherently defective and produces no works for that reason.

James, Reformed Expository Commentary, by Daniel, M. Doriani, pp. 85-86

Chuck Swindoll offers this wonderful introduction to James 2:14-26 in his commentary on James:

Many years ago I was driving through our town with a couple of my young kids in the backseat. As children do, they were singing a song they had learned in Sunday school. Now, this was long before they made kids in the backseat wear seatbelts, so one was laying on the seat, the other on the floor. That kind of thing today makes us cringe, but many of you are old enough to remember when that was typical. I couldn’t see them back there, but I could sure hear them belting out that song at the top of their little voices: “If you’re saved and you know it, say ‘Amen!’” And they’d shout, “Amen!”

Eventually they wrangled me into singing along. As we got to the last verse where we’re supposed to “do all three,” I stopped at a red light. With the window rolled down, I was shouting, “If you’re saved and you know it, do all three!” And I stomped, shouted “Amen,” and clapped my hands. Just then I realized we were being watched by two sophisticated-looking people in the car beside us. Well, I should say I was being watched—because they couldn’t see the two kids singing with me, lying down on the back seat!

I could tell by the looks on their faces, they were shocked. They must have thought I was nuts, intoxicated, high, or worse—but they weren’t going to stick around to find out. Their car took off as soon as the light turned green. I wanted to chase them down and explain, “There are two kids in the back seat that got me into this!” But I shrugged my shoulders and thought, “Who cares?”

Then, as I accelerated through the green light, we were at the part of the song where we sang, “If you’re saved and you know it, then your life will surely show it.” And I stopped singing. They kept on, but I stopped. Immediate conviction set in. I thought, “Lord, does my life really show it?” I sure showed something to those people in the next car over, but I was only a little embarrassed about that minor social infraction. What about all the things I’m called to do daily as a believer in Christ—all those things that cut crosswise against cultural norms and society’s expectations? So I began to quickly review the past weeks, months, and years, trying to determine if my life really showed my faith. That simple children’s song got to me.

Someone once said that faith is like calories: you can’t see them, but you can always see their results! That’s the major theme resonating throughout James’s letter. We can boil it down to one word—results. Real faith results in genuine works. And nowhere does James more passionately argue and illustrate this theme than in 2:14-26. This passage forces us to answer that penetrating question, “If you say you believe like you should, why do you behave like you shouldn’t?”

Insights On James, 1 & 2 Peter: 13 (Swindoll’s Living Insights New Testament Commentary, Charles Swindoll

The following excerpt is from the book Play the Man by Mark Batterson

“The only thing that will ultimately satisfy our longing for more is more God.

I have a theory: the answer to every prayer is more of the Holy Spirit. We want more love, more joy, and more peace, but those are fruits of the Spirit. So what we need is more of the Holy Spirit. And that goes for the rest of the fruit, including the ninth fruit-self-control.

We think forbidden fruit will solve our problems, but it will only complicate them. The only fruit that satisfies is the fruit of the Spirit. Everything we want is the by-product of living a Spirit-led, Spirit-filled life.

One of this dragon’s most insidious lies is that God is holding out on you.

For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.

God gave Adam the Garden of Eden rent-free! What more could you ask for? You guessed it – one more tree! For the record, there are twenty-three thousand varieties of trees in the world. Thousands of them are fruit trees orange, almond, cherry, mango, coconut, cashew, and olive, just to name a few. The apple tree alone comes in more than one hundred varieties! My point? Adam could have eaten different fruit from a different tree every day for at least three years! Did he really need one more?

Lust is a lie a lie that more sex, more food, more power, more applause, or more money will satisfy our wants and needs. It won’t. Did you know scientists have coined a term for this? They call it the “hedonic treadmill.” When you chase pleasure, you never stop running.

Augustine, who lived quite the hedonistic lifestyle before his encounter with Christ at the age of thirty-one, observed this tendency sixteen centuries ago: “A true saying it is, Desire hath no rest, is infinite in itself, endless, and as one calls it, a perpetual rack, or horse-mill.”

Horse-mill, treadmill – same difference. The Dragon of Lust is never satisfied. The more you feed it, the hungrier it gets. Pick a pleasure, any pleasure. It slowly loses its ability to satisfy in the same dose, the same frequency. Over time it takes more and more to satisfy less and less. It’s true of success – you’re only as good as your last game, your last deal. It’s true of money; money might solve some problems, but it creates others. Of course, we all want to test that theory, thinking we’ll be the exception to the rule!

Reality check: enough is never enough.

Lust is selfish – it’s consumed with getting what it wants.

Love is sacrificial – it’s consumed with giving what it has.

The only way to meet your deepest needs is by meeting the deepest needs of others!

Satisfaction is found on the far side of sacrifice. And that’s what playing the man is all about The Three-Headed Dragon is a daunting foe, but he’s a defeated foe. We’ve got the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit on our side! And if God is for us, who can be against us?”

p. 72-73, Play the Man, Mark Batterson