Skip to main content

Start With The Second Coming In Mind

If you could only answer questions, “Yes,” or “No,” and couldn’t ever use the word “maybe” again, would it make that much of a difference to your life?

Take a moment and read James 5:1-12--it is especially very interesting to read in The Message translation.

So often we are told to begin with the END in mind. The END is whatever or where ever the certain project we are working on is heading until we say it is DONE. We do need to begin with the END in mind, but James has a different END in mind.

There are several things the people have done wrong in James’ mind:

  • laid up treasures in the last days, 
  • kept back wages by fraud, 
  • lived in luxury and self-indulgence, 
  • fattened their hearts, 
  • condemned and murdered people.

When James tells the rich to “weep and howl” what is he getting at? What good does it do?What does “the cry of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of the Hosts” mean? What does it mean for "the wages of those abused by fraud" is crying out? What is fraud? Is it true God hears the cries of the abused laborer?

One of the things James getting at in his warnings, especially in the phrase “you have laid up treasure in the last days” is that they and we are in the last days? There are no later last days or later days after these last of the last days. Since Christ died and resurrected we have been in the "last days."

After the ripping judgments James has pronounced, he shifts to commands, illustrations, and their benefits.

The Commands
7  Be patient until the coming of the Lord.
Be patient.
Establish your hearts;
9  Do not grumble against one another;
Do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or by any other oath, but
let your “yes” be yes and your “no” be no.

The Illustrations 
The farmer waits;
Take the prophets;
The steadfastness of Job

The Benefits
The precious fruit;
May not be judged;
Blessed who remained steadfast;
May not fall under

James also imparts the motivating factors for why his readers should do and not do the commands I will list in a moment.

Look at the names James calls God: 
The Lord of hosts,
The Judge,
The LORD.

In The Message, God is referred to as the Master Avenger—wiser than Tony Stark, stronger than the Hulk, eternal unlike Thor, and more righteous than them all!

How does knowing who God is help us to know who we are? How does knowing who God is help us to know how we should respond and live? Do you know God, the God James is writing about? 

We need to know God more! Our understanding of God is soil with which the roots of life are dug into. It is what it means to say, “We have given our lives to Christ.”

James writes: “You have heard of the steadfastness of Job, and you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful.” The purpose of the Lord with Job was to show how compassionate and merciful He is! And so it is with YOUR life!

Will you allow for the purpose of the Lord in your life?

The Motivating Factors to James are:
(1) The Master could arrive at any time.
(2) The Judge is standing just around the corner;
(3) God brought it all together for Job at the end. That’s because God cares, cares right down bottom!

The world needs to hear and see your faith in God, not just from your life, but by your words as well.
Start with the Second Coming in mind!

The Message says in verse 12, “And since you know that he cares, let your language show it."
Start with the Second Coming in mind!

The LAST DAYS phrase is to serve as a constant reminder to James’ readers and to us. There is a final day of reckoning coming to us all. Jesus IS coming for you. Jesus is coming for YOU. Jesus is coming for all—those people we have loved AND for those we have not treated lovingly. The Judge truly is just around the corner. Start with the Second Coming in mind!

The Master Avenger is coming for YOU. Start with the Second Coming in mind!

He is compassionate and merciful to you, but
He is also to others you have been in relationship with.
The Day is coming. Start with the Second Coming in mind!

Labels:

Popular posts from this blog

Banning Influencers at Church?

 You might be getting The Pour Over into your inbox each day as I do. As I read one of the highlighted articles, Why are cafes, restaurants, and even towns banning influences ?  I thought of two things: A popular video game and the Church. The [Galactic Civ] video game action arena is space and utilizes exploring with several different tactics. One is cultural expansion deploying techniques for taking over the galaxy using mods to influence other traveling species with your culture and therefore "quietly" take over the galaxy and win the game. You could also win by buying up all of the other planets (economic takeover--think China?), or by hostile takeovers and warfare (think Russia?).  I like to use the cultural takeover mostly these days. The article lists the reasons for the ban, one is logistical (small-town shops cannot handle triple+ visitors due to a rise in popularity resulting in more harm than good). I imagined a small church of older people spiking due to a popular
Read more

Revelation's Whore as Today's Culture

  https://thehustle.co/originals/why-you-almost-never-see-a-clock-at-the-mall The word “whore” may have different definitions to some, but I want to use it as a woman who markets herself for the sole purpose of robbing men of their life for her own gain--whatever her “gain” is: monetary, lust, or otherwise. She is the reverse-consumer and profiteer at the same time, a vampiress, a luxurious drunk, functioning alcoholic. Her appeal is a marketing scheme based on not just years of study, but an exquisite composition of research and development where she is both scientist and evidence, psychologist and client--in an endless cycle and sinister feedback loop of trial and error, hypothesis and investigation, feeding and consuming. All the while tricking you into believing you are the main character. But it isn’t about you. You have entered her Nirvana constructed for you to “remain inside” her. Once her legs are wrapped around you, she is sure to suck your life away. And as titillating a
Read more

Who you going to call?

I had a coworker who was a very-likeable person, but seemed in competition with everyone. He was a funny guy, I'll give him that, but most of the time engaged in rather shallow conversations. He knew a little about everything, which caused him to have an opinion about . . . well, everything. And his wit made you want to listen. Most of the time, it is a fun, light-hearted space to work in. Likeable people, are just that: likeable. There are several people I have worked with over the years like this--very friendly, likeable, fairly easy to talk to, yet never really wanted to go deeper. In fact, if conversation turned that way, they became uncomfortable and either remained silent, tried to change the subject, or simply left the circle.  We all need someone we can go deep with. This is the kind of person you'd want to tell others you know or ask if they do. They are not the kind of person you'd call if your spouse ended up in the hospital, or your parent died, or your kid was
Read more

Family Time Videos