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James 1 “Just Live It!”Scripture: James 1:1-27Memory Verse: James 1:5 “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.”Activities and Crafts: Coloring Picture, Wisdom Search Maze, Application Questions for 3rd – 5th. Craft for 1st & 2nd: “Who” wants Wisdom Owl Picture. Have the kids color their owl and then cut out and put on a wooden stick. Lesson Focus: 3 things that we should know: Ask God for WisdomGod never temps us to do evilBe “doers” of the WordIntroduction to James: The Author: The epistle claims to be the writing of James. There are three persons mentioned in the New Testament with this name. It is generally recognized that James wrote this book (the half brother of Jesus, Matthew 13:35) In John 7:5 we are told that Jesus’ own brothers did not believe Him. James came to believe in the Lord later. He became a leader in the Jerusalem church (Acts 15:13 and Galatians 1:19.) the historian Eusebius records that James “used to enter alone into the temple and be found kneeling and praying for forgiveness for the people, so that his knees grew hard like a camel’s because of his constant worship of God.” The book of James is one of the earliest books written! After Stephen was martyred in the early Church, persecution increased and Christians were scattered throughout the Roman world. Because the times were tough, James wrote to encourage them to live out their faith through these hard times.The Message: The book of James is practical rather than theological in its substance. This book does not beat around the bush. It basically says that if you’re a “Christian” you “should act like it.” The focus is how the Christian faith should be lived out on a day to day basis. The theme of the book would be “faith working itself out in our daily lives.” (Faith working through trials, temptations; obeying the Word; seeking wisdom; doers of the Word; not showing favoritism; controlling the tongue; acting wisely; separating from the world and resisting the devil; and finally faith waits patiently for the coming of our Lord.)Introduction: “The Blame Game” Select three volunteers to play this game. They come to the front of the classroom and stand behind a bell. Tell them that you will give them “real life” situations and they need to come up with really good excuses, and or blame for their actions. The need to ring their bell when they are ready to share their situation. The rest of the kids will be our panel of distinguished judges and they will vote on who wins each round. Situations:You didn’t get all of your homework done, so you tell your teacher......?Your little sister is really bugging you, so you yell at her and tell her to get out of the room......When your Mom comes in for an explanation you say.......?There’s a kid at school that everyone picks on. You join in because......?You are at a sleepover and your friends start to watch an “R” rated movie that you know that you are not supposed to watch. You watch because.....?You get in a fight with your friend but it’s not your fault because.....?You are only allowed to watch 1 hour of TV a night. You watch 2 ? hours and then your Dad walks into the room and demands a reason....you say......?When you guys came in we played the “Blame Game.” We live in a day when everyone has an excuse! When we do something wrong it’s never our fault.... someone or something has caused us to do the wrong that we did. Bible Study:James 1:1:√ Who wrote the book of James?√ How does he describe himself? (He describes himself as a bond-servant aslave. He was the brother of Jesus, and could have used that title to give him importance – but he saw himself as a devoted follower a servant of Jesus.)√ Who is he writing to? (The Jewish people who were scattered throughoutMesopotamia, the Mediterranean and into Asia Minor and Europe. They were scattered because they were persecuted for what they believed.James 1:2-4; Opportunities for Joy!James 1:2 Trials or Troubles:√ What is the first thing that James tells them?√ What is joy? (Inward happiness)√ How do we “count” joy? (We consider it. This means to make aDeliberate and careful decision to turn your heart towards joy.) When hard things happen to us we turn towards God +and ask Him to give us the right attitude. James is not telling us to “enjoy” our trials. Trials are never fun. But if we turn towards God in the midst of trials and understand that He is in charge then we can have a peace and joy that only comes from the Holy Spirit.Romans 5:3-8 says, “And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope. Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.” God’s love is poured out into your hearts through the Holy Spirit when we go through hard times. Isn’t that cool! √ When does James say the trial will come? (James says that they will come. Not “if” but “when”.√ What are trials?√ Is it fun to go through a trial or a hard time?James 1:3√ What does testing produce? (patience) The word patience does not justmean the patience to wait…but to endure. It means to have fortitude or staying power or toughness in a situation. The situation makes us tough for the next one. √ How many of you like to be patient? (Why or why not)Patience is not a natural response for us. It is something that needs to be built up in us. God produces patience in us as we go through the hard times and we rest in God to get us through. James tells us that the “testing of our faith” produces patience. When we go through hard times it tests our faith. Instead of saying “why God” we go to God and ask Him help us to trust him in the midst of the trial. When we trust God, He builds patience in us, He builds “toughness” in us. It is also a “fruit” of the Holy Spirit.James 1:4: √ What does testing produce? (maturity)Do you know that patience can have a perfect work in your life? When we allow God to build patience into who we are we are we become more like Him. To have its perfect work in our lives means to become mature in Jesus. Tough times teach a lesson. We have to decide if we are going to learn the lesson or fight and kick our way through the tough times. “Character” is who you are from the inside out. When you allow God to help you through the “tough times”, He builds into us character. People will know who you are and what you believe by how you respond to the “hard things” in life.So the question is:“How can anyone figure out the right way to go through hard times?James 1:5-8:Just Ask!√ Why does James start talking about wisdom?(Maybe because we do not understand what God is doing so we need to ask Him for help to understand and to help us through the hard time.) The word wisdom means “the practical use of knowledge or the wisdom to live out what we believe.”√ From these verses how do we get wisdom? (Ask with faith) √ Is that always an easy thing to do? (give a personal illustration when it was hard for you to understand what God was doing.)√ How does God respond to our asking? (Does He say, “I can’t believe it, _____is asking Me again for wisdom. You’d think that she would finally figure this thing out. I can’t believe that she is asking for help again.) These verses tell us that God does not respond in this way. It says that He “gives it without reproach.” It means that He does not resent us asking. Have you ever felt like someone resented you for asking the same questions over and over? God doesn’t! That’s the bottom line. If you don’t know what to do, if you need wisdom just ask. He will gladly give it. When the Bible says that He will give it “liberally” it means that He will give us wisdom gladly and will not be stingy. 2. Just Believe!√ How does God want us to ask Him? (with faith) We ask believing that God can answer. √ What does James compare doubting to? (a ship being tossed about)Someone who doubts God is someone who is being tossed about between two minds. James tells us we are “double-minded.” To be “double – minded is to be unstable in everything we do. Just like the ship that is unstable in the waves – we by faith “fix our eyes on Jesus.” Hebrews 12:1-Stability comes through faith! Wisdom comes by asking in faith! Endurance comes through practicing faith! Joy comes by counting God as faithful! Amen!Illustration: I would bring in a toy ship and toss it about and tell them that this is what our mind is like when we don’t fully trust in God.Teachers: We will not be able to teach all of these verses – so we will skip some for the sake of time.James 1:12-16 “Temptation”temptation = the act of enticement or allurement – the fact or being “tempted” especially to evil – to give inendure = to not give in – to not yield to somethingTeachers Illustration: Put a piece of tape on the floor in front of where you are sitting. Tell the kids that this line represents a temptation. Write the word “temptation” on the line. Every day in many different ways we are tempted to do something that we should not do. When we come up to it we have a decision to make. Should we cross the line and do it. Or should we ask God for endurance to walk away.√ What is a temptation? (to be “allured” or “tempted” to do something wrong (sin)√ From 1:13 Who are we not to “blame” when we want to do wrong?√ Why are we not to blame God?√ What does verse 13 say that God would never do?God would never do wrongGod would never tempt someone to do wrongGod cannot be tempted by evil√ Where does temptation come from? (own desires)Evil desires = evil actions = death-12446034353500Illustration: Tell me what’s the purpose of a “lure” when you go fishing? (Try to get a fishing lure and hook for a visual for this illustration. We have one if you need it, just give me a call.) A lure is used to “bait” a fish, to entice them to get hooked, so that you can catch them. It is used to attract the fish.That’s exactly what James is saying here. We are tempted to sin because of evil is naturally inside of us. It is the ‘hook” that tempts us and if we listen to this desire we will sin! Romans 5:12, “When Adam sinned; sin entered the entire human race...” It just doesn’t “seem fair” that this temptation comes from within us, from within our very nature. But let’s look at temptation for a minute.Do you think that God understands our temptations? In Matthew 4:1-11, we are told about the temptation of Jesus! He was taken into the desert for 40 days and tempted by the devil. If you look at Matthew you will see that Jesus always answered the devil with ???? Jesus answered with Scripture. He used the Word of God as His sword, to battle Satan. Now look up Hebrews 4:15: “This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same temptations we do, yet he did not sin.”Jesus knows what it’s like to be me! Jesus knows what its like to be tempted and yet He did not sin? This should give us tremendous hope and courage! Because if Jesus understands what it is like to be tempted then He can help me to not sin! He really does understand! It is when something looks good to us or something that we want on the other side of the line. We always have a choice to endure or to not cross the line or to not take the bait. We have a choice to be like Jesus!James 1:22-24: “Be Doers”Obey the “Real” stuffHow many of you like the word “obey”? (Why or why not?)James was just talking about being a good listener. So why is he saying in verse 22 that we shouldn’t just listen? What do you think he means by doing? To do means to obey. What examples does he give in verse 23-24 of not obeying or doing?Let’s say that you are sitting in Church and you hear the Word of God. Instantly you know you should change in one area of your life. But you get up from Church and walk away never applying that truth to your life and changing. You are like that person that looks at himself in a mirror and sees how horrible he looks, but walks away and does nothing about it. In James the “mirror” is the Word of God. When we look into God’s Word we see ourselves as we really are. It reveals the things inside of us that need to change and the things that we need to deal with. We need to keep looking into the “mirror” of God’s Word and doing what it says. Looking and doing….looking and doing…looking and doing!God has never wanted people who believed in Him to believe in Him in name only. You are absolutely saved by believing that Jesus Christ died for our sins and that through Him we can come to know God. But God does not want us to go around SAYING that we are Christians, but not LIVING like we are!Questions for James 1:James is talking about trials or “hard times”. Do you think that elementary kids go through hard times?How do we get joy when things are hard?Do you know what joy is?What does the “testing of our faith” produce? Why is patience or endurance so hard to have?What will God give us if we ask Him?Why is it so easy to give excuses when we do wrong?Have you ever blamed other people for the wrong that you did?Is it personally important to you to know that God does not tempt us to sin? Why or why not? From these verses if God is not involved in the sin that we do who is?Read Psalm 119:11, how does this verse tell us to avoid sinning? Do you think that this is true? Do you think that Scripture memory is important?If we are going to try to avoid temptation, how does this affect the movies and TV that we watch? Do you think that these media sources affect us?Do you know people that say they believe in God but don’t act like it? How about yourself? You have all heard of the WWJD bracelets, do you think that thinking “what would Jesus do” would help us to live the way we should? Why don’t we do this more?Can you think of examples in the Bible of people that were “religious” but were not living out their life for God? (Pharisees) Tell us about them.center000885825-315595008858255021580 ................
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