My friend, Kim, is teaching the adult SS class this Sunday at her church. Her lesson is on James 4:1-12...
Does anyone have any thoughts for her? She's afraid of comeing off too strong, but her thoughts are.... "What's in Your Heart?"
James 4:1-12
Submit Yourselves to God
1What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don't they come from your desires that battle within you? 2You want something but don't get it. You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you want. You quarrel and fight. You do not have, because you do not ask God. 3When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.
4You adulterous people, don't you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. 5Or do you think Scripture says without reason that the spirit he caused to live in us envies intensely?[a] 6But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says:
"God opposes the proud
but gives grace to the humble."[b]
7Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.
11Brothers, do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against his brother or judges him speaks against the law and judges it. When you judge the law, you are not keeping it, but sitting in judgment on it. 12There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the one who is able to save and destroy. But you—who are you to judge your neighbor?
3 comments:
I'd say the scripture is pretty "strong". We shouldn't water down the scripture, though and if that is what God has laid on her heart to teach, she just needs to teach what God has given her no matter how "strong" it may seem.
In teaching, preaching, or discussing, it's all in the presentation...not just what is said, but how it is said. If this is a word from God then it can be taught from the perscpective of this is what the Lord is saying to us, or what do you think the Lord is trying to say. If it is presented in a manner that makes the listeners feel they're being attacked...then it causes problems. One must simply pray that God will give us wisdom as we speak and allow us to speak the truth in love with wisdom and compassion.
God isn't always politically correct, He is simply correct.
You all know that I am a nurse by now. Well, I have learned that pain hurts-(like you don't know that, right?)-but helps- in both the physical and spiritual realms. It is God's gift, a notice that something is wrong and needs to be righted. In agreement with what Neil said, if it is presented in the compassion of the Lord...it may still hurt, but, pain is the first step toward healing and restoration. The body of Christ needs the word that convicts. Pain hurts, that is a fact, but long after it's gone, the Help remains. I will be praying for Kim as well. Teach on Teacher!
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