Author: Warren Berkley

In Thiessen’s Introduction to the New Testament, there is an approach to the gospel of John that has merit and creates some interests:

1. The Essential Glory of the Son of God, 1:1-5.

2. The incarnation and general reception of the Son of God, 1:6-18.

3. The revelation of the Son of God to Israel, 1:19-12:50.

4. The revelation of the Son of God to the Disciples, chs. 13-17.

5. The glorification of the Son of God in his Passion, chs. 18-19.

6. The manifestation of the Son of God in resurrection power and glory, chs. 20-21.

James Teaches Us

How To Count

Warren E. Berkley

“Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds.” – Jas. 1:2

One way to look at this is, James is teaching us how to count. Just look at the word “count” in this verse. Perhaps you think of accounting. That’s close. The word means “to reckon,” consider or look at the whole picture.

A good accountant doesn’t just look at one line or figure. The whole picture is considered or reckoned.

We need to account for our lives as we would keep books for a business. Take everything into account. A single event doesn’t have to create permanent depression. A single day or even year may be packed with “trials,” but when the whole picture of your life with God is considered, joy remains the over-riding perception. James teaches us how to count, how to consider trials as events that do not diminish the joy of living in Christ.

While that is true, the inspired writer goes further. Read from a variety of translations, the reader is taken deeper.

NIV: “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds.”

NTPE (New Testament in Plain English): “My brothers and sisters, you should be very happy when you experience many kinds of trouble.”

Private Translations of Ralph Martin: “Treat it as altogether an occasion for joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds.”

Beyond just holding to a general joy, James says to count it all joy “when you meet trials of various kinds,” or in the trial itself. Two levels of instruction are presented here. (1) Maintain an overall joy as one living in Christ. But deeper there is (2) the challenge of being joyful in the trial.

For Christians, the trial itself can be a joy. How can that be?

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“Knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience.”

This is knowledge. Knowledge that God has so arranged the life of His people, when our faith is tested, there is a promise that patience is produced as we endure the trial.

There is something good God’s people can anticipate in every kind of trial. As we go through it with enduring faith, we develop patience. Patience is developed in the ordeal. God has set it up that way for His people.

James teaches us how to count. The whole picture creates joy. And even in the trial, good outcome is promised to the faithful.

Sidlow Baxter – on how advantages do not guarantee success, illustrated by King Saul’s story.

“We see that advantages are not in themselves the guarantee of success.

Saul had many, yet he failed ingloriously. We dare not lean on them.

We see also that wonderful opportunities do not in themselves crown

men. Nor even do special spiritual equipment immunize us from the

possibility of getting out of the will of God, and ‘playing the fool’.”

Baxter went on to describe this matter of “playing the fool.”

He said …

         – “A man plays the fool when he neglects his best friends,

                  as Saul neglected Samuel…

         – A man plays the fool “when he goes on enterprises for God

                  before God sends him, as Saul did.”

         – A man plays the fool “when he disobeys God” in what he

                  considers to be “small matters.”

         – A man plays the fool “when he tries to cover up disobedience

                  by a religious excuse.”

         – A man plays the fool “when he allows jealousy and hate to

                  master and enslave him, as Saul did.”

         “Oh, what warnings this man utters to us.”

         I will add – May God help us give heed to these

                warnings.

I was writing class material the other day for my Proverbs class when something came up I wanted to write about here. Look at this in Proverbs chapter three:

²⁷ Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due,
    when it is in your power to do it.

²⁸ Do not say to your neighbor, “Go, and come again,
    tomorrow I will give it”—when you have it with you.
²⁹ Do not plan evil against your neighbor,
    who dwells trustingly beside you.
³⁰ Do not contend with a man for no reason,
    when he has done you no harm.
³¹ Do not envy a man of violence
    and do not choose any of his ways,
³² for the devious person is an abomination to the Lord,
    but the upright are in his confidence.

I made this point. We may have an ingrained and perhaps exaggerated hold on personal liberty. There is that voice we may hear in our heads or from others: Nobody will tell me I can’t do this!!

Yet in moments of calm sanity, we know that legitimate prohibitions are for our safety, good order in society and life. There is the Stop Sign. That is a prohibition. Don’t keep going. Stop. We understand the value of that prohibitions.

The Word of God contains many prohibitions. God isn’t keeping us from anything we need or should be entitled to! The prohibitions in His Word are for our good, our spiritual safety and the good of others – all to His glory.  

My Podcast Site Is Here. I’m continuing to add content from my lessons in Proverbs. Here is a sample from the April 13 upload.

My Youtube Channel is also a platform for lessons in Proverbs. Click Here.

Spiritual Health (in Prov. 3:1-8)

1 My son, do not forget my teaching,
 but let your heart keep my commandments,
² for length of days and years of life and peace they will add to you.

³ Let not steadfast love and faithfulness forsake you;
bind them around your neck;
write them on the tablet of your heart.
⁴ So you will find favor and good success in the sight of God and man.

⁵ Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.
⁶ In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.
⁷ Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord, and turn away from evil.⁸ It will be healing to your flesh and refreshment to your bones.

Let me address that last verse. Verse 8 needs some attention as we begin.

If you just read verse 8 – without context – and some do – your impression might be that this is a promise of physical health.

Against that impression, there is context. What is this about? The context clearly reflects that this is about spiritual health. By “spiritual health” I mean – your relationship with God.

Look through the paragraph and you’ll see it. What words and phrases do you see: “teaching, commandments, steadfast love, finding favor with God, trusting the Lord, walking in straight paths, fearing the Lord and turning away from evil.” What does the context indicate? Spiritual health. So the imagery in verse 8 isn’t a promise of perfect physical health. It is figurative language suggestive of the spiritual health of our relationship with God.

All right – that answered – what are we told to do to insure good spiritual health, a fit and vigorous relationship with God?

To be receivers of what the Gracious God of heaven offers – what must I do?

Look back into this paragraph. “…do not forget” the teaching. Let your heart “keep” His “commandments.” The length of days isn’t time on earth, it is time with God (that through Christ can extend into eternity).

So, if I want a strong, healthy relationship with God, I must “let not steadfast love and faithfulness forsake” me. Write the words of God on my heart; that’s internal journaling.

“Trust in the Lord will all your heart.” Do not “lean on your own understanding.” “In all your ways acknowledge Him, and he will make straight your paths.” Carefully avoid arrogance, “fear the Lord and turn away from evil.”

The result of these responses to God? A good, long-term relationship with God that is healthy, strong and perfectly beneficial.

From Phyllis Ten Elshof, What Cancer Cannot Do (Zondervan, 2006)

Cancer Patient Finds No Comfort in Statistics

First, the prosperity gospel is found nowhere in the Bible. The prosperity gospel is coldhearted materialism in religious disguise. It chooses Bible verses selectively to fit a name-it-and-claim-it theory, but it does not love God. It wants to use God for selfish, infantile purposes. Where does the prosperity gospel say, as the gospel clearly says in Philippians 3:7–11 (I will paraphrase it), “I have lost everything, and I’m cool with that, because I’ve gained Christ. I have been stripped bare. I have nothing left. All I have is Christ, and I’m happy, because he loves me, and that satisfies my heart”? That is the gospel, and that is true prosperity.

Ortlund Jr., Raymond C. . Proverbs . Crossway. Kindle Edition.

And . . . YOU CAN …

1. You can read the Bible. Or, if more suitable for you, you can listen to the Bible read (from audio recordings). When you read or listen to what the Bible actually says, the promise is – you can understand the message Paul and the other apostles brought to man from God. “When you read this, you can perceive my insight into the mystery of Christ,” (Ephesians 3:4).
2. You can obey the gospel. Think of this in terms of problem and solution. The problem is that you have sinned. The solution is what God has provided – salvation in Jesus Christ. You apply that solution to your personal situation when you obey the gospel. Hearing that message, believing in Christ, confessing your faith, repenting and being baptized – you are responding to the gospel. You are doing what the apostle said. People who are lost, who do not have God in their life are the people who have “not obeyed the gospel,” (Romans 10:16).
3. You can be a Christian. You should come up from the waters of baptism ready to be a Christian. That simply means, based on your reception of God’s grace and your love for Christ, you live by the teachings given in the New Testament. You determine to get up every day and “walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called,” (Ephesians 4:1).
4. You can support your local church. Open your New Testament to the Table of Contents. Observe that God, through His inspired writers, gave instruction to Christians in groups. The church in Rome, Corinth, Ephesus, the churches of Galatia, etc. It should be clear – just from the content of the New Testament – that God intends His people to be together, to work and worship together. When “each part is working properly,” there is the increase and edification God desires (Ephesians 4:16).
5. You can evangelize. Not, you can become a public evangelist or local preacher (though qualified men may take up that work). This is about what you can do, simply by living right and telling people about the Lord.
6. You can have a good attitude. By doing these things in this list, you are able – from the Word of God – to discipline your attitude; to think and act toward people as God directs; to control your temper. With consistent application of Scripture in your heart, you can be “pure in heart,” (Matthew 5:8), you can be “meek, merciful” and a “peacemaker,” (Matthew 5:5-9).
7. You can say “no” to the devil every day. When Jesus was tempted (in the account in Matthew 4), He showed us – we can rely on the written Word of God to refuse the advances and lies of the devil. The devil cannot force you to sin against your will. Instead, you can will to know God’s Word, know it and use it to resist sin.
8. You can worship. Consider, if you love God and you have obeyed Christ in baptism and you want to glorify God – worship is not something on your duty list; it is a joyous passion of your heart. God’s people want to honor Him through their lives. But more specifically, there is the opportunity afforded by the local church to take the Lord’s Supper, give, join with Christians in song and prayer and listening to God’s Word.
9. You can grow. If you accept the challenges written in this book, you will want to be closer to God with every passing day; you will not tolerate standing still, but will desire to press on. “But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen,” (2 Peter 3:18).
10. You can pray. This chapter is about you and God, so obviously an important dimension of that is your communication with God. As a Christian, through Jesus Christ, you can approach God, ask for forgiveness, help, guidance and strength. “And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us,” (1 John 5:14).

 “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.” – James 4:8