INTRO: Our text this morning is James 1:2-4 (read). The testings of life are nothing new to any Christian who has sought diligently to live for the Lord. Peter says in 1 Peter 4:12, "Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you…" I wonder if this morning some of you think the trials that you face are strange. These fiery trials are there to test us.
If you look at James 1:2, the first word is 'James'. James was the writer of this book. The word for James here is Iakobos. It is the Hebrew name Jacob, Iakob, made into a Greek name, Iakobos. So Iakob is translated Jacob in the NT and Iakobos is translated James. The name Jacob means a supplanter or heal catcher. He is one who by treachery takes the place of another. There is a bit of Jacob in every one of us, and what we must have to be refined from such impurities is trials. No doubt, James, the half brother of Jesus, who I believe is the writer of this book knew about that. And so, when he writes to his Jewish people who have become Christians, the first thing he addresses is the trials that he knows they too are facing.
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