Do you know the Five Essential factors needed to become Spiritually Mature? We will answer this question and much more in this inspirational Article! Read and be blessed.

1. Time to Grow up!
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2. Time to Grow up!
James 1:1 "James, a bondservant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the
twelve tribes which are scattered abroad: Greetings." NKJV
Welcome to Empowered Bible Study Ministries. Today we are going to be
looking at Chapter One of the Book of James. I pray you are blessed by this
study as we learn to apply God’s word to our lives.
When we receive letters whether they are through the mail, email or texting you
always look to see who is writing you before you read it, right?
Well the Ancient letter writers signed their names right at the beginning, so
readers immediately knew who the writer was.
The book of James is no different. He starts out saying in verse 1: "James, a
bondservant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ".
So here we see that James is the author, but the question is 'James who?' James
was a very common name then.
In fact, two of the Apostles carried the name James:
- James, the Son of Zebedee and brother of John (Matthew 4:17-22)
- James, the son of Alphaeus (Matthew 10:3)
List of Apostles (Matthew 10:2-4, Mark 3:16-19, Luke 6:12-19, Acts 1:13)
Then Matthew 13:55 tells us that James is also the name of Jesus' half brother.
Matthew 13:55: "Is this not the carpenter's son? Is not His mother called Mary?
And His brothers James, Joses, Simon, and Judas? "(NKJV)
So as you can see James was a very common name and the Scripture does not
tell us which James actually wrote the book of James.
However, evidence of the Epistle itself favors the traditional identification as the
author being Jesus Christ's half brother James.
They have found that the vocabulary of James' speech and letter in Acts 15:13-
29 reveals significant similarity to that of the Epistle. The authoritative tone of
the epistle (all those imperatives) agrees well with the authority exercised by
James.
Let’s look at John 7:5 Christ's brothers did not believe in Jesus as their Messiah.

3. John 7:5 "For even His brothers did not believe in Him." (NKJV)
You know how that would be between siblings. Even though they saw the sinless
life Jesus lead, they still didn't believe he was their Messiah. He was their half
brother.
I find family is the hardest to reach for Christ. Even Jesus' brothers didn't believe
in Him and they grew up with Him.
So what made the change? How did James go from an unbeliever to writing the
book of James as a Jewish believer, believing in Jesus Christ as his Lord and
Savior?
1 Corinthians 15:7 After that He was seen by James, then by all the apostles.
(NKJV)
1 Corinthians 15:7 tells us that after Christ was resurrected from the dead he
appeared to His brother James.
Just imagine it, James saw Jesus in all of His Glory after the resurrection. It is
believed that it was at this point that James accepted Jesus as His Savior. He
saw his brother now as God. He saw him resurrected in all of His glory and now
he believes in him.
Think about the transformation that took place in James’ heart.
Not only was James transformed but we also see in Acts 1:13-14 that Jesus'
brothers were also in the upper room praying.
Acts 1:13-14 "And when they had entered, they went up into the upper
room where they were staying: Peter, James, John, and Andrew; Philip
and Thomas; Bartholomew and Mat-thew; James the son of Alphaeus and
Simon the Zealot; and Judas the son of James. 14 These all continued with
one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women and Mary the
mother of Jesus, and with His brothers." (NKJV)
Ladies, they were all there in the upper room praying. When Jesus gets a hold of
your heart, your life is transformed isn't it.
One of the first things we see in the book of James is Humility.
James 1:1 "James, a bondservant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to
the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad: Greetings." NKJV
James was not all puffed up! He could have began his letter saying 'James, the
half brother of Jesus', or 'James, the head of the Jerusalem church', but instead
he humbly said James, A bondservant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ.

4. He wasn't pointing to who he was in the flesh, but to who he was in Christ Jesus.
The Greek word here for Bondservant is 'doulos'. It depicts a slave, a person
deprived of all personal freedom and totally under the control of his master.
Remember, James grew up with Jesus. He knew Him as 'Jesus his half brother'.
But now he acknowledges His deity by saying 'a bondservant of God and of the
Lord Jesus Christ'.
He uses all three names: Lord Jesus Christ. He knew Him by the name Jesus
growing up, but now he knows Him as Lord Jesus Christ! His master and Savior,
His Messiah.
James acknowledges that he is a bondservant, he humbly acknowledges Jesus
as his Lord and Savior His Messiah. It was a privilege to be under total control as
it is with all of us Christians that we are under total control of our Master, Jesus
Christ.
Tradition says that James had knees like a camel's knee - all rough and
calloused from being on his knees in prayer so much.
Oh ladies, how are your knees? Can it be said about us that we are on our knees
all the time. As we study the book of James - I am positive we will learn to be on
our knees as James was. De-pending on our Lord and Savior to meet our needs
and get us through every step of our life.
The verse continues to go on to say whom James was writing to. James 1:1
"...To the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad: Greetings." NKJV
The term twelve tribes was a title commonly used in the New Testament to refer
to the Nation of Israel.
So first we se that James was writing to the Nation of Israel.
And it says they were 'scattered abroad' which is the translation of the Greek
word 'diaspora' which we also get the English word 'dispersion'.
James was writing to those Jews living outside of the promised land. They have
fled due to the persecution of Christians.
From the message of the letter itself, as well as from James' frequent addressing
of his readers as brothers, it is clear that he is writing to Jewish Christians.

5. James is a Jew and his primary audience was to Jewish Christians who were
fleeing because of persecution. Acts 8:1-4 shows us what was happening at that
time with Saul of Tarsus persecuting the church. Let’s read Acts 8:1-4.
So here we have Saul of Tarsus persecuting the Christians, they had just stoned
Stephen and so you have Christians fleeing and this is who James is writing to.
This is not to be confused with the Diaspora we learned about in our last study
on End Time Events. There we looked at the history of the Jews and saw in
Deuteronomy 28:64-65 that God had scattered the Jews to the four corners of
the earth because of their disobedience and rejection of God. This is a different
dispersion.
Here in the book of James, they are fleeing because of the persecution of
Christians.
When the Jewish believers were scattered due to the persecution as we see in
Acts 8:1-4, they didn't just flee and do nothing - as we see in verse 4 they
continued to preach the word of God as they scattered. They continued to
spread the Gospel, sowing seeds as they fled from place to place.
It would be so easy to say I am being persecuted; therefore, I am going to leave
here but I am going to be quiet the rest of the time because I don’t want to be
persecuted. But they didn’t do that, they continued to spread the Word of God.
Ladies, the Jewish Christians at this time were having some problems in their
personal lives and in their church fellowship.
We are going to learn so much from reading the book of James, whether you
have read it before or not, there is always something new that jumps off the
pages. La-dies, this is the living Word of God. If we are going to be prepared for
those times of persecution, trials and temptations we need to be in a close
relationship with God. We need to be in the word daily so that we can hear what
He wants to tell us. We need to be in prayer, as James was, asking the Lord to
guide us and sustain us in every aspect of our lives.
One of the major problems they had was the failure of living what they professed
to believe. They were not walking the talk.
Ladies, how many times to we have to say, actions speak louder than words! If
we are not living what we are saying, how are we going to win others to Christ. It
comes across hypocritical.
They also had a serious problem with their tongue to the point of creating wars
and divisions in the assembly. We will talk more on the tongue in chapter three.

6. Worldliness was another problem. Disobeying God's word and straying away
from the Lord and the church.
Things haven't changed much between James’ day and now has it. It seems as if
James is dealing with very up-to-date issues doesn't it.
We still see today churches members who talk one way and live another. Or they
live one way on Sunday and a totally different way during the week. They don't
walk the talk.
There is still a huge problem with the tongue today; there are just some people
who cannot control their tongue.
We see in many churches today where worldliness has crept in and they are
turning away from the Lord, away from sound doctrine, away from the Bible.
The most common cause of all these problems is 'Spiritual Immaturity'.
The problems James was facing then are still a problem today. People just don't
grow up.
But it is a serious problem in the Christian world, that we do still have Christians
who act like babes in Christ instead of maturing in their Christian walk.
Hebrews 5:12-14 For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need
someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you
have come to need milk and not solid food. 13 For everyone who partakes only of
milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. 14 But solid food
belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have
their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. (NKJV)
Ladies, as you grow in your Christian walk, you will change from milk to solid
food. In order to do this, we need to be in the Word of God, we need to be
learning to Trust God in Every Aspect of our Lives. We need to make Him Lord of
our Lives.
When you are a new Christian, you are a babe in Christ. But God wants us to
grow in our relationship with Him, He doesn't want us to stay babes. Just like a
baby infant grows from being a baby and matures, God wants us to grow from
being a babe in Christ to mature Christians.
James uses the word 'perfect' several times in this epistle. You will see it in
James 1:4,17, 25; 2:22; 3:2.
In the Greek, this word means: Mature, Complete.

7. When James uses the term 'perfect man' in James 3:2 he did not mean a sinless
man, but rather one who is mature, balanced, and grown-up.
Spiritual Maturity is one of the greatest needs in the churches today. Weirsbe
says "too many churches are playpens for babies instead of workshops for
adults." pg24
As we continue over the next several weeks we will cover Five Marks of a Mature
Christian:
We discussed these last week. They are:
1. Patient in Testing (James 1)
2. Practices the Truth (James 2)
3. Power over his Tongue (James 3)
4. Peacemaker, not troublemaker (James 4)
5. Prayerful in Troubles (James 5)
The Essential factors to become spiritually mature are:
1. We need to be born again.
You cannot even begin to be spiritually mature if you haven't been spiritual-ly
born.
Just as a child is born and slowly matures over time a Christian needs to be
spiritually born to spiritually mature.
To be born again basically means that you believe in the death, burial and
resurrection of Jesus Christ. That you accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and
Savior. You ask Him to forgive you of your sins, and once you have done this He
is faithful and just to forgive you.
You cannot move to the next essential factor until you have done the 1st.
2. Examine our lives in the light of God's word.
I like how Warren Wiersbe describes this. He says:
James compares the Bible to a mirror. As we study the Word, we are looking
into the divine mirror and seeing ourselves as we really are. But James warns us
that we must be honest about what we see and not merely glance at the image
and walk away. pg 26
You know when you hold a vessel up into the light it exposes the cracks or the
flaws. So too with us, we are the vessel and our lives are exposed to the light of
Jesus which exposes our flaws that need to be fixed.

8. 3. Obey what God teaches us, no matter what the cost.
We must be doers of the Word and not just hearers only! (James 1:22)
It is easy to attend a Bible study, share the lesson, and discuss it, but it is much
more difficult to go out into our everyday lives and live what we have learned.
But this is what we are going to strive to do in order to grow in our maturity.
4. Be prepared for some extra trials and testing.
Whenever we get serious about spiritual growth, the enemy gets serious about
op-posing us.
As you desire to mature in your Christian walk, Satan will turn up the heat to
discourage you. Don't let Satan win! Continue on the right path. Remember,
greater is He that is in me that he that is in the world.
Nothing is going to happen to you today that God has not allowed. Remember
that when you go through those trials or temptations, when you are suffering
persecution, the more you are being molded into what God wants you to be. We
need to trust God to know that He is in control and trust Him to complete the
work He has started in you.
5. We must measure our spiritual growth by the Word of God. We should not
measure our-selves by other Christians, but by the Word of God.
Ephesians 4:13-15 "We all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of
the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of
Christ; 14 that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried
about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning
craftiness of deceitful plotting, 15 but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in
all things into Him who is the head--Christ--"(NKJV)
So ladies, don’t look to somebody else to measure your life by, measure your
Spiritual Growth by the Word of God.
Ladies, not everyone who grows old grows up. Age and Maturity are two
different things.
As we mature in our Christian walk, we will be walking the talk. We will see
things through the eyes of Christ instead of through eyes of immaturity.
As we study James together, with God's help we will learn together and mature
together.

9. Ladies, I want you to think about the Essentials to Spiritual Maturity that we had
talked about and I want you to examine your own life. Each and every one of us
are at a different maturity level. Depending where you are in your Christian walk
will depend on the maturity level that you are at. Every time you open the Word
of God, it is the Living Word of God, god will bring out whatever you need at that
particular time in your life in your Christian walk.
Ladies, which one of these essentials to Spiritual Maturity do you need to work
on? Ask God to help you in this study. Now there is always room for maturity and
no matter where you are in life each one of us can grow in our Christian walk
with God.
Thank you for joining me today on Empowered Bible Study Ministries. I look
forward to studying God’s word with you as we continue our study on the book
of James.
Until next time,
God Bless
Empowered Bible Study Ministries
Changed Lives Today
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