Humility – antidote to pride

"James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ,"
James 1:1a

We have decided to start 2010 by studying the book of James and asking God to show us where we are have gotten off track; what are the lies we are believing?

Since today is the beginning of a New Year, let's first go back to the beginning (Genesis 3) to see how we got "off the path":

"We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, ³ but God did say, 'You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it,
or you will die.' "

God didn't say that, Eve added to God's word, this is huge; when we
add to God's Word (our thoughts, feelings, etc.) it equals devastation. Think about how society has added to God's Word.

 ⁴"You will not surely die," the serpent said to the woman. ⁵ "For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."

Satan questioned God's goodness and denies God's justice. He is saying that God is a liar
and that he is with holding on you.

Do you ever feel like God is withholding something or some one from you?

 ⁶ When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was (1) good for food and (2) pleasing to the eye, and (3) also desirable for gaining wisdom,

Those 3 things that constantly get us into trouble: Lust of the flesh - passion, pleasure; Lust of the eyes - possessions, materialism; and the Pride of life - position, status.

Eve gave in (so do we) and was poisoned, so to speak. That's why we are calling this series "Antidote". Antidote is a substance to
counteract the poisoning.

Ok, back to James.

Notice how the author identifies himself simply as James.

This presents us with a bit of a problem since the New Testament refers to several men as "James." When we started "promoting" this series in December, we used a "tease" by saying "James is coming!" The response we got most often was "Who is James?"

We could ask the same question today, is it James, the son of Alphaeus; James, the son of Zebedee, and brother of John; or James, the half-brother of Jesus? Most agree that the author is James, the half-brother of Jesus.

Here's the first thing I want you think about; if Jesus was your brother, how would you introduce yourself?

Did you recognize it?

The "Pride of Life", position, status, it's so easy to fall for it.

Aren't we always trying to make something of ourselves?

James didn't and neither did Jesus who made himself nothing (Phil 2:7).

Humility is the antidote for the "pride of life", you take it every time you don't promote yourself.

Let's start off 2010 by practicing that!