Faith in Ever’Day Clothes: Sermons from the Book of James

By T.A. Prickett

As I reflected on these sermons from the Book of James, I was reminded of something from my post-Depression childhood. My parents were poor, but that didnt bother us much because almost everyone we knew was as poor as we were. We lived on a farm and were fortunate in that we always had food to eat; but we didnt always have good clothes to wear. In fact, we had two kinds of clothes. We had what we called our Sunday go-to-meetin clothes, which were the best we had; we kept them to wear to church on Sunday. Then we had our clothes that we only wore during the week for work and play. These were not as good or nice as our Sunday clothes. In the vernacular of rural Alabama in the mid-1930s we referred to them as our everday clothes.
The expression everday clothes reminds me of the Book of James. James is about every day religionFaith in Everday Clothes.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Oct 1, 2015
• ISBN: 9781490896472

T.A. Prickett

T.A. Prickett, a native of Verbena, Alabama, was born near the end of the Great Depression in 1934. In 1950, his family moved from rural Verbena to Montgomery, Alabama. In Montgomery, he attended Starke University School, a military school for boys, from which he graduated in 1952. After graduating from Samford University in Birmingham in 1957, he served for three years as associate pastor of Forest Lake Baptist Church in Tuscaloosa. He continued his education at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, from which he received two post-graduate degrees. During his seminary days, he was pastor of the Bethabara Baptist Church in Daviess County, Kentucky. He served as pastor of the Seven Hills Baptist Church in Owensboro, Kentucky, for thirty-four years, retiring in 1999. He was active in Baptist life in Kentucky, having served in positions of leadership on numerous committees and as an elected officer of the Kentucky Baptist Convention in 1973. Since retirement, T.A. has served as interim pastor in several churches. He has published the following books: We Preach Christ, For Our Age of Anxiety, A Portrait of Jesus, and Faith in Ever'day Clothes. He has also written his memoirs, A Cold Day in July: The Memoirs of a Baptist Preacher.

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Copyright © 2015 T.A. Prickett.

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ISBN: 978-1-4908-9646-5 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4908-9647-2 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2015916165

WestBow Press rev. date: 09/24/2015

CONTENTS

Preface

Testing Our Faith    James 1:2-4

Getting Wisdom    James 1:5-8

Lessons From Life    James 1:9-25

Real Religion    James 1:26-27

The Royal Law    James 2:1-13

What Is Faith?    James 2:14-26

On Being A Teacher    James 3:1-18

On Dissension In The Church    James 4:1-10

On Speaking Evil    James 4:11-12

On Doing God’s Will    James 4:13-17

On Riches    James 5:1-6

Until Then    James 5:7-12

The Ministry Of Prayer    James 5:13-17

The Ministry Of Restoration    James 5:19-20

Bibliography

This book is dedicated to the memory of my parents,

Elmer Marshall and Catherine Strength Prickett,

who taught me the importance of faith,

and

that real faith is demonstrated in the events of life.

PREFACE

Preaching from the book of James is a challenge. James forces one to look at Christianity from a practical point of view. The book of James is not a theological treatise; it is an ethical dissertation.

Preaching from the book of James is also exciting because it allows one the opportunity to deal with issues from the biblical material that relate in a positive way to the issues of today.

Being born in the fading days of the Great Depression and raised in the post-Depression era made a real impact on my life. Those who grew up in a later period missed the thrill of feeling, as a youngster, that when you had a nickel in your pocket, you had a fortune!

As I reflected on these sermons from the book of James, I was reminded of something from my post-Depression childhood. My parents were poor, but that didn’t trouble us much because almost everyone we knew was as poor as we were. We lived on a farm and were fortunate in that we always had food to eat—but we didn’t always have good clothes to wear. In fact, we had two kinds of clothes. We had what we called our Sunday go to meetin’ clothes. These were the best we had, and we kept them to wear to church on Sunday. Then we had our ever’day clothes. These were not as good or nice as our Sunday clothes. We wore these every day, and in the vernacular of rural Alabama in the mid-1930s, we referred to them as our ever’day clothes. They may have had patches on them, but that was not a problem because we wore these during the week for work and play.

The expression ever’day clothes reminds me of the book of James. James is about everyday religion. Thus James is about faith in ever’day clothes.

—T. A. Prickett

TESTING OUR FAITH

JAMES 1:2-4

Several years ago, the Dawson Baptist Church of Philpot, Kentucky, had some problems associated with the construction of a new building. As I recall it, a part of the foundation sunk. When this was discovered, all construction was halted while they tried to determine what to do about the problem and who was responsible for assuming the cost of fixing it. They soon determined what had happened, but the question of responsibility went on for several years before it was finally decided.

One of the things they did was to take some soil tests to determine the compaction of the soil. Compaction, as I understand it, is how firmly or tightly the soil is packed together. They also ran soil tests to determine the long-term settling characteristics of the soil. These were the key issues in settling the dispute and for getting on with the construction of their new church building.

Soil testing can reveal a lot more than compaction and settling characteristics. For example, you can test the soil for percolation. This helps to determine if the soil will contain water and therefore is helpful in deciding to build a lake or pond on a specific property. You can also test soil to determine its chemical makeup and type.

Soil testing can be very helpful in many ways. According to James, soul testing can also be very beneficial to the Christian.

Trials Produce Joyfulness

James indicates in our text that the trials in life are meant to produce joyfulness. He said that we should be glad when we are tested. Look at what he wrote in verse 2:

Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds.

This sounds rather unlikely. No one likes trials and difficulties in life, so why or how can they produce joyfulness?

One thing we need to understand is that James had a different idea about real happiness from most of us. To James, happiness did not mean attaining of ease or comfort. Rather, he found it in the achievement of a Christ like character.

The word used here for trials is not temptation. A trial is that which has a purpose in mind. A trial in life is to lead us to a prescribed goal. Jesus spoke of this in the Sermon on the Mount when he said in Matthew 5:10-12:

Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Paul also spoke of this characteristic of trials in Romans 5:3-5, where he wrote:

Not only so, but we also rejoice in our suffering, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.

Trials produce joy in us because they make us stronger and better people. And how does this happen?

Take a lily and compare it to an oak tree. The lily is raised in the protected environment of a hothouse. It cannot stand the harshness of the elements. But the oak tree grows outside in the elements. It withstands all the elements—the wind, the rain, the snow, the ice, the heat, and the dry weather. Because of this, it is a strong tree that lasts for years, while the lily, even in its protected climate, lasts only a few short weeks.

Trials are intended to make us strong and able to stand the strains and stresses of life. The elements of life and the storms of life test our faith. We are tested in many ways. We are tested by physical conditions, domestic difficulties, financial problems, and social pressure. These conditions are not meant to bring us down but to build us up. They are not meant to make us slip but to help us soar. They are not intended to defeat us but to help us defeat them. They are not meant to make us weak but to make us strong.

Trials Produce Steadfastness

James also indicates in our text that the trials of life produce steadfastness in us. He said in verse 3:

Because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance.

The Revised Standard Version translates perseverance as steadfastness, and the King James Version calls it patience. I believe steadfastness is the best translation of this word. Perseverance seems only to emphasize that it lasts, and patience is too passive. One translator calls it unswerving constancy. Trials produce in us not just the ability to bear all things but also to turn them into greatness and joy.

Max