Chapter 1: What is the significance of drawing near to God?
Hi, my name is Father Mike Schmitz, and you're listening to the Bible in a Year podcast, where we encounter God's voice and live life through the lens of Scripture. The Bible in a Year podcast is brought to you by Ascension. Using the graded intro Bible timeline, we'll read all the way from Genesis to Revelation, discovering how the story of salvation unfolds and how we fit into that story today.
It is day 351, and we are reading the conclusion of James, which is actually three chapters. James 3, 4, and 5. We're also reading the beginning of St. Paul's letter to the Colossians, chapters 1 and 2, and the book of Proverbs, chapter 30, verses 7 through 9. As always, the Bible translation I'm reading from is the Revised Standard Version, Second Catholic Edition.
I'm using the Great Adventure Bible from Ascension. If you want to download your own Bible in-ear reading plan, as I said, I think yesterday, to tick off those last few days, you can visit ascensionpress.com slash Bible in-ear. You can also subscribe to this podcast, or you can stick to your guns and stay unsubscribed.
and say i made it through the entire year and didn't subscribe once i don't care what father mike asked me to do i don't care a bit just kidding it is day 351 and we're reading james chapters 3 4 and 5 colossians letter of saint paul to colossians chapters 1 and 2 as well as the book of proverbs chapter 30 verses 7 through 9 The letter of James chapter three, taming the tongue.
Let not many of you become teachers, my brethren, for you know that we who teach shall be judged with greater strictness. For we all make many mistakes. And if anyone makes no mistakes in what he says, he's a perfect man, able to bridle the whole body also. If we put bits into the mouths of horses that they may obey us, we guide their whole bodies. Look at the ships also.
Though they are so great and are driven by strong winds, they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs. So the tongue is a little member and boasts of great things. How great a forest is set ablaze by a small fire! And the tongue is a fire.
The tongue is an unrighteous world among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the cycle of nature, and set on fire by hell. For every kind of beast and bird, a reptile and sea creature can be tamed and has been tamed by mankind. But no human being can tame the tongue, a restless evil full of deadly poison.
With it we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse men who are made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brethren, this ought not to be so." Does a spring put forth from the same opening fresh water and brackish? Can a fig tree, my brethren, yield olives, or a grapevine figs? No more can salt water yield fresh. Two kinds of wisdom.
Who is wise in understanding among you? By his good life let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom. But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. This wisdom is not such as comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, devilish. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice.
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Chapter 2: How does wealth affect our relationship with God?
As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. Whoever knows what is right to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin. Chapter 5 Warning to Rich Oppressors Come now, you rich. Weep and howl for your miseries that are coming upon you. Your riches have rotted and your garments are moth-eaten.
Your gold and silver have rusted and their rust will be evidence against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up treasure for the last days. Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, cry out and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts. You have lived on the earth in luxury and in pleasure.
You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter. You have condemned. You have killed the righteous man. He does not resist you. patience in suffering. Be patient therefore, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. Behold, the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient over it until it receives the early and the late rain. You also be patient.
Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand. Do not grumble, brethren, against one another, that you may not be judged. Behold, the judge is standing at the doors. As an example of suffering and patience, brethren, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. Behold, we call those happy who are steadfast.
You have heard of the steadfastness of Job and you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful. But above all, my brethren, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or with any other oath, but let your yes be yes and your no be no, that you may not fall under condemnation. The Prayer of Faith Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is any cheerful?
Let him sing praise. Is any among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the sick man and the Lord will raise him up. and if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed.
The prayer of a righteous man has great power in its effects. Elijah was a man of like nature with ourselves, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth. Then he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth its fruit.
My brethren, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back, let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from the error of his way will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.
The Letter of Paul to the Colossians Chapter 1 Salutation
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Chapter 3: What wisdom does James offer about taming the tongue?
Thank you so much.
Oh, Lord God. Oh, just what a gift of a day. What a gift it is to not only hear the letter of James and not only to hear the beginning of Colossians, but also this wisdom that you impart to us in the book of Proverbs. Thank you for journeying with us all of these. Our entire life, Lord God, you never abandon us. You're always with us. You're always completely present to us.
In this moment, Lord God, we trust you. And in this moment, we recognize your presence. Wherever we are listening to these words, Lord God, you are with us. You are nearer to us than we are to ourselves and our thoughts are to ourselves. You're nearer to us than our very heart is in our chest. And we thank you. Thank you for being near to us. Thank you for being with us.
Lord God, even when we do not recognize you, you're there. You're here. You're active now.
help us to never lose sight of the fact that you're present with us right now for with you every moment is right now in jesus name we pray amen in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit amen this reading from proverbs chapter 30 it always gets me i just i don't know how many times i've said this is my favorite this is this is one of my favorites because it's just so wise it has a knowledge you know one of the things when we come to know jesus
I remember someone telling me this, that first two movements of conversion are a distrust of self and a trust in the Lord. And I think that's so wise. A distrust of self meaning, no, I know I'm broken. I know that I, man, gosh, Lord, you give me a chance and I will turn on you. In fact, there was a man named St. Philip Neary.
I think he's the patron saint of Rome, but he's also, he was a joyful saint. And he's one of those situations where he did a lot of goofy things just to either to get people's attention, to get a laugh, to kind of humble himself.
But at one point, I remember hearing that every morning he would wake up and he'd pray and he'd say something along the lines of, watch out for Philip today, Lord, because if you give him the chance, he will betray you. And there's something about that that's so clear here in Proverbs chapter 30. Two things I ask of you, deny them not to me before I die. Remove far from me falsehood and lying.
Here's the big thing. Give me neither poverty nor riches. Just give me what's ever needful for me. Feed me with the food that's needful for me. Lest I be full and deny you and say, who is the Lord? And that happens to us, right? We get so full, we're confident in ourselves. Like, oh no, I don't need God because I'm taken care of.
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Chapter 4: What does friendship with the world mean according to James?
Or lest I be poor and steal and profane the name of God. Basically, here's the author here of wisdom. Saying, I know myself, I can't be trusted. I cannot be trusted. You give me excessive wealth and I will do something foolish with it, like denying the Lord. You give me a dire situation or circumstance and I will steal and I will not be a just person.
And that's something, man, so much wisdom there, isn't that? Isn't that so much wisdom, not only for ourselves, but also we look around and look at people that we might be quick to judge. Maybe celebrities or famous people or wealthy people and say, I can't believe that they're living such shallow lives. Well, that would be me if I was that wealthy.
Or we see people who are committing crimes and stealing or turning to a life of crime and say, God, if you didn't protect me from that, I would probably do the same thing. It doesn't make those things right, but it does make them understandable. Again, that doesn't make wrong right understandable.
but it does hopefully make it so that our hearts and our minds, our understanding can be patient, right? Can offer grace because we know that there but for the grace of God, go I. Go we, I go. Here we are in James chapter four and five. So incredible. Again, once again, the wisdom of James. I love a couple pieces here.
One is this in chapter four, verse seven, submit yourselves therefore to God, resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and he will draw near to you. That is such incredible advice and counsel for all of us because we have to, we have to submit ourselves to God. We surrender to God and resist the devil. The recognition is we're going to hear St.
Peter talk about this in a couple of days, that he'll say the devil's prowling like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him solid in your faith, that this is the battle.
And every Christian realizes, as we heard the other day, that our battle is not with flesh and blood, but with principalities and powers, with the rulers, elemental forces of this world, with demons, with the evil one.
and so we resist the devil and draw near to god he goes on to say cleanse your hands you sinners and purify your heart you have meant you meant of double mind basically that he says you backsliders in another translation that sense that remember when elijah asked the the people on mount carmel during the battle with the prophets of the priests of baal he said how long will you be of two minds like how long will you straddle the fence
If the Lord God is God, then serve him. And if Baal is God, then serve him. But just stop being of two minds. And here is James saying the exact same thing because this is the human condition. He says, cleanse your hands, you sinners. Purify your hearts, you men of double mind. Stop being a person of two minds. Goes on.
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Chapter 5: How can we resist the devil and draw near to God?
And so we just have to always allow God's words when he speaks about wealth to convict us. Also, to use God's words when he speaks about wealth that's built off of oppression to convict us.
I think of this every time I have products that are made in another country where I am not sure about the practices they have in assembling these products or of stitching together these shirts or making these shoes. I always wonder and I realize that I need to figure this out because I St. James, the Lord's word does convict those who, he says, you've lived on earth in luxury and in pleasure.
You've fattened your hearts in the day of slaughter. You've condemned, you've killed the righteous man. Have I inadvertently, by buying certain products, have I withheld the wages of those who made those products? And I don't know, I have to find that out because if I don't, I'm liable for not finding that out.
The last thing I wanna highlight is the fact that we have seven sacraments in the Catholic Church and in the Orthodox Church, and one of those sacraments is a sacrament of healing, and that's the sacrament of anointing of the sick. I'm also of confession and of the sacrament of healing. And where do you get that? Well, we get that here from the letter of James. He says, is anyone among you sick?
Let him call for the elders. The word there is presbyteroi, for we get priests from. Call the elders of the church and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the sick person and the Lord will raise him up. If he's committed any sins, he'll be forgiven. So that's the kind of the origin of the sacrament of anointing of the sick.
But also it's also connected to the sacrament of confession. Because it says that the priests will pray over them and they will be forgiven of all their sins. And then the next line is, therefore, confess your sins to one another. Now, some Christians would say that, oh, yeah, we just confess your sins to each other.
You know, brother Christian, brother Christian, sister Christian, sister Christian. But we also see that there is a word at the beginning of verse 16. And so as James is writing about calling the presbytery, calling the priests of the church to anoint this man with oil and that his sin is going to be forgiven.
It says, therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another that you may be healed. So this is all in the context. That confession is in the context of the anointing or in the context of healing through the hands of the priests or the elders of the church. Now, again, not making a point, just making a point. Lastly, here's St.
Paul's letter to the Colossians, and there is a piece in St. Paul's letter to the Colossians that is just incredible. I mean, obviously, St. Paul is manifestly pointing out the fact that Jesus Christ is preeminent, that he is the one through whom and for whom everything is made, and it's just so powerful. And we can't dwell on that too much because it's just, it's the key.
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