From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more

John 6:66
From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more.

Yshua's teachings are pretty high and hard to follow. If the Old Testament teachings seem hard, Yshua's teachings are even harder and goes against our natural inclinations. Where the Old Testament says "an eye for an eye", the New Testament says "when someone slaps you on one cheek, turn and give him the other cheek to slap". Many who have heard His teachings turned away, despite the miracles they witnessed. Truly this needs supernatural help, from the Holy Spirit, to keep us on track. A commentator advised that when God's instructions clashes with our own will or desires, don't spend time debating or contemplating at all. Doing so will make us think of our rights and our interests, eventually leading us down a path opposite and away from God.

And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires

Galatians 5:24
And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

Crucifying the flesh is giving up on the things that are sinful. Why does it have to be crucifying the flesh, which seems to be so dramatic? The reason is that sin itself is potently destructive. We cannot simply say we will give it up because we are much weaker and sin is much stronger. It needs great effort to be able to really remove the sins from our life and not fall into the trap again. So it is exactly right to say we need to crucify our desires and passion.

You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures

The Scripture questions the strife that exists in human society, and perhaps also among Christians. The reason for this is each of us wants things for ourselves. We fail to ask and receive from God because we ask those things for our selfish desires. However we can lust after earthly things and follow God at the same time.

So we are called to submit to God, resist the Devil and draw near to God. We should not be double minded but instead humble ourselves. We should not speak against others and also not to judge others. Also we are not to be arrogant and think we can plan and decide our destiny. The truth is anything can happen and we should remind ourselves it is God's will whether things will happen.




James 4
Pride Promotes Strife

1 Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members? 2 You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. Yet[a] you do not have because you do not ask. 3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures. 4 Adulterers and[b] adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. 5 Or do you think that the Scripture says in vain, “The Spirit who dwells in us yearns jealously”?

6 But He gives more grace. Therefore He says:

“God resists the proud,
But gives grace to the humble.”[c]


Humility Cures Worldliness

7 Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. 8 Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Lament and mourn and weep! Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.

Do Not Judge a Brother

11 Do not speak evil of one another, brethren. He who speaks evil of a brother and judges his brother, speaks evil of the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge. 12 There is one Lawgiver,[d] who is able to save and to destroy. Who[e] are you to judge another?[f]

Do Not Boast About Tomorrow

13 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will[g] go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit”; 14 whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. 15 Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.” 16 But now you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.

17 Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.

But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves

James is writing to an audience he addresses as the Twelve Tribes. This would not be the Twelve Tribes from the children of Israel / Jacob, since ten of those tribes have been lost. Or perhaps it could be a prophetic message as well, addressed to the original Twelve tribes when they will be found in the future. It is likely that the Twelve Tribes refer to the fruits of the Twelve disciples, most of whom have been dispersed from Jerusalem.

Wisdom is one of the things that God will give to whomever asks for it. The other advice about asking God, is to ask in faith and do not doubt that God will give. The rich and powerful are told to be humble, because their time on earth is limited like any other person.

Regarding temptation, when we endure through it, we will receive the crown of life from God. The temptations are not given by God because God does not tempt. Rather, temptation comes from our own desire and can lead to sin and finally leads to death. God, however, gives us good and perfect gifts because we are the firstfruits of His creatures.

Some of the advices given include: quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger, put aside wickedness, receive the word, be doers of the word, control our tongue, care for the disadvantaged and doing all the good works without seeking attention to ourselves.




James 1
Greeting to the Twelve Tribes

1 James, a bondservant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ,

To the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad:

Greetings.

Profiting from Trials

2 My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, 3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. 4 But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. 5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. 6 But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. 7 For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; 8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.

The Perspective of Rich and Poor

9 Let the lowly brother glory in his exaltation, 10 but the rich in his humiliation, because as a flower of the field he will pass away. 11 For no sooner has the sun risen with a burning heat than it withers the grass; its flower falls, and its beautiful appearance perishes. So the rich man also will fade away in his pursuits.

Loving God Under Trials

12 Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him. 13 Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. 14 But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. 15 Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.

16 Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. 17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning. 18 Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures.

Qualities Needed in Trials

19 So then,[a] my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath; 20 for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God.

Doers—Not Hearers Only

21 Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.

22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. 23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; 24 for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. 25 But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.

26 If anyone among you[b] thinks he is religious, and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this one’s religion is useless. 27 Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.

For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves

Paul describes the person before they received salvation. In those past times, we were in darkness and lived by fulfilling fleshly desires and would incur the wrath of God. But God showed us mercy even when we were sinners against him. And it is solely God's prerogative and God's work that result in us being saved. We are described as God's workmanship, created to do good.

Paul reminds the Gentiles that previously they had no part of God because they were not in the lineage of God's children. However through Christ, the Gentiles are brought to God's house and belonging to His family.




Ephesians 2
By Grace Through Faith

1 And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, 2 in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, 3 among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.

4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6 and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast. 10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

Brought Near by His Blood

11 Therefore remember that you, once Gentiles in the flesh—who are called Uncircumcision by what is called the Circumcision made in the flesh by hands— 12 that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

Christ Our Peace

14 For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation, 15 having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, 16 and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity. 17 And He came and preached peace to you who were afar off and to those who were near. 18 For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father.

Christ Our Cornerstone

19 Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, 20 having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, 21 in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, 22 in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.