James And the Giant Peach Preach
If you’ve had a look around our website, then you might have seen that we’re currently working our way through the book of James on Sunday mornings and when we get together in our small groups. There have already been lots of amazing messages as part of the series.
But some people have been asking: Why James?
What is it that’s drawn us to look at this relatively short book of the Bible?
So we thought we’d try and answer them, because I promise it wasn’t just so I could make my peach-preach pun!
At its heart James is about how to build a community that loves God, honours one another and cares for the people around us. It’s full of powerful, practical instruction about how we can live a better life, with guidance on all sorts of topics ranging from acquiring wisdom to being careful what we say and having patience during tough times and moments of suffering.
It’s been a tough few years for many of us and as we look at events around the world and in our daily lives, it looks like things are going to stay tricky for a little while longer. What better time to make sure we’re the kind of community that can support one another through the storm?
But if you’ll allow me to return to the subject of peaches for a second, there’s another side to the book of James. Throughout the Bible Jesus loved to talk about fruit, and the fact that his people would be known by their good produce. You see, it’s not just about being good for ourselves, the book of James helps teach us how to be a Church that produces good things in our town, our workplaces and our schools.
We’re not talking about planting orchards or growing carrots, we want to be people who bring the life and love we’ve found to others, so that they can taste the goodness of God and be refreshed. The teaching found in James helps us to be a Church that produces good fruit. It’s a picture of who we can be and how we can live, to the benefit of ourselves and others, and to the glory of our amazing God.