Sunday School
by Scott Prewitt

I have been working as a youth leader for this ministry for about fifteen years now. Wow, that starts making me feel old, but then again, I started when I was eighteen. I perform many tasks as a youth leader, but one of my favorites is teaching Sunday school for the High School age group in our fellowship group in Boone. Each Sunday I am responsible for spending about an hour with these bright, young, and energetic minds and I am charged with the undertaking of teaching them the scripture. I really enjoy working with this age group because they are able to hear and understand the Bible on deeper levels, and what they hear and learn is so applicable to their lives at their age.

I have always loved being in the scripture. God’s word always refreshes me and provides constant direction in my life. To understand how the Spirit is directing us in our lives, we must know the Bible. This is the philosophy I use to teach my Sunday school class. There are so many elements that are pulling our teenagers to their own agenda. I want each of them to know that God has His own agenda for them, and to know this, they must listen to the Spirit. And to be able to discern what the Spirit is calling them to, they must know what God has said to mankind in the Bible.

Our Sunday school class likes to take entire chapters at a time for study. We have covered multiple books in the New Testament including Ephesians, Colossians, and Philippians. At the end of this past summer, as a group we decided we would spend time in the book of James. I’ve always heard that one must be ready for a real challenge when teaching on the book of James, but I thought, “No problem.” I was sure we could get through this book fairly quickly and really enjoy the perspective of a new writer. Before that time, out of coincidence, we had almost exclusively studied the epistles of Paul. Boy, was I ever wrong about getting through the book of James quickly! What I thought would take five or so Sundays actually took five months. I must say, though, that these were five of the most fulfilling months I’ve ever spent in the Scripture.

I am no Biblical scholar, but you do not need to be one to immediately see the many truths that James shares in his letter. James writes to the Jews in the church of the day, and it translates to all of us in the body of Christ through these many, many years. Many of the short verses so familiar to us and so applicable to life situations come straight from James. Actually, that’s very much how James wrote his epistle. From what I remember about my days in English classes in high school and college, I would describe James’ writing style as stream-of-consciousness. He jumps right into his point without giving much setup and then quickly jumps to another point. Rarely does he give much introduction to the reader nor does he use language as powerfully as Paul is known to do in his epistles.

I found this style to be actually very helpful for getting to the point of what God is saying through James. Also, the quick and sometimes blunt words of James really serve to emphasize these nuggets of spiritual truth. Sometimes we all need less talk around a point and more straightforward communication from someone who is a friend or advisor. James gets to the point all throughout his five chapters. The manner in which the epistle was written makes me think that James wrote out of concern for what he saw going on around him in the early church of believers. It’s almost as if he was burdened with many things, and as he sat down to write about them, his pen could hardly keep up with his thoughts. His moving from point to point and then to another and then back to the original reminds me of how I sometimes communicate. I will write and write not always in the best most logical sequence, but I do get everything that I am thinking out of my brain and onto paper or a computer screen.

Immediately in chapter one, James launches right into one of the most often quoted scriptures of our time. James 1:2 says, “My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into diverse temptations.” If you are like me, you have heard this verse quoted many, many times, and hopefully, you have said it to yourself in the middle of a hard place. Just for a moment, think about how far into the first chapter this verse would appear if it was written by Paul. Paul always used several paragraphs to begin his letters. In these opening sections, Paul used beautiful and convincing language to legitimize his position in Christ and in the church as well as offer greetings and thanks to friends in that church. This is not James’ style, though. He comes right out with what he is thinking and goes from there.

As I said earlier, what I unwisely thought would take five weeks to get through took five months, so I cannot take this article and write about everything our Sunday school class learned from studying James. What I would like to do, though, is highlight some special verses. You will find many of these verses very familiar to you as they are frequently quoted scripture that applies to your walk in and as Jesus Christ. I have never been that good at knowing exact book, chapter, and verse of the Scripture that I am familiar with, so when studying James I was really excited to see that so many of these verses that I enjoy in good times and cling to in bad were there “under one roof.” The teenagers in our Sunday school class were also amazed how much they could now apply to their daily lives as well as share with others. In fact, James is full of what I call quick commands and many dos and don’ts for the Christian:

“If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given to him.” James 1:5

“A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.” James 1:8

“Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted by God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man.” James 1:13

“Wherefore my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath.” James 1:19

“For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.” James 2:10

“What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? Can faith save him?” James 2:14

“Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.” James 2:17

“But the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.” James 3:8

“Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be.” James 3:10

“For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work.” James 3:16

“Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” James 4:7

“Go to now, ye that say, To day or tomorrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain: whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that.” James 4:13-15

“Is any among you afflicted? Let him pray. Is any merry? Let him sing psalms. Is any sick among you? 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 shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven.” James 5:13-15

“Confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.” James 5:16

As I said earlier, I could go on and on about the book of James. These verses above represent a small nugget of all of the great truth from God found in the Spirit-inspired words of James. I encourage you to take some time (actually lots of time) and spend it in this book. Study it and see what God is saying to you. For myself, I was so excited about what I found, I am now teaching it to our adult Bible study on Wednesday nights. As for our Sunday school class, we have now ventured backwards into the Old Testament. We are deep in the book of Daniel, and I must say how fun, exciting and fulfilling that book has been for us. Stay tuned…. I hear someone needs rescuing from a den of hungry lions!

Scott is the youth director of Zerubbabel Ministries. He lives in Boone, North Carolina and is an owner/manager of Back Yard Burgers in Boone, Hickory, and Lenoir.