JESUS DIES!

Why He died. How He Died. How Do we respond?

Jesus Dies.

Why it had to happen,how it happened, and what we are to do in response.

Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In his days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely. ~ Jer 23:5

The next day, the news that Jesus was on the way to Jerusalem swept through the city. A large crowd of Passover visitors took palm branches and went down the road to meet him. They shouted, “Praise God! Blessings on the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Hail to the King of Israel!”

Jesus found a young donkey and rode on it, fulfilling the prophecy that said: “Don’t be afraid, people of Jerusalem. Look, your King is coming, riding on a donkey’s colt.” His disciples didn’t understand at the time that this was a fulfillment of prophecy. ~ John 12:12-15

But how quickly things changed, just days later…

So the soldiers, their commanding officer, and the Temple guards arrested Jesus and tied him up. ~ John 18:12

Then Pilate had Jesus flogged with a lead-tipped whip. The soldiers wove a crown of thorns and put it on his head, and they put a purple robe on him. “Hail! King of the Jews!” they mocked, as they slapped him across the face. ~ John 19:1-3

When they saw him, the leading priests and Temple guards began shouting, “Crucify him! Crucify him!” ~ John 19:6

Why did this need to happen?

So God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. ~ Gen 1:27

Then God looked over all he had made, and he saw that it was very good! ~ Gen 1:31

When Adam sinned, sin entered the world. Adam’s sin brought death, so death spread to everyone, for everyone sinned… Yes, Adam’s one sin brings condemnation for everyone, but Christ’s one act of righteousness brings a right relationship with God and new life for everyone. Because one person disobeyed God, many became sinners. Rom 5:12,18-19

And I will cause hostility between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He will strike your head, and you will strike his heel.” ~ Gen 3:15

I will rescue my flock from their mouths; the sheep will no longer be their prey. “For this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I myself will search and find my sheep. I will be like a shepherd looking for his scattered flock. I will find my sheep and rescue them from all the places where they were scattered on that dark and cloudy day. ~ Ezk 34:10b-12

“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd sacrifices his life for the sheep… I know my own sheep, and they know me, just as my Father knows me and I know the Father. So I sacrifice my life for the sheep. ~ John 10:11,14-15

The Jewish leaders replied, “By our law he ought to die because he called himself the Son of God.” ~ John 19:7

How did it happen?

At noon, darkness fell across the whole land until three o’clock. Then at three o’clock Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?” Some of the bystanders misunderstood and thought he was calling for the prophet Elijah. One of them ran and filled a sponge with sour wine, holding it up to him on a reed stick so he could drink. “Wait!” he said. “Let’s see whether Elijah comes to take him down!” Then Jesus uttered another loud cry and breathed his last. And the curtain in the sanctuary of the Temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. When the Roman officer who stood facing him saw how he had died, he exclaimed, “This man truly was the Son of God!” ~ Mark 15:33-39

God did not die for man because of some value He perceived in him. The value of each human soul considered simply in itself, out of relation to God, is zero. As St. Paul writes, to have died for valuable men would not have been divine but merely heroic; but God died for sinners. He loved us not because we were lovable, but because He is love. It may be that He loves all equally – He certainly loved us all to death…. If there is equality, it is in His love, not us. ~ C.S. Lewis

What do we do now?

Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. ~ Isa 53:4-6

Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. ~ Rom 12:1

Application:

-When we sacrifice our lives, we don’t do what we want, but what HE wants

-We are to live distinct from, not separate from, the world

Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, 20 for God bought you with a high price. ~ 1 Cor 6:19

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James: Practical Biblical Living Pt. 8

JUDGY, BRAGGY & GREEDY

Last week’s passage was a great overview of the posture we are to have towards God as His Body. The two elements of singular devotion and true humility combine to create the standard operating mode for a disciple of Jesus Christ.

Once we have been given our standards of how we interact with God, we then are instructed on some very specific ways our lives are not to be led. A exclusive and lowly response to the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the opposite of the examples we have in todays passage. God is giving us these examples of relational interactions so each of us can evaluate ourselves against a Biblical standard and see how we are not to be. (Almost all Biblical teaching is done through examples of how not to do it)

Remember our biggest problem as Christ followers is how do we deny our ‘self’ and let God’s Spirit run our lives (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness and self control) God Word is our instruction manual for how we are to believe and act as HIS children. Together with the Spirit He indwells the members of HIS body with we are being transformed int o the image of Christ!

We have three characters who are not to be tolerated in the Body of Christ. This scripture introduces us to Judgy, Braggy and Greedy. Judgy sees everyone’s faults. Braggy is running the show. Greedy is going to have it all. Basically all of them are trying to ‘Play god’ in there own way, Greedy goes all the way making himself his god.

These three examples are attitudes and actions that are narcissistic (self-centered) We will see some self-righteousness, then some self-elevation and ultimately self-worship. This Scripture clearly describes and condemns these actions and attitudes.

James Pt. 8 Ch 4 11-17 & 5:1-6

11 Never pull each other to pieces with words, my brothers and sisters. If you are judging each other and setting yourself up in the place of God’s Law you have become in fact a critic of the Law. If you start to criticize the Law instead of obeying it you are setting yourself up as judge.

  • These are relational & cultural standards for how Jesus Christ’s Body is to act
  • It starts with the right attitude about ‘God’s Law’ … #1 It’s HIS Law…not your’s!
  • Judgy = selective, out of context use of scripture to find fault with someone else
  • Each of our attitudes to God law is to be focused on our own obedience to it

12 There is only one judge, the one who gave the Law, to whom belongs absolute power of life and death. How can you then be so silly as to imagine that you are your neighbor’s judge?

  • Satan wanted to ‘Play God’…
  • Yahweh is Singular, Sovereign & Self Existent
  • We have zero business judging how a fellow believer obeys God’s Law
  • Who is your neighbor? This is the exact same word as in Matt, Mk, Lk & Paul

13 Just a moment now, you who say “We are going to such-and-such a city today or tomorrow. We shall stay there a year doing business and make a profit”! 14 How do you know what will happen even tomorrow? What, after all, is your life? It is like a puff of smoke visible for a little while and then dissolving into thin air.

  • This is another example of ‘Playing God’
  • We desire control of how our worth is viewed. We want to be valued
  • Christ wants to provide our value, HE runs our PR campaign and we chill
  • ‘Cuz we are but a breath out the mouth on a cold day; disappearing mist!
  • ‘puff of smoke’ often translated, mist or vapor
  • Word has a connotation of exhaled breath (like when you can see your breath)

15 Your remarks should be prefaced with, “If it is the Lord’s will, we shall be alive and will do so-and-so.” 16 As it is, you get a certain pride in yourself in planning your future with such confidence. That sort of pride is all wrong. 17 So remember, if a person knows what is right and fails to do it, their failure is real sin.

  • Our speech should express our strongly held conviction about god’s control
  • We are to acknowledge HIS sovereignty when every we talk about the future
  • So we know we are not supposed to act like we are still in charge of our lives
  • It’s not a grey area, it is clearly called sin…it come from pride (illusion of control)
  • We are not able to be Sin-free; but we are able to be Sin-adverse
  • The deep conviction against this sin and every other sin drives our daily action!
  • Intention that yields God honoring choices (Practical Biblical Living)
  • Intentions alone are not enough, we need the intentions right
  • The only intentionality that is worth ANYTHING is the RIGHT intentionality
  • How do we land on the right intentions? God’s Word: knowing the heart & soul

1 And now, you plutocrats, is the time for you to weep and moan because of the miseries in store for you! 2 Your richest goods are ruined, your hoard of clothes is moth-eaten, your gold and silver are tarnished.

  • Plutocrat: Those who rule and exercise power solely by means of wealth.
  • Pluto is the Greek god who rules the underworld.
  • Plutos is ‘Wealth’ in greek
  • Plutus is the Greek god of wealth and agricultural bounty
  • The term literally groups Hell & Wealth…
  • God will make their ‘Stuff’ go bad, ruined. It’s former value gone (Matthew 6:19)

3 Yes, their very tarnish will be the evidence of your wicked hoarding and you will shrink from them as if they were red-hot. You have made a fine pile in these last days, haven’t you?

  • What the ‘Plutocrats’ have amassed will expose their greed and gluttony
  • Their own ‘Stuff’ will consume them like fire
  • They have made a point of putting their wealth on display (Braggy)
  • They justify what they do to amass their wealth, no shame (Judgy)

4 But look, here is the pay of the reaper you hired and whom you cheated, and it is shouting against you! And the cries of the other laborers you swindled are heard by the Lord of Hosts Himself.

  • Plutocrats exploit people without property to build their wealth!
  • Such people go beyond Judgy & Braggy to full out oppression of others!
  • Almighty God knows who is responsible for the oppression & takes it personally

5 Yes, you have had a magnificent time on this earth, and have indulged yourselves to the full. You have picked out just what you wanted like soldiers looting after battle. 6 You have condemned and murdered the innocent and they have been powerless to stop you.

  • Self Indulgence to the max! Greed is the attitude, Gluttony is the action…ugly
  • Typical translation of 5:5b: ‘You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter’
  • This person nourishes evil in their heart, piling up stuff at the cost of lives.
  • Fostering a heart of evil like someone who loots dead bodies after a slaughter
  • This is about being so into yourself and your pleasure you wantonly oppress
  • You are an exploiter of those God says He champions, those without means
  • Christ’s Body cannot tolerate the exploitation of anyone made in God’s image

SUMMARY:

Self-Righteousness: Judgy

In Christ’s Body we are not to speak judgement upon each other in the Body, usurping God’s exclusive role as Judge. Our role as members of this body is to obey God’s law, not to criticize it. We know better than to imagine we are our neighbor’s judge! (Some Narcissism)

As Christ’s Body we live as though God is in charge of everything, and we are dependent on Him for every fleeting moment of this life. We believe we have no business judging anyone!

Self-Important: Braggy

In our flesh and sin we strive for importance, validation, and control, from that we ‘self promote’! (Pretty Narcissistic)

Christ’s Body recognizes God as ‘All-Everything’ so we have an attitude of humility regarding what is going to happen in the future, knowing and acting like HE wills EVERYTHING! Because of what we know, anything else is sin.

Self-Worship / Greedy

People who abuse power and hoard resources will one day have the tables turned on them, what they have amassed will consume them like fire. What they have accumulated and those they have oppressed will be the proof of their guilt. (Full Blown Narcissist)

The ‘Lord of Host’ knows everything and HE will judge those who have piled up wealth by oppressing and murdering others.

APPLICATION:

Why is it important to have a ‘Biblical Orientation’ to God’s Law?

If being judgmental is a continued problem for you, what are you doing about it?

Why do you desire to promote yourself? Is it a matter of control or trust or both?

What are some biblical practices that will keep you off the road to self-worship?

3 suggestions

#1 Raise your sensitivity to sin!

Confession your specific sins to God and people you trust.

#2 Expose yourself to God’s evaluation of you instead of your own.

Search me God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

~ Ps. 139: 23-24

#3 Serve Christ’s Body in unappreciated, and unpleasant ways!

Serve at Christ’s convenience, not your own

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James: Practical Biblical Living Pt. 7

SINGULAR HUMILITY

This passage is a treasure trove of Biblical Theology and Practical Application!

Jesus Christ calls HIS body into a singular, undivided relationship, the only way we enter is with humility. In this relationship He places His Spirit into us so that we can overcome ourselves and live a life of ‘Singular Humility!

But too often we allow our fleshly self-serving desires set our schedules and shape our priorities. When we live like this we have less peace, more drama. Our prayer life, our dependence on God, becomes a mere formality, lip-service and we flirt with the danger of betraying our #1 Love!

God’s Word is crystal clear on how Yahweh requires our singular devotion, our undivided loyalty. He places His Spirit in us so that we may willfully submit to His ways, not strive for our control. NO, The Holy Spirit distributes grace that is enough to meet the challenge of any evil when we are undivided and truly humble.

How do we live this way? The prescription is simple but not easy…

Practice humility before God. Stand up to Satan; he’s a cowardly bully. Engage God to experience Him. Repent like David did, take ownership of your sin and beg forgiveness. The closer you get to God the more your sin will bother you but press into that; it will drive you lower before God and in THAT… HE will lift you up!

James Ch. 4:1-10

1 But about the feuds and struggles that exist among you—where do you suppose they come from? Can’t you see that they arise from conflicting passions within yourselves?

  • There will be relational conflict in the Body, it has a source.
  • The root cause of conflict is selfishness
  • The cause is within each of us (pride or lack of humility leading to sin)
  • We start out totally self absorbed, as we mature we care about others more
  • (Compliment of Barbie’s Aunt Linda)

2 You crave for something and don’t get it, you are jealous and envious of what others have got and you don’t possess it yourselves. Consequently in your exasperated frustration you struggle and fight with one another.

  • What activates the sin of selfishness is coveting and comparing.
  • The comparison game is ‘Unwinnable’; incredibly frustrating
  • Coveting never ends because there is never enough…

3 You don’t get what you want because you don’t ask God for it. And when you do ask He doesn’t give it to you, for you ask in quite the wrong spirit—you only want to satisfy your own desires.

  • The focus on self takes your focus off God
  • You don’t ask HIM because you don’t trust HIM (…you did’t get this or that)
  • You approach Him with an improper attitude (Sin of SELF causes separation)
  • This is repetition of James 1:6-8

4 You are like unfaithful wives, flirting with the glamour of this world, and never realizing that to be the world’s lover means becoming the enemy of God! Anyone who deliberately chooses to love the world is thereby making himself God’s enemy.

  • Commitment to a spouse is a singular kind of loyalty, the same as with GOD!
  • You can’t be faithful to God and be captivated, and enamored with this life!
  • A LOVER makes the object of their love priority #1
  • You can’t make God your #1 priority while you focus on the things of this life
  • We all can make the mistake of being seduced by the world and what it offers
  • Have you made a mistakes & flirted, not knowing what you were doing?
  • Or are you deliberately choosing to be a ‘Lover’ of this life? (how to stop?)
  • SURRENDER YOUR LIFE TO THE GOSPEL OF JESUS CHRIST

5 Do you think what the scriptures have to say about this is a mere formality? Or do you imagine that this spirit of passionate jealousy is The Spirit He has caused to live in us? (translation notes- ‘the spirit God has placed within us is filled with envy’ or ‘the Holy Spirit, whom God has placed within us, opposes our envy.’)

  • The ‘THIS’ is selfishly living, coveting & comparing that leads to drama / conflict
  • Living like this is not how a biblical relationship with God works
  • Jealousy, drama, scarcity & discontent are not what God produces in HIS Body
  • His Body, Christ’s Body lives by the Spirit God has indwelt them with
  • God wants us to be Singularly led by HIS spirit, not our spirit of selfish pride
  • The result of life surrendered to and dictated by God’s Spirit is:
  • Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Generosity, Fidelity and Self-control.
  • So the answer to the question is NO! Self-serving jealousy is not of God’ Spirit

6 No, He gives us grace potent enough to meet this and every other evil spirit, if we are humble enough to receive it. That is why He says: ‘God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.’ (Proverbs 3:34)

  • God has an answer to our ‘spirit’ of self …GRACE!
  • HIS Grace is enough to overcome our selfish desires that gives us no shalom
  • HIS grace is enough to overcome any other spirit because we have HIS Spirit!
  • How does this ‘Overcoming’ happen?
  • We can have the power to overcome ourselves if we are humble enough
  • Being humble enough is truly giving your life fully over to the priorities of Christ
  • Christ calls the members of HIS Body to ‘Singular Humility’

7 Be humble before God. Resist the devil and you’ll find he’ll run away from you. Come close to God and He will come close to you.

  • Here is what God wants: Humility / Resistance of Evil / Intentional Relationship
  • The devil disengages when faced with a saint who is ‘Singularity Humble’
  • We can only come closer to God on HIS terms: undivided loyalty & humility

8 Realize that you have sinned and get your hands clean again. Realize that you have been disloyal and get your hearts made true once more.

  • Be aware of your selfishness and repent of it
  • Take ownership of your sin
  • Live with a ‘Spirit of Repentance’ (a very humble state)

9 As you come close to God you should be deeply sorry, you should be grieved, you should even be in tears. Your laughter will have to become mourning, your high spirits will have to become heartfelt dejection.

  • Closeness to God makes you recognize & own your rebellion & disobedience
  • Sensitivity to our own sin is the result of a biblical relationship with Jesus Christ
  • Isaiah 6 is how we will respond to the presence of God’s holiness in our lives

10 You will have to feel very small in the sight of God before he will set you on your feet once more.

  • Singular humility before God is not elimination of self… you bear God’s image
  • Singular Humility is putting yourself in the proper place relationally to HIM
  • God sets us on our feet, establishes us today and for eternity BY HIS GRACE!

SUMMARY:

Our sinful desires to gratify ourselves lead to comparison, covetousness, drama and conflict. This is not how members of Christ’s Body are to live.

We are being unfaithful to what Christ has called His Body to if we let our desires for the things of this world captivate us and set the priorities of our lives.

Members of Christ Body are aware that you cannot love the things of this world AND God. They are diametrically opposed to each other. God’s Word and God’s Spirit clearly oppose our being self-focused.

God gives the grace we need to overcome sin as we live humbly before Him

Our undivided spiritual poverty opens the door to God’s grace that enables us to: resist evil, become more intimate with God, and to recognize, repent of and be deeply hurt by our own sin. And in that process we experience true forgiveness!

A Biblical response to the Gospel is one of ‘Singular Humility’: an exclusive, intimate relationship with our creator and savior based on loyalty, dependance, trust and love!

APPLICATION:

What makes you more humble? What makes you singularly devoted to Christ? How can you grow these in your life?

What are the standards you use to know whether or not you are ‘Flirting’ with the love of the things of this world?

Can you identify areas of your life that need some of God’s grace but are instead making you frustrated and discontented? How might you change that situation?

How sensitive are you to YOUR sin? Does your repentance look like what James is telling us it should look like?

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James: Practical Biblical Living Pt. 6

THE ONLY WISDOM THAT MATTERS

The Book of James is a combination of Biblical Theology and practical application. James’ view of God is formed by the Hebrew scriptures and fulfilled in The Christ. As an introduction to today’s text, I’m going to briefly recap what has proceeded it:

Our growth ‘In Christ’ happens in challenges, trials, temptations and failures that Christ calls us to endure and even embrace because of what HE will develop in our character. We do this in intimate conversation with HIM through HIS Spirit, seeking HIM in prayer and humbly receiving His generous gift of wisdom. How we conduct our prayer life is of critical importance; wholehearted loyalty to Christ is the only way it works. God requires this relationship with HIM be based on our absolute spiritual poverty.

As Christ followers we are to place HIM in growing priority and our actions are to be an expression of our trust that HE has given us eternal life. Our common condition is sin, it taints the image of God we bear. God is not to blame for our condition and only HE can change it. When God changes our condition and brings us into HIS kingdom, we can now more fully reflect HIS image, so we are to conduct our relationships as HE commands.

Our submission to God’s will in Christ also amounts to a rejection of everything God is opposed to. Such a lifestyle is normative for members of Christ’s body because we are bound to Christ by His Spirit. Scripture commands us in Christ’s Body to welcome everyone into our community equally. It is a stewardship to be taken very seriously. How we live as Christ’s Body is important. Each command is of equal importance to God because He cares about our heart condition.

Jesus Christ’s Church exists based on God’s Mercy. We make God’s grace real in our lives by expressing God-given grace to others. For those in Christ, God’s mercy takes priority over God’s Judgement.

As Christ’s Body we define faith as God does in Scripture: Belief and action working in partnership. Saving Faith, that which leads to eternal life in Christ, is exclusively like this. When a person responds to the Biblical Gospel by surrendering their life, they then begin to and continue to ACT (not just think or talk) like they have given their life over to Christ! Every example of ‘Saving Faith’ in God found in the Bible, (Hebrews 11) is described as a partnership of belief and action.

God is the one who raises up teachers of His Word, not us. Such people will be closely but gracefully scrutinized by the other members of the body. We all are guilty of saying wrong things because of our sin condition. Recognizing and controlling the effects our speech has on others is a partnership of our obedience and God’s sanctifying work by His Spirit. Members of Christ’s Body protect the health of HIS Body by growing in how God would have them use their speech. Those who have biblically converted to following Christ do not invoke His power against other people.

There is a lot to understand and act upon. What we need to do this is GOD’S WISDOM

James 3: 13-17

13 Are there some wise and understanding men among you? Then your lives will be an example of the humility that is born of true wisdom. 14 But if your heart is full of rivalry and bitter jealousy, then do not boast of your wisdom—don’t deny the truth that you must recognize in your innermost heart.

  • Here is how you evaluate who is wise: not by words but by the life lived
  • The opposite of the life that shows humble wisdom is one of comparison
  • Comparison is what causes rivalry & jealousy
  • Satisfaction in the life God has given you is the doorway to wisdom
  • We have to come to grips with thew reality of our inherent selfishness
  • A recognition of ‘spiritual poverty’ is where it all starts (before & after salvation)

15 You may acquire a certain superficial wisdom, but it does not come from God—it comes from this world, from your own lower nature, even from the devil. 16 For wherever you find jealousy and rivalry you also find disharmony and all other kinds of evil.

  • What are things that are totally unbiblical that our society considerers wise?
  • The value system of our world revolves around SELF
  • The amassing of resources, called saving for ‘retirement’ (Luke 12)

Jesus responding to a question about brothers fighting over their parents estate: (Lk 12:15-21)

And then, turning to the disciples, he said to them, “Notice that, and be on your guard against covetousness in any shape or form. For a man’s real life in no way depends upon the number of his possessions.” Then he gave them a parable, “Once upon a time a rich man’s farmland produced heavy crops. So he said to himself, ‘What shall I do, for I have no room to store this harvest of mine?’ Then he said, ‘I know what I’ll do. I’ll pull down my barns and build bigger ones where I can store all my grain and my goods and I can say to my soul, Soul, you have plenty of good things stored up there for years to come. Relax! Eat, drink and have a good time!’ But God said to him, ‘You fool, this very night you will be asked for your soul! Then, who is going to possess all that you have prepared?’ That is what happens to the person who hoards things for himself and is not rich where God is concerned.”

  • A relationship with God comes from trusting HIM, not self preservation
  • Self focus is what takes us aways from God, it is what the Devil is all about
  • Competition & comparison causes jealousy & rivalry
  • THIS is the wisdom of the world, it is opposed to the wisdom of God

Personal Conviction: I have surrendered my life, my attention isn’t on ‘preparing for retirement’! All Christ followers are called to focus on growing our relationship with God, not our finances.

17 The wisdom that comes from God is first utterly pure, then peace-loving, gentle, approachable, full of tolerant thoughts and kindly actions, with no breath of favoritism or hint of hypocrisy. 18 And the wise are peace-makers who go on quietly sowing for a harvest of righteousness—in other people and in themselves.

  • We have to differentiate between God’s wisdom and the world’s wisdom
  • Study the real thing so much that you will recognize any deviation
  • ‘True Peace’ is found in Christ, loving peace means a life that exalts the Gospel
  • Being gentle is being considerate of others
  • Being approachable comes from not thinking you are better than anyone else
  • Once agin we see thoughts (beliefs) and actions working in partnership
  • No favoritism because God’s wisdom tells us we are all equally HIS kids
  • No hypocrisy because God’s wisdom tells us HE does it all so we are humbled
  • God’s definition of wisdom: A life devoted to being used by God to bring peace
  • Not needing attention we are to grow ‘God Crops’ in our lives and in others

SUMMARY:

God’s wisdom is revealed in a person’s life by what they do every day. It is not a matter of intentions and ideas, it is found in the lifestyle decisions we make and the things we do because Christ died for us!

Our shared sin condition leads us to comparison and THAT activates and justifies selfish desires. God’s wisdom is not displayed in self-focused priorities, a life that prioritizes self-preservation is not a life that has been entrusted to Jesus Christ!

God’s wisdom implanted and growing in our lives yields a tangible harvest: peace with God, considerate and humble relationships, belief and action in partnership, and zero elitism or narcissism.

God’s wisdom, not the world’s, is displayed in the lives of the members of HIS Body as we grow in Christ and help others grow in Christ, without drawing attention to ourselves.

APPLICATION:

How much do you compare your life to other people’s lives? What makes you do that? How might you do it less? If you have eternal life why does it matter?

Which has done more to shape your lifestyle: The Gospel of Jesus Christ or ‘The American Dream’? How might you change that?

What are the spiritual disciplines you practice (or can practice) to help you grow in God’s wisdom?

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Elisha & Gehazi

Come Clean With God

II Kings 5:20-27

Gehazi, the servant of Elisha the man of God, said, ‘See, my master has spared this Naaman the Syrian, in not accepting from his hand what he brought. As the LORD lives, I will run after him and get something from him.’ So Gehazi followed Naaman. And when Naaman saw someone running after him, he got down from the chariot to meet him and said, ‘Is all well?’ (v.20-21)

And he said, “All is well. My master has sent me to say, ‘There have just now come to me from the hill country of Ephraim two young men of the sons of the prophets. Please give them a talent of silver and two changes of clothing.'” And Naaman said, ‘Be pleased to accept two talents.’ And he urged him and tied up two talents of silver in two bags, with two changes of clothing, and laid them on two of his servants. And they carried them before Gehazi. (v.22-23)

And we he came to the hill, he took them from their hand and put them in the house, and he sent the men away, and they departed. He went in and stood before his master, and Elisha said to him, ‘Where have you been, Gehazi?’ And he said, ‘Your servant went nowhere.’ But he said to him, ‘Did not my heart go when the man turned from his chariot to meet you? Was it a time to accept money and garments, olive orchards, and vineyards, sheep and oxen, male and female servants?’ (v.24-26)

‘Therefore the leprosy of Naaman shall cling to you and to your descendants forever.’ So he went out from his presence a leper, like snow. (v.27)

Summary Points

-God is always at work, and His enemy too. He cannot prevail, but he will not relent. And there are times when those close to us can unwittingly serve his purposes.

-Compromise never occurs in isolation. It always lead to another.

-Lies prevent us from experiencing the greatness of God. (Gehazi, Rahab, Ananias & Sapphira). Truth allows us to experience the presence and power of God, deliverance from trouble and/or grace all the way through it.

-Don’t be complacent about sin or powerless Christianity. Don’t just live with it. Be ruthless with your sin. Do some self-examination if your Christianity has no power, and no impact on those around you.

/by

James: Practical Biblical Living Pt. 5

WORD POWER

James letter is going to talk about how we use words. First in regards to the teaching of God’s Word. Then in regard to how our ‘tongues’, when not controlled, can poison Christ’s Body and make all of life, a ‘burning hell’. Lastly James is going to address how the redeemed body of Christ, those who ‘bless God’, can have no part in the cursing of anyone who is made in the likeness of God; that is every human.

God is speaking to HIS church in this passage, it is in agreement with and to clarify, the teaching we see throughout the Bible regarding the power of words… for good and evil…

This is an US / WE message as to the Body of Christ and in particular THIS body!

I believe we are building a healthy culture of ‘graceful scrutiny’ of what myself and all who lead in discipleship capacities teach / communicate.

There is nothing more important we do as a church: Teach Biblical Doctrine!

We are all challenged with saying the wrong thing, there is no one who can say they have their tongue under control. We are here to understand God. Part of Biblical Salvation is an understanding of God. It takes wrong thinking about God to invoke a curse because only HE can enact a curse… What we think about the Triune God of Scripture is critical.

James 3:1-12

1 Don’t aim at adding to the number of teachers, my brothers and sisters, I beg you! Remember that we who are teachers will be judged by a much higher standard.

  • The process by which God raises up teachers happens in HIS due time
  • It’s not about quantity of teachers, it’s about the quality of the teaching (Biblical)
  • Those who undertake the teaching of God’s Word will receive more scrutiny
  • Because what is taught about Scripture is our # 1 priority…
  • Those who teach it will be the recipients of more criticism
  • The term denotes there is more quantity of judging…they will be judged more
  • James knows how teaching God’s Word makes you a target
  • The same principals are used (Biblical Standards) to judge teachers as anyone
  • There is more at stake, so the application of those standards is done more

2 We all make mistakes in all kinds of ways, but the one who can claim that they never say the wrong thing can consider themself perfect, for if they can control their tongue they can control every other part of their personality!

  • We are all in the same boat and we all fall short, so judge teachers with Grace
  • If you claim to never say anything wrong, you be able to be totally perfect
  • None of us can make that claim…but that is the goal…that is Christ’s example!
  • This is not saying we can’t have disagreements or even arguments

3 We control the movements of a large animal like the horse with a tiny bit placed in its mouth. 4 Ships too, for all their size and the momentum they have with a strong wind behind them, are controlled by a very small rudder according to the course chosen by the helm.

  • The examples James uses from their regular life are familiar to them not us…
  • We control planes with laptop computers or run our entire life from a phone
  • We see that the size of something is not always indicative of it’s power

5 The human tongue is physically small, but what tremendous effects it can boast of! A whole forest can be set ablaze by a tiny spark of fire, and the tongue is as dangerous as any fire, with vast potentialities for evil. 6 It can poison the whole body, it can make the whole of life a blazing hell.

  • We have much bigger body parts than our ‘Tongues’ / ‘Mouth’
  • Small thing, big effect
  • It is an intense picture painted here, it is dramatic for a reason…
  • Poison, Contaminate, Spoil, Defile = It effects all ‘Members’ of The Body
  • ‘Fire from Hell’ = Destruction because of Evil
  • We can often consider some things that are said to be inconsequential
  • One chance spark can cause a tremendous ripple of effect
  • We must not underestimate the potential damage our speech can do

7 Beasts, birds, reptiles and all kinds of sea-creatures can be, and in fact are, tamed by humans, but no one can tame the human tongue. 8 It is an evil always liable to break out, and the poison it spreads is deadly.

  • This issue needs to be addressed because it is such an ‘untamed’ force’
  • Reality: This is an ‘US’ deal, it was a problem then amongst believers, like now
  • Humans have dominion over animals and can ‘suppress’ / control them
  • Yet humanity has not found a way to tame dangerous speech…

9 We use the tongue to bless our Father, God, and we use the same tongue to curse other humans, who are all created in God’s likeness. 10 Blessing and curses come out of the same mouth—surely, among us, this is the sort of thing that never ought to happen!

  • Remember the context: this is to church bodies / surrendered communities
  • We’ve been given the grace & privilege to use our speech to truly bless God
  • Even those not redeemed by Christ still bear his image (distorted by sin)
  • Why would we of all people use that same speech to curse HIS creation?
  • With God’s authority James says: WE, Christ’s Body, does NOT Do this.

In modern usage, curse is generally considered synonymous with swear.ing / inappropriate words But that is not how the term was used throughout the Old Test ament and also in the new testament. In both the Hebrew Scriptures and in the New Testament, ‘curse’ has a different meanings than we are used to. These are specific statements, such as to invoke misfortune, to afflict, to make an oath against, and to call on God to do bad things to someone

Curse: Genesis 3:17

And to Adam he said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life;

Blessing: Numbers 6:24-26

May The Lord bless you and keep you, may The Lord make His face shine on you and show you His favor. May The Lord lift up His face toward you and give you peace.

Bless and Keep = Face Face = Favor Face + Peace

11 Have you ever known a spring to give sweet and bitter water simultaneously? 12 Have you ever seen a fig-tree with a crop of olives, or seen figs growing on a vine? It is just as impossible for a spring to give fresh and saltwater at the same time.

  • The answer to the question is NO, it have never been heard of
  • Certain plants only yield certain crops, it’s not possible for them to do otherwise

SUMMARY:

We are not to artificially elevate people into the place of teaching God’s Word. The goal is not to have more teachers, it is to have teaching that is more biblical.

Those who do teach / preach God’s Word will be subject to more scrutiny in what they teach but grace is always prominent in that judgment. (Ch. 2 verse 13)

We all are guilty of saying wrong things, because we are all naturally sinners. Controlling what we say is a discipleship goal.

We are to grow in awareness of our speech and the effects it has on others. God wants us to be warned about the potential for evil our words can have.

WE must be careful not to underestimate the poisonous effect that OUR inconsiderate words can have on THIS Body of Christ. (V. 6 & V. 8)

The cursing of another ‘Image Bearer’ by one who has been redeemed by the ‘Image’ / Jesus Christ, is not to happen. James presents evidence that it is impossible, based on God’s natural order.

APPLICATION:

Biblical Application: Finding the right intentions, AND acting on those intentions

What is YOUR role in a healthy culture of gracefully scrutinizing the teaching of God’s Word here at Midtown?

In what situations and relationships do you need to be more careful about your speech? How are you going to do that?

If you desire God to be your instrument of punishment visiting evil on any person, you may not have fully responded to the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Respond to The Gospel

REPENT: OF SIN

RECOGNIZE: CHRIST AS LORD

RELEASE: YOUR LIFE TO HIM

REORGANIZE: YOUR LIFE TO HIS WILL

/by

James: Practical Biblical Living Pt. 4

TRUE FAITH ALWAYS ACTS

I begin with a note about the translation. You may find the version I am using unfamiliar, it was written in 1958. If you read the NASB (1971) or the NIV (1978) or the NLT (1996) or The ESV (2001) you owe a debt of gratitude to The JB Phillips. Phillips pioneered modern translations of the Scriptures, setting a high standard of linguistic scholarship, both in the original Greek and in English.

C.S. Lewis was an advocate of modernizing Bible translations to address the dynamics of the English language in the Mid- 20th century. Here is what he said about the JB Phillips New Testament: “It is like looking at a familiar picture after it has been cleaned”.

I am using this translation in the hope that some of you who have extensively read and studied this book will get a ‘clean perspective’ on this wonderful ‘Pastoral Epistle’. I also hope those not very familiar with it may be drawn into the study of this letter and that their life will reflect the Godly principals contained in it. I encourage you to let this book ‘Shepherd’ your lifestyle.

The Book of James is all about PRACTICAL BIBLICAL LIVING. Today our portion of God’s Word is going to clearly define what God considers to be ‘True Faith’. True faith acts. True faith does things. True faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior does things that God’s word commands. True faith is obedient to DO, not just think about, God’s will as revealed by the Scriptures.

James sets the standard for the new testament church. He clearly defines what Christ’s Body will recognize as ‘Faith’. It is what God has previously revealed throughout the Hebrew Scriptures. True Faith always Acts!

James 2:14-26

14 Now what use is it, my brothers and sisters, for a person to say they “have faith” if their actions do not correspond with it? Could that sort of faith save anyone’s soul?

  • You and I do what we believe in, what we have ‘faith in’
  • We have faith in things we trust. As simple as a chair we sit in or a person
  • We know belief or ‘faith’ in something moves us to act
  • So what good is a faith or belief that we will not act on?
  • When it come to faith for eternal life is an ‘inactive faith’ going to get you there?
  • The answer to this rhetorical question is clear: No.

Why not? Why can’t we just believe? Salvation is by God’s grace, we don’t have to ‘earn it’ right? We can’t DO anything to get salvation it is by faith… So faith is HUGH!It is very important that we understand how God defines faith. This info is found in a proper reading of Scripture.

15 If a fellow man or woman has no clothes to wear and nothing to eat, and one of you say,16 “Good luck to you I hope you’ll keep warm and find enough to eat”, and yet give them nothing to meet their physical needs, what on earth is the good of that?

  • This person espouses a position or belief yet does not act on it.
  • Lip Service / All Talk & No Action / All Show & No Go
  • Words are a poor replacement for actions
  • This question points to how useless ‘Inactive Faith’ is

17Yet that is exactly what a bare faith without a corresponding life is like—useless and dead.

  • ‘Bare Faith’: the literal translation: faith by itself
  • It is really a misnomer to call something ‘Faith’ if you don’t act on it
  • Why do you think God moves James to address this issue?
  • It is the responsibility of Jesus Christ’s Church to make clear what salvation is

18 If we only “have faith” one could easily challenge us by saying, “you say that you have faith and I have merely good actions. Well, all you can do is to show me a faith without corresponding actions, but I can show you that by my actions, I have faith as well.”

  • The actions of each person are a result of what they have faith in
  • If there is action then there is some sort of faith behind it (a reason we act)
  • But a ‘bare faith’ has no actions to join in partnership with it, so it it really faith?
  • Not as the Bible teaches…
  • What follows are examples from practical life and also from previous Scripture

19 To the one who thinks that faith by itself is enough I feel inclined to say, “So you believe that there is one God? That’s fine. So do all the devils in hell, and they shudder in terror!”

  • Faith without action is knowing who God is and yet not acting accordingly
  • Faith in God without acting like HE IS GOD puts you in the company of demons
  • Demons know what their level of ‘faith’ gets them: Eternal Damnation

20 One is short-sighted if they can’t you see far enough to realize that faith without the right actions is dead and useless.

  • Short sighted means you are not seeing everything that is there
  • If you don’t see that ‘Saving Faith’ results in action you are missing info
  • If you don’t realize ‘faith’ not acted upon is dead, you are wrong
  • Please don’t forget, what we are reading is what GOD says

21 Think of Abraham, our ancestor. Was it not his action which really justified him in God’s sight when his faith led him to offer his son Isaac on the altar? 22 Can’t you see that his faith and his actions were, so to speak, partners—that his faith was implemented by his deed?

  • One of many Biblical examples of how true faith IN God always acts (Heb. 11)
  • It took an enormous amount of faith to act as Abram did
  • But the action was the proof of what he believed about God
  • Abram believed Yahweh was who HE said HE was, and acted accordingly
  • Faith made him act, his actions proved he had ‘Saving Faith’ in God

23 That is what the scripture means when it says: ‘Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness. And he was called the friend of God.’ 24 A person is justified before God by what they do as well as by what they believe.

  • What validated Abram’s belief was his action
  • The faith that made His righteous was proven by his actions
  • What matters to God is both what believe and what you do about that belief

25 Rahab who was a prostitute and a foreigner has been quoted as an example of faith, yet surely it was her action that pleased God, when she welcomed Joshua’s reconnaissance party and got them safely back by a different route.

  • This example show how reputation, past and position do not matter to God
  • Her actions that resulted from faith pleased God, not her thoughts or words
  • What she DID resulted in being part of the linage that birthed the Messiah

26 Yes, faith without action is as dead as a body without a soul.

  • A body devoid of a soul is not actually a body…
  • Faith without actions is not actually faith…Not as God defines it!
  • Without a soul to animate it, a body is just a corpse, devoid of life
  • Is your ‘faith’ one that is active and alive or inactive and dead?
  • God is telling us that if you do not act on our belief it is NOT faith in HIS eyes

SUMMARY:

God’s Word defines ‘Faith’ as belief & action working together.

Faith that results in Biblical Salvation has corresponding right actions that accompany it. This is known as ‘Saving Faith’.

A profession of care about something that is not acted on in any way, is widely recognized as not really caring. Actual caring involves doing something.

Examples of faith found in the Scriptures always communicate what God’s people believed AND what they did.

So called ‘faith’ in Christ that is without actions flowing from it, is NOT a faith that receives eternal life.

APPLICATION:

Application is meant to be our guidance for God-desired change. We have to change in order to align our thoughts, attitudes, values & actions with God’s Word. (no one is ‘Naturally Aligned’ with Scripture). So we don’t just want change, we want THE RIGHT KIND OF CHANGE. What we are shooting for is that our actions would correspond to what the Bible teaches followers of Christ are to do. Scripture gives us what to believe and what to do regarding what we believe!

Is your theology aligned with what this Scripture is teaching? Why or why not?

When you evaluate YOUR ‘faith’ in Christ, do you focus on actions or intentions?

By focusing on actions more, what could you change about how you practice your faith?

Are you clear about what Scripture says we are to DO (Not just think) in response to Jesus Christ’s call on EACH OF OUR lives?

/by

James: Practical Biblical Living Pt. 3

God’s Grace Over God’s Judgement!

We have been involved as a church in a quest to become as Biblical as possible. Why? Because it matters how Christ’s body lives! As those surrendered to the Lordship of Christ we want to live as God wants us to. Scripture gives us commands and principals for how we are to live as God’s people. God’s Word is the basis of how we form our church culture, the raw materials that we build our church culture from. We read & interpret and apply The Scriptures as God’s people always have: #1. We believe it is God’s Word, written by people under the power of the H.S #2. We read it in context and examine it according to scientific principals (Hermeneutics: The science of interpreting communication) #3. We practice it. We apply it to our actual lives, we ‘live it out’.

Today we shall read, understand & apply 3 aspects of Biblical Church Culture:

~ Biblical Church culture of welcoming: How we treat people entering our community

~ Biblical Doctrine of the equality of sin to God. How God views sin

~ Biblical Practice of ‘Grace Distribution’. How Christ’s Body is a ‘pass-through’.

James Chapter 2:1-13

1 Don’t ever attempt, my brothers and sisters, to combine snobbery with faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ!

  • Zero tolerance for discrimination, prejudice or unequal treatment in Jesus’ Body
  • Real faith in Christ and snobbery are mutually exclusive

2 Suppose one person comes into your meeting well-dressed and with a gold ring on their finger, and another, obviously poor, arrives in shabby clothes.

  • More-so then than now, people’s socio-economic status was reflected in dress
  • Each of these people are God’s ‘Image Bearers’

3 If you pay special attention to the well-dressed one by saying, “Please sit here—it’s an excellent seat”, and say to the poor one, “You stand over there, please, or if you must sit, sit on the floor”, 4 doesn’t that prove that you are making class-distinctions in your mind, and setting yourselves up to assess a person’s quality?—a very bad thing.

  • These kinds of interactions fuel pride and comparison
  • Making class distinctions is opposite of God’s heart throughout Scripture

5 For do notice, my brothers and sisters, that God chose poor people, whose only wealth was their faith, and made them heirs to the kingdom promised to those who love him.

  • God doesn’t assign eternal life based on socio-economic status
  • God has a different value system than the world’s

6 And if you behave as I have suggested, it is the poor person that you are insulting. Look around you. 7 Isn’t it the rich who are always trying to “boss” you, isn’t it the rich who drag you into litigation? Isn’t it usually the rich who blaspheme the glorious name by which you are known?

  • Can we afford to offend those God has placed great value in?
  • Why would we give preferential treatment to people who oppose God?

8 If you obey the royal law, expressed by the scripture, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself’, all is well. 9 But once you allow any invidious distinctions to creep in, you are sinning, you have broken God’s Law.

  • The royal law = God’s heart, the full message of Scripture / The Gospel
  • He uses Jesus’ teaching that it is sin to ‘pick’ your neighbor based on appearances (you can pick your neighbor based on actions)
  • Invidious distinction is openly saying: ‘You are worth more’ for whatever reason
  • It is sin to judge people based on appearances of affluence and or influence
  • Our value to each other comes from the fact that each of us bears God’s image

V9: prosopolempteo typically is translated as ‘show favoritism’ or ‘partiality’. Here it is translated as ‘invidious distinction’ which conveys motivation for the action and the result of such action on relationships that fits the context!

  • This is why I chose to use the JB Phillips NT: masterful linguistic work from both ends!

“It is like looking at a familiar picture after it has been cleaned”.

~ C.S. LEWIS, on J.B. Phillip’s original translation

Invidious: An action is invidious when it sows discord or strife between people. Invidious behavior can also be hurtful for no clear purpose. Invidious comparisons drive a wedge between people by comparing them in an unfavorable way. It is similar to the word insidious: it is thesame kind of actions that cause conflict, but insidious things are done covertly, in secret. This ‘invidious distinction’ is happening right out in the open (at worship).

10 Remember that a man who keeps the whole Law but for a single exception is none the less a law-breaker. 11 The one who said, ‘Do not commit adultery’, also said, ‘Do not murder’. If you were to keep clear of adultery but were to murder a man you would have become a breaker of God’s whole Law.

  • Biblical Doctrine: break one commandment & you’re guilty of breaking them all
  • Is this an Unachievable Standard? Absolutely!
  • All of God’s commandments are connected to who He is and His heart for us
  • God’s point of view: We are all equally guilty, all in equal need of forgiveness

12 Anyway, you should speak and act as those who will be judged by the law of freedom. 13 The one who makes no allowances for others will find none made for them. It is still true that “mercy smiles in the face of judgment.”

  • James, under the control of The Holy Spirit is writing to proven followers of X
  • Read: “You, who have fully surrendered your life, should speak and act…”
  • Who we are informs everything we do
  • When we live from gratitude and honor the one who judges based on heart
  • What makes us who we are is that God has transformed our hearts
  • Being judged by the law of freedom means that EVERYTHING is forgiven
  • Everything is forgiven because of Jesus The Christ!
  • In Christ: Repentance + Surrender = Forgiveness
  • And we are to speak and act from that place of liberty from sin and God’s wrath
  • We should be the most forgiving people in the world!
  • The rest of the world is going to judge and be unforgiving, we will offer mercy
  • We love because HE first loved us. We forgive because HE forgave us.
  • We have experienced the reality of how Mercy triumphs over judgement
  • Literal: God’s Compassion assumes superiority over God’s Judgement
  • Compassion is to assume superiority over judgement in our lives! ‘In Christ’

We are all guilty and deserve God’s Judgement. Instead Christ died for us. To be forgiven and have eternal life will you live for HIM? Will you truly lay down your life, turn it over to HIS will, HIS plan, HIS ways? We who follow Christ do this EVERY DAY!

SUMMARY:

Scripture commands us in Christ’s Body to welcome everyone into our community equally. It is a stewardship to be taken very seriously.

How we live as Christ’s Body is important. Each command is of equal importance to God because He cares about our heart condition.

Jesus Christ’s Church exists based on God’s Mercy. We make God’s grace reality in our lives by expressing God-given grace to others.

MERCY

JUDGEMENT

APPLICATION:

What is your responsibility as far as making people feel welcome here at Midtown?

Why is each and every sin equally offensive to God? Why is this an important biblical doctrine?

How can you specifically elevate mercy over judgement in your life this coming week?

/by

James: Practical Biblical Living Pt. 2

LIFESTYLE RESPONSE TO THE GOSPEL OF JESUS CHRIST

Be clear about the audience of this letter. Based on what these people had done to demonstrate a wholehearted surrender to The Lordship of Jesus Christ, there is an assumption that these people had been given eternal life in Christ and were indwelt with the Holy Spirit.

James audience either had comfortable lives as residents of Jerusalem, or had come to Jerusalem about 20 years ago for Pentecost and never went home! Or they came to be part of the ‘Called Out Ones’ in Jerusalem from the surrounding areas of Judea and Galilee more than ten – twenty years ago, but they now find themselves as part of this group that fled Jerusalem during the ‘Persecution’ that followed Stephen’s stoning that was led by Saul, soon to be Paul.

They had been living scattered throughout Palestine for between eight and twelve years. This exemplified ‘Giving Up Your Life For ME’ as Jesus requires of His recipients of Eternal Life:

If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake and for the sake of the Good News, you will save it. And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? Is anything worth more than your soul? ~ Mark 8:35-37

Luther called this a ‘Straw Epistle’ because the Gospel was not central to the text. Luther missed the historical context I just referred to, he placed the Scripture in his own context rather than understanding the actual context of the Scripture. The Gospel is central to the people James writes to. The Gospel is central to James, more so than perhaps Luther’s experience would allow him to understand.

James, Jesus’ half-brother, writes this as the clearly established leader of the Jerusalem church, 18 – 20 years after Jesus Christ’s Death and Resurrection. His Bonafides are unquestionable and this letter was considered Scripture perhaps before any other new testament book was afforded that status. I love Luther but he was wrong about the book of James.

Last week Jame began this letter with an encouragement to persevere in our discipleship, to let God transform us by walking with HIM through the temptations and trials that HE sees fit to give us. He points out two things that keep us from the kind of relationship God wants for us to have with HIM: Divided Loyalty and ‘Stuff’.

From there James gets right to the heart of the matter: Sin and Salvation.

James Ch 1:13-27

13 No one should say when they are tempted, “God is tempting me.” For God has no dealings with evil, and does not himself tempt anyone.

  • Biblical Theology: Believing what we do about God based on Scripture
  • God’s people have read the scripture in unity for thousands of year
  • God has NOTHING to do with temptation to sin or with sin itself.
  • This is something Christ followers are not double minded about: Repentance
  • This is a crucial aspect of Biblical Christianity: God is BLAMELESS in our sin.

14 Instead each person’s temptation is due to the pull of their own inward desires, which can be enormously attractive. 15 Their own desire takes hold of them, and that produces sin. Unrestrained sin, in the long run means death. 16 Make no mistake about that, my brothers and sisters!

  • This is wisdom as to the nature of sin’s source being in each of us
  • Sin, rebellion against our Creator, is inherent in every human being.
  • Our desires / pride / lust / selfishness consume and capture us
  • We have all gone against God
  • Each of us needs forgiveness of our sin in order to be in relationship with God
  • Our rebellion (SIN), if it is not reconciled, it will end in ETERNAL DEATH

17 But every good endowment that we possess and every complete gift that we have received come from above, from the Father of all lights, with whom there is never the slightest variation or shadow of inconsistency. 18 By his own wish he gave us life through the Word of truth that we might be, so to speak, the first specimens of his new creation.

  • In contrast to who & what we are; naturally rebellious and evil, God is GOOD!
  • HE has proven to be complete and unchangeable in HIS goodness
  • There is proof is what HE has done for us, how HE has had MERCY on us
  • The proof is that HE has given us life through HIS Word of Truth
  • The Word of Truth is The God-Man Jesus Christ and The Gospel Message!

19 In view of what He has made us dear brothers and sisters, let everyone be quick to listen but slow to use their tongue, and slow to lose their temper. 20 For human anger is never the means of achieving God’s true goodness.

  • Because we have been humbled by being forgiven, by being given eternal life
  • Because of The Sacrifice of Christ for us… PROVING His goodness
  • We are to reflect God’s goodness in our relationships (3 specific how to’s)
  • Be a good listener. Don’t go shooting your mouth off. Control your temper.
  • There is a distinction between ‘Human’ anger and ‘Godly Anger’ (Motive)
  • If God has saved YOU from eternal death and indwelt you with His Spirit…
  • Here is how you validate the reality of your faith: Listen / Be Quiet, / Chill Out!

21 Be done with impurity and every other evil which touches the lives of others, and humbly accept the message that God has sown in your hearts, and which can save your souls. 22 Don’t only hear the message, but put it into practice; otherwise you are merely deluding yourselves.

  • Bottom line: renounce evil and in humility fully accept what God has done
  • That is what is known as ‘Saving Grace’
  • God gives each of us who is to be HIS child the grace to humble themselves
  • The reality of how we live our lives is the proof that God has humbled us
  • We practice behaviors that flow from the message of Christ, what HE taught

What does this look like, only hearing the message and not putting it into practice?

23 The person who simply hears and does nothing about it is like someone catching the reflection of their own face in a mirror. 24 They see themself, it is true, but they go on with whatever they were doing without the slightest recollection of what sort of person they saw in the mirror.

  • You see yourself, no problem recognizing that, it is obvious who you are
  • There is zero impact of seeing that person, you basically ignore the information
  • That information is, for all intents and purposes, meaningless to you
  • How crazy: to know of Christ and not respond by surrendering your life
  • You have see that Jesus is God and yet you are un-impacted / unchanged

25 But the person who looks into the perfect mirror of God’s law, the law of Liberty, and makes a habit of acting on it, they are not like the one who sees and forgets. They put that law into practice and are blessed by their actions.

  • This is a description of one who has come to saving faith in Jesus Christ alone
  • This person sees God exactly as HE is: The perfect giver of ultimate liberty!
  • This person is wholeheartedly impacted to the point of radical change of habits
  • This is opposite of a ‘unregenerate’ person who’s life unaffected by the Gospel
  • Practicing the reality of our salvation is who we (Christ’s Body) are meant to be!
  • Our actions agree with God’s Will… so blessing flow from them!

26 If anyone appears to be ‘religious’ but cannot control their tongue, they deceive themselves, and we may be sure that their ‘religion’ is useless.

  • Religion is used here to denote a proper relationship to God (humble servant)
  • This relationship is a lie if we don’t grow to honor God with our words
  • If we surrender our lives to Christ that includes our words (I Surrender All)

27 Religion that is pure and genuine in the sight of God the Father will show itself by such things as visiting orphans and widows in their distress and keeping oneself uncontaminated by this world.

  • These are examples of what real Christians do, not meant to be a definitive list
  • Two categories of ‘Such Things’ that ‘True Religion’ shows itself in:
  • Caring for those who are without family structure to care for them
  • Living in ways that renounce what is valued in this world: Riches / Power / Self
  • It is a given that this world is trying to contaminate you with it’s disease: SIN
  • You must proactively & intentionally counteract the effects of this corrupt world

James calls us to live, make decisions and act on the reality of the ‘Message’

SUMMARY:

Each of us is born with rebellion against our Creator inside us. We also bear God’s image, though our SIN taints it. God is not to blame for our sin and without God’s forgiveness our sin will ARE Spiritually, Eternally DEAD!

God in His all encompassing goodness has made a way for us to be ‘New Creations’. The Word of Truth became one of us humans, God Himself was incarnated in the man Jesus Christ. God Himself was the sacrifice for each of our sin & rebellion, violently killed by His own creation. And then Christ rose from the dead the and He lives and HE is coming back!

God implants the truth of Christ in all those who are to be new creations and indwells them with His Spirit. This is the Good News, the Biblical Gospel of Jesus The Christ!

When God Biblically converts us to faith in Christ we can now behave in ways that reflect God. We will reflect HIS goodness in our relationships. We will renounce our anger as an affront to God.

Humble submission to God’s will in Christ is the source of our eternal life and we display that in a total rejection of everything that opposes God. We live like the Gospel is our ever present reality… because it is!

Christ -Given salvation is the basis of the Body of Christ. Christ’s people live by standards that are possible only because we have God’s Spirit, that is the way to have ‘True Religion’ as defined by God.

APPLICATION:

How honest are you about YOU being the cause of your sin? How honest are you about what the end result of your sin remaining unforgiven will be?

In the days and weeks ahead how can you more fully embrace the reality that in Biblically converting to Christ following you are a ‘New Creation”?

What is the connection between humbly accepting the message God has sown in your heart with being quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to lose your temper?

If your daily life is not consistently impacted and directed by the Biblical Gospel, is it possible you are not all the way there with surrendering your life to Jesus The Christ?

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James: Practical Biblical Living Pt. 1

A LIFESTYLE OF SPIRITUAL GROWTH

We need this book as a church; we need wisdom to guide our discipleship. The Book of James mirrors the book of Proverbs at times. Prescribed practice is detailed then Theology explains why or Theology is explained by citing ‘Normative Practices.

The book of James is considered a ‘wisdom’ book in regard to Biblical genres along with Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Job, Psalms and Song of Songs. It was written to guide a flock that had yet to develop a culture of shepherding. James is caring for their souls with his explicit warnings about sin and it’s consequences.

Here at the beginning of the letter, the stage is set for series of practical lessons that are meant to have the goal of glorifying Christ through our character and spiritual maturity. It is about embracing the idea that Spiritual Growth is a lifestyle for those of us who have surrendered our lives to Christ!

The rest of our world is not concerned with ANY personal growth, much less growth towards OUR CREATOR. The rest of the world is becoming more and more self-absorbed. We cannot imitate Christ AND live self-centered lives; unless we are living in ‘virtual reality’, which is where narcissism lives. How do we reject this wretched life of self absorption? We live for OUR Lord, we do it by BEING His Body, here, now, in person, warts and all.

Our vision here at Midtown church is Biblical Church Culture. That means reading The Scriptures, Old & New Testaments as Jesus Christ’s ‘Called Out Ones’ have always read it. That reading of it HAS to include real life application! That is what we mean when we say we ‘read’ the Bible as Christ’s followers have for 2000 years. This means in order to live as we are called to we ALL have to GROW UP! Spiritually / Emotionally / Relationally We ALL have a lot of growing to do!

The rest of this world is not trying to grow, they are trying to lower the bar. They argue that the world of today should be accepting of attitudes and behavior that have been rejected by humanity for centuries, even millennia. The rest of the world is not concerned with growing, it is concerned with being made to feel good about their selfishness, FEEL good about their consumerism, their dysfunctional way of doing relationships, Feel GOOD about their greed and lust and destructive obsessions. We are going to be different. We are committed to a lifestyle of Spiritual Growth! Are you good with that? Have you embraced that?

James 1:1-12 (JB Phillips)

1 James, servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, sends greetings to the twelve dispersed tribes.

  • Authorship
  • Audience
  • Historical Context
  • Social Context

2 When all kinds of trials and temptations crowd into your lives my brothers and sisters, don’t resent them as intruders, but welcome them as friends! 3 Realize that they come to test your faith and to produce in you the quality of endurance. 4 But let the process go on until that endurance is fully developed, and you will find you have become people of mature character with the right sort of independence.

  • When, not if trials come… Trials are normative for Christians
  • Trials feel like and represent failure (change your thinking about failure)
  • Failure having such bad connotations is a recent thing, a snowflake thing…
  • A Lifestyle that embraces & learns from trials / failures is ‘Biblical’: Discipleship
  • Renounce the fear of failure / Own your failures and let that humble you
  • Nothing has value until it is tested. Is faith OUR meant to be worth something?
  • We are to view it as a process (Sanctification) We signed up ‘to be made Holy’

5 And if, in the process, any of you does not know how to meet any particular problem, they have only to ask God. He gives generously to all without making them feel foolish or guilty, and each may be quite sure that the necessary wisdom will be given to them.

  • The process is a given… now let’s talk about how we navigate the process
  • PROBLEMS THAT WE DO NOT HAVE SOLUTIONS FOR IN SCRIPTURE
  • James assumes a reliance on the Scripture (Old Testament)
  • Beyond the particulars of Scripture we seek God in Prayer (Governed by Bible)

6 But you must ask in sincere faith without secret doubts as to whether you really want God’s help or not. 7 One who trusts God, but with inward reservations, is like a wave of the sea, carried forward by the wind one moment and driven back the next. 8 That sort of person cannot hope to receive anything from God, and such a life of divided loyalty will reveal instability at every turn.

  • Wholehearted / Undivided
  • Humbled / At The End Of Yourself
  • Only God can get rid of your doubts. He doesn’t always do it right away.
  • The anything refers to things only God can give: ETERNAL THINGS
  • If your loyalty is divided you are hoping on superstition and magic, NOT GOD
  • No one is able to ‘Practice’ undivided loyalty in each decision they make
  • Stability comes for the ‘Author of Stability’: THE TRIUNE GOD

9 The person who is poor may be glad because God has called them to the true riches. 10 The rich may be glad that God has shown them their spiritual poverty. For the rich person, as such, will wither away as surely as summer flowers.

  • Your material possessions &connections DO NOT reflect your Spiritual State
  • God has mercy on the humble and down trodden when it matters: ETERNALLY
  • The hope of the rich lies in the discovery of their spiritual poverty (Matt. 5:3)
  • The things of comfort and luxury are not lasting

11 One day the sunrise brings a scorching wind; the grass withers at once and so do all the flowers—all that lovely sight is destroyed. Just as surely will the rich person and all their extravagant ways fall into the blight of decay.

  • This life is but a season
  • The prioritizing of material things over the things of GOD brings death & decay!
  • Everything in this world is temporary. We can choose to invest in eternal things!

12 The person who patiently endures the temptations and trials that come to them is the truly happy one. For once the testing is complete they will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to all who love Him.

  • For those without STUFF inTHIS world, HOPE lies in Eternity with Christ!
  • The definition of true happiness, eternal happiness, eternity with Christ
  • God has a plan for salvation and growth that is a lifestyle and a lifelong deal.
  • Those who are undivided in their trusting Christ for eternity GET THE CROWN!
  • The crown of life IS ‘Eternal Life’ with Christ!…
  • The Bible also teaches of another kind of eternal life…one without Christ

SUMMARY:
A lifestyle of growth is a lifestyle of actively participating in that growth (DISCIPLESHIP), this happens in challenges, trials and temptations (failures).
God’s Word calls us to embrace what God allows in our life, enduring the process that HE has chosen for our growth spiritually. God’s goal is to make your character reflect HIM (Spiritual Maturity).
As we navigate the process of God developing our character, we are directed to consult with our Master on how to proceed. He is generous, gracious and able to provide the wisdom we need to grow spiritually.
The basis of a biblical relationship with God is to approach Him from wholehearted, undivided surrender to Christ as Lord. The stability of our relationship is only as strong as our complete loyalty. Solid Biblical Gospel Foundation.
Our spiritual condition is not based on or reflective of our socioeconomic position. Scripture teaches the ‘Anti-Prosperity Gospel’. Material poverty is helpful in overcoming spiritual poverty. Material success can be a roadblock to overcoming spiritual poverty: We ALL need to overcome spiritual poverty!
Trusting Christ for Eternal life is reflected / expressed in trusting Him for THIS life. When we place Christ in priority over everything this world can offer, then we can find peace in the promise of that eternal life with Christ.
APPLICATION:
What would help you embrace failures as part of God’s process of spiritual growth?
What would help you seek God’s wisdom in the challenges you face?
What do you see when you honestly evaluate what divides your loyalty to God?
How much do you connect your dependence on God and your prayer life?
How well do you recognize when material things distract you from biblical spiritual growth?

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