James Week 1

Sermon Transcript

So much appreciate that, Courtney, thank you. Thank you for just understanding last week, those y'all that were in the auditorium that I just couldn't be here I was just I was sick, I got through the first service and headed home and went straight to straight to bed. And, you know, it's just one of those things. And I don't know exactly what I had, but I was just incredibly weak and sick. And so I rested up. And you know how a lot of times when you're getting over something like that your hearts ready to get back out to work before your for your body kind of catches up. And so I got out Wednesday and taught a small group Bible study. And then after that I'm a voice almost went. So y'all just continue to pray for me, I thank you so much, those of y'all that prayed, I am feeling a lot, lot better. And I think I'm over whatever it was. And then also, I would just say, in general, please pray for your pastor, pray for your church. I know many of y'all already are. But if you have a prayer list, and you can see yourself a praying person, please. Because one of the things that I think just makes my job such a joy, and actually talks about this in the scriptures, but makes it such a joy is to know and to actually feel the prayers of the people. And so continue to do that. And I thank you for that. Well, when we're in the book of James, it is one of those books, it's gonna talk about a lot of things, it's readable in one setting, just like Galatians was readable in one setting. James is readable in one setting. And one of the reasons why we're doing this during this season, we're trying to go book by book verse by verse is it really helps us to understand what an entire book is about a message of a book. And one of the things it does is it means we can't kind of skip over things we don't like or we don't want to deal with. It's just right there. And so, so that's exciting. And also a you can keep up with it rather easy. You know, for the next several weeks, we're going to be in the book of James. And so you can read that along as well. Chris will start in chapter one. And Chapter One is all about, no matter who you and I are, we understand that trials and temptations will come. That's true for any of us in the room, whether you consider yourself a believer or not watching online or listening online. But the difference is, as a believer, we need to understand that God intends them to deepen our faith. We don't want to be a people who simply grit and get through you ever been there before, where you're like, Okay, I can just get through this or like this season. I hate it. But somehow I'll just I'll just slog on through. And that's not what God has for us. Because again, we understand that the trials and temptations that will come for all of us, no matter what our station is in life, is intended to draw us deeper into our faith. That's another thing you're gonna see this morning in the chapter is just a great leveling in this first chapter of James that no matter where we're at, in this world economic system, there's a great leveling, when it comes to issues of trials and temptations and how we respond to that

really matters, it matters to God, and it matters for our own souls. And also, I would also say that the book of James is a helpful book, if you feel a little bit out of sorts, if you feel like man, when I'm in my city, when I'm in my home, when I'm in my community, I don't feel like I quite fit in I feel like there's just there's a little tension because I believe like this, and I kind of understand that they believe like that. This is the book for you. Because who is writing to and you're gonna see this right from verse one is these Jewish believers that we would sometimes call Messianic Jews or complete Jews, it's Jews who have found Christ. And so they're now Christians. And so they don't feel like they quite fit in with their previous Jewish brothers and sisters. And they don't feel like they quite fit in with these Gentile believers either. And so this book is written for them and then for us. So let's start out verse one of chapter Jane, chapter one of the book of James, this letter is from James, a slave of God, and of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, right from the outset, that whole idea of slave and master, we're sometimes not comfortable with that. It's just that whole idea of, of a bonzer, that he is clinging to his God and to Christ. And that's what he's talking about here. I'm writing to the 12 tribes, Jewish believers scattered abroad. And when you see that 12 tribes, it's in quotations here, it really is just that whole idea of Jewish people, right? Because if you remember, there were the 12 tribes of Israel, going back to Jacob changes then to Israel into Genesis, you kind of remember that. And you get into Exodus and they're led out of Egypt. Remember, there were the there were the 12 tribes, and that plays out all the way through to Revelation where you start to see what the 12 tribes of completion that's really the Jewish people, and sometimes you'll see a number like 144,000 That's just the complete number of Jews. So he goes right into that and says, This is who I'm talking to. You're there in Jerusalem. You're now a believer, and you are scattered. Greetings, dear brothers and sisters, when troubles of any kind come here.

way, consider an opportunity for great joy. Let's just stop right there hard stop. Who's excited about that? Right? None of us think this way naturally. Like, oh, oh, when trials come Oh, yeah, the hard things when I'm struggling financially or relationally, or in school or whatever. Oh, physically, I'm struggling. This is a trial. Oh, yeah, great. There's a great opportunity for joining. We don't think that way naturally. So right here from the outset of the book, this is some hard stuff to swallow some hard stuff to think about yet he presents it in the same way. This is not how we would typically counsel someone, if you came to me and you were hurting, I wouldn't be the first thing I'd say is, Hey, James says Consider it pure joy, though, because there's this pure joy, whatever you're going through, no, but this is to help us understand the foundation of belief. Right? So this is hard, and we're gonna see how God helps us deal with it. But right from the get go, we can be a people who consider trials, troubles of any kind and opportunity for great joy. How was that? For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow. For when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing. Now again, for many of us, that doesn't help us. Oh my god. So now you're saying that you're using words like endurance and perseverance and that perfection? I mean, this is all sounding like more hard things? Well, no, what he's doing is he is bringing up things that seem counter intuitive, but yet can somehow be true. For a Christian for believer, I believe in the back of his mind, he probably has in mind, the famous sermon on the mount. You know what that is where Jesus begins to speak and to teach and it's in Matthew chapter five and the Beatitudes come up and think about this. This is also counterintuitive the way Jesus talks, Matthew five, beginning in verse three. God blesses those who are poor, and realize their name for him for the kingdom of heaven as there's again, it seems, tops eternity like No, God blesses those who mourn, for they will be comforted. No, you're not you're mourning. How does this comfort come? God blesses those who are humble, for they will inherit the earth. It doesn't seem that way. It seems like the rich, the powerful, those who pushed to get their own way. It says, No, God blesses those who hunger and thirst for justice for Thy will be satisfied. God blesses those who are merciful, for they will receive mercy, that blesses those hearts are pure, for they will see God. God blesses those who work for peace, for they will be called the children of God. God blesses those who are persecuted for doing right, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Now, this is again, one of these things that we need to get right from the get go with James, because we're hearing this, this call to joy in the midst of trials, we're hearing this call of endurance, it's leading us somewhere, we're hearing this call to be perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect, which is exactly what Jesus says, At the end of the sermon on the mount. We think, Boy, this is hard. This is the opposite message that we inundate ourselves with day in and day out. Because mostly what we all want, we all want a life of ease. We want to create a life of ease, we want to seek out that comfort and ease and all advertising and all things are pushing us towards that's true, Jesus in what James is saying, That can't be true. But we know if we've pursued that long enough, it comes up short as well. If COVID taught us anything, it's the fact that even when you're comfortable at home, and you have all your physical needs met, you can be absolutely miserable. And that's why we're inundated right now with advertisements on our mental health and all these kinds of things because we realize that we need more to life than just a life of ease and comfort and to ourself. But we still come back to this is hard. This is hard for me as your pastor. It's hard for any of us. And in fact, it seems like almost impossible. James has some great advice. And we'll just pick it up in verse five. At first point there, I do want to come back that that was really good. The idea that God is pushing us towards maturity, God is pushing us towards maturity, it doesn't feel good. It isn't comfortable. This isn't fun when we have to do it as parents when we're pushing our kids to maybe do some chores or our job forces are pushing us towards maturity by good putting us through training or correcting us or aligning us, but it is what God does for our own good first point for sure. But still we feel like that's just heavy or weighty or I don't want that doesn't feel good, like grates against my heart or my soul. He knows that's how we're gonna feel. So he starts in verse five. He says if you need wisdom, and we need some wisdom, right, we're dealing with whatever situation we're going through

James is saying, we understand now that to have joy in the midst of trials is incredibly hard and difficult left to ourselves. And so if you and I need wisdom, ask our generous God, that's huge, or God is generous, or with the idea that if you need wisdom or lacks wisdom, ask of God who freely and generously gives all things, and he will give it to you. That's amazing. And he's just like Solomon of all that, that we need wisdom and how to get through this situation, because the trials are real, right? Our financial struggles, relational struggles, parenting issues, work related things, school related things. Pain in our physical bodies, it is a real trial. And what it's saying is you and I need wisdom. But it's not just from a God who sort of cares. Every once in a while cares, maybe you'll do something for you and maybe do something about it. He's generous, and he'll give it to us. He will not rebuke you for asking. But when you ask him, be sure that your faith is in God, alone. That's why I brought up the fact that it's so easy for us to want to put our faith in tangible things. And think maybe just one more bite of that. One more house, one more car, one more relationship, one more thing that I can sort of touch and feel and then I'll be okay. Apart from God. And what this is saying is no. Be sure that your faith is in God alone don't waver for a person with divided loyalty is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is blown and tossed about the wind says people should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. This is true in all of life, right? Who wants a divided friendship? Who wants a friend that's not really loyal, they're only there for you in good times, who wants an unloyal spouse who wants an unloyal employee or an employer who wants an unloyal person to their country? Oh, we understand this.

Such people should not expect to receive anything from the Lord, their loyalty is divided between God and the world. And they are unstable in everything they do.

Now, I'm gonna stop right there, because he's gonna get into financial stuff, and we'll get into financial stuff. But we, we understand how this is just true. And how the world works. Jesus said it as well, that we cannot be friends with mammon, and God. But this whole idea that we constantly feel like we're missing out on something. This just eats us alive. I think about the old country song by trace Adkins, you're gonna miss this. You remember that song? Don't mind me saying it. I'm your pastor. I'm not that good at this because my boys going out. But it's that whole idea. You remember, it starts out with a teenager and she's in her car. She's 1617, and SUV, and Olson, she's looking out she can't wait to get out of home, right? It's really going to be freedom when I get out there, right? And the song keeps going, and you know, it has that line of, you're gonna miss this, you're gonna want this back, you're gonna wish those days hadn't gone by so fast. Because then what did she do? She found yourself a couple of years later, newly married, complaining about the fact Oh, it's just in a little apartment. I can't wait to get a house and can't wait to have a baby. And then she gets to the house, he gets to the babies and the babies are crying, and she can't wait for the kids to get out of the house. And you guys get the idea. But we don't want to live that way. Because every station, every situation in life is an opportunity for God to work amazing amounts of grace because he wants to be generous with us, or wait for us to grumble and complain or to wish it away or to push it and ask for asked for some other circumstance when oftentimes, what God is trying to do is he's always there with us all the time. He's trying to change our perspective. As a second point, let's ask for wisdom from up above. The main key point here that let us last for wisdom from up above. It's not we think about the idea of being pushed towards maturity. I think that's, that's less painful, and it can be at times, but ultimately, it's a loving Father who loves us. And he's asking us to come to him and to look to Him, and He will freely and generously give us all things but there's more here isn't as let's go back to that passage and and talk about just financial things. It says that of course we understand that divided loyalty doesn't work doesn't work in God's kingdom doesn't work in in our world. Believers who are poor have something to boast about. For God has honored them you think the world we talking about pastor? Because when I'm poor by when I got a few pennies in my pocket, I'm not boasting about anything. I just one more. I'm not I'm not bragging about that. I'm not thankful for that. But what it's saying is, is that being poor, being needy understanding that I've got to look to someone else for my daily bread. It does keep us humble. So there's a sense in which the poor

or anytime you find yourself poor, and then that and the thing is, is that, that we can all play a game of like, well poor compared to what because again, we're all rich compared to maybe some places in Mexico, we're all rich compared to some places out in the bush of Africa, I get that. So you can't just play this sort of game. It's the reality which you and I feel the desperation, right. We already talked about the budget shortfall from last year. I mean, as your pastor and as your leader, and I know many of y'all in this room, you were praying, Lord, do something, I'm gonna give this much. But Lord, do something, move the hearts of people, because we don't know how we're going to continue to function as a church, if we don't have the financial means to meet our bills. The truth of the matter is that any of us if you ask me for my thoughts, and my advice, I'd say, Listen, I want a big fat pocket book personally, and in the church. That's what I want. But God in His providence, he knows what we need. And what he said is that this moment, pastor and church, what you need is you need to be desperate, you need to stay on your knees. And in that I'll provide, I'll come through Do you see what I'm talking about? Here, we think about being poor, or poverty, the reason why we can boast. And the reason why James is calling us to boast is because we're the ones, if you find yourself in a desperate, poor situation, we know that it has to come from the hand of God because it can't be explained any natural way. And I'm not the source, and I'm not the provider. So then counter, and those who are rich should boast that God has humbled them very important to understand. This isn't a call of like, is being rich, good or being poor, bad. No, that's the sermon for another day. This is all about the level playing field before God, we all need to understand that, that God does things in such a way to bring about his glory. And to keep us humble, you can be proud and poor, and you can be proud and rich, but you can also be humble and poor, and you can be humble and rich. And that's what he's saying is, and those who are rich boast that God has humbled them that he has somehow showed them a way to be stewards of everything that they have. Because for everybody, they will fade away like a little flower in the field, the hot sunrises and the grass withers and little flower droops and falls in his beauty fades away, in the same way.

The rich will fade away with all of their achievements, so important for us to understand, it goes back to the fact that left to ourselves, we always think we need more creature comforts, right? We always think Man, I need a little bit more I need, I need this, I need something I can touch. And that's, that's gonna be my legacy is I can I can feel it, and I can touch it. And what he's saying here is whether you're rich or poor, and even if you acquire those buildings, that eventually it will fade away. You guys know this, that even our building itself, it's a tool for ministry, for this season in this day and time, but we're trying to build something that's eternal and eternal is in the lives in the hearts of men and women. And so if you build in that, whether you're rich or poor, well, then you're rich indeed, you're blessed indeed. And that's what James wants us to see. Let's ask for wisdom from up above, to say, God, whatever I've got going on here, whether it's trials, we're going to look into temptations here in a minute, whether it's trials, or whether it's an abundance, I need your wisdom to know how to move that for maximum glory, your glory, not mine, are so prone, so prone to spend it on ourselves and everything sort of pushing us that way. So let's ask for wisdom about third. And finally I want to see is verses 12. And following my talks about I said that not only trials would come but temptations would come that's what the first chapter Jas is all about, and how we deal with that. God blesses those who patiently endure testing and temptation. Afterward, they will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love Him. And remember, when you're being tempted, do not say, God is tempting me. God is never tempted to do wrong and he never tempt anyone else. temptation comes from our own desires, which entice us and drag us away.

These desires give birth to sinful actions. And when sin is allowed to grow, it gives birth to death.

Don't be misled, my dear brothers and sisters, whatever is good and perfect is a gift coming down to us from God our Father, who created all the light in the heavens, he never changes or cast shifting shadow. He chose to give birth to us by giving us his true word. And we out of all creation became his prized possession. What's going on here? Well, temptations will come and visit Alonzo but image here that will help us to see this. So what ends up happening for any of us is enticement appears now. Now we're not talking about just sexual sin or sexual enticement, although of course it includes that but anything that's what

With servicing of have a lust for power or a lust for fame or you think I don't, I don't want that. It's just anything that you and I desire above God in our hearts a lot of times will carry us away quite quickly, right? So an enticement appears, you can go here and have this, you can have that it's enticing, right? So we're tempted, then we're carried away by our own lust, our eyes are not on God at all right, so in the hands of one person, it could lead to a loving relationship and a spouse in the hands of another can lead to destruction. And then one person, this money can lead to great stewardship and show off God's great power and might in another person, it could really lead to actual ruin. So it's not don't get don't get all hung up on the object. It's all about our hearts and our affections and where our mind is, so enticement appears, or carried away by our own lust, that lust give birth to sin, ultimately, then we now decide, okay, I'm gonna go into that not only looked at it, and not only thought about it, I'm not only teetered with it, and played with it, now I'm going to go and give myself over to it. And ultimately, that'll bring forth death. Now, death is not just physical death, you and I realized that we can be alive but very much dead. You know what I mean? Like you and I can be alive that we can be functionally breathing, we can not be in jail, but we could be walking dead people. And what I mean by that is just that idea of like, we're not about anyone else. We're not about God. We're not about serving others. We're not about serving our community, we're not worried about works. We're not worried about our faith. We're just going through the motions that even though we are alive, we're very much dead in time. They are another way to think about this is kind of a funny way to remember it. Okay. So it's kind of like, it's kind of like cars on Alameda. He may ever seen the car, lots on Alameda, okay, you know, I'm talking about there. If you don't, you know, and then and I'll pass it along enough. Okay. So it's one of those cars where it's one of those areas of town where they take, you know, cars out of the junkyard, and they shot him up, and then they try to sell them to you. All right. So what happens when you're not getting down to Alameda, and we're in need of a car. So who has the shiny red one was one little red truck, right? And one Oh, blue car. And so it looks good. It looks enticing. It looks like that's that that'd be a good car. What ends up happening? You say, Well, wait a second, how come there twice as much on the other lots and they're half as much here? You don't worry about it. You just go on? You're carried away by your own lunch? Oh, no, I'm going to take I won't take that girl. I'm sure there's nothing wrong with it. It can pass a CARFAX if it wanted to. But don't worry about it. Just go ahead. So carried away by your own lesson. Eventually, you're doing the dumb thing by actually buying that car on an Alameda line was no credit going on here. No credit check. It's all cash. You know, I'm talking about some of those kinds of places deals. So I'll say you do that. And then what ends up happening is you break down in the middle, the road not too far down the road. Okay, now you're calling your buddy and like I bought a car in Alameda, and it wasn't supposed to, I knew it wasn't right. And it wasn't was I knew there was something had to be up because it was half as much as anywhere else. And I'm just here to tell you from the junkyard it came in from the junkyard it will return quite quickly. If you're broken down. That's a good easy way to remember how this slippery slope works for all of our lives. I just say all that to say that, that we're all in this together. My own heart, your own heart. It's a factory of idols, or even less, where we are tempted every day, to do different things that we know are apart from God, and what He has for us. As we have to be trained in righteousness, we have to train ourselves in righteousness, this whole idea of counting it all joy when trials come. And that's not going to happen by accident. That's going to happen when we get serious about being men and women for the kingdom leaves. The third and final point is blessings come to those who endure in faith. This is so important. When I say blessings. I mean that all the good things that God has for you and I in Christ Jesus. I don't simply mean some sort of monetary blessings to spend on self. If you hear that in another church in this city or any other city that God wants to bless you so that you can finally have what you deserve or so that you can finally have that best life now. They're not reading all the scriptures. For sure blessing includes financial blessing and stability. But it's so much more than that. It's all that God has for you and I in Christ Jesus relationally

across our occupations, across our assets, because we are now being good stewards of all that God's given us. He will then bless us. Sometimes things look like we're being blessed, but we're not really being blessed. It's all about self. He said well, how will you know how will you know if if someone who even appears like they're doing it for something else? It's really all about self. You'll watch it implode

load before your very eyes. Remember what I said in the beginning, there is no shortcut for maturity for me and you, you and I are well aware of this, right? I mean, I have three children, two that are in school age one that's in preschool. And I promise you, if they could find a way to not do their homework, to eat whatever they want to stay up as late as they want, and to sleep in as late as they want to, to just not even try it schoolwork, so that they could then graduate not graduate, and somebody could pay them to be a bum, they would be right. And you would be doing our worst days. But that's not the way God designed it, nobody's going to pay them to be bums, they have to go through the hard work, of maturing in their minds and in their education in their body. So there'll be prepared to do what God has for him, whatever he calls them to do, because blessings come from those who are mature, and those who endure in faith, not just endure, right? Any of us can grit our teeth and get through a moment you ever had to do that. They just weren't gonna get through this. I'm just gonna, I'm just gonna.

That's not what we're talking about here. That's not what James has for you. And that'll get you to maybe to the next day, but that won't get you to a life long blessing of life of faith, blessings come to those who endure in faith and rest assure, even if you could find a shortcut to whatever it is you and I think we want. If we were to somehow able to short cut, it would implode, how do you how do I know that? Because when the spotlight on you and me is greater than the character within your may you know what happens? We implode. It's a big car wreck. It's a big mess. I mean, have you ever watched anything on Hollywood or anything where you just see all the sudden, elevated quickly spotlight on you implode what happened there. That maturing did not take place. Somebody's trying to find a shortcut. So that's what, that's what we just can't buy into the illusion that if I could somehow find a shortcut to happiness, and just grab a hold of it, whatever that thing is, right? That we all think it is. I'm gonna wish my life way and get to early retirement, I'm gonna finally get that girl and then I'm gonna finally get that baby, I'm gonna finally get that house and get that car, then I'll be able to whatever, was able to even tell herself as believers didn't give, then I'll be able to enter into whatever God has you then I'll start giving my life away, then I'll start doing.

We can't do that. We can't fool ourselves into thinking that's a viable option at all blessings come to those who endure in what faith and what is faith just had its very essence, what is faith? Believe in things that have not yet come to pass? Right that you cannot yet see. But you believe in faith. And you believe you have a foundation. There's reasons for believing and whatever your faith is. But that's what it's all about. That's what God I think has for us in this day. That's what we're asking us to be as a church like, Oh, God, let us be men and women of faith who step into all that you have for us in Christ Jesus. Let's do that. Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much that you did not leave us.

I asked for people around this room who are really struggling with this truth of joy in the midst of trials and not even sure like come about.

Father, help us to see that the answer is in our knees. Help us to be men and women of prayer, who look to you before we look to anything else. Before we look to talking to a neighbor or to a friend we're looking to you

because we know that you freely and generously give all things to your people

when their mind is singularly focused when our hearts are not divided. So oh Lord, help us. Help us to not have divided hearts render our hearts ruined our hearts, we your people. Oh, do it Lord, we pray. In Christ's name. Amen.