James Week 2

Sermon transcript:

It’s so good to see and talk and meet so many of you all this morning and shake hands, I do trust and hope that your week has been well, there's always all kinds of heavy things that can come our way, whether we're thinking about ourselves and what goes on in our city on a weekly basis, or whether we're connected to events across the country, I know that every week we come in here we come in here, always sort of a mixed bag, right? We're carrying burdens, some of us carrying more than others. And then also we're, we're rejoicing, we're glad to be here. And so there's always sort of that element that goes on, I'm very much aware of that James is a good book, to really help us. In our day, we looked at a Galatians. Before this Galatians was all about that freedom in Christ, it was all about the grace of God that we make sure we understand that James is all about making sure that we know that we cannot merely be hearers of the word, but we have to be doers, as well. And so we'll be reminded of that throughout the book, and no less on a morning like this. You know, when you look at a book like James James was probably written pretty early, maybe in the 4050s. Ad. We also history and tradition tells us that James and Jude, those are two books, in which again, they were the half brother of Jesus, okay, so they share, Joseph and so you can just see all over through the Scriptures, how they knew Jesus, and they walked with him. And they were able to articulate this morning, what we need for our lives to be helped. So we'll get right into it. Last week, we looked at James chapter one, verses one through 18. We're gonna finish up chapter one of James, not a whole lot of verses, but a lot packed in there. And so we'll start in verse 19. And it says this, understand this or remember this or you know, this dear brothers and sisters, you must be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to get angry. human anger does not produce the righteousness God desires. So get rid of all the filth and evil in your lives and humbly accept the word God has planted in your hearts for it has the power to save your souls. way a lot in there, right. And so we get there right at the top. And it just reminds us as, as Christians, as believers as brothers and sisters in Christ, that what what's the first thing that says there it has kind of three things must be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger. Again, this really runs smack against what we are living in, in our day and age. And we all think we have to have a thought or opinion on everything. And we put this on social media, social media, what it has done is it's allowed us to hide behind our humanity and really just kind of throw out their thoughts and we speak at each other instead of to each other. And so again, things like this with the book of James is talking about so helpful. It's also helpful in our homes, because many of us came from broken homes, we're in broken homes, we're in places that we know, are not good, they're not godly, it's not nourishing, it's not helping us run and we think, man, how can I get out of this, this is overwhelming. I don't really know how to navigate this. And James tells us, let's start here. Let's be quick to listen, let's be quick to listen slow to speak and slow to get angry. Again. We don't want to be a people that just always spout off our thoughts and our opinions and already boiling underneath ready to lash out at people that's easy to do. It's harder to actually listen and understand and to have empathy. We understand that empathy is in such short supply. Right now. He goes on and says human anger does not produce the righteousness, God's desires. And many of us know. Like, I know this, I know this in my own life. I know this from my family of origin. I know this in my workplace. I'm just in it. Pastor i There is a lot of filth and unrighteous things that go on inside my home, outside my home, in my school, at my workplace. I get this. But one of the things that the Bible is always encouraging us on is that you and I can create a different path. We can chart a different course that our own revival, what happens in our hearts and it's important that we understand James over and over again, not from the perspective of okay, if I do this, if I grab this, if I sort of do these things, then I can be right with God. No, keep in mind the gospel that we just celebrated and talked about in our last book and really is all throughout the scriptures, which is the grace of God that empowers and enables us to live this out. God Himself has to grant us this and he does we talked about this last week he freely and generously gives to any of us if we're beginning to ask and we'll see here in a minute in the closing of this paragraph, humble ourselves. So get rid of all the fills and evil in your lives and

My life and then humbly accept the Word of God that he has planted in our hearts. So there's something there, there's a seed, if you're here in this room, Something brought you here, even if you kind of came unwillingly with a with a spouse or a parent or whatever. It's just that whole idea that God's up to something if you're still have breath in your lungs, and you're still willing to sit under something that says, You know what, I can find God here, I can connect with God here, then he has something that is in your heart that has been planted. I think about this with the parable of the soils. And it's in the back of my mind, as I read a passage like this, you remember that? When Jesus talked about the parable, the soils, that right now as, as you're hearing God's word, and as you read, and as you pray, and as you listen, and as you learn, there's times where the word of God it goes, and it gets snatched up real quick, doesn't it? by Satan, or by others, or sometimes it's it, you go out, and then other things sort of choke out the word of God, you have other cares, other concerns, I gotta go here, I gotta go here, I gotta do this. But then sometimes what happens what sometimes the soil, it goes deep, not just service, not just not showing, not just having other things choking out, but it goes deep, and it takes root in your heart and in mind, what's the key? What is the key that's going to help us be people where the roots run deep in areas of love, because it's not natural. I don't know about you, but I'll just speak for myself. It's not naturally in me to be slow to speak. It's not in me to want to get rid of anger, it's a lot easier to lash out at people when they don't do what I want them to do. So how can I be faithful to allow God's word that's planted in my heart? I believe that I'm not totally lost. How can I? How can I allow that to, to grow into something good instead of something that fester, that is as evil and always a slow burn underneath it says, humbly accept the Word of God that has been playing your hearts, for it has the power to save your soul. That's the first point I want us to see this morning. We have to ask God to humble us. Even this, this isn't something that we that we put a lot on social media. I don't know if you know this, a lot of times on Christian social media, it's it's 90 to 100% encouragement about things that we would want to do to keep running. And I think those are important. And I want to hear encouragement, I want wind in my sails. When I'm doing what God's called me to do. And I'm running the direction I think God wants me to go. But sometimes, we have to do the hard things of asking God to humble us, we actually have to see, I've got a problem. And the problem, isn't them. It's me. You're gonna see this more clearly as we go on in this passage. But I will just say, and you can talk to other people who have been on this world long enough. And you may be experienced this yourself, if you and I don't humble ourselves, when it comes to God and the people and we continue to go down paths that sort of were given to us. We talked about this all the time, Courtney, I mentioned this about sin, and we don't talk much about sin, but it's the idea that, listen, I don't give you been sinned against or you've been the one who has been sending there are areas in all of our lives, that if we allow them to fester and grow, it will kill us about last week, it will ultimately lead to our death. But there's another way we can be part of the blessed. But how can that happen? We have to ask God to humble us. But here's what I know. And this isn't fun. If we say no, I don't think I want to do that. I don't think I want to bend the knee. I don't think I want to bow the heart. here's the here's the here's the news that all of us need to be reminded of if we don't humble ourselves before God, guess what happens? This is what I was saying that many people who've walked with the Lord long enough know this, he'll humble us. And it's not always so pleasant when he has to do it for us because we refuse to do it for ourselves. Or what will happen is that we'll have a complete wreckage behind us our family will be a wreck our job will be a wreck our school situation will be a wreck. And we're like what in the world? Why is all there this wreckage behind me is because we failed to see we need to ask God please Lord, Humble me. I want what goes behind my wake. I know we don't have a lot of boats and water here in El Paso but but the Wake that's behind me in terms of in terms of vote, I want it to be, I want to be good things. I want to be honoring things. I don't want to just create a path of destruction wherever I go and just move on, move on from that relationship, move on from that job, move on from that city. Because we know that if we humbly accept what God's doing in our lives right now, when he's playing in our hearts, and has the power to save ourselves, and those under our care and have to ask God to humble us rest assure, if we don't, if we don't humble ourselves, guess who will do it for us. God will humble us because he's not marked in our lives or in our culture. Thinking that wants to see is more about how God works.

Don't just listen to God's word it's so

easy for us to just hear myself included. I've been in church a long time. I sat under church a long time before I was in leadership. But But don't just listen to God's Word, you must do what it says. So simple, easy, got it so hard. Otherwise, you're not only fooling yourselves, you're only fooling yourself. If you listen to the word and don't obey it is like glancing at your face. In the mirror, you see yourself, walk away and forget what you look like. But if you look carefully into the perfect law, that sets you free. And if you do what it says, and don't forget what you heard, then God will want bless you for for what just hearing about it, thinking about it, but no, for what for doing it. So important. So let's let's let's break this down. Again, very basic, but it's like, it's almost like we need to be reminded and even illustrated, so that it gets into our hearts so that we don't even leave a setting like this. We don't go out like a week like this. And just think I know, I'll just hold these things or treasure these things in my heart. And that'll be enough. No, we can't just listen to God's Word, we must do what it says. The great thing about staying before you is that I have some responsibility and care. But ultimately, we have individual responsibility and care for wherever we're at in our spiritual journey to be faithful, you understand how that works. So so when you look to your neighbor, you look around this room, or you maybe consider people to watch online say, Well, I'm further along than them. I think I'm doing better than them. That's not the measure. The measure is against God's holy, perfect word. And also the measures of say, Listen, as far as it's up to you, what God has given you what God has revealed to you, when he's putting your hands when he's made us stewardship over. Let's be people who don't just listen and think, Well, that would be nice if I did that for so and so. I think it'd be nice if I maybe had someone over to my house. So is my house just for me? Or is it for Jesus? Is my body just for me? Or is it for Jesus is my car just for me, you get where I'm going? Or job or school, whatever. We don't want to just listen think Well, it'd be a nice idea if I did this someday. How will we be blessed? Not just in thinking pleasant thoughts, but in the actual doing will be blessed in the doing. And he has this great passage in here that we all know about a mirror. Okay, so I've looked at many of y'all already. You've looked at me already. You're looking at me right now. Y'all looked in the mirror Praise God. Okay, praise God, you and I looked in the mirror, and that we stood there for a few minutes, okay, because we needed some help before we came to present ourselves to others to the public this morning, right? We all needed it. I remember getting out this morning, looked in the mirror before I got in the shower. And you always jump a little bit, right because your hair and you know, if you're a female, the makeup and all that goes into that. It's not just the hair for myself, I wasn't clean shaven, that you know your shirt is wrinkled. It's, you know, kind of pulled to the sides and leftward. So there's all these kind of things. But if we were a people who just looked in the mirror this morning and said, well, good enough. Let's just roll on to church, we would all think what is wrong with you? What is wrong? Why did you not I mean, care just a little bit, right? But that's what he uses James uses in everyday illustration to make sure that we understand, we don't do that, what do we do, we look carefully at the mirror, and we make sure that we're put together before we go and present ourselves in public. He says in the same way, if we listen to the God's word, and we don't obey it, it's like glancing at your face in the mirror, you say yourself, and then you walk away. And you forget what you look like, or pretend you don't look like that. Right? We all sort of have a rosy colored picture of ourselves. We love to see this is true for all of us. That's why Jesus hit it this way. Hit hit us this way. We all love to see other sin and think it's a bigger deal than our own. You remember how Jesus dealt with these he says we all love to consider the speck in our brothers and sisters I because we don't want to deal with our grapple with the law on our own. It's that same concept here. We look carefully into the perfect law that sets us free. Now again, this is not how our culture thinks about the law. The law seems like that's holding us down your kids, my kids, when they think about the law, the rules of your home in my home, you're holding me back. You're withholding something good from me. We sometimes think this way about our Heavenly Father. I've read the Bible. There's a lot in there. There's a lot of things and I think that's holding me back from what I want to do. What it says in verse 25, is if you and I look carefully at the perfect law, what does it do? Does it hold us back? No, it sets us free.

And if you do what it says and don't forget what you heard, God will bless you for what thinking about it considering it. Consider

During hospitality, is that enough? Is it just enough to? Well, yeah, I will straighten up my home so that if someone maybe stops by and rings the doorbell they can come on in. That's not how it works in our culture anymore. We're fooling ourselves. That's how Maybe it worked for our grandparents culture. But in order for United be hospitable to use our home, that's just one example. We can think about our car or workplace or school, I get all that. But we've got to be intentional with that we've got to actually invite people into our home into our lives. And we will be blessed in the doing and all of that's been thrown up there. Yeah. But let's, as the second point this morning, we are blessed in the doing, let's just not fool ourselves. Let's not fool ourselves any more than if we had woken up this morning, looked at the mirror and said, That's good. We're good. Like he just kind of give a passing glance rolled out of bed. I'm good. No, we all stopped. We all looked intently. We all said what do I need to do, to present present myself to a public watching world. And in the same way, church, we all have to take seriously, what God is saying and the word blessed, I want to be blessed. We talk about this all the time, this is a good positive thing that God wants to do in your life and in mind, it's not some sort of, if you hear and feel this as a burden. And I know some of y'all do, I'm not gonna get into all our different personality types. But I know when I start talking about hospitality, and I start talking about, you know, your money and things that God's given you. So let's get a little get a little tight and a little anxious for different reasons. Because of people we're introvert or extrovert we have sort of this personality, or that we have this sort of thing going on our home and that sort of thing. But what it says here is that we are blessed in the doing that we step out in faith and we say, God, I don't know how this is gonna work. I don't necessarily see the connection, but I trust you. And so I will walk through this door, I will do this small thing. And enough small things done in the right direction, long enough, lead to an abundant life. The life we all say we want, it can happen. The blessing can come. But the blessing comes in us what thinking about it, praying about it, contemplating it, maybe doing it some way No, someday, no in the doing, and that's true for your life, and in mind. Last thing I want to see here at verse 26. And following says this if you and I claim to be religious, but don't control our tongue, you and I are fooling ourselves. And your religion is worthless, pure and genuine religion in the sight of God, the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress, and refusing to let the world corrupt you. Were a lot wrapped up in here you can see why we had to go slow. And James right, you can see how we couldn't just get through all this chapter one last week. And we're getting through just a few verses today.

This whole idea of controlling the tongue is just a massive thing.

All of us have ways in which we need to control the tongue more so of us have a bigger microphone, some of us are a little louder than others. I understand that some of us are introverts or extroverts and we have all the personality types represented in this room. But all of us can learn to control the tongue better the tongue is the thing and you'll see this as we get into James it is like a fire it has the power for destruction as the power for good. But it is it is one of the if not the hardest thing to control. In fact, I've heard it said, and I'm sure this is true, that it's harder to control the tongue and even our sexual organs. You think about that, because it's just that whole idea of how easy is it for us to be just so flippant? First it starts in our mind in our heads, and then all of a sudden, it's like, oh, right, he's just like coming out really, oh, I want it to stop. Or we take great pleasure in just doing that. And it says, Listen, those of us who claim the name of Christ, we have to understand the tongue. And, and I as I've been studying this passage, I've seen that the controlling the tongue has a lot to do with the vulnerable among us. That's really what you're talking about here. You understand that we talk about widows and orphans, we could just replace that with vulnerable, just the vulnerable in that day and age, those would have been the most vulnerable because there's no social security, there's no safety net, there's no social programs that sort of catch those like orphans and widows who would have fallen through the net. So you can just say the bone rubble. And so it's so interesting how the tongue and what we do with the tongue is connected here and this passage to how we interact with the vulnerable. This becomes very important we think about the children among us. We think about that, how we talk to our own children, how we talk to those under our care, and how we interact in and deal with those

who are elderly? A lot of times we fall in the trap to think that we're the we're the first generation has had this bad or it's the world is darker than it's ever been before. And I just want to say as I read the Bible, James and other books, what you see is it same old lies that are told over and over again in different packages. Why does he say at the end of this passage, be careful, do not let or refuse to let the world corrupt? You and me? Why? Because the world system will always have some form of dominance over grace. Right? The strong smishing out the week, all, not all, but a lot of the issues that we're dealing with in our culture in society right now, are just the natural outgrowth of that sort of ideology that was rampant in the first entry and is rampant in our day and age. That what good is it to protect the vulnerable, there's nothing in it for you and me, we don't get power, we don't get prestige. We certainly don't get money, to humble ourselves and to stoop and to help those who really can't help us.

And yet, here's what it says. And if we consider ourselves believers, if we want to be blessed in the doing, if we want to ask God to humble us, instead of waiting for God to humble ourselves, we are to care for the vulnerable. Now, what are the vulnerable, just Webster's Dictionary, it's those who are susceptible to physical or emotional attack or harm, the vulnerable this is all just Webster's Dictionary are in need of special care support, protection because of age, disability, or the risk of abuse or neglect. Some phrases that are that are associated with vulnerable are those at risk those who are in in danger, those who are ill protected, those who are unguarded, those who are open to attack, those who are undefended. Those who are without arms, those who are defenseless, those who are easily hurt, wounded or damage, the powerless, the helpless, the resistless, the exposed to the open to the endanger of the at risk of the at the mercy of the easy target for in the firing line. These are the vulnerable among us. And so those of us who are believers, we need to think rightly, about the set of the population that includes our own children, I get that those who are in our care among us in the church and those who are in our culture, and society. Now, when it comes to the vulnerable, please make sure that we don't get our understanding of how to deal with one another. And to deal with the vulnerability by by our definitions from the world, we have to refuse to let the world corrupt us in our thinking about the vulnerable. What do I mean by that? So let's just take a big issue that is in this week, and for a lot of reasons. So if a person is struggling with gender dysphoria, or any behavior, apart from what God has from them, any sin? Of course, we are those who welcome them and anybody who stuck into anything at church, otherwise, how can we be pleasing to God? Because anytime you're in crisis, whether its identity crisis, or or otherwise, church ought to be the place where you and I can go, but also simultaneously as we say that and as we believe that if a person is struggling with gender dysphoria, or anything else that is affirmed by their church as sin, that how can we be pleasing to God? In other words, we don't have to fall into the world's definitions of saying it's either black or white, what we can, what we can say is what what the Church has always said, which is this is a place of safety for believers, the gathering of the saints, but it's also a hospital for centers. And just that whole idea that we don't have to fall into world definitions of how to deal with things. We say this over and over again. It's okay to not be okay if you come here, but it's not okay to stay there. We would cease our prophetic edge of being the church if we affirmed everything be yet we would also seek to be a church that cares if we don't what care for the vulnerable, because something happened to you and to me, to screw us up all of us in this room, right? We call it sin. And so by all means, we want the church to be the place where you and I feel safe to work out whatever our identity struggles are until they are secure in Christ. We've already sort of made this mistake once in the church where we've allowed other people to put definitions on us that we don't even believe or think I think about this with the issue of the pro life movement or the abortion movement, that we're still in at some level but it's

would have been tempered because of some of the laws of the land. And that the church is a place that we say we care about the unborn. And we care about you. If you've gone through that, if you've done that, because there's a place of grace and hope there, you understand what the church is meant to be, we can hold both, we can both be a place for the vulnerable to come to say, I messed up, I'm hurting, I've done something that seems irreversible. And we can say No, as long as you have breath in your lungs, this is a place you can be and find comfort and find hope. And then we can also be a place to say man that's wrong, like that sin like that's not okay, that, that you've done that or that was done to you to see how we want to resist or refuse to let the world give us definitions of right and wrong. That's why if we only drink at the table of our news, feed, whatever side and wherever you and I get our newsfeed we poorly, poorly able to articulate a clear and compelling gospel.

And he said, What does this have to do with Palm Sunday? How are we going to how are we going to think about this and inland this way to think about Palm Sunday? Well, Courtney already alluded to it, but I find it fascinating that people with their mouths. When Jesus was riding into town on a donkey didn't come in on our horse. He didn't come in, in a big stage coach, he didn't come in with all the pomp and circumstance that should happen when a King comes into town. He came in on a lowly donkey. And that when he came in on a lowly donkey, there were people who were crying out and singing, singing I think about this. When we look at

the book of Matthew chapter 21. And it tells this story of where, what are they doing most of the crowds spread their garments on the road ahead of him other cut branches from the trees and spread them along the road. Jesus was the center of the procession. And all the people around him were shouting, Praise God. Praise God, for the Son of David blessing on the one who comes in the name of the Lord Praise God in the highest heaven. And yet, what? Not even seven days later, what are they shouting? What are they doing with their mouth? What have they allowed to corrupt them, and what corrupts us so quickly. That's why you and I have to take great hope. Because some of us have messed up in how we spoken to our loved ones this morning on the way to church. So it's messed up last week, some of us are gonna mess up. As soon as we hit back into our home, and where do we turn when we need help? Or what do we need when we need a friend and to understand this? It's to Jesus is back on our knees again to say Yes, Lord. I mean, that turned into a song for those that know it. But I just think that, that we have to understand how quickly and how finicky Our hearts are, and not be overly discouraged or beat ourselves up. But just to say, okay, glory, humble me. I know that if I don't, if I don't get this, right, you're going to bend my knee, if I don't bend it, you're going to bend it, Lord, Humble me. And also be willing to say,

be willing to say this week, when you just can't hold it in. I mean, if there's a time to be bold, it's now it's always a time to be bold. And I think now's the time to be bold. When you think about this week, when you think about our culture. Here in El Paso, in the Borderlands, the Holy Week, a lot of things sort of shut down. There's a natural affinity for church and the things of God on a week like this. And I want you and I to think if we're going to walk through our hallways, and we're going to walk through our workplaces to think Man, I cannot help but to praise God. And if I don't, what does this passage say? You have to look at it not just in Matthew, but in Luke says the rocks will cry out, right? You remember that? You remember that? That? They're saying, hey, maybe I'll just shut these people up. This isn't the time to praise Jesus, we kind of keep that in church. Keep that on like Easter Sunday, maybe in a building Far, far away from here. And what does Jesus say, this week, this Palm Sunday to that sort of thought? Don't Don't keep quiet. Because the stones along the road or the rocks themselves, would burst out in tears and celebration and praise. If they didn't. It's a great place to be. It's a great time to be a part of Life Church because we are able to hold this tension, right. We as the people of God, were able to hold this tension of saying, We are the saints that are gathering.

And this is a place for the struggler, the vulnerable to be welcomed. That's why we have such emphasis that we do regularly on our church calendar. We just got done at the end of January. With human trafficking emphasis. If you go back a year earlier, it was foster care and vulnerable children awareness because this flows out of the very heart of God and we get it from passages such as this, but church this week

As you and I go out, no doubt, we're going to meet resistance. No doubt we're going to meet some sort of raised eyebrows like what do you about? What do you what are you trying to ask me to come to? What are you thinking about this week? And just remember, yes, we're trying to care for the vulnerable. Yes. We're asking God to humble us. Yes, we're blessed in the doing but just remember that if you don't, if you don't cry out and sing and praise, what's likely to do so. The rocks along the road? Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for Your Word. We thank you how you did not leave us. We thank you how you care for us. You care for us that we were once helpless.

We were once confused. We were once searching.

Many of us were vulnerable in our homes and we had parents and family and friends who took us to church.

Some of us didn't discover you until later in life, the Lord you have gathered us all to hear and you have taken us upon yourself. You've taken our sin upon your cross, but you have gathered us up to love us. So Father, we want to receive that blessing and love from you. And then Lord, help us to go out. Help us to go out and be bold, to proclaim what you've said on our hearts as he thinks in Christ's name, Amen.