“Compassionate Service” – James 2:14-26

Danish philosopher Soren Kierkegaard told the story of a make-believe country in which only ducks live. "One Sunday morning all the ducks came into the church, waddled down the aisle and into their pews, and squatted. Then the duck minister took his place behind the pulpit, opened the duck Bible and read, ’Ducks! You have wings, and with wings you can fly like eagles. You can soar into the sky! Use your wings!’ All the ducks yelled ’Amen!’ and they all waddled home."

As a pastor…as a pastor who loves, loves, loves this church, that is one of my worst nightmares; that we would all leave here saying what a good time we had but our lives were not changed.  I’ll be honest with you.  I have never once prayed, “God, please bring a big crowd to Christ Fellowship.”  I have never once prayed, “God, please bring a lot of money in the collection plate.”

But I’ll tell you what I pray every week is, “Lord, please give me truth and may our lives be changed by it.”  I want your life and I want my life to be changed by the truth of God’s Word because I love you, not because your lives are such a mess.  I want your life to be changed because it is God’s will that we become more like Jesus.  And I want your life to change and my life to change because that is how the world will know that we are followers of Jesus, because we look like Him.

And how do we look like Him?  Obviously I’m not talking about looking like Him physically.  We don’t know what He looked like.  We look like Jesus when we do what Jesus did.  In John 13:35 Jesus said, “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."  We look like Jesus most when we love.  And how do we show that we love?

Is it when we say it?  That’s part of it, right?  But what if you only tell your spouse that you love them but you never show it?  Is that enough to just say it but not live it out?  Of course not.  Thomas a' Kempis said, “Whoever loves much, does much. “  That’s kind of what James is trying to tell us in the 2^nd chapter of the book of James.  Poor Pastor James has had his book maligned and misunderstood almost since he wrote it.

And this second chapter is the source of all the confusion.  The great Martin Luther read this chapter and decided that the book of James should not be included in the canon of scripture.  Some people have read this and justified their belief that we have to work our way into Heaven.  Others see a contradiction between what James is teaching and what Paul is teaching in much of his writings.

But settle down.  It’s ok.  We’re going to touch on some of that as we go but more importantly, we are going to see the truth of God’s Word and how our lives should be changed by it.  Turn to the book of James, if you will.  It’s in between Hebrews and 1 Peter in the New Testament.  Then turn to the second chapter, verses 14-26.  We are going through the book of James very quickly.  It is one of those books that it would be fun to just camp out in for a few months but we are going to hit the 5 chapters in 5 weeks.  We are in the second week.  James 2:14-26 says, “What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? ¹⁵ Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. ¹⁶ If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? ¹⁷ In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.^{D)" style="">}18 But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.”Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds. ¹⁹ You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.²⁰ You foolish person, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless^{a]" style="">[a]}? ²¹ Was not our father Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? ²² You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. ²³ And the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,”^{b]" style="">[b]} and he was called God’s friend. ²⁴ You see that a person is considered righteous by what they do and not by faith alone.²⁵ In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction? ²⁶ As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.

I have said many times that this church reminds me so much of what I believe the first church was like and every time I read this passage, I think of our church.  When James says in verse 15 to suppose that a brother or sister is without food and daily clothes, some of us don’t have to imagine it.  We lived it and I love to tell the story of the man who came in to our church when we were still in Runaway Bay.

There weren’t many of us left at this point.  We had decided to move over here and we were talking in Sunday School about what kind of church we wanted to be when we got to Lake Bridgeport.  We were literally in the middle of saying how we wanted to be known as a church that would meet the needs of the hurting and the homeless when the hurting and homeless man walked in the front door.  I kid you not.  And Sunday School stopped.

We invited him in and he politely told us he was hungry but he was a diabetic.  So somebody who was also a diabetic ran home and got him some good food and then we gave him some clothes, some gas for his van, some money in his pocket and we just loved on that guy, all before we ever mentioned Jesus.  But we did that as well and when we had given him everything he needed and we had done all that we were supposed to do, when he was ready to go, then we wished him go in peace, keep warm and well-fed.  And I have never been so proud to be part of a church than right then.

And I continue to be proud to be part of a church that continues to prove its love of people in Jesus Christ through the way that you give and give and give; never asking to be repaid or even to be thanked or appreciated.  There are 9000 verses in the Bible that talk about doing that kind of thing but few churches do it as big or as cheerfully as this church.  You are an inspiration to me and a joy to work with so thank you for all that you do.  I love you.

But in every church there is the potential for somebody to rest on what has been done in the past.  Or perhaps there is somebody here today that doesn’t understand what James is talking about and may be confused when they read about faith with deeds so let’s break this down into some manageable chunks.  And really, it’s pretty easy to understand when you just define some words and terms.

James talks a lot about faith or belief.  He talks about works or deeds.  And he talks about being righteous or justified.  And all of that can sound pretty churchy in this context but it’s really not hard to understand if you think it through.  I know I just lost some of you right there but try to hear me out.  I hear you saying, “I didn’t know I was gonna have to think through something today.  Oh great.”

He talks a lot about faith.  I think you can use “faith” or “belief” interchangeably here without a problem.  And to illustrate faith we have all seen or heard somebody use a simple chair.  So, let’s start there by using this chair to demonstrate faith.  I can say I have faith that the chair will hold me up but until I actually sit down in the chair I have not proven my faith, right?  But James tells us there are actually 3 kinds of faith.  There is dead faith, demonic faith and dynamic faith.

James tells us in verse 17 that faith without action is dead.  It is dead faith.  Dead faith is the guy who just says to the homeless and hungry person, “I wish you well.  Keep warm and well-fed!”  He doesn’t do anything about it.  He is the guy who says from a distance that he has faith in the chair, but it’s all talk no squat, right?

You might compare him to your neighbor who, if you were to ask him this morning – well, you couldn’t ask him this morning because he is out on the lake fishing – but when he comes home later this afternoon, you could ask him if he believed in God and he would say, “Sure, I believe in God.”  And that would be the end of the conversation.  Lip service is all you are going to get from Mr. Dead Faith.

Then in verse 19, James introduces us to demonic faith.  He says, “You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.”  Now, are demons believers?  Well, technically, as James says, they are.  But are they Christians?  Are they going to Heaven?  Of course not.  Demons see this chair and they believe.  They have faith.  They even have an emotional response to it.  It says they tremble.  It scares them to death. 

They know all about the chair.  They know that this chair represents the fact that Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life and nobody gets to the Father but through Him.  And they really believe.  But they don’t really sit in the chair.  And it’s these same people who come to church, maybe even every Sunday, and they have an emotional response to the worship time and they enjoy themselves but they waddle home completely unchanged and they look just like the world Monday through Saturday.

I’m not saying those people are demons.  I’m saying that is the same kind of faith that demons have.  And it’s nothing to brag about and it certainly won’t get you to Heaven.  Churches nowadays are full of people with demonic faith.  And Satan giggles like a school girl every time they show up because he knows they will waddle off and make the whole church look bad the rest of the week.

Old Mrs. Demon Faith may have gone down the aisle as a little girl and prayed a prayer and even been baptized but that was as close to the chair as she got.  She sings the songs in church on Sunday morning and even enjoys it but not as much as she enjoys the world.  Monday through Saturday she looks just like everybody else.  She watches the same TV, has the same hobbies, goes to the same places, eats and drinks the same, talks the same and then clucks on Sunday morning about the good old days when all the pews were full.

Oh, but she has good deeds.  Why, just last month she made that pie for the visitors social.  But she may not do that anymore because people just don’t compliment her on it anymore like they used to and if people aren’t going to notice and appreciate what she does then it’s not worth doing.  She knows all the answers in Sunday School but her life has not been changed.  She can explain the chair but she has not sat in it in faith.

Again, I am not saying that person is a demon but James would say she has demon-style faith.  James then says in verse 20, “You foolish person, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless?   And then he goes on to give 2 examples of people in the Old Testament that proved their faith by their deeds.  Were they saved by their good works?  Did their good deeds get them to Heaven?  No, of course not.  But we are going to talk about that in just a second. 

Their good deeds did not make them righteous.  It proved their righteousness.  There is a big difference.  Let’s look at that word “righteous” or “righteousness” for a second.  What does it mean to be righteous?  The dictionary definition says it is to be morally right or justifiable.  It basically means to be right or make the right decisions in the eyes of God.  Jesus said in Matthew 5:6, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for RIGHTEOUSNESS.”  Blessed are those who want to do what God wants them to do.  That is being righteous.

And you prove you want to do what God wants you to do by …what?  You prove it by doing it, right?  Let’s go back to the chair illustration.  Dead faith says, “Sure, I believe it will hold me up.”  But nothing else ever comes of it.  Demonic faith agrees that the chair is able to hold him up.  He really believes it mentally and emotionally.  But he will not use that chair to hold him up because it is just too confining.  He likes to do what he has always done so…no chair for him.

But dynamic faith is different.  Dynamic faith, by definition, has to do something.  Just like Abraham and Rahab both did something to prove their faith, Mr. Dynamic Faith proved his righteousness and proved his faith by not only having mental and emotional faith in the chair but sitting in the chair and relying on it and conforming to it.  And that is the proof of faith.  That is how other people know you have faith.  That is how the world can see that you are a Christian.  They see you sitting in the chair and sitting the way the chair was designed for you to sit.

If you lay across the chair, are you showing faith in the chair?  Yep.  Let’s just call that dumb faith.  It’s a whole other category!  You are showing faith.  You are even relying on it but you are not conforming to it.  Or you can conform to the shape of the chair without actually relying on it.  You do good works but not for the right reason.  Well that’s not dynamic faith either.  Dynamic faith is relying on and conforming to the chair.

You are relying on God and conforming to His will for your life.  That is dynamic faith.  Romans 12:2 says, “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is--his good, pleasing and perfect will.”

Don’t conform to this world.  That kind of faith is useless.  That’s what James says.  And what does he mean by useless?  We know that we are saved by grace and through faith but this kind of faith – when you conform to the world – will not save you.  It will do nothing for you.  My dear family, there may be some of us here this morning without dynamic, saving faith.  And that scares me.  The really scary part is that you may be able to fool most of us here. 1 Corinthians 2:11 says, “For who knows a person's thoughts except their own spirit within them?”

You may be able to say all the right things and have all the right answers but you don’t have saving, dynamic faith because you are not relying on God for everything you need and to be everything you need, nor are you conforming to His will for your life.  So, how do you know?  What does it look like to have dynamic faith?  Is it just doing good works?  If so, then how many little old ladies do I have to help across the road before I get to go to Heaven?

If that’s your question then you are never going to get your answer.  You are missing the point.  Let me share with you what I think are 3 different types of works or deeds.  You can help a little old lady across that street and that’s good.  That’s a physical deed that you can do.  Mow the neighbor’s lawn.  Give to the food pantry here at the church.  Work in the nursery.  Give your tithes and offerings.  Those are physical things you can do that show you are relying on God and conforming to His will.

There are also moral deeds that you can do.  Don’t raise your hand but how many of you are outraged at the federal government giving money to abortion clinics?  Now, how many of you are doing anything about it?  That would be a moral deed.  Just being outraged is just like the guy saying, “Be warm and well-fed” but doing nothing.  Your congressman may be a great guy but where does he stand on same-sex marriage?  The Bible calls it a sin so we should do our moral deed and vote against that guy.

Maybe you should encourage your kids or grandkids to get married before they live together.  Because not saying anything?  “Be warm and well-fed.”  Or maybe your moral deed that God would have you to do is simply inviting your neighbor to Christ Fellowship.  That is relying on God and conforming to His will for your life.

But there are also spiritual deeds that we should do.  And if you really want to show that you are relying on God and you are conforming to His will then you will read your Bible.  You will pray.  And you will attend worship.  You will trust in the Lord (have faith) with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding but in all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your paths.  And you will not waddle out of here.

If you don’t see those things in your life; if your life is not producing moral, physical and spiritual fruit then maybe you need to do business with God right now to see if you are a true believer.  But if you are looking to any of those things to save you; if you think good moral, physical or even spiritual deeds will assure you a place in Heaven then you have misunderstood. 

In Luke 23 we see the awful end of the life of Jesus.  He is hanging on the cross with two criminals on either side of Him.  One of them makes fun of Him but the other simply says to Jesus, “Remember me when you come into your kingdom.”  And right then and there his eternity was changed.  He didn’t do any good deeds.  He never got baptized.  All he did was believe but in doing so that man was relying on Jesus and to the best of his ability was conforming to God’s will for his life.  That is faith and that is why we will see that man in Heaven.  Have you done that?  All you have to do is believe.

“Confident Stand” – James 1

 I saw a sign the other day that said, “Becoming an adult is the dumbest thing I’ve ever done.”  Some of you can relate to that, I’m sure.  Some of you may miss your carefree days of youth.  Some of you may still be there.  Some of you can’t even remember back that far.  And some of you just act like you are still young and you are the ones I really want to talk to today.  There is nothing wrong with having a youthful attitude but for too many of us it is time to grow up.

Nobody likes an old grouch but we all know of some people who, whatever their age, need to start growing up and acting their age, right?  Some of you are thinking, “Yea, I’m looking at one!”  Well, I’m preaching to myself today, as I usually do.  And I’m preaching about maturity because James preached about it in his letter.  And we are starting a 5-week series on the book of James today.  5 chapters in 5 weeks.

There is just something special about the book of James.  It is a brief letter, comparatively speaking, but he packs a lot into a little space, much like Paul did.  There were several people in the Bible named James but this one is the brother (or half-brother, if you want to look at it that way) of Jesus, not the disciple.  For me, reading James is almost like eating comfort food.  You know, when you eat like you used to eat at Mama’s house?  You know how it tastes so good you just want to stick your face down in the bowl of mashed potatoes?

James is that way for me.  Sometimes when I need something, whether it be wisdom or encouragement or the right word at the right time, I just turn to James and stick my face down in there and let it get all over me.  It’s one of those books you can just roll around in.  Start anywhere, beginning, middle or end and you are guaranteed to get something good.  And when you put it all together, the reason James was writing was to help us to mature in the Lord.  This is a book written to Christians who are not babies any longer but need this word to help them mature into the believers that God would have them be.

And I continue to be amazed at the relevance of scripture for us today.  James was one of the first New Testament letters written, probably just a few years after the death of Jesus and yet it is as practical and useful for us at Christ Fellowship as if it had been written last week.  So, let’s jump into this beautiful book face first with chapter one.  James is just after Hebrews and before 1 Peter.  Let’s look at verses 1-18 of chapter one.  I hate to leave any word of any verse out of our study of James but so that we can finish the book sometime this year, let’s look at just those verses.

James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes scattered among the nations: Greetings. ² Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters,^[a] whenever you face trials of many kinds, ³ because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. ⁴ Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. ⁵ If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. ⁶ But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. ⁷ That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. ⁸ Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do. ⁹ Believers in humble circumstances ought to take pride in their high position. ¹⁰ But the rich should take pride in their humiliation—since they will pass away like a wild flower. ¹¹ For the sun rises with scorching heat and withers the plant; its blossom falls and its beauty is destroyed. In the same way, the rich will fade away even while they go about their business. ¹² Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him. ¹³ When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; ¹⁴ but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. ¹⁵ Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death. ¹⁶ Don’t be deceived, my dear brothers and sisters. ¹⁷ Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. ¹⁸ He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created.

Wow!  There’s a bunch of good stuff in there!  See what I mean?  It’s like sitting down to Mama’s table.  There’s the fried chicken and biscuits and mashed potatoes and gravy; the corn on the cob, the mac and cheese, the green bean casserole and the sweet potatoes that taste like dessert.  And just when you think you can’t eat any more she brings out the pecan pie with ice cream.  Oh, my, now some of your stomachs are starting to growl and you are thinking about what you’re going to have for lunch but don’t go there just yet.  Hear me out.

Because if you sat down to that great meal with an infant, that baby is not going to want to eat any of that good stuff.  All that baby is going to want to have is milk.  But as we mature we start to eat other things.  We eat solid foods just like what James is feeding us here.  This is for Christians who want to mature to become more like Jesus.  And to do that I want us to see something special in this passage.

What is one of the things that a baby does to let you know they are maturing?  One of the things they do is to stand.  That’s a big deal for a baby.  The day a baby stands up on his own is a day that Mama will mark on a calendar.  It’s a special thing to see a baby stand.  But when he does it the first time, he is wobbly and shaky and unsure.  Pretty soon his legs give out and he falls down.

But if we can devour and digest what James is giving us here, I want us to see that we can stand with confidence.  We can have a confident stand against trials that come from without and against temptations that come from within.  1 Peter 5:8 says the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.  And if you put a baby in front of that lion, that baby is going to fall over and curl up in the fetal position and start crying.  But we as mature Christians can stand confidently against that prowling lion and in the name of Jesus we can overcome him.

Paul says in Ephesians 6 that we are to put on the full armor of God and when we do we are to what?  We are to stand.  He says it several times.  Put on the belt of truth, the helmet of salvation, the breastplate of righteousness and stand your ground.  He says when we have done everything we are supposed to do, then we stand.  And we can stand confidently, not because of who we are or what we have done but because we are standing behind the One in whom we have confidence.

And James says we can stand confidently when trials come our way.  He says in verse 2 to consider it all pure joy when we face trials of many kinds.  Now how is that possible?  We have all read this scripture a hundred times.  We use it to comfort each other, as we should.  We quote it and claim it; use it, peruse it and lose it.  But what does it mean and how do we do that?

James is writing from the church in Jerusalem.  He says he is writing to the 12 tribes scattered among the nations.  It’s not literally just to the 12 tribes.  It is to all the Christians that have been scattered since the first church started.  When Stephen was martyred, the church really started to see oppression.  They were suffering loneliness, grief, hardship, rejection and frustration.  Does any of that sound like what you are going through today?

We know that going through a trial is not a sin.  In fact, God allows us to go through trials to make us more mature.  Whether it is a trial that comes from the outside or a temptation that comes from within, that is not sin.  The sin comes from handling the trial or temptation incorrectly.  The King James says it well that we “fall into” these trials.  The picture is of a man walking along feeling fine – high, wide and handsome as Adrian Rogers would say - and then he falls into a hole.  That happens to all of us and not just Christians but unbelievers as well.

He says “when” you fall, not “if” you fall into trials of all kinds.  My trials are not like your trials necessarily.  1 Peter 4:12 says, “Dear friends, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you.”  Be ready for it.  Have a plan now for how you are going to react to it because it is coming. And this kind of testing is sent by God to cause you to stand.  But you have a choice.

 

My friend Robert Miller had a choice.  Y’all prayed for Robert many times.  He was going through a trial that way too many fall into.  He was going along, high wide and handsome as anybody and then one day the doctor told him he had cancer.  Robert and I would call each other pretty often as the cancer worsened.  And every time I would ask him if there was anything I could do for him and he would say that he didn’t need a thing.

Robert was, as verse 4 says, “mature and complete, not lacking anything.”  But do you know what he would ask for?  He would ask for me to pray for wisdom for him.  He didn’t ask for me to pray for healing, although I did.  No, he asked for wisdom to know how better to make the name of Jesus famous through this trial.  And do you know where he got that idea?  Look at verse 5.  We sometimes separate verse 5 from verse 4 but James makes it all one thought. 

Verse 5 says that if you lack wisdom, you should ask God for it.  And we can separate those verses and just ask God for wisdom because we know that God wants us to have wisdom about every aspect of our lives but James says it in context of our going through trials and wanting to be mature.  “God please show me what you would have me to do in this.  How can I become more mature through this?  Tell me, Lord, not when am I going to get through this but what am I going to get through this and how can I become more like Jesus as I persevere through it?  Give me wisdom.”

When we can honestly say that, we can stand confidently against any trial.  And I am telling you right now that is not something that a baby Christian or especially a non-Christian can do.  That’s why when you see it in somebody it is so rare.  And that is what is most attractive about Christians to non-Christians.  We wonder why people are not drawn to the church like they used to.  It’s because when most Christians fall into trials they fall over into the fetal position and start crying like everybody else.

James says that when trials from without come then we can stand confidently.  And then do you know what happens?  Look at verse 12.  “Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him.”  Revelation 2:10 says, “Do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer. Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you life as your victor's crown.”

I’ll be honest with you.  I don’t know what the crown of life is.  I don’t believe anybody really does this side of Heaven.  I believe it is a gift or a reward that God will give to those who stand confidently in the face of trials but I can tell you what it is not.  It is not eternal life.  We can’t work our way to Heaven.  We can’t deserve eternal life in Heaven.  That is given by grace to all who believe in Jesus and call on His name for salvation.

But think about this.  Jesus understands what you are going through.  He knows trials and temptations we face and He knows how tough they can be.  So when He says He is going to give you a reward for standing confidently, that is all He has to say.  It tells me that when we stand confidently against the trials that we fall into that we can be mature and complete, not lacking anything on this side of Heaven and we will be rewarded on that side.  That’s enough for me to know.

Now let’s look at what it means to stand confidently against the temptations that come our way.  Look at verses 14 and 15.  “but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. ¹⁵ Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.”  Now while trials come from without, temptation comes from within.

Now you may say that person tempted me.  He tempted me or she tempted me but James says that temptation comes from our own evil desires.  That’s why some things are tempting to me and not to you and vise-versa.  And as a mature Christian we sometimes still sin.  I sometimes hear people say that we all sin every day.  Really?  Well we don’t have to.  In fact, if you sin every day you are not a mature Christian.  But sometimes even mature Christians do sin but when you do, how do you feel?  It should really bother you.  Some of you know.  You didn’t want to sin before you did it.  You didn’t want to sin while you were doing it and you regretted doing it when it was done.  You know how it feels when James talks about being dragged away and enticed.

It’s a bad feeling.  You regret it.  You don’t want to do it again.  So you repent of it; you agree with God that it is sin and you turn away from that sin to go in the direction God wants you to and you ask Him for forgiveness of that sin.  But some of us have to do that way too often.

Did you ever get caught red-handed doing something wrong as a kid?  I sure did.  When your parents confronted you about it what did you say?  You blamed it on anything or anybody that you could, didn’t you?  He made me.  I couldn’t help it.  Everybody else is doing it.  I had too.  Right?

And we do the same thing sometimes with God.  And like the good Father that He is, He gently reminds us of 1 Corinthians 10:13 that says, “No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.”  In other words, all your protests are invalid.      

When James says in verse 16, “Don’t be deceived”, he is saying quit deceiving yourself.  God didn’t tempt you and you didn’t have to do it.  You made the choice to sin.  Sin is always a choice.  God doesn’t give us temptation.  James says what we get from God is always good and perfect, like that crown of life that He promised us.

In his book The Weight of Glory, C.S. Lewis notes how believers often underestimate the full riches God has for His children.  "...If we consider...the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that our Lord finds our desires, not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures...like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased."

James tells us we can stand confidently against the trials from without and the temptations from within.  And when we do we have everything we need in this life and rewards in the next life.  You can have confidence in that fact and when you do you show rare maturity.

But you will never have any of that if you never give your life to Jesus.  You will struggle with no hope all your life only to find that when you stand before God at that frightening judgment seat that He is also a just judge.  And that whatever decision you make on this earth will affect your eternity.  Please don’t wait.  We are not guaranteed another breath.

 

“The Faithful Obedience of Mary” – Luke 1:26-38

In honor of Mother’s Day, I want some mothers to tell real briefly about how they heard the news that they were pregnant for the first time.  Did you take a home pregnancy test? Did the doc tell you?  Or did you just know?  Or maybe your husband just told you, “Hey, you’re getting fat.”

How did you feel when you heard the news?  Were you scared, excited, worried?

A little boy went to his dad and said, “Daddy, where did I come from?”  The dad, not wanting to get into all that with such a young kid, said, “Your mother hatched you from an egg in a nest.”

He went to his mama and asked her where SHE came from.  His mother said, “Well, the stork brought me.”

So, he goes to grandma and asks her where SHE came from and his grandmother told him that God had formed her.

The little boy goes back to one of his little friends and says, “You know, there hasn’t been a normal birth in our family in 3 generations.”

Is there such a thing as a “normal” birth?  Oh, sure, doctors see it every day.  It’s no big deal to them but to me, every birth is a crazy miracle.  And the birth may turn out like the doctor expected it to, but there’s not much that is normal when you give birth to a baby.  Your version of “normal” just changed forever.  It’s no over-statement to say that a baby changes everything.

When you are around a pregnant woman, what does she want to talk about?  The sky may be falling and the grass is turning blue but the question on her mind is, “Which stroller is safest?  What should I be eating?  How many diapers should I buy?  How long before that husband of mine brings me some chocolate???”

And there is not only the physical aspect of pregnancy but I don’t know how mothers do it mentally.  It would freak me out knowing I had to take care of myself and the baby when there are so many decisions to make.  What to eat, what to drink, what to wear, where to go, when to go, is the baby gonna be normal, what to name him, what color is the nursery going to be?

It’s a miracle anybody ever gets through it, much less the baby.  But the birth of a baby is one of the greatest miracles God has ever done.  And like I said, it happens every day.  But what if you were…the one mother?  What if your child was to be THE Child?  What if you were carrying…the Christ child?  No pressure there, right?

How did Mary not just freak smooth out when she found out?  And, oh, how she found out!  She didn’t have a doctor to do a blood test.  The rabbit didn’t die for Mary.  No, she had none other than the angel Gabriel come to her house and say, “Hey, how ya doing?  I’m Gabriel, sent from God, to tell you that you are the one chosen from all women in creation to carry the baby Jesus.  But don’t worry about anything, ok?  Have a good day!”

What would be your response?  How would you handle that kind of news?  Well, let’s look at Luke chapter 1 to see what Mary’s response was.  It’s a story we normally only study around Christmas time but it is very appropriate for today.  I like Luke’s account of the story.  I read a commentary that said Luke was a good person to tell this story because he was a doctor and would know full well how babies were born.  Well…I’m pretty sure you don’t have to be a doc to understand the fundamentals but Luke is very thorough like you would expect of a doctor.  So let’s turn to Luke 1:26-38.

In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, ²⁷ to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. ²⁸ The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.”²⁹ Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. ³⁰ But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. ³¹ You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. ³² He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, ³³ and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.”³⁴ “How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?”³⁵ The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called^[a] the Son of God. ³⁶ Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month. ³⁷ For no word from God will ever fail.”³⁸ “I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.” Then the angel left her.

I’m quite sure that no first-time mother has ever been completely prepared for what motherhood would bring.  Nobody could ever be completely prepared for the joy and the heartache that it brings.  Nobody could prepare for the laughter and the tears or be ready to have their heart broken or be prepared for their child’s heart to be broken like all mothers experience.

How much more those things, the wild pendulum of emotions that would soon come to Mary?  Probably just a teenager, Mary had yet to experience a lot of things in life and yet now she is to be the caretaker for the Savior of the world.  And yet here we see young Mary had faithful obedience to what God had planned for her life.

I want to look closer at that phrase “faithful obedience” this morning.  We would all like to think that we had faithful obedience to God but what does it really mean?  What does it look like to have faithful obedience as a mother…as a person? Mary truly was, in the literal sense of that first word, full of faith.  She was faithful. 

I spent some time this past week up in the mountains of Oklahoma close to Arkansas at my cousin’s little cabin in the woods.  It is a beautiful, quiet, peaceful place where I like to go to get away from the computer and TV and telephone.  I took my Bible and some commentaries and just spent some time thinking about this passage.

I brought something back that helped me understand this passage just a little bit better.  It’s a leaf.  There is nothing special about this leaf.  It looks just like all the others up there.  But I want to ask you a question.  Do you believe that God made this leaf?  Sure you do.  Even a little child can understand that God made the leaves.

Have you ever made a leaf?  Have you ever made a real leaf out of nothing?  Have you ever truly created anything out of nothing, especially something as beautiful as a leaf?  If you had all of the resources known to man and money was no object and you had all the scientific knowledge in the world, could you make one leaf out of nothing?  Of course not.

And yet, how many leaves are on one tree?  How many trees are there in the world?  And we believe that God made them all and yet so many people get hung up on the virgin birth.  If God can make a leaf; if He can make a tree and a mountain and a sunrise and sunset; if He can part the Red Sea, make a donkey talk and float an axe head and even sell the Runaway Bay property, then why would you think that He can’t make a baby in an unconventionally miraculous way?

One of the commentaries I took up there to help shed light on this passage is written by a very smart man that I go to a lot to help understand different passages.  And when I opened it to the part of Luke chapter one where it talks about the angel coming to Mary, he says that this is not to be taken literally.  It is just “a beautiful way of stressing the presence of the Spirit of God in family life.” (Barclay, Family Study Bible Series)

He goes on to explain all the reasons he thinks so.  I was amazed!  Toward the end of the book he says with confidence that Jesus died on the cross but was raised again and lives today.  He didn’t have any problem with that!  But virgin birth?  That couldn’t happen.

But look at Mary’s response to Gabriel.  Of all the people who should be skeptical; only she knew for sure that she was a virgin.  Only she was there to see the angel.  Of all people she should have doubted and yet look at what she says in verse 34.  “How will this be since I am a virgin?”  She’s not doubting like Zechariah did in verse 18.

She just needs a little clarification and the angel knows that so he tells her simply that the Holy Spirit is going to be in control of all that.  And that’s all she needs to hear.  She didn’t ask the obvious questions that must have flooded her mind.  “What am I going to tell Joseph?  What will my family think?  What will the neighbors think?”  There is no way that she understood it all.  And yet she was full of faith.

And do you know what faith brings?  When God tells you to do something, He rarely tells you the whole story.  He just tells you what to do and when you, full of faith, just do what He says, do you know what always comes with that faith?  Peace comes with that faith.  Romans 5:1 says, “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,”

In Mark 5:34 Jesus tells the bleeding woman who touched Him, “Dear woman, your faith has healed you. Go in peace.”  There is a direct connection between faith and peace.  Hebrews 11:6 says, “And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.”  And one of those rewards is peace.  And we know that Mary had peace.  “I am the Lord’s servant. May your word to me be fulfilled.”  She didn’t understand.  She just believed.

She believed that if God brought her to it, He would bring her through it.  She believed because she had read the old scriptures where God had proven Himself faithful for all those years and because God was faithful, she could be full of faith.  So why worry if God is in control?  All she had to do is be obedient.  Ah!  But that was the trick, right?

It’s one thing to say we believe; to say we have faith.  We might say we are the Lord’s servant…but how, but why, but when?  I’m going to have to fix this.  I gotta do something.  But obedience is a combination of us doing what we are supposed to do and then just allowing God to do what He wants to do.  Do you know what obedience is not?

Obedience is not worry.  Philippians 4:6 says not to be anxious about anything and so that makes worry a sin.  Worry is not obedience.  Do you know what obedience is?  Obedience is prayer.  The rest of that beautiful verse in Philippians says but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.  So obedience is not worry.  Obedience is prayer and even thanksgiving to God.

Obedience says, “I don’t understand this.  I don’t know how this is going to work out.  It doesn’t make any sense to me.  But, Lord, I have faith in you.  I have faith in you in spite of my circumstances.  And I give you thanks in spite of my circumstances.  In fact, I give you thanks FOR my circumstances.”

A.W. Tozer said, “The Bible recognizes no faith that does not lead to obedience, nor does it recognize any obedience that does not spring from faith. The two are opposite sides of the same coin.”  And do you know what obedience brings?  We saw that faith brings peace.  Well, when you have done everything you are supposed to do; when you have prayed and thanked God for what you are going through, and you haven’t been worrying, then you can just relax and have joy.  Obedience always brings joy.

Several years ago I decided I was going to find out how to get joy.  I wanted to know what the Bible said about how to get it and how to keep it.  So, I scoured the Bible.  I looked at the people who had joy.  I read what it said about joy.  I did word studies, book studies, people studies and everything I read led me to one thing.  To have joy, you have to be obedient.

Anytime you see somebody in the Bible with true joy, you look close and you will see that they were being obedient.  Paul – obedient Paul, right? – Paul, probably more than anybody else talks about joy.  Paul, who had more physical problems and struggles than anybody else says in 2 Corinthians 7:4, “I am greatly encouraged; in all our troubles my joy knows no bounds.”

 

And the world would say that is impossible because for the world, joy and happiness are the same thing.  Their state of mind fluctuates with their circumstances.  When things are bad, they are depressed but Paul knew what Mary knew what some of you know that when you are obedient to God; when you are doing what He has told you to do and no more and no less then you can just relax and have joy because the one who made the leaves is in control and He loves you!

Dr. B.J. Miller once said, "It is a great deal easier to do that which God gives us to do, no matter how hard it is, than to face the responsibilities of not doing it."  (Today In The Word, November, 1989, p.11.)  Have you ever had to face the responsibility of not doing what God has told you to do?  It’s miserable, isn’t it?

I’ve said before that there was a period in my life that I spent away from God.  I went were I wanted to go, I did what I wanted to do and I said what I wanted to say.  And I have never wanted to die any more than I did back then.  I had no joy.  I had no peace.  Because I was not faithful and I was not obedient.

Look, we are making this harder than it has to be.  Do you want joy and peace?  Then go where God wants you to go, do what He wants you to do and say what He wants you to say.  And you don’t have to worry about the consequences because you are not in control.  God is.

But the reason this is harder than it has to be is because the world doesn’t want us to live that way.  The world wants us to live like them.  Misery loves company.  And so everywhere you go there is someone or something trying to distract you.  “Hey, look over here.  Something shiny!”

Look one more time at how Mary answered the angel in verse 38.  “I am the Lord’s servant.  May your word to me be fulfilled.”  How refreshing that must be for God to hear.  She didn’t say what we usually say.  “But God, I can’t because…  But God, I won’t because…  That’s not fair.  I don’t understand.  I can’t afford it.  What will the neighbors say?”

No.  She simply said with faithful obedience, “I am the Lord’s servant.”  That’s what God wants to hear from you today as well.  Honestly tell Him that you are His servant and He will give to you the peace and the joy you have been looking for.  Let’s do that right now.  As the music plays…

"Ruth"

Decisions have consequences.  Would you agree with that statement?  Sure, I think most people can see that the decisions we make can affect us and others for good or for bad.  And we all have to make decisions, big and small, so it’s important to know how to make wise decisions.

A husband and wife, prior to marriage, decided that he'd make all the major decisions and she the minor ones. After 20 years of marriage, he was asked how this arrangement had worked. "Great! In all these years I've never had to make a major decision."  (www.sermonillustrations.com)

I try not to spend too much time watching the news because, I don’t know if you have noticed, but good news never makes the news.  Only bad news is news anymore.  Just a quick glance at some headlines this week will prove that.

28-Year-Old Medical Student Auctions off Her Virginity...

Teens Beat Student on School Bus

Military sex assault claims up 50 percent

Toronto Mayor Rob Ford to enter drug rehab

62 NJ high school students arrested in senior prank

Fort Worth man pleads guilty to role in 2 gang-related slayings

I could go on and on.  These are dark times.  This is a nasty old world and it is getting worse.  People don’t even try to justify their sins anymore.  They don’t even see them as sin.  They don’t even see them as doing anything wrong.  When you hear of some celebrity “marrying” their same-sex partner, it’s not even news because they are the same sex.  It’s just good news that they are getting “married”.

When we find out that some politician is a pervert or that an athlete has contracted AIDS from sleeping with thousands of women, their actions are never condemned.  Only their decision to seek help is applauded. And I’m glad when they make that decision to get help but they should have known that the original decision to do those things was going to have consequences. 

How ironic it is that people will go completely against what the Bible says is moral and pure and right and good and then claim there is no God because how could God allow such horrible things to happen? Sometimes horrible things happen because we, all of us, practically go begging for them to happen with the way that we live our lives.  When God said, “Thou shalt not…” He wasn't just making some stuff up to keep us from being happy.

In fact, it’s just the opposite.  While some people see the Bible as a rule book full of things that we are not supposed to do and that will suck all the fun out of our lives, God actually wrote it to show us that doing those things will have consequences and He loved us too much to allow that.  The Bible is not written by a big ole meany-head who hates us.  It’s written by the Creator who loves us.

Now, it’s true that this old world is a nasty place to live.  It always has been since Adam and Eve got evicted from the garden.  But as you look back over history there have been some times that are better and some times that are worse.  There were positive aspects of the Reformation or the time of revival that swept through Europe in the late 1800’s or even September 29^th, 1967.  My birthday was a time of great rejoicing. 

But there have also been other dark periods as well.  Our passage this morning was set in one of those periods and so should be quite applicable to us today.  It’s amazing how the Bible can be so relevant to us even though it was written so many years ago.  Our passage is from the book of Ruth and it was written sometime about 1000 years before Jesus lived.  And yet while the culture has changed immensely, the themes of the book could be written today.  Let’s turn to the book of Ruth.  Ruth is a very short book stuck in between the book of Judges and 1 Samuel in the Old Testament.  It was set during the period of time when Israel was ruled by the judges as we will see in the first verse.

Let’s read Ruth chapter 1, verses 1-18. In the days when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land. So a man from Bethlehem in Judah, together with his wife and two sons, went to live for a while in the country of Moab. ² The man’s name was Elimelek, his wife’s name was Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Kilion. They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem, Judah. And they went to Moab and lived there.³ Now Elimelek, Naomi’s husband, died, and she was left with her two sons. ⁴ They married Moabite women, one named Orpah and the other Ruth. After they had lived there about ten years, ⁵ both Mahlon and Kilion also died, and Naomi was left without her two sons and her husband.⁶ When Naomi heard in Moab that the Lord had come to the aid of his people by providing food for them, she and her daughters-in-law prepared to return home from there. ⁷ With her two daughters-in-law she left the place where she had been living and set out on the road that would take them back to the land of Judah.⁸ Then Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Go back, each of you, to your mother’s home. May the Lord show you kindness, as you have shown kindness to your dead husbands and to me. ⁹ May the Lord grant that each of you will find rest in the home of another husband.” Then she kissed them goodbye and they wept aloud ¹⁰ and said to her, “We will go back with you to your people.”¹¹ But Naomi said, “Return home, my daughters. Why would you come with me? Am I going to have any more sons, who could become your husbands? ¹² Return home, my daughters; I am too old to have another husband. Even if I thought there was still hope for me—even if I had a husband tonight and then gave birth to sons— ¹³ would you wait until they grew up? Would you remain unmarried for them? No, my daughters. It is more bitter for me than for you, because the Lord’s hand has turned against me!”¹⁴ At this they wept aloud again. Then Orpah kissed her mother-in-law goodbye, but Ruth clung to her.¹⁵ “Look,” said Naomi, “your sister-in-law is going back to her people and her gods. Go back with her.”¹⁶ But Ruth replied, “Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. ¹⁷ Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if even death separates you and me.” ¹⁸ When Naomi realized that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped urging her.

We see in that first verse that this was during the time of the judges.  Now just to show how similar those days were to the dark days we are living in today, I want you to turn left just a page or two to the end of the book of Judges and look at the very last verse of the whole book.  It says in Judges 21:25, “In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as they saw fit.”  Does that sound like us today?  Everyone is doing as they see fit.

And it’s not for a lack of laws that people do as they see fit.  The laws have been changed to suit the lawmakers who make the laws…as they see fit!  Is it any wonder these are dark days?  People want to make their own decisions, live their own lives and then wonder why their lives are filled with bad consequences.  But this story of Ruth and her mother-in-law is not all about bad decisions.  In fact, it’s a love story.  Not only do Ruth and her mom-in-law show true love for each other but Ruth winds up with a sweetheart.  Everybody likes a story with a happy ending.

Adrian Rogers tells about hearing about some college girls at a Christian college who were praying one night.  And, they were praying, “Lord, give us pure hearts. Lord, give us clean hearts. Lord, give us sweethearts.” And, all the girls said, “Ah-men.”

The book of Ruth is a great love story.  Ruth is a picture—in the Old Testament—of the Church. And, she marries a man named Boaz, who was a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ, our kinsman Redeemer.  We may have a chance to talk about that tonight at 6 but this morning I want us to see just 2 things: the consequences of our choices and the confidence of our choices. 

We don’t have to look very far to see the consequences of choices in the book of Ruth.  It says there was a famine in the land of Israel and so Elimelech took his wife Naomi and his 2 sons and moved to Moab.  Now that makes sense, right?  Not enough food over here – we’ll just move over there.

My grand-dad used to say that the best illustration for a scripture is another scripture.  And these verses just scream out another verse from Proverbs 14:12 that says, “There is a way that appears right to a man, but in the end it leads to…death.”  And death is exactly what we find for the men in Naomi’s life when they move to Moab.

It seemed like a wise thing to do but the problem is that God had told them through Moses not to have anything to do with the Moabites.  Moab was the enemy.  Moab was unclean.  They were unlawful.  Moab was boo, hiss!  They were not to be trusted or to be made allies, much less were they to move over there and marry them.  For years and years, Moab had been Israel’s sworn enemy and it didn’t matter what was happening or how green their grass was, moving there was not only being disobedient but showed a complete lack of faith in God.

But Elimelech made that choice and he paid the price for that choice.  But not only did Elimelech pay for that bad choice but his sons paid the same price, their lives, and his wife and his sons’ wives paid a price as well.  It may be true that there are two sides to every decision, but it is also true that there are two sides to a sheet of flypaper, and it makes a big difference to the fly which side he chooses.

And aren’t you glad we are free to make those choices?  I am.  I’m glad we live in a country where we are free to choose most things.  We are free to choose where we live and how we worship and how we will raise our kids.  If we want to drink Dr. Pepper or drink something inferior, that is our choice. J And every law that gets passed is a slow erosion of our freedom; a disintegration of our rights to choose and the consequences of those choices.

Some people are more comfortable with somebody else making all their decisions for them but I like living in a country where I am free to choose and I am free to live with the consequences of my choices.  And I especially like to be able to worship as I please and I thank God for the rights we have here, at least for a little while longer.

And I am going to give you an opportunity to make a choice at the end of the service.  I’m going to give you the choice of joining the church, of renewing your relationship with the Lord, accepting some responsibility in the church or even to accept Christ into your life.  And if you have never made that decision then you can choose to accept Him or you can choose to reject Him.  But you have to make a choice.  And choosing not to make a choice is still making a choice.

But how do we know how to make right choices?  How can we be sure that the choices we make are wise?  I like to be able to make my own choices but how can I minimize the negative consequences of my decisions? Well, I have a few ideas that I would like to share.  And since I’m not smart enough to come up with any answers on my own, forgive me but I went to the Bible to help answer the question of how do I make good decisions?

The problem is that these won’t necessarily help everybody.  If you are not a believer and follower of Jesus; if you have never accepted Him into your life to be Lord of your life, then I’m not going to be much help today.  See, because we as believers…now don’t tell anybody…but we can cheat.  Seriously, when you accept Jesus to be your Lord and Savior then you get the Helper to come and live in your life.  That is one of His names. 

Jesus told His disciples in John 14:15-17, “If you love me, keep my commands. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate (or Helper) to help you and be with you forever— ¹⁷ the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.”  The word “advocate” or “paraclete” means one who stands beside.  It has the meaning of a helper, an attorney who pleads your case, or just someone who teaches or helps.  And that is what the Holy Spirit is and we have Him living in our lives when we accept that Jesus died for our sins and we ask Him into our lives. 

So, the first way that we can make good decisions is by having the Holy Spirit to guide us as we go through our daily lives.  The second way is to ask specifically for wisdom.  James 1:5 says, “If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.”  It’s that easy.  Now my definition of wisdom is simply to make the decision that God would make. 

Mark Twain said, “It is wiser to find out than suppose.”  And it is that finding out that is the trick.  So making the decision that God would make comes first from having God in your life and the Holy Spirit as your guide.  You can also get wisdom from other Christians.  Psalm 37:30 says, “The mouths of the righteous utter wisdom, and their tongues speak what is just.” And lastly, you can make the decision that God would make by having His Word – the Bible - in your heart.  The psalmist said in Psalm 119:11, “I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.”

So, the secret to making good choices and minimizing the negative consequences of our decisions is to attain wisdom from God.  The consequences of our choices are changed with wisdom.  Now, let’s look at the confidence of our choices.  Let’s go back to look at Ruth in verses 15-18.  “Look,” said Naomi, “your sister-in-law is going back to her people and her gods. Go back with her.”¹⁶ But Ruth replied, “Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. ¹⁷ Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if even death separates you and me.” ¹⁸ When Naomi realized that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped urging her.

Do you see the confidence that Ruth has?  She didn't stutter or say “uh, I think I should…”  No, the words just flew out.  I picture them standing in the road and Ruth grabs hold of Naomi’s shoulders and she looks deep in her eyes and she pours out what she knows is best for her.  And how could Naomi argue with that?  Ruth has made up her mind.  She has obviously given this a lot of thought and it has become obvious to her what she is supposed to do.

Don’t you wish you could make major decisions with that kind of boldness and confidence?  Well, you can.  When you have done everything you are supposed to do; when you have the Holy Spirit living inside of you and you have asked specifically for wisdom about the situation; you have gotten advice from other mature Christians and you have studied to see what the Bible says, then you can rest assured that you are making the right decision.

In fact, like in Ruth’s situation, it may not seem like the right choice to people in the world.  Most people would have advised Ruth to stay right there in Moab, in her home country.  Her chances were better of finding another husband among her own people. Her friends and family, I’m sure, were telling her otherwise. 

And it’s going to be the same way in your life.  In fact, I can guarantee you that, if He hasn't already, God is going to ask you to do something that the world says is crazy.  And you are going to wonder if you heard Him right.  You are going to wonder why God hasn’t told the other people around you what He is telling you. And maybe He has and maybe He hasn’t but it doesn’t matter.

Now you have a choice to make.  And it’s real simple.  Do you put your money where your faith is or do you disobey?  We talk and sing and share about how much we love God and we trust Him when things are easy.  But when He asks you to do something difficult, are you still singing?

Now, some of you consider yourselves to be thrill-seekers, adrenaline junkies or adventure-lovers.  Maybe you have a need for speed or maybe you like to play the stock market.  You like to take a chance, knowing that it might backfire and you get hurt or lose some money or get a little embarrassed.  I respect that person!  Life’s too short to be bored, right?

Well, what more exciting adventure could you go on than to do something that the world says is crazy when you know that God has told you to do it and has promised that He will be with you?  I don’t want to hear any more singing about you being a friend of God or wanting a closer walk with thee if you don’t do what He tells you to do.

Some of you have met my brother-in-law Terry’s mother, Mrs. Caywood.  Terry said he went to visit her in her hometown one day and they went somewhere to a store or restaurant and there they saw a bunch of bikers in the parking lot.  Rough group of folks but Mrs. Caywood, who is closer to 4 feet tall than 5 and is 80-something years old just marched right over to them.  Before Terry could stop her she had strode right into the middle of them and was being hugged by every one of them.

Come to find out, every time Mrs. Caywood saw them around town she would witness to them and invite them to church and tell them what God was doing in her life.  She didn’t care what anybody else thought or how they looked.  She was confident that God had told her what to do and she was confident that God was going to be with her.

I’m not advocating doing something stupid and then blaming the results on God.  I’m saying that when God asks you to do something with your time, your talents or with your treasure, then you have a choice.  You can suffer the consequences of that choice by being disobedient.  Or you can experience the adventure and blessing of having the confidence God gives in your obedience.

But you can only have that confidence when you have given your whole life to God.  You say yes to Him, repent of your sins, and assure yourself a place in Heaven for eternity today and He will give you confidence in that choice as well as any other.  Don’t wait.  We are not guaranteed another breath.