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“Listen, Live, Lose, Love” – James 1:19-21

Have you ever known anybody that just had to be right about everything; somebody that knew all the answers, even if they were wrong? I used to work with a guy like that. He was such a know-it-all. I remember one time I asked him a question that I knew there was no way he could possibly know the answer and he acted like he didn’t hear me. I was sitting right next to him and so I asked him again and he literally turned away from me and just pouted, refusing to even acknowledge the question. The words, “I don’t know” just were not in his vocabulary.

We probably all have known somebody like that but how many of you know anybody that simply must be right…with God?  There are lots of people that feel they are always right but not many that are always right with God. That is a lot different. It was Henry Varley who said, "It remains to be seen what God will do with a man who gives himself up wholly to Him." That man would be a righteous man.

Sitting in church, we would probably all say we want to live a righteous life but be honest. It doesn't sound like all that much fun, does it? We want to be righteous but not many want to pay the price. The problem is that there are two groups of people that keep you from living a righteous life: you and all the other people around you.

You are almost always your own worst enemy. You want to live righteously and yet you want to live like the world lives. You want the stuff. You want the fun. You want the sex, drugs and rock n roll party life. You want the money, the fame, the security that all of that is supposed to bring because the world says you need it even though you have had some or all of that and you know it’s not true. Yet, we are still drawn to it.

The good news, though, is that you are starting to mature and starting to understand that none of that brings lasting happiness and none of it brings any kind of lasting joy or peace. You are starting to get a handle on your own desires and God is doing some great things in you and through you. You are a long way from perfect but we have been working on that for some time now and you are seeing progress. Thank you, Lord!

Our passage this morning is in the book of James chapter one and here James addresses that other group of people that we struggle with, everybody else. I don’t care who you are or what you do, you have probably thought at some time in your life something along the lines of, “This would be a great job if it weren’t for all these stupid people.” Right? You’re thinking that you could really be used of God if these morons around you would just leave you alone. If only everybody was perfect like you and thought correctly like you and would just live their lives like you, everything would be okay.

Well, not much has changed in the 2000 years since James wrote this. He understood that feeling and has given us, not just good advice but it is also a command. This was written by James through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and therefore is a command by God to all of us who call ourselves Christians.

As we start reading James 1:19-21, I want you to insert your name at the very beginning. He starts off by calling special attention to this section of the letter and says, “My dear brothers, take note of this…” I want you to put your name in the margin or on top of that word “brothers” if you write in your Bible.

My dear Todd…my dear Brian, my dear Lois. Got it? Let’s read James 1:19-21.

My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, 20because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires. 21Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you.

I don’t always divide messages into points but this passage seems to divide itself four points that James says we are to do if we want to live righteously and each one builds on the other. If we want to be right with God, then James says we are to listen correctly so we can live righteously. Then lose the world - but love the Word.

Now, when it comes to the first point, listening correctly, everybody knows how to do it and everybody always does it…if you ask them. If you ask them, they are listening. The problem is that they are right and the other person is wrong so THE OTHER PERSON is the one that needs to be listening.

The story is told of Franklin Roosevelt, who often endured long receiving lines at the White House. He complained that no one really paid any attention to what was said. One day, during a reception, he decided to try an experiment. To each person who passed down the line and shook his hand, he murmured, "I murdered my grandmother this morning." The guests responded with phrases like, "Marvelous! Keep up the good work. We are proud of you. God bless you, sir." It was not till the end of the line, while greeting the ambassador from Bolivia, that his words were actually heard. Nonplussed, the ambassador leaned over and whispered, "I'm sure she had it coming."

Have you ever felt like you just needed the other person to listen to you and that if they would just listen – just listen – then the problem would be solved? Yes, of course you have because everybody feels that way sometimes. Your spouse needs you to truly listen. You boss needs you to listen. You neighbor, your children, your friend, they all need YOU to listen to them.

Teenage prostitutes, during interviews in a San Francisco study, were asked: "Is there anything you needed most and couldn't get?" Their response, invariably preceded by sadness and tears was unanimous: "What I needed most was someone to listen to me. Someone who cared enough to listen to me." (Jim Reapsome, Homemade)

That breaks my heart. How many lives would be changed, how many souls would be won for Jesus if people just had somebody to listen to their problems? How many problems would just go away if one person just decided to listen and not just be waiting for their turn to talk? If we could just learn to listen correctly and focus on the other person and what they mean, not just what they say. We need to look into their eyes, assess their body language, ask questions, even take notes if possible.

It is a proven biological need of every human to be heard, to express themselves. Have you ever met somebody that only wants to talk about themselves? It’s because they never really had anybody to listen to them and they are desperate to be heard. When people feel like they are not being heard, do you know what happens? They start to get mad. They get angry because the solution to the problem is not that difficult. “Just be quiet for a minute and let me speak!” That’s what they are thinking.

But that is so hard to do because we all want to be heard. Well, if you want to listen correctly so that you can live righteously, then James says to be quick to listen and slow to speak because the anger that comes when you don’t is not what God wants. Robert W. Herron once said, “Good listening is like tuning in a radio station. For good results, you can listen to only one station at a time. Trying to listen to my wife while looking over an office report is like trying to receive two radio stations at the same time. I end up with distortion and frustration. Listening requires a choice of where I place my attention. To tune into my partner, I must first choose to put away all that will divide my attention. That might mean laying down the newspaper, moving away from the dishes in the sink, putting down the book I'm reading, setting aside my projects.”

We all know how to listen and when we need to be heard, it seems like we are asking the other person to do something pretty easy, right? Just be quiet and let me talk. But here is the problem that so many people fail to realize when they are asking or just expecting the other person to be quiet and listen. The problem is you are asking that person to do something that is actually very difficult and if you ask at the wrong time, it makes it even more difficult.

Just because you have the need to be heard doesn’t mean the other person is able to listen right now. If you and your spouse are in the middle of a heated debate, don’t expect them to truly listen. If they are in the middle of something else, you have to understand how difficult it is to truly listen even when you really want to, much less when your attention is already somewhere else. I’m not taking away the value of your need to be heard. Just realize that, if done wrong, it can lead to more anger.

“Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to anger.” Listen correctly so you can live righteously. Now, go back to verse 21. 21Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you. How many of you would say that you watch an “average” amount of television? I don’t know what “average” is and it doesn’t matter. I didn’t even try to research it by googling it. But you would say that you watch TV like an average person?

Now, how many times have you ever watched a movie, a 30-minute sit-com or even the evening news and seen two parties modeling how to truly listen? I can’t remember ever seeing it except maybe from somebody playing a psychiatrist and they usually don’t even do it right then either. No, most of the time you see somebody getting mad because the other person didn’t listen and so the first person just kills the other person. That makes for good TV. That sells. People tune in for that stuff.

But James says don’t fall for it. Don’t watch that stuff. Get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent. That’s what the world does. It’s what the world watches. It’s what the world thinks and that’s part of why the world is in the shape it’s in. If you want to listen correctly so you can live righteously then lose the world and love the Word. I’m not telling you to never watch TV. I love to watch TV but I realize all the time that what I am watching is not making me righteous. It is not helping me to be right with God. And that stuff is all around us. It’s not just TV. James says it is “so prevalent”.

1 John 2 says, “Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. 16 For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world.”

Addressing a national seminar of Southern Baptist leaders, George Gallup said, "We find there is very little difference in ethical behavior between churchgoers and those who are not active religiously...The levels of lying, cheating, and stealing are remarkably similar in both groups. Eight out of ten Americans consider themselves Christians, Gallup said, yet only about half of them could identify the person who gave the Sermon on the Mount, and fewer still could recall five of the Ten Commandments. Only two in ten said they would be willing to suffer for their faith.  Erwin Lutzer, Pastor to Pastor, p. 76.

Now, do me a favor. If that describes you, please don’t tell anybody you go to Christ Fellowship, okay? In fact, just don’t say anything about church or Jesus or God at all because you are doing nothing to help the cause of the Kingdom by living like the world lives and then telling other people how they should live and what religion to follow. We are to be in the world but not of the world. People should be able to see Jesus in you especially as you relate to other people and when difficult times come.

Men, how would you feel if your wife started hanging out with her ex-husband? Oh, it’s nothing serious. They’re just having dinner together a couple nights a week, maybe a movie on the weekend. No big deal, right? But then you notice that she starts to take on some of his mannerisms. She uses some of the same words he does. They even have some inside jokes that you don’t understand and she starts to like the same things he likes and pretty soon you realize y’all don’t have much in common any more but she sure has a lot in common with him. No big deal, right? At least she still uses your last name.

As Christians in the church, we are called the Bride of Christ all through scripture and God is described as being a jealous God in Exodus 20. It is not that God is jealous or envious because someone has something He wants or needs. God is jealous when someone gives to another something that rightly belongs to Him. He paid the price for you to be His child and He loves you too much to allow you to be flirting with the world when James says here that we should get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you.

God has given us His Word, the Bible and passages like this in James, not to be a killjoy but to show you just how deep His love is for you. He has given us this owner’s manual for life and it tells us how best to get along with others and how to be right with God and that is what this whole passage is really about in James 1. James wants us to be right with God.

But I hear ya. Right with God, a righteous life, it all sounds so…boring. Right? I know. So, let’s just get real practical here for a minute. Let’s think about this. Who do you think lives or lived a more boring life, the Apostle Paul or the lady you work with that is keeping up with the Kardashians? Think about it. Who is the boring one? D.L. Moody, who won thousands of people to Jesus or the guy who works 80 hours a week so he can buy a boat so he can go to the lake twice a year?

God says in John 10:10 that He wants us to live a full and abundant life here on earth so do you think that describes you when you have read everything on Facebook or you when you are on a mission trip? Now, that’s just in this life. The real reason to live a righteous life; the main reason we want to be right with God is for the next life. Jesus said in Revelation 22:12, “Look, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to each person according to what they have done!”

James says that instead of loving the world, we should lose the world and love the Word. He says we should accept the Word. What does that mean? Accept it means to put it on like a coat. Wallow around in it. Live in it. Meditate on it and let it change your life so you can change other’s lives by the way you live. Have you done that? Are you continuing to do that?

If not, then start today by asking God to forgive you of your sins and then you need to repent, or turn away from, those sins. Then ask Jesus to be Lord of your life and give you the Holy Spirit to live in your life to help you make good decisions and even be able to do things like listening to people who need someone to do just that. Accept the word planted in you, which can save you. Do that right now as the music plays.

“Asking for Wisdom” – James 1:5-8

               

Perfect submission – all is at rest,

I in my Savior am happy and blest;

Watching and waiting, looking above,

Filled with His goodness, lost in His love.

This is my story, this is my song,

Praising my Savior all the day long;

This is my story, this is my song,

Praising my Savior all the day long.

What a beautiful old hymn with such powerful words. Those words would be powerful if anybody had written them but they were written by Fanny J. Crosby and what makes them so powerful is when you know that Fanny Crosby was completely blind. When she was only six weeks old, a careless doctor treated her for a minor eye inflammation and caused her to go completely and permanently blind.

Yet Fanny Crosby harbored no bitterness against the physician. In fact, she once said of him, “If I could meet him now, I would say thank you over and over again for making me blind.” She believed that her blindness was a gift from God to help her write the hymns that flowed from her pen, more than 8,000 in her lifetime.

Can tragedy be a gift? If it can be then how is it that some people, like Crosby, can understand it that way but most other people can’t? Most people just call a tragedy a tragedy and might even grieve over it all the rest of their lives. How is it that she could declare it a blessing? Was she being dishonest? Was she faking it just to look pious?  How was she able to do that and how can we do that?

Maybe you think you don’t even want to do that even if you could. Why should we want to call a tragedy a blessing? Because sometimes we just want to be mad, don’t we? It’s unfair and we don’t deserve it and it’s mean and we deserve to be mad even if we are mad at God. Have you ever felt that way? That can be a dangerous place to be.

And do you know what that sounds like to me? It sounds like a little kid. It sounds like a child who has had his toy taken away from him. He doesn’t understand why and so he is just going to pitch a fit and be mad, even at his own mother who took his toy away from him. Now, I understand that there is a big difference in having your toy taken away and having your eyesight taken away. I’m not comparing the two. I’m comparing the attitude of a child with that of someone who claims to be a believer, a follower, a disciple of Jesus Christ who is going through a crisis and whines and cries about it the whole time.

We are going through the book of James for a while; just camping out here over the summer and the overall theme of the book is basically, “Grow up!” We have graduated from Boot Camp and all sorts of military training and we are no longer baby Christians. Some of you may be young in the faith and some of you have been doing this for 40-50 years but for the vast majority of us here at Christ Fellowship, we are not spiritual infants.

We fed on milk through boot camp and gradually started maturing to where we could eat solid spiritual food and now it’s time to eat some meat. That’s what James is. It is meat and for a mature believer it ought to be wonderful and tasty, if not a challenge sometimes. But God expects those who have been believers for some length of time, like we have, to start acting like it. We know that difficult times are going to come our way and when they do, we need to know how a mature believer is expected to act. That’s what the book of James is for. So, turn, please, to the first chapter of James and let’s continue our study.

James is in between the books of Hebrews and 1 Peter in the New Testament. Last week we looked at verses 2-4 that talk about considering all things to be pure joy and we saw that we don’t necessarily consider the circumstance to be joyous but we should have joy knowing that God has allowed this trial into our life for a reason and will give us more than enough grace to get through it and in the end we will have everything we need, which is to look more and more like Him.

Reading the book of James is like finding a pearl on the sea shore, and then finding another a few feet away and then more and more pearls as you walk down the coast and sometimes it may seem like those pearls are not related at all but if you study it closely, oftentimes it becomes clear that one pearl relates wonderfully to the other. That’s what we find with verses 5-8 as they relate to verses 2-4.

Let’s read James 1:5-8 now. 

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. 6But 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. 7That person should not expect to receive anything from the LORD. 8Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do.

Now, the first thing you need to know about this passage is that, like the whole book of James, it was written specifically to Christian people and just like considering a trial to be joy is impossible for unbelievers, asking God for wisdom has no guarantees for those who are not truly followers and disciples of Jesus. If you don’t have the wisdom to truly devote yourself to Him then you don’t get to ask Him for wisdom about what car to buy or what woman to marry.

For any of you that are not true believers; for those of you who do not have saving faith and believe that Jesus Christ is the Way, the Truth and the Life and that no man comes to the Father except through Him, and this faith has changed your life; if you do not have that and you need wisdom, I recommend getting one of those Magic 8-balls. Do you remember those things? They’re like 10 bucks on Amazon. I checked. Go for it. That’s probably your best bet because this passage is not for you.

Now, if you are a Christian, you need to know exactly how James means that we ask for wisdom and how it relates to the verses before it. So, let me give you an example and then we will discuss it. In his commentary on the book of James, Warren Wiersbe describes an older woman who was going through some great trials. She had had a stroke, her husband had gone blind, and then she nearly died in the hospital. In the middle of all this, her pastor saw her in church one Sunday and assured her that he was praying for her.

“What are you asking God to do?” she asked. Her question startled the pastor.

“Well,” he replied. “I’m asking God to help you and strengthen you.”

“I appreciate that,” she said. “But pray about one more thing. Pray that I’ll have the wisdom not to waste all of this” (Warren Wiersbe, Be Mature).

What she meant was she didn’t want to miss out on what God was doing in the midst of this trial. She was trying to consider it all pure joy and now she was asking for wisdom in how to do that; how to see God at work; how to see how this would be for her good as Romans 8 says.

Now, in some other commentaries, I read some guys say this is the only circumstance in which we should pray for wisdom as James is saying; that we should only expect God to give us wisdom in the midst of great trials, but I don’t know where they get that. I believe that any good father would want his children to make wise choices and we should ask about every decision we need to make.

I don’t know that God is too terribly concerned with what brand of toothpaste we use but this scripture is not saying we can’t pray about even that. I would rather err on the side of asking God for wisdom too often than not often enough. There might be a two for one sale on Colgate that we didn’t know about until we asked for wisdom. It says that God gives generously without finding fault.

But any immature believer can ask for God’s wisdom for toothpaste – and they should…but we’re not immature believers anymore and we want wisdom, not just for the little things, not just for things like what job to take or who to marry but also for understanding that God is working in the midst of our cancer, divorce or even the death of a loved one and so we will be able to consider it all pure joy.

Let me ask you this, is counting it pure joy a natural reaction when the doctor has bad news? Of course not. That can only be done by having a relationship with God and having faith that He is allowing this for some reason and you know you can trust Him no matter what. As we start to mature as believers, we should start to get better at this. It should start to be our natural reaction after a while and one of these days we will have everything we need as it says at the end of verse 4.

But until then, you may need to ask for wisdom about how to do that and what it looks like for you. So, that brings up the question of what does wisdom from God look like? Well, we are in the right book to answer that question. We just need to go over a couple of chapters to the last part of chapter 3.  James tells us exactly what it looks like to have wisdom from God.

James 3:17 says, “But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere.” Now, I want to read that again but first I want to give you a scenario to imagine. Imagine (and some of you don’t have to imagine, you can just remember) that the doctor has run a bunch of tests on you and he gives you the worst possible news.

James 1:2 says to consider that to be pure joy. Remember we are mature Christians and we have the power to do this. James doesn’t say it will be easy nor am I saying it but we can do it. Now, to consider it all pure joy we need to understand that God, in His sovereignty, has allowed this in our lives so we can have maturity and perseverance and that leads to lacking nothing.

But we want wisdom on how to do that and so we ask God and we don’t doubt but let’s look at what God’s wisdom looks like in this scenario. When the doc gives us bad news, we pray for wisdom to be able to consider it pure joy and that wisdom (now going back to 3:17) is first of all pure. How can wisdom be pure? By not being mixed with anything else. God will not give you wisdom mixed with fear or envy or selfishness. Verse 15 says that kind of so-called “wisdom” is from the devil.

God’s wisdom is peace-loving. I have seen sickness in a family member bring out the best in people but I’ve also seen it bring out the very worst. I’ve seen people get mad at the doctor in this situation. When God gives wisdom it will always promote peace.

God’s wisdom is considerate. I think of my friend Robert Miller again. He was the perfect example of this. In the worst part of his cancer treatment, he always asked how he could pray for other people. That kind of consideration doesn’t come naturally and it doesn’t come to an immature Christian. That is God-given consideration when you pray for wisdom as you consider it joy.

God’s wisdom is submissive.  Now, is James saying to be submissive to God or to man? The answer is both. It goes hand-in-hand with peace-loving and considerate so God may give you the wisdom to submit your will to somebody else, maybe a family member or doctor or to God. That is what God’s wisdom looks like.

God’s wisdom is full of mercy. Webster’s definition of mercy is compassion or forgiveness shown toward someone whom it is within one's power to punish or harm. It’s so easy in a serious illness for the family to feel helpless, guilty, or even an unwelcome and uncontrollable anger for any number of reasons. How comforting for the rest of the family in a time like this for God to give you the ability to say, “It’s okay. I forgive you. I love you. I want the best for you.”

Next, James 3 says that God’s wisdom is full of good fruit. Times like this are great times to tell somebody else about God’s love for them. They have come to visit or they have called you to ask how you are doing and it is the perfect tie-in to what God has done, will do and is doing in your life. But you’re probably not mature enough for all that so just never mind. 😊

Two more…God’s wisdom is impartial. We have probably all been around somebody that was impartial in their sickness. They were mean and rude to everybody, all the same. I don’t think that is what God’s wisdom looks like.

Lastly, God’s wisdom is sincere. Please don’t try to fake this. If God gives you wisdom, it will come naturally and if it doesn’t come, then you need to continue to pray. Pray and believe and don’t doubt that God will give it. He wants you to have it and have it abundantly.

In Mark chapter 9, a young boy is brought to Jesus for Jesus to cast out a demon from him. The boy’s father said to Jesus, “If you can do anything, take pity on us and help us.” “23 “‘If you can’?” said Jesus. “Everything is possible for one who believes.” 24 Immediately the boy’s father exclaimed, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!”

God honored that man’s prayer and He will honor yours if you are praying for wisdom, especially wisdom to know how to consider trials pure joy.

Imagine with me for a minute a battlefield.  There are tanks and troops everywhere. Bombs are falling. Jets are flying. Men are screaming and people are dying. The general in charge calls his trusted sergeant over and says, “Sergeant, I want you to gather up the gear you need and take A Company around the right flank and rendezvous with B Company by 1300 hours. Now go!”

But then the sergeant says, “But sir, I don’t think I can do that. I’m scared and I don’t know how and what if things go wrong and what if this or that…”

Now, what do you think the general is going to say? “Oh, poor thing. I’m sorry. Stay here with me and I’ll send somebody else. Don’t worry. It’s ok.” No, that’s not what he would say. Why? Because that sergeant is trained and prepared and motivated and has been given everything he needs to get the job done for his own safety and for the good of his country AND he has been given an order.

That’s right where we are today. I am a sergeant speaking to other sergeants and we have been given a command by General James here who is speaking for the Great Commander, our Lord and Savior, God, who is in control and who loves us and has prepared us for this mission and given us every resource we need to get the job done and make Him look good in the process.

So, when He says to go and make disciples, that’s what we do. When He says, “Don’t be afraid.” We are not afraid. When He says to consider it all pure joy, we understand and when we need more wisdom to do that, He will generously give it.

I want to leave you with this. I hope you understand that none of this is possible on your own. Without a life-changing relationship with God through His Son Jesus, this is just a fairy tale.  So, when people outside of the faith see you living like this and having joy and peace in the difficult times of life and still living a full and abundant life when others might have given up, they take notice.

Somebody is watching you all the time and if you react to difficulties like everybody else reacts, then your faith is irrelevant to people. If your faith in God doesn’t change your life in a way that is obvious to others, then why would anybody listen to what you say about church or God or religion? They don’t need that. They’re falling apart on their own just fine.

We are called to be holy, which means “different” or “set apart”. Can people tell you are a disciple of Jesus by how you react to trials in your life? If not, it’s time to repent and ask God for forgiveness for not doing what we have been commanded and then ask for wisdom in how to do it. Do that right now as the music plays.

Invitation / Prayer

Perfect submission – all is at rest,

I in my Savior am happy and blest;

Watching and waiting, looking above,

Filled with His goodness, lost in His love.

This is my story, this is my song,

Praising my Savior all the day long;

This is my story, this is my song,

Praising my Savior all the day long.

“Will God Heal Me?” – 2 Corinthians 12:7-10

I want to ask a question but please don’t respond out loud this time. If you could go back to Israel some 2000-plus years ago when Jesus was walking physically on this earth and healing hundreds or thousands of people and you had His attention, for what kind of healing would you ask? For some of you, that is probably an easy question. Maybe you have cancer or some other disease and you would ask Jesus to heal that in you. Maybe, though, you don’t have a disease but you might ask for better eyesight or relief for your aching back or for more hair or a slimmer body. Hmm…wonder why those came to my mind. Anyway…

The very first time I ever preached was at a nursing home. My sister was there to play the piano and we sang a few songs and then I asked for prayer requests. Now, let me just warn you that if you ask for prayer requests in a nursing home, prepare to be there for a while. Everybody had some issue, some problem that needed to be healed and also, they don’t mind telling you every detail, no matter how personal or embarrassing. Just be warned.

But if you could ask Jesus for just one thing to be healed, what would you ask for? And then, what do you think He would say to your request? All through the gospels we read that Jesus healed person after person and I don’t know of any time that He ever told the person no. He healed everybody that asked. Some He healed by speaking the words or by making mud or by putting His hands on them or any number of other ways. One lady even got healed by just touching the hem of His garment. So, obviously, it wasn’t a difficult thing for Jesus to do.

So, that obviously begs the question, “Why doesn’t He heal you today?” I know you have prayed about it. Did He use up all His power back in the day? Did He just love the Israelites and doesn’t love you? Are you not good enough? Is your faith not strong enough? Are you not praying correctly? Is He giving up on this generation? Maybe He is just mad at you for some sin you committed.  Maybe…He just doesn’t care.

Before we go any further, let me make clear what I mean by “heal”. I understand that when we, as believers, get to Heaven there will be no more disease; no more sorrow, no more tears, no more cancer or heart disease or high blood pressure. There’s not even going to be toe fungus in Heaven. No more problems, no more tears. I’m not talking about being healed by dying and going to Heaven. I want to know because you want to know, is God going to heal my physical body? Is He going to heal my mind; my depression; my anxiety and if not, then why? Because He used to do it and He still does it for some people. Why not me? Don’t try to tell me you haven’t thought about it.

To start us off answering as many of those questions as we can, I invite you to turn to 2 Corinthians 12:7-10. This is a subject on which I have wanted to preach for a long time, but I haven’t felt prompted by God until now. I’m no expert on the subject but I have scripture and I have some good commentaries that help me understand the scriptures and that’s all I really need. I have supplemented that with some other books but ultimately we will see what scripture has to say about our healing.

Now, when I asked earlier what you would ask Jesus to heal you of, how many of you thought you would ask Jesus to heal you of your pride? Probably not many. And I’m thinking that if any of you had raised your hand just now, you really do need to be healed of it. But anyway, asking God to heal you of your pride is not a very popular prayer. But what do you think God is more concerned with, your comfort or your sin? Do you think God would be more inclined to heal your diseased body or your diseased soul?

In 2 Corinthians chapter 12, Paul expresses that God is more concerned with the inner character than the outer comfort. In the verses prior to this, Paul tells of being transported to Heaven and seeing and hearing things that he was not allowed to tell. He must have seen things that we couldn’t even understand; wonderful, beautiful things like we will see when we get to Heaven.

Now, just think about what would happen to you if you had been shown such things like no man on the planet has ever seen before. We don’t know why or how or when but God chose to reveal some things to Paul that He has never revealed to anybody else. What would be the almost inevitable result? Pride. God knew that seeing such things would be more than any man could handle without becoming proud. So, what does God do? Let’s read in verses 7-10 of 2 Corinthians 12.

Because of these surpassingly great revelations, therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. 8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. 10 That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

Now, there are some things we know about this situation of Paul’s and some things we don’t know and that could actually be said for the subject of divine healing itself. We know that God can heal. We have seen it even in this church but we have also prayed for some people to be healed and God has chosen not to. Did we not say the right words? Did we catch God on a bad day? Or…is He just sovereign and chooses to heal who and when He wants?

The absolute wrong way to interpret scripture is to read somewhere that God healed somebody of some thing in some way and to say that because God healed them, He has to heal you. Or to say, like in Paul’s case, that God didn’t heal him, so He won’t heal you. God doesn’t work that way. It’s sort of like what Belinda said the other day about trying to make a toddler go to sleep. What works one day, doesn’t work the next. I’m not comparing God to a fussy toddler. I’m saying don’t try to make God do anything or try to put Him in a box that says because you did it this way, you have to always do it that way.

God tells us in Hebrews 4:16 to “approach God's throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” We know that God loves us and protects and provides for us and wants to help us and we know that prayer works but Paul prayed three times for this thorn to be removed and God chose not to remove it.

Now, one of the things we don’t know is what this thorn in Paul’s flesh really was. He said he was given a thorn, a messenger of Satan, to torment him. That word “thorn” in the original Greek is “skolops” and could mean anything from a small piece of what we would call a sticker or a slice of wood all the way up to something that would impale the body like a spear or javelin. There is no end of the speculations as to what Paul was referring to here. I have dozens of commentaries on this and it was fascinating to read what some thought it may be that was afflicting Paul.

Some say it was his eyesight or back problems or any number of diseases. Some say it was a sin issue, maybe lust or something else. But most agreed that they didn’t know and I agree with those that say it doesn’t matter. In fact, I’m glad we don’t know because almost all of us can now relate to what Paul is saying because almost all of us have some thorny issue or problem in our lives that we wish wasn’t there.

The apostle acknowledges that the thorn in the flesh ultimately was given to him from God just like God did with Job in the first two chapters of that book. (MacArthur page 400) Yes, it was a messenger of Satan and “messenger” could be translated as an angel or a demon. Well, we know it had to be a demon and so we see that God can and will use even Satan and his demons to accomplish God’s will and it was God’s will that Paul have this thorn. This is not saying that Paul was possessed by a demon but he was tormented or buffeted by it.

We have talked lots of times about how, whether you want to believe it or not, God can and will cause bad things to happen to accomplish His will. Sometimes He just allows them to happen. Sometimes He uses the consequences of our sin. Sometimes it is His idea and He uses things we can’t imagine or don’t want to imagine like God did with Paul in this passage.

God is sovereign over EVERYTHING, even Satan and the other forces of evil and sometimes He uses them as a tool to accomplish His will and sometimes it is God’s will that we suffer. In Acts chapter 9, we see the story of Paul’s conversion back when he was still Saul. In verses 15-16 God tells Ananias to go get Saul because “I will show him how much he must suffer for My name.”

Now, I thought God was love and if God is love then how could it be His will that we suffer? Well, I did some research – I googled it – and I found some fascinating scriptures. All I did was google “God wants you to prosper” and I was rewarded with thousands of websites to prove that point.

I’ll stick with just the scriptures they used to “prove” that God wants you to prosper, not just spiritually but materially as well.

Psalm 35:27 says, God “hath pleasure in the prosperity of his servant.”

Psalm 84:11 “No good thing will He withhold from those who walk uprightly.”

John 10:10 “My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.”

2 Cor. 8:9 “though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich.”

Now, for the so-called ministers and preachers, the apostles and bishops and expositors and whatever other title they want to give themselves as they twist God’s Word to “prove” that God wants you to be healthy and wealthy, especially if you tithe to their church, I wish they could have met my friend Paul here! What do you think Paul would tell this old boy who says that God wants your bills paid and for you to be healed of all your infirmities?

Does God still heal? Absolutely! Will He heal you? I don’t know. Oh, my word! I said it. I said the words no preacher, no speaker, no minister is ever supposed to say if he ever wants to pastor a mega-church or have a mega-audience. Well, I don’t care and I would rather preach the full council of God to twenty people who want to hear it until Jesus comes than to a thousand that want their ears tickled.

If God will heal you if you say the right words and have enough faith then why didn’t God heal Paul? If words can heal then why didn’t Paul say them? Why didn’t God heal nearly all of the apostles who were martyred for Jesus? And speaking of Jesus, what about Him? No home, no money, and murdered on a cross even after He prayed that God would take this cup from Him. And did you notice that when Jesus stopped doing miracles and stopped healing and stopped providing the crowds with food that the crowds left?

I know this is not a popular teaching. It never has been. It wasn’t popular when Jesus and Paul preached it and it’s not popular today but it is truth. God can heal but there is nothing you can say or do that will force him to do it. You can’t manipulate Him with words or prayers or fancy dances or by giving gifts.

Do you ever get those things in the mail from something like the Publishers Clearinghouse that say you can win a bazillion dollars and all you have to do is buy a magazine subscription? But if you look at the fine print it says that your odds of winning are not affected by buying anything. Well, I’m always skeptical of those things. I always think there is somebody at the home office that opens that mail, sees you are not buying anything and throws your entry in the trash.

Well, God is not that way. Donating to the church won’t get you healed. I know. That’s another crazy thing for a preacher to say. How are we ever going to raise enough money for that $54 million jet? But God never promises to heal you, no matter what you do or say or give. Do you know what He will do though? Look at verse 9 again. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you…”

Grace. What is grace? Webster basically says that grace is not getting what you deserve. We are saved by God’s grace. We deserve hell but our belief in God through His Son Jesus means we get grace to go to Heaven. But what did God mean when He told Paul that His grace was sufficient. Was He saying, “No, Paul. I’m not going to heal you but I will give you just enough to make it through this without giving up?” No, that would be helpful but that doesn’t do grace the justice it deserves. (No play on words intended there.)

Romans 8:35-37 says, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36As it is written: "For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered." 37No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.”

Grace is not just being able to get through sickness or hardship. It’s not just being able to conquer it. It is being more than conquerors. Being more than a conqueror means that like Paul, our affliction actually stops being our master and starts becoming our slave, actually working for our good and for the good of God’s Kingdom. But surely that’s only for Mr. or Mrs. Superchristian, right? Maybe Paul was able to pull that off but surely not you.

Some of you may remember praying for my friend Robert Miller several years ago. Robert was a dear friend of mine and he was diagnosed with a brain tumor. There were churches all over the country and actually all over the world praying for Robert including this one. He was a godly man and had a beautiful, loving wife and a couple of kids that thought he hung the moon and he was just fun to be around, even after his diagnosis.

I remember every time I called him or he called me or every time I saw him, he would always ask me, “How can I pray for you?” That became his thing and it wasn’t fake. He sincerely wanted to know how he could lift me up in prayer and then he would do it right then over the phone or in his driveway, wherever we were. But then as his tumor got bigger, Robert was able to meet more and more people.

He met a lot of doctors and nurses but he also met people in the community who heard about his struggle and would start being his friend on Facebook or go see him in the hospital. He even met some somewhat celebrities as his case became more popular. And what do you think Robert would ask every single one of them? “How can I pray for you?” And what are these people going to tell a dying man? “Oh, I’m not interested in what you have to say. I don’t think prayer works. There’s no God.” If nothing else they would listen politely because he was a dying man.

Because Robert had a brain tumor, he got to witness to and pray for probably hundreds of people that he never would have had the chance to even meet otherwise and because he did, God blessed him to the very end with His grace. But there was an end for Robert and there will be an end for you unless Jesus raptures us before then. We are all going to die. Something is going to get you. If God does heal you today, you are still going to die of something else someday soon. I don’t say that to be a bummer. I say that to encourage you to be more than a conqueror in this life. Death will conquer you someday somehow. It does everybody. Our goal shouldn’t be to be a conqueror over death necessarily but instead to be more than a conqueror in this life.

Look at verse 9 again. Paul says that God told him that my grace is sufficient for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. 10 That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong. “

I read somewhere this week, “What a happy people God’s people ought to be, when a curse becomes to them a blessing! If the thorn be a blessing, what must the blessing itself be?” There is, of course, nothing wrong with praying and asking God to heal you. You should and we do that around here all the time and often God is merciful and gives that healing but as the three Hebrew boys said (and we like to paraphrase often around here) “We know God can and we know God will but even if He doesn’t, still we will praise Him!”

We will praise Him because he deserves it and because He is worthy and because hopefully we know that sometimes God allows us to continue in our suffering, not because He is doing something to us but because He is doing something for us and what He is doing is showing us His boundless, unmerited grace; grace that does more than just barely get us through but actually allows us to be more than conquerors with blessings pressed down, shaken together and running over.

We can all do that; we can all have that because of our faith. Not faith in ourselves or in medicine or doctors, even though those are blessings from God. But our faith is in our Savior, our Healer, our Lord, Jesus Christ. In the next chapter, chapter 13 of 2 Corinthians, Paul tells the church in Corinth to “examine yourselves to see if you are in the faith.”

“Examine yourselves” to see if you truly are a believer, a follower, a disciple of Jesus. It’s not about being a follower of Paul. It’s not about being a Baptist or Methodist. It’s not about being baptized or tithing or teaching Sunday School. Examine yourself and see if your life has changed since you have met Jesus. It won’t always be easy. In fact, you may have to suffer for the name of Jesus but it will be worth it. It will be worth it in this life because He brings peace and joy even in the difficult times, even when you suffer. But scripture says that there is an eternal life in Heaven for those who truly believe.

Ask God to forgive you of your sins. Repent of those sins and turn away from that old lifestyle and ask Jesus to be Lord of your life today. Do it right now as the music plays.