James 4:1-10

It doesn’t have to be a national holiday like Veteran’s Day or Flag Day or Patriot’s Day. I think our servicemen and women and veterans are to be honored every day. I’m not going to spend the whole service doing it but I want those who have served in the military to know that you are appreciated. I will state right up front that I never served in the military but I so appreciate those who do.  If you are a veteran you have my highest appreciation for your service, whatever branch and whatever job you had.  Maybe you have seen combat and maybe not but I don’t believe that anybody who has ever served in wartime in almost any capacity could say they were anything but disillusioned with war.

If you can go to war and not see how horrible it is then you are either shielded from the truth or delusional towards it.  Nobody faces real combat and says at the end, “Well, that wasn’t so bad.”  War is a horrible, horrible thing and I pray that our political and military leaders have great wisdom about placing our men and women in harm’s way.  I’m not saying it should never be done but if lives have to be risked and parents are taken from kids and kids from their parents, not to mention the financial, physical, and emotional burden it places on people, then you can expect war to be awful.

Whatever definition you look under you are going to find words such as conflict, battle, bloodshed, struggle and fight.  The very definition of the word assumes difficulty much less disillusionment.  A group of academics and historians has compiled some startling information: Since 3600 B.C., the world has known only 292 years of peace!  Think about that.  In all those years, there has been war going on somewhere on the earth with somebody killing somebody else, some parent is killed or some child is killed in war every year except for 292 years. And that is just figuring up the countries that are at war with each other.  That is not accounting for the minor skirmishes within a country, not to mention the families that war against families or individuals against individuals.  We even have companies that go to war with each other trying to put the other out of business.  Granted, most of the time nobody dies in those types of wars but they do include conflict, battle, struggle and fighting.

We sometimes even find ourselves at war with those we love the most.  Turn on the news any day of the week and you will hear how somebody got mad and killed a member of their own family.  Why is that?  It’s obviously not something that has happened just in this generation.  Evidently, it has always been this way.  But the question is, why?  And that is a question that people have asked since the beginning and that includes our beloved Pastor James in his New Testament book with his name.

So, turn to the book of James, if you will, as we continue our study of this powerful little book.  We are moving right along through the book, not coming close to doing it justice but seeing just the same some practical ways that mature Christians can become even more mature.   James is between Hebrews and 1 Peter and we are in the fourth chapter.  James was the pastor of the church in Jerusalem and was writing to them but every word seems like it could have been written to Christ Fellowship just last week.

Let’s start with James 4:1-10.  “What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? 2 You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God. 3 When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures. 4 You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. 5 Or do you think Scripture says without reason that he jealously longs for the spirit he has caused to dwell in us? 6 But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: “God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.”  7 Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.”

Well, don’t look at me like that.  I didn’t write it.  Another pastor wrote it to his church some 2000 years ago.  But James was a pastor who loved his church just like I love this one.  And James felt like I do that he would rather risk offending somebody by using some very strong language like the words “adulterous” and “enemy of God” and warning against being proud than to tickle their ears and let them waddle out of there with lives unchanged.

Be mad at me if you will.  Be mad at James if it makes you feel better.  Say the 3 most popular words anybody says as they read through James: “But that’s hard!”  But know that you are hearing truth from the Word of God and know that if we can do what God tells us to do through His servant James then we will be more mature believers and we will look more like Jesus in the end.  And I hope that is our goal today.

James starts by asking the question, “What causes fights and quarrels among you?”  Now, if he were to ask any one of us that individually, we would probably say something along the lines of, “Well, he won’t do what I want him to do.”  Right?  We want to get what we want and somebody else wants to get what they want.  And they don’t understand that we are right and they are wrong.  And that is why there have been thousands of books written on how to get what you want. I literally just googled “books, how to get what you want” and there were pages and pages of them.  And do you know what the title of most of them was?  “How To Get What You Want.”  Somebody needs to write a book on how to give your book a unique title.  That’s what we need.  Because we don’t need to know any more about how to get what we want from somebody else.  We don’t need to know how to be a better debater or arguer.  In fact, James tells us that the problem is not between us and another person at all.  The problem is our relationship with God.

In fact, our real problem is not that we can’t get along with our enemies.  Our problem is that we are enemies with God Himself.  And realize again that James is not writing to a bunch of unchurched, unsaved heathens.  He is writing this to the first church in Jerusalem filled with believers.  And he is writing it to Christ Fellowship.  He is writing this to me!  How dare he!  Who does he think he is? Well, I don’t know who James thought he was but I know God thought he was the one to share this truth and so I am listening when James speaks here.  I am listening because I am tired of the fights and quarrels in my life.  Now, most of you have known me for quite a while and I would dare say that almost none of you have ever seen me in a fight or having a quarrel with somebody.  It takes a lot to get me mad and when I do get mad, most of the time it is short-lived and easily remedied.

But I am listening to James here because I am tired of the fights and quarrels that go on in my own mind.  Somebody else may never know that I am fighting with them in my thought life.  My mind is racing thinking of what I’m going to say next and what I should have said and how I should have done this and said that and next time I’m gonna…And pretty soon my joy and my peace, not to mention my witness, are gone. 

I may even pray for the other person.  And you know how that prayer goes.  “God please give them wisdom.”  In other words, give them wisdom to know that I am right and they are wrong.  “God give them the ability to give me what I want.”  That’s what I’m saying to God.  And James says in verse 3 that we do not have because we ask with wrong motives that we may spend what we get on our pleasures.

I warned some of you to wear your steel-toed boots as we go through James to protect your toes from being stepped on.  I want you to know I have needed my boots and a helmet and shoulder pads this week preparing this sermon.  But, thank you Lord, I have learned from James that there are 3 things I need to do to keep this from being a problem.  The solution is not being able to win friends and influence people.  Nor is the solution just allowing people to walk all over you when they want something. 

The solution is not being an enemy of God.  Now that sounds pretty simple.  I love God.  I’m not His enemy, right?  But James says that anybody that is a friend of this world is an enemy of God and there are 3 things we need to do to make sure that we are not friends of this world.  The first one we see in verse 7.  It simply says to submit to God.  Submit to God. “Submit” is originally a military term that means to put yourself under, as in ranking.  I have used my Uncle Bill as an illustration several times about different things.  He’s quite the character and it’s pretty easy to find illustrations from his life.  And most of the time I use him as a positive example of what to do and how to do it.  Not so today. 

As a young man my uncle had a problem submitting to authority.  And while that is a problem for anybody it is especially problematic for a private in the army.  Uncle Bill had only been in the army a short time but he had been there long enough to get bored, evidently.  So, when a batch of brand new recruits came to the same camp where he was, Uncle Bill decided to have a little fun. He went over to the barracks they were in, in the middle of the night, woke them up, screaming at them that he was Sergeant Klinglesmith, although he was only a private just like them.  He got them all up and outside and commenced to drill them, one, two, march, march etc.  Finally, the noise woke somebody up and lights came on and my uncle just walked off leaving the new recruits standing there to get in all kinds of trouble. The MP’s put all the new recruits in the big gymnasium and started to question them and they all told the same story.  Sergeant Klinglesmith had them out there but they don’t know where he went.  “Sergeant Klinglesmith?  We don’t have a Sergeant Klinglesmith!”  So they go looking for my uncle and finally found him and brought him into the gym where every soldier on base was now. They put a full-length mirror in the middle of the gym and made my uncle salute himself and drill himself over and over while every man in the place laughed at him.  And you would think that would have made him be more submissive but just stay tuned until next week to catch the next installment of Uncle Bill tales.

See, when a private tries to act like a sergeant there is going to be a problem.  Unless the private will acknowledge in his mind and in his actions that he is under the one who outranks him then that soldier is not only disobedient but he is worthless to the cause.  He can’t be used for anything.  He might as well be fighting for the other side.  And that is how James is describing us when we are proud. And some of you are right now thinking, “Amen Pastor Todd!  You preach to those proud people.”  But let me just say one more time that James is preaching to US proud people.  If you were to ask my uncle he would say that he was just bored; just wanting to have a little fun.  He wasn’t trying to hurt anything.  He knew he wasn’t a sergeant.  He was just playing.

But Psalm 10:4 says, “In his pride the wicked man does not seek him; in all his thoughts there is no room for God.”  We don’t want that to be said of us.  We don’t want to be at war with God.  And yet we all struggle with pride.  Pride is the root of all sin and until we submit ourselves to God and acknowledge in our minds and in our actions that we submit to Him then we are at war with Him.  We have to submit everything we have and everything we are to His will.

Next James tells us in verse 8 that we have to draw near to God.  “8 Come near to God and he will come near to you.”  Well, how do we do that, James?  How do I draw near to God?  The act of drawing near is just the opposite of the word James uses earlier in verse 4.  Drawing near is the opposite of “adulterous.”  You know what adulterous means.  Drawing near is the act of making yourself chaste and becoming clean.

Wash your hands, purify your hearts.  But do it completely.  Imagine this scenario. You hear a knock on your door.  You go to the door and it’s Jesus.  “Oh, hi, Jesus!  Come on in.  I just finished cleaning my house.  You picked a great time to come over.  Let me show you around.”  So Jesus steps inside but stops as you step over the pile of dead fish guts that is there in the hallway. 

He says, “Todd, my friend, there is a pile of fish guts on the carpet.  That’s gross.” 

“Oh, don’t worry about that little thing.  Just step over it and come see how nice the rest of my house is.”

“But, Todd, it’s nasty.  It’s a putrid, festering, maggot-infested pile of dead fish guts that is stinking up the place.  I’m not going past it.  In fact, I’m leaving.  I don’t care what the rest of the place looks like.  You obviously don’t want me here.  Your house is not clean.  It’s offensive!”  And He leaves.

And just like that pile of fish guts, your little pet sin is offensive to God.  You know that thing you like to do or that attitude you have.  It’s been there so long you don’t even think about it anymore.  And you wish God would just look over it.  Get past it.  Go on to the rest of your life but He can’t.  He can’t draw near to you if you are not clean and chaste and pure.  Almost pure is not pure.

A.W. Tozer has an essay called “Nearness is Likeness” and he says to be near God is to be like God.  And the more we are like God the nearer we are to Him.  Is God almost pure?  Is He nearly holy?  Does He tell us to be sort of holy as He is sort of holy?  That is offensive to God!  We pray, “God please help me!  Give me peace, joy and wisdom, grace and mercy, please!  Don’t mind that putrid, offensive sin right there.  Just help me.”  And then we wonder why our prayers go unanswered.

Submit to God in everything you do and have.  Draw near to God by exposing all of your sin and asking His forgiveness for it.  And lastly, we see in verses 9 and 10 that we are to humble ourselves before God.  “Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.”

As most of you know, King David is one of my favorite biblical characters.  I grew up reading about him growing up and now I feel like we are almost friends.  And since he is my friend I always hate to point out anything bad about him.  But I want you to turn to Psalm 51 for just a minute.  All I have to do is say, “Psalm 51” and most of you know it is the psalm of repentance that David wrote after his sin with Bathsheba was found out.

For almost a year David had been at war with God but he finally submitted when Nathan confronted him.  He drew near to God right after that and here we see him humble himself before God and before the world.  Look at verses 1-4:  Have mercy on me, O God,
    according to your unfailing love;
according to your great compassion
    blot out my transgressions.
2 Wash away all my iniquity
    and cleanse me from my sin.

3 For I know my transgressions,
    and my sin is always before me.
4 Against you, you only, have I sinned
    and done what is evil in your sight;
so you are right in your verdict
    and justified when you judge.

Verse 10: Create in me a pure heart, O God,
    and renew a steadfast spirit within me.

And verses 16 and 17:  You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it;
    you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings.
17 My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit;
    a broken and contrite heart
    you, God, will not despise.

He says he comes to God with a broken and contrite heart.  “Contrite” means to be repentant and deeply sorry.  If you are wondering just how sorry you have to be to qualify as “contrite” then I can assure you that you are not there yet.  But you will be.  Charles Spurgeon said, “Every Christian has a choice between being humble or being humbled.”

But I have good news!  “Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”  Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you (1 Peter 5:5-7).”

I even have more good news.  Not only should we humble ourselves but we can with the help of Christ.  And not only will we be exalted by God when we do but we also have a model for how to do it. “Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father (Philippians 2:5-11).”

When you realize who Jesus really is…and who you really are…then you will submit to Him, draw near to Him and humble yourself before Him.  Will you do that today?

Godly Wisdom – James 3:13-18

I would like to ask everybody that can to stand to their feet for just a minute.  Get just a little bit of space between you and your neighbor.  I promise I am not going to hurt you or embarrass you but in just a second I am going to ask you to stand on one foot for as long as you can.  I promise I have a good reason for asking you to do this and you will be glad you did.  So right where you are just lift one leg and when you can’t stand on just that one leg any more, just sit down.  We are on the honor system here.

Scientists have determined a link between how long a person can stand on one leg and their intelligence.  Evidently, and I don’t know how, but they have determined that the longer you can stand on one leg, the smarter you are.  It has something to do with how your brain is wired.  Now, let’s all stand on our heads for just a minute.  No, I’m kidding.  If you do that in church you’re probably not smart at all.

I thought that was fascinating but did you know that the book of James tells us something similar?  It says nothing about standing on one leg but it tells us how to know who is a wise person.  Just like standing on one leg is to intelligence, there is a test to see how wise a person is.  Turn to the book of James and let’s continue our campout there. James was probably the oldest brother of Jesus and was, according to Paul, a pillar of the church at this time.  He writes to his Jewish brothers and sisters about how they should live and everything he tells them is basically telling them to emulate Jesus.  Everything he says to do or not to do is just what Jesus would have done or not done.  When James says right off the bat to consider it all pure joy when you face difficulties, that is just what Jesus did.  When he says not to show favoritism, we know that Jesus did not show favoritism.  And when he encourages us to tame our tongue, what better example do we have of that than Jesus Himself?

So, what better book to study than James as we continue our focus on being mature believers since that maturity comes from being like Jesus?  Because a focus on Jesus will change a person and a Jesus-focused church will change the world.  We see it all through the New Testament and on into our lives and that is what we want.  We want to change the world through our focus on Jesus.  Let’s look specifically at James 3:13-18.

Who is wise and understanding among you? Let them show it by their good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom. 14 But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. 15 Such “wisdom” does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. 16 For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice.17 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. 18 Peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of righteousness.

So, do you see the wisdom test there?  In verse 13 James asks, “Who is wise?” and then he answers by saying, “the ones who show it by their good deeds.”  We say we want to focus on Jesus.  We say we want to change the world.  But do we?  Do we want those things bad enough to start emulating Jesus; to start acting like Jesus in how we deal with other people and how we deal with the problems of life?  James says that when we start to act like Jesus, we start to show wisdom.

I have given my testimony here before and I told you that I started my relationship with Jesus when I was a young boy.  But as I grew older there came a time when I took a step back and did some real soul-searching.  I wanted to know if the path I was on was the correct one.  If I was going to do this Christianity thing and do it right then I needed to be convinced it was the wise way to go.  So, I took stock of the wise people in my life.  I looked around to my friends and family and the people I knew in and out of the church and made a mental note of who was wise and who was not so wise. I wasn’t looking at intelligence.  If I had, I would have asked them to stand on one leg, right?  No, I was looking for wisdom and that is different than intelligence.  See, I knew some really smart people but I knew that they may be smart but they did some real bone-headed stuff.  I looked for wisdom.  And those who I knew to be wise…had their focus on Jesus.  And when it came to dealing with the people and problems of this world, it was their good deeds that gave them away.

And we all know that it is because of those good deeds that we are guaranteed a place in Heaven, right?  Just seeing if you were awake.  No, of course not.  But I bring this up right here because I am startled and alarmed at the statistics I read about how many people sitting in the average church, sometimes for years on end, still believe that doing enough good deeds will get you to Heaven.

So, forgive me for stating again what most of us should already know about what the Bible teaches about how to know you have a place in Heaven when you die.  And it has nothing to do with good works or being a good person.  The Bible teaches that we are saved by God’s grace and through our faith that Jesus died on the cross to pay the price for the sins we have committed.  And at the end of the service I will once again invite you to accept Jesus to be Lord of your life and to forgive those sins.

But right now I just had to make sure we were all on the same page about the good works that James is talking about.  It is not that good works get you to Heaven but they do show how wise you are.  But there is a problem.  See, there are two kinds of wisdom.  James tells us about them in the other verses so let’s compare these two kinds of wisdom and as we do we will see that there is a difference in their Origin, Operations and Outcomes (Warren Wiersbe commentary)

First, let’s look at the origins of the two different kinds of wisdom.  Look at verses 14-15 again.  James talks negatively about having envy and selfish ambition.  Now who in the world would ever think to describe envy and selfish ambition as a type of wisdom?  Who in the world?  Everybody in the world.  Everybody thinks it is wise to look out for #1, right?  When you see that somebody else has something that seems to make their life a little better or a little easier then you want that thing too.  That is man-made wisdom. And the Bible is full of illustrations of man-made wisdom.  To Adam and Eve, eating the forbidden fruit seemed like a wise thing to do.  Building the Tower of Babel seemed like a wise thing to do at the time.  When Abraham and Sarah were still called Abram and Sarai, Abraham thought it was very wise to tell the Egyptians that she was his sister and not his wife.  I bet he slept on the couch a few nights after that little mistake.

Ananias and Sapphira thought they were real shrewd telling the church they were giving all the money from the sale of their property and you remember what happened to them.  People today think it’s smart to work on Sunday just like they do the rest of the week so that they can have extra money.  And then they wonder why they still can’t pay the bills at the end of the month.  That kind of wisdom comes from man.  Again, I will quote Proverbs 14:12 that says, “There is a way that appears right to a man, but in the end it leads to death.”  The state of Colorado thought it was wise to legalize pot and now they wonder why traffic accidents are going up.  General Motors thought it was wise to not say anything about a faulty ignition switch and now they are recalling 2.6 million vehicles for a 57-cent part.  Parents today too often want to be their kids’ best friends and then they wonder why their kids get into so much trouble.  That’s called man-made wisdom. The origin of that wisdom is from the mind of men.

Contrast that kind of wisdom with the other kind of wisdom.  If you were God, would you send your Son to be born in a barn?  In the eyes of the world, is it wisdom that the King of kings be born a poor carpenter’s son?  Is it considered wise that Jesus angered the most powerful men of the time?  Was it wise that He had to die on the cross?  1 Corinthians 1:18 says, “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” That’s the thing about this other kind of wisdom.  It has the power of God behind it.  It has the proven power of the Creator.  It has the life-giving, life-changing, life-taking power of the Redeemer and Sustainer Who was and is and always will be.

I heard the joke about an angel that appeared at a faculty meeting and he told the dean that in return for his unselfish and exemplary behavior, the Lord will reward him with his choice of infinite wealth, wisdom or beauty. Without hesitating, the dean selects infinite wisdom. "Done!" says the angel, and disappears in a cloud of smoke and a bolt of lightning. Now, all heads turn toward the dean, who sits surrounded by a faint halo of light. At length, one of his colleagues whispers, "Now that you have all wisdom, say something." The dean looks at them and says, "I should have taken the money."  (Betsy Devine and Joel E. Cohen, Absolute Zero Gravity)

Even the wisest of decisions made by the smartest of men are foolishness compared to God’s wisdom.  And that leads to the second point.  We have seen the origins of the two kinds of wisdom.  Let’s look at the operations of the two.  Since they originate from radically different sources, they must operate in opposite ways as well.  What are the evidences of false wisdom?  Verse 14 tells us that envy and selfish ambition are the operations of man-made wisdom. Now, just raise your hand if you are eaten up with the sins of envy and selfish ambition.  Nobody would dare raise their hand because none of us suffer from that, do we?  Like so many other things, we are blind to it in our own lives but we see it in others with 20/20 vision.  We see it in King Saul in 1 Samuel 13 when he makes the sacrifice instead of waiting like he was told. 

We see the envy and selfish ambition in King David in 2 Samuel 24 where he counts his fighting men instead of trusting in God.  We see it in the apostles in Luke 9 where they have an argument over who is greatest.  But we fail to see the envy and selfish ambition in the mirror when we want the number of people that church over there has.  We don’t see the envy and selfish ambition in our own lives when everybody knows we have a better pastor than they do and we have a better Bible study teacher and we have a better pulpit than they do.  And our flowers out front are prettier than theirs.  Why are they so blessed? We better start doing what they are doing.

But that is the kind of attitude you get and the kind of wisdom that comes from taking your focus off Jesus.  1 Corinthians 1 says, “God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, 29 so that no one may boast before him. 30 It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God.”  That explains why sometimes we don’t understand God’s wisdom.  He tells us right there in verse 29, “so that no one may boast before him.”  Your envy and selfish ambition will not be tolerated by God. That is the operation of man-made wisdom or false wisdom.  Let’s now look at what true, godly wisdom looks like.  Look at verse 17.  “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.”  Are you having a hard time picturing that?  Is it hard to see wisdom as pure or peace-loving?  Let me give you an example.

I found an old sermon I had preached in 2014 where we were concerned about what we were going to do with the property in Runaway Bay. Most of you know that this church started out there in a big, pretty building but God called us here at the end of 2012. In 2014, though, we are still trying to make payments on that building and it was eating us up. We had leased it to two different churches in that time but they couldn’t make it work and we just didn’t know what to do. Here is part of what I wrote. Forgive me for reading so much but I think it is important to see how God has worked in the life of this church.

“I have done a lot of thinking this week about what our options are for the property in Runaway Bay.  As you know, we can’t afford to continue paying on that property, especially since we are not even using it.  So, I have come up with some options.  Our first option is to do nothing.  Phooey on it.  Walk off and leave it and the debt just sitting there.  Let the bank worry about it.  I guarantee you that Donald Trump would do just that and he’s a pretty wise guy when it comes to real estate. Our second option is to play the lottery.  Let’s all pool our resources, buy a bunch of quick picks and if we win, we can pay off the note.  What do you think?  Well, how about we burn it down and collect the insurance?  Maybe we can start a dance hall in there.  It has a great stage.  Or we can move our church back over there and tell everybody to come look at our beautiful building.  Look at us.  Aren’t we big and pretty? I have to say that while none of those options looks right to me, I don’t know what the right thing is right now.  But my loudest, longest and most fervent prayer is that God would give all of us His wisdom about this.  And when He does I know that it will be pure, as James says.  It will not involve envy or selfish ambition.  It will be peace-loving.  We will be unified about it and even the community will appreciate what we do.It will be considerate to the bank, the community and to the Kingdom, submissive to whatever God wants no matter what it looks like, full of mercy to any buyer or other interested party.  It will show good fruit in that whatever is there next will bring honor to God.  The word James uses next is “impartial” which literally means to be certain about.  We know that wisdom from above brings strength from above.  And lastly, God’s wisdom will be sincere, without hypocrisy or spiritual politics, knowing that whatever He wants us to do will be the best for us and for His Kingdom. I count this test in Runaway Bay to be complete joy, a phrase James could appreciate.  I count it pure joy because I read somewhere – could it be James? – that if we lack wisdom then we should ask for it.  And when God gives us His wisdom that it ends with getting what is best for us and His Kingdom!  Why would you worry about little things like owing the bank a few bucks?  Our God is loaded and wants us to have His wisdom to make the right choices.”

So, since that time, we have worked with the bank and dealt properly with them and now a pediatric physician has bought that building for his home but plans to have conferences there to benefit sick children. We are also in the process of being paid three thousand dollars for some property that was not included in the bank deal and God has brought us out of all of that and into this community where He continues to protect and provide over and over again.

And that leads to my last point and I will make it short because it is obvious.  We have seen the origins and the operations of the two kinds of wisdom.  Let’s look at the outcomes of man-made wisdom and God’s wisdom.  James tells us plainly what the outcomes are for both.  He says in verse 16 that with man’s wisdom comes disorder and every evil practice. The outcome for godly wisdom is in verse 17 and has been proven by the wisdom God has given this church in the past and continues to give even today. Paul wrote to the church in Corinth and told them in 2 Corinthians 12:20, “For I am afraid that when I come I may not find you as I want you to be, and you may not find me as you want me to be. I fear that there may be discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, slander, gossip, arrogance and disorder.”  Do you know what the world would call a church like that today?  Typical.  That’s why people don’t have the interest in church that they used to.  Who wants that kind of drama?  They can get that at home and stay on the couch.

So, how do we get the kind of godly wisdom James is talking about? He has already told us in chapter one. Just ask. So, let’s do that right now. Lord, we come to you and humbly ask for your wisdom so that we can make right choices that will bring glory and honor to you.  Use this church however you see fit to further your Kingdom and change this world.

“Taming the Tongue” – James 3

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BiH7Z_MevOY (video about the power of words)

“Your words always say more.” Did you catch that at the end? How true that is! Getting a card or letter is great but how much better it is to hear those good things straight from the person’s mouth. Talking can, of course, be overdone. More is not always better. I have heard that the reason we evacuate women and children first during a disaster is so we can think about a solution in silence. I don’t know if that is true or not. 😊

Knowing what to say and when to say it is one of the hardest things in the world. Have you ever known of anybody that just had no filter for their mouth? If it came in their head, it was coming out of their mouth, right? That can be refreshing; to always know where you stand with a person and to always know they are saying what they mean. That can be good, at least for a while. But sooner or later, that person is going to get themselves into trouble.

I have some married friends like that in Ft. Worth. The husband will be about to say something that comes to mind and his wife, who knows him well, will say, “Filter!” and he will stop and think about it for a second. That helps. It’s not always enough but she does what she can.

We learned in chapter one of James that we should all be “slow to speak”.  There are lots of other scriptures to back up that line of thinking. Proverbs talks about talking quite a bit. That may be some irony right there.

Proverbs 10:19  When words are many, transgression is not lacking, but whoever restrains his lips is prudent.

Proverbs 17:28  Even a fool who keeps silent is considered wise; when he closes his lips, he is deemed intelligent.

Proverbs 18:2  A fool takes no pleasure in understanding, but only in expressing his opinion.

I had a married couple come to me for marriage counseling a few years ago and when I asked what was wrong the woman just started right in. “Well, he just won’t talk to me. He never says anything. How am I supposed to know what he wants or needs if he never tells me? I keep trying to get him to talk but he just”, blah, blah, blah, she just kept talking on and on and on and never let up. Finally, the poor man just looked at me with this look like, “I think the problem is obvious, right?” And all I could do was just nod in sympathy. (True story)

Proverbs 25:11 says, “A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver.” There is not much better than someone who knows just what to say at a difficult time. Words can bring great healing and unity and motivation…or words can bring complete disaster and we all have the opportunity to do either one when we speak so how do we know how to handle our words? Let’s start with James chapter 3, verse 1-12.

We continue our campout in the beautiful little book of James knowing that James was not writing to unbelievers but writing to real Christians; real disciples, followers, believers in Jesus. But he was writing specifically to mature believers; people who have been doing this for a while. When James says to consider it pure joy when we face trials, that can only be done by somebody who has been with Jesus for a while and served God faithfully long enough to know that He can be trusted.

It's the same with being quick to listen and slow to speak. It’s true of having good deeds along with your faith. None of this can possibly be done by non-Christians or even immature Christians so when we come to this passage about controlling our tongues, it’s the same way. If you just can’t do what James says to do, then you either have a shallow relationship with God or possibly no relationship at all.

I’m not saying it will be easy; far from it. But a mature believer will see progress in all these areas. Let’s look at what he says about our words and after we all put on our steel-toe boots, let’s turn to James 3:1-12.

Not many of you should become teachers, my fellow believers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly. 2 We all stumble in many ways. Anyone who is never at fault in what they say is perfect, able to keep their whole body in check. 3 When we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we can turn the whole animal. 4 Or take ships as an example. Although they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot wants to go. 5 Likewise, the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. 6 The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course of one’s life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell. 7 All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and sea creatures are being tamed and have been tamed by mankind, 8 but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. 9 With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness. 10 Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be. 11 Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? 12 My brothers and sisters, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water.

A man working in the produce department was asked by a lady if she could buy half a head of lettuce. He replied, "Half a head? Are you serious? God grows these in whole heads and that's how we sell them!"  "You mean," she persisted, "that after all the years I've shopped here, you won't sell me half-a-head of lettuce?" "Look," he said, "If you like I'll ask the manager."  She indicated that would be appreciated, so the young man marched to the front of the store. "You won't believe this, but there's a lame-brained idiot of a lady back there who wants to know if she can buy half-a-head of lettuce."  He noticed the manager gesturing and turned around to see the lady standing behind him, obviously having followed him to the front of the store. "And this nice lady was wondering if she could buy the other half" he concluded.  Later in the day the manager cornered the young man and said, "That was the finest example of thinking on your feet I've ever seen! Where did you learn that?" "I grew up in Dallas, and if you know anything about Dallas, you know that it's known for its great football teams and its ugly women."

The manager's face flushed, and he interrupted, "My wife is from Dallas!" To which the young man replied, "Did she play for the Cowboys?" (sermonillustrations.com)

How many of you know that the more you talk, the more risks you take? It is so easy to say something wrong and the more you talk the more inevitable it is that you will say something that you wish you could take back. James tells us here that teachers especially have to be careful. They have extra responsibility to speak the truth because they will be judged more strictly than others who don’t teach.

So, while James says teachers need to be very careful, in verse two he says that we all stumble. We all have to be careful. We all, as mature believers, will be judged by what we say and we need to know what is the right way and what is the wrong way to handle this slippery little muscle in our mouth called the tongue.

Before you handle a firearm, you need to know how to handle it. Somebody has to show you and usually the person showing you has had experience with it, good and bad. If you go to the gun range and the range officer is missing a couple of fingers, you need to listen to him because he probably knows from experience what he is talking about.

The tongue is every bit as dangerous as any firearm but it can also do some wonderful things as well. The first thing James tells us is about the tongue’s power to direct. Your words have the ability to show, to guide, to direct others to the truth of what they need to know. James illustrates this by describing horses and ships as being guided by small bits and rudders.

When you first put a bit in a horse’s mouth, the wild nature of that horse rebels against that bit. It’s not natural. It’s uncomfortable and inconvenient for how that horse wants to live. Well, we have a wild nature as well. The Apostle Paul calls it the old man or the flesh and that old, fleshly, wild nature of ours doesn’t want our tongue to be controlled. It wants to sin. It finds pleasure in sin. It finds pleasure in letting somebody have it with a few choice words.

It finds pleasure in dropping some bombs and watching the carnage. Well, James is telling us that is sin. That is immaturity and it needs to be repented of and never done again because you are guiding and directing people with your words whether those words are good or bad. Do you realize that? Everything you say is guiding people in one way or another. You have the power to guide them toward Jesus and a life of peace and joy with the promise of eternity in Heaven, or you can, by the words of your fleshly, old man mouth, direct them towards Hell and everything Satanic. The power to direct is a big responsibility.

James also says that our tongues or our words have the power to destroy. Look at verse five again. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. 6 The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course of one’s life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.

That’s harsh language, especially for one talking about using harsh language. He says it sets the whole course of one’s life on fire. You have the power in your words to destroy others…and yourself. Remember, he is talking to believers here and saying, “Don’t wreck your life by the words you speak.”

On a windswept hill in an English country cemetery stands a drab, gray slate tombstone. The quaint stone bears an epitaph not easily seen unless you stoop over and look closely. The faint etchings read: Beneath this stone, a lump of clay, / lies Arabella Young, / Who on the twenty-fourth of May, / began to hold her tongue. (sermonillustrations.com)

How you speak is how you are known. Do you want to be remembered as the person who spoke apples of gold in settings of silver or do you want to be remembered as the person who destroyed yourself and others with your inappropriate, gossipy, harsh or hateful words? You need to make the choice right now before anybody else gets hurt.

Not only do our tongues have the power to direct and the power to destroy but they also have the power to delight. Look at verses 9-12. He compares our mouths to great fountains of flowing water. Proverbs echoes that in chapter 10 where it says, “The mouth of a righteous man is a well of life.” Also, in chapter 18 he says, “The words of a man’s mouth are deep waters and the wellspring of wisdom as a flowing brook.” Does that sound like your speech? Flowing with wisdom and a well of life?

If that does describe your speech, that is delightful to God and man. Can you imagine being able to do something, anything, that delights God? When we praise God, when we make Him look good and sound good because we know He is good, then God delights in that. He wants to be known as loving and merciful because He is, so we should say that every chance we get, not just when we are in church.

But look at what else James says we can do with our mouth in verses 9-12. We can curse men who are made in God’s image. How is that not, at least indirectly, cursing God? A fountain cannot provide two kinds of water. This is another situation where, if you are going to live that lifestyle, please take the Christ Fellowship bumper sticker off your car. Don’t tell anybody you go to church here or even that you are a Christian because you give us all a bad name.

None of us are anything close to perfect but if you aren’t seeing great progress in this area, I am concerned about your eternity. I’ll just be blunt. I believe scripture teaches that there is going to be a lot of people in Hell that were church members for years and years but never truly had a relationship with God through His Son Jesus and the proof of that relationship is a changed life; a life that was continually looking more and more like Jesus.

Turn to Isaiah chapter 6. I need you to see something. So many times when we imagine God, we see Him as some doddering old man with a beard and staff in a white robe and maybe He is throwing a few lightning bolts or He is despairing about the sad state of His creation but Isaiah was given a real vision of God and he describes it the best that he can in Isaiah chapter 6. I want you to envision this if you can as we read verses 1-5.

In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the LORD, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple. 2Above him were seraphim, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. 3And they were calling to one another: "Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory." 4At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke. 5"Woe to me!" I cried. "I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty."

What was Isaiah’s first response when He saw God? Did he see God sitting on a lawn chair and walk over and give Him a fist bump? “S’up God?” No! He saw God sitting on His throne as King of kings and Lord of lords with angels flying around Him covering their eyes from His intense holiness. Just His name being called out caused the whole place to shake and smoke and Isaiah’s natural reaction was, “Oh no. I’m a dead man.”

Why was that his first reaction? Because he immediately realized he had unclean lips. Can you imagine seeing God and now, like a recording playing in your head, you hear all the words you have said; all the times you said something untrue; all the lies, all the gossip, all the coarseness and cursing, even the unnecessary truths?

You haven’t thought of your unclean lips before because you live among a people of unclean lips. It’s all over the TV and movies and radio. It’s at your job. Your parents talked that way and even your teachers. But now…now you have seen God and it is all too obvious. You may have thought before that you wouldn’t want to hurt Him with your speech, but now you realize…what is to keep all-knowing and all-powerful God from hurting you???

Ephesians 4:29 says, “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.” Ephesians 5:3-4 continues with, “Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving.”

Do you want to know for what you should be thankful? Right now, be thankful for God’s incredible mercy and grace; grace that says, “I have seen you and I have heard what you said and if you repent (turn away from that lifestyle), I want more than anything to forgive you. Not because you deserve it but so that the world will see my grace, mercy and forgiveness.”

My dear family, a mature believer will control his tongue. We all mess up and maybe we say something in the heat of the moment sometimes but it ought to pain us to hear it come out of our mouths and those times will be fewer and fewer the longer we serve our all-knowing, all-hearing, all-powerful God.

If that does not describe you today then I would love to talk with you and pray with you because there is either something wrong with your relationship with Jesus…or it may not exist.

As the music plays, let’s bow our heads and close our eyes and use our mouths to voice to God right now our repentance and our praise. If you don’t have a relationship with God through His Son Jesus, then all you have to do is believe that Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life and no man gets to the Father or to Heaven but through Him (John 14:6).

Ask Him for forgiveness and allow Him to come into your life as Lord and Savior and allow Him to change your life right now. You don’t have to be good enough. You don’t have to understand everything. Just accept His undeserved grace. We aren’t guaranteed another day or another breath. Do that right now.

“Dead, Demonic or Dynamic Faith” – James 2:14-26

Before we get started, I have to ask how you like our flower arrangement here in front of the pulpit. (flowers are obviously fake) Aren’t they pretty? And they smell so…something. There’s nothing like fresh flowers to liven up the place, right? I picked them myself. Does anybody know what kind these are? Yes, they are plastic. I did pick them though. I picked them from a selection of fake flowers our church has in the closet but they are actually pretty hideous, aren’t they? How could you tell they were fake? How are these different from real flowers? Real flowers smell pretty. Real flowers are soft and tender to the touch. Real flowers use water and sunlight and they also change as they grow. They become prettier and smell sweeter as they age.

Real flowers just look different, especially up close. From a distance these might look like real flowers – maybe – and technically, you could still call them flowers. They just aren’t real flowers. They aren’t fooling anybody and I bet a real flower would be offended that these are even called flowers. Nobody likes a fake when you are expecting the real thing, especially when it comes to people. Have you ever known a fake person? Maybe they were fake about their happiness or their wealth or how important they were. Nobody likes being around those people and do you know what’s worse than a fake person? A fake Christian. Have you ever known a fake Christian? You probably have and some of them are pretty good fakes. They may come to church, know scripture and even pray but they aren’t real.

Jesus warned us about them in Matthew 7. He said, 21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ 23 Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’

There will be a lot of people who are expecting to live for eternity in Heaven because they claimed Christianity as their religion. They went to church every now and then and they put one of those fish symbols on their car and they typed “Amen” to a couple of Facebook posts. They even walked the aisle and prayed a prayer and got baptized so surely they are real Christians. Right Jesus? Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’

That’s a scary sentence, isn’t it? How do we know that Jesus isn’t going to say that to us? Well, let’s continue our campout in the book of James. It’s our fifth week and we have finally made it to chapter 2. Starting in verse 14, through the end of the chapter, James writes some things that have been controversial down through the ages.

Martin Luther was one of the greatest Christian minds and thinkers in the world but he misunderstood this passage and because of this passage rejected the whole book of James and wanted it stripped from the Bible. His thought was that it contradicted the Apostle Paul’s teaching that justification came by faith alone and he thought James was teaching that it was faith plus works that saved you. So, let’s look at this passage and make sure we understand what James is saying because it makes the difference between real and fake Christian faith.

James 2:14-26 says, What good is it, my brothers, 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. 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? 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,” 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.

Speaking of Martin Luther, he once said, “God our Father has made all things depend on faith so that whoever has faith will have everything, and whoever does not have faith will have nothing.” That is truth and it is well said but I submit to you this morning that there is more than one kind of faith but only one kind of faith that will save you. James gives us examples of three kinds of faith.

Look at verse 17 again. In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. Dead faith is the first kind of faith he shows us and dead faith is illustrated by the person who sees a need and does nothing to meet the need. James says that is dead faith. If something is dead, what is it good for? Nothing. Dead faith cannot save you. James does not disagree with Paul about this either. Paul rightfully said that we are saved by grace and through faith in Ephesians 2. We are saved through faith but the proof of that faith…is good works. It is a changed life. It is sacrificing yourself for the sake of others.

Do you know how to start a campfire? There are any number of ways to start a fire. You can rub two sticks together. Good luck with that. It’s way harder than the movies would have you believe. You can make sparks by banging two pieces of flint together. You can buy one of those magnesium fire starters and I think they work pretty good but I would rather just use a lighter. That’s way easier.  So, how do you know when your fire is lit? There is smoke. Where there is smoke there is fire. You don’t start a fire with smoke but smoke is proof that you have fire. That’s how it is with good works and faith. You aren’t saved by good works but your salvation is proved by them. They go hand in hand and if you don’t see good works along with faith, it’s a sure sign that your faith is dead and you should be very concerned that the last words you hear are going to be, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoer!’

Jesus warns of this in several places but one that comes to mind quickly is His parable of the four soils. You remember that from Luke chapter 8. Jesus uses the seed that is planted to compare to the Word of God and there are four types of soil that receive the seed but only one kind yields a lasting crop. Some of the soil looks good and starts out well but the seed is lost or dies quickly. James is saying that is dead faith and dead faith is useless for saving you.

Some of you know what it’s like to be in need. Some of you know it more than others. I have been in churches that talked a lot about meeting the needs of people but I love being a part of this church that really does help. A couple of years ago some church members came to me and told me how they had been blessed financially with some kind of windfall and they wanted to give something special to the church. They handed me $400 and told me to bless somebody with it.

Now, that is faith that is alive. That is faith accompanied by action. But listen to how it ends. The very next day (I promise this is the truth), the very next day a couple came to me asking for prayer. Their landlord was about to kick them out for not paying the rent and when I asked how much they owed, they said it was $400. There is no way the first couple knew about the second couple and vice versa. That was just a God thing. So, I prayed with them and then read Romans 8:28 to them that says, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” Then I patted them on the back and said, “I hope it works out. Have a blessed day.” Then they left and I went and made a car payment. Do you believe me? Okay, most of that story is true but of course I gave them the money.

But we probably all know situations that really did turn out with somebody that was able to help but didn’t and basically just said, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed.” I have great concerns about that person and that person should have great concerns because James says that kind of faith…is dead and if your faith is dead, you are spiritually dead.

James also mentions another kind of faith besides dead faith and that is demonic faith. Do you see that in verse 19? He says, “You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.” This is pointed directly at the religious Jews who recited the Shema from Deuteronomy 6:4 every day that says, “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.” They would quote that every day but too often their lives didn’t reflect anything deeper than their ability to memorize and James says that even demons can do that. They know there is a God and at least they are afraid of Him.

We also see this kind of faith today in religious skeptics. You know the guys. They are so-called scientists who like to be interviewed on TV and wax eloquent on the “truth” behind the “myths” of Jesus and the Bible. They can tell you from carbon dating how old the earth is and how the Israelites crossed over on dry ground and how Jesus didn’t really die on the cross; he just fainted. They know all about Jesus but they don’t KNOW Jesus.

Let me give you another example. Who is this guy? (Picture of Billy Graham) Everybody knows Billy Graham, right? Do you know him? Sure, you do. So, if you know him, tell me what his phone number was. What was his shirt size? What were his dreams? What was his favorite ice cream flavor and how did he take his coffee? We say we know Billy Graham but it’s just a passing head knowledge and if your faith in God is just passing head knowledge, I don’t care how much knowledge it is, you got nothing the demons don’t have. Ephesians 2:10 says that when we truly know God we are created in Christ Jesus to do good works. That’s the only kind of faith that can save and James gives us two illustrations of dynamic faith.

As a master teacher, James drives his point home with two biblical examples of true, inward faith demonstrated by obvious, outward actions. Though he has at his disposal a host of examples of faith from the Old Testament, James chooses two extremes: Abraham and Rahab, and hopefully we all find ourselves somewhere between the two; Abraham, the father of our faith and Rahab, a harlot. (Charles R. Swindoll, pg. 61) Both showed their faith by their good works and both will be in Heaven. Now, we know, as we talked about last week that not everybody’s experiences in Heaven will be the same and there will be rewards given to those who earn them but we know that we will see both people there. Both believed God’s word to them and both were obedient to do what God said.

In John 14:23, Jesus said, "Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching.” You will do what God’s Word says to do and you will do it, not to be seen, but it will be obvious when you do it, just as obvious as it is when you don’t.

Now, I hear you. I hear you asking the questions, “How much good stuff do I have to do? How many little old ladies do I have to help across the street? How many times do I have to come to church a month? How many dollar bills do I have to put in the plate? How much good stuff do I have to do to prove I am a Christian?” Well, there is some good to those questions and I understand the thinking behind those kinds of questions but they are not good questions. The good part is that you are thinking in terms of yourself. The absolute wrong thing to do is to ask those questions of other people and then compare yourself to them.

“Well, I go to church, give money, help old ladies, whatever, fill in the blank way more than that person does so I must have some serious faith. I know God is pleased with me because I’m better than they are.” That’s way off the track James wants us to be on. That may be true or it may not but God looks at your heart. He judges by your motives so let’s start there by asking some different questions of ourselves.

What does your quiet time look like? Are you truly doing business with God or just checking a box when it comes to your private prayer and study time? Do you look forward to it or is it a chore? You can’t do God’s will if you don’t know His Word. Are you memorizing it? When was the last time you had a fun and lively debate over the finer points of scripture with a friend? What do you talk about in your free time? Are you growing spiritually? Can you tell a difference in where you are today and where you were last year? What about that bad habit or even that addiction? Are you praying about it but not seeing any change? Does God seem distant? When was the last time you shared your testimony or even mentioned the name of Jesus?

Is church a priority? I will say again that the greatest problem this church has is making the Lord’s Day a priority and not just an option. It is not just God’s will but a command that we meet together and that we are here for each other using our gifts to build up the body, the bride of Christ.

Those are the kinds of questions you need to ask yourself because a dynamic faith will manifest itself in good works. It just will and you don’t have to ask if you are doing enough. If you wonder if you are doing enough then something is wrong with your faith and it’s not the quantity of it. Jesus said that if we have just a little bit of faith, we can move mountains. That’s because a little bit of dynamic faith will always do more than a lot of dead or demonic faith.

We pray a lot around here for revival. Everybody wants revival and everybody knows we need it but it never seems to really happen. In his book I Surrender, Patrick Morley writes that the church's integrity problem is in the misconception "that we can add Christ to our lives, but not subtract sin. It is a change in belief without a change in behavior." He goes on to say, "It is revival without reformation, without repentance." C. Swindoll, John The Baptizer, Bible Study Guide, p. 16. Repeat quote.

Does that sound like you? Don’t compare yourself to somebody else. Has your life truly changed since you walked the aisle and prayed the prayer or whatever you did? Are you truly seeing God do good works through you, that you never did before or even wanted to do before?

If you have any doubts about your faith, I would love to talk to you and pray with you about it right now. Don’t be fake like these flowers down here. There’s no good in living life like that here and now and we all want to hear our Lord say, “Well done good and faithful servant!” Ask Him to be Lord of your life and to change your life right now and to forgive you of all your sin. Your life won’t be perfect and some things will always be difficult but there is such peace and joy in this life knowing you will spend eternity with Him in the next life. Don’t leave here without knowing for sure.