Sunday Sermon

I had a few people tell me today that they felt the message I shared at church was exactly what was needed for this very time.

Know what I have to say about that? It was planned back in November. Well, because of hosting two missionaries who preached on two different Sundays earlier this year, this message was actually scheduled for two Sundays ago but got shifted to today. Still, no way of knowing that it would come at this moment in time. But God knew. He always knows what we don't know we know...you know? Sorry...I couldn't help myself and if you don't get that reference then I am not sure how good of friends we can really be.

You can watch our service on our Facebook page but we did have a few technical difficulties...microphones cutting out a few times, confusion with our announcement video, but we had one of the best services this morning! At one point during our worship you would have thought the building was full of people because the singing was so loud!

That being said, I thought I would share my notes from the Bible App right here!

With the Holy Spirit guiding us, we are often convicted or impressed upon by the need to ask for forgiveness and to change our ways when it comes to the obvious sin issues. If we steal something or lie to someone, we know that it is wrong. When we choose pornography over intimacy in our relationships or anger over understanding when dealing with our children, or anyone for that matter, our conscience is impacted immediately. However, there are certain areas of our lives where sin is able to creep in almost undetected—places like our motives, our prioritizing of other things above God, and the ways we relegate loving our neighbor to the back burner of our lives. Lent provides an opportunity to slow down and make time to listen to what God may need to tell us. Knowing that repentance should be a consistent part of the believer’s life, we will focus our attention on some of these sneaky sin issues and how Scripture addresses them.

James 1:13-25

And remember, when you are being tempted, do not say, “God is tempting me.” God is never tempted to do wrong, and he never tempts anyone else. Temptation comes from our own desires, which entice us and drag us away. These desires give birth to sinful actions. And when sin is allowed to grow, it gives birth to death. So don’t be misled, my dear brothers and sisters. Whatever is good and perfect is a gift coming down to us from God our Father, who created all the lights in the heavens. He never changes or casts a shifting shadow. He chose to give birth to us by giving us his true word. And we, out of all creation, became his prized possession. Understand this, my dear brothers and sisters: You must all be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry. Human anger does not produce the righteousness God desires. So get rid of all the filth and evil in your lives, and humbly accept the word God has planted in your hearts, for it has the power to save your souls. But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves. For if you listen to the word and don’t obey, it is like glancing at your face in a mirror. You see yourself, walk away, and forget what you look like. But if you look carefully into the perfect law that sets you free, and if you do what it says and don’t forget what you heard, then God will bless you for doing it.

It’s Not God. It’s Me. (13-15)

-When people who are dating break up one of the most common reasons heard is, “It’s not you. It’s Me.” And we all know that what that means is, "it's really you but I don't want to deal with that."

-It’s not God. It’s Me! It’s not God. It’s YOU!

-God tempts no one, those temptations are birthed from our own desires, and it is those desires that lead us to sin (vv. 13–15).

-The Fire Bible commentary on this verse and topic says, “Satan uses temptations to incite evil desires within us and entice us to defy God” (Fire Bible, Commentary James 1:13, page 1839-1840).

Matthew 5:19-20

So if you ignore the least commandment and teach others to do the same, you will be called the least in the Kingdom of Heaven. But anyone who obeys God’s laws and teaches them will be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven. “But I warn you—unless your righteousness is better than the righteousness of the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees, you will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven!

There is a natural progression between unresisted temptation and spiritual destruction. The temptation that is given into births sinful behavior that leads to spiritual death instead of life.

God may test us and allow us to go through trials in order to strengthen us and build our faith but the intent is never to lead us into or tempt us to sin. That is not His nature and He never changes.

We must rely on the Holy Spirit for strength to overcome our selfish and ungodly desires.

James 4:7

So humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

Unchanging God (16-18)

We should not fall into the trap of blaming God but instead know with certainty that God is unchanging and only gives good gifts (vv. 16–18). This goodness “stands in contrast to the temptations we face”

(David Guzik, study guide for James 1, https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/archives/guzik_david/StudyGuide_Jam/Ja m_1.cfm).

Verse 17 is clear, He never changes or casts a shifting shadow. To say that God tempts humans would mean that He is no longer who He has always been and that He has changed. But that is impossible.

To say God tempts us would also mean that He is a liar who is untrustworthy.

The truth remains throughout all of history that God doesn’t change. He is the I Am who is the same yesterday, today and forever.

Hebrews 6:17-18

God also bound himself with an oath, so that those who received the promise could be perfectly sure that he would never change his mind. So God has given both his promise and his oath. These two things are unchangeable because it is impossible for God to lie. Therefore, we who have fled to him for refuge can have great confidence as we hold to the hope that lies before us.

Be Doers (19-23)

So, now we take action by being quiet, patient listeners, less angry and self-involved, and more capable of hearing others. (vv. 19–21).

But we cannot only be hearers of the Word, we must live out our faith.

“More than any other book in the New Testament, James places the spotlight on the necessity for believers to act in accordance with our faith. How well do your actions mirror the faith that you proclaim? This is a question that we all struggle to answer well. We would like to point to all the ways our faith and works overlap but too often see only gaps and crevices” (Charles Swindoll, “James,” Insight for Living, accessed December 3, 2019, https://www.insight.org/resources/bible/the- general-epistles/james).

Let’s make it clear. James is speaking to believers, the church, people who have already been redeemed by Jesus Christ. He is in no way suggesting that our salvation is dependent on what we do.

James 1:19-20

Understand this, my dear brothers and sisters: You must all be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry. Human anger does not produce the righteousness God desires.

BECAUSE we are saved, BECAUSE we are in relationship with Jesus, BECAUSE we love our Father, we will do good things BECAUSE of all He has done for us.

Abandon the flesh

"Can you hear me now?"

Our motives can create a bad connection with God and others.

Until we switch carriers—trading in our flesh for the Spirit—and repent of the way we foster and feed those desires and ill motives, we will be enslaved to the way they influence all we do, even when we don’t realize it. This is why it is important to meditate on God’s Word and to take time to listen to him as he reveals the motives of our hearts.

When we spend our money to indulge ourselves and engage our relationships online or otherwise to be the most right or most powerful, we lose sight of what the Westminster Catechism calls “Man’s chief and highest end.”

(Westminster Larger Catechism, accessed December 3, 2019, A1, https://www.ligonier.org/learn/articles/westminster-larger-catechism/)

Conclusion

We must hold the tension to be fully redeemed through Jesus, but we are still in process as we are sanctified until the day of our own heavenly resurrection. If we are honest, we know it is not an easy task, but it is one we should take seriously as we seek to live out our faith in a way that draws others to Christ, online and in person.

“We avoid repentance because we remain addicted to the drug of self-justification. ‘I don’t need to repent because I’m the one righteously calling out the social and personal sins of others.’ Or ‘If I say I am complicit, it will give my political and social enemies leverage against me and my cause.’ Or even more to the point, ‘If I were to really look at and then acknowledge how much self-centeredness and pride infects even my most righteous actions, I would have to admit I’m a hypocrite and a moral failure.’ ... Repentance toward God, repentance toward the neighbor—the whole life of the Christian is indeed a life of repentance. We alone may not be able to transform our culture of blame, but at least we can model another way to live with and disagree with one another. One might call it a culture of repentance” (Mark Galli, “Whatever Became of Repentance?,” Christianity Today, September 20, 2017, https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2017/october/whatever-became-of- repentance.html).

To bring this into perspective for this day and time, what are our motives for how we've behaved in recent days? Are you hoarding toilet paper, lysol/clorox wipes, hand sanitizer, bread, etc...out of fear of a virus or because others are doing it? Or are you willing to be a good and kind neighbor and make sure that the elderly have what they need or that young family has enough to keep their kids safe and fed?

In case you need a good reminder to keep your faith and works alive, enjoy this song that I referenced in the sermon.