Faith That Works: Life

Probably one of the most frequently asked questions in history has been . . . What is the meaning of life?  I have found myself asking that question throughout my life, pondering how I got here, why I am here, why I was born in the life circumstances I am rather than in some much more impoverished existence in another part of the world.  I look around at the world and creation and can’t help but wonder where did this all come from?  Where did it all begin?  The answer to the question “what is your life?” is one that we must all answer for ourselves.  How we answer this question will dictate whether our lives are characterized by arrogance, evil, and waste or humility, righteousness, and purpose.

READ:  James 4:13-17

What do we learn from James about the answer to the question, “WHAT IS YOUR LIFE?”

The future of our life is TOO UNPREDICTABLE for us to plan out (vss 13-14a) – In jr high and high school I thought I had my life pretty well planned out . . . PLAN A = practice and become the greatest athlete I could become, get an athletic scholarship, and pursue an athletic career as far as it would take me.  If that did not work out I had a PLAN B (backup plan) so that if plan A did not work out I would still be able to get a good job . . . use my skills and ability in art, go to college, and get a degree in engineering/architecture.  Plan 3 (God’s plan) = Abandon plan A or B and obediently follow God who had a completely DIFFERENT, and yet perfect, plan for me.  We must all pursue God’s will, life is too uncertain to leave our immediate and eternal future in the hands of our own limited ability, strength, and creativity.

Life is TOO SHORT to waste it on our own selfish/temporary plans (vs 14b) –  According to James, our life, the 75 to 80 years that we have on this earth is like a mist.  We have life on this earth for a moment and then we evaporate into eternity (Psalm 102:3, 11, 103:15; Job 7:7, 14:2; Isaiah 40:6-8; 1 Pet 1:24-25; James 1:10).  This means that our lives are too short to waste.  We all have a physical “expiration date” and we need to use our lives for their intended purposes.  Have you ever found an old can on the shelf that had long expired?  An expired can is good for nothing but to be thrown away and was never able to be used for its intended purpose.  We never know when our lives might expire and so we must get “off the shelf” and quit wasting opportunities to do what God has planned for us by making our own plans and directing our own lives.

Living life doing the right things is TOO IMPORTANT for us to miss the Lord’s will (vss 15-17) – The alternative to sitting on the shelf by making our own plans and directing our own lives is to allow God to dictate the activities and events of our lives.  Jeremiah 29:11 says, “I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope” (Prov. 16:3, 9, 19:21; Romans 12:1-2).  Anytime we reject God’s will, the “right” thing to do, James says we are sinning!  Making our own plans and directing our own lives reveals our greatest problem which is an arrogant, rebellious, and therefore sinful, attitude against God.   Life is too important not to pursue and obediently live out God’s very best.

Conclusion:

If we don’t do the right things that God has purposed for us to do, our lives will be characterized by sin and we will be rebelliously missing out on the best that God has for our lives!  It’s never too late to pursue God’s will for your life.  If you think you have done too much planning and it would be too devastating to turn back now, it is NEVER too late abandon our pursuits and give our lives over to the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God!  What is your life?  I don’t have all the answers about life, but I do know that it is too unpredictable, too short, and too important to live without His input!

Faith That Works: Worldliness

Have you ever declared WAR against another person?  WAR = a period or state of active hostility between two opposing sides.  We may not think so, but we engage in war with others all of the time. Even if the war only lasts a few moments, it is still a war.  Dad and mom say we should be home by 10pm, but we think we should be able to stay out ‘til 11pm . . . so we declare war.  We see a friend/boyfriend/girlfriend spending time with someone else, but we think they should be hanging out with us . . . so we declare war.  We take the chance of trying to make a new friend, but they ignore us . . . so we declare war.  Our coach doesn’t put us on the starting team, and we think we deserve it . . . so we declare war.  God says in His Word that we should not steal, but we think taking a few dollars from a friend’s locker is no big deal . . . so we declare war.  We declare war by INITIATING hostile interaction with another person in an attempt to GET WHAT WE WANT!  Being at war starts in with the selfish, prideful, passions, and desires of the heart and mind and moves to our attitudes, actions, and words!

READ:  James 4:1-12

Who are those that we declare war with and why?

We declare war with OTHERS by pursuing our selfish passions and desires (vs 1-3) – No one has to tell us what we WANT.  WANTING certain things is the most natural desire we have.  Interestingly, we all WANT different things.  But our WANTING is the same.  According to James, there are 3 WANTS that put us in conflict with others.  1)  Our want for personal pleasure (passion, hedonism).  2)  Our strong want for what is morally wrong (desire, lust) 3) Our want to possess what others have (covet).  So, why do these desires put us in conflict with others?  Very simply, when we want what we want, we will fight for it!  When we find ourselves in conflict with others, stop and think about what you are fighting for and why.  If you are fighting for a selfish, prideful, passion, or desire, I have one word of advice . . . STOP.    Take the time to ask God for what He WANTS you to possess in your life!

We declare war with GOD by pursuing friendship with the world (vss 4-5) – Simply by choosing to have a companionship with the world, without even saying a single word, we at the same time declaring war against God.  We position ourselves as enemies of God when we unfaithfully choose the world above Him!  To want any other person or any other thing in the world more than God is spiritual adultery.  God desperately wants us to want Him.  The best way to show God our love and friendship with Him is by doing what HE wants.  In order to do His will we first stop living for what WE want (I John 2:15-17).

It is sad that we find ourselves at war with God and others when the one we should be at war with is the devil! The devil is constantly pushing us toward our passions, pride, and friendship with the world . . . tempting us to start a war with God and with others.  So, how do we fight back? 

We declare war with SATAN by humbly submitting ourselves to God and drawing near to Him (vss 6-8) – In a book titled “Nearness is Likeness” AW Tozer wrote, “the more we are like God, the nearer we are to God.  I may be sitting in my living room with my Siamese cat on my lap, and my wife may be 20 feet away in the kitchen; yet I am nearer to my wife than to the cat because that cat is unlike me.  We have very little in common.”  As we submit ourselves to God and allow Him to conform us into His image we will draw nearer and nearer to Him and further and further away from our enemy the devil.

No one wants to be at war with God and others.  So how do we declare a truce and be at peace?  We can bring the “wars” in our lives to an end by letting go of our passions, pride, and friendship with the world! 

Faith That Works: Wisdom

No one would like to be considered a FOOL.  And yet, I don’t think very many of us have any idea how to be WISE!  We all want to possess wisdom.  Wisdom is hard to come by when we are prideful and arrogant.  Recently our 10 year old son Caleb was convinced in his mind that an event at our church started at 5:00pm.  We told him, “no, it starts at 6:00pm”. He argued with us for a few moments convinced that he was right.  I think, if left to his own wisdom he would have walked to the church to be there at 5:00pm.  It would have been foolish to show up at 5:00pm when it actually started at 6:00pm. This is an insignificant and a simple example of how our own pride and arrogance can get in the way of submitting to an authority who knows and understands MORE than we do.  We often lack wisdom because we are arrogantly convinced that we are right and that there is no greater source of what is right and true than ourselves.

READ:  James 3:13-18

What is wisdom? = The humility to discern God’s perspective in any and every situation and apply it to our lives.  Wisdom is not just being smart or intelligent, in fact, according to Scripture it probably has little or nothing to do with it.  In Proverbs 1:7 we are told that “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and discipline”.  True wisdom starts with a humble fear of God.  A humble fear of God begins with a fundamental understanding that He is perfect and we are flawed, He is right and we are wrong, His thoughts are higher than our thoughts and His ways are higher than our ways, and that we are in desperate need of Him to lead in guide us in our attitudes, actions, and words.  When we have this type of fear, reverence, and awe of God, we are in a position to receive and put God’s wisdom to work in our lives!

How do we know whether we possess wisdom?  We can observe whether we, or those around us, have wisdom by the fruit that comes out of our lives.

False wisdom (foolishness) is SELF-RELIANT and SELF-FOCUSED (vs 14-16) – “I can do this myself” is the motto of the fool!  Oh, that hits most every one of us square between the eyes.  Selfish ambition and jealousy reveal something very important about the condition of our heart . . . the things that we are doing (selfish ambition), or would like to be doing (jealousy), are all about ME!  For the fool, living life means having no source of authority above us but ourselves! 

True wisdom GOD-RELIANT and OTHER-FOCUSED (vs 13, 17-18) – If we are going to possess true wisdom it will not come from us but from God who is ABOVE.  In fact, God’s wisdom will often be different and even contradict with what we might think would be wise.  Therefore, in order for us to be wise, we must rely on God through the Holy Spirit to provide us with the mind, the way, and the will of Christ (1 Corinthians 1:18-2:16).  When we receive wisdom from God we can be sure that it will build bridges with other people.  Purity, peaceability, gentleness, open to reason, merciful, good fruits, impartiality, and sincerity are not characteristics that compete or promote ourselves over others, but ones rather that allow us to share life and be at peace with others.  We can be sure that we possess wisdom if the attitudes, actions, and words that come out of our lives promote peace!

CONCLUSION

The greatest way to get wisdom and to discern whether we have wisdom or not is whether we are asking God to give it to us.  James 1:5-8 says, “if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given to him.  But let him ask in faith with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind.  For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways”.  The phrase, “let him ask” in verse 5 is a command!  We will NOT have wisdom in our lives if we do not possess the humble fear of God to ask Him for it.