Faith That Works: Patient and Steadfast

Hurry up, let’s go . . . we hate to wait!  Simply passively waiting is hard enough, but waiting is even more difficult if we are enduring a trial or a difficulty.  I was at McDonalds last week with my two daughters and when it came time to leave I noticed that I was running short on time to get to a meeting.  In order to speed up the process and make it to my meeting on time I started putting on our 3 year daughter’s shoes for her.  BAD IDEA!  She immediately and very emotionally said “no, I want to do it” which caused my impatience to grow quickly.  I knew it would take her 5 minutes to put each sock and shoe on and it would take me 30 seconds.  I was not just casually waiting on a 3 year old, I was waiting WHILE under the pressure of being on time.  I must admit, I displayed very little patience or steadfastness as I continued attempting to help her put her socks and shoes on while she screamed!

READ:  James 5:7-12

In this passage James uses two different words to express what we need to be doing while we wait for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.  In verses 7, 8, and 10 the word translated PATIENCE means to WAIT despite difficulties.  The word translated STEADFAST in verse 11 means to ENDURE despite difficulty and suffering.  What’s the difference?  Patience is passively waiting for an uncomfortable period of time to come to an end, whereas steadfastness is actively bearing through in the middle of a particular hardship. What are some ways that we can be patient and steadfast while we wait for the coming of Jesus Christ?

Be patient and steadfast by WAITING for the precious fruit of Christ’s return (vss 7-8) – I grew up in Iowa, but I am as far from a farmer as you can get.  My grandfather was a farmer and so I got to observe what a life of farming looks like.  A farmer plants in the spring and then . . . waits on something that he has no control over . . . rain.  There are years that farmers suffer through drought and deluge anxiously awaiting a crop to grow.  Farmers can’t predict or guarantee what type of crop they will produce, but they sow seed with confidence and wait knowing that rain will come and “fruit” will grow.  Waiting patiently for the “harvest” of Christ to come is an act of faith, and so we must faithfully sow our lives with confidence expecting that it WILL happen (1 Thessalonians 4:13-5:11).

Be patient and steadfast by SOLIDIFYING our expectation of Christ’s return (vs 8-9) – It’s okay to have doubts.  We are particularly susceptible to doubts when there are those around us who ask, “where is the promise of His coming, it’s been over 2000 years and he has still not come?”  Such questions can shake our confidence.  But there is reason to grow all the more firm in our belief that He is coming and that there is a great purpose in His “apparent” delay (2 Peter 3:1-13).  2 Peter 3:9 says, “the Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is PATIENT toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance”.  God is patiently waiting with us!  We dare not wish His patience to come to an end at the expense of those who have not yet repented.  Grow in assurance, the salvation of others is well worth the wait!

Be patient and steadfast by allowing God’s COMPASSION and MERCY to be seen in your life (vs 4-6) – James answers the question that Laura Story sings about in the song “Blessings” when she asks, “what if trials in this life are your mercies in disguise?”  James’ answer to Laura’s rhetorical question is, “yes”.  Just as God used the devastating experiences in Job’s life of losing his children and possessions to show His compassion and mercy, God uses the trials and sufferings in our lives to disprove Satan and put His loving compassion and mercy on display.  While we are waiting there may be seasons when we think we are experiencing God’s wrath, when in reality God is using our suffering to bring greater glory and honor to Himself!

Conclusion:

BE PATIENT (and steadfast), therefore, brothers (and sisters), until the coming of the Lord!

Faith That Works: Riches

Being rich is relative.  Ask most Americans if we would consider ourselves rich and we automatically compare ourselves to someone else who has more than us which allows us to say, “no, I’m not rich”!  We are so immersed in a culture of affluence that we don’t even recognize the extent of our prosperity.  In fact, we’ve come to expect it and believe that we have somehow earned it.  I recently found an interactive website called www.globalrichlist.com where you can enter in your annual income, press a button that says, “show me the money” and it will tell you in what percentage of the richest people you rank in compared to the rest of the world.  I’m sure that many of us are aware that a person only has to make $48,000 per year (which may sound like a lot) and still be in the TOP 1% of the world’s richest people!  I’d say that is a majority of us in America.  We sit on the opposite end of those in the bottom 1% who make $400 per year or less.  The worldwide average annual income is $5000.  These statistics reveal one very simple fact . . . we may not think that we are rich, but compared to the rest of the world . . . we are!

READ:  James 5:1-6

James has already been writing in pretty intense words and tone (James 1:6-7, 22, 2:17, 3:1, 6, 10, 4:4, 16), but I think he hits the climax of his admonition when he addresses the issue of riches.  James gives some harsh warnings to those who are rich . . .

Riches will DETERIORATE and ultimately DESTROY us (vss 2-3a) – Money is known to “burn a hole in your pocket”.  As soon as you possess it, it disappears.  And all the things that we spend it on disappear just as quickly.  All the possessions that we accumulate have a very short life span.  All the time and energy we put into possessing things will eventually rot, be eaten by moths, and corrode (Matthew 6:19-24).  A dangerous and subtle consequence is that the money and possessions that burn a hole in our pockets burn even deeper into our soul and can easily destroy our lives with pride, arrogance, jealousy, greed, and independence from God.  We can avoid the deterioration and destruction of riches by serving God and laying up treasure in heaven.

The Lord will hold us accountable for HOARDING of riches (vs 3b-4) – “What’s mine is mine” is an American attitude that lends itself to an excessive accumulation of riches (Luke 12:13-21).  Hoarding of riches and possessions is really a symptom of a lack of trust in God and a reliance on ourselves to primarily provide for our physical needs.  We busy ourselves accumulating as much as we can in order to anxiously protect ourselves from pain, discomfort, or embarrassment (Matthew 6:25-34).  Such self-protection leaves no room for God to provide for our daily needs of food, shelter, and clothes.  The greatest sin of laying up an abundance of treasure is how it detaches us from our dependence on God. 

 

Excessive riches cause us to NEGLECT and ABUSE those in greatest need(vs 4-6) – While we live in luxury and comfort, there is an entire world that is severely lacking in some of the most basic needs of food, water, clothing, and shelter.  In a sense, by selfishly over-indulging in things BEYOND our basic needs, we are stealing from those who are barely surviving around the world.  Being rich should not be a right we selfishly abuse, but a blessing and a responsibility to care for the needs of the less fortunate around the world.

Conclusion:

READ:  1 Timothy 6:6-10, 17-19  Practical question at this season of the year . . . would you be willing to sacrifice a Christmas gift you were going to receive in order to give some of your riches to someone in need?   I would like you all to personally consider this question and pray about whether it is something you feel God leading you to do.  Continue to pray about this as Christmas approaches and commit to doing whatever God convicts you to do!

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.  

Faith That Works: Tongue

Are you familiar with these descriptions of how we use our words?

Tip of the Tongue = a temporary failure/inability to retrieve a word from memory

Tongue in Cheek = words spoken that are not meant to be taken entirely seriously

Tongue Twister = words combined together that are very difficult to pronounce

Tongue Tied = being unable use the words you want to due to confusion

Cat Got Your Tongue = a phrase refers to when a person has no words to say

Bite Your Tongue = a phrase which describes holding back or withholding use of words

Slip of the Tongue = an unintentional or accidental use of words

All of these catchy descriptions have to do with the WORDS that come out of our mouths.  I don’t think any of us understand, or take seriously enough, the power of our words.  Look at what James has to say about the tongue . . .

READ:  James 3:1-12

God Himself displays the power of words.  In Genesis 1 it says that God said, “let there be light,” and there was light.  He said, “let there be water and land,” and it was so.  He said, “let the earth sprout vegetation” and it was so.  He said, “let the earth bring forth living creatures,” and it was so.  God has the kind of authority that when He speaks, it happens.  We were created in God’s image, and although we can’t speak something into existence, our words do have the ability to create reality for those whom our words are directed toward.

Our words deeply impact us and our hearers.  We need to be using our words to create blessing and not a curse!

1.  Our words STEER the path of our lives (vs 2-6) – The steering wheel is to a car what the tongue is to our lives.  The difference in a car staying safely on the road and being mangled by an electric pole, tree, or oncoming vehicle is an attentive driver in control of the wheel.  We will be able to successfully navigate our way through the twists and turns of relationships with friends, neighbors, co-workers, bosses, parents, spouses, children, etc when we use our words in a manner pleasing to God.  On the other hand, when we use our words in a manner that is not pleasing to God our relationships with others will be headed toward a fiery wreck.

2.  Our words have immeasurable potential for EVIL and DESTRUCTION (vss 6-8) – “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.”  Although a helpful phrase when trying to deal with hurtful words spoken to us, we all know from experience that this little poetic phrase is false.  Hurtful words directed toward another person damages their inner soul and spirit.  Sadly, because of our selfish nature, our words tend toward hurting others.  This does not have to be the case!  We can use our words to bring good, blessing, and hope into the life of others we speak with.

3.  Our words cannot be used HYPOCRITICALLY (vss 9-12) – Words we use that are contrary to the standard of the Bible (gossip, crude/obscene/profane/corrupt talk, lie, using the Lord’s name in vain, argumentative, slander, malice) should be foreign and rare for a believer in Christ.  We cannot say we hold to a God-given standard with our words and be disobedient to it!  Such hypocrisy with our words reveals a deeper issue in our hearts.  For the words that come out of our mouths reveal the true nature of who we really are (Mt. 12:33-37; Lk. 6:43-45). 

CONCLUSION

Every word that comes off of our tongue has the potential to heal or injure, to encourage or ridicule, to lift up or tear down, to honor or disrespect, to build trust or to breed doubt, and ultimately to bring life or death.  Matthew 12:36-37 says that we will be held accountable for “every careless word we speak”.  Don’t be careless!  Let’s be wise with our words and use each and every one in a way that builds others up (Eph. 4:29) and is honoring and pleasing to God.  When we do, we are steering our lives toward Christlikeness and away from unrighteousness.

Faith That Works: Works

I think my 8 year old son at times truly believes that he is a superhero.  There are times I have observed him playing alone and he is in his own little imaginary world with a sword and a shield battling invisible enemies in the backyard.  He is climbing through the swing set, jumping on the trampoline, or up in the tree house (making light saber sounds) living out a scene from Star Wars.  It is one thing for Zachary to think and say that he is a superhero, it’s a whole other thing for him to actually BE one! 

READ:  James 2:14-26

In a similar way that Zachary says he is a super hero, it is easy for us to say that we have faith in Jesus Christ.  And although it is impossible for Zachary to experience the reality of being a super hero, it is possible for us to experience a life of transformed attitudes, actions, and words through a real faith in Jesus Christ!  Before we dig further into what this means we have to answer a few simple questions . . .

What are faith and works?  1) FAITH = Christian worldview (belief) that a person is saved by grace through Jesus Christ and that He is the Lord (and therefore the leader) of the actions of their life.  2) WORKS = Good attitudes, actions, words (deeds/actions) exhibited by a Christian who is being obedient to the leading of the Holy Spirit.  We are not saved by works, but works are the (super)natural result of a life built on faith in Jesus Christ!

How do works reveal (confirm) the existence of our faith?

1.  Works display that our faith is ALIVE (vs 17, 26) – Before faith in Christ we are dead in our sins and are incapable of doing works that please God (Eph. 2:1-3, Col. 2:13, Rom. 8:5-8).  When we put our faith in Christ we are “reborn”, we are a new creation, we are given a brand new spiritual life (Jn. 3:1-8, 2 Cor. 5:17, Eph. 2:4-5, 10).  It is the good works that come from the leading of the Holy Spirit living inside those who have put faith in Jesus Christ that provide objective evidence that our faith is living and real (Rom. 8:9-11, Gal. 5:16-25)!

2.  Works show the AUTHENTICITY of our faith (vs 18) – Saying we have faith is not a sufficient response for those looking to us for how faith makes a real difference in life.  Even demons believe in God!  Saying we have faith must be accompanied by a tangible, Holy Spirit led, action that benefits others. The good lives we live are the best “proof” we have to show others that we have put faith in Jesus Christ and that He is the Lord of our lives. 

3.  Works is what makes our faith USEFUL (vs 20-25) – Our faith does more than simply give us a new spiritual status (forgiven, heaven).  Our faith begins the process of sanctifying us and restoring our very existence back to the way God originally intended it to be.  The good works of our lives become practical expressions of the glory God created us to enjoy and experience.

For some of us having a living, authentic, and useful faith is only in our imagination.  There are times that we pretend and it may appear that our faith is real, but we know that there is something missing.  In order for our faith to be resurrected from the dead and come alive we simply need to acknowledge that we are a sinner and put our faith in Jesus Christ for forgiveness and commit to making Him the Lord of our lives.  For others, our faith is alive, it’s real, and it is expressing itself through good works.  We must continue being obedient to the Holy Spirit so the world can be eye-witnesses of what a living, authentic and useful faith in Jesus Christ looks like!