Living Stones Church, Red Deer, Alberta

Each of us is living out our lives within the framework of a greater story. From the very beginning of time, God’s plan is to reveal his amazing love to each of us, despite our sin, but also the sin of others. Our sin affects not only our lives but also others'. So, many people today are experiencing the pain from the sins of others. How do we handle that? One of the greatest tools is forgiveness, as it frees us from carrying that hurt, but it does not always change our circumstances. How do we live with the negative circumstances that other people’s sin has caused us?

When we think of someone who is generous, we often think only in terms of what they give financially, but the reality is that true generosity is an attitude that is reflected in how a person treats others. Giving money is only one aspect of true generosity. Generosity is the giving of oneself for the good of others, which includes our time, our concern for others, our expertise, and above all, our prayers. The issue in our lives is the person we become. The goal of the Christian life is to become like Jesus. So, how do we cultivate greater generosity in our lives and witness the amazing benefits of a generous lifestyle? We know that we can only give what God has given to us. What God looks at is the condition of our hearts. Many people in our affluent society today struggle with the two major ingredients of life: money and time. We often abuse both. We spend more than we have and use our time unwisely. How we spend these gifts from God is a great indicator of where we are in our relationship with Him. Have we learned to really trust God in our lives? Do we believe that God will provide for us? Is our focus primarily on ourselves, or have we matured to a point where we are deeply interested in the well-being of others? The very nature of biblical Christianity is giving. So, how do we become more generous with our lives? How do we develop into being more generous people? Paul gives us two reasons in the first 15 verses of 2 Corinthians 8 for becoming generous.

Easter Sunday

Good Friday Service Consider the cross, an ancient tool of punishment, torture, and death. The cross slowly and painfully ended the lives of its victims. In the process, they were shamefully abused, rejected and despised, humiliated before all passersby. And yet, in an astoundingly ironic reversal, the cross became the greatest symbol of Christianity, speaking of glory and victory! So, what brought about this astonishing recognition? It was the death of Jesus and what it accomplished for humanity. Jesus’ sacrificial death brought victory over sin, death, and judgment. This amazing act of Jesus, laying down his life, transformed the cross into a symbol of hope and deliverance. So the cross—an instrument of death—became the means by which God gave life! John provides some details in the conclusion of chapter 19, but the writer of Hebrews broadens our perspective. He writes about Jesus: “…For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God” (Heb. 12:2). The result of Jesus’ death on the cross was his exaltation in glory. When we consider the great sacrifice Jesus made on our behalf, what effect should that have on our lives, besides our undying gratitude?

Dan Schmidt writes in Unexpected Wisdom: Tragically, hope is a weak word these days, meaning little more than what we feel... What of the one who has just learned of cancer in his child, or whose parents have developed a wasting disease, or whose job has been abruptly and callously terminated? ...when physical troubles and spiritual attacks stack up like cords of wood, what does hope mean then? Hope sustains you in the welter of struggles that scurry through the heart and mind like tadpoles in a pond. It draws you into the new day and carries you through the many days that follow. …We think of the prophets as writing about the future, and they do. But their interests rest less with helping us chart events in a nice, neat way than with assisting us through the minefields of life to live for God.  They assure us that God is sufficient for what we are going through now and for what is likely to smack us later. They persist in saying that the one we cling to deserves our trust, and that hope in God is legitimate and beneficial. ...With their wonderful dreams and tales of better times, they offer a vision of life far different from current experience. Prophets see what is not as though it were and invite others to adopt their perspective despite contrary evidence. They offer hope, but they do so by way of a challenge: believe that a power as awesome and far-reaching as Assyria’s will one day soon be little more than rubble, and you are likely to believe anything.” That’s it, the things that are, will one day no longer be! Whatever your challenge, whatever seems beyond your ability, and worse, is still not big enough or bad enough to overcome what God ultimately intends for each of us. Our problem is that our expectations are often shattered by something greater and better than what we anticipate. That’s the story of Easter week.  The Jewish people were hoping that Roman rule was coming to an end as they worshiped their king, but the reality was that His throne was a cross that would deliver them and us from something far greater than earthly oppression. Sin and death were about to deliver a crushing blow. Jesus was about to provide us with eternal life. As we celebrate these days, the significance of Easter week, I want to look at the prophetic picture and the background of the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem. Today is the day we know as Palm Sunday.  What was transpiring in that moment of time? What were the aspirations of the people? What was significant about this moment? How does that impact us? What should this day mean to us?    To really gain insight into this moment in the life of Jesus, we need to go back in time to the prophet Zechariah, who prophesied about the coming King. In that context, I want to look at Psalm Sunday today. In Zechariah 9:9-17, we find the fulfillment of prophecy as quoted by Matthew when Jesus came into Jerusalem that day, two thousand years ago, to establish his kingdom, through his conquest over sin and death. But what was happening when Zechariah first communicated this message of hope to God’s people, and how did that message get lost in translation so that so many missed the message? How is it that we can still miss the significance of this message today? Zechariah was preaching after the exile. Many had returned, but many remained in the land of exile. 

In the book “What My Parents Did Right,” there is testimony from 50 known leaders from an earlier generation who describe the impact their parents had on their lives. Dr. Robert Webber, who wrote extensively on worship, shared the impact his father had on his life. One incident deeply impacted his life. Robert shares that, by attending Bob Jones University, he developed a bad attitude toward the school's rules and dropped out. Arriving home, his father listened and was supportive, but when they tried to find another avenue for further education, all the doors were closed. His father then sat down with Robert and stated that he ought to consider returning to Bob Jones University. “Son, you need to learn that life is not easy and that, whatever you do in life, you will be working with people who don’t agree with you. Go back to Bob Jones and learn how to function in a context that is difficult for you.” I was thinking about what he said and how much sense it made when he added, “Besides, you quit. You ran away from a difficult situation. If you run away completely, you will set a pattern that will be hard to break. You may end up being a quitter all your life. I knew he was right and that returning to Bob Jones was exactly what I should do. I felt almost instant peace about my decision. Returning wasn’t easy, but it was right. In the next six months, God began to work in my heart in many ways, one of which was to lay total claim on my life for ministry. Since then, over nearly four decades of training and ministry, there have been many difficult times when I have wanted to throw in the towel and give up. Every time, though, the words of my father have come back to me, and in my heart and with my lips I reaffirm, “You are not a quitter.” Life is difficult, but it is also an adventure—and an exciting one at that. I’m persuaded in my own life that God’s calling demands steady, unmoved perseverance. This lesson—a lesson that lies at the heart of Christian discipleship—is one that I learned from a father whose wisdom in dealing with a rebellious son opened my heart to hear the call of God, “Come, follow me.” One of the great challenges in this present generation is that we do not want to be corrected. However, positive correction can be a source of amazing encouragement, growth, and a future resource to help us face greater challenges that often lie ahead in our lives. So, how do we handle correction in our lives, and how and why should we correct those whom God entrusts into our lives? What we will discover is the possibility for some incredible outcomes. 

What impedes our spiritual life from flourishing and growing? With whom should we associate or disengage? To what degree should we relate to the society around us? What dangers do we need to guard our minds against regarding the values of a contaminated society? What may be even more subtle is watching out for deviations from the purity of the gospel that call forth disassociation from people who disagree with a radicalized, narrow, and wrong view of what the Scriptures actually teach. There is no question that the people we associate with can affect us, but what we come to believe will affect the decisions we make and determine not only our earthly future but also our eternal future. What we are about to discover is that Paul is not suggesting that we stop relating to unbelievers. Rather, the people he is warning us against are those who profess Christianity but are deviating from biblical truth, which leads people away from a biblical lifestyle.

2 Peter 1

Erwin Lutzer, former Pastor of Moody Memorial Church, received a letter from a radio listener years ago, in which he wrote: ‘I am a man, thirty-one years of age and divorced, though I fought the divorce bitterly. I feel bad because I have no hope for the future.  Often, I go home from church and cry, but there is no one to hold me when I cry. No one cares. What hurts most is that I have begged God for the grace to be single for His glory and to fix my eyes on Jesus, but nothing changes. I continue to fail. I am a basket case emotionally and on the verge of collapse. Something is very wrong. I’m so crippled and embittered that I can scarcely relate to others anymore. I feel that I will have to sit out the rest of my life in the penalty box.” Have you experienced those difficult and devastating moments of life? The temptation is to become angry and bitter. Some people even grow to hate and blame God. Why is God allowing this to happen to me?  Why does God lead us into the wilderness experiences of life? Why the wilderness? Asking why usually doesn’t satisfy. It is far better to consider what we can learn and how to respond in ways that will help us grow on our journey through life. Have you ever noticed that difficulties come in packages—often overwhelming? What we need to remember is that even Jesus felt overwhelmed with sorrow in the garden of Gethsemane. What wilderness experiences quickly remind us of is our humanity, our weakness, and our frailty. God has always led His people into the wilderness experiences of life. All his servants have had moments in the wilderness: Moses, Elijah, John the Baptist, and Jesus Himself. Wilderness experiences have a design. If you look at the first three gospels, God, by His Spirit, led Jesus into the wilderness to be tested by the devil. It was God who initiated the confrontation between Jesus and the devil, which is a mirror and a different and victorious outcome to the wilderness wandering of the Israelites between slavery and the promised land.   We find in Deuteronomy a fascinating explanation of why God allows wilderness experiences in our lives. Moses, in the second reading of the Law, is coming to the end of his ministry. He describes the value of the wilderness experiences to the Israelites so they will never forget God.

What does biblical ministry really look like? How can we identify the real thing? When do we know when something is authentic? We know that in life, we all will suffer. Some suffer more than others. Some suffer because of their own folly. But others suffer because of their concern for others. Paul, in appealing to the genuineness of his ministry and message, will give us insight into the authentic nature of love and how it is expressed. We certainly see evidence in Jesus’ life. Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, said these powerful words in the upper room, speaking of what he was about to endure.  John 15:13 - "Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends." We know the ultimate expression of love was given by God. Christ gave his life for us to reconcile us to God. There are three things expressed in 2 Corinthians 6:1-13 that will reveal to us this authentic love and how that love is expressed.

To begin anew in our lives, we need to begin to assess life differently. In our text from 2 Corinthians, we will discover three things we must do to experience God’s incredible grace in our lives.   How do we hit the reset button on our lives? What does it take to see a new beginning and transformation happen in our lives? We must stop evaluating life through the lens of our world. We need to accept the gift God offers us in Christ. We can be reconciled to God simply by accepting the gift of Jesus’ sacrifice on our behalf, an admission that we have sinned against God and are prepared to turn our backs on the life we once knew. When we experience God’s grace, it gives our lives a new purpose. We now have a message of reconciliation to share with those around us.

Being a Christian is about having a passion for God and compassion for people. The greatest need of our nation, province, city, workplaces, schools, and neighbourhoods is that people come to know the Lord. God has entrusted His people with that commission. God entrusts us to be His witnesses, His ambassadors to the people in our world. So, how do we live a transformed and influential life? We begin by looking at four ingredients of that kind of life. These ingredients are found in 2 Corinthians 5:11-14. These are Paul’s reasons why he was willing to risk all, even his life if necessary, for total strangers.

There is much speculation and controversy between the moment we die and the time when Jesus comes again, in which we will receive our eternal spiritual bodies. In writing earlier to the Corinthians, Paul laid out the teaching on the resurrection in detail in 1 Corinthians 15. He also describes the difference between our earthly bodies and spiritual ones. 1 Corinthians 15:42-44, 50-54 So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; it is sown in dishonour, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. I declare to you, brothers and sisters, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed—in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.” At first, the early church assumed that Jesus would return soon, but then days turned into weeks, months and years, and believers were dying. The question arose, so what happens to those who die before Jesus comes back? Paul answers that question in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 “Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope. For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. According to the Lord’s word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore, encourage one another with these words.” Yet this triggered another question: So, what happens to those believers who physically die before Jesus’ return? This was a deep concern in the lives of first-century Christians and has created much confusion that persists to this day. Theologians call this the intermediate state. There is a growing fascination with the afterlife. Let me begin by mentioning three false ideas, then move to our text today, and give us the biblical picture of the intermediate state.

John Piper writes in his book The Roots of Endurance that he shared some of the challenges facing Charles Simeon (1759-1836), the pastor of Trinity Church in Cambridge, England. “I heard that he stayed in the same church as pastor for fifty-four years and that in the first twelve years there was so much opposition from his congregation that 'pewholders' locked their pews, stayed away, and forced him to preach to a standing congregation who fit in the building where they could. …So I confess at the outset that I have a spiritual and pastoral aim in this chapter, as in the whole book. I want to encourage you—as I pursue this myself—to receive and obey Romans 12:12, “Be patient in tribulation.” May Simeon’s life and ministry help us see persecution, opposition, slander, misunderstanding, disappointment, self-recrimination, weakness, and danger as the normal portion of faithful Christian living and ministry. I want us to see a beleaguered triumph in the life of a man who was a sinner like us and who, year after year, in his trials, “grew downward” in humility and upward in adoration of Christ and who did not yield to bitterness or to the temptation to leave his charge for fifty-four years. …I need this inspiration from another century, because I know that I am, in great measure, a child of my times. And one of the pervasive marks of our times is emotional fragility. It hangs in the air that we breathe. We are easily hurt. We put and mope easily. We blame easily. We break easily. Our marriages break easily. Our faith breaks easily. Our happiness breaks easily. And our commitment to the church breaks easily. We are easily disheartened, and it seems we have little capacity for surviving and thriving in the face of criticism and opposition.” What we are about to discover is how to not only survive but also thrive in difficult times and situations. We need to discover how to have joy in life’s most challenging moments, as James explains in his letter.             James 1:2-4             Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds,             Because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.             Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. We are going to continue our series on 2 Corinthians, where Paul is under great pressure, scrutiny, and criticism, and he now explains the very nature of Christian life and ministry. It is a life in which, despite hardships, our character may transform as we look to Jesus for wisdom and strength to persevere. Here is where we see God’s manifested glory most evidently in our lives. There are three elements to God’s work of glory, revealing itself through a transforming life and ministry.

It is amazing to discover the people that God chooses. It usually is the people others pass over. That was certainly true for David when Samuel came to anoint one of Jesse's sons to become the next king; even his father didn’t bother to have David stand before the prophet. God generally chooses the weak and the nobodies of our world to manifest his grace, glory, and power. Kent Huges points out: “The Lord called Moses despite his inarticulateness, then no one can claim the prophets’ excuses (Gideon’s military weakness, Isaiah’s sin, Jeremiah’s youth, or Ezekiel’s trepidation), or the weaknesses we may offer, as valid reasons to duck God’s respective call.” Scott Hafemann echoes that same sentiment: “Indeed, the call of Moses demonstrates that these very obstacles are an essential part of the call itself, illustrating clearly that God’s grace, not the prophet’s strength, is the source of his sufficiency.” Paul is able to balance his negative declaration, “Not that we are sufficient in ourselves,” with the positive counterpoint, “but our sufficiency is from God” (v. 5). And Paul goes on to explain that his sufficiency comes from two things: 1) the sufficiency of the new covenant and 2) the sufficiency of the Spirit.” What we discover is that God’s transforming glory is expressed through human weakness so that people will come to understand that it is the power of God’s grace working through our lives that brings about God’s power and virtues. Scott Hafemann explains the amazing grace of God’s covenant with us and our need to move from our self-sufficiency to total dependency on God. “The contemporary significance of our passage revolves around one central, all-determining point: God is the source and supply of our lives, as demonstrated by his calling and equipping his people for service in a covenant relationship with him. The call of God takes place in Christ; the service takes place by means of the Spirit. This is true whether one is an apostle called to be a minister of the new covenant in the first century or a believer called to be faithful in service to others in the twenty-first. Though inherently offensive to the self-reliance and self-glorification that are so much a part of modern culture (and every culture since the Fall), Paul’s stark reminder is that we cannot claim anything as coming from ourselves (cf. Rom. 11:36; Eph. 2:8–10). All things come from God (cf. 1 Cor. 8:6; 2 Cor. 1:21). Nothing we have is earned; everything is a gift (1 Cor. 4:7).  

Many of us have heard the Christmas Story of Jesus, born to a virgin named Mary, two thousand years ago. That first Christmas night, while shepherds were watching over their flocks, they had an angelic visitation announcing the birth of the Messiah, the Christ. Born in the little town of Bethlehem, they would find him in a manger and off they ran to see this wondrous birth. In Matthew's gospel, we discover, sometime later, that magi [we call them wise men] from the east, who saw the star announcing the birth of the King of the Jews, travelled to pay homage to him. Mark doesn't go into these early details of the birth of Jesus, but begins his gospel with the preparation that we needed for people to receive their Messiah.

The first Christmas did not happen in a vacuum. We do not understand the need for the Christmas story simply from the birth of Christ.  We need to go to the beginning of the human story to really understand why God, in the person of Jesus Christ, had to come to earth. What necessitated the need for God to become a Man, live a sinless life and die a cruel death? The Bible states that we, as human beings, are the crowning achievement of His creation. We are made in the image of God. However, even in the sinless paradise that man found himself in, there came a temptation— the temptation was simply that God, our Creator, was withholding from the created. God’s goodness was challenged, and as a result, the first human couple rebelled from an amazing, transparent and sinless life to one now tainted and ultimately corrupted by evil. The result was that the image of God was marred in us as humans, and now sin works at dehumanizing us. What I mean by that statement is that in creating us as human we are to reflect the nature and goodness of our Creator. Now, with the birth of sin in the human family, sickness, alienation, and death were the outcomes for all generations. But God in His great mercy and love had designed a plan to reclaim us all from this terrible state through the substitutionary sacrifice of the Son of God. Beginnings are often very fragile times and open to blatant temptations or subtle spiritual attacks. We see that in the early life of Jesus, as Herod tried to murder him. Instead, Herod killed all the little boys two and under in the little town of Bethlehem because of the visit by the Magi. The enemy is always threatened when God is implementing His plans through the lives of His children.  

As we are now in the Christmas season, we have a built-in cultural opportunity as God’s people to use it as a springboard to share the truth of Jesus Christ with our neighbours, co-workers and families. This Christmas Season, how are you preparing the way for the Lord? In our homes? In our workplaces? In our relationships? In our own hearts?

Years ago, when Patty and I first came to Red Deer with our newborn daughter, Andrea, the church was in its earliest beginnings. That was over 41 years ago. After witnessing the church's amazing growth over 10 years, we resigned and moved to Seattle, Washington. Three years later, we were confronted with a very agonizing and significant decision that affected not only our lives but also two congregations. I was at that time leading a new church plant in the greater Seattle area, and seeing God bring people into his kingdom. Meanwhile, the church here in Red Deer had experienced a terrible conflict and was now without a pastor. I was asked to consider returning, which created a difficult, agonizing decision. As I was studying our text today, I gained a new appreciation for why Paul left Troas and the ‘open door’ of ministry there to discover what was transpiring in Corinth. In addressing the criticisms levelled at his apostolic ministry, particularly his boldness in correcting the Corinthians, Paul explains the nature of true Christian ministry. When I speak of ministry, I’m not just speaking of Christian leadership or ministry; I also include the idea that each of us, who are followers of Jesus, communicates God’s message to others. This includes our communication with those we lead, parent, coach, and mentor. It is also the communication we share with one another, discipling and encouraging people in their relationship with God. At times, it means not only affirming and encouraging, but also correcting those we love, as we see sinful behaviour that is destructive not only to the individual but also before God and its effects on others. One of the most difficult things to bear is the criticisms from those we love, particularly when we are being misjudged when trying to speak into their lives. Emotional suffering and anguish can be the emotional toil of having a meaningful relationship when we are being criticized for addressing issues. It certainly was true in the life of Paul, as we see from his letter to the Corinthians. What we also discover in 2 Corinthians 2 is the conflicted emotions between two significant elements in Paul’s ministry. We see Paul’s deep desire to know what is happening in the life of the church in Corinth in response to his latest letter correcting their sinful behaviour. He is also conflicted about what to do with the amazing opportunity in Troas, as the gospel is transforming people’s lives. Obviously, one situation was far more fulfilling and joyous, while the other left him in deep anguish and concern. We may have experienced conflicting emotions when torn between two concerns. Some of you may be bearing the weight of caring for elderly parents, while at the same time navigating through your child or children’s teen years. Paul, in defence of his absence in coming to Corinthian, explains why he addressed them from a distance and the heart behind such a strong, direct, and confronting letter, in which he called for their repentance. Paul agonized over causing them pain, but then rejoiced over their proper, godly response to correction, renewing their expression of love for him.   

The context for C. S. Lewis’ book, “Mere Christianity,” was drawn from a series of wartime BBC broadcasts on the Christian faith in which he spoke on the problems of suffering, pain, and evil from 1942 to 1944. You can then imagine when, in one broadcast, Lewis spoke on the issue of forgiveness. The book was published ten years later, in 1952. During WW2, 800,000 Londoners lost their homes to the Nazi ‘Blitz’. Night after night, hundreds of planes bombed not only London but also many other cities in the UK. Later, jet-propelled rockets turned civilians and their towns into the front lines, designed to put pressure on the government to surrender.  One address that Lewis broadcast was the Christian idea of forgiveness. “Everyone says forgiveness is a lovely idea, until they have something to forgive, as we had during the war. And then, to mention the subject at all is to be greeted with howls of anger. …And half of you already want to ask me, ‘I wonder how you’d feel about forgiving the Gestapo if you were a Pole or a Jew? So do I. I wonder very much, just as when Christianity tells me that I must not deny my religion even to save myself from death and torture. I wonder very much what I should do at that point. I am not trying to tell you in this book what I could do—I can do precious little—I am telling you what Christianity is. I did not invent it. And there, right in the middle of it, I find ‘Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.’ There is no slightest suggestion that we are offered forgiveness on any other terms. It is made clear that if we do not forgive, we shall not be forgiven. …we might try to understand precisely what it means to love your neighbour as yourself. I have to love him as I love myself. Well, how exactly do I love myself? …my self-love makes me think myself nice, but thinking myself nice is not why I love myself. …In my most clear-sighted moments, not only do I not think myself a nice man, but I know that I am a very nasty one. I can look at some of the things I have done with horror and loathing. So, apparently, I am allowed to loathe and hate some of the things my enemies do. Now come to think of it, I remember Christian teachers telling me long ago that I must hate a bad man’s actions, but not hate the bad man, or, as they would say, hate the sin but not the sinner. For a long time, I used to think this was a silly, straw-splitting distinction: how could you hate what a man did and not hate the man? But years later, it occurred to me that there was one man to whom I had been doing this all my life-- myself. However much I might dislike my own cowardice, conceit, or greed, I went on loving myself. There had never been the slightest difficulty about it.  In fact, the very reason why I hated those things was that I loved the man. Just because I loved myself, I was sorry to find that I was the sort of man who did those things. Consequently, Christianity does not want us to reduce by one atom the hatred we feel for cruelty and treachery. We ought to hate them. Not one word of what we have said about them needs to be unsaid. But it does want us to hate them [sin] in the same way in which we hate things in ourselves: being sorry that the man should have done such things, and hoping, if it is anyway possible, that somehow, sometime, somewhere, he can be cured and made human again.” If we could hate sin in us and in our world, yet still love people and ourselves, we would begin to understand the heart of God. That is the way of compassion toward others.

We should never be surprised when our good intentions are misconstrued and cast in a negative light. We can also expect that in serving others, there will come moments of misunderstanding and unwarranted criticism. In teaching a course on Nehemiah, I was reminded of this very thing. Nehemiah was confronted by those opposed to God’s purposes for His people. When Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite official heard about this, they were very much disturbed that someone had come to promote the welfare of the Israelites. One of the strategies of the opponents of God’s work is to discredit the leader. When I talk about leadership, I mean anyone God is using to direct and influence people in the right direction. So, how do people try to discredit people? They often come to intimidate through false accusations. I realized that God had not sent him, but that he had prophesied against me because Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him. He had been hired to i ntimidate me so that I would sin by doing this, and then they would give me a bad name to discredit me. What was true of Nehemiah was also true of Paul. We find an attack upon Paul, his character, his ministry, and his message. The issue is not whether people will attack those who serve others, but how we respond to the attack. We will discover in 2 Corinthians Paul’s response to the attack he experienced. We can also learn from that response so that when we feel misunderstood, or even worse, when others are discrediting us, we can biblically address the issue.

Rick Warren, former pastor of Saddleback Community Church in Southern California, shared the tragic death of his son, Matthew and his struggle with depression that led to his ‘suicide.’ Rick related that Matthew struggled with this his entire life, even though they sought extensive treatment, counselling, and prayer over the years. He shared that he continued to believe God for a miracle and also encouraged Matthew that, even if he did not receive complete freedom, he should pray for God’s strength to manage the challenges he was facing.  Despite all these efforts, Matthew ended his life after twenty years of struggle. This catapulted Rick and Kay into a ministry they never wanted, but God indeed called them into: ministering to others who are struggling with the loss of a loved one. Six months after the death of their son, Rick and Kay Warren expressed the following sentiment in an interview with CNN’s Piers Morgan. “We intend to spend the rest of our lives comforting others with the same comfort God has given us. …Your deepest life message will come out of your deepest pain.” As we begin our journey through the most autobiographical sketch of Paul's life, we discover something of the nature of the gospel, the challenges, the sorrow, and the ultimate hope that God’s gracious message brings into our lives. In the introduction to this letter, Paul writes that he experienced his greatest pastoral challenge at Corinth. Linda Belleville, in her commentary on 2 Corinthians, explains that itinerant ministers were challenging Paul’s credentials and his authority. “Paul’s focus on visions, revelations, and the miraculous suggests that the issue was what constituted an appropriate witness to the gospel. A mistaken emphasis on the miraculous by these so-called super-apostles resulted in a misconstrued view of Jesus as a wonderworker rather than a suffering servant, and a misrepresentation of the Spirit as a miracle empowerer rather than a guarantor of the gospel message. In so doing, they effectively put forward “a different gospel” (11:4). For Paul, the role of the miraculous was to validate, not displace, the gospel. This is clear from the recurring thought in his letters that his preaching was one of word accompanied by power, conviction and the Spirit (1 Thess 1:5; see also Rom 15:19; 1 Cor 2:4; Gal 3:5).” In Paul’s greetings to this congregation, he appeals to three essential concepts regarding the nature of the gospel. This gospel of Jesus has the power to comfort us in the hours of darkness, where suffering and pain can at times overwhelm us.

As we come to the close of the book of James, we see that James has been speaking to believers who were experiencing ‘trials of many kinds (1:2).’ In the closing chapter, we see the abuse and exploitation of the poor by the rich. James speaks of developing an attitude of patience in their suffering by encouraging them that God will address all injustice, if not in one’s life, then at the Judgment at the end of the age. James concludes by moving to what we can do in times of trial and suffering. He challenges us to pray. It is as we pray that God brings hope, healing, and restoration to our lives. Suffering can move us to look beyond ourselves to God. The literal word that is translated here is ‘to suffer evil.’ Alec Motyer explains that suffering is a broader concept than simply sickness. “Jeremiah suffered opposition, Ezekiel bereavement, and Hosea marital breakdown.” In other words, it is any trouble we face in our lives that causes physical, emotional, and spiritual torment. Douglas Moo speaks to the attitude we need when praying and waiting for God’s outcomes. “Because the verb [for prayer] is so general in its meaning and application, no certainty about the content of the prayer that James calls for here can be attained. Perhaps James would include a petition to God to remove the trial. But James’s concern when he addresses trials elsewhere (1:2–4, 12; 5:7–11) is to encourage believers to endure suffering with the right spirit and a divine perspective on history. Presumably, then, the prayer that he encourages here is for the spiritual strength to endure the trial with a godly spirit.” Yet we also see that when God’s people begin praying, they start experiencing spiritual growth, healing, reconciliation, and restoration. Here, in the conclusion of his letter, James gives us direction in addressing two significant areas of our lives: physical and spiritual health.

In D. A. Carson’s book, How Long, O Lord?: Reflections on Suffering and Evil, he begins, “A pastor is cutting his front lawn. He looks up from his task just in time to see a heavy dump truck back out of his neighbour’s driveway—right over the neighbour’s eighteen-month-old son, who had been squatting behind the massive tires. The pastor accompanies the hysterical mother and ashen father to the hospital in the ambulance. There is no hope for the little boy; he has been crushed almost beyond recognition. …my own mother was mugged at the age of 72. As a result, she fell and hit her head on the curb. Her family noticed mental deterioration and personality change within weeks; she was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and went through all the predictable stages of that wretched disease. She died nine years later. …And all these things represent the suffering that takes place in relatively stable societies. Add war, racism, genocide, grinding poverty, starvation.”  We can say that when sin entered the world, so did suffering, evil, and death, but this remains a set of beliefs until suffering strikes us personally. Carson pushes us to see beyond the mental aspect of truth to apply the truths we know that are consistent with a good and compassionate God. “…in addition to holding that Christian beliefs are true and consistent, the Christian, to find comfort in them, must learn how to use them. Christian beliefs are not to be stacked in the warehouse of the mind; they are to be handled and applied to the challenges of life and discipleship. Otherwise, they are incapable of bringing comfort and stability, godliness and courage, humility and joy, holiness and faith.” James, rather than shying away from the reality of suffering in our world, speaks to the issue. James 1:2-4  - “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.“ What James is saying is that God uses the worst things in our lives to cultivate spiritual maturity. Yet, we find that suffering can be overwhelming. In this letter, he is speaking to believers who have been exploited by those who use their wealth and power to devastate their lives. How should we respond to evil? How are we doing to find the endurance and hope necessary in times of suffering in our lives? James calls for restraint and patience in addressing these issues. He gives several reasons for those who are suffering to be patient and to entrust their situations to God.   

One of the concerns for people as they age is whether they will have enough finances in their retirement years. Financial planners all have different gauges to determine how much is enough, but maybe we are not thinking far enough about our future. How will God evaluate our financial portfolio? How will that impact our lives in eternity? If financial planning is part of our eternal plan, perhaps we need to evaluate what we are or are not doing in this area of our lives. Are we living the kind of life that God has called us to be ready for eternity? Being generous with our time and money does affect eternal outcomes. Charles Dickens' Christmas classic, ‘A Christmas Carol,’ is a cautionary tale about how we prioritize this world’s riches over people's needs. James challenges us regarding our priorities with finances, both in how we attain and invest them, often taking advantage of others or simply living a self-gratifying life. James 5:1-6 Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming on you. Your wealth has rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes. Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire. You have hoarded wealth in the last days. Look! The wages you failed to pay the workers who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty. You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter. You have condemned and murdered the innocent one, who was not opposing you. Is this simply a warning against ungodly people? Or is this a warning against the misuse of God’s resources that He has given us? Obviously, it serves as a warning against those who oppress others, but it is also a word of encouragement to those who suffer as a result of financial inequality. James is using a literary device known as “apostrophe’—speaking to people who are not present, for the benefit of those who are. This way, James’ listeners will know the certainty of the coming demise of their oppressors.” James is about to call for patient endurance under repressive economic conditions, where some are benefiting at the expense of others. The analogy James makes in Chapter Five is that of a ripening harvest.  Jesus’ return to judge is often spoken of metaphorically as a harvest of people. The harvest is divided between that which is of value, the righteous and those who will be judged for their sinful actions, the unrighteous. James 5:1-6 deals with this economic oppression and serves as a warning to affluent Christians to invest in the lives of others, particularly those who are unable to care for themselves.  David Platt explains: “You might wonder why, in a book addressed to Christians, James would spend time using such harsh language toward unbelievers. The answer is that he is reminding the Christians that the justice of God is coming. This reality should enable them to be patient. With that said, it doesn’t mean these verses have no other application to Christians. James has already rebuked Christian brothers and sisters who favoured the rich over the poor, so 5:1–6 serves as both a direct rebuke to rich nonbelievers who were oppressing the poor and a subtle, indirect warning to rich believers (Christians) who were ignoring the poor. Notice that James is not necessarily condemning wealth here; instead, he focuses on the sinful use of wealth. At the same time, for those of us who are part of a culture that is extremely wealthy compared to the rest of the world, we need to examine whether we are engaged in a sinful use of the resources God has given us.” 

“Unwell, and much in prayer, he heard a voice saying, ‘In the name of Jesus of Nazareth, arise, and believe, and thou shalt be healed of all thy infirmities.’ It was, in fact, the voice of [a woman] who had felt herself commanded in a dream to say these words. Charles got out of bed and, opening his Bible, read from the Psalms: ‘He hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God.’ Followed by the first verse of Isaiah 40, “Comfort ye, comfort ye my people,” saith your God.’ He wrote in his journal, ‘I now found myself at peace with God, and rejoiced in the hope of loving Christ.’” Two days later, he began a hymn upon his conversion, [in which he wrote] Where shall my wandering soul begin? How shall I all to heaven aspire? A slave redeemed from death and sin, A brand plucked from eternal fire, How shall I equal triumphs raise, And sing my great Deliverer’s praise!” Charles Wesley continued to praise his Lord and Saviour for the next fifty years. “According to Frank Baker [Charles Wesley] averaged ten poetic lines a day for fifty years and wrote 8,989 hymns, …who produced “Hark! The Hearld Angels Sing, “And Can It Be,” “O for a Thousand Tongues to Sing,” “Love Divine, all Loves Excelling,” “Jesus, Lover of My Soul,” “Christ the Lord is Risen Today,” “Soldiers of Christ, Arise,” and Rejoice! The Lord is King!” The nature of worship, spoken or sung, is to express our deepest gratitude toward God for who He is and all that He has done for us. When set to music, it can move us emotionally, but the message is critical. It transforms the worshiper, but it is heightened when gathered with others. God’s presence is often deeply manifested in speaking into our hearts as His word is ministered to us. As we celebrate this Thanksgiving season, may our hearts and expressions of gratitude to God ascend to God, bringing praise to Him, but also impacting and transforming our attitudes and actions. As we examine the Old Testament songbook, the Psalms, we find numerous expressions, one of which is a great hymn of praise. Tremper Longman writes regarding the nature of a hymn. “Hymns are easily recognized by their exuberant praise of the Lord. The psalmist pulls out all the stops in his rejoicing in God’s goodness. His praise is exuberant because the psalmist is very conscious of God’s presence. Though there are many different types of hymns, almost all of them share a similar basic structure. Hymns begin with a call to worship. They continue by expanding on the reasons why God should be praised. Hymns often include, and sometimes conclude with, further calls to praise.” We gain insight into the setting of Psalm 147, which is one of the later ones not only in the canon but in its historical context. It is written to celebrate the return of the exiles from captivity and the restoration of Jerusalem. God has faithfully fulfilled his promises to his people, particularly the words of Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel.  

Are we ready for this ultimate union that scripture says is going to take place? We are expected to be prepared by living in a state of readiness for Christ’s return.

Why am I here? What is the purpose of my life? For most people, it is simply about snatching moments of pleasure, trying to find happiness or meaning in various pursuits or relationships. Yet, there is a longing within the human heart for understanding, to be loved, and to find meaning and purpose in life. If we are simply a cosmic accident, then life is reduced to surviving and trying to make the most out of our lives. But what if we were designed by a loving God who had a plan that would not only shape who we would become, but also live a life of significance and purpose? Once we embrace that God designed us, life takes on a new purpose and direction. The question then becomes, if God created me, what does He have in mind for me? What we are about to hear from James is that God will shape the course of our lives. When we discover Him and then walk in obedience to His will, we embark on a journey of faith that is both challenging and rewarding, in a way we could never have imagined.  Last week, I focused on addressing the issue of pride in developing and maintaining healthy relationships. This arrogance, however, finds its way into our work world, in which we lose sight of the transitory nature of life itself. We often act as if we have all the time in the world when we do not know what tomorrow holds for us. It is the difference between a self-directed life and one that is lived with eternity before us, marked by a deep dependency on God and learning to embrace God’s designed task for our lives. The issue for all our lives is simply to do God’s will. However, we often struggle with what that really means. What happens when I ignore it or simply disobey it? What are the outcomes then? What happens when I exert my own sinful desires as the catalyst for living my life? I believe that in these few verses in James, we will discover something of the critical nature of embracing God’s will for our lives. 

“In a certain pond on one of the farms in the East were two ducks and a frog. Now, these neighbours were the best of friends; all day long, they would play together. But as the hot summer days came, the pond began to dry up, and soon there was so little water that they all realized that they would have to move. Now the ducks could easily fly to another place, but what about their friend, the frog? Finally, it was decided that they would put a stick in the bill of each duck, and then the frog would hang onto the stick with his mouth, and they would fly him to another pond. And so, they did. As they were flying, a farmer out in his field looked up and saw them and said, “Well, isn’t that a clever idea! I wonder who thought of it!” The frog said, “I did …” We can chuckle at this humorous little antidote, but it simply illustrates a profound truth, as expressed in the wisdom literature of the Bible. In Proverbs 16:18, it states: Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall. One of the most subtle temptations is the insidious nature of pride. It can easily rear its ugly head and capture those who have so much going for them. In the book of Daniel, we have a contrast between Daniel, a captive slave, and the king, who asks for an interpretation of a troubling dream he has had. King Nebuchadnezzar became the most powerful man alive in his time. He was a world conqueror. He amassed incredible wealth and power. One expression of that wealth was that he had built two of the wonders of the ancient world: the walls of the city and the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. This was a magnificent garden for his wife, as she missed the vegetation of her homeland. One day, while strolling on his palace roof, musing over his own personal greatness, he was struck down by God, the Almighty. He lost his sanity and spent ‘seven times’ (a season of his life), groping about like an animal, without the capacity to understand and reason. The biblical text describes how his restoration occurred. Daniel 4:34 At the end of that time, I, Nebuchadnezzar, raised my eyes toward heaven, and my sanity was restored. Then I praised the Most High; I honoured and glorified him who lives forever. God restored to him what his pride had stripped him of, which was the sanity needed to lead his people. He later confessed. Daniel 4:37b And those who walk in pride, he is able to humble. What is pride? It is living as if God does not exist. It is believed that we can be self-sufficient. It is trusting in anything or anyone other than God. The only remedy is a deep sense of reverence toward God. 

There is a hunger for the Gospel! Reboot the Gospel in your own personal life, and in the lives of those you care about who don't know about Jesus and how He can transform them and give them eternal life.

In one of William Shakespeare’s great tragedies, Othello, one of the soldiers under his command, a man by the name of Iago, motivated by a wounded sense of injustice and jealous of his commander, plots to destroy Othello. He creates a misrepresentation that appears that Othello’s wife, Desdemona, is having an affair with another man under Othello’s command. While framing this innocent wife of Othello, Iago manages to convince Othello of his loyalty.  The story concludes with Othello believing that his wife has been unfaithful to him.  He kills her only to discover the truth and, in his grief, takes his own life.   What makes the works of William Shakespeare such great literature? It speaks to the transcendent nature of human relationships. All the struggles, joys, and tragedies of life are addressed, which speaks to the human condition. This is why the Bible is so relevant. Even more importantly, the Bible reveals something we would never know apart from its revelation: the very nature of God and His love towards us. While Shakespeare often leaves us looking at the pain and tragedy of life, the Bible moves us to the hope found in God. Ernest Marshall Howse, in his book, ‘Spiritual Values in Shakespeare, states, “In his last will and testament, Shakespeare wrote: 'I commend my soul into the hands of God my Creator, hoping and assuredly believing, through the only merits of Jesus Christ my Saviour to be made partaker of life everlasting.” So, what is the underlying reason for the great tragedies of life? What causes unrest, bad feelings, hostile and destructive relationships? What is at the root of these things? In James 3, we find the origins of why relationships deteriorate. Jealousy and envy lead to the desire to destroy another. That is why the religious leaders crucified Jesus. They were jealous and envious of Jesus. Matthew 27:18 For he [Pilate] knew that it was out of envy that they [religious leaders] had delivered him [Jesus] up. From the very beginning, we have the issue of jealousy and envy bringing about the destruction of a relationship, and even of life itself. Cain was envious of his brother Abel, and he killed him. Therefore, the condition of the human heart is crucial for maintaining healthy human relationships. As we examine the landscape of our community, with so many relationships in jeopardy, what does that reveal about the condition of our hearts?  But what is even more important, what can be done about it? How can our self-centred and sinful nature be subdued? It takes a power greater than us. It is only as we yield to God’s Spirit in our hearts that we can have healthy relationships. One of the results of a Spirit-controlled life is that we live a life of submission, first and foremost, to God. It is only then that His purposes for our lives can be known and lived out. It is through this submission to God that we learn to value others and can learn to submit to them. Submission, then, is a key ingredient in healthy relationships.  What does the Bible mean when it speaks about submission? Often, we confuse submission with subjugation. Submission speaks of yielding to another.  Submission can either be forced or willingly given. People who are forced to submit or who are being subjugated live in resentment, bitterness, and anger. There has been far too much exploitation and humiliation of people in our world.  The result is nothing but resentment and rebellion. The biblical idea is willful submission. It is something we willingly give to another. I love the distinction that Warren Wiersbe makes between submission and subjugation.  “Subjugation turns a person into a thing, destroys individuality, and removes all liberty. Submission enables a person to become more of what God wants them to be; it brings out their individuality, giving them the freedom to accomplish all that God has planned for their life and ministry....

Romans 1:1-7

The hunger for freedom from oppression will drive people to rise in revolt against their oppressors. That has been the history of humanity over the centuries. We know that the Jewish people revolted militarily from Rome not once but twice. It was during the second revolt in 132-135 A. D., the Roman Emperor, Hadrian killed 580,000 Jews, destroyed 985 villages, forbid the Jewish people to enter the city of Jerusalem, what was left of it, and scattered many of the remnants of Jews people to other parts of the empire. It was under Hadrian that the land was renamed Palestine. In contrast to this political and military uprising, Church historian Philip Schaff (January 1, 1819 – October 20, 1893) relates the impact that Jesus and his message had over human history in his book, The Person of Christ. He writes: “And yet this Jesus of Nazareth, without money and arms, conquered more millions than Alexander, Caesar, Mohammed, and Napoleon; without science and learning, he shed more light on things human and divine than all philosophers and scholars combined; without the eloquence of schools, he spoke such words of life as were never spoken before or since, and produced effects which lie beyond the reach of any orator or poet; without writing a single line, he set more pens in motion, and furnished themes for more sermons, orations, discussions, learned volumes, works of art, and sweet songs of praise, than the whole army of great men of ancient and modern times.” What an amazing contrast between the human approach to life’s problems and God’s approach in addressing the great injustices of life. While the zealots in Jesus’ day murdered and revolted against Rome, ultimately destroying themselves in the process, Jesus’ message of love and forgiveness prevailed over that very Empire. The kingdom that Jesus ushered into our world still captures the human heart today. In James 3, we discover the difference between a wisdom that originates from God and a wisdom that defies God, whose origin is demonic and destructive. It is a wisdom that alienates human relationships, while Jesus’ message transforms them. James concludes chapter 3, which began with a challenge regarding our words, now focuses on the core issue of their origin, within the human heart. What is the condition of our heart? The state of our soul is affected by either wisdom that comes from above or wisdom that originates from below as we evaluate the nature of the two sources of wisdom that shape our hearts and affect our speech, which in turn brings either peace and harmony or conflict and strife. We are going to examine how wisdom affects the condition of our hearts.

One of the great themes of the Bible is the concept of faith. We are told that ‘It is impossible to please God apart from faith (Heb. 11:6). When the disciples were struggling and unable to deliver a young boy from a demonic attack, Jesus told them it was because they had so little faith. Then he told the disciples that if they had faith as small as a mustard seed, they would have prevailed. Jesus called it mountain-moving faith (Matt. 17:20). We know from Scripture that salvation from sin and death is a gift acquired by faith (Eph. 2:8-10). So, what is biblical faith, and how do we know when we have it? Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. If we continued to read Hebrews 11, we would discover that faith produced specific outcomes, and it is to this reality about faith that James is addressing in the first two chapters. There was a social tension that invaded even the church world in the 1st Century that James addresses. When we consider that slaves made up between 10-20 percent of the population in the Roman Empire, many of whom came to faith in Christ, there was economic disparity or inequality in that society. We see from James 1 and the beginning of James 2 that there is a tension between the rich and poor in the church. It is within this context that we need to read how genuine believers act when they find fellow believers in need. James now attaches this issue to 2:14-26 with the nature of faith.    So, how does biblical faith express itself in life? Biblical or genuine faith that is more than simply a mere confession of belief, but a faith that transforms the behaviour of the person who possesses it. James begins by raising the question: Can a faith that has no outward evidence in life be a biblical, saving faith? James now gives us his answer and describes three things that are understood as faith, but only one of them is genuine. The tragedy is that the other two expressions leave a person living in a state of self-deception and have eternal consequences. 

A few weeks ago, Patty and I viewed a documentary on Ed Sullivan, the host of the Sunday Evening Hour, which was a variety show that he oversaw for 27 years. One of the things that Ed Sullivan was noted for was helping to integrate into his program African American entertainers during a time of deep segregation and prejudice, particularly in the deep south of the U. S. One of the reasons for his commitment to this concern came from his family background as they were Irish immigrants to the U.S. He knew firsthand the pain of discrimination and favoritism. In James 2, James is deeply concerned about the believer’s actions as they reveal what a person believes. For James, the way we treat people reveals the true condition of the heart and the work of grace or lack within it. How do we see and treat people? The greater question is how God treat people. When we view the life of Christ, we know the pattern or the model for how we should treat others. Jesus reached out to the marginalized and social and racial outcasts and brought them into his kingdom. What needs to happen in our lives for us to treat others like Jesus? James was not only impacted by the example of Jesus but also knew the Old Testament texts in considering the nature of God’s dealings with people, particularly the vulnerable.   Leviticus 19:15 ‘Do not pervert justice; do not show partiality to the poor or favouritism to the great but judge your neighbour fairly. T. scholar, Douglas Moo, explains what James is challenging us with. “In his typically practical manner, James, in this paragraph, gives voice to an important Christian value: the equal worth of all people in the sight of God. Worldly culture is marked by distinctions: between one ethnic group and another, men and women, rich and poor, and so on. These distinctions are not erased in the church, but they are relativized in light of the revelation of God’s radical grace to all humans in Christ. ‘There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus’ (Gal. 3:28).” There is an equality of personhood we discover from Scripture. Every human being is created in God’s image and should be treated with respect. Here in James 2, we find three aspects of this issue of favouritism or discrimination. He begins with an exhortation, gives an example, and then explains the ramifications. 

Deuteronomy 29:2-6

Romans 1:16-17

Acts 1:1-11

In his book, Beyond Personality, C. S. Lewis explains what it takes to become what God originally intended for us to be all along, like Him. “Give up yourself, and you will find your real self. Lose your life and you’ll save it. Submit to death, death of your ambitions and favourite wishes every day and death of your whole body in the end: submit with every fiber of your being, and you will find eternal life. Keep nothing back. Nothing you have not given away will ever be really yours. Nothing in you that has not died will ever be raised from the dead. Look for yourself, and you will find hatred, loneliness, despair, rage, ruin, and decay in the long run. But look for Christ, and you will find Him, and with Him, everything else will be thrown in.” What does it mean to be a ‘follower of Jesus Christ? What does spiritual maturity look like?  Interestingly, James uses the term ‘religious,’ as it is only used five times in the entire New Testament, and James uses it twice, both of which are found here in chapter one. Religion is best understood as the outward expression of our faith. How does the inward transformation of grace work itself out into our daily lives? Are we doing God’s will or our own will? Jesus warns us that there will be people who think that they are saved but are not. “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. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and, in your name, perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ (Matthew 7:21-23) Paul challenges us to examine ourselves to determine if we are truly in the faith. “Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you—unless you fail the test?”  2 Corinthians 13:5 Warren Wiersbe points out: “There are true believers who are fooling themselves concerning their Christian walk. They think they are spiritual when they are not. It is a mark of maturity when a person faces himself honestly, knows himself, and admits his needs.” James gives us three criteria to measure the reality of our faith. He asks: Do we have pure religion, or are we living a life of self-deception?

DEEP INTO THE GARDEN where suffering, emotions and presence collide Matthew 26:36:45 We now enter the climax of Jesus’ story—Matthew 26:36—45— the moment just before the cross, where the Son of God faces His greatest test: surrendering fully to the Father’s will. In the Garden of Gethsemane, we witness Jesus in deep emotional anguish, wrestling with the weight of what is to come. His suffering reveals something profoundly human—and profoundly holy. Jesus experienced suffering, just as we will encounter suffering as we follow Him. Like Him, we need to surrender continually to the will of the Father. But Jesus’ deepest agony was not physical—it was the looming loss of the Father’s presence on the cross. That’s what tore at Him most. Do we cling to God like that? Is His presence our greatest treasure, even in the garden moments of our own lives? Through His suffering, we gain insight into our own journey with God—a journey that includes both joy and sorrow, peace and struggle. Jesus didn’t hide His emotions; He embraced them, teaching us that our feelings—good or bad—can be places of connection with God rather than barriers. We serve a God who made us emotional beings on purpose. Jesus also shows us we’re not meant to walk through pain alone. Even in His darkest hour, He brought friends close, seeking their nearness, even when they couldn’t fully understand. In our hardest moments, who are we bringing with us? Sometimes we don’t need answers—we need presence. ASK YOURSELF ONE OR ALL OF THESE QUESTIONS, AND SHARE YOUR ANSWER WITH SOMEONE IN YOUR CIRCLE: Are you willing to walk in the garden, suffer, and surrender to God as Jesus did? Are there emotions you need to accept and address instead of controlling, coping, or concealing? Can you list these emotions? In your times of trial, do you have others that you bring close to bear your burdens with you? Are you needing to be the presence to someone else in their time of need?

Life is filled with trouble, as I pointed out last week in our opening message on the letter of James. We learned that we could choose our attitude and learn the value that trials bring into our lives as a source of spiritual growth and development. One of those values is spiritual growth that comes through the trial if we persevere. James even expresses a beatitude or a blessing to those who endure. “Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord promised to those who love him.” (James 1:12) Each of us is fighting an incredible battle to destroy our souls. The difference between trials and temptation is simply what is happening within us. George Stulac explains the challenge during a trial. How are we handling it? Does testing lead to surrendering to temptation to sin? “The Bible says the trial is not the most serious life-threatening factor. The greatest danger to me is not the wrong being done to me, but the wrong that may be done by me. The real threat is that when wrong is done to me, I may be tempted to fall into sin myself.” Dan McCartney relates how subtle the difference is. “English translations of James 1:12-13 compound the difficulty because English uses different word roots for external pressure to evil (testing) and internal pressure to evil (temptation), whereas the Greek uses only one (peirazo; its noun form is peirasmos). In 1:13, we see a shift from the external “push” to sin to the internal “pull,” and this requires a shift of words in English (“when being tested…’ I am being tempted’”), which obscures the wordplay in Greek. Temptation is, of course, a form of testing…” The issue of temptation is something we either battle against or give in to. C. S. Lewis, in his book ‘Mere Christianity,’ explains: “No man knows how bad he is till he has tried very hard to be good. A silly idea is that good people do not know what temptation means. This is an obvious lie. Only those who try to resist temptation know how strong it is. …We never find out the strength of the evil impulse inside us until we try and fight it: Christ, because He was the only man who never yielded to temptation, is also the only man who knows to the full what temptation means—the only complete realist.” Lewis points out the eternal significance of this daily battle. “People often think of Christian morality as a kind of bargain in which God says, ‘If you keep a lot of rules, I’ll reward you, and if you don’t, I’ll do the other thing.’ I do not think that is the best way of looking at it. I would much rather say that every time you make a choice, you are turning the central part of you, the part of you that chooses, into something a little different from what it was before. And taking your life as a whole, with all your innumerable choices, all your life long you are slowing turning this central thing either into a heavenly creature or into a hellish creature: either into a creature that is in harmony with God, and with other creatures, and with itself, or else into one that is in a state of war and hatred with God, and with its fellow creatures, and with itself. To be one kind of creature is heaven: that is, it is joy, peace, knowledge, and power. To be the other means madness, horror, idiocy, rage, impotence, and eternal loneliness. Each of us at each moment is progressing to one state or the other.” What is at stake? Earlier in the book, Lewis relates: “Christianity asserts that every individual human being is going to live forever, and this must be either true or false. Now there are a good many things which would not be worth bothering about if I were going to live only seventy years, but which I had better bother about very seriously if I am going to live forever. Perhaps my bad temper or my jealousy are gradually getting worse, so gradually, the increase in seventy ye...