OPEN
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My name is Adam
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Welcome all those in Urbana, watching online,
and at our other campuses.
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Reference video
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I hope you’ve been enjoying our summer series
called “life apps.”
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We’ve been unpacking the book of James &
uncovering more truth about our new identity in Jesus and how to live it out.
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Reference
iOS and Fitness App
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Let’s pray and then jump right into our talk for
today.
PRAYER
ME/WE
For
years, Corrie and I never had to check the news to find out tomorrow’s weather
(nor did anyone else in the family for that matter), because we had Winifred,
Grandma Winnie. If there was snow, rain, hail or a strong wind of any kind
coming, Winnie would have watched the weather-channel and called us to let us
know. She lived in NY btw. Then, she’d call to find out if the rain, snow or
wind had started in our area yet… she was very helpful (sarcasm).
When
grandma Winnie passed away, we had to discover a new way to learn what to wear
when we went outside, lol. Thank goodness for the iPhone! Now, at the push of a
button (hold up my phone), I can have the daily & weekly forecast
with my weather App.
But,
there is something that neither Winnie nor my iPhone can do. They can’t make me
apply my knowledge. Both of those are worth nothing without application!
They
are both helpful on the surface… but won’t tell you how to live your life once
you step out into your daily world.
We’ve
entitled this week our “Weather App” –
let me illustrate why?
James
2:17 says, So also faith by
itself, if it does not have works, is dead.
If
you look @ the App & see that there is a hurricane coming… and decide to
pack up the cooler and the sunscreen… and then head to the beach… you might end
up dead! Even though you read your app & you processed the information. You
decided to live your life a different way. The information… even the belief in
the information… didn’t change the way you lived your life.
In
the same way, if our FAITH is just a mental exercise and doesn’t radically
alter our actions… then so what?!?!
Dilemma:
But you might be saying, Jesus just asked us to believe in Him, right?
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Or doesn’t the Bible say (Paul in Galatians 2:16)
à “that a person is not justified
by works of the law but through faith in Jesus”
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And doesn’t that one famous passage (Romans 4)
tell us that à
“Abraham just believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.”
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Are Paul and James preaching a different gospel?
Are they in conflict with each other?
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If Jesus is about grace and faith and not works,
what’s James talking about?
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OR
maybe you’d say, “If there are some works that Jesus wants us to do, tell me
quick so I can do them!” Right? We don’t want to miss out…
Well,
I promise you that James is not about to tear down the teachings of Jesus or
Paul… or anything from the grace revolution & the revival of righteousness
that has been sweeping through this church (and throughout evangelical
Christianity) over the past few years.
SO, what is James telling us? Because this
can seem confusing/conflicting
He
spent more time with Jesus than any other NT writer… he was Jesus’ brother… he
grew up with Him… he saw Jesus live every day… he saw Jesus interact with the
Father and with people every day for 30+ years. And he came to a conclusion
about our belief in Jesus and our Father:
“You can’t fake
the temperature of your faith!”
Maybe
you’ve seen people who have tried to do this. I know I have. In fact, it’s one
of the greatest criticisms of the church today: “you’re all just a bunch of
hypocrites.” You say you believe in loving others & in Jesus, but your life
doesn’t reflect it. Right?!
It’s
one of the reasons we have been so focused on getting us to live from the
reality of who we are vs. trying to earn our stripes
through just “doing for God.”
GOD
In
week #1 of our LifeApps series, Dianne (one of our Sr. Pastors) did a fabulous
job of starting this series reminding us that we have a new operating system…
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A new identity that is Jesus (Christ in us!).
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A new place to begin.
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A new place to grab our strength from.
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And that place is full of liberty (James 1:25)
and freedom.
And
that identity… cannot be gained by works… cannot be gained by the “I cans”…
cannot be gained through our own efforts or strength…
Our
identity is gained only through FAITH… only through I cannot, but Jesus in me
can… only gained through grace as one of my favorite passages says:
Romans 11: 6 But if it is by grace, it is no
longer on the basis of works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace.
But, you can’t fake
if that grace has really taken root in your life!
We are
NOT saved by our works. But, faith-filled works will flow from a saving faith.
Look
at how Jesus describes this idea of you can’t fake the
temperature of your faith…
Luke 6:43 “For no good tree bears bad
fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit, 44 for each tree is known by its
own fruit. For figs are not gathered from thorn-bushes, nor are grapes picked
from a bramble bush. 45 The good person out of the good treasure of his heart
produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for
out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.
Did
you hear Jesus’ heart… you can’t fake
the truth of your new identity in Him.
If
you’re in the relationship of grace with the God of the universe who loves you,
it will show in your life.
Think about this:
Corrie
and I have been in a relationship together since 1996… 18 years this September.
Now, you’ll know what kind of relationship we are in NOT by what we say, but by
the way that we interact. Just observe our relationship for a day or 2.
A Dead Love Might Look This way…
We can say, “We love each other.” All we want to… But, if we
come home and jump on the computer, stay on our phones, or work till bedtime… maybe
even sleep in different beds. Then, you’ll know that what we say and what we
“do” don’t line up.
On the other hand…
If we come home, tell each other about our day before we do
anything else, help each other with the kids, cook & cleanup dinner
together, talk about our plans for the week or the weekend…and the things we’ll
do together… and then kiss each other good-night. Then, even if we never say,
“I love you,” you know it by the way we live… by the fruit of our relationship.
Does that make sense?
You can test the temperature of our
relationship by our actions… not just by our words to one another.
Let’s
read again James’ admonition in Chapter
2:14-20 that “You can’t fake the
temperature of your faith” …and hopefully it will begin to make more
sense.
14 What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does
not have works? Can that (kind of)
faith save him? 15 If a
brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, 16 and one of
you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the
things needed for the body, what good is that? 17 So also faith by itself, if
it does not have works, is dead.
18 But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your
faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. 19 You
believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder!
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Well that’s a weird sentence right?! Apparently
belief can be in place and even be hostile towards God. That’s a new spin on
things
James
wraps up with this…
20 Do you want to be shown, you
foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless? Take time to explain the 2 characters.
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James then goes on to show a couple of OT
examples (Abraham & Rahab) of people that believed and received God’s
righteousness, but who also did stuff for God’s Kingdom.
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There actions showed their internal reality had
changed.
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They didn’t fake it!
The lived from the reality of God’s temperature.
NOW,
the call of this church is to continue Jesus’ ministry. The
ministry of telling the good news of our new identity. The good news that we
are much loved, righteous, holy, blameless, through Jesus and His indwelling
Holy Spirit. We are free! We are made brand new. It’s amazing. We are new
creations. But, we can’t keep that to ourselves. (4th of July illustration – imagine if you’re still hiding
from the British!)
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In fact, if you’ve never heard that you can live
a life that way. You can!
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Jesus paved the way for an amazing new life.
Continuing His ministry means both proclaiming
& demonstrating the truth of the
Kingdom. It means we can’t fake the
temperature of our faith… because our family, friends &
community will always be able to recognize what kind of trees we really are.
James
concludes this section with the following truth: 2:26 For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also
faith apart from works is dead.
That kind of faith is “dead” because it
rests only in ideas, not in a life dependent upon, and reflective of, an
indwelling Jesus.
YOU/WE
So,
let’s live differently together in our new found life in Jesus… live free in
our new identity… let’s live delighting to love each other in very concrete
ways.
What does that look like when our
identity has changed our temperature?
James
tells us in chapter 1 that it’s “visiting orphans and widows in their
affliction.”
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And until recently, I would have told you that
meant to take care of the poor alone, but I think that’s only 1 of the things
that James is talking about…
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Widows are anyone who has yet to become the
bride of Christ.
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Orphans are anyone who has yet to have a
relationship with the Father.
So, what
we find is that we really need a “Weather App” to discover if our iOS
(identity op system) has changed the temperature of our faith or not.
And
out of the overflow of a changed life, we will naturally begin to do these
things:
1) Take care of the poor (Acts &
Galatians)
· Jesus tells us that the Kingdom is for
the poor – anyone who has a need for the total healing that Jesus brings!
· The early church’s first outreach was
a daily food program for the poor.
· When the apostles commissioned Paul,
they encouraged him to remember the poor & he was eager to do it.
· As a church, one of our most amazing
ways we “continue Jesus’ ministry” is through our Hope Centers.
Now, this is important, but the orphan
spirit is not just limited to those who have practical needs, but
also those who have a need for God.
And the fruit of our faith is not limited to distributing food.
Let me encourage you today, that at
this point many of you should be teachers! The writer of Hebrews admonished his
audience that they needed to stop “faking their
faith” and move into the
meat of the gospel. They were unskilled in their righteousness, but at this
time they should be TEACHERS! One of the ways you can tell the fruit of
someone’s faith is by seeing if they are…
2) Teach others about righteousness
(Hebrews 5) – Zeke’s tshirt
PICTURE
· The meat of the gospel is not knowing
more truth about righteousness from the Bible… it is telling more people about
the truth of how that righteousness has changed you!
· Are you sharing the revelation they’ve
received with those around them?
· Are you chomping at the bit to get the
word out that Jesus’ grace is just that good?
· Are you telling, sharing, talking,
meeting, starting small groups… even if you don’t have “clearance” from some
authority to do so?
· Is Christ in you so strong, that you
can’t help but be made a leader due to your zeal for the Lord?
· So, we can see our faith by the way we
lead/teach those around us inside the church, but it doesn’t stop there…
Jesus’ life was lived in the
marketplace. His proclamation and demonstration of His Kingdom & His
righteousness was lived out everywhere that He went. Our world is full of
orphans… full of people who don’t know their true Father. You cannot fake the temperature of your faith in your daily lives. That’s why our
third temperature gauge is discovering if you’ve been moved to…
3) Take the gospel to the Marketplace
(Matthew 9)
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Your world will know what your faith is in based
on the way you live.
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Do people hear you relying on the truth of the
gospel or your circumstances?
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Do people see your care for those in need?
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Do people see you extend God’s kingdom through
prayer… through bringing light into dark places?
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Does the world know we are Christians by our
love? In our every day, getting up and going to work & school, lives?
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Harvest field? Where/what is your mission field?
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You cannot fake it… either we believe in our new
iOS or we don’t.
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As Putty said in week #2 à you’ll either walk in the
upgrade or in your trials.
Let me close with this:
I’ve
been a leader in the church community for about 18 years; most of those as a
pastor, and what I’ve noticed is that the charge of “hypocrite” has been just
on many occasions.
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Lots of people live one way on Sunday and
another way during the week.
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Lots of people I’ve seen start strong, but
quickly fall away.
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Lots of people put things on God (death,
disease, pain) that were never from Him and so distort the truth of the gospel.
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And, I’ve seen lots of people live a good life,
but never tell anyone about the NEW life/creation that they now have become.
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James 2:17 says, So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is
dead.
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Remember: Only
grace through faith saves us…
o But when that faith changes our temperature,
action will follow!
Let
me leave you with two ideas & we will revisit these at ministry time:
1.
What
areas of your life do you need to celebrate that Jesus has perfected
faith in you?
a. Rejoice
in those… give Him the glory…
b. and
ask for more freedom!
2.
What
areas of your life needs refining?
a. Invite
the Holy Spirit to come in
b.
and do His work, so that you’re not “faking it.”
