How To Be Redeemed?

Good morning.

The next few passages from the Book of James give a certain standard to Christian living. As we have said in the beginning of this series on this book, James did not beat around the bush, but he said it as it is and should be. The next passage follows on from our previous message.

I really hope you would agree that the previous message was quite a strong challenge. If you have not read it, you would benefit from reading it. James is coming over quite strongly in challenging Christians who play games with the Lord. We think we can simply live our selfish, sin-controlled lives as long as nobody else in church would know what is really in our heart. Sin is very diverse and range from obvious sins such as theft and adulterous lust to discreet sins such as pride and a critical mindset. According to James, as recorded in our previous passage, simply living as the world does and not obeying the Lord are considered by God as hatred towards Him.

How much higher could the standard be set? Are you looking a bit into your own life as you read this? Let’s have a look at our next passage.

 

“Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you,” (James 4:7-10).

 

Remember this passage refers to the previous passage in verses 4-6, which spoke about friendship towards the world, in other words living selfishly as the world does, which is enmity towards God and then the statement that God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.

 

Verses 7-10 give guidance towards restoring this blunder that we have made by living as the world does. We tend to think that, if we have left a foothold for the devil, the way to get rid of him is to quickly tell God that we submit to Him and then expect Him to back us when we resist the devil. However, verses 7-10 need to be read and acted upon in context.

 

The sinners and double-minded James was talking about are those committing the sin mentioned in the previous passage, which is acting and living like the world does as discussed in our previous message. According to this passage submitting to God involves drawing near to the Lord, meaning we need to choose between Him and Mammon (which include self and any idols) in the devotion of our time and energy. It also involves cleaning our hands and purifying our hearts, in other words confessing and stopping doing those things of the world that steals our time that belongs to the Lord.

 

With what attitude should all this be done? “Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom.” Does this mean we should not laugh and be happy as Christians? We certainly should not laugh and be happy if our actions depict hatred and disregard towards God. It is so easy to have a form of godliness and live in pretence, whilst in reality our hearts are far from God and that which He really wants to do with and through our lives. Living like the world does cause us to not hear when the Holy Spirit calls on us to do certain things. Ignoring Him is a show of disrespect, does not matter how many times we tell Him during Sunday worship that we love Him.

 

This kind of behaviour calls for regret and mourning, it calls for hearing the conviction of the Holy Spirit and repenting as a result. When my dog has been naughty, it is written all over his demeanour. His tail is between his legs and he literally crawls before me. When I found out what he had done and reprimanded him, he is quick to offer his paw in repentance and once I have pardoned him, he is his old self – all guilt forgiven and forgotten. In many ways we should be the same towards God.

 

Lord, help me to realise in what respects I disregard you.

Who Do We Actually Follow?

Good morning.

The next few passages from the Book of James give a certain standard to Christian living. As we have said in the beginning of this series on this book, James did not beat around the bush, but he said it as it is and should be. The next passage follows on from our previous message.

“⁴You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. ⁵Or do you think Scripture says without reason that the spirit he caused to live in us envies intensely? ⁶But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says:

‘God opposes the proud
but gives grace to the humble,’” (James 4:4-6).

In the previous passage James mentioned getting what we want through fighting about or for it and trying to get it from the Lord by asking with selfish motives. This is the way the world would go about getting what they want – using every crafty skill to their availability to get what they want. Jesus mentioned the same in Matthew 6:31-32: “So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.” If we are constantly putting our focus on our immediate needs and wants instead of on the Lord’s needs and wants for our lives as Jesus mentioned in Matthew 6:33 http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%206:33&version=NKJV, we act just as the world acts and are therefore following their direction.

If your child does not follow your advice, but instead follows their friends’ advice and do a lot of unwise things, messing up their lives, how would you feel - frustrated as if you would like to leave them to their own devices? How do you think God feels if we keep being only religious, and for the remainder do as the world system and Mammon dictate and not what He desires of us? I once went to a church’s men’s meeting where we had a breakfast together, which was followed by a message. One thing I enjoy is to be in company of people talking about Jesus, and was therefore quite shocked when the conversation among these men of the church centred on their shares in the stock market.

James stated quite strongly in verse four above the same that Jesus stated about Mammon in Matthew 6:24: “No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.” If we follow the world and its monitory systems and just drag God along to be eternally safe, we are actually serving idols and therefore hate God – in other words we treat Him disrespectfully with contempt just as a child would their parents by not following their wise advice.

Do we ever think along these lines? Deception is very subtle. I have mentioned it before and I mention it again. Just listen carefully to the message that goes out from many preachers these days. It’s a ‘bless me’ message that leaves all the responsibility to the Lord to make us what we are supposed to be, whilst we just keep on living as the world determines. The message from the Bible is completely contrary to this idea. Through it the Lord says ‘obey me and do as I tell you so you could become what I want you to be’. “Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose,” (Philippians 2:12-13).

If we therefore boast in our own accomplishments, as the world does, we tell the Lord that we don’t need Him and actually hate Him for interfering with our lives and religion, and He then opposes us (verse 6). However, if we humbly rely on Him and work with Him to accomplish His desires for us, He gives us grace.

Lord, help me obey.

Thank you Lord that your Word went out from your mouth, via your servant’s pen, and it will not return to you empty, but will accomplish what you desire and achieve the purpose for which you sent it.

Please pass this on if you think others may benefit by it.

How and When We Receive From God

Good morning.

The next few passages from the Book of James give a certain standard to Christian living. As we have said in the beginning of this series on this book, James did not beat around the bush, but he said it as it is and should be.

“What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? You want something but don’t get it. You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you want. You quarrel and fight. You do not have, because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures,” (James 4:1-3).

Maybe we think that we do not quarrel and fight, neither do we kill. Don’t we? James wrote to the twelve tribes scattered among the nations and I don’t know what they were like in those days, but I can imagine that people may have become more civilised since then, or so we think. We may not be physically violent anymore, but we certainly still fight and kill very skilfully with our tongue and in our thought life, and we certainly do covet at times. I think this passage is a case of ‘if the cap fits, wear it’.

The message behind this passage is once again the choice between our desires and the Lord’s desires, or the choice between a lifestyle dictated by our sinful nature and Mammon and one dictated by the Holy Spirit. It cannot be stressed enough – we need to understand that in dedicated living for the Lord we need to get rid of everything that is not of God. James said in this passage that the way we try to accomplish what we want is by employing every crafty skill our sinful nature can come up with, whilst the way we should accomplish what we want is by asking the Lord to provide it.

However, this is where the prosperity preachers miss the point. We cannot bargain with God. To Him everything is about His Kingdom and our righteousness with Him. If we want our material needs met for the sake of our own pleasure, we will have to do it the carnal way and miss out on our heavenly treasure (Matthew 6:19-20). But if we ask the Lord for things that will help us in serving His Kingdom, or if we live dedicated to Him and ask for our daily needs to be met, He will do it. “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him,” (1 John 5:14-15).

When you look at all your needs and wants and have to evaluate them, which of them would you say classify as God’s will and which as your selfish desires asked with wrong motives? Maybe we should all do this prayerfully. We should have a check on ourselves and our motives all the time. Remember “the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want,” (Galatians 5:17). By doing what we want we “store up for ourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal” and by asking and doing according to God’s will we “store up for ourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal,” (Matthew 6:19-20).

I realise we seem to play the same tune a lot, but if you read the Bible this is the tune the Bible plays. A preacher once preached the same message every Sunday and after a while the people started questioning him as to why he didn’t change the subject.

‘Have you started to do what is required of you through the message,’ the preacher asked, ‘for if you haven’t I have to continue until you do?’

Lord, help me to focus on you and your Kingdom and do what is required of me.

Thank you Lord that your Word went out from your mouth, via your servant’s pen, and it will not return to you empty, but will accomplish what you desire and achieve the purpose for which you sent it.

Please pass this on if you think others may benefit by it.

The Kinds of Wisdom

Good morning.

Dictionary.com defines wisdom as follows: “Knowledge of what is true or right coupled with just judgement as to action; sagacity, discernment or insight.” Wisdom in short means applying knowledge correctly.

Solomon cautions us in Proverbs 3:7: “Do not be wise in your own eyes;
fear the Lord and shun evil.”

James put it as follows: ¹³“Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show it by his good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom. ¹⁴But if you harbour bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. ¹⁵Such “wisdom” does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, of the devil. ¹⁶For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice.

¹⁷But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. ¹⁸Peacemakers who sow in peace raise a harvest of righteousness,” (James 3:13-18).

Wisdom is relying on the Lord. If we want to appear wise and understanding in ourselves, if our ambition is to be this great ‘Man/Woman of God’, this great home group leader, elder or pastor, we will end up acting by the sinful nature. We will start competing with our fellow Christians - obviously with the necessary subtlety and tact as to not appear competitive - and in the end we will be in the position of ‘wisdom’ and authority that we desired, but far away from the Lord. This kind of selfish ambition is what James talked about in verses 14-16 above.

If however we rest in the Lord, letting Him do His thing though us as we obey His commands, being still and knowing that He is Lord (Psalm 46:10), letting Him fight for us whilst we look on quietly enjoying the victory (Exodus 14:14), we will be wise and act godly. A humble heart that relies on the Lord results in victory, “producing fruit in keeping with repentance” as Jesus said in Matthew 3:8.

Jesus mentioned false prophets in Matthew 7:15-23: “‘Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.

 ‘Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’”

When we read this we think of all those with really bad intentions, but Satan masquerades him as an angel of the light: “For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, masquerading as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light,” (2 Corinthians 11:13-14). We need to watch people carefully, including ourselves, and not simply accept everything, but test them according to the Word of God – are they doing what God expects in His Word? The Holy Spirit is always ready with Words of Wisdom and Knowledge and will show us when we or others have wrong motives.

Do those who preach money and numbers, those who do little to equip the saints for the work of the ministry, those who demand to have titles and position, even if it is ever so subtle, act in the wisdom from above that is “first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere?” (James 3:17).

Motives do not have to be openly ungodly, but can appear very good and holy, yet selfish. If we see this kind of earthly wisdom in Christians we need to pray that the Lord may forgive them and redirect their hearts.

Lord, help me to rely on your wisdom.

Thank you Lord that your Word went out from your mouth, via your servant’s pen, and it will not return to you empty, but will accomplish what you desire and achieve the purpose for which you sent it.

Please pass this on if you think others may benefit by it.

The Power of Words (Part Two)

Good morning.

In our previous message we started to discuss James 1:1-12 http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=james%203:1-12&version=NIV1984 and here we find a few keys.

It is interesting that James addressed the teachers, for those who presume to teach are to be extra careful of what they say for they can mislead people very easily and put them on a wrong course. Opinionated people are essentially also ‘teachers’ and they need to be very careful to ensure that their opinion is founded on reliable sources. James mentioned that “the tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell,” (verse 6). It is interesting that he approached this passage from a negative perspective. The reason he did it is because the nature of man is sin. The sinful nature does not need encouragement to act. Good news will simply never spread as fast as gossip or bad news. How much good news do we actually hear in the news?

Therefore we need to make sure what the intention of our words is, which is why we read in James 1:19 that “everyone should be quick to listen (also to the Holy Spirit) and slow to speak”. Think about what you are going to say. What would the consequences of your words be? What do you want to accomplish by what you say? How would the other person feel when you say it? We can for instance have the most wonderful intentions, but the time and place may be wrong and the person may not be ready to receive it. If someone’s emotions are still raw after the death of a loved one or a break in a relationship, words may bring more damage than good if not well chosen. Satan is very subtle, which is why James mentioned that the tongue is set on fire in hell, for if we do not act very carefully by the Holy Spirit’s wisdom, our words may seem good, but it may bring a lot of damage.

Paul told the Galatians: “Live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature,” (Galatians 5:16). To lose control of our tongue is living by the sinful nature, for an uncontrolled tongue will seek to satisfy self at the cost of others. If we live by the Spirit the Holy Spirit will warn us when we are about to say the wrong thing and will give us the right thing to say when we need it. Saying damaging things comes naturally, whilst avoiding the damage that the tongue would do takes a conscious effort of thinking and listening for wisdom.

James talks in verses three to seven about controlling horses and ships and taming animals and then states in verse eight: “but no man can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.” He is right; no man can tame the tongue - we only need to look at how the world acts in backstabbing one other and smearing each other’s names. The media also is a good example of the power of the tongue. The only way we can control or tame the tongue is by the Spirit. If we grasp what James said in verses nine to twelve and have an understanding of how the Lord feels about our use of the tongue, we will be encouraged to take care to watch our tongue: “With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God’s likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be. Can both fresh water and bitter water flow from the same spring? My brothers, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water.”

A good standard to set for ourselves can be found in Philippians 4:8: “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.”

Lord, help me to walk by the Spirit in the use of my tongue.

Thank you Lord that your Word went out from your mouth, via your servant’s pen, and it will not return to you empty, but will accomplish what you desire and achieve the purpose for which you sent it.

Please pass this on if you think others may benefit by it.

The Power of Words (Part One)

Good morning.

Our next passage from the book of James is a well known piece that is very relevant. “Not many of you should presume to be teachers, my brothers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly. We all stumble in many ways. If anyone is never at fault in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to keep his whole body in check.

When we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we can turn the whole animal. Or take ships as an example. Although they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot wants to go. Likewise the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.

All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and creatures of the sea are being tamed and have been tamed by man, but no man can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.

With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God’s likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be. Can both fresh water and bitter water flow from the same spring? My brothers, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water,” (James 3:1-12).

One of the first things James mentioned here is that we all stumble in many ways. The real question is whether we are aware of our stumbling by means of our tongue, or have gossip, criticism and cursing one another become such a natural part of our lives that we do not even notice it anymore. What is the first thing we want to do when we get home after someone has offended us at work? We want to tell our spouse and friends and then tear that person apart, don’t we? If someone offends or humiliates us, what is the first that comes from our mouth? Isn’t it self-defence of a very creative nature, since we need to improve on that person’s verbal skills? Verbal reaction in whichever form is a temptation to sin and like any other temptation should be resisted by the power of God (1 Corinthians 10:13) through living in submission to Him (James 4:7).

There is an idiom saying that ‘sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me’, but we know that this is not true. Jesus said in Matthew 5:21-22:”‘You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’ But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to his brother, ‘Raca,’ [Aramaic term for contempt] is answerable to the Sanhedrin. But anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell.’”

Words hurt and kill. Gossip is destructive for it forms a false opinion of a person in people’s minds. Have you ever been introduced to an individual through gossip and formed an opinion of such a person and then afterwards met them for the first time? I bet the impressions you had on both occasions were completely different. A pastor once was bad-mouthed by a lady all over town, creating a bad impression of him amongst the people. He called her in and gave her a hand full of feathers and told her to place them on certain open air places in town. When she returned he told her to go and collect all the feathers.

‘I will never find them Pastor,’ she said. ‘They will be blown all over.’

‘That’s exactly what happens when you gossip,’ he said. ‘You can’t retrieve what you have said, for gossip spreads like a fire.’

Criticism, contempt, humiliating remarks and so on damages the soul. It causes the victim to feel inferior, rejected and insecure. Gossip damages people’s impressions of others. It is so easy to fall for these and therefore we need to make a decision to submit to God and shut our mouth, resisting the temptation to speak out of turn.

We will look at the ‘how to’ in the next message.

Lord, help me to be aware of what I say.

Thank you Lord that your Word went out from your mouth, via your servant’s pen, and it will not return to you empty, but will accomplish what you desire and achieve the purpose for which you sent it.

Please pass this on if you think others may benefit by it.

Active Faith (Part Two)

Good morning.

We are discussing James 2:14-25 (http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=james%202:14-25&version=NIV1984).

If we look at life we see that those who dare are the ones who get somewhere. The Paralympics has been going the past ten days and all of us have been astonished by the ability of these athletes to accomplish what they have and many of us have been shamed by their success. However, where did their success start? It began with a leap of faith. As I watched this wheelchair tennis player, Nick Taylor, from the USA with his twisted body in his electric wheelchair, with the racket attached to his malformed forearm, catching the ball with his twisted feet and then flipping it into the air to serve, playing an excellent game, I thought of where it could have begun.

He probably had this twisted body and perhaps had to be spoon fed when someone asked him whether he would like to play tennis. He might have looked up to the person enquiring whether he was nuts, or he might have thought ‘why not, I can do it’. Whatever prompted him to start playing tennis; he still had to believe that it was possible. Whoever prompted him to play would probably have been prepared to help him and if he had thought of it himself he would have had to seek advice and help. To get there he had to muster the courage to do something about it by making a fool of himself, going through much hardship and relying on others for help, but in the end he would have reaped the reward. What looked to be impossible for this twisted man, without much hope in life, became a rewarding sport.

When it comes to dealing with the spiritual realm we are all paraplegic, in other words in comparison to God and even to the power of the evil forces we are powerless - paraplegics. However, the Lord has called all these paraplegics to believe that He is able to get us where He wants to use us to affect the world around us, through the power of the Holy Spirit. In the process we need to use those gifts that enable us to work hand in hand with the Holy Spirit. In our spiritual paraplegic state our gift is the one limb that will make all the difference. However, we need to believe that we can. “I can do everything through him who gives me strength,” (Philippians 4:13). Like the tennis player we need to rely on the Holy Spirit’s and others’ help.

Getting there means that we have to hear what the Holy Spirit expects of us and then we have to believe it. Once we believe that the Lord wants to use us, we need to believe that we can do it through His power. When we get to this point, we believe, but we do not have faith yet, since faith is doing what we believe. Like that wheelchair tennis player we have to do something about our belief. We need to start doing what the Holy Spirit tells us. Years ago the Lord told me through a company of prophets that I need to get into the Word of God and get to know it, for He will use me in a very special way, which I did. Some years later I started to write these kinds of things publicly and were amazed by what came from my pen, but it was and still is a difficult road to walk because of the resistance from my enemies.

Being obedient and adding action to what we believe the Lord wants to do through us will never be easy and it takes courage. The sinful nature and the devil will make every effort to cause doubt, unbelief, insecurity and so on to make us give up and become complacent. Real faith keeps going, though, in spite of hardship, persecution and setbacks. Real faith will be tested, but if we persevere the rewards will be wonderful.

Each Christian therefore has a choice to either say we believe and live a mediocre, religious life whilst receiving that reward in the end, or act on our faith by exercising our gifts in spite of resistance and reap those rewards.

Lord, I want to act on my faith.

Thank you Lord that your Word went out from your mouth, via your servant’s pen, and it will not return to you empty, but will accomplish what you desire and achieve the purpose for which you sent it.

Please pass this on if you think others may benefit by it.

A Byte of Encouragement

Good morning.

I will have to write the continuation of our previous message tomorrow. This morning I will therefore give you a few passages from the Word of God to chew on and enrich your soul.

Philippians 4

⁴Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! ⁵ Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. ⁶ Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. ⁷ And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

⁸ Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. ⁹ Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.

Psalm 146

¹ Praise the Lord.

Praise the Lord, O my soul.
² I will praise the Lord all my life;
I will sing praise to my God as long as I live.

³ Do not put your trust in princes,
in mortal men, who cannot save.
⁴ When their spirit departs, they return to the ground;
on that very day their plans come to nothing.

⁵ Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob,
whose hope is in the Lord his God,
⁶ the Maker of heaven and earth,
the sea, and everything in them—
the Lord, who remains faithful forever.
⁷ He upholds the cause of the oppressed
and gives food to the hungry.
The Lord sets prisoners free,
⁸ the Lord gives sight to the blind,
the Lord lifts up those who are bowed down,
the Lord loves the righteous.
⁹ The Lord watches over the alien
and sustains the fatherless and the widow,
but he frustrates the ways of the wicked.

¹⁰ The Lord reigns forever,
your God, O Zion, for all generations.

Praise the Lord.

Thank you Lord that your Word went out from your mouth, via your servant’s pen, and it will not return to you empty, but will accomplish what you desire and achieve the purpose for which you sent it.

Please pass this on if you think others may benefit by it.

Active Faith

Good morning.

In James 2:14-25 (http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=james%202:14-25&version=NIV1984) James discussed the issue of faith without deeds that is dead. What did he mean by that? He used the example: “What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, ‘Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,’ but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.”

This could easily be misunderstood that doing good works equals exercising our faith, but is only an example to show that words are useless unless we do something about it. It doesn’t need faith to do good works, but only obedience. However, if we do not have the means to provide for say a group of poor people and asked the Lord to provide for us to help them, and He agreed, we have two choices. We can sit back and wait endlessly to see if the Lord will do something about it, which is dead faith without deeds, or we can start planning to get the people together, promising them that we will meet their needs. In the latter case we do not know yet where our supplies will come from, but we trust the Lord to provide – an active faith.

Jesus was just a man on earth who also had to depend on faith, just like us. The only difference between Him and us was that He had nothing that stood between Him and His Father – no unrepented sin, no idols, no materialism, and no self-centredness. When He fed the five thousand men He stood there with the five loaves and two fish in His hands. Well over five thousand eyes were expectantly fixed on Him. Early that particular morning He had spent time with His Father hearing from Him what He needed to do it, yet He had no evidence that the multiplication would happen. He probably looked at the bread in His hands and wondered how it would happen and then thanked His Father. He was probably tempted to doubt that the bread would multiply and was told that He would make a fool of Himself, for He was tempted in every way like we are tempted (Hebrews 4:15).

No matter how hard Jesus believed that day that the bread would multiply, nothing would have happened if He didn’t break it and started to hand it out. Faith requires courage and a trust that the Lord would honour His word and come through for us, once we have taken the first step – adding action to our faith. James mentioned Abraham in James 2:21-24: “Was not our ancestor Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. And the scripture was fulfilled that says, ‘Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,’ and he was called God’s friend. You see that a person is justified by what he does and not by faith alone.”

Abraham had a relationship with the Lord. Because he loved the Lord he did not matter to himself anymore, but only what the Lord required mattered. Isaac was very precious to Abraham and was long awaited, yet when the Lord required of him to act in faith, he did it. What was Abraham to believe? That God would make another plan once Isaac was dead? No, Abraham’s faith was based on what God had told Him. The Lord had said that He would multiply Abraham though Isaac and therefore Abraham believed that God would provide a lamb (Genesis 22:8). Yet again, in his heart he knew it by faith, but had no prove and could just as well have killed Isaac for all his sinful nature knew.

Proving our faith has to do with our relationship with the Lord, for without faith it is impossible to please Him (Hebrews 11:6), and just telling Him that we believe is useless, for He wants to see that we trust Him by what we do and He wants to work with us to change the world. Unless we are so devoted to Him that we will deny ourselves, getting rid of idols, materialism, fear, and self and are prepared to be fools for the sake of obeying God, we will not see His power in action.

To be continued.

Thank you Lord that your Word went out from your mouth, via your servant’s pen, and it will not return to you empty, but will accomplish what you desire and achieve the purpose for which you sent it.

Please pass this on if you think others may benefit by it.

Being Rich Towards God

Good morning.

We have discussed favouritism from the book of James in our previous message. Today I would like to look at James 2:5-7 again.

 ^“Listen, my dear brothers: Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him? But you have insulted the poor. Is it not the rich who are exploiting you? Are they not the ones who are dragging you into court? Are they not the ones who are slandering the noble name of him to whom you belong?”

In the light of this I would like us to see what Matthew 6:24 says: “No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money (Mammon),” and then examine the reality of our hearts. Please look intently (as James put it) at this latter passage which is put quite uncompromisingly. We cannot love both God and money, or depend on both, or be controlled by both, or be cared for by both. If we love to be looked after by money, God will only be an object to us to use when we need Him. If we call on money to save us from trouble, to give us power, position or identity or to open doors for us, God will only be a pretence to us and often be in our way to accomplish what we desire.

This is what James referred to. The only way we can be rich towards the Lord is to be independent of money. I cannot but notice that faith in the poor countries, where people are dependent on the Lord, is much more active and powerful than in the rich and powerful countries. The Christians help one another, exercise their faith and gifts to make the Kingdom grow, and depend on the Lord for their daily needs. The rich rely on their personal resources to accomplish what they desire and usually rely on the world’s systems to get what they want.

To be rich towards God we do not need to be shabbily poor. Poor people can also be controlled by money in that they constantly desire it and gamble, beg and steal to obtain it. Being materially poor, but rich towards God requires of us to use what we have to look after our basic needs, whilst we bless the Kingdom of God and those in need with the remainder. It means that we do not spend excessive time making, guarding and enjoying our money, but use our time to serve the Lord and build His Kingdom – to first seek His Kingdom and His righteousness (Matthew 6:33).

Within the congregation we also need to develop spiritual eyes to see beyond the outer appearance. We need to become aware of the Kingdom way of doing things. In the world those who impress man get promoted. There are endless awards for those who look and act impressively. In God’s Kingdom those who impress God should be promoted, regardless of what they appear to be before man, and only the Lord can show us who they are and how they should be promoted. Promoting the person who can do the most for the finances of the church or who pays the biggest tithes could be considered as following Mammon’s (Money’s) direction. However, promoting for example the person who keeps evangelism, which is at the Lord’s heart, going or who makes every effort to equip the saints for the ministry, will please the Lord and then He will care for us. In this way we rely on the Lord and not on Mammon (money).

A poor congregation with equipped spiritual soldiers, all actively reaching out to their community in spite of hardship and persecution, will have a greater reward in heaven than the rich congregation who rested in their comfort, only worshipping the Lord conditionally whilst avoiding hardship and persecution.

Lord, please help me to see the reality of this difference.

Thank you Lord that your Word went out from your mouth, via your servant’s pen, and it will not return to you empty, but will accomplish what you desire and achieve the purpose for which you sent it.

Please pass this on if you think others may benefit by it.

What About Favouristism?

Good morning.

Are you enjoying what we learn from James?

We often read the Bible to only suit ourselves, don’t we? We like to find the nice promises, receive prophesies that promise prosperity and a good life and we usually prefer to avoid the passages that call us to account. During the last ten messages we have discussed chapter one of the book of James and have been seriously challenged. What are we going to do about it? James mentioned that doing the Word of God is vital. Are we doing it?

We see the following practical issue, which James addressed in chapter two, so often in our churches.

“My brothers, as believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ, don’t show favouritism. Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in shabby clothes also comes in. If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say, “Here’s a good seat for you,” but say to the poor man, “You stand there” or “Sit on the floor by my feet,” have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?

^“Listen, my dear brothers: Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him? But you have insulted the poor. Is it not the rich who are exploiting you? Are they not the ones who are dragging you into court? Are they not the ones who are slandering the noble name of him to whom you belong?

“If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, ‘Love your neighbour as yourself,’ you are doing right. But if you show favouritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers. For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it. For he who said, ‘Do not commit adultery,’ also said, ‘Do not murder.’ If you do not commit adultery but do commit murder, you have become a lawbreaker.

“Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom, because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment!” (James 2:1-13)

Oh how man yearns to feel important and therefore pursues it. How many of us have the ambition for a higher position within the church? We often do not care much for obeying the Lord, as long as we can be in authority within the church. It is also those who are used to having everything in terms of money, position at work, at the social club and so on that pursue position within the church. How often are pastors reluctant to address sin in the lives of those who tithe abundantly out of fear that they may leave the church? How do we perceive the divide between rich and poor, influential and simple or bold and timid? Do we recognise the gifts in those we consider least and develop it?

We often do we look only to obvious sins such as lying, stealing, swearing, adultery, and so on as sin. Any disobedience to God’s word is sin. This passage from James is self explanatory. Favouritism is sin! There is not one Christian on earth without a gift to make a huge difference in our Jerusalem (local area), Judea (province/county), Samaria (country), and the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8). The church should not be a social club with social ranking, but a training centre where gifts are developed and employed to the glory of God. Leadership should not be a question of position, but of service. If we want to be great, we must serve (Luke 22:25-27 http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke+22:25-27&version=NIV).

If we do show favouritism in any form we will be held accountable to God in equal measure to the adulterer, thief, swindler, etc. that we so easily condemn. Jesus loved and lived among the sinners, the poor and the humble at heart, but He condemned the attitude of the Pharisees and Teachers of the law (Matthew 23). Therefore, if we happen to be rich or of influential position, we should be careful not to be counted amongst the latter.

Lord, help us to be humble.

Thank you Lord that your Word went out from your mouth, via your servant’s pen, and it will not return to you empty, but will accomplish what you desire and achieve the purpose for which you sent it.

Please pass this on if you think others may benefit by it.

Learn From James (Ten) – Do We Just Talk?

Good morning.

We have reached the last passage from the first chapter of James and it spoke volumes to me.

“If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless. Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world,” (James 1:26-27).

This passage should be read in the context of the previous verses. In the preceding passage we have learnt that we should not merely read the Word of God, but do what it says. This passage says that just speaking about God and His Word and not making a difference, or getting one’s listeners to make a difference, is worthless. Father God always wants to see change, which is why James summarised the basics of change in this sentence: “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world”.

Looking after orphans and widows represents any form of change Christians need to initiate in the physical circumstances of people. This includes feeding, housing, clothing, and so on of people. Whether we give financially to others to do the job, or do the job ourselves doesn’t matter, as long as we obey the Lord sacrificially.

Keeping ourselves from being polluted by the world represents holiness. No Christian can be wholly effective if we stand with one foot in the comforts of the world and the other in God’s Kingdom. Imagine that the soldiers in a warzone lived each in their luxurious home with a wife and children, driving every day to the battlefield in their luxury car to go and fight. Would they be effective? No they need to stand together, focused on the task at hand. They need to plan together, encourage one another, laugh together, cry together and celebrate together.

Pollution by the world involves interests that steal our time, ideas that confuse our theology, entertainment, money and anything that keeps us from being set apart for the Lord and what He has in mind for us.

What James basically said in this passage is that we should not merely talk about what we should do, but do it. We get a lot of this in the church, don’t we? We hear forever what we should do and we wait forever on the Lord to bring revival, but in the meantime the Bible is loaded with instructions and commands for us to go and do. Keeping a tight rein on our tongue means that we should not say things that we are not prepared to back up with action, otherwise we deceive ourselves and only sound as if we are religious instead of being a person of God.

I have mentioned this before, but this is an appropriate place to mention it again. Ideally the church should function as follows. During a Sunday celebration teaching and encouragement should be given as to how to reach out to the world. This should compliment other teaching given during the week that equips the people of God for the work of the ministry (Ephesians 4:11-16: http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ephesians%204:11-16&version=NIV1984). Then people should be encouraged and organised during the following week to reach out. The home groups can arrange evenings to reach out to the world, the youth can reach out to the streets and clubs, individuals can reach out to their colleagues and people they meet along the way in the shops, hairdressers, sports clubs, and so on.

The following Sunday the church service can be opened with opportunity for testimonies of what God has done during the past week, which will give us reason to worship with enthusiasm.

If Christians live like this, where would we find time to be polluted by the world, television and other entertainment and the power of money and materialism? Would we not be completely focused on God’s will and plans and enjoy an exciting and fruitful life in Christ? Would this not be “religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless”?

Lord, I am prepared to change and influence those in my sphere of influence to do the same.

Thank you Lord that your Word went out from your mouth, via your servant’s pen, and it will not return to you empty, but will accomplish what you desire and achieve the purpose for which you sent it.

Please pass this on if you think others may benefit by it.