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James Sermon

Beware of Favouritism James 2:1-7

Introduction:

Good morning brothers and sisters, so good to see all of you. Hope all of you are doing well and bless.

Today we shall study from James 2:1-7. under the topic “Beware of Favouritism or Beware of Partiality.

Lets see what is favoritism

Personal favoritism: This word denotes partiality or biased judgment based on external circumstances, such as race, wealth, social rank, etc. It ignores the value of the individual as a person.

When we look back history

Indian society has a history of favouritism which is so evil. The caste system divides Hindus into four main categories – Brahmins, priest family, Kshatrias warrior, Vaishyas traders and the Shudras lowest workers we see high class people, low class people, schedule tribe, OBC the backward class. we see the impact even this days, how low class people are mistreated,

How Dalits are mistreated? How minority are mistreated? Just because they are from low class society. Even people from Northeast India, we are mistreated many many, time because of our looks.

Last year before we move to Mira road, i contacted one society for a rented house, I talk to the house owner she said, you don’t look like Indian, i say I am indian, a north east indian, she said, our society didn’t allow north east people. this is favouritism.

Once I was helping out my friend sister who was searching for college admission, the college has to refuse her because she was scheduled tribal community.

Few months ago some Northeast friends were not even allowed to purchase groceries because of their looks.

When we see around the world for instance.

American history, we see the story of how blacks and Indians are mistreated by white America.

We know 6 million Jew were killed by Nazis because of hatred. We see the story of Nepotism in Bollywood,

TYPES OF FAVORITISM

Nepotism: In business, hiring family members regardless of qualifications. Cryonism: In business, hiring friends regardless of qualifications.

Gender Bias: Believing that one gender is better than the other; treating the other gender poorly.

Age-ism: Treating someone different because of their age… usually the very young or the very old.

Racism: Treating one race different than others; usually preferring one’s own race to others.

Even in James days there was favouritism in the church. My question for all of us is,

What are believers role and responsibility on this subject Favouritism?

Okay, let’s see what James will teach us this morning on Favouritism, Open your bible with me to James 2:1-7.

James 2:1-7.

My brothers and sisters, believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ must not show favoritism.
2 Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in filthy old clothes also comes in.
3 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,”
4 have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?
5 Listen, my dear brothers and sisters: 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?
6 But you have dishonored the poor. Is it not the rich who are exploiting you? Are they not the ones who are dragging you into court?
7 Are they not the ones who are blaspheming the noble name of him to whom you belong?

I would like to entitle my sermon as

“BEWARE OF FAVOURITISM”

I have two points to meditate together, lets come to our first point.

1.Showing favouritism is SIN.(1-4)

James 2:1 says,

“My brothers and sisters, believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ must not show favouritism.

9 But if you show favouritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers.

James says as believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ, Remember your identity in Christ, you are redeem, adopted, beloved child of God, Holy spirit is living in your heart. He means as a believers and as a child of God We should not show favouritism to anyone.

If Christ does not condemn you, if God does not show you partiality, if God does not judge you, who are we to show partiality, who are we to condemn.

Thats why James we should not show partiality.

James uses the word “favoritism.” The word means “respecter of persons” or to “show partiality.” James is talking about the fault of giving judgment to the outward circumstances of man or woman and thinking them more worthy than others.

It is a fault or a sin to treat someone as more worthy because they are rich, a certain skin color, have political power, or are famous.

Its a fault or a sin to treat someone as less because they are poor, a certain skin color, have no political power, have a disability, or are in our estimation a ‘nobody.’ That is favoritism. That is sin. James identifies it specifically in verse 4 as “evil thoughts.

When we show favouritism #We break God’s command.

1. #We don’t follow His character.

2. #Showing partiality reveals evil thoughts. v.4

3. #Showing partiality discriminates against the poor and humble. v.5.

4. #Showing partiality shows a disgraceful attitude.v6

5. #Showing partiality shows foolish behaviour.v7.

That is why James is pointing out that showing partiality is sin.

Romans 2:11.

For God does not show favouritism.

Galatians 3:26-28.

26 For you are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus. 27 And all who have been united with Christ in baptism have put on Christ, like putting on new clothes. 28 There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male and female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus.

Deuteronomy 10:17

For the Lord your God is the God of gods and the Lord of lords, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God who does not show partiality nor take a bribe.

Acts 10:34 says

So Peter opened his mouth and said: “Truly I understand that God shows no partiality.

James 2:2-4

2 Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in filthy old clothes also comes in. 3 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,” 4 have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?

When Mahatma Gandhi was a student, he considered becoming a Christian. He read the Gospels and was moved by them. It seemed to him that Christianity offered a solution to the caste system that plagued the people of India.

One Sunday, he went to a local church. He had decided to see the pastor and ask for instruction on the way of salvation. But when he entered the church, which consisted of white people, the ushers refused to give him a seat. They told him to go and worship with his own people.

He left and never went back “If Christians have caste differences also,” he said, “I might as well remain a Hindu” (from “Our Daily Bread,” [Feb., 1979]).

That tragic story illustrates the sin that James writes against in the text. His focus is on the sin of showing favoritism to the rich and despising the poor, but his words apply to all types of prejudice, whether it is based on economic status, race, or anything else.

To favor some people and to disregard others based on outward factors is a terrible sin that plagued the early church in James’ day. It has plagued the church in every generation, because it stems from pride, which is endemic to our fallen hearts.

James tells us that favoritism has no place in the Church and therefore no place in the heart of a believer in Christ.

How can God’s church navigate these challenges and bring hope to a world who has lost her way?

Application:

Church let us always remember showing favouritism in any way is sin.

Galatians 3:26-29.

26 For you are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus. 27 And all who have been united with Christ in baptism have put on Christ, like putting on new clothes. 28 There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male and female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus.

Jesus came and died for all of us on the cross of Calvary, He didn’t show favouritism to anyone, He died for all of us. He offered eternal life to all people who believe in him.

Let us all follow the example of our saviour, He show no partiality to the poor, needy, sick, blind, prostitute, tax collector. He loves everyone.

With that lets come to our second point.

2.Believers should treat everyone equally. (5-7).

5 Listen, my dear brothers and sisters: 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?
6 But you have dishonored the poor. Is it not the rich who are exploiting you? Are they not the ones who are dragging you into court?
7 Are they not the ones who are blaspheming the noble name of him to whom you belong?

In this passage we see.

1      God has chosen the poor (2:5,6b).

3      The rich oppress the believers (2:6b,7).

God has sovereignly chosen (elected) the poor. This does not mean every poor person will be saved or that every rich person will be lost. But generally speaking, it is the poor who respond to the salvation that is in Christ (cf. 1 Cor. 1:26-29).

Generally poor people are crazy about God.

God is everything to them, They have nothing in this world but they are happy people, because what they got is God and God’s favour is upon the poor.

Remember the story of Rich man and Lazarus. (Luke 15:19-31)

In the Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus, the rich man does nothing while alive to help Lazarus, a poor beggar, and when he dies the rich man goes to Hell whereas Lazarus goes to Heaven………… This parable sends the message that worldly and earthly possessions are of no benefit in the afterlife.

This parable sits in the context of Jesus criticizing the Pharisees, whom Luke accuses of being “lovers of money” (16:14). But the parable speaks not only about them; it extends to Luke’s readers, warning them about the blinding, dangerous capacities of wealth.

The rich man and Lazarus lead two totally opposite forms of existence. Rich man was covered with wealth and riches; the poor man was covered in sores and hunger.

Rich man feasts daily with best foods; poor man looks for scraps to curb his hunger. Rich man lives inside a gated beautiful home; the poor man lies at the gate.

Rich man receives the dignity of burial according to custom; the poor man is carried off to be with Abraham. They live close to one another, perhaps even visible to one another through the gate. After death, their conditions are totally reversed.

Jesus never explicitly states why the rich man receives his torment, but the story makes some clear suggestions.

The man has disregarded the poor, even poor Lazarus who lived so nearby. This was done not out of ignorance but out of willful neglect. (It appears from v. 24, where the rich man knows Lazarus’s name, that they are not strangers to each other.) The man also is presumptuous, perhaps assuming that he deserves good things in life because of his wealth or status.

The ridiculous things were that even in torment of hell rich man is still trying to manipulate poor man Lazarus.

The rich man asked to let Lazarus come down from heaven and serve him to cool his tongue with a drop of water to reduce his “agony in this fire.”

The rich man additionally requested Abraham to send Lazarus back to earth as a warning to his brothers to atone for their sins, however, both requests were refused.

Application:

How are you treating people who are homeless and begging for food on the roadside, how did you react to them,

Are we committing the sin of favouritism?

We should never ever look down the poor and needy and weak people around us.

We should not look down another human base on their economic status, the colour of their skin, by their culture, by their educational qualification.

We should treat everyone equally.

Remember God is watching. God is watching.

Lets us see how God is telling us to live our life without showing favouritism to anyone.

Matthew 5:43-48.

43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbour and hate your enemy.’
44 But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,
45 that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.
46 If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? 47 And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that?
48 Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

As a church our love should be put into action.

Romans 12:9 to following says.

9 Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. 10 Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves. 11 Never be lazy, but work hard and serve the Lord enthusiastically 12 Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. 13 Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.

14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. 16 Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position.Do not be conceited.

17 Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. 18 If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. 19 Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord. 20 On the contrary: “If your enemy is hungry, feed him;if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.”21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Conclusion:

Church we have seen two points under the topic “Beware of Favouritism

  1. Favouritism is sin. (we should stop the sin of favouritism)

The church should be the change in this world where there is favouritism everywhere. The change has to start from you and me, from your family, and bring change in our society, in our workplace.

2. Believers should treat all people equally.

Let us treat all people as Christ has treat us, as Christ has love us. Let the beauty of Jesus be seen in you. Let your light so shine that people may see your good works and glorify our Father in heaven.

Let us pray.

Heavenly Father, we thank you so much for this blessed hour, we thank you for your words. We pray that if we have sin against you and against people coz of showing partiality to others, please forgive us. And help us not to repeat the same sin again,

Help us to treat all people equally like you treat to us, help us to love all the people like you love us. Bless all our brothers and sisters.

In Jesus name, we pray
Amen.

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James Sermon

True vs False Religion – James 1:26-27

This sermon is part of a series called Faith in Action as we are going through the Letter of James.

James wrote this letter to the exiled Jews who are scattered. James is writing out of concern for their spiritual well-being, and the letter is a set of practical instruction on how to live out their faith amid trial, sufferings and uncertainties.

Last sermon we saw James giving instructions on how not to deceive themselves by becoming only hearers and not doers. In today’s passage, he is helping them understand the difference between true and false religion.

In verse 26 he writes “If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person’s religion is worthless.”

You may ask why James is talking about the speech as he is referring to the tongue. To know this, we have to understand the context in which James has been brought up and is living.

James lived in a religious culture, predominantly a Jewish culture which was primarily headed by the Pharisees and the Sadducees. And even though some of them may have been genuine, they were mostly known to be as cold, legalistic, prideful, arrogant and talkative.

They were just like our politicians, who make big promises before the elections but after the election fail to keep the promises. Politicians generally are also known as people who are good at talking, but when it came to acting upon real issues that people go through, they shut themselves up.

Therefore when Jesus was on earth, he was very hard on these people and even called out their sin in public. You can imagine the influence of these people when you hear how they treated Jesus and put him to death by badly influencing the Roman government at that time.

Here, in our passage, James writing to a group of people who seem to have been influenced by such a religious culture and therefore now acting like them. Basically all TALKS and no ACTION.

And, therefore, in verse 26, he is writing to them that if you think by talking only that you become religious and that God is ok with that, then you are mistaken. He says, this kind of religion is worthless.

Brothers & sisters, at this point it’s easy for us to think about this group and condemn them for their attitude and action, and completely ignore that fact that we too behave in a similar manner, and sometimes even worse.

We too behave cold, legalistic, prideful – performing Godly activities as a sense of duty to show ourselves good externally – showing people how good of a Christian we are using words only, minus the action.

James goes on to explain what true religion should look like. He says in verse 27, true religion is that which shows genuine care and concern for the people and a life that is not stained by the cultures of the world.

In James’s times, the orphan and the widows were the most needy ones and therefore he is mentioning them to make a point. It doesnt mean that we now make add charity towards orphan and widows by donating some money and doing some Christian activities around them to make ourselves feel better and more religious.

We must catch the heart of what James is telling us. The needy in our context could be different. In fact, in the city of Mumbai, we can find all kinds of needy people with various types of need. And apart for just the necessities, what they also need the most is the Gospel.

Therefore tur religion is more than just giving big talks about what is right and wrong, holy and unholy,  right and wrong. True religion is that which even compels us to do something about it in actual action.

And true religion is one that is unstained by the worldly patters and traditions and way of life. Its the one that truly seeks God and His Kingdom.

Brothers & sisters, here’s the truth. In our natural being, we can never live out such a perfect life on own, our natural tendencies will always yield us to become people who talk and do nothing. Why? Because we have a problem.

The day we were created by our heavenly Father, he didn’t mean for us to become like this. He wanted us to look perfect in all ways, holy just as He is Holy, but in the Garden of Eden we messed it up.

We used our gift of free will, and instead of walking in obedience to God, we rebelled and sinned, and the result was separation from God. And because of that separation, we all are broken inside. The reason we all behave in selfish ways is that Sin has corrupted us, and even though our hearts desire to live to please God in all manners, our flesh pulls us away from seeking a Godly life.

And the only way to fix this problem is to repent of sins and trust on the Son of God who is the only one who didn’t just talk and make big promises in the air but fulfilled each of His promises to save us from our wretchedness and restore that broken relationship with God the Father.

Christ left His heavenly Glory to reach out to needy people like us, people who needed hope, peace, joy – which only a restored relationship with the Father can grant us.

Jesus lived the perfect life, exercised true religion, one that was acceptable to God and earned His righteousness for our sake and then exchanged it with our unrighteous and sinful lives, taking the penalty of our sin upon himself and in giving us total freedom from Sin and captivating our hearts with His Love and compelling us to know to live a godly life by the help and power of His Spirit in us.

Therefore, our response today towards this passage is primarily to look to Jesus and His saving grace – captivated by His Love, affections and forgiveness He grants us. And we do that; His love will compel us to people who are not just talkers but doers of His words, living a Godly life that is truly acceptable to God.

As a child of God, the question we need to ask daily is not how good a Christian I be, but how good a Jesus lover I am. Because loving Jesus day-by-day will automatically produce the fruits of true religion in us. We won’t have to strive to look like a good Christian, Christ’s Love will automatically compel us to show genuine care for the needy and will also protect our hearts from becoming stained by the world.

Categories
James Sermon

Doers and Hearers: James 1:22-25

Good morning church it’s blessing to see all of you in our online church service, we are going through the book of James under the theme “Faith in action”

I wanna start with a short story, In the month of April and May we see beautiful Gulmohar tree blooming all over our city, last year, I collect lots of seeds, so that someday I will plant the seeds somewhere, the seeds are still with me.

If I didn’t plant that seed I will never see beautiful Gulmohar flower. What I want to convey through this story is, God’s word is like a seed, we come to church hear great sermons and if we never apply those God’s word in our life, it’s like my story, you store those seeds and never plant we won’t harvest anything in our life.

This morning James is saying the same thing James 1:22-25, we shall meditate this text. l will like to read for all of us.

22 But prove yourselves doers of the word and not merely hearers who deceive themselves.
23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror;
24 for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was.
25 But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man will be blessed in what he does.

Church, today we shall meditate together 4 very vital points under the topic DOERS and HEARERS. there are two kinds of people in every church, Doers – They heard the word and applied in their daily life.

Mere hearers – They heard the word but never applied in their life. We shall see both Doers and hearers character one after another. With that lets come to our first point.

1. BE DOERS OF THE WORD

22 But prove yourselves doers of the word. James wants all of us to be the doers of the word, The sentence Doers of the word is in imperative so, it is a command to every believer.

Every believer should be doers of the word. Why we be doers of the Word? because The Word of God calls us to action: Putting God’s word into action will change lives, Remember how God changes our lives, we believe the word of God and we allow God to process the word in our life and it brings life transformation.

Putting God’s word into action will change minds, As we process God’s word in our life, as we put the word of God into action, God’s word renew our mind daily and we are more and more like Jesus every day.

Putting God’s word into action will change hearts. As we put God’s word into action/practice, it makes our heart purer and closer before God. When we obey the word of God and when we put the word of God into practice, the word of God sanctify us and make us more like Him.

After preaching a sermon on the mount, Jesus said, we should be doers of the word. If we are not a doer of the word, we are building up our life in the wrong foundation, the wrong foundation that brings misery and destruction in our life.

Matthew 7:24-27 Jesus said,
24 “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.
25 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock.
26 But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand.
27 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”

Anything we will build up apart from Christ will not last and will face great destruction. If you are a doer of the word that will prove that you love Christ. John 14:23. “Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him.”

Application

Are you doers of the word?

In Israel there is a sea called Dead sea, you know river water flows in the dead sea and never flows out, as a result, Its salt concentration is 8.6 times saltier than ocean water.

There are no plants, fish, or any other visible life in the sea. Many people are like Dead sea, they heard and received all they need from word of God but they didn’t put into practice, nothing grows in their heart, Don’t be like the dead sea, those people are physically alive but spiritual dead, Church Let’s be doers of the word and grow in the Lord daily. With that lets come to our second point.

2. MERE HEARERS ARE DECEIVERS

22 But prove yourselves doers of the word and not merely hearers who deceive themselves. James is saying that we are to be “doers” of God’s word, “and not hearers only, hearers only deceive selves” (v. 22b).

People who only “hear” God’s word but who do not “do” what it says, are fooling and deceiving themselves.

They think that they are receiving a benefit from ‘hearing’, when in fact they are robbing themselves of the blessing of God. What exactly does this deception look like?

When we say we believe one thing but don’t act upon it, It is really like we don’t believe it at all. This is similar to the double-minded living that James speaks of in verse 8.

Remember, in verse 8 James says the double-minded person is the one who professes belief but doubts. Here, James says we are deceived if we say we believe but don’t act on the Word. Jer.17:19 Our own hearts are deceitful so much so that we easily fool ourselves.

I have deceived many myself times in my life, I was born in pastor family, heard thousands and thousands of sermon in my life, I can clearly remember how I have deceived myself and God many times knowingly and unknowingly.

This was my idol for so long, I was lazy, I was forgetful, never take the word of God seriously, my life was like a dead sea, nothing growing in my heart, I was living unproductive life.

Slowly God shows my heart idol when I come to know I was deceiving myself, and breaking God’s heart by my sinful behaviour I repent my sin and receive His grace.

Illustration:

Judas Iscariot had the best pastor, the best leader, the best advisor, the best counsellor he saw all wonders and miracles, yet he deceives himself, the problem is not the leadership of the church you go to.

If your attitude or character doesn’t change or your heart doesn’t transform, you will always be the same.

Application: How many times have you deceive yourself and God?

If you have deceived like me, let us repent our sins and received God’s forgiveness and grace. May we all be doers of the word in our everyday life.

3. MERE HEARER ARE NEGLECTORS. (23-24)

23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror;
24 for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was.

Mere hearers are neglecters of the word, James uses an analogy of a man looking into a mirror, once he looks at himself and gone away and he immediately forgot what kind of person he is.

That person is like hearing a sermon or read God’s Word and think, “I must do something about that.”

But then when he gets home and life just gets busy. He has got things to do, people to see, places to go. And just forget. Gods word is like a mirror, and the purpose of a mirror is self-examination;

you can see the flaws and hopefully fix them. We should use God’s word as our mirror. As a mirror, allow it to reflect an image of who you truly are. When it shows you your gifts, use them.

When it shows you what you are doing is sin, repent and change it. When it shows how you can live in the power of Christ, live in it. The word should be a tool for you to use to examine your life, but it must be done truthfully.

Let your time of daily devotion be an opportunity to examine yourselves in the mirror of God’s Word. James brings this up because there are many who sit beneath the preaching and are forgetful and neglect hearers.

Forgetful in this sense: they hear the preaching and even agree with it, but the moment Sunday is over, they forget the Word. They do not carry it with them into their lives. Church let’s not walk away from the mirror of God’s Word.

Application:

Our life priority should be God, if you are neglecting His word and His instruction, If you are not giving priority to His word. You are inviting all life troubles, idols in your heart will control your heart.

Consequences of neglecting God’s word is huge.

1.You will go wrong direction in life coz you are not guided by God’s words

2. Your life will be confused.

3. Nervous, Anxiety and fearful will control your life.

4. You will be easily deceive

5. You wont know the will of God.

6. You will make wrong choices in life.

All these above consequences will face by those people who neglect the word of God. 2 Tim.3:16-17,

16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,

17 that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work

4.DOERS WILL BE BLESSED (25)

25 But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man will be blessed in what he does.

James says if you do the Word; if you don’t neglect it; but if you look intently or look fully and deeply into the Word of God to see what it says for our lives.

Which he also calls the perfect law of freedom, you will be blessed. James lays out four steps that we can take to be blessed: Step One: “Look intently.” Gaze into the Word of God and keep looking until you find something. Step Two: “abides by it.”

Once you find something, keep looking. Find more. Step Three: “Not forgetting.” Don’t forget what you discover. Step Four: “But doing.” Do what you’ve learned. Let it change your life.

Just like in the mirror illustration: when we know what we’re supposed to look like, or what we want to look like, we look into the mirror to see if what we see matches how we want to look.

If it doesn’t, we adjust ourselves accordingly. So, also, we must look into the Word of God, see how our lives are supposed to look, and adjust our lives accordingly. We are to look into the “perfect law.”

This is the law that is found in Christ. This is the law of Christ; the law that gives freedom. The law in the Old Testament created burdens and expectations which we could not meet.

The law in the New Testament is fulfilled in Jesus and offers us freedom through Christ. Often we don’t think of a law as freedom. However, the law of Christ certainly does bring us freedom!

We are set free from the bondage of sin and death. We are set free to live for Jesus and live the lives that we were created to live. Jesus said in John chapter 8, “If you continue in my word, you really are my disciples. You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free,” (John 8:31b-32). Psalm 1:1-3.

1. How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, Nor stand in the path of sinners, Nor sit in the seat of scoffers!

2. But his delight is in the law of the Lord, And in His law he meditates day and night.

3. He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, Which yields its fruit in its season, And its leaf does not wither; And in whatever he does, he prospers.

Application: Are you living a blessed life? If you are not living a blessed life?

What is stopping you to receive all the blessings from God. If there is anything to repent?

If there is any idol that is controlling you or stopping you to received God’s blessing, Surrender you heart to God and Let Him bless you so that you will live a blessed and fruitful life.

Conclusion.

Church we have meditate together 4 vital points together under the topic “DOERS AND MERE HEARERS” My final conclusion words will be.

1. Be Doers of the word, when God gave you this life make use of every opportunity and serve Him with all your heart and soul and life because this is the things that matters most.

2. Secondly, don’t deceived yourself like Judas Iscariot. Don’t be like dead sea.

3. Thirdly, don’t neglect God’s word, When God gave you this moment, use it wisely for His glory and fame.

4. Fourthly, You are a blessed child if you are doers of the word. You are like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, Which yields its fruit in its season, And its leaf does not wither; And in whatever you do, you will prosper.

Categories
James Sermon

Anger Management – James 1:19-21

Greetings!

Back to sermon series on ‘Faith in Action’ – The Epistle of James to the Jews scattered because of persecution.

Context – Going through Suffering – James says to consider it joy when you go through trials – Ask for wisdom from God.

From 19 onwards James is addressing some practical issues – and in our three verses today he is addressing the issue of Anger. Firstly, I wonder why he started with anger and not any other practical issues.

I guess maybe because the people who are now scattered for their faith in Jesus may have started developing the feeling of anger towards God for their current situation and it is now showing up in their relationship with one another.

As I was thinking about their situation I realized that in some ways we all go through these moments in life, especially as Christians. Yes, there is this eternal joy & peace that captures our heart when we repent of our sins and trust in Christ for sustenance and guidance, but in doing so there is also a huge transformation that happens in our mind, our perspective towards this earthly life starts changing, the worldly principles and lifestyle that we once walked on begins to look meaningless and waste.

And we take on a very different journey which is unlike the ways of the world. Kingdom values and kingdom perspective take a strong position in our life.

It’s like all this while we were running with the waves and all of a sudden we now running against the waves, the harder we try, the painful the experience, because the waves become stronger and stronger trying to push us back. And because of the pain & tiredness we experience, instead of finding joy in life’s moments, we tend to become angry, angry with God and angry on people.

And I suppose that is the reason why James felt it important to deal with the issue of Anger before talking about anything else. When we are angry we shut ourselves down, we don’t listen, and even when we listen we don’t pay attention. In anger, Our heart starts beating like a fast running horse, instead of being calm like a Dove.

And trust me, everyone has anger issues in life. They show up in different ways.

Therefore, what we will explore today is What does God’s word teach us about ‘Anger Management’. Unless we have the right perspective about Anger and learn how to deal with it we will never be able to enjoy our Christian life.

Perspective #1 – Human Anger does not produce the righteousness of God.

v20 –  for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God.

Isn’t that an interesting statement to read? I never paid attention to that passage in the bible before until someone pointed it out to me in relation to an incident that came up where this Christian brother expressed sorrow for acting in anger with his parents for some reason.

Human anger does not produce the righteousness of God because it is rooted in Self. And anything that is rooted in self is against God. When God created the world, he created man and women and put them in this beautiful garden, by design everything, every living creature, every aspect of creation was supposed to worship God.

And while every aspect of creation still continues to obey God and follow the orders given by the Almighty, Humans, who were created in God’s likeness and image, when given the authority and power to worship God by choice, we decided to choose Self. We believed the devil when he said we can be like God, and instead of walking in obedience to our creator, we disobeyed him by eating the forbidden fruit and decided to choose our own path. And God couldn’t tolerate that behaviour anymore and threw us out of His presence.

Why do we get angry?

The main reason we get angry is …

Because of unmet Needs resulting in hurt,  unmet Expectations resulting in frustration & because of Insecurities we develop because of an unbalanced and unstable life.

Because our forefathers sinned, we too were born sinful, it’s like a spider web, where we continue to experience the pain and misery because of the consequences and actions of our parents, and their parents … eventually traced back to Adam & Eve where it all began.

Therefore, in the natural, since the time we are born, we are sinful human beings, And in our sinfulness, all that matters to us is whether my Self needs are been met. If you want to more insight on human behaviour especially in children, the best people to talk to right now is Jinson and Angela.

Ask them How often does Baby Hannah before crying and demanding for food checks whether her mother is ready to feed, or check on the Father whether he is busy with work or not. She’s like I don’t care how my mother is feeling or what my Father is doing, I want food, I want attention, and I want love, right now right here.

Brothers & sisters, whether we are small babies or big boys and girls, we all behave in such manners when it is about our needs, and the way we express it is by showing anger.

And BTW, it’s not just the people who scream and yell are angry people, we show our anger in many ways. There are two broad categories of angry people – The Open Aggressive ones and the Passive-aggressive ones.

The Open Aggressive ones are those people who have a tendency to lash out in anger and rage, becoming physically or verbally aggressive and can often time hurt themselves or others.

This comes out in fighting, bullying, blackmailing, accusing, shouting, bickering, sarcasm and criticism. Open aggression comes from a need to be in control. I would identify myself as an Open aggressive person when I get angry.

The Passive-aggressive people are those who may not admit that they are angry because they don’t like confrontation. This comes out in things like becoming silent when you are angry, sulking, procrastinating (putting stuff off you need to do), and pretending “everything is fine”.

Passive aggression too comes from a need to be in control. My wife Jane I believe is mostly a passive-aggressive person, but she has changed a lot. I could never stand her going silent on me.

Brothers & sisters, sin has tainted our desires so badly that from birth itself, our needs have always been the focus of our life. Everything we are taught, day in & day out is pushing us towards seeking our own needs, with our own strength.

Therefore, we expect everyone to meet our needs, we expect our parents to love us, provide for us & bring us up in a certain manner, and when that need is not met we get angry at them.

We expect our family & friends to have behaved in a certain manner, and because that need is not met, instead of been loved and cared for we get angry. Some of us instead of being loved have gone through abuse, trauma, torture, disrespect etc, and we have become angry.

But then, there comes Jesus, the son of God, the creator of the universe, giving us a heavenly perspective, unlike what the world has been teaching us. In Matthew 6:25-33 he says ….

25 “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?[a] 28 And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, 29 yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31 Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

In John 15:18 he said

18 “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. 19 If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.

Brothers & sisters, our sinful action in the Garden of Eden has birthed hatred in all our heart towards God and as long as people reject and hate the true and living God their behaviour & responses to one another will always be hurtful.

Therefore, we need to understand that our true NEEDS will never be met by another sinful person or a thing, we should completely stop having that expectation, instead, we should all turn to God who meets our real needs, the needs of our heart, and we will feel angry no more on our circumstances or other people. 

Jesus said “Come to me and I will give you rest”, “Whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

Perspective #2 – Anger is a God given emotion, for a purpose

You see, not all anger is bad. In fact, it is an emotion given by God for a purpose.

Yes, we have to be angry, but we have to angry towards our sin, towards injustice, towards everything that God is angry with. James would suggest in our passage to use our holy anger towards putting away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. (verse 21)

Yes, there is redemption for us, there is a safe place which we can create for ourselves, in a world that is broken and filthy. But that redemption comes only from Christ and His saving grace.

Certainly, God was angry with us when we sinned and rebelled against Him but instead of killing us he found another way, he sent His only beloved son Jesus to take our place. Instead of punishing us, he took out all his wrath and anger on himself on the cross of Calvary. Brothers & sisters, this is the greatest proof that he loves, loves us dearly.

Psalms 145:8-9

The Lord is gracious and merciful,
    slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
9 The Lord is good to all,
    and his mercy is over all that he has made.

Psalms 103:12

as far as the east is from the west,
    so far does he remove our transgressions from us.

We did not deserve His Love and yet He poured it out in abundance and continues to do so even today.

Therefore, we don’t have any right to get angry on God or on others. Instead, as children of this loving God, we ought to be torchbearers of this loving God to this dying world by having the right perspective towards one another and by not reacting in anger when we see and experience brokenness in others, whether it’s our unbelieving family or friends, or whether it’s our believing family or friends who are been sanctified just like us.

But how do we practically deal with Anger?

James gives us three advice which we can apply to our lives.

Advice #1 – Be quick to Hear

When we feel anger, instead of expressing a reactionary response let’s become receptive listeners (again). The angry moments are the best moments to dig deep into our hearts and pull out all the selfish unmet needs, expectations and insecurities and evaluate them against the word of Truth, but to do so we have to train ourselves to be good listeners – listen to God, listen to people.

I can’t explain how better our marriage life has become, just by abiding by this rule. Most of our disagreements and fights have resolved well when we’ve deliberately taken time out to time to search our sinful heart and apply the word of God. And at the end we’ve always found ourselves feeling miserable and end up arguing and saying I’ve been the worst person, please forgive me.

Here’s an advice from the wisest man on earth that will help, Mr Solomon the King.

Proverbs 28:9 – If one turns away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer is an abomination

In John 10:27-28, Jesus said “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.

Brothers & sisters, from my own experience, I would say this is really good advice if you want to manage your anger.

Advice #2 – Slow to Speak

Slow to speak doesn’t mean speaking slowing, because some people can speak slow and yet spit venom, the best example is Kaa the Snake in the movie Mowgli. But what James is meaning is to begin speaking slowly, not to be in a hurry to speak, especially when you are angry.

Here’s what Mr Solomon the King has to say

Proverbs 10:19 – When words are many, sin is not absent, but he who holds his tongue is wise.

Proverbs 13:3

3 Whoever guards his mouth preserves his life;
    he who opens wide his lips comes to ruin.

Proverbs 29:20

20 Do you see a man who is hasty in his words?
    There is more hope for a fool than for him.

The famous president of the United States, Thomas Jefferson said “When angry count to ten before you speak. If very angry, count to one hundred.”

Brothers & sister, even this one is great advice and you consider practising it as often as you can. Personally, this advice has saved me from many troubles.

Advice #3 – Slow to anger

And finally, be slow to anger.

As we discussed earlier, God has been slow to anger towards us all this while, apart from being merciful and gracious. When we are slow to anger towards others we are displaying a godly characteristic that they need to see so that they can see for themselves the transforming power of the Gospel in your life.

Even when the other person has done the worst of things to you, think of your own position before God, we have in fact done the worst of worst against God. Seek to be humble in such moments and allow the Spirit of God to give you the strength to forgive and instead show love.

Finally, remember, in going through all such experiences in our Christian life, allowing God to break you, mould you & make you, he is saving the world through you, the Gospel work he is doing in your heart is for a purpose, for a glories purpose.

Let us pray.

Categories
Psalms Sermon

Gospel Hope in the midst of despair: Psalms 42

Good morning brothers and sisters! I’m sure all of us have experienced a really emotionally difficult last week with the passing away of our brother. Even as we are grieving with Punit’s family and all of you, do pray that God would give us the grace to share His heart.

As elders as we were trying to figure what to share, we arrived on this topic of Hope. Every person on the face of this earth (believer OR unbeliever) is living by some kind of ultimate hope. Either it’s a hope for a better life in the future.

Either it’s a hope to be happily married to someone. Either it’s a hope to get a well paying, stable job.  Either it’s a hope to buy a nice home someday. Or it’s a hope to move to another foreign country and settle there. These hopes drive our lives.

These hopes control our goals and ambitions in life. And so as we were trying to answer this question – what drives us to a point of utter despair? The answer isn’t actually a lack of hope but the fact that we’ve been trusting in a false hope. This false hope promises alot, but it never really delivers. And that’s why we despair.

In the background of all that happened this week even as we are dealing with grief and many unanswered questions in our hearts, I want us to ask ourselves “What am I hoping on? What is driving all the decisions that I make in my life? What am I hoping for which will give me true happiness?”

Even as we are thinking through the question, the Bible actually offers a real lasting hope called “Gospel Hope”. Let’s try to understand that through the passage from Psalm 42.

1. Gospel hope helps us to acknowledge the brokenness in our lives

Many times we imagine people filled with hope as people who are always happy, calm and unmoved by the sin and suffering in their lives and around them. But that’s a false picture & I want to tells us that Gospel Hope actually is quite different from that – it acknowledges the brokenness and is not in denial of the brokenness. In this very Psalm we see different ways in which the Psalmist acknowledges his brokenness:

A) Acknowledging the distance with God

As a deer pants for flowing streams,

    so pants my soul for you, O God.

My soul thirsts for God,

    for the living God.

When shall I come and appear before God? (v1,2)

I think many times we interpret this passage as a call to be desperate in our relationship for God but also when I read the context I realized that his desperation was because the Israelites were exiled away from their land as a result of their idolatry and sin.

We know that in the OT – access to God and God’s presence among them was signified by the Jerusalem temple. And now when they are exiled and in a foreign land as captives, there is this dryness that the Psalmist is experiencing in his relationship with God and he longs to come back to God’s Temple to relate and worship God more deeply. 

Now this is pre-cross in the OT, but let’s recognize the principle that true Gospel hope frees us to be able to acknowledge the season of dryness and emptiness in our souls. We don’t have to be in a perfect-believers to be able to have Hope.

This past few months I’ve experienced dryness and emptiness multiple times in my relationship with God. But I usually play that down by telling myself – at least I’m reading my Bible, at least I’m ministrering to other believers in the church, at least I’m sharing this with other believers so I think that’s alright.

But I would often forget is that we can honestly pour out our own dryness of our souls before a God who hears & responds. In fact as we will see later on, this Gospel Hope is what restores and rejuvenates our dryness.

B) Acknowledging the distance with God’s people

4 These things I remember,

    as I pour out my soul:

how I would go with the throng

    and lead them in procession to the house of God

with glad shouts and songs of praise,

    a multitude keeping festival.

As the Psalmist is looking backwards, he remembers that time when he was one of the main worship leaders leading God’s people into the temple. And now as a result of being in exile and displaced from their land as a result of the people’s sin, he now longs for the faith community. Right now as a result of the pandemic, the fact is that we’ve been displaced from our normal pattern of meeting together and fellowshipping with each other. And yes, it’s quite possible that a result of this lockdown and the sin of our hearts that loves isolation, that we can experience a distance with God’s people. It’s important to acknowledge that but also let this psalm encourage us to pray and cry out with longing to God – asking God to once again open the doors and means for us to meet together, sing worship songs together, break bread together, cry with each other, hug each other, encourage each other & challenge each other in the Lord. And even right now if we are experiencing that distance, ask God to redeem that and create avenues to enjoy genuine fellowship in this season. I would say in our Gospel Community, we have actually seen more openness and vulnerability in these last 5 months than prior to that. God is able to redeem this season for you and me.

C) Acknowledge our pain & helplessness within

3 My tears have been my food

    day and night,

5 Why are you cast down, O my soul,

    and why are you in turmoil within me?

7 Deep calls to deep

    at the roar of your waterfalls;

all your breakers and your waves

    have gone over me.

The Psalmist isn’t hiding his pain and helplessness. He’s not pretending to be alright when he’s not. He’s not in denial of the troubles that are overwhelming him.

How does that kind of transparency and vulnerability come about? And I think that’s possible when we realize that we are not self-sufficient, all-knowing, all-powerful and ever-present. It happens when we realize that God is God and we are not. And I feel like that’s counter-cultural for many of us. We’ve grown up and been trained in a culture where expressing any kind of pain and helplessness is looked down upon. So we are tempted to live our Christian lives that way – we wear our best clothes on Sunday and put on our best smile on Sunday and we sugar coat the pain and helplessness that we experience through the week. And this prevents us from getting the help that we need from God and from each other. Gospel Hope tells us that God knows everything about us – He knows our sins & our weaknesses that we will playout through our entire lifetime & yet He sent His Son to come after us. We can be absolutely honest with God – something I feel in this season that God is pointing my heart towards.

4) Acknowledge Hostility from the outside

while they say to me all the day long,

    “Where is your God?” (v3b)

10 As with a deadly wound in my bones,

    my adversaries taunt me,

while they say to me all the day long,

    “Where is your God?”

It’s not always pain that we experience pain from within but sometimes it comes from the outside. Sometimes the taunts of the world (maybe it could be family members that are unbelievers, it could be colleagues at work or college, or it could be some hostile neighbours) which can hurt & affect us.

Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted (2 Tim 3:12) We see out here that is invariably going to happen to every true believer in Christ. But as we acknowledge our weakest moments before God, the Lord’s presence will be more intimately revealed to us.

In the book of Acts, it’s amazing to see the journey of Paul from being a murderer zealous for the Jewish traditions to now being a follower of Jesus zealous for God’s glory. After his conversion, we see him boldly proclaiming the gospel to big and small people alike.

It didn’t matter how many people or who all persecuted him, he continued to boldly preach the gospel. But I love the fact that Scripture also tells us of moments of vulnerability like in Acts 23. After spending time in a Jerusalem prison, facing multiple hearings and fierce accusations, at that low point of discouragement, there this amazing verse in v11 The following night the Lord stood near Paul and said, “Take courage! As you have testified about me in Jerusalem, so you must also testify in Rome.”

Right across Scripture – whenever God says “Take courage” – it’s a response of care and encouragement to His people who are discouraged. That should encourage us to not hide the pain of hostility and opposition to a Lord who stands near us and encourages us!

But not only does Gospel Hope help us acknowledge the brokenness in our lives but it also

2. Gospel Hope helps us express our doubts and despair

9 I say to God, my rock:

    “Why have you forgotten me?

Why do I go mourning

    because of the oppression of the enemy?”

Sometimes when we read the Psalms, it surprises us with the kind of candid, open questions of doubt and laments. “Why have you forgotten me? One might think that’s not the way we talk to God and yet this is part of Scripture.

I think the reason behind this lies in the phrase “I say to God, my rock”. Rock was a symbol of security and refuge. And I think the reason why the Psalmist feels open enough to express this is because of the security in the relationship with God.

There is so much of security in the relationship, that allows the Psalmist to express what he is thinking and feeling.

Now we know that not always do our thoughts and emotions accurately reflect and respond to the character of God. But I find it astounding that God would create a space for us to express that and reason with him.

God tells Isaiah in Isa 1:18 –“Come now, let us reason[c] together,

This is an amazing truth because God really delights in our relationship and wants to relate with us as personal beings. We are not just robots following orders but we are created for a deep, intimate relationship.  There’s security in our relationship with God to express what is in our heart and mind. The end goal in our relationship is not for us keeping ranting to God, but grow in intimacy.

And that’s why we meditate on Scripture daily & walk with God, because He will use all that to shape our hearts to be able to pray more in line to His heart and character.

Because of the great security that we share with Christ- “no one will snatch them out of my hand.” (John 10:28), there can be greater room for honesty in our relationship with God.

We don’t have to go through a filter process to figure which question, which doubt, which thought deserves to be shared with God. Allow God to filter that through Scripture and the Spirit’s work in your life.

But not only does Gospel Hope help us acknowledge the brokenness in our lives & not only does it help us express our doubts and despair

3. Gospel hope is hope because it is centred around God

11 Why are you cast down, O my soul,

    and why are you in turmoil within me?

Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,

    my salvation and my God.

This is the main thing – brothers and sisters. When we encounter a season or multiple seasons of despair, let’s remember that the solution will be found not in any false hope in the world:

not relationships,

not our family,

not our jobs,

not our bank balances and

not even our pleasures

– they are all going to leave us empty & shattered. The only solution that will help us is the permanent and objective Hope of the Gospel.

When we look at v11, the Psalmist is not saying “Put your hope in God and everything will be fine “hopefully”. It’s not optimism or positive thinking. He says “Hope in God – for I shall again praise him (in the Temple courts), and the reason for His Hope is because He knows His God and He knows what His God can do.

We recognize that the pain, grief and despair we experience is a result of what happened in the Garden of Eden. It’s not the way that God had designed our lives to be.

When we think about what happened to Punit, that was not how God intended for His life. We know that all of this is a result of the darkness that is there inside our souls and also in our world.  We are all broken.

It’s so amazing that instead of leaving us in our state of brokenness and self-destruction, that the Son of God Jesus makes His entry into this broken world to introduce us to Gospel Hope.

Take a look at the description of Jesus in a prophecy that was made hundreds of years before his birth:

He was despised and rejected[b] by men,

    a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief

and as one from whom men hide their faces[f]

    he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

4 Surely he has borne our griefs

    and carried our sorrows;

yet we esteemed him stricken,

    smitten by God, and afflicted.

5 But he was pierced for our transgressions;

    he was crushed for our iniquities;

upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,

    and with his wounds we are healed.

Here is our God not alien to the world of despair and grief, but He Himself experienced the full impact of the brokenness. And then as a response to fix the brokenness and reverse what had happened in the Garden, He gave up His life on the cross for you and me & rose victoriously from the grave on the third Day – to get us our Gospel Hope and healing not for a few years but for all of eternity.

Today we stand in the middle of that Story post cross and pre-Jesus’ Second coming.  And that’s why it is a Certain, objective, permanent Hope. If God can step into my broken world and sacrifices His own life to rescue me, then I know I can live in Gospel Hope.

23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. (Heb 10:23)

Can our God ever be unfaithful? No.

Can our God lie? No.

Can our God change His promises & plans according to what is convenient? No.

Because He is our Faithful God,

we can now have Gospel Hope which will never disappoint us. Even in our weakest of moments, God is still faithful. Even in our struggles with sin, God is still faithful.  Even if we are humiliated and hurt, God is still faithful. Even if we lose our job and our money, God is still faithful. Even if the whole world deserts us, God is still faithful. If you have surrendered your life to Jesus Christ, if He is your Hope, then know that your story will not end in brokenness but on the Day when Jesus comes back again we will be made perfect, like our Savior.

Categories
Sermon

The unchanging goodness of our Heavenly Father : James 1:16-18

Good morning church, it is truly a joy to see all of you face to face at this moment.

A. Heavenly Father is the Giver of all good and perfect gift.

17 Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights. (a).

Every (all, the whole, every kind of)

Good and Perfect gift- 

All Amazing blessings we received in our life are good and perfect gift.

Is from above (God). Our heavenly Father is a generous Giver. (Giving is one of His character). All uncountable and bountiful blessings we received in our life is from Him.

I want to categories in four ways.

1.Father greatest gift is His son Jesus

His only Son Jesus. John 3:16.

“For God so love the world that He Gave His only begotten Son whosoever believe in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.

18 He chose to give us birth through the word of truth that we might be a kind of first fruits of all he created.

Remember who we were. We were all dead in sin and trespasses; we were children of darkness, We were slave to sin; we were living in the lust of the flesh, We were enemy of God; we were separate from God, We were children of wrath; we were living without hope.

We were the most miserable, wretched people in the planet. We all have sin and fall short of the glory of God. (Romans 3:23)

Romans 5:8 says, But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

The dead of Christ was substitution for sinners, He was punish in place of us, He was crushed for our iniquities. He redeem us from the slavery of sin and freed us from eternal condemnation, freed us from slavery of sin and dead.

Now we have living Hope in Christ, we are Gods beloved Child and we have eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 8:1 says. Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

2 Cor.5:17 says. Therefore, If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.”

Romans 8:38-39. Says.

38. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, 39. nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus Our Lord.

Church let us praise God for “Great Salvation” this is the greatest and the perfect gift from our heavenly father.

2. The fruit of Spirit in our life.

Gal. 5:22-23.

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

God want us to bear this fruit in our life whoever life right life with God bear fruit of the Spirit

They have Christ love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control.

This fruit of spirit will give satisfaction to your heart. Many people around you will be blessed through the fruit of Spirit in you.

Most importantly God’s name will highly be exalted and glorified.

3. Heavenly wisdom, knowledge and understanding.

Proverb. 2:6.

“For the Lord gives wisdom;from his mouth come knowledge and understanding.”

We need God’s wisdom and knowledge and understanding in our daily life. King Solomon says God’s wisdom is like a tree of life. Proverb 3

All kind of blessings bears in that tree. It’s like you open a gift box and in the gift box you get all you need in life. When we open the gift in proverb 3 we can find lots of amazing blessings.

1.Long life, riches and honour.

2.It will bring healing to your body.

3.Peaceful life will be your

4.You will find favour before God.

5.You will walk securely and your foot will not stumble.

6.You will have a sweet sleep.

7.The Lord will be your confidence.

God is good

4. God’s unconditional blessings in life.

John 15:18 says, “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.”

Matthew 6:  Jesus says, If He take cares of the birds in the air, lilies in the field, He has promise that He will take care of us.

Illustration:

When I look back my childhood life. I had lots of up and down, it was an excruciating journey,

 I am the eldest son of eight siblings, my father was a pastor in a small village near Myanmar border, my mom and dad work very hard to feed all their 8 children and they never give up to give an education to their children.

Those days my dad’s only income was to go to jungle kill animals and sell the animal’s meat and support us for education for our food.

They also have few chickens and pigs, they sale them and support us.

We walk 2 days by foot to reach a small town to get education and during, vacation we come home and help mom and dad. Our life was hard, many a time we were not allow to attend classes and the institution send us home because we did not pay school fees.

However, God never forsake us, His favour was in all of us.

He supplied all our needs at His perfect timing. We experience God’s unconditional love and His amazing blessings in all our ways.

I came to Mumbai after my 12 standard, I was admitted in Wilson college for Bachelor degree but I was not able to continue my study because there was no one to look after me and I was not able to support myself too, so I drop and start working in Hotel.

My heartbreak and my dream was all shatter. But one day I met one pastor, he told me if I want to study bible, I was not sure about my calling. I keep praying for many days and months

Finally, God open a door for me to go for theology studies, God supply all my seminary expenses and now I am here.God is so good, He is good all the time, I mean it; I have tasted His wonderful love and grace. Praise God.

After seminary, I came to Mumbai, and I was taking care of small church. I came to know I am not a boy anymore, you know It was time for me to get marry with my sweet high school classmate. However, the challenging part was, I was not getting any salary for my full time ministry in the church, things were pretty hard to plan for wedding.

I was not even able to maintain my minimum bank balance. Which is Rs.1000, when I check my bank balance I have only Rs 400.

I told Phila I had Rs.400 in my account, and I remind how God has supply our needs and how He has bless us with all good things in my family life and in my personal life.

We just knelt down and start praying, when the perfect time come all our needs are supplied and we are overjoyed with all the amazing blessings of our heavenly Father.

Jesus promises in

John 15:18 says, “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.”

Matthew 6:  Jesus says, If He take cares of the birds in the air, lilies in the field, He has promise that He will take care of us.

17 Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights. (a).

Not only that, we have many uncountable good and perfect gifts from God.

# The fruit of Spirit that bears in our life is an amazing blessing from God.

Galatians 5:22-23.

# Wisdom and knowledge and understanding we received from God.

Application:

Psalm 103:1-2 says

Bless the Lord, O my soul, And all that is within me, bless His holy name.
Bless the Lord, O my soul, And forget none of His benefits;

There is a hymn “Count your blessing name them one by one.”

Let us not forget all the blessings we have received from our heavenly Father.

Let us praise God for, the great salvation, for the life we are living, family,

The food on the table, house, friends, for our country India, for the constitution for the freedom we have.

Let us praise God for all the bountiful blessings we received in our daily life.

Let us praise God for His unchanging Goodness.

B. Heavenly Father Goodness never change.

“Who does not change like shifting shadows?” (17b).

God does not change; this is one of His character.

Theologian and writer, Louis Berkhof define Unchangeableness  of God this way “God is unchanging in His Being, perfection, purpose, and promises, yet God does act and feel emotions, and he acts and feels differently in response to different situation.”

Malachi 3:6 says, “For I the LORD do not change.”

Being – God does not change in His being; He is always the Yahweh,

the self-existence God.

Psalm 90:2b says. From everlasting to everlasting, you are God.

Yesterday today and forever Jesus is the same.

Perfection – Gods attributes or characters is perfect and does not change.

Eternity, holiness, love etc. does not change.

Purpose – God is unchanging in His purpose. Psalm 33:11 says, “The counsel (plan) of the LORD stands forever, the thoughts of his heart to all generation.”

Promises – God is unchanging in His promise, Once He has made promised something, He will not be unfaithful to that promise. Num.23:19.

He is a promise keeping God.

God did not change when Adam sinned.

In case of Nineveh. God says, “Forty more days and Nineveh will be destroyed, unless they repent.” Nineveh repent and was spared. It was humans who had changed, not God’s plan.

We live in the world that is changing all the time.

However, we have our heavenly Father who does not change. How thankful we ought to be that we have a God with whom is no variableness at all, neither the slightest shadow of turning, God is always the same, at all seasons of the year, and throughout all ages. There is not the slightest change in His character, in His mode of being, or in His plans. What He was millions of ages before the world was made, He is now, and what He is now, He will be countless millions of ages from now.

Conclusion:

Church we have meditate together two very important point under the topic.

“The unchanging goodness

of Heavenly Father.”

1.Heavenly Father is the giver of all good and perfect gift.

  1. Father greatest gift is His only son Jesus.
  2. Fruit of Spirit in our life.
  3. God’s wisdom, knowledge and understanding.
  4. His unconditional blessing in our life.

2.Heavenly Father Goodness never change.

May God continue to pour out His amazing goodness in your life.

May God’s name be exalted and glorify through you.

I want to conclude with this beautiful verse.

Psalm 23:6

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

May God goodness and mercy follow you all the days of your life.

Categories
Sermon

The rescuing purpose of trials- James 1:12-15

Good morning church.

It’s a pleasure to be sharing from God’s Word with you this morning. As a church we have been going through a series titled “Faith in Action from the book of James”.

God’s intention in saving us is not for us to have a passive or a lazy faith but a vibrant and an active one.  Genuine faith will demonstrate itself in action even in the midst of very difficult and unconducive circumstances!

Continuing our theme on trials and difficulties, we arrive at our text for today from James 1:12-15. Would you join me in prayer before we jump into the text?

“She is fearless!” That’s how Ashlyn’s parents and teachers describe her. In the school cafeteria, the teachers intentionally put ice on the 5-year old’s chilli because if it’s hot she ends up gulping it down anyway. On the playground, a teacher watches her from a close distance every day because if she takes a hard fall, she won’t cry.

The reason she doesn’t cry is not so much because she’s super strong but because she suffers from a condition called “congenital insensitivity” which is a disorder which makes it unable for her to feel pain.  

When Ashlyn’s mom was interviewed, this is what her mom said “Some people would say that’s a good thing. But no, it’s not. Pain’s there for a reason. It lets your body know something’s wrong and it needs to be fixed. I’d give anything for her to feel pain.”

The feeling of pain and sensitivity is important for our survival. Similarly what if the pain that we experience in our lives were not ultimately meant for our suffering & destruction but rather to reveal the symptom of what’s wrong and needs to be fixed in our hearts? What if there was a rescuing purpose to the pain & trials in our lives? I believe our passage today’s gives us 2 rescuing purposes:

1. Trials expose the sin in our hearts

V12 continues on the theme of being steadfast in trials and the glorious reward we receive for holding on to the faith. I’ll come to this verse in just a few minutes, but I find it interesting that right after this verse on the blessedness and the glorious reward for holding on in the midst of trials, he gets into a conversation about sin.

I don’t think it’s a random placement but speaking to people that were going through immensely difficult circumstances, they needed to know that these trials were going to reveal and expose what’s in their hearts – which could make them either run away from God or run towards God when they are confronted with their sin.

It was important for them to know but it’s also important for us to know – as we all are in the midst of a pandemic and our experiencing the emotional, mental, physical, financial, social impact of these trials. What James does in v13-15, he actually providing us with a diagnostic tool to search our hearts during trials:

  • We are quick to forget God’s character

Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. (v13)

When we look at the heart of v13, we realize that it’s a misplaced understanding of God’s character and His response towards us during times of trials. The misplaced understanding is that “God is not inherently good and He doesn’t want what is best for me”. 

I think the reason James mentions this is because when we go through trials and painful experiences of various kinds, the first thing that we do in sin is we forget who God is. It doesn’t matter how much of Bible we may have studied in the past, or the number of bible studies we’ve led, when we are hit with sudden, prolonged and painful experiences – we forget God’s goodness, we forget that He is a father who loves us eternally & we forget that He is always with us.

Brother Jeff would always tells us “we are professional forgettors” – “we forget God daily and we are quite good at doing that”…which is why we need the precious reminders in the Bible like v13 which tells us that our God is Holy God who is untemptable.

And also He is Holy God who will never and can never tempt us. Doing this would go against His character & it is impossible for God to change His character. He is always Holy, Good and unchanging every time and in everything He does.

  • We are quick to defend ourselves

Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. (v13)

When we see v13, sometimes we think who is this foolish person to think or say that God is tempting us. The answer is we are those foolish people. We all know that when we sin, the hardest thing to do is confess our sin. The easiest and most natural thing to do is defend ourselves and blame others. We’ll blame others for making us respond in sin.

We’ll blame our circumstances for creating avenues for us to sin. We’ll also blame God for not removing the sin from our hearts quickly enough.  In all these ways what we try to do is say “I’m not as bad as you’re making me out to be. I’m better than that”. Defending ourselves and blaming others is how we try to prove this.  

This week was a reminder of my own defensive and critical heart as I had a difficult conversation with a colleague. The whole thing disturbed me for a while, but as I reflected on this I realized that the main reason why I was disturbed is that I wanted to defend the sin in my heart rather than confess it to God.

And I think all of us can relate to this nature, that especially when we are dealing with troubles in our relationships or painful circumstances in life, the easiest thing for us to do to is get defensive and start blaming others.

  • We fail to acknowledge the real problem

14 But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. (v14)

The real problem is not other the people, is not even the circumstance but the real problem is in your heart and mine – it is a SIN issue. The picture that is painted is almost like a fisherman who has laid a bait on the fish hook and thrown it into the water.

The bait has something in it to draw the fish and before they realize it, they are caught and pulled out. It’s the same analogy that is being used for our hearts.

The reason we fall into temptation is not because of what the other person told to provoke us, it’s not because we were under immense pressure we are facing in life, it’s not because of what appeared on our screens, it’s not because of the spur of the moment – we fall into temptation because we desire SIN our hearts.

Our hearts are more depraved than we would like to believe. The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? (Jer 17:9)God is in the process of renewing our heart through Jesus but we have to reckon with the reality of the sin nature that we have.

  • We are apathetic toward the consequences of sin

15 Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death. (v15)

One of the main things that happens to our heart because of sin is that it numbs us and makes us insensitive to the consequences of our sin. The world gives this really glamorous picture of sin but in reality it is a miserable dungeon trap. It’s so enslaving which is why we keep going back again and again to the things and people who we know aren’t really helping us but harming us.

Not just is SIN enslaving but its end is in DEATH – spiritual and physical separation from God forever! In Luke 16:24 we see a description of separation from God eternally where the rich man in hell calls out to Abraham and say ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame.

There is unbearable anguish in unquenchable fire – and this carries on for all of eternity. I say all this to not frighten anybody but to also lay a reminder from the Bible on how terrible is the anguish and yet we become apathetic toward the consequences of sin. Trials are a tool that God uses highlight what’s broken inside of us.

As a result of this global pandemic, many of the developed countries that used to boast of a robust healthcare system have been shown to be weak and helpless. A lot of the real issues in their healthcare systems have been exposed.

It’s not that the chinks in the armor were not there prior to the virus but rather the pandemic has revealed the healthcare systems for what they were. Similarly trials are not creating brand new sins each time we go through it but rather trials expose these sins that always were with us (Our inclination to forget God, Defending ourselves, not acknowledging the real problem of sin, being apathetic to the consequences of sin).  

But if all that trials did is just make us more aware of our sin, then that leaves us without any hope. There’s something more to God’s purpose in trials. God’s rescuing purpose in trials is not just in exposing our sin but also using

2. Trials to point us to our need for a Savior

Even as trials are exposing our sins, it’s also creating this longing in our heart to look to a Savior for help. We can either chose to be a false, useless savior for ourselves (self-medicate ourselves) or we could go to Jesus who is the true, rescuing Savior (real healer).

Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him. (v12)

In the background of the verses of our sinful condition, as I was reading this verse, a few questions popped into my head. Can I remain steadfast by my own strength? How can I stand the test? How can I receive the crown of life?

How is it that I who deserve to be spiritually and physically separated from God eternally are now being offered the “crown of life”? How is this even possible? Because of our predicament, God will have to do something for us because we can’t do anything to help ourselves.

  • It points us to God’s promise

It’s interesting that James uses the phrase “which God has promised” at the end of the versewhich means that we can’t work for the crown of life or we can’t earn it like a salary. It’s a true fact for us as believers today as well.  The only qualification which allows us to receive the crown of life is God’s promise that he makes toward us.

He promises us the crown of life instead of the death we deserve. He promises to eternally love those who once hated Him. He promises to keep those that once had forsaken Him. 

But this great and precious promise came at an extremely high cost because someone has to pay for the multitude of sins you and I had committed. “The wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23).

And that’s where the promise gets serious because to be able to give all of these wonderful gifts to us, it would mean that Jesus Christ – God’s Son would need to take on the punishment meant for us. It’s almost like a death row where we are on our way to get executed for the very sins that we had committed, and then as we are walking toward the gallows someone exchanges his place for us and chooses to get executed instead of us so that we can be set free.

21 God made him who had no sin to be sin[b] for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. (2 Cor 5:21)

Jesus Christ not only died on the cross but rose again on the Third Day and this what makes His promise a reality for us. Just like in a marriage, once the couple is married it’s no longer the husband’s bank balance or the wife’s individual bank balance.

Everything that used to belong to them individually now belongs to each other. The riches of Christ’s account has been credited to us – that’s why we have the reward of the crown of life.

  • It points us to God’s compelling love

which God has promised to those who love him. (v12)

Can we actually manufacture love for God? From God’s Word & also our experience, we can all admit how easy it is for us to turn to sin & be unloving toward God especially when circumstances go against what we expect and desire.

Because our hearts still desire sin. And therefore, the only way that our hearts can be redeemed is when it is overwhelmed by a greater love.

14 For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. 15 And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again. (2 Cor 5:14-15)

Jesus Christ’s love is a compelling love. When our hearts are compelled and changed by the love of Jesus Christ, that’s what makes us love God. In my marriage,

I would say that more than the wonderful moments of companionship and joy, it’s been the moments of grace and forgiveness that my wife has shown towards me that has deepened my love for her.

For some us right now, you may be in a season of pain and difficulty. It could be through a troubled relationship with your family member or a friend. It could be a financial difficulty that you’re going through. It could be a loss of job. It could be struggles with a habitual pattern of sin. It could be deep loneliness that you are experiencing as a result of the lockdown. Or it could be a season of dryness in your relationship with God.

As these trials are revealing the sin inside of you more and more clearly, don’t run away from God by turning to sin or remaining in sin. God can use this trial to actually deepen your relationship with God.

God can repair your heart.  But the only way that’s going to happen is by remembering the compelling, persuasive, pursuing love of God. He has not stopped loving you and He will not stop changing you with His love until you and I receive the crown of life. Why would you want to still be in sin? Turn back to your Savior. 0

Categories
James Sermon

An eternal perspective on poverty and riches: James 1:9-11

We are doing a series called “Faith in Action” and the topic we will explore today is on having a heavenly perspective of poverty and riches, the passage we are looking at is James 1:9-11.

9 Let the lowly brother boast in his exaltation,

10 and the rich in his humiliation, because like a flower of the grass he will pass away.

11 For the sun rises with its scorching heat and withers the grass; its flower falls, and its beauty perishes. So also will the rich man fade away in the midst of his pursuits. – James 1:9-11

First of all, let me once again reminded that James primary audience are believers, men and women who have put their trust in God, and because of their faith in Christ they are now living in a foreign land away from the place of birth, among unknown people groups, and going through trials.

And among those believers, some of them were poor and some of them were rich.

In verse 9 the lowly brother is in reference to the poor, and what James is saying is that the poor brother should be proud of his position, why? Because being a poor man his dependence is on the Lord all the time, he trusts the Lord evermore for his daily needs, he has a humble demeanour & contrite spirit, and therefore James is saying it a good standing to have in the eyes of God.

In the Beatitudes, Jesus mentions about the lowly saying “blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of God”, “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth” therefore James is saying, boast in your high position as a born-again believer, called to the true riches in Christ.

On the other hand, to the rich Christians, James is saying that they should boast in their humiliation, being humbled, humbled by the trials that reveal human frailty, their sinful and boastful heart, knowing that true riches are found in the grace of God.

You may ask how can being rich be a humiliation.

Imagine a moment when you have all the money and wealth in the world, and even after having all of that you see how wretched and sinful you are.

And because you have money it is now even more easy for you to indulge in your sinful pleasures, access to everything at your fingertips. Instead of feeling happy, you are only feeling more miserable about yourselves, and In addition to that, there is Pride and a boastful spirit towards God and people.

Can rich people feel humiliated in that position?

Yes of course!

Like Solomon who said “I have seen and done all things under the sun and have found them futile, a chasing after the wind.

I have considered all the works my hands have accomplished and toiled for and found them futile.”

And therefore, while addressing the rich he is also reminding them of the fading nature of worldly riches. Its there today and gone tomorrow, like the flower of the grass that withers away under the scorching heat of the sun.

At one time it may look good, beautiful and pleasing to the eyes and in a moment it can be taken away, right in the middle of our pursuit of riches it can be taken away forever.

And as we are looking at both these statements made about the poor and the rich, James is not suggesting that to be poor is better than being rich.

Because there are passages in the bible that also tells us that poverty could be the result of sin & laziness (Prov 10:4), it can be a result of ignoring God’s ways (Proverbs 13:8, 18), Prov 10:15 also suggests that the poor are brought to ruin by their poverty, poverty can affect relationships (19:4,7), and it can even tempt him to steal (30:7-9)

and that there is profit in hard work (Proverbs 10:4; 14:23). The Bible tells of many wealthy men who followed God: Abraham, Job, David, Solomon, Zaccheus and others.

Brothers & sisters, whether you consider yourself as a poor person or as a rich person, it is important to have a heavenly perspective regarding your current state, and if we do not cultivate a heavenly perspective we are in trouble, whether we are rich or poor.

Why? Because whether we are poor or rich, trails in life are inevitable, both of them go through trials of different nature.

Therefore, the rest of our time, I want to talk about the heavenly perspectives we need to cultivate, whether we are rich or poor.

1. Money, fame or wealth will not save us from the trials of life.

Growing up most of us have been taught and programmed to believe that money, fame, position and wealth is the ultimate goal in life. When we have money we can buy anything we want, go anywhere we like and that will make us happy.

And therefore, we spend our whole lives pursuing these things. Especially when some of us go through trails that are caused due to lack of money and resources, we think only if I had lots of money I wouldn’t have had struggles in life.

But in reality, that isn’t true. If you look around and watch the ones who’ve achieved these things, we will learn that these things never make us happy, rather we end in a trial of different nature, sometimes related to health, sometimes related to our children etc.

You can be found having a deadly sickness which money can’t take away, or your children completely ashtray, away from God which money cant bring back.

A famous Hollywood actor once said, “Everyone should get rich and famous so that they learn that being rich and famous is not the answer”. Yes, there is some truth in that statement.

Recently I saw this documentary of a young Jazz singer girl by the name of Amy Winehouse, at a very early age she started writing songs and quite famous in a short span of time.

From the age of 16 she struggled with depression and hoped that it will get better if she received fame & money, but unfortunately as she was rising up to fame and become popular, she got into unhealthy relationships, struggled with drugs and at age 27 died due to accessive alcohol consumption.

If money and fame was the answer to life’s struggles then Amy would have been alive today, but that is not what is true.

I am reminded of the story of a rich greedy man. One day a genie came to him asked him to wish for anything. The man, because he was greedy for more wealth asked the genie to grant him a power by which whatever he touch would turn into gold, and the genie granted him his wish.

Immediately after that he went to eat food that was on the dining table and as soon as he touched the food it turned into gold, and in the next moment his children came to give him a hug and they too turned into gold. He got the gold but he lost the capability to consume food that would keep him alive, and also lost the affections of his loved ones.

Friends, in God’s Kingdom, worldly wealth holds no value, it’s just a piece of paper in your hand and a number in your bank account. And if you think more money and wealth will save you from all your troubles than you are mistaken.

God is more interested in deep heart transformation than making people prosper for no reason. You can be a poor person and through your dependence and trust in God, by walking in humility before Him, allow Him to change your heart, transform you into the image of His son Jesus and use you for the glory of His name.

And you can be a rich person, who is humble and contrite in heart, trusting him and savouring His grace in your life, …. allowing Him …

Think of all the precious moments you are missing out in your life where God is working in your heart, just because your heart is somewhere in the future, thinking of the day when you will get a promotion, a raise in salary, an inheritance from your parents and a business deal you also wanted.

As a Christian, every day God is doing something beautiful in our heart, it may look quite small to you now but it will bear much fruit if you yield towards it.

And how does he work in our heart?

He works through the transforming power of the Gospel, which brings me to the second perspective we need to cultivate regarding poverty & riches.

2. Besides Jesus there is nothing in this world that will satisfy us, that includes money, wealth & possession.

To feel happy, what we truly need is heart transformation and not more money. And heart transformation only happens when our hearts are inclined to the Gospel.

The bible says, by nature, we are sinful people, as long as we live in the flesh we are sinful. And a sinful flesh only produces corruption and hatred. We know that was not how God created us to be, he created us to live a full life, walking in obedience to Him and worshipping Him. But believed the lie the serpent told us, when he told us that we can be like God, we liked the idea and therefore rebelled and sinned against God.

The brokeness, agony, restlessness, dissatisfaction, the pain we experience, whether we are poor or rich is the result of our sin against God. Therefore, the poor to desire riches is not the answer, because a lot of rich have sold everything to become monks and sadhus and still miserable under the burden of their sin.

What we truly need is a restored relationship with God, and we can’t earn it on our own capabilities and good works. The help is provided by God himself, only through His grace and mercy which he showed us through His son Jesus can restore it back.

Our response to his love and grace is an act of obedience, where we come to Him in repentance and ask his forgiveness, and trust in his on Jesus with all our heart, mind and soul.

Therefore, even in times of trials, the poor, instead of grumbling, complaining about the lack of money should instead boast in their position as a child of God, and for the work, He is doing in our heart through the trials they are going through.

The rich, instead of allowing the humiliation of our riches to press you down and take you to places you shouldn’t go, do things you shouldn’t do should remind themselves of the vanity of wealth and cherish the true riches they have in Christ alone.

Therefore, the questions we need to ask is not whether we need to stay poor and become rich, the question we need to ask is whether we are rich or poor are we enjoying Christ and his redeemer work in our heart.

I hope you hear the Holy Spirit of God speaking to you

I like to end my sermon with a beautiful confession from Paul in 4:10-13

10 I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at length you have revived your concern for me. You were indeed concerned for me, but you had no opportunity. 11 Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. 12 I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. 13 I can do all things through him who strengthens me.

Categories
James Sermon

Seeking God’s Wisdom: James 1: 5-8

Good morning church, I am Awung Zimik, I am one of the pastors at Gathering community church, warm greetings to all of you in the worthiest name of our Lord and saviour Jesus Christ.

It is truly a joy and delight to connect you at this beautiful moment.

Thank you so much for taking out your time, I pray that you all will be richly blessed as we spent time together in the presence of God.

I hope all of you are safe and bless out there.

For those of you who connect us for the first time, I wanna let you know that we are going through the book of James under the theme “FAITH IN ACTION”.

Last Sunday we heard a sermon from bro Elijah from James 1:2-4.

Focusing on “why does God allow trials.” The answer is in verse 3 and 4.

 3 Because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. 
4 Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be Mature and complete, not lacking anything.

Today we shall continue James 1:5-8

5 If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. 

6 But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. 

7 That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. 

8 Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do.

I want to entitle my sermon as “Seeking God’s wisdom”

What is wisdom?

The Bible teaches us that wisdom comes from above but it begins with the fear of the Lord,

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,(Prov 9:10).

The dictionary defines wisdom as “the ability to discern or judge what is true, right, or lasting.” 

The Greek concept of wisdom centre’s around “knowledge,” Cleverness, and learnedness.

 In biblical usage, it is a practical, moral, and spiritual insight given by God.

(1 Kings 3:7-9, Pro.2:3-6, 10-19, 9:1-6).

It is the ability to discern right from wrong and good from evil. It is the power that enables a person to do and say the right thing at the right time.

“Wisdom is the power to see, and the inclination to choose, the best and highest goal, together with the surest means of attaining it. Wisdom is, in fact, the practical side of moral goodness. As such, it is found in its fullness only in God. He alone is naturally and entirely and invariable wise.”

J I Packers (Evangelical theologian)

Where do we find wisdom?

We won’t find wisdom in spiritual gurus teaching, books, internet, we won’t find in leaders of the world or favourite talk show host. There is only one source for wisdom.

Wisdom is from God alone. “Wisdom belongs to God”. Job 12:13.

Why do we need God’s wisdom in our life?

The purpose of wisdom is to give insight for our living, that our days may not be wasted and lived fully for an eternal purpose; avoiding regret and living without guilt from choices bathed in wisdom. Wisdom guides how we live and grants joy to those who live by it.

  • God’s wisdom will help you to make good and right choices in life.

Proverb 3:21- 23.

Keep sound wisdom and discretion, so they will be life to your soul, and adornment to your neck. Then you will walk in your way securely and your foot will not stumble.

We take lots and lots of decision in life, many a times we are confused which is the better and which is the will of God, God promise that in such difficulties His wisdom will help us to take right decision.

  • God’s wisdom will give you favour before God and man.

Pro.3:4. So you will find favour and good success in the sight of God and man.

Pro. 8:35. For those who find me (wisdom) find life and receive favour from the Lord.

If God favour is in your life, in your job, in your married life, in your business, and in your family, you will live a successful, peaceful and victorious life.

  • God’s wisdom will give you long days and years and peaceful life.

Proverb.3:2. For the length of days and years of life and peace, they will add to you.

When God’s wisdom leads you, you will live a long and peaceful life.

  • God’s wisdom brings abundant blessings in our life.

Proverb 8:18-21. Says.

18With me are riches and honor, enduring wealth and prosperity.
19 My fruit is better than fine gold; what I yield surpasses choice silver.
20 I walk in the way of righteousness, along the paths of justice,
21 bestowing a rich inheritance on those who love me and making their treasuries full.

  • God’s wisdom from above is perfect.

James 3:17 says

But the wisdom from above is first of all pure. It is also peace-loving, gentle at all times, and willing to yield to others. It is full of mercy and the fruit of good deeds. It shows no favouritism and is always sincere.

Today we shall focus on two very important points under the topic: Seeking God’s wisdom

From James 1:5-8.

Here is our first point.

1. Seeking with genuine heart

James 1:5 If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. 

This means that even if you are an imperfect person, which we all are, He will give you wisdom if you ask for it. Moreover, not only will he give it to you. He will do so generously.

Church there are many Christians who are lacking wisdom, you know the problem doesn’t lie with God, we know that He gives generously to all, without finding fault.”

So the problem lies in us, that we are not asking for wisdom with an attitude that pleases God.

Proverbs 2:6 says.

“For the LORD gives wisdom and from His mouth come knowledge and understanding”.

Wisdom belongs to God, He created it, if we desire wisdom we must go to Him to get it.

Illustration:

When God offered king Solomon anything he wanted, what did Solomon ask for?

If God were to come to you and offer to give you anything you wanted, what would you ask for? Money, power, long healthy life on earth?

Solomon asked God for wisdom! Solomon knew he would need wisdom to carry out the task of ruling that he had been called to.

God was pleased with what he asked so, along with the gift of wisdom, God gave Solomon which he did not asked ie. Riches and all other blessings to go along with wisdom.

Beloved, God is eager to give this gift to you; you just need to ask.

God is a generous God: He is willing to give generously to everyone who ask.

Romans 8:31. He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?

Matthew 7:7-11
7 “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 

8 For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.

9 “Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 

10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? 

11 If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!

Let us always remember the goodness of our heavenly Father and ask His wisdom in our daily life, so that we will know His perfect will and live this life for His glory.

Beloved church the world we are living is a battlefield.

Life is very hard, every day we have to fight against sin; we have to fight against our enemy (devil), we face big giants every day; we face challenges and hardship at our workplace, at home and all around us.

In order to fight this tough life battle, we need Gods wisdom.

In this confusing and chaotic world, what we need most is God’s wisdom.

God’s wisdom is the only way to get through this life, we need the gift of wisdom to be able to navigate through the difficulties of life on this earth successfully. Let’s make it a priority to gain as much as we can.

  • Consequences of neglecting wisdom from God

When you do not know the value of wisdom, it will be easy for you to reject it.

Wisdom is the one thing that you should never reject.

When you reject Wisdom, you are subconsciously inviting pain to enter your life.

Proverbs 4:7 teaches us, “Wisdom is the principal thing.” Wisdom is the most important thing on the earth because without it you are unable to be productive, progressive, happy, healthy, contented and prosperous and so on.

Christian author Fountain Hendricks in one of his articles, explain the consequences of rejecting God’s wisdom in a profound way. He says,

If we reject wisdom.

  1. Failing is must: When you do not have the Wisdom about how to do things CORRECTLY, ACCURATELY and RIGHTEOUSLY you will constantly fail because you are not equipped to succeed. Wisdom empowers you to know the difference between right & wrong.
  2. Poverty will come to your life: The curse of rejecting Wisdom is poverty according to Proverbs 13:18. You cannot get around it and you cannot avoid it.
  3. We will live a Confusing Life: When you reject wisdom you will have a hard time figuring out what to do, where to go, who to trust and etc. because Wisdom gives you CLARITY and VISION.
  4. We waste PRECIOUS TIME: People who reject Wisdom will waste time doing things that do not matter, that is unimportant and that are irrelevant because they do not have the ability to DISCERN what is meaningful.
  5. Rejecting God’s wisdom will lead to Miserable life.

Wisdom brings happiness according to Ecclesiastes 8:1. When you reject Wisdom, misery will be your portion because you have refused to accept the key that unlocks everything that is good.

Do not ignore the voice of Wisdom. Take heed to the teachings! Apply them into your life so that you can avoid going through unnecessary pain. People who do not know about the consequences of rejecting Wisdom will always become a victim to the consequences.

Church let us not reject.

Application:

When is the last time you ask for God’s wisdom?

Are you navigating your life with God’s wisdom?

If God offers you to ask anything right now? Would you like to ask God like King Solomon? Lord give me wisdom.

Let us remember our text. James 1:5. If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. 

  • Seeking with genuine faith. (James 1:6,7,8).

6 But he must ask in faith, without doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. 

7 That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. 

8 Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do.

We have to ask God for wisdom in two ways,

  1. By faith
  2. By single-mindedness

Faith is essential in approaching God, because as Hebrew 11:6, says, “Without faith it is impossible to please Him, for He who comes to God must believe that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.”

You must believe that He personally cares for you and He is able to give you the wisdom that you need to endure your trial with His joy.

Remember faith involves trust in God’s character, trust in God’s Word, and time. When it comes to faith, we are looking for something that we can’t see with our eyes just yet.

Hebrew 11:7-11 gives us some great examples of having faith in God.

7. By faith Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his household, by which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness, which is according to faith.

8. By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place, which he would afterward receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going.

9. By faith he sojourned in the land of promise as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise;

11.By faith Sarah herself also received strength to conceive seed, and she bore a child when she was past the age, because she judged Him faithful who had promised.

All of those blessings came by faith. And James tells us that Godly wisdom comes by asking God in faith. Without faith, we are tossed back and forth. Without faith, we weave around in all directions. Without faith, we are two-faced and miserable.  A.T. Robertson said that without faith, “We are like the donkey that starved to death, because it couldn’t decide which stack of hay to eat.”

Matthew 17:20.

Truly, I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”

Remember Church,

The root of unbelief is because of double-mindedness. The person who doubts God is not committed to obeying God, His heart is not fully surrendered to do God’s will. He is curious about God’s wisdom. He is not committed to do if it involves suffering and inconveniences.

That person, James said, “Ought not to expect that he will receive anything from the Lord.”(1:7)

We know Jesus didn’t perform miracles in His home town Nazareth? Why? because of their doubt and unbelief.

In the same way, if you have doubt and unbelief in your heart you won’t receive anything from Him.

Verse 8 says they are double-minded and unstable in all their ways, this offers pictures of a person who is drunk and is staggering from side to side along the road.

Have you ever tried to give a drunk person some wisdom while they were drunk?

It doesn’t work well, and God will not impart wisdom to me if you and I are unstable in all our ways.

 Illustration: In Genesis 18 & 19, we find a story of the destruction of “Sodom and Gomorrah”

The angel of the Lord warn lot family to run and not to turn back but Lot wife love their wealth and she turns back and she was turned into a pillar of salt. Actually, God was rescuing them and taking them to better place but because of her double-minded act, she perish.

If we are double-minded we will get nothing, if we are double-minded we will be unstable in all our ways.

Conclusion:

Beloved, the wisest decision you will ever make in your life is to put your trust in Christ.

Because He is our saviour, He came and sacrifice His life for you and me, and when we Repent our sins to Him and receive Him as Lord and saviour, He will forgive all our sins and He will give us a brand new life.

Putting our trust in Christ Because Christ is the source of all wisdom.

Col.2: 3. says. “In whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge”.

Let us Come to Jesus!” because in him “hid all the treasures of wisdom”.

To reject Christ is the most foolish thing a person could ever do.

Let us always remember that Jesus is the fullness of God’s wisdom.

Jesus Christ is the wisdom of God.

“To know and love and follow Jesus is to own the treasure of ultimate and eternal happiness.”

John Piper

Finally Beloved, let us use God’s given wisdom for the glory of God and for the good of others. If wisdom is not exercised then wisdom ceases to be. However, the very nature of wisdom instructs your heart to use your insights, your discernment, your discretion, your vision to fulfil God’s will and to demonstrate his marvellous work.

Church we have meditated together on 2 very important points under the topic

Seeking God’s wisdom.

  1. Seeking with genuine Heart. (Let us genuinely ask God’s wisdom, He has promise that He will generously give to all of us).
  2. Seeking with genuine Faith. (Let us ask God’s wisdom with genuine faith and not with double minded heart)

May God richly bless you with Heavenly wisdom, knowledge, and understanding.

May you use God’s wisdom for His fame and Glory.

May the LORD bless you and keep you,

May the LORD make His face shine on you and give you peace.

 Amen.

Categories
Sermon

Why does God allow trials?: James 1:2-4

Good morning, dearest brothers and sisters. How are you all doing today? It’s been more than 4 months since we last met and we do not know how long we will be meeting like this but we pray that God would do a miracle in bringing the situation under control.

Brothers and sisters, I believe each one of us have been going through a very trying season – in one way or the other – and now, much more than ever, we long and yearn for one another’s prayers and support.

Let me assure you, my Beloved Brethren – He who cares for the birds of the air – how much more will He care for you and me – His children.

The Psalmist declares –

Behold, He who keeps Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep. Let not your faith bog down during this period of anxiety and uncertainty and pain and sickness and sorrow and fear –

He who fed the prophet Elijah during the famine – sending the ravens with food to eat and provided for the widow to feed him daily –

That same God cares for you too! Let not your anxiety draw you away from the plan and purpose that God has for your life – through this period of trial.

Brothers and sisters, as you all know – lately – we concluded a series on “Abiding faith” from 1 Thessalonians and began a series on “Faith in action” from the book of James. Let us look at our passage for today:

James 1:2-4 – Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

Let us pray.

I read of an incident written by a man named Dr. Parnell Bailey – “I once visited an orange grove where an irrigation pump had broken down. The season was unusually dry and some of the trees were beginning to die for lack of water.

The man giving the tour then took me to his own orchard where irrigation was used sparingly. “These trees could go without rain for another 2 weeks,” he said.

“You see, when they were young, I frequently kept water from them. This hardship caused them to send their roots deeper into the soil in search of moisture.

Now, mine are the deepest-rooted trees in the area. While others are being scorched by the sun, these are finding moisture at a greater depth.”

Beloved, James begins his epistle with a rather strange command – “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds”.

He felt no need to start with an introduction – because probably the recipients of this letter – who were dispersed across different parts of the world – were all going through some tough times – not just for their faith in Jesus Christ – but also “trials of various kinds” as mentioned by James.

Is it not the same with many of us today – the children of God in this world are indeed going through “trials of various kinds”.

The Psalmist says in Psalm 34:19 –

“Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers Him out of them all.” Note that the trials of the righteous are not just one or two – but “many” – of “various” kinds.

And James doesn’t say “if you meet trials of various kinds” but he says – “when you meet trials of various kinds” – thus emphasising that each of us would go through trials of various kinds.

But he adds this small phrase – “Count it all joy” – when you go through trials of various trials. That’s where it gets tough.

You are going through a painful trial in your life and the Bible commands us – to count it all joy – not because it is a joyful experience – no

it is painful – it is excruciating – it is taking away all your energy – physically, emotionally and spiritually – yet even through that – the Bible commands us to count it all joy!

Why?

Why should I rejoice and be joyful when I am going through a painful experience?

That doesn’t make sense at all to the natural man. For the natural man – moments of joy are only when something nice happens like – getting high grades, getting a good job, having a great house, having a good spouse, getting a kid, buying a good car, getting lots of money, having a relaxed lifestyle.

Well, though these are nice happy things to have – the spiritual man’s joy is not dependent on any of these. That is why he is told to count it all joy when he meets trials of various kinds.

So, why should he count it as joy? –

Let us try understanding that through the passage and if you haven’t been able to count your trials as all joy –

I pray that God would open your spiritual eyes this morning to see His love in allowing us to go through various trials.

I would like to title my sermon as “Why does God allow trials?” And I want to show you through the text how God allows trials in our lives so as to accomplish 3 things:

  1. God allows trials in our lives so that He may test our faith
  2. God allows trials in our lives so that through the testing of faith – we may be steadfast
  3. God allows trials in our lives so that through steadfastness – we may be perfect

And these 3 come – one after the other.

This is the chronology –

Testing our faith -> steadfastness -> perfection

And when we understand the why – we will be able to count it all joy – when we meet trials of various kinds

1. God allows trials in our lives so that He may test our faith

James says – “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.” When I meet trials of various kinds, God is testing my faith.

When I first read this – I started thinking – Doesn’t God really know me already – doesn’t he know my faith? Yes. Then why does He need to test my faith? And that thought came to me because I had a wrong understanding of spiritual “testing”.

We have a test or an interview (in the natural sense) – to evaluate the other person. But spiritual testing is not for God to evaluate you or to understand how much is your faith.

No.

God knows it already. But spiritual testing is for you to know yourself – your faith? Beloved, we as human beings – even after being children of God – we have a high view of ourselves and our faith.

We think we are strong in faith just like Peter when he told Jesus – “Even if everyone else falls away, I will not fall away.

I am ready to go with you even to prison and to death” – and what did Jesus reply – “Before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me thrice”.

Well, Jesus knew Peter very well and the depth of his faith but Peter didn’t know himself and God allowed Peter to go through the trial of temptation so that Peter could see his own frailty. Brothers and sisters – “God’s will for us is our sanctification”. 

And Sanctification can truly happen only when you understand how inadequate you are and how weak your faith is. Without knowing your own wretchedness, you will not be able to depend upon God – who is our source of sanctification and holiness.

And how does God make you understand your frailty – by testing your faith. And how does he test your faith – by allowing you to meet trials of various kinds.

When you go through persecution for Christ’s name sake – you see your own fear and anxiety and depend on God for boldness. When you get a sickness – you see your own need for depending on God for strength.

When you get a tough boss – you see how much your heart hates to submit to authority and how restless you become. When your work gets too pressurizing – you see how you lose all your rest and peace.

When you lose your job – you see how dependent you were on your job instead of God – who takes care of your future and your career. When you lose money – you see how much you loved money.

When you meet a difficult brother or sister – you see the lack of love for him/her in your own heart. When your partner does a mistake or your kids do something wrong – you see how easily you get angry.

When Jesus and his disciples went in a boat to cross over from one side to another – there was a storm and the boat seemed to be toppling. Jesus was fast asleep. But his disciples became black and blue.

They frantically called Jesus to wake up. He woke up and silenced the storm and then turned to the disciples and asked –

“Why were you so fearful? Where is your faith?”

That was a test – to show them their own hearts that even though they had the creator of the seas and the storms with them on the boat – yet their faiths were so shallow and fear ruled their hearts during trying times.

Beloved, God allows trials to show how weak and fragile and sinful you are in yourselves and how much you need to depend on God and His faithfulness.

Let me add one more thing here – testing of your faith is not just to show you how much your faith is lacking – but also to show you how much your God is faithful when you cling to Him.

Think about the same storm in which the disciples were so fearful – in the midst of their helplessness and hopelessness and fear – they saw that Jesus with one word silenced the storms and that the storms and seas were subject to Him.

There is a beautiful song which I love to sing time and time again – “Through every trial – each test and temptation – one thing is sure every time – Over and over – again and again – God is faithful!” God allows trials in your life so that through the testing of your faith – you would grow in your knowledge of the faithfulness of God! Now does it make sense why James says – Count it all joy when you meet trials of various kinds? But let me go on to my next point –

2. God allows trials in our lives so that through the testing of faith – we may be steadfast

James says in verse 3 – “for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness”.

Beloved, through the testing of our faith – a wonderful nature is developed in the heart of a Christian maturing through trials – steadfastness. When you google steadfastness – it gives you this meaning – resolutely or dutifully firm and unwavering.

This again gives a wrong picture of Biblical steadfastness. This dictionary meaning of steadfastness makes us imagine a huge giant like man – who is firm and unwavering and ready to take every fight in the face.

Sadly – such giants fall off in this spiritual battle like Goliath who fell down on his face. The true picture of spiritual steadfastness is a weak man hidden behind a huge fort or a refuge.

His strength is not in Himself but in that which he takes refuge in. He is steadfast – firm and unwavering – because he has learnt through his tests and trials and temptations to rely not on the arm of flesh but on the arm of the Almighty God.

Hallelujah! God tests us time and time again – and when we think we won’t fall – He allows us to fall on our faces and then He picks us up and dusts us and cleanses us and then says – “Try again – but this time – trust in Me.”

Beloved, that is true steadfastness – learning through each trial, each test and temptation – to rely on God and draw strength from Him. Think about that little boy David when he came to fight against Goliath – David had no trust in sword and shield but his trust was in the name of the Lord.

He says in Psalm 91:2 – I will say to the Lord “You are my refuge and fortress, my God, in whom I trust.” And indeed, such a man or a woman – will be firm like a mountain – steadfast – even when trials rock and roll – even when storms beat all around – His heart abides in the Lord.

Brothers and sisters, we need more such steadfast men and women in our midst. Men and women – who trust God unconditionally! Those who don’t run away after a failure!

Those who don’t give up after a string of failures in their sanctification journey! Those whose roots keep growing deeper and deeper into God – until God is all that they have!

Their joy no longer stems from the things of this world – the temporal blessings of this life – but their joy is from Him – rooted and grounded in Him – madly in love with the person of Jesus Christ.

Ah! How will we get such steadfast men and women? Only through trials and tests!

Much before our marriage, I fell in love with Abiah – my wife – and I felt nobody in the whole world could love her as much as I could. And I felt there was no greater love than that which I experienced for her before my marriage.

We have now completed 3.5 years and I now feel that that love before marriage was very shallow. Today – that love seems like nothing. Because that love was untested! It hadn’t faced the day by day trials and failures that every relationship and marriage goes through.

But through every trial and failure, God helped us to love each other and trust each other more and more and even understand each other even in silence and storms.

The trials and struggles we went through led us into greater steadfastness and dependence on God. But the point that I wish to emphasize is that our love 3.5 years ago was an untested love – and that untested love is very shallow – even if it has a lot of words and show and pomp.

Similarly an untested Christian is an unstable Christian even if he sings the best songs and preaches the best sermons. That is why in the verses that follow – James talks about an unstable man – who doubts and wavers like the waves of the sea – such is the condition of an untested man – whose roots have not gone in deep and hence there is no steadfastness.

Therefore my dear brothers and sisters – count it all joy – when you go through trials of various kinds – for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness – a resolutely firm and unwavering steadfastness in God. Let me hurry on to my last point –

3. God allows trials in our lives so that through steadfastness – we may be perfect

James doesn’t stop with steadfastness – rather he says in verse 4 – “And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”

Through testing of our faith – we understand our frailty and God’s faithfulness. It then leads to steadfastness in trusting God and depending on Him. But steadfastness can have its full effect when we become perfect and complete – lacking nothing.

What is this perfection and completeness that James is talking about? It is that perfection which God brings about in our lives through the trials that He allows us to meet with.

And that perfection doesn’t mean absolute perfection but perfection in that which the trial was intended to test. When a student passes a test in the 3rd grade – he is perfected according to the standards of a 3rd grade child.

He then goes to 4th grade and will face a bigger test according to 4th Grade. Hence, let us not assume this as absolute perfection but a perfection in that which we were tested in.

And this perfection which James is talking about – I believe – refers to spiritual maturity. The maturity that comes when we meet with various trials. Beloved, God perfects his people in holiness and purity and spiritual maturity through the trials that we meet – day by day.

And it is so very amazing to see fellow brothers and sisters who have come out of a time of extreme trying. We think they will be frustrated and discouraged. No. Not at all. They would be the ones who through their trials have their roots gone deeper into God.

Those who – through their brokenness and constant struggles – have learned to trust in God. And they are the ones whom God can work through. Think about Moses in the Old Testament – you would think that the best time for God to work through Him for His people’s deliverance was when Moses was the Prince in Pharaoh’s house.

And Moses himself thought the same. He went out and killed an Egyptian who was trying to beat a fellow Israelite. But that led to more problem. He had to run away from Egypt. He finally landed up in the house of Jethro and fed sheep for 40 years until he became an old man – broken and bruised through His trials and struggles.

When God meets him at the burning bush – he is a man who is so aware of his weaknesses – “I am a man of stammering lips. Why will people believe me now? Can you not send someone else instead of me”.

And God looks at him and goes – “Ah, here is my perfect candidate – a broken man – who has no trust on himself – now I can show him My power.”

Isn’t that the same case with all the men and women of God whom we know throughout history – the apostle Paul said that he asked God 3 times to take away the thorn which was there in his flesh? But God said – “No, Paul – My Grace is sufficient for you.

My strength is perfected in your weakness.” Beloved, the world’s definition of strength and maturity is warped and unproductive. In God’s eyes, a perfect man or a perfect woman is one who has had his/her faith tested so much so that he/she is now steadfast in the Lord and through steadfastness is now being perfected in God.

And that is why dear brothers and sisters, even though our trials seem painful – James encourages us to count it all joy knowing that through the testing of our faith we may become steadfast and perfect.

Beloved, I am sure many of those who are hearing me are going through various trials and I know not what are you going through this morning – but I want to plead with you – to ask God to make you steadfast in Him and perfected in Him – through what you are going through.

When you suffer, remember this – you suffer trials in the presence of God – He knows exactly what you are going through – He is there in your boat – apparently sleeping while you struggle – but that’s not true.

He is the 4th man who enters the fire when 3 of God’s servants were being burnt. He allowed that trial in your life – because He loves you!

Oh – how I wish I could scream that out to you – He allowed that trial in your life – because He loves you – and whom He loves – He chastens – not to destroy you but to make you steadfast and to perfect you.

Beloved – count it all joy! Rejoice! You are suffering before the face of God orchestrated by the purpose of God for the purpose of your sanctification and perfection.

Amen!