Welcome to The Truth Pulpit with Don Green, Founding Pastor of Truth Community Church in Cincinnati, Ohio.
Hello again, I'm Bill Wright. It is our joy to continue our commitment to teaching God's people God's Word. Today Don is continuing with the second part of a message we started last time.
So let's get right to it. Open your Bible as we join Don now in The Truth Pulpit. So what James is saying here, and we realize that in one sense this sounds so basic, but beloved, it's at the very point of basics that we tend to fail, isn't it?
It's when athletic teams forget the fundamentals that they lose the contest. Well, in the same way, when Christians depart from and abandon and stray away and drift away from these simple principles of asking for wisdom and humbling themselves before the Word of God that trials don't perfect us in the way that they can and should. So James is saying the Word of God and your humble response to the Word of God is the key to responding to trials. So, the response deep in your heart, I mean this is just a fundamental inflection point that changes the trajectory of everything.
The plane can take off and, you know, in the first few feet of its ascent, if it's on a 30 degree angle, it's going to go one direction, a 60 degree angle, it's going to go completely different places even though at the moment it seems like there's not much space between the two. Well, in the same way, your attitude and what I'm about to describe sets you on a trajectory that takes you into completely different places. So that, and joining with James and addressing you as beloved brethren, James is addressing your heart deeply here. The attitude deep in your heart is one of humility. And humility does not say, the response in your heart is not, why does God make me suffer so? But rather the response is, what would scripture teach me in this trial?
Those are two fundamentally different questions. And the believing heart, properly instructed from the book of James, understands that accusatory question against God, blaming God, God, why this? Why now? Why am I suffering? What have I done?
Why are you like this toward me? The believing heart puts a muzzle on that. The believing heart clamps the jaw that would speak that way and does not tolerate such thoughts in its heart. And instead comes consciously, beloved, comes consciously, comes intentionally, comes exercising the spiritual effort to say what would God's word say to me in this trial?
That I would respond in a right and proper way. So we, you and I, we must go to God's word in our trials to learn how to respond to them as we should. Look at verses 22 through 25 now. He says, but prove yourselves doers of the word and not merely hearers who delude themselves. 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.
For once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was. 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. This man will find that perfecting effect that trials have on the endurance of his faith.
This man will be blessed in what he does. And in the context, the overall context of James, he's saying this man will be blessed as he exercises persevering faith in the midst of his adversity. Now I don't know about you, I don't know about you, but if I'm going to live the Christian life for a period of years here on earth, and if I'm going to go through adversity and trials and difficulties as a result of living for Christ, I want to do it right, don't you? I want to please God with the way that I go through them, and I want the benefit that God has embedded in my trials, I want to obtain that result. It would be foolish to have the trials come and not profit from them simply because I hardened my heart against God's word, against James' instruction, and adopted a self-pitying, proud, arrogant response that says, I don't deserve this. I want what God has for me. I want to know the blessing of God, and as much as I might not prefer it, God has deemed it wise that he mediates our spiritual growth to us in the midst of adversity.
So often that is the case. What James is saying is, you will encounter trials, and here is the path by which you can respond so that that adversity profits your soul. And so he tells us that we must adopt an attitude of humility. Now what does humility do?
We toss that word around a bit. How can we know humility? Well, you can know humility. Humility is expressed in the same way that Jesus said love is expressed for him. Jesus said in John, said if you love me, you'll keep my commandments. Humility expresses itself before God in the same way. Humble faith obeys God's word in trials. What James does, what James does is now he takes this principle of humble obedience, and he applies it as he goes on in his letter, he applies it in a lot of different ways. He applies it in different areas.
He illustrates what obedience looks like so that we know and we have a picture of how we are to respond. And as he begins in verse 26, we come to our third point for this evening. And I'm going to put it this way. I've made my points very colloquial.
I've made them very homespun, you might say, here tonight. Just again, just treating things a little bit differently than perhaps I normally do. Point number three, what's humble faith look like?
Well, it's a long one. Reach out to others instead of isolating yourself. Reach out to others instead of isolating yourself. And this is a great point of humility to recognize, and this is a great suspension bridge to cross in your faith and to embrace in the midst of your adversity is to recognize something that is humbling and that often our carnal ears don't want to hear. And it's this, beloved, you are not the only one that is in need.
You're not the only one that is having a hard time. Others are also. And it is your privilege, even in the midst of your trials, to reach out and to minister to them, to step outside of your own disappointment, step outside of your own adversity and say, oh, even though I'm carrying a weight on my back, there's someone with a weight on their back and I can help them.
I am in a position for them. And so you soften your heart toward others. Verse 26, James says, If anyone thinks himself to be religious and yet does not bridle his own tongue but deceives his own heart, this man's religion is worthless. Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this.
To visit orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself unstained by the world. Pure and undefiled religion in the context of James is being expressed in the midst of these oppressive trials that have the potential to cause us to stumble. James says you are to exercise pure and undefiled spirituality in the midst of your trials by recognizing that there are others in need as well, and you go out and you look for the opportunity to serve them. And not, as I've seen others do in the past, I'm not speaking about anyone in this room, so this is not targeted at anybody in here by any means, not to be someone who just announces their trial and just invites and asks everybody to come in and help them. You've seen that happen. You know what that's like. And they just get wrapped up even in the midst of, you know, okay, your trial is serious. The response of obedient faith is not to get in an ever closer, tighter, self-centered vortex of my need, my need, my need.
That's not the way it is to respond. Beloved, think about our Lord Jesus in his hour of greatest need on the cross. What was he doing as he was bearing our sin, as he was suffering not only the physical agony of the cross, but as he was entering into the bearing of the wrath of God on our behalf, what was Christ doing? He looked out and he saw his mother.
He said, woman, behold your son, and committed his mother to the care of John. When the thief next to him said, remember me when you come into your kingdom, our Lord in his hour of greatest need said, truly I say to you today you'll be with me in paradise. And even on the ones that were mocking and cursing him, he looked down and he said, Father, forgive them for they do not know what they're doing. Our Lord illustrated as he does all things. Our Lord did this best. Our Lord did this perfectly. And we look to our Lord in his crucifixion and we look at him in his great hour of need, his great hour of abandonment, and he's ministering.
He's caring for the people immediately around him in a way that takes my breath away. Oh, in a way that humbles me in my selfishness and self-centeredness. Well, here James, speaking to those who are in trials, says there are orphans and widows in your midst.
Reach out to them, minister to them. And he goes on and tells us and shows us that trials should have a purifying effect on our attitudes toward others as well. Look at chapter 2, verse 1. He says, My brethren, do not hold your faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ with an attitude of personal favoritism. For if a man comes into your assembly with a gold ring and dressed in fine clothes, and there also comes in a man in dirty clothes, and you pay special attention to the one who is wearing the fine clothes and say, you sit here in a good place, and you say to the poor man, you stand over there or sit down by my footstool. Have you not made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil motives? Listen, my beloved brethren.
You see it again. Listen, my beloved brethren, did not God choose the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which he promised to those who love him? But you've dishonored the poor man.
Is it not the rich who oppress you and personally drag you into court? Do they not blaspheme the fair name by which you have been called? You see, this humble obedience that James is calling forth, this humble ministry even in the midst of your adversity, beloved, mark this. This is one of the purifying aspects that trials are meant to bring into your heart and into your life, is that there is an impartiality about it, that you don't make distinctions about who you will minister to or who you will be kind to based on their particular station in life. Whether it's the poor man or the rich man, they're equally there. You serve them.
You love them. You reach out to them. But you particularly don't push aside the poor man. You develop this sense of kindness that is distributed to everyone in your sphere without regard to who they are in life.
And so you reach out to others instead of isolating yourself. And you can see this principle of love in verse 8. If, however, you are fulfilling the royal law according to the Scripture, you shall love your neighbor as yourself, you're doing well. But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he's become guilty of all. For he who said, do not commit adultery, also said, do not commit murder.
Now if you do not commit adultery but do commit murder, you've become a transgressor of the law. So speak and so act as those who are to be judged by the law of liberty. For judgment will be merciless to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.
Now here James is being very bold, very direct in what he says to us. And even in the midst of the adversity, he's telling us that we must not lose sight of the fact that there is a coming judgment. And that we will be evaluated by Christ. And that part of the evaluation that Christ will give to us is the way that we responded to our trials. It is like breaking open an egg.
It is like breaking an egg so that the nutritious things inside can come out. When you are under the midst of trials, that should be designed and that is in part designed to cultivate mercy in your heart. Mercy toward those who are of lesser position. Mercy to those who are suffering. Trials are to break open your heart so that mercy comes out in response.
And so you reach out to others instead of isolating yourself. And trials produce mercy. Stated differently, you are to seek to exercise and to show mercy even when you yourself are in the midst of your adversity. This is what James says to his beloved brethren.
Now finally, for tonight, point number four. Renew your obedience instead of excusing sin. Renew your obedience instead of excusing sin. And so just to give you a review of our four points for tonight, we said to respond in trust instead of bitterness. Secondly, receive the word instead of speaking your mind. Thirdly, reach out to others instead of isolating yourself. And now fourthly, renew your obedience instead of excusing sin. And here's the point. This is a familiar passage beginning in verse 14.
I taught on it a year or two ago. You can look that up under the Catholicism series. We're going to look at it in a much broader perspective here tonight and much more briefly. Renew your obedience instead of excusing sin. Beloved, beloved, in your trials, in your adversity, true faith is shown by righteous works. True faith manifests itself in obedience to God even in your trials. Now that, I believe, is James' point here is that in this book that is addressing trials from beginning to end, he addresses this matter of obedience in the heart of it, showing you that your adversity does not excuse your responsibility to obey God. In other words, and I'll just be really candid and direct here, the fact that you're going through adversity, maybe you're having struggles with your spouse, that is not a license for you to go out and commit adultery. The fact that you're having difficulties and there's a lot of pressure on your life is not somehow a twisted sense of permission for you to go out and to get drunk in order to alleviate the pressure that you feel.
No, it's not like that at all. True faith in the midst of your trials is shown by righteous works. Look at verse 14. And remember, going back, let's go back and just remember that James had said in chapter 1, verse 22, let your eyes slide over there for just a moment again. He says, prove yourselves doers of the word and not mere hearers who delude themselves. He's picking up on that theme again in verse 14 when he says, what use is it, my brethren?
You see it again? He loves us. He loves his readers that he's talking to here. What use is it, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but he has no works, can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, see the principle of mercy coming in? You see how he's weaving this together? And one of you says to them, go in peace, be warmed and be filled, and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body.
What use is that? Even so, faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself. Now, beloved, let me say the same thing in maybe a little different way here. Your adversity in life, maybe what's happening right now, today, this week, your adversity is testing your faith. You must learn to look beyond the outward circumstances of your trials to understand in a spiritual and to understand them with spiritual eyes to understand that God has brought this adversity to you in order to have a positive impact on your faith as you respond in obedience. This adversity is testing your faith. And what you are to do is to not shrink back in disobedience, not to stumble around, but to let it bring an even clearer sense of devotion to Christ, of a sense of honoring God with your obedience even in the midst of your adversity, even when it seems like the dearest things in life are at stake for you. You obey even then, you trust even then, you pray even then, you turn to the Word especially then and not step away. Adversity is testing your faith. Do not shrink back, but rather go forward in trust and obedience.
Trust and obey, for there's no other way, right? Now James goes on in illustrating this principle of renewing obedience instead of excusing sin. In verse 18 he says, Someone may well say, You have faith and I have works. Show me your faith without the works and I will show you my faith by my works. You believe that God is one, you do well.
The demons also believe and shudder. But are you willing to recognize, you foolish fellow, that faith without works is useless? And if you think about it in the context of trials, what good is faith if you can't obey in the midst of them? What good is your profession of faith if you won't trust God in the midst of adversity with it? What good does it say that you are a committed believer of the Lord Jesus Christ if you won't follow Him and obey Him and love Him when life is on the line? What good is that?
That's useless. And so, he points to a couple of Old Testament examples. He says, Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up Isaac his son on the altar? God said, Offer your son to me on the altar. His faith is being tested. Abraham obeyed.
He lifted up the knife and was ready to plunge it into his son's chest when God stopped him and his obedience had been proven. Verse 22, You see that faith was working with his works and as a result of the works, faith was perfected and the Scripture was fulfilled which says, And Abraham believed God and it was reckoned to him as righteousness and he was called the friend of God. You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone. And what James is saying here is that Abraham's work displayed his faith before men. I have a whole message on relating this to sola fide and justification by faith alone.
You can look for that. That's not what we're addressing here tonight. Verse 25, He gives another illustration. In the same way, Was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way? For just as the body without the Spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead. And so beloved James is showing us and pointing us in the direction of what an obedient, sanctifying faith looks like in the midst of our adversity. And we will see more of this next week and be able to meditate on it as we read Scripture together on Sunday mornings. And I trust that this will be a help to you in that.
I want to close with this. The editor's introduction to John Calvin's Institutes of the Christian Religion says this, and it just seems very fitting for tonight. And I quote, God is not known by those who propose to search Him out by their proud but feeble reason. Rather, He makes Himself known to those who in worship, love, and obedience consent to learn His will from His holy Word. Beloved, I ask you whether you know the faith like that, that says, God, I submit myself in humility to you. Lord Jesus, I submit myself in faith to you. I worship you.
I love you. And I consent in my obedience to learn your will from this great book. Is that you tonight? I trust that it is. I invite you to Christ and His atoning work at Calvary, if it's not. Let's pray together. Father, You've promised the crown of life to those who follow You in humble faith and obedience. In the midst of the various trials that we encounter, help us to work out this faith that will have the perfect result of completing us, of perfecting us, and conforming us to the image of Christ. Bless each one here as they seek to honor Your Word and responding to it tonight. In Jesus' name we pray.
Amen. To help you do that, we have a couple of different Bible reading plans available on our website, thetruthpulpit.com. If you would go to thetruthpulpit.com, click on the link that says About, you'll find a sublink there that takes you to two different Bible reading plans that you can choose from.
It's free. It's there available to help you in your reading of God's Word. And I know that the Spirit of God will use that in your life if you're not used to reading God's Word on a regular, systematic basis. Make this the day that you start something new and move in that direction, and join us again next time here on The Truth Pulpit as we continue teaching God's people God's Word. That's Don Green, founding pastor of Truth Community Church in Cincinnati, Ohio. Thank you so much for listening to The Truth Pulpit. Join us next time for more as we continue teaching God's people God's Word.
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