Living in Faith.

Steve Gentry

[0:00] If you have your Bibles, go ahead and open them to James chapter 1. [0:04] We’re going to start in verse 19 today. [0:07] I want to thank you guys so much. [0:09] If you didn’t hear, last week we had a food drive. [0:14] We partnered with Tomahawk Creek Middle School, the school you’re meeting in right now. [0:18] We partnered with them on a food drive that they were having to fill the food banks in the area,

[0:23] which the economy and our apathy have left a little bit bare. [0:30] A lot of hungry families, especially in this culture and society. [0:33] I want you guys to know that you stepped up to the plate and we took up over a thousand pounds of food last week. [0:42] We weighed it. I didn’t. Other people did. [0:45] If it had been up to me, I would have just said, oh, look at all the food. That’s great. [0:48] It must be a lot. But some people are smarter than me.

[0:50] So they weighed it and we took up over a thousand pounds of food. [0:56] And I tell you, I just applaud you guys. [0:59] And let’s give God a hand for what he did with us through that. [1:03] And what I want to let you know is some of you may just be thinking, you may just look at that and like, oh, that’s great. [1:08] We took up some some food, but I don’t think you understand what that does. [1:13] Number one, all right, is there are families that will not be hungry because of maybe even if you only spent ten dollars.

[1:25] A family that would have gone hungry will not be hungry now. [1:30] All right. And also, I want to let you know, a school that may not have known that the village cares now knows that the village cares. [1:43] And people that don’t know what the gospel is all about will look at that action that you guys took. [1:53] And I’m looking at a lot of people that I saw carry grocery bags in last week. [1:58] They’ll look at what you did and say, why do they care? [2:04] Aren’t they just here to study the Bible and, you know, be moral people?

[2:09] What is it about the gospel that would make them care about filling food banks? [2:17] Which could lead them to asking and we can just simply respond because of all the love that Jesus has shown for us. [2:24] He’s filling us with love for him that reflects and love for others.

[2:30] And just the simplest step that you took last week, what I want to see happen in us is I want us to end up building a culture in which [2:38] that type of action goes hand in hand. [2:42] And it’s just synonymous when you say village church, you say people that care. [2:47] All right. And so last week was more than just us doing a token thing to feel better about ourselves. [2:53] And I know maybe even that was your response was, I want to feel better about myself, so go on and buy some ramen noodles. [3:00] That’ll make me feel better about myself, so I’ll go do it.

[3:02] Even if that was your attitude, thank you. [3:04] But I want to let you know that there’s more to it than that. [3:09] And today, that’s actually exactly what we’re going to be talking about. [3:13] It was just kind of providential that the passage of James 1, 19 through 27 kind of fell a week after we had this food drive where we would say, [3:21] ah, doers not just hearers, good us. [3:26] All right. And so this text kind of falls on this week, which I think is really providential, and it’s the hand of God, because I didn’t plan it that way.

[3:34] I was just like a year ago being like, what should I preach next spring? [3:37] The book of James is pretty good. All right. [3:40] So it is just like providentially, God behind the scenes is working and saying this is going to fall on this week, this is going to fall on this week. [3:46] And sometimes I just sit back and I’m like, wow, you know, James, our worship pastor, he won’t even know exactly what I’m preaching on. [3:53] And he’ll plan the songs weeks in advance. [3:56] And then I’ll show him the sermon and then he’ll show me the songs.

[3:59] And I’ll be like, what? We’re seeing that directly after I preach on that? [4:06] God is good.

[4:09] God is behind the scenes, even orchestrating the minor details that I don’t think matters, but probably matters so much to you as we’ll sing a song [4:17] that will drive what I’ve said for 45 minutes in even better in one minute.

[4:24] And I want to let you know that when you take the time to care about people, [4:29] to buy someone a meal who can’t afford a meal or just to buy some great foods brand beans for somebody who can’t afford them themselves, [4:38] God is praised. [4:41] God finds glory and what we think are the most insignificant things. [4:46] We think that we need to fill a stadium and preach the greatest sermon ever to glorify God. [4:53] God is just as glorified in you feeding the people that no one else is paying attention to, because that’s where we realize we actually are.

[5:06] And let’s find out about that. [5:07] If you weren’t here last week, I want to jump off a little bit from verse 18. [5:11] So it won’t be up on the screen, but take a peek at verse 18, in which we finished off of last week where he says, [5:18] speaking of God, he says, of his own will, he brought us forth by the word of truth that we should be a kind of first fruits of his creatures. [5:30] OK, so he’s just finished this introduction into a letter that he’s writing to all the churches all over the world.

[5:41] He writes about the trials in life that they will undoubtedly be facing inside of the gospel. [5:55] And the fact that in those trials, we look and we count those trials as joy, because what God is doing is he is using them behind the scenes to strip us of all of the idols of the world. [6:07] That the comforts and cares of this world will give us. [6:12] And he’s actually bringing us more and more to a dependence on him in every area of our lives, because quite honest, let’s just be truthful here. [6:22] It’s really easy to say we’re depending on God when everything’s going great. [6:27] But what about those moments in which nothing is working out to the way we want it to work?

[6:33] My vision for life is not happening. [6:35] My vision for my health is not happening. [6:37] My vision for my marriage is not happening. [6:39] My vision for my children is just not happening. [6:43] And those moments is the times in which we actually see whether or not our faith is legitimate or not. [6:53] Because God writes that even though everything in this world is on a shaky foundation,

[6:59] faith in him is on the firmest of foundations because he is eternally constant in his nature. [7:06] He’s unchanging and his promises to us are certain.

[7:12] And that that is what our life is to be built on. [7:17] And that everything else is this counterfeit security that is going to eventually pass away and is going to fall apart. [7:27] Because sometimes in life we’re so silly that we build our security in houses. [7:32] And let me tell you, we live in the United States. We have some great houses. [7:34] I have a house that I live in and it’s awesome. [7:37] But I don’t think the material that they used on my house is going to be there in a hundred years.

[7:46] What God is saying is when there is an eternally constant, unchanging, self-existent, no one created him, [7:55] will always be, has always been, when there’s a being like that that loves us and is bringing us to himself through the work of the gospel. [8:07] And we can actually know what real security in life looks like. [8:13] And we find security in our houses that won’t even last a hundred years.

[8:20] It’s kind of silly.

[8:23] And that’s counterfeit security.

[8:27] And then he, boom, right there he says, of his own will, God is bringing you to himself. [8:35] And he’s creating you to be the first fruits of his creatures. [8:42] And we ended off there last week looking at what does that actually look like in my life to be a person [8:50] that is living in this transformed reality where God has brought us to himself, where Jesus, the Son of God, has come. [8:59] He has died. [9:00] He has risen.

[9:01] He has gained for us acceptance with the Father and has given us his perfect righteousness.

[9:10] And God says that in that he’s transforming us to be the first fruits of his creatures. [9:16] Or what really the reality of that is, is that God is bringing and restoring creation to its original order [9:25] in which Adam and Eve had this perfect unity with God and each other. [9:30] And the gospel right here, according to James, what James is saying is that God is actually doing that in the church. [9:39] And that we can actually experience that type of restoration in this life. [9:45] It’s not just something where we’re like, you know, I’ll fly away, oh glory, you know, one day it’ll happen, but right now everything’s terrible.

[9:53] Which is honestly the way a lot of us view the gospel, what James is actually saying, no, no, no, what you don’t understand is you’re going to get it. [9:59] You can have a taste of it right now. [10:02] You can have a taste of the kingdom of God. [10:04] You can have a look into just what that ultimate glory is actually going to be like right now.

[10:12] And so in light of that, let’s go into verse 19. [10:18] Because typically, I’m going to give you a little thing, I’m going to go a little different route through these passages than you may think. [10:24] Because what we do often times in the book of James is we read it like the Proverbs. [10:30] Now the Proverbs are a great book. [10:32] And don’t hear me bashing the Proverbs, it’s amazing. [10:34] It’s written by a father to a son saying this is what a wise, godly, worshipful life looks like.

[10:41] And if you want to know what being wise is, go through the book of Proverbs. [10:44] I mean, he starts off with a bang, he’s like wisdom is in the streets and she is crying out to anyone that’ll hear her. [10:50] In other words, wisdom’s not rocket science, guys, it’s there, you just got to grab it. [10:55] But what the Proverbs do is they are completely separate, I mean, it’s the definition of a proverb. [11:01] One sentence doesn’t necessarily fit with the next sentence, they’re just tokens, separate, building knowledge on each other. [11:07] But sometimes we go to the book of James and we’ll read it and it’s just like, okay, that’s what the book of James is like.

[11:12] Don’t be angry, that’s a good one, right? [11:15] I mean, if you’ve got kids, you know that’s true because they will test that. [11:19] And it’s like, okay, don’t be angry. [11:21] Whew, let’s slow this down, that’s really good. [11:24] And then the next one, don’t just be a hearer of the word, but also be a doer of the word. [11:28] That’s great, I get that, I need to live the word of God.

[11:33] I need to take the words, I need to put them into my life, I need to know them, and then I need to go out and I need to do it. [11:40] It’s one thing to know, don’t lie, it’s another thing to not lie. [11:44] So that makes perfect sense. [11:46] Okay, what’s next? [11:47] Well, true religion is found in serving orphans and widows.

[11:59] Okay, great, I’m not going to be angry, that’s good. [12:03] I’m going to do the word, not going to lie, not going to kill, not going to cheat, not going to steal. [12:07] I’m going to do that kind of stuff, and then I’m going to help orphans and widows if I ever come upon any orphans and widows. [12:15] Gospel centered lifestyle right there, let’s go get it, get it done guys. [12:19] Church, have a great Sunday. [12:21] Three steps, right there, successful life.

[12:28] And quite frankly, that’s the way most of us read these verses. [12:34] What I want you to understand is that what James is going to do, he’s not giving us three commands.

[12:43] Because the words that come before and after those commands serve to help us understand what James is saying. [12:50] And understanding that God through the gospel is recreating us and transforming us to show his kingdom in this world. [13:01] So that other people will come to the gospel. [13:04] And realizing that every part of my life must be touched by that. [13:08] Even the bad things, the trials that I go into, I count them as joy because my joy is found in the gospel. [13:15] That is what these types of commands are jumping out of.

[13:20] So let’s jump right into it. Let’s start reading in James chapter 1 verse 19.

[13:28] Know this, my beloved brothers.

[13:32] Let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger. [13:40] For the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God.

[13:47] Therefore, put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness. [13:54] And receive with meekness the implanted word which is able to save your souls. [14:00] At first reading of that, it seems to be a bit schizophrenic. [14:04] Because it’s almost like he’s talking about two different things completely. [14:09] He’s first talking about what I see as my interpersonal relationships with other people. [14:15] It’s like I need to be more like Oprah or Dr. Phil.

[14:19] I need to sit and…

[14:26] You know, quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger. [14:31] So if someone punches me in the face, I wait until the second one. [14:35] Then I can react. I was slow to anger. [14:41] But then notice what else he says. For the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. [14:45] So being angry doesn’t make me righteous. Well, that makes sense. [14:49] But then he says, put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness.

[14:53] That seems to be a totally different thing to me. [14:56] Because when I think of rampant wickedness, I think of Mardi Gras. [15:00] And come on, be honest, you do too. [15:03] Just pure hedonistic, pleasure seeking insanity. [15:08] Put the blinders over your child’s eye. You don’t want him seeing any of that. [15:13] That’s what I think of when I hear rampant wickedness.

[15:16] But he’s following that after he says, be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger.

[15:24] Is he saying two different things? No. [15:28] He’s coupling them together completely. [15:32] So you’re like, okay, so if I’m not like Dr. Phil, I’m rampantly wicked? [15:37] No! This is not chicken soup for the soul. [15:42] Remember, what are we talking about? [15:44] We’re talking about the gospel of Jesus Christ.

[15:48] I’m just going to give you one phrase to sum up what he’s saying, and then I’m going to unpack it for you. [15:52] The gospel strips us of all self-righteousness.

[16:00] That doesn’t clear it up at all. [16:03] That’s a third thing. [16:05] What? [16:07] Here’s what I’m talking about. [16:09] I want to do a little bit of psychological counseling with you for a second. [16:16] What he’s talking about here is this little concept that I learned in graduate school called telling yourself the truth.

[16:26] The majority of the anger that you struggle with in your life when it comes to other people. [16:34] Now, I’m not talking about when we look at, like right now in Afghanistan, [16:39] there is a man who is about to stand trial for his life because he converted to Christianity.

[16:46] And they may execute him because he converted to Christianity. [16:51] That makes me angry!

[16:56] And you’re like, Steve, James won.

[17:01] No. No. No. That makes me angry.

[17:07] Here’s what we’re talking about. [17:10] This is the type of anger that happens between you and people you are in relationship with. [17:19] As well as between you and organizations, between you and the church at large, between you and this and you and that. [17:27] This is the type of anger when you don’t get your way and you say, but I deserved it!

[17:39] This is the type of anger. [17:40] And here’s why I’m so unqualified to talk about this this morning. [17:44] This is the type of anger when my wife says, honey, can you just come here a minute and help me? [17:49] And in my mind I’m like, oh, yeah, an hour later I’ll be able to go back to what I wanted to do. [17:55] What do you want, woman?

[17:58] What are you doing, Mr. B? [18:01] Don’t act like you didn’t do that, husband.

[18:05] Something happens in my brain where I’m like, why are you keeping me from my hopes and dreams?

[18:12] And all she really wants is for me to hold Liam while she mops or something. [18:17] And for some reason, that’s connected to my hopes and dreams. [18:20] All right. Oh, am I alone on that? [18:24] All right. Bad analogy. Moving right along. [18:28] The rest of you are just liars. [18:31] You guys.

[18:32] You guys. A lot of you guys out there are like, man, I hope his wife’s in here because he’s going to get it. [18:38] But I’m not going to say that that ever happens when you’re like, hey, honey, can you take out the garbage? [18:45] The same thing happens in your mind that happens in my mind.

[18:54] I don’t even know why the trash can is 20 feet, probably 10 feet from my front door. [19:02] And it’s like, I don’t want to put flip flops on. [19:08] I’ll do it. [19:10] Devil woman.

[19:13] I love my I love my wife. [19:16] I’m just trying to help you. [19:17]

[19:21] No, that really is a day in the life of Steve. [19:24] It’s insanity. [19:25] Nothing logic. [19:26] I was talking to some of the volunteers beforehand and I was like, listen, this is I’m totally unqualified for this because there’s two moods that typically invade my day. [19:36] Angry and sleepy. [19:38] And when I’m sleepy, I’m more angry because I’m not in the bed.

[19:42] So when I read to be slow to anger.

[19:48] Everything in me, every part of that depraved wickedness that’s inside of me says, but I deserve to be angry.

[19:59] You don’t know what they’ve done.

[20:05] So what I want you to understand this morning is that I’m right where you are with this.

[20:12] Because this fights me. [20:15] And this confuses me. [20:18] Because I’m like, what? [20:19] I don’t know. [20:21] All right. [20:21] I want to show you some passages that look at Ephesians chapter four.

[20:24] It’s going to be up on the screen. [20:25] I want us to just take a look at what the gospel is talking about when it’s talking about our anger and why what it is in us that makes us angry. [20:34] If he’s in chapter four, verse 26 says, be angry and do not sin. [20:38] Do not let the sun go down on your anger. [20:41] All right. [20:42] And actually, I’ll be honest with you outside of the gospel.

[20:45] This is great advice, husbands.

[20:48] All right. [20:48] Because she’s not going to forget.

[20:52] Don’t think you letting her fall asleep is going to help her forget tomorrow. [20:55] No, she’ll wake up with it. [20:57] You won’t get your eggs. [21:00] All right. [21:00] So don’t let the sun go down on your anger. [21:03] All right.

[21:03] But all right. [21:03] Then look over at Colossians chapter three, verse eight. [21:07] But now you must put them all away. [21:10] All of my favorite things are going away. [21:13] OK. [21:14] Anger, wrath, malice, slander and obscene talk.

[21:20] Paul is talking and he says, put them away.

[21:26] And it’s like, but what about but you don’t know what they but you know, I was at work and they but that was not right. [21:34] No.

[21:36] But go back to James chapter one. [21:39] And this is where I’m just going to sum it up as quick as possible for you. [21:43] OK. [21:44] When he says, let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger. [21:46] For the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. [21:51] What seems to make complete sense to us is actually what is going to strip us away of self-righteousness.

[21:58] When he says the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God, what he’s doing is he’s going to the very core of you and showing you where your anger typically will come from. [22:08] Your anger towards others comes from this place inside of you that says I deserve better or I am better. [22:19] Another words, if someone gets recognition for something that you think you should have been recognized for and that just infuriates you.

[22:33] It’s because you think you’re better than them.

[22:37] And I know some of you are like, but I am.

[22:41] Right.

[22:44] Exactly.

[22:49] Or when someone does something even against you. [22:57] And this is where it really troubles me. [22:59] This is where this really, I don’t know. [23:01] When someone does something that hurts you.

[23:11] And you’re just, it’s like that fight response where it’s like, okay, you’re going down.

[23:21] It’s because you think you deserve better than they’re giving you. [23:26] And you’re like, but I do. [23:28] Okay.

[23:30] Think about the gospel.

[23:33] Okay. [23:34] Here’s where we get help. [23:36] When verse 18 says of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth. [23:40] Why did God have to do it by his own will?

[23:44] Why couldn’t he do it with mine?

[23:48] Because I am sinful.

[23:52] Okay. [23:54] Then keep reading. [23:56] Therefore, since anger doesn’t produce righteousness. [23:59] In other words, you can get angry all you want to, but it doesn’t make you any better than you are. [24:05] There’s a presupposition in there that we have already seen in the gospel that there is something totally corrupt inside of us called sin. [24:14] That shows us that there’s not a relationship between me and God.

[24:18] And God brings us to himself through the work of his perfect son, Jesus Christ. [24:23] So I’ve already admitted that I’m not good. [24:28] I’ve already admitted that I’m sinful. [24:30] I’ve already admitted that my good does not compare to God’s good. [24:35] And what James is doing right here is he’s saying, right, and no one else’s does. [24:41] And because of that, you don’t have the ability or the privilege to ever say you’re better than anyone else.

[24:51] No matter what you do, no matter what you think of yourself, no matter what you think you deserve, [24:58] the gospel screams into our lives that we’re not good, we’re sinful, and that on our best day we all deserve hell.

[25:12] And I don’t like the way that sounds.

[25:17] Because what the gospel is telling me is, Steve, Sunday after Sunday, you get up there and you plead and you preach the gospel, [25:27] and you go through your life and you study the word and you lead people to Jesus, and you work and you work for the gospel, [25:33] but understand that that’s not because you’re good. [25:38] It’s because God’s good, and he’s working in me of his own will, not mine.

[25:50] And what James is doing is he’s saying, if you believe the gospel, what does it do to your life? [25:58] It strips you of your self-righteousness. It strips you of what you think you deserve. [26:03] It strips you of thinking you’re better than everybody else. [26:06] It strips you of all those things that you base your anger and you base your opinion and you base your striving and you base your pride. [26:18] Everything you base your life on that is not from God. [26:22] What God is saying, get rid of it, and then and only then can you find yourself slow to anger because of the gospel.

[26:36] Notice how he finishes it when he says, receive with meekness the implanted word. [26:41] Now he’s given us at a whole nother level the gospel. [26:44] What he’s saying is that everything that’s good in you, you do not get from your strivings. [26:50] That word meekness is the opposite of anger. It’s the opposite of paying your comeuppance. [26:55] It’s the opposite of earning. [26:57] Meekness is this attitude of quietness before an almighty God in which you are completely humbled and seeing that he is doing a work in you that in your self-righteousness you cannot do yourself.

[27:14] Therefore, you don’t have any self-righteousness. [27:18] Ladies and gentlemen, self-righteousness is the biggest lie of sin.

[27:26] You don’t have any righteousness. All you have is sin.

[27:33] And what it does is it lies and it convinces and it just grabs me and it says, but Steve you deserve, but Steve you’re better. [27:42] How dare they? Don’t they know who you are? [27:46] When God says, but you didn’t do the gospel, I did. You weren’t even asking for it. I implanted it. [27:54] I give it. That thing implanted. It means I’m not grabbing it and grabbing it and saying get in me.

[28:04] It means God in his graciousness is giving me what I don’t deserve.

[28:13] Himself. [28:15] The righteousness of his son Jesus Christ. [28:18] Sinless, perfect Jesus.

[28:23] Gives me his righteousness and takes away my sin.

[28:31] So this isn’t saying, you want to earn your keep with God? Better stop being so mad.

[28:40] No, what it’s saying is you have this position with God that’s firm in Jesus Christ. [28:46] Covered that last week. [28:48] You have this place in God’s eyes that’s given to you through the gospel of Jesus. [28:53] Through what Jesus did on your behalf.

[29:00] How can you be so angry?

[29:04] When you’re not better than them. [29:07] And everything that God does for you proves that.

[29:13] Let’s keep going.

[29:17] If you struggle with anger as much as I do.

[29:23] You literally have no idea. [29:26] I’m talking watching UFC, Chuck Liddell loses, I want to break my TV. [29:31] You’re like, you may need a class. [29:35] I know.

[29:39] Yeah.

[29:41] And all of you today are like, I feel sorry for his wife, isn’t the Daytona 500 today? [29:44] What if Dale Jr. spends out? [29:46] Yeah.

[29:51] But what this is about is that for an angry man like me.

[30:00] Not only is it simply saying, Steve, your anger doesn’t earn righteousness, so stop being so angry. [30:06] It’s saying that my hope is not found in not being angry. [30:11] My hope is found in the implanted word. [30:16] My hope is found that God is merciful on me in my anger.

[30:24] And my cure for my anger is not, 3, 2, 1, 1, 2, 3, what the heck is bothering me?

[30:32] Family Matter fans out there? I don’t know. Okay.

[30:37] My hope is found in nothing less than Jesus Christ and His righteousness.

[30:45] I don’t have to find hope in not being angry because I already have hope in Jesus. [30:51] And not being angry isn’t this thing where I work and work and earn and earn. [30:58] My hope is just in loving and cherishing Jesus and seeing the truth about me [31:03] and the truth about others and that truth is we’re all in the gospel on level playing ground.

[31:12] And I’m no better. And most of the time I’m worse.

[31:18] That’s what will drive a man like Paul who sacrificed literally everything in his life for the gospel [31:23] and still towards the end of his life say, I’m the chief of sinners. [31:28] Because he’s not comparing himself to his co-workers, he’s comparing himself to a righteous God.

[31:41] Let’s keep going. Let’s go to verse 22.

[31:47] And here’s where we all have a lot of fun and we all think we can find some self-righteousness. [31:50] Okay, I’ll get to that. [31:52] But be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. [31:57] For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in the mirror. [32:05] For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. [32:09] But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.

[32:19] And you’re like, that’s easy. I have the gospel, now I can please God. [32:24] Now I can earn my keep. God has given me a second chance. [32:30] Alright, here’s the problem with that. You’re a sinner. [32:33] I don’t care if you have a 33rd chance. You’re going to blow it. [32:38] Alright?

[32:40] Now, so what is he talking about? [32:42] Well first you need to understand one thing.

[32:46] Don’t negate the hearing part. [32:49] Hearing the gospel predates living the gospel. [32:53] And here’s what I’m talking about. In verse 22, he tells us a very important thing. [32:58] He says, but be doers of the word and not hearers only. [33:01] And here’s what I’m talking about. That doing. [33:05] Because here’s what some of us do. We’re like, I know people get around and they want to talk about the Bible.

[33:11] They want to memorize the Bible. They want to argue about the Bible. [33:14] They want to learn all this theology. And they want to know all this stuff. [33:17] But those words says doing is more important than hearing. [33:22] That is not what it says at all. [33:26] It says be doers and not hearers only. [33:29] What it’s saying is that doing must be built on a foundation of hearing.

[33:37] For you theology nerds out there, orthodoxy leads to orthopraxy.

[33:43] And you’re like, is that orthodontist? [33:45] Alright? No. [33:47] In other words, right believing leads to right living.

[33:54] And here’s what I’m talking about. The battlefield of anger, where does it start? [34:00] It starts right here. Boom. In your brain.

[34:04] The battlefield of listening over speaking is right here in your brain. [34:09] The battlefield of choosing to love my wife and choosing to not love my wife, [34:14] Hey buddy, it starts right here. [34:16] No, that’s in your heart. [34:19] No. It’s up here. [34:21] Okay?

[34:23] Here’s what he’s talking about. [34:25] James is talking about being a doer of the word, but what he’s talking about more than that [34:30] is the fact that when you have the gospel, because he spent a ton of time [34:34] unpacking our place in Jesus and our place in the gospel. [34:37] What he’s saying is what you do in your life is built on this hearing, [34:41] but the hearing is vastly important because doing typically brings more hearing.

[34:47] And here’s what I mean. Go to Romans chapter 10. [34:51] In Romans chapter 10, really quick, he unpacks how we even begin to believe [34:56] the gospel of Jesus Christ. He says, [34:59] For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. [35:02] If you spent any time in a church, you’ve heard that verse, [35:05] because it’s like, thank God, I’m just going to call on his name.

[35:07] And that’s true. But notice the next verse, verse 14. [35:10] How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed, [35:14] and how are they to believe in whom they have never heard, [35:17] and how are they to hear without someone preaching?

[35:23] There was at one point in your life, if you are a Christian, [35:28] if you believe the gospel, there was a point in your life where you heard it, [35:33] or read it, or saw it. [35:36] It went into your brain, is what I’m talking about.

[35:42] That’s why Jesus is called the Word in John chapter 1, [35:45] because he is a revelation of God. [35:49] The Scriptures are called the revelation of God. [35:52] In other words, it is a message from God. [35:55] Do you understand the word gospel and evangelism? [35:57] They both come from this Greek word called eungelion.

[36:00] And gospel was this idea when Rome would win a battle, [36:05] they would send from the battlefield this guy that would sprint back to the city, [36:11] and he would be the herald of good news.

[36:18] Gospel, good news. What do you do? You hear news.

[36:26] And the reason I have to be so specific about this is because we will get this attitude from texts like this, [36:31] that doing is what the gospel is all about.

[36:36] And very quickly that will go to self-righteousness, because I do more than others. [36:42] I’ve done so much. I’ve earned so much. [36:46] When the gospel says, on your best day, you can’t do anything compared to God. [36:52] You can’t earn anything with God.

[36:55] So the gospel in itself is news because it’s someone else’s activity. [37:03] I don’t hear news about stuff I do. [37:08] I did it. So I know about it. [37:13] The gospel is so different because it’s something that someone else did. [37:17] It’s an implanted word.

[37:21] And it shifts the way that we think because it’s a knowledge that’s unlike any other knowledge, [37:28] because it turns your life completely around. [37:30] And here’s what I’m talking about. [37:31] There’s a couple of texts that I want to lead you through very quickly. [37:34] And I want to start to show why the gospel has to start in your mind before it can ever be an activity in which you do anything. [37:41] Ephesians chapter 2 verse 3.

[37:44] Among whom we all once lived in the passions of the flesh, [37:48] carrying out the desires of the body and what? [37:51] The mind.

[37:54] And were by nature children of wrath like the rest of mankind. [37:58] So what Paul is doing is he’s showing us that in the mind something very important happens that brings sin out of our lives. [38:11] Colossians chapter 1 verse 21. [38:13] And you who once were alienated and hostile in mind doing evil deeds.

[38:24] Mind. [38:26] Sin finds a home up here and convinces you. [38:34] Sinful action. [38:36] It says our rebellion in God is a hostility in mind. [38:38] How did Satan tempt Eve? [38:40] He told her something.

[38:45] And she thought about it. [38:47] And then she did.

[38:51] But then look at this. [38:53] This is what the gospel. [38:54] [38:55] Roman chapter 12 verse 2. [38:57] Do not be conformed to this world. [38:59] Alright.

[38:59] Stop drinking, smoking, and watching our movies. [39:01] No. [39:02] But be transformed. [39:05] Okay. [39:06] This is another idea of an outside force invading and changing. [39:10] Look.

[39:10] By the renewal of what? [39:13] Your mind.

[39:19] Right up here. [39:20] That thing you’ve been ignoring for so long. [39:24] Right up here.

[39:27] Ephesians chapter 6 verse 17. [39:30] Paul’s talking about the whole armor of God. [39:32] And he says, and take what? [39:34] The helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit which is the word of God. [39:40] The helmet of salvation. [39:43] Compare this to all these other texts.

[39:44] It is not by accident or happenstance that Paul says salvation is described as a helmet. [39:53] And then he also says be transformed by the renewal of your mind. [39:58] He’s talking about knowing and believing the gospel changes the way you think. [40:05] It changes everything about your mind. [40:07] It transforms your mind and then gets to work with everything else. [40:13] Do you understand the brain is so complex?

[40:15] I cannot move my hand without my brain telling it to.

[40:22] God created it that way.

[40:25] If you sever my brain stem from my spinal cord, your eyes will just fall over dead.

[40:34] But if you cut my hand off, I mean I’ll scream a little bit and cry, weep, like a girl.

[40:44] But I won’t die.

[40:50] That’s what he says in Philippians 1.27. [40:52] We talked about this last week. [40:53] Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ. [40:57] So that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you, that you are standing firm in one spirit. [41:03] With what? One mind. [41:07] Striving side by side for faith in the gospel.

[41:09] Philippians 2.5. [41:10] Have this mind among yourself which is yours in Christ Jesus. [41:14] Have this mind of yourself which is yours in Jesus. [41:16] In other words, the gospel impacts your mind. [41:20] Notice this, Matthew 15 verse 11. [41:23] Oh, never mind, that was the last one.

[41:25] That’s for later.

[41:28] Notice what the gospel is talking about here. [41:30] He’s talking about the brain and what you have in Jesus changes your thinking. [41:36] It changes your viewpoint. [41:38] It changes everything. [41:40] When often times we live in a way to say, my action and what I do is the gospel in me. [41:48] But who I am and what I think about and what I want and what my vision for my life is, that’s something separate.

[41:59] And what the word is doing here is it is describing the gospel as this force that comes in. [42:06] And alters everything about your mind and takes it captive for the gospel.

[42:14] It leaves nothing untouched. [42:17] It changes everything.

[42:22] How else is it going to impact your relationships with others?

[42:30] Let’s keep going.

[42:33] Without understanding the gospel, you cannot live the gospel.

[42:41] You have to understand it before you can do it. [42:45] You have to understand where you are standing before God comes from and who you are in Jesus Christ. [42:52] What is the reality of that situation? [42:54] These are not things that are up for debate. [42:57] This is not something that you can think differently about and be okay. [43:02] But as long as we feed the poor together, what we think about the gospel isn’t really that important.

[43:08] No, that’s not what the scripture says. [43:10] If the scripture is authoritative and James is acting as if it is,

[43:20] what we think matters. [43:23] And what we believe matters.

[43:27] But believing the gospel means living the gospel. [43:34] Look back to verses 23-25 real quick.

[43:47] Here’s what he is talking about. [43:52] Because it is very tempting to read this verse and be like, I got you. [43:55] Be a doer, not just a hearer. [43:57] Alright, Ten Commandments. [43:59] Don’t just know them, live them.

[44:03] Don’t lust.

[44:07] That’s something I do.

[44:10] So I’m not just going to hear it, I’m going to stop it.

[44:14] Here’s why we look at this as a schizophrenic passage. [44:17] Because he unpacks the gospel and then says, but do all this stuff.

[44:24] When he says be a doer, not a hearer, he’s not talking about the law of God in the sense that he’s saying, [44:32] if you want to keep God’s good favor, you better start acting right, folks.

[44:39] What he’s saying is, you hear the gospel. [44:43] You hear of your sinfulness. [44:45] You hear that you are the firstborn of God’s creatures. [44:49] You hear that an outside force has invaded your mind and has transformed your mind. [44:54] You hear that your acceptance with God has been earned by Jesus Christ. [44:59] You hear and you look in a mirror and you see who you really are for the sinful person that you actually are.

[45:07] You hear it and then you walk away and you forget it. [45:12] Because you start acting like a self-righteous, pompous, pious jerk.

[45:24] Be slow to anger.

[45:29] See, he doesn’t just say, your anger doesn’t earn you the righteousness of God, [45:34] and then tells you this is how you earn the righteousness of God. [45:38] By doing. [45:39] No, he says, you have no righteousness, and your anger, and your self-worth, [45:47] and your self-preservation, and your self-protection does not earn you God’s righteousness. [45:54] Nothing earns you God’s righteousness.

[45:56] Jesus has earned you God’s righteousness. [45:58] But don’t you dare hear that message of the gospel and then walk away.

[46:06] And treat the world as if there’s something special about you that’s not special about them.

[46:14] Don’t you dare walk away from that mirror of the gospel that showed you all those warts, [46:19] and all those pimples, and all that perversion, and that mind that lies to you about your righteousness, [46:26] and lies to you about what you deserve, is hostile towards God. [46:29] Don’t you dare walk away from that mirror and forget what you saw of yourself in it. [46:38] Tell yourself the truth. [46:41] There is only one place righteousness is found, and that’s in Jesus.

[46:46] There’s only one place salvation is found, and that is in Jesus. [46:50] There is only one place that you can be accepted by God, that’s in Jesus. [46:57] There’s nothing in you that’s good, so stop pretending that there is.

[47:07] And he tells us, he says, but the one who looks into the perfect law,

[47:15] is that the Ten Commandments?

[47:19] That’s Jesus. [47:21] And you’re like, what do you mean?

[47:24] Scripture and Paul is very fundamentally straightforward throughout the New Testament. [47:28] I’m going to sum it up for you real quick. [47:30] The law of God is righteous. It’s perfect. All of it. [47:35] But there’s also another side. We are not.

[47:40] And the law is unavoidable in the fact that it shows us our disobedience. [47:47] No one looks at the law of God and says, I’m a pretty good person. [47:50] No, you look at the law of God and it shows you all the skeletons in your closet, all the baggage you’ve gotten. [47:56] But when Jesus came, he perfectly fulfilled the law of God. [48:01] So as a believer, when you look at the law, what you see is the perfection of Jesus Christ in it. [48:08] You do not see something that is a level for you to get to.

[48:11] You see something that Jesus has already done for you. [48:15] And then he says, the law of liberty. [48:18] When you look into it, the law of liberty and perseveres being no hearer who forgets, but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing. [48:27] In other words, when you are honest with yourself about who you are and who Jesus is, [48:33] what happens is that you begin to live it and you’re blessed in it because you’re thinking properly about it. [48:41] You’re not earning your keep. You’re showing the righteousness of Jesus.

[48:45] You’re not earning God’s love. You’re being loved by God. [48:48] Everything that you do then comes out of this place of thankfulness for what Jesus has done for you and passion to continue this life of redemption in him. [48:59] And then finally what happens, and I’ll close, the gospel creates radical humility.

[49:08] Look at what he says. [49:10] In verse 26,

[49:29] Bridling the tongue springs right out of finding your identity in the gospel. [49:35] When you find your identity in what Jesus has done, you find yourself shutting your mouth far more.

[49:45] You find yourself not exalting yourself over others.

[49:50] You find yourself not having as much anger over others because you know they struggle with the exact same thing you do. [49:59] You know that they’re in the exact same place you’ve been.

[50:05] Jesus says in Matthew chapter 15 verse 11, he says, [50:09] It is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth that defiles a person.

[50:16] And sometimes when we see this thing unstained by the world, we’re like, [50:19] Mmm, garbage in, garbage out.

[50:22] There’s some validity to that. Don’t hear me belittling it too much.

[50:27] But hear what I’m saying. What Jesus is saying is there’s already garbage in there. [50:33] And so when that garbage comes out of you, understand, it’s showing whether or not you really believe the gospel.

[50:42] When you don’t love other people the same way you want other people to love you,

[50:51] Don’t claim to believe the gospel. [50:54] Because you’re saying it’s not true by the way you’re acting.

[51:00] And then he tells us this very interesting thing about orphans and widows.

[51:05] And I think he calls it true religion. And I’ve always struggled with that. I really have. [51:10] Because everything about the gospel says, Jesus paid it all.

[51:16] There’s nothing I can do. I just trust and obey. [51:21] And then he says true religion is found with the orphans and the widows. [51:26] So we’re probably just going to have to sell our houses and move to India. [51:31] If we’re going to obey that. [51:34] So is he giving us a command? No.

[51:38] He’s showing us what we’re incapable of.

[51:42] You can go through life and you can help orphans and you can help widows, [51:46] but at some point you’re going to get sick of it and you’re not going to do it one time. [51:50] And that one time you don’t do it is disobedient, so you’ve blown it again. [51:54] We don’t earn Jesus through serving orphans and widows. [51:59] We get Jesus and realize we were orphans.

[52:06] We get Jesus and understand the pain of widows is the pain that sin has caused us. [52:13] So what happens in the gospel is that it brings us to this place of radical humility. [52:19] And in the culture they were in, widows and orphans, [52:24] you look down your nose at them because they live a life I would never want. [52:28] I pray I never have to have that happen to me. [52:31] I hope someone takes care of them.

[52:34] So why did Christians in the first century take care of orphans and widows so well?

[52:40] Why did this type of attitude emerge out of the first century church? [52:44] I’ll tell you why. [52:45] Because Christians began to understand through Jesus Christ and they told themselves the truth that they’re no better.

[52:52] Christians were the first people to look at orphans and widows and say,

[52:56] because of my sin I deserve worse than that.

[53:02] And they had this radical humility that happened in their lives when they said, [53:07] I used to be a child of God. I did. [53:11] And then I rebelled against him and then sin stood between us. [53:15] But here’s what God did in Paul and Paxton and Romans chapter 8. [53:19] Here’s what God did. He adopted me back into his family. [53:23] He’s restored me to his kingdom. I’m not an orphan anymore.

[53:28] And so what better way to proclaim the gospel to the world than to find orphans and say, [53:33] let me show you what God did for me. [53:38] I’m going to adopt you. [53:41] Because that’s what God did for me.

[53:45] That’s humility.

[53:48] And then you go to the widows and their affliction.

[53:56] Because you understand the pain of loss.

[54:05] Because of what sin has done to the world. [54:08] The wages of sin is death. [54:13] And who understands that better than a widow?

[54:19] But the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

[54:28] So what happened in the first century church is something that’s not happening anymore.

[54:35] What happened in the second century church is that they were honest with themselves about their own sin. [54:39] When we spend most of our time trying to hide ours from each other. [54:43] We come together on Sunday mornings and pretend everything’s okay. [54:46] And in that type of mentality you can’t obey Romans chapter 12 verse 10 when it says outdo one another and showing honor. [54:54] You can’t do that. Because you’re trying to convince everybody else that everything’s okay. [54:58] You’re trying to convince everybody else that you’re alright.

[55:01] And when the gospel says you are an orphan, Jesus came in and saved you. [55:05] You saw the pain that the widow understands through death. [55:08] But now Jesus has come in and saved you. [55:10] And when we are truly honest with who we really are. [55:14] We can come together in glory in what Jesus has done. [55:18] And get excited and get passionate.

[55:20] Because salvation belongs to our God. [55:23] It does not belong to you. [55:25] It’s given to you. [55:27] And so you can then believe it and go out and give it to everyone. [55:34] Even the lowest forms of culture. [55:37] Because you even look at them and you say, if not for Jesus.

[55:42] That’s me. [55:45] Father, we praise you. [55:48] We love you. [55:51] God in the gospel, may you transform us. [55:56] May we become a church of people.

[56:01] Who truly love you.

[56:06] Who truly realize what the gospel’s done for us. [56:09] And truly love that it’s not of us, but it’s all of you. [56:13] And that comes in and it transforms who we are. [56:17] And we then rise up as a church and we care for and about each other. [56:23] Because our hope’s not found in myself, our hope is found in you.

[56:33] Right now we’re going to reflect on this gospel. [56:37] Through communion.

[56:39] That Jesus has taken our sin, which killed him. [56:43] And he’s given us his righteousness if we’ll believe.

[56:48] And when we take in the bread and we take in the cup. [56:52] What we’re doing is we’re doing this symbolic thing and saying. [56:58] Jesus has given his life to us and we trust it, we believe it and we love it. [57:04] If you’re a believer, please reflect on that with us. [57:09] If you’re not.

[57:12] Today is the day of salvation for you. [57:16] I’ll be up here. [57:17] I’ll tell you how to trust him. [57:19] How to follow him.