War! Huh! Where Does It Come From?

War! Huh! Where Did It Come From?

James 4:1-3

Think about the last argument you had with someone.

                        -Get examples of arguments people have had recently with peers, teachers, siblings, parents…. Break them down to the lowest common denominator—desire for pleasure that war in our members.

Think about the last fight you had with someone.

                        - Get examples of fights people have had recently with peers, teachers, siblings, parents…. Break them down to the lowest common denominator—desire for pleasure that war in our members.

            Think about some of the wars that the United States has been involved in.

                        Get examples of wars we have had. Break them down to the lowest common denominator—desire for pleasure that war in our members.

James 4:1 “¹ What is causing the quarrels and fights among you? Don’t they come from the evil desires at war within you?”

            Sometimes it is a little more obvious to see that war raging inside of us than at other times. For example, let’s say you and your brother are on a trip to Pensacola. You have to pick a restaurant. Your brother wants Five Guys, and you want Wendy’s. So you put him in a headlock, spin him around and give him a Diamond Cutter right there in the parking lot. He’s unconscious so you get to pick the restaurant. In that example was it easy to see evil desire warring within you? That little conflict wasn’t the fault of Wendy’s or Five Guys. It was the fault of the evil desires that are warring within you. Many people fall victim to that misconception. Let’s look at another example. Let’s say it isn’t you and your brother arguing over where to eat dinner, it’s your mom and dad. And instead of your mom Diamond Cutting your dad on the pavement, they get a divorce. Is it Five Guys and Wendy’s fault for their divorce? No. They just make delicious burgers. Change it again. You get an F on a test. Your dad says you’re grounded for a month. Your mom says you’re grounded for two months. They start arguing back and forth and finally get divorced. Whose fault was it that they got divorced? The fallacy is that we begin thinking, “If only I would have studied more. If only I wouldn’t have flunked that test.” There is no example where a child would ever have been the reason for a divorce. If someone is telling you differently, let me know and I’ll Diamond Cut them in the parking lot.

            People argue, people fight, people get divorced, people start wars because of evil desires for their own pleasure that is warring within them. What makes an evil desire evil? No regard for the other person whatsoever. Three examples:

-One day I was sent to the store by my babysitter to buy Diet Pepsi. I didn’t like Diet Pepsi, so I spent the whole trip back from the store throwing that 2 liter bottle as high as I could and watching it hit the hard concrete until…kaboom! My evil desires for pleasure overtook my rationality and decency.

A wedding day--something girls dream about for years and years. Finally, she meets the man of her dreams, he pops the question and she begins the extensive plans—her dreams are finally coming to reality. Then the big day comes and goes off without a hitch, and then comes the wedding night. Sex is a beautiful gift from God given to and exclusively for married men and women. She had saved herself for marriage so she could offer that gift to her husband on their wedding night. Then her fairy tale dreams came crashing down around her when her brand new husband raped her on their wedding night. His evil desire for pleasure had no regard for his wife.   

Poland, Austria, and France were getting along just fine, and then one day Hitler, with his evil desires for his own pleasure, thought he would do a better job of ruling them than they were doing ruling themselves. So he took them over with fierce violence. His evil desire for pleasure had no regard for the people he was killing and ruling over.

James goes on to say in verses 2-3, “² You want what you don’t have, so you scheme and kill to get it. You are jealous of what others have, but you can’t get it, so you fight and wage war to take it away from them. Yet you don’t have what you want because you don’t ask God for it. ³ And even when you ask, you don’t get it because your motives are all wrong—you want only what will give you pleasure.”

You all know I am a huge Buckeye fan. Back in 2002, the Buckeyes won the National Championship in football. I was reading a magazine devoted to that perfect season, and they quoted Jim Tressel, the then Buckeye coach. I remembered the quote because it struck me at how out of place it seemed. Tressel said, and I’m paraphrasing here, “I just told our guys, ‘Yet you don’t have what you want because you don’t ask God for it. ³ And even when you ask, you don’t get it because your motives are all wrong—you want only what will give you pleasure.’ You’ll never win a National Championship until you realize it’s more than just what it can do for you.” National Championships, Super Bowl Championships, World Series Championships are all very big deals. It can make good players and coaches into great players and coaches. It makes people great players into legends. Like it or not, you become role models for every little boy in the state. You will have opportunities to use the elevated platform of your success for the good of society, or to make yourself into an idol.

We may never have the opportunity to become a National Champion, or win a Super Bowl, but God has plans in store for us. He has plans to give us jobs, bank accounts, cars, and positions of authority and status, but He won’t give us any of that if we don’t ask, and if we do ask, we ask with the wrong motivation.

So what’s it going to be? Your plans with your evil desire for pleasure, or God’s plans for you?       

Comfort

Comfort

Matthew 16:24-27

            How many of you have ever ridden in an airplane? Did you ride first class or coach? Was it a long flight where they served food and drinks, or was it a short flight? How were the seats? Were they really comfortable, able to recline all the way back? Plenty of leg room? Did you start getting cramped? Did you know older people with blood clot issues can actually die on longer flights because clots form in their legs from not moving and then they eventually work their way up and get stuck in their hearts.

            Now imagine sitting in one of those tight airline seats and a stewardess comes up and says, “Here take this and put it on. It will make your flight more comfortable,” as she hands you a parachute. I’ve never put a parachute on but I looked it up online and they weigh around 90 lbs. So you thank the stewardess, pull the straps over your shoulders, buckle yourself in, and just sit there. About two minutes go by and the pack starts to get heavy. How many of you have ever ridden in a car or a bus with your backpack still on? Not real comfortable, is it? A few more minutes roll by, and you notice none of the other passengers are wearing a parachute. They all seem to be relaxed. They aren’t fidgeting with and re-shifting a 90 lb. pack on their back. They’re drinking coffee, relaxing, and joking about you wearing a parachute. You, on the other hand, are getting increasingly more miserable. After a few short minutes you eventually ditch the heavy load and begin to relax like everyone else.

            For those of you who have never ridden on an airplane, perhaps you have had the opportunity to ride in the backseat of my pick-up truck. You know what a tight fit that is. Now imagine the same scenario except instead of a parachute I said, “Here put on this full goalie equipment. It will make for a more comfortable ride.” So you do.

            Now will a parachute and hockey equipment make for a more comfortable ride? No of course not. In fact, it will be extremely uncomfortable.

            Let’s change the scenario a little. The same stewardess approaches you, hands you a parachute and says to you only, “Put this on. We’ve lost power in our engines and we will eventually have to jump.” You put on the same heavy, uncomfortable, bulky parachute and sit expectantly. Does it bother you that everyone else is relaxing, drinking coffee, and making fun of you? No, because you know the plane is going to crash, and you have the one thing that will save your life. You’ll sit there for hours carrying that heavy load, whereas before you wouldn’t sit for ten minutes.

            Why? It’s the same seat, parachute, and environment. The difference is in the first scenario the man put on the parachute because the stewardess told him it would be more comfortable. In the second scenario, the stewardess told him his life was in imminent danger and it was the one thing that could save his life.

            “That’s a great story, Adam, but what does that have to do with the cost of tea in China?” Many of you have heard that being a Christian is a more comfortable decision than being a non-Christian. Many of you have implied to your friends that they should become a Christian because it is the easier, and more comfortable decision. Is it easy to be a Christian at school? Is it easy to be a Christian in public places like the mall, bookstores, or movie theaters? Do you think it is easy for Tebow to be a Christian when he is mocked for his faith on a national level every day?

            There’s a lie pre-dominantly in the Western Culture, especially in the United States that being a Christian will make your life easier. There are some people who even believe in a prosperity theology that if you are not financially blessed then you are either not praying right, don’t have enough faith, or are a sinner in some way. I believe in the God who created the entire universe, which means that my God is the God of Egypt, Ethiopia, and Eritrea, and every other country in the world. Do you believe that a born again, Bible believing Christian in Eritrea doesn’t have enough food for his children because God loves him less than He loves me? Absolutely not! Do you believe that God blessed me with an Ipad for Christmas because He loves me more than our Compassion child who gets blankets and dinner ware for Christmas? Absolutely not!

            Putting on Christianity, just like putting on a parachute will not make you more comfortable. If you are standing at all in your faith people will make fun of you, they will question you, you will be an outcast, you may be persecuted, and you may even be killed. In fact, if you aren’t suffering even a little for Christ, maybe it’s because you aren’t doing anything, the Devil isn’t concerned about you, and no one even notices anything different about you.

            There are reasons for becoming a Christian, but it is not to be more comfortable. It’s true, you will be more comfortable in heaven than you would be in hell. God will answer your prayers, and give you peace in times of turmoil and strife, and you have the blessed assurance of knowing where you would go when you eventually died.

            Let’s read a passage about what Jesus said about comfort, and then I’ll tell you a story of just how comfortable the Christian life can be.

“Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross, and follow me. ²⁵ If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it. ²⁶ And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul?^[a] Is anything worth more than your soul? ²⁷ For the Son of Man will come with his angels in the glory of his Father and will judge all people according to their deeds.”    

            Take up your cross, your big, heavy, burdensome cross which will eventually be used to kill you, and follow Him. A far cry from, “Hey let’s all hop in my Winnebago and see TobyMac tonight!”

            It is not true, but there seems to be a belief that there is a hierarchy of Christians. You have the typical Christians on the bottom, the preachers and other Christians who have made their faith a career in the middle, missionaries are the next highest, and overseas missionaries are way up on top. Listen to how comforting the Christian life was for Horatio Spafford and Philip Bliss. (Read from Suffering and Song: Lives of the Hymn Writers by Julia Ann Flora, 84-86) 

Who Didn't Make It

Who Didn’t Make it

Matthew 2:1-12

            Last week we discussed who was at the original Nativity scene. Let’s review:

            -What does the word “nativity” mean?

            -Who was there?

            -Who is commonly found in all of the traditional nativity scenes but wasn’t there?

            To re-cap…nativity simply means birth event. The only people we know for sure were there were Mary and Jesus. We can assume that Joseph was there, some shepherds that showed up soon after Jesus was born, some angels, and cattle. Tonight we are going to ask the questions 1) Who wasn’t there? and 2) Why were they not there? 

Let’s go back and read Matthew 2:1-12 to follow the story of the three wise men. Maybe we’ll get at least one of the people groups who was not at the nativity scene.

¹Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men^[a] from the east came to Jerusalem, ²saying, "Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose^[b] and have come to worship him." ³When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him; ⁴and assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. ⁵They told him,

"In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written by the prophet:
 ⁶ "'And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
   are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
for from you shall come a ruler
   who will shepherd my people Israel.'"

 ⁷Then Herod summoned the wise men secretly and ascertained from them what time the star had appeared. ⁸And he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, "Go and search diligently for the child, and when you have found him, bring me word, that I too may come and worship him." ⁹After listening to the king, they went on their way. And behold, the star that they had seen when it rose went before them until it came to rest over the place where the child was. ¹⁰When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. ¹¹And going into the house they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh. ¹²And being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed to their own country by another way.

            The wise men were gift intellectually and were probably astrologers. They noticed something different in the sky—a new star and felt compelled to follow it. People have been using stars for navigational purposes since the beginning of travel. There are certain stars that seem to be fixed in the sky, and are therefore, great for navigating year round. Other stars, commonly called “wandering stars” in the Bible were considered useless for navigating. This new star was most likely only seen by this particular group of wise men, but it is possible that they were the only ones who were paying attention to the sky, or the only ones who acted on what they saw. Either way, they saw the star and decided to follow it like the yellow brick road.

            We discussed last week that this star was probably some supernatural phenomenon because a star does not sit directly over a planet, let alone a country, let alone a city, let alone a house. But these wise men followed the star all the way to Jerusalem. When they got to Jerusalem, the star vanished.

            Let’s go back 2,000 years and imagine that you are one of the wise men. You had just walked several hundred miles, following a star that was to lead you to the birth place of the King of the Jews, whom you were interested in worshiping. Once you got into the heart of Israel, the nation’s economic and spiritual capitol, the star disappears, no one else saw it or knows anything about it, and worse yet, no one knows or seems to care about the birth of the new King of the Jews. I mean, this was the heart of the Jewish religion and nobody cared about their own king’s birth while they were foreigners who walked several hundred miles to worship him. What is going on? If you were one of the wise men, you would have been tired, frustrated, and confused. Seeking answers they went to King Herod. We don’t have enough time to get into all of the dysfunction surrounding him and his relatives—but we can say that The Jerry Springer Show has nothing on this family.

            Herod was deeply disturbed by the news of the birth of the King of the Jews for one simple reason—he was already the king of the Jews, appointed by the Roman Emperor. He didn’t want anyone coming along and taking his authority from him, or starting an uprising. So he acted like he was interested in worshiping this King of the Jews like they were, and questioned the wise men about the stars appearance and disappearance. He instructed the wise men to go out and search for the newborn King and when they find Him to come back and tell him where He is so he can go and worship Him, too.

            Once they left his palace the star reappeared and they were able to find the house where Joseph, Mary, and Jesus were staying. An angel instructed the wise men to return home a different way so as not to run into Herod. Meanwhile Herod waited, and waited, and waited, and waited. Then one day Herod said, “Hey! I’ve been tricked!” Still wanting to take out this person he felt was a threat to his kingdom, he ordered all male children two years and younger to be slaughtered. Little did he know, Joseph was acting on a directive from an angel to flee Jerusalem and head to Egypt to preserve the life of the baby boy.

            To answer our questions, Who was not there, and why? We can say confidently that the political leaders were not present at the nativity scene. The simple answer to why, is that they would have misinterpreted Jesus’ role as the King of the Jews, and felt threatened by his presence. Political leaders back then right up until today, in general, seem to be more interested in protecting their job, and keeping the status quo rather than doing what is right. Remember Pontius Pilate? He was the man who sentenced Jesus to death even though he found nothing in which to condemn Him, yet did so anyway. Pilate was not threatened by Jesus’ title of King of the Jews, but he was concerned with job security, and keeping the peace.

            Another group of people mysteriously absent from the Nativity scene was the Jewish religious leaders. These were people who studied the scriptures for a living in order to have a right relationship to God, to teach others to have a right relationship with God, and to recognize the signs of the coming Messiah that had been prophesied about for hundreds of years. But as time passed, these professional religious leaders started to appreciate the status, respect, and money that came with the position, and so they, too, would have been threatened by anyone coming in and upsetting the apple cart, especially one who would later teach that people no longer needed to go through a priest at a Temple to get to God. They would be able to have direct access to God. Remember how Herod assembled his religious experts and asked them where the Messiah was supposed to be born? He was able to get the correct answer—Bethlehem, from the Book of the Prophet Micah. Later in the time line the Jewish leaders said in John 7:27 that Jesus could not have been the Messiah because they knew where He came from and that the real Messiah would just suddenly appear. How is it that the wicked King Herod could get the right answer and not the religious leaders of the day? Perhaps they didn’t want to know the right answer. Following Jesus would cost them everything.

            What about you? What would it cost you if you became a sold out follower of Christ? Would it cost you your job? Probably not. A place to sleep and food to eat? Probably not. Your life? Maybe. Respect among your peers? Probably. You have to count the cost before you make any decision. If I buy this car, what will it do to make bank account? If I date that guy, how will I be perceived amongst my friends? If you count the cost of becoming a sold out follower of Christ and it seems too much for you, then don’t do it. We have to many fake Christians with one foot in and one foot out of the boat as it is. But if you’ve counted the cost and said, “Jesus did all of this for me, losing the friendship of a handful of idiots is the least I can do for Him.” Then climb aboard. We’d love to have you.      

Flocksmen and Wise Guys

Flocksmen and Wise Guys

Matthew 2:1-12, Luke 2:8-20

            Picture in your mind a Nativity scene. Who and what is there?

-Have students go up on stage one at a time to be a member of the nativity scene. They must stand still and portray what they suggested.

-Cows, camels, angels, Mary, Joseph, Jesus, wise men, shepherds…

            There many different types of Nativity scenes. I’ve seen the really pretty Willow Tree one, a Charlie Brown one, a Veggie Tale one, and a Precious Moments one. It seems like there is just about one for every brand out there. I haven’t seen a G.I. Joe Nativity scene though but that would be awesome. I can imagine Sgt. Slaughter looking over at the new born babe with Cobra Commander in the background wringing his hands like Satan.

            But have you ever wondered who was actually at the Nativity scene? Or even what does the word nativity mean? That’s what we are going to look at today. We have about four more weeks until Christmas so we are going to take a break from James until after the New Year and then get back into it.

            Well, the word Nativity simply means the event of being born. So, just real quickly who do we know for sure was at the event of Jesus being born? You can give the Sunday school answer for this one—Jesus, and Mary. Joseph could have been pacing up and down the hallway. But before we get into all of that, let’s begin by figuring out where Jesus was born and why He was born there.

            Joseph and Mary were engaged to be married when one day Mary approached Joseph and said, “Joseph, remember how we never had sex?”

            “Yes.”

            “Well…I’m pregnant. But don’t freak out. It was God who impregnated me and I’m carrying His child.”

            If you were in his shoes what would you have done? What would you have said? What would you have been thinking? My first thought would be that she had been cheating on me, that she thinks I’m completely stupid, and if she believes this to be true, she is completely nuts. Joseph knew that if his fiancé was pregnant before they were married it would be very shameful for him and for her. On top of that if the child was not his it would be doubly embarrassing, and he would have the legal right to have her, and the baby with her, stoned to death for adultery. But the Bible says that Joseph was a good man and decided to divorce her quietly. (In those days engagement was as binding as marriage) It was at this time an angel appeared to Joseph and told him not to put her away, and that everything she had told him was indeed true.

            Joseph was from Nazareth, which is about 100 miles north of Bethlehem. The Roman Emperor at the time demanded that a census be taken and that every needed to return to their home towns to be counted. Joseph was from the lineage of David which meant that he and his soon to be wife were to travel to Bethlehem, no matter how pregnant she was. Remember Daniel Johnson, the guy who walked across the United States? He said he walked about three miles an hour and tried to walk about twelve hours a day. He was not nine months pregnant though.

            We celebrate Jesus’ birth in the month of December, but I personally believe that Jesus was born during the Feast of Tabernacles, which falls somewhere in late September to late October each year. When Joseph and Mary arrived in Bethlehem there was no room for them in the inn so they had to stay where they kept the livestock. If it was during one of the Jewish holy festivals, and there was a massive amount of people in town, it would explain why there was no room for them. I always pictured that Mary and Joseph stayed in a barn with sectioned off stalls and plenty of hay, but it was more like a dark, cold, damp system of caves carved out of a hill side where livestock was kept. It was probably very dirty, and smelled like “hoodunnit.”

That is the Nativity scene. That is where God in the flesh chose to be born. Now who was there, and why? To answer that question we need to look at Luke 2:8-20.

⁸And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. ⁹And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with fear. ¹⁰And the angel said to them, "Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. ¹¹For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. ¹²And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger." ¹³And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,
 ¹⁴ "Glory to God in the highest,
    and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!"^[a]

¹⁵When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us." ¹⁶And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger. ¹⁷And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child. ¹⁸And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them. ¹⁹But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart. ²⁰And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.

            In our little Nativity scene inside a cave cut out of a side of a hill, we find Mary, Joseph, Jesus, and some shepherds—we don’t know how many. Why shepherds? Why did God choose to send the angelic hosts to proclaim the Good News of the Saviour’s birth to shepherds. Shepherds were poor, uneducated, and probably someone most people wouldn’t want to hang out with. They probably smelled and were dirty all the time. The gospel was presented first to these bottom of the totem pole people because if it was presented first to the elite or noble class it never would have been given to the poor and lowly. The elite class would have thought the gift of salvation was to great to share with people of such low class. But the gospel is for everyone. By making it first available to the lowest of the low, God was making it available for everyone.

            Who else was at the Nativity scene? Maybe some onlookers, and people who had compassion on a young girl who was giving birth in an animal stall. That’s probably all there was. “But what about the three wise men?” I hear you ask. We’ll have to take a look at Matthew 2:1-12.

¹Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men^[a] from the east came to Jerusalem, ²saying, "Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose^[b] and have come to worship him." ³When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him; ⁴and assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. ⁵They told him, "In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written by the prophet:
 ⁶ "'And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
   are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
for from you shall come a ruler
   who will shepherd my people Israel.'"

 ⁷Then Herod summoned the wise men secretly and ascertained from them what time the star had appeared. ⁸And he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, "Go and search diligently for the child, and when you have found him, bring me word, that I too may come and worship him." ⁹After listening to the king, they went on their way. And behold, the star that they had seen when it rose went before them until it came to rest over the place where the child was. ¹⁰When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. ¹¹And going into the house they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh. ¹²And being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed to their own country by another way.

            There is a key word verse 11. It is the word “house.” Where was Jesus born? In a cave. Some time has passed between the birth and when the Wise Guys showed up. By the way, how many wise men were there? Tradition says three, but that is based on the gifts that they brought—gold, frankincense, and myrrh. It is assumed that there was one present from each. The Bible simply says that there were wise men—no number is given.

            Even though they were not at the Nativity scene, we can still ask why they were there. The gifts they brought were symbolic. Gold represented royalty. Frankincense was an expensive fragrance. And myrrh was a death ointment, a symbol of the new born baby’s future death. Incidentally, Joseph and Mary sold these gifts and used the money to fund their flight into Egypt to escape King Herod’s massacre of the infants.

            But why wise men? Why not three average people with gold, frankincense, and myrrh? If the shepherds represented the lowest of the low, the wise men represented the highest of the high—like Ivy League professors. God revealed his plan of salvation to the lowest of the low and the highest of the high. Grace is available to everyone. It is not limited by social status, or economic levels.      

     

Showing Partiality

Showing Partiality

James 2:1-13

Skit 1: The Hungry Working Class (1 Corinthians 11:17-22)

            Need at least 2 poor working class people who are hungry; at least 2 rich people; and 1 narrator.

Skit 2: Social Classes at Church (James 2:1-4)

            Need at least 2 rich people; at least 2 poor people; 1 usher; and a narrator.

Text: 1 Corinthians 11:17-22; James 2:1-13

1 Corinthians 11:17-22

But in the following instructions, I cannot praise you. For it sounds as if more harm than good is done when you meet together. ¹⁸ First, I hear that there are divisions among you when you meet as a church, and to some extent I believe it. ¹⁹ But, of course, there must be divisions among you so that you who have God’s approval will be recognized!

 ²⁰ When you meet together, you are not really interested in the Lord’s Supper. ²¹ For some of you hurry to eat your own meal without sharing with others. As a result, some go hungry while others get drunk. ²² What? Don’t you have your own homes for eating and drinking? Or do you really want to disgrace God’s church and shame the poor? What am I supposed to say? Do you want me to praise you? Well, I certainly will not praise you for this!

James 2:1-13

My dear brothers and sisters,^[a] how can you claim to have faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ if you favor some people over others?

 ² For example, suppose someone comes into your meeting^[b] dressed in fancy clothes and expensive jewelry, and another comes in who is poor and dressed in dirty clothes. ³ If you give special attention and a good seat to the rich person, but you say to the poor one, “You can stand over there, or else sit on the floor”—well, ⁴ doesn’t this discrimination show that your judgments are guided by evil motives?

 ⁵ Listen to me, dear brothers and sisters. Hasn’t God chosen the poor in this world to be rich in faith? Aren’t they the ones who will inherit the Kingdom he promised to those who love him? ⁶ But you dishonor the poor! Isn’t it the rich who oppress you and drag you into court? ⁷ Aren’t they the ones who slander Jesus Christ, whose noble name^[c] you bear?

 ⁸ Yes indeed, it is good when you obey the royal law as found in the Scriptures: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”^{[d] 9} But if you favor some people over others, you are committing a sin. You are guilty of breaking the law.

 ¹⁰ For the person who keeps all of the laws except one is as guilty as a person who has broken all of God’s laws. ¹¹ For the same God who said, “You must not commit adultery,” also said, “You must not murder.”^[e] So if you murder someone but do not commit adultery, you have still broken the law.

 ¹² So whatever you say or whatever you do, remember that you will be judged by the law that sets you free. ¹³ There will be no mercy for those who have not shown mercy to others. But if you have been merciful, God will be merciful when he judges you.

Tonight we are going to continue our journey through James. Today’s passage can be divided into two distinct but connected sections. One is showing partiality, which is a sin; and the other is the dangers of committing that one sin.

Most of you all know that for my day job I work in the Home Improvement business. Home Improvement is quite a bit different than new construction in many ways, but most importantly because the home owners have already moved in, have all of their stuff there exactly where they want it, and are usually there watching over you like a hawk. I have worked in million dollar homes that were kept in immaculate shape, and I have worked in homes that were completely covered with cockroach parts including parts that got crushed by the rubber seal around the refrigerator door. On that particular house, another contractor, who needed to use the restroom, took one step inside, turned around, and found an alternative solution to his problem. I have worked in houses where the home owner baked brownies for us every day which I gladly accepted, and I have worked in a house where the homeowner was a hoarder, the house was a complete disaster, and she offered us fudge-cicles everyday. I wouldn’t have eaten one of her fudge-cicles if I was running a marathon on the equator. I’ve worked in really expensive houses where the homeowner gave us a key and told us to lock up when we were done. And I have worked in some terrible looking places where the homeowner watched us to make sure we didn’t steal anything.

            One thing I take pride in while working is that I will treat your house like I would want my house treated by a hired handyman. This also means that I want to be treated how I would treat a hired handyman, with respect and dignity. It doesn’t matter if I’m working on the governor’s house or some rundown house I will do my best to get the job done properly, efficiently, and clean up after myself. I remember the one and only time Rebekah came to work with me, I was having some issues getting the soffit put back up just right and the homeowner let me have it. I was already frustrated when he fired off this zinger, “You wouldn’t leave this like this at your home.” I was already walking around to the back of the house when he said this, then he turned to my beautiful bride and said very arrogantly while laughing, “Oh, I got him with that one!” I don’t know who he thought she was but he definitely didn’t know she was my wife. The fact is that I wouldn’t have left it like that, and I wasn’t planning on leaving it like that, but my options were extremely limited at that particular moment. That one comment took a shot at my integrity and I’ll never forget it. He judged me without knowing me.

            Why is it that we treat people differently based on their socio-economic status (In youth slang: how much Benjamins they got rolling in)? Why do some contractors do everything they can to go above and beyond what a rich person needs done and will cut corners on a poorer man’s house? James instructs us that when we show partiality we become judges with evil thoughts. We start judging people by what’s on the outside rather than what’s on the inside. How many of you have ever met a man or woman that would be considered poor by the world’s standards but you would trust that person beyond a shadow of doubt? Now how many of you have met a man or a woman that would be considered rich by the world’s standards that you wouldn’t trust with your cheeseburger if you had to go to the bathroom? There are great people at every station of life, and there are terrible people at every station of life. There are people who favor the rich and there are people who favor the poor. The greatest mistake we could make is to judge someone based on their outward appearance or financial standings rather than what lies inside.

            James calls “love your neighbor as yourself” the royal law—a law that is superior to all other laws, but if we show partiality we sin. You might say, “Eh, what’s the big deal if I show partiality?” You know just yesterday I was at Chic-fil-a and I saw a family coming in the door that I was standing by and one of them was wearing a University of Michigan sweatshirt. I wish that God said I was to love my enemies except for UM fans but he didn’t. When every fiber of my being said “Lock the door, turn off the lights, and everybody get down,” my non-partiality side said to open the door for them. Now if I can do that, what can you do?

            It’s hard to evaluate how we might be showing partiality because it is hard to evaluate ourselves, but here are some questions we could be asking. 1) Am I fine with the people who are coming to this church, including visitors, as long as they look, dress, and/or smell like me? 2) Am I fine with the songs we sing as long as they are hymns? Or Praise songs? 3) Do I get uptight when someone reads from a particular translation of the Bible that I don’t read from? 4) Do I believe that there is a standard for behavior within the worship service that includes, standing, kneeling, clapping, saying “Amen,” and raising their hands? Tough questions.

            I remember reading a story that took place at a church near a beach. The service had already started when a young man walked in wearing cutoff jeans, a tank top, and was barefoot. Every seat was taken as he slowly walked down the aisle scanning for an empty seat. Finally he plopped down, and sat cross legged in front of the first pew. The congregation was distracted and a little bit shocked by the whole thing, and most of them nodded approvingly as the head deacon approached the young man. I mean it was kind of unfortunate but something had to be done. The deacon, no spring chicken himself, made it to the front row, plopped down, and sat right next to him. The young man gave his life to Christ that day. How many of us would have done that?

            Partiality may seem like such a small thing when compared to murder, or adultery, but James says in verse 10, “For the person who keeps all of the laws except one is as guilty as a person who has broken all of God’s laws.” What happens to someone if they live a completely perfect life except they sin one time? They go to hell. God is so pure and holy that He cannot be in the presence of sin. He hates it. I use this analogy all of the time because it is so perfect, and I will continue to use it until someone comes up with a better one. Imagine a five gallon bucket of the best ice cream in the world sitting right next to a five gallon bucket of poop. All of the ice cream in the world won’t change that bucket of poop one bit, but one speck of poop in that bucket of ice cream ruins the whole bucket. Your sin is the speck of poop in God’s ice cream. If the story ended there it would be tragic, but it doesn’t. God sent His son to take care of our sin problem once and for all, but we have to let Him in. Simply knowing about God is not enough. We have to accept Him as both our Lord and our Savior.                  

  

           

A Review of "Average Joe" by Troy Meeder

http://waterbrookmultnomah.com/bloggingforbooks/reviews/ranking/13233
A Review of Average Joe

            I recently read Average Joe by Troy Meeder. It was a book I had been interested in reading since I heard him speak on Focus on the Family. I was also interested in reading it because I had recently read his wife’s book Hope Rising. I found both books to be fairly similar in that they were almost devotional in nature. Although the book was divided into sections, the chapters did not build off of each other. I did enjoy Average Joe more than Hope Rising because I was able to relate to Troy as a man, more than I could with his wife Kim.

            Although, I looked forward to reading the book, I still had my doubts and trepidations. I don’t want to be average. I don’t know anyone who wants to be average. And even if some might consider me to be average, I definitely do not want to be proud about being average. Troy addresses this issue by page 3. On page 4, Troy writes, “Before we go on, I want to make something really clear: when I use the word average, I don’t mean lazy, sloppy, inept, mediocre, or anything like that. A true average Joe works hard, gives his all, makes a difference. And he does it without whining or feeling sorry for himself. An average Joe isn’t expecting to get rich or famous. He’s content knowing that the One whose opinion really counts is pleased with him.” I can live with that definition.

            The book was an easy read and came equipped with a study guide that can be used for a men’s small group or in conjunction with a Bible study. I did enjoy parts of the book, Troy is definitely a skilled author, but I found myself becoming increasingly agitated with one small aspect of his stories. He owns a horse ranch that is known across the nation for its goodwill, he ran one of the largest youth ministries in the state, his wife was an exceptionally talented cross country skier and a best selling author, he takes flying lessons from a world class bi-athlete, and scubas in Hawai’i. I wish I could be that average.

            Other than that minor irritation I would recommend this book to any guy who wonders if God could use him where he is.

I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review.